West Ham and Norwich drew 0-0 at Carrow Road yesterday with Norwich still looking for their first win in the league under new manager Chris Hughton.
The first half was the real highlight of the game for me with some end to end football with both teams having some good chances to open the scoring.
First Half Chances
There was an early opportunity for West Ham in the when a corner was only half cleared and the ball was smashed across goal by Matt Taylor.
Norwich then went down the other end and Surman cut inside the West Ham box after a break down the left and curled the ball just wide of the far post.
On 13 minutes Ricardo Vaz Te got away down the right hand side and his cross was met by the head of Carlton Cole, but it was cleared off the line, with Taylor smashing the rebound wide from a very good position where he should have scored.
Penalty Claim
Norwich thought they should have had a penalty when Surman was upended by Collins as he darted into the penalty box, it was a true heart in your mouth moment for West Ham fans as it looked a stonewall penalty, however on closer inspection the ref called it bang on with the foul being committed just on the edge of the penalty box.
Second Half
The second half was nowhere near as action packed as the first half and was a pretty dire affair with both sides lacking any real quality in the final third.
Modibo Maiga replaced Carlton Cole but didn’t really have any chances to pounce upon, however Matt Jarvis on his comeback from injury put a few lovely crosses into the box which I am sure Andy Carroll will be licking his lips at the thought of getting on the end of.
Harry Kane, a 19-year-old on loan from Spurs almost nicked all three points for Norwich when he was played into the box in injury time only to scuff his shot straight at Jaaskelainen.
A point each was about right with neither team really doing enough to win the match, however it’s another clean sheet for West Ham who have picked up 7 points from their opening 4 games which is a return I would have accepted at the beginning of the season.
Jaaskelainen’s Kicking
I was however very concerned with Jussi Jaaskelainen’s kicking, it was atrocious and almost cost us on several occasions with poor clearances going straight to the opposition. This was not the first time either as he has had some terrible clearances in our other matches and it can’t keep happening before we get punished.
It’s not all bad though as his shot stopping has been excellent and I have felt very comfortable with him between the sticks, but I do think Big Sam needs him working on his kicking non stop until he sorts it out!
And Finally…
Ricardo Vaz Te put in his worst performance in a West Ham shirt yesterday, he was getting in some great positions but his passing and crossing was terrible and he should have been hauled off long before he was eventually replaced by Yossi Benayoun as it just wasn’t happening for him.
It wasn’t just Vaz Te though, the final ball was very poor and had we been picking some better passes or crosses the result may have been very different.
Anyway, bring on Sunderland and lets hope for an Andy Carroll miracle recovery!
About Iron Bobby
Speak Your Mind