Match Reports | West Ham United Blog

Defoe double sinks Hammers at the Lane

November 25, 2012 By Stevo 1 Comment

It had to be West Ham old boy Jermaine Defoe who stuck the boot in at White Hart Lane, didn’t it? Defoe snatched a brace and Gareth Bale scored a scorcher. Andy Carroll scored his first goal for the claret and blues to try and adjust the scoreline but it was far too late, we weren’t going to salvage anything from this game.

It was a fiery derby in which some of the Hammer fans taunted the White Hart Lane outfit about the Rome stab fest the other day.

Tottenham now move up above the Hammers in the league table and were, dare i say it, the better side today. Only Andy Carroll’s header , which came far too late, was the only consolation the Hammers received this afternoon.

After the game in Rome early in the week, the Hammers thought they had their work cut out but they were oh so wrong. André Villas Boas’ outfit flew out of the starting blocks and pressured the irons from the get go and victory looked likely for the home side from the outset.

The hostile atmosphere in the stands transferred to the pitch where O’Brien was lucky to just get a booking for a dangerous late tackle on Bale.

Tottenham were up for the fight and both Defoe and Clint Dempsey fired in warning shots at Jussi. There was more trouble on the pitch and Defoe was booked for a rash tackle on West Ham’s Winston Reid. This was beginning to look like a Barca v Real Madrid game!

West Ham started to find their feet towards the half time whistle and captain fantastic Kevin Nolan, edged his way into the tottenham penalty area only to have his shot blocked by Sandro. Mark Noble was also booked for a silly tackle on Lennon and tempers were seen to be high on the two benches where Neil McDonald was seen to be involved in a spat with Jose Mario Rocha.

Tottenham’s first came courtesy of Defoe just before half time , who edged in from the right beating Winston Reid and George McCartney before taking on Noble and sending the ball past Jussi Jaaskelainen.

After the break, West Ham felt ambitious but left the back exposed for Tottenham to capitalise on. Within minutes, Defoe was involved in the second goal which put Bale through to beat the Hammers’ keeper via a post.

Tottenham duly took control of the game and then came Defoe’s second of the match to make it 3 nil. Dempsey put the ball through to unleash the speed of Lennon who squared nicely for Defoe to tap in.

Late into the game came West ham’s consolation goal. Big Andy Carroll managed to turn in Joey O’Brien’s cross and get his first goal for West Ham. No doubt he would have liked the goal to be a decider or in different circumstances but the Hammers were well beaten today.

After the match Sam Allardyce had this to say:

“It looked like we didn’t recover from the first goal, which is disappointing because we still had a very good chance if we came out and played like we can. We were relying a lot on good defensive work and that let us down in the end.
“We launched a spirited comeback but it was far too late. It’s a bad day for me watching the lads play like they did. None of the players played their best and ended up being beaten comfortably.

This was a baptism of fire for West Ham and maybe a reality check. Tottenham now jump up above the lads and it hurts. The Hammers need to get it together and play like winners. We have a strong defense and a decent record in the Premier League so let’s not lose hope that we can finish in the top 5 or 6 this year. COYI

Hammers battle to earn a point against Stoke

November 20, 2012 By Stevo 1 Comment

It was Allardyce’s chance to move up to fifth place in the league table but the Hammers were met by a stubborn Stoke City who snatched an early goal courtesy of Jonathan Walters. The Hammers equalised via Joey O’Brien of all people and thus took a share of the spoils that the Boleyn Ground had to offer.

Stoke were their usual self and always pose an arial threat whether it’s against the Hammers or Man United. Stoke could have thumped in a second which would have knocked the wind out of our boys for sure when Steven N’Zonzi’s half volley clattered against Jussi’s crossbar just before half time. That would have been goal of the season, too!

Stoke were looking for their first away win and looked pretty much up for the task in hand. The early goal by Walters gave Stoke some breathing room and allowed them to play a little. The Irons had an uphill task on their hands and it didn’t look like it was going to be a walk in the park.

For most of the first half the Hammers struggled to create chances and Stoke looked like they might snatch the full 3 points.

Promising second half

The second half proved much more promising for Allardyce’s boys as West Ham pushed Stoke City. Although Stoke were always going to be a threat in the air, the Hammers pushed them and Joey O’Brien scored his second goal for the club.

