match report

August 25, 2013

Newcastle 0-0 West Ham

It wasn’t one for the purists but a decent results for Allardyce‘s West Ham away, at St. James’ Park, nonetheless. They were there for the taking but even still, we remained unbeaten without playing at our best.

Not really much else to say! Defensively we did what we had to do very well and kept them to long distance shots (that were never even close to threatening the goal)

Both had the odd chance and obviously Gouffran should have scored but a point was definitely a fair result as no one did enough to deserve all three points… Still another point, on to the next one! COYI

January 14, 2013

Sunderland 3-0 West Ham: Poor Performance, Poor Result

We were simply second best all over the pitch at the Stadium of Light. We never looked up for it and seemed to be lacking the fight needed to pick up any points away from home. If we want to remain clear of the dogfight at the bottom of the league we cannot afford many more performances like this.

There isn’t really much else to say, nobody performed very well and this just has to be one of those games you just disregard and start fresh next time out. Luckily we don’t have long to wait the the FA cup replay on Wednesday.

This is one of only a few games this year where we haven’t actually been competitive and as long as we don’t do the same too often we should be fine.

The result against Man United in my eyes is less important than the performance. We need to show that we are not struggling after an impressive start to the season.

COYI

November 29, 2012

Manchester United 1-0 West Ham

Well the performance deserved at least a point. Defensively (after the first minute) I thought we were excellent, if it wasn’t for a lack of quality with the final delivery I really do feel we would have been bringing something back to Upton Park.

As Van Persie found the net around 30 seconds after kick off, you would have expected Man United to go on and grab a few, but our resilience kept us in the game and for the most part looked worthy of a draw.

Man United again proved that they are not without their weaknesses, and cannot close games out in the way they once could. Having said that, they might well have done has it not been for Jaaskelainen. After hearing rumours Green could well return Jussi put in a superb performance commanding his area and making a string of great saves.

What was so refreshing was seeing a West Ham side putting pressure on the opposition all over the pitch forcing mistakes and making the united side nervous. However, for all our good play we didn’t work Lindegaard enough for my liking. Only Cole’s swivelling strike forced a save and for all our decent play we should’ve had a lot more to show for it.

One thing is for certain if we play the same against Chelsea we can definitely get something out of it. COYI

Fans Know Best MOTM: Jussi Jaaskelainen

November 5, 2012

West Ham 0 – 0 Man City

Even the most optimistic West Ham fan would have take a draw against the champions before a ball had been kicked but after such resilient defending, a wrongly disallowed goal and smashing the crossbar we came away from Upton Park wondering what might have been.

Very early on, we again proved how deadly we can be from set pieces