Do The Smaller Teams, Play Better Against The Bigger Teams?

[Longsight Librero]

This season has had lots of suprising results and stats, and also many teams performing above their recognised class against the bigger teams. I have to say many fixtures Man Utd had i thought personally are squad can overcome, but wasn't i suprised to see the smaller clubs of the EPL, playing their hearts out against us. I've noticed the days we played West Ham where bad ones.

. Firstly, the first fixture against them. New manager arrived, Alan Curbishley. The Hammers wanted to impress their new manager by scroing a goal in the last 10 minutes of the game. They hung on by a thread defending until their legs collapsed. For me, and probably many United fans it was frustrating to see, with Chelsea close behind us, we couldn't really afford to lose, and we knew Chelsea could catch us - possibly.

. Secondly, i know this doesnt really count, because we'd won the league by then, but we wanted a result at home, against the team that have upsetted us in the past, and also put a dent in the title race during christmas time. But, again we played them at a bad time, they needed to win to stay up, United wanted to win - i think to put them down and also get a result on the day we received the trophy and also for the fans. But, football is very unpredictable, as we have seen against West Ham.

I didn't perhaps watch all of the bigger teams in the EPL, the Chelsea, Bolton, Arsenal.. But what i ahev noticed especially with United, several teams, in my opinion played above their level. West Ham went on to lose all of the games, getting a result in cup match then going on to win a game. I just hated it when they beat us, then lost all their other games plunging them into the relegation spot.. Has this happened with any other teams in the EPL, or is it just my *imagination*?..

[John Shuttleworth]

It's quite common for the underdog to pull off a great result against the bigger clubs.

It's something of an event when a big team comes to town, entertaining one of the famous name clubs that appear on TV regularly. The home fans of smaller clubs are more excited and noisier, they are usually sell out games. I'm sure it does lift the players and drives them on. To see the likes of Liverpool play at Watford is a big thing when you're more used to entertaining clubs like Barnsley.

I'm sure there are many examples this season, off the top of my head, Sheffield United drew against Liverpool at Bramall Lane and beat Arsenal.

[Toon³]

Or maybe the better teams underestimate the other team

[Ian Daglers]

I think West Ham really is an exception here. Not only did they beat United twice, they were the only club in the league to beat Arsenal twice (or to beat them at Ashburton at all!). If you look at the way they finished out the season, with seven wins in nine games, that's just not something a relegation candidate should be capable. They are actually very good and very inconsistent team. They played terribly for most of the season, but always had it in them talent-wise to do this.

The other thing, though, is that no team in the Premiership is really THAT bad. They're all top professionals, and even a world-class side like Liverpool or Chelsea is going to have problems against Watford or Fulham if they aren't in top form. So like Toon said, it sometimes comes down to the big team playing worse too.

[punkman]

United lose to West Ham because they didn't need to win anymore, they lost their spirit. If United still chasing their title, they will win.

[thatkoltguy]

apparently in some cases...

West Ham has always been a pain for manchester United.

[israbeckham]

they try harder