The Hammers should have had an equaliser in the bag just after the break though. Mohamed Diame combined nicely with Modibo Maiga down the left side to set loose McCartney. The defender’s cross was inch perfect for Nolan but the Hammers’ captain put his header far too close to the Stoke City keeper.

West Ham levelled the match just moments after when Maiga had his strike charged down and Gary O’Neil was able to assist from the right side of play for Joey O’Brien to convert from the middle of the goal.

The equaliser appeared to have ruffled Stoke City’s feathers and Maiga came very close to putting the hammers ahead with just over half an hour to play. Mark Noble’s corner was won in the air by and knocked down by big Andy Carroll for Maiga to latch onto but could not beat keeper Begovic who made a decent save.

The Hammers‘ scorer O’Brien was then replaced by Guy Demel with 13 minutes remaining on the clock. He then had a decent effort that went just wide of Begovic’s goal six minutes later. Winston Reid also had a good chance to claim three points for the irons with a header late in the game but the New Zealand international did not get enough power on his effort and was wasted much to the dismay of the Boleyn Ground.

Ok, so we’ve snatched just a point which could have or should have been three. We’ve missed the chance to move up to fifth place and it would have given us some room to breathe as we have some tough games in the weeks to follow.

Filed Under: Match Reports Tagged With: west ham snatch a point, west ham vs stoke

Ex Toon Nolan puts Newcastle to the sword

November 12, 2012 By Stevo 2 Comments

It was up to ex Toon and West Ham’s captain fantastic Kevin Nolan to put his old club to the sword at St James’ Park this weekend where the Irons beat newcastle by a single goal to nil thus firing the East end club into sixth position.

It was an emotional return for the ex Newcastle player where he kept his emotions in check and refused to celebrate the goal which gave his team the victory. According to Sam Allardyce, Nolan has been the best signing West Ham has made under him when he joined them at the start of last year for just £5Million.

That 37th minute strike from Kevin Nolan earned the Hammers a sixth league table position and Allardyce is over the moon.

Kevin Nolan admitted after the match:

“It was a perfect scenario for me to score. It was emotional.

“But I was never going to celebrate scoring here. I never will.

“That was down to the support I got when I was at Newcastle. But this was a great result for us.”

Kevin Nolan had a great game alongside strike partner Andy Carroll and Allardyce has hailed his strike pair. Nolan went back to St James’ Park to haunt the Toons and bagged his fifth goal of the season. The pair worked well in unison and caused Alan Pardew’s men all sorts of problems up front.

Newcastle didn’t look like they had any interest in drawing the match let alone go for a win! They seemed to complacent and accepted the fact that they were one nil down. There were a few times where I thought the Hammers were slipping back into complacency, too. They soon sorted themselves out though and this win takes us up to sixth position. Liverpool did the league a favour yesterday by snatching a point from Chelsea from a Suarez equaliser. The ref didn’t see the nice shove Suarez gave a Chelsea defender to make way for the unstoppable header though 😉

Manchester City won and so did Manchester United with a win over Aston Villa. Man Utd were down 2 goals to nil before they decided to grow a brain and engage it on the pitch. Mexican star Chicharito knocked in two goals and tried to claim a third but was clearly going off target so the ref gave an own goal.

Allardyce was thrilled after the game at Tyneside and even more so as it has been a long 14 years without a win there.

After the match Sam Allardyce had this to say about his captain:

“Kevin’s relationship with Andy is such a good one that I don’t need to do a lot of coaching with the two of them.
If anything, they instinctively play off each other.
While Andy’s struggling to get a goal — and we’d like him to get one — Kevin’s scoring them, so we’re reaping the benefits of that relationship”.

This game has given all Hammer fans hope. We are gradually starting to mix it with the big guns and little by little Andy Carroll is starting to show the kind of form and spirit that Upton Park need. The partnership with captain Kevin Nolan is a good one and when you get two players like this with the telepathy they obviously have with each other then we have gold.

Let’s keep up the good work lads and COYI!

Filed Under: Match Reports Tagged With: nolan goal kills off toons, nolan puts toons to the sword

Hammers hold Man City to draw at Upton Park

November 4, 2012 By Stevo Leave a Comment

It was stalemate yesterday afternoon at the Boleyn Ground where the Hammers snatched a point from League title holders Manchester City. The game ended in a nil nil draw in which West Ham’s boss Sam Allardyce punched the air with joy after the final whistle.

The Hammers played some nice football and we could have snatched all 3 points if Nolan and Carroll had hit the target. It was a great game in which the underdogs with their limited resources and budget took on the nouveau riche of the Premier League and played one on one with them.

Ok, the class of city shone through and with their deep pockets it was hardly surprising, was it? What impressed me though was that the Hammers learnt their lesson from the Wigan game in which they showed complacency. Our boys were up for this even if it meant being beaten 3 nil!

It was West ham’s solid defense which the lads from Manchester City couldn’t get past.City never really got into their groove and tempers were high between Mancini and Balotelli when the italian was substituted – so no news there, then 🙂

After Chelsea’s faux pas and Manchester United beating North Londoners Arsenal, City find themselves in third position with the Hammers at eighth. Incidentally it was Van Persie who stuck the boot in and gave the Mancs victory over his former club. A lot of Arsenal supporters were wondering why Andre Santos decided to shirt swap with Robin Van Persie at half time, nice one.

Just after four minutes and captain Nolan had the ball in the back of the City net but was adjudged to have been in an offside position. I saw the replay and it was ever so slight – might have even been a rizzla paper’s width. Let me know your thoughts on that one!

Then it was Mo Diame’s turn to get in front of goal. The guy from Senegal had a shot from the edge of the box but was blasted over the top of Joe Hart’s net. Yossi Benayoun is steadily improving and had a nice game as I’m sure you’ll agree. He came close with a nice side footed volley that hit the crossbar.

The big Andy Carroll wanted some action too and put his shot agonisingly close to Joe Hart’s left post. Had that one gone in, it would have given the Hammers wings to go the extra mile for sure.

Ex Hammer Carlos Tevez played well for his new side but was unable to provide the form that made the difference to the scoreline.

Jussi Jaaskelainen was never really bothered by the Manchester City attack although the Finn was guilty on one occasion of being a bit of a “butter fingers” that could have let them in the back door.

Man of the match was a sublime James Collins who showed the rest of the Hammers what can be achieved with a raw blood and guts performance. Collins limped off on 84 minutes with O’Neil coming on to relieve him of duty. This is exactly the type of performance we want from the Irons – COYI

Filed Under: Match Reports Tagged With: city held to draw at boleyn ground, hammers hold city to draw

Saints see Hammers go marching on

October 21, 2012 By Stevo 1 Comment

It was a thriller at Upton Park yesterday afternoon as all the Saints could do was watch as West Ham went marching on! The match started off very well for the Southampton boys as they quickly had the Hammers on the back foot. They wanted to show that they were “up for it” and that they were no “pushovers”.

Goals came from a brace by Mark Noble, one from captain Kevin Nolan, with the fourth being picked up by Maiga on 87 minutes to punish the sloppy defence of Nigel Adkins’ team. A team which, by the way, has ended up with the worst defending in the Prem despite forking out £33million this summer – ouch! Adam Lallana did manage to pull one back for the visitors but it didn’t look like inspiring the Saints to keep going and scoring more goals.

The first half, to be honest, was one of the most miserable I’ve seen this season and it looked like the typical match where Southampton were going to nick a late goal and finish up on a pitiful 0-1 score-line. It was not to be however as large Sam must have had a word in each of his boys’ ears and told them to turn on the style.

The second half saw the Hammers pulling on the goal scoring boots and putting on a show for the fans. It’s an encouraging start to the season for Sam’s boys and we could say that the Hammers are the best performing of the three teams that have been promoted. Let’s hope we can keep it up!

Big Sam had this to say after the final whistle:

“It was a lacklustre performance”. “The players took a bit of criticism at half-time. We had to up the tempo and show the sort of desire we have done before this season. We came out and put it right”.

West Ham were indeed a different team after the break at half time as they showed the boss that his ethos of quality passing of the ball along with a high delivery. Benayoun should flashes of his past magic and that can only be a good sign. He’ll certainly be filling Vaz Té’s boots while he’s sidelined for three months following surgery to his shoulder.

‘It was a fantastic victory,’ said a euphoric Allardyce after the game. ‘To have 14 points at this stage is terrific.’

It was a bit of an amazing match – a first half reminiscent of some dire Npower League matches and then Bamn! A second half to take your hat off to. Great job lads and well done. 14 points in the bag so far, let’s see if we can keep them coming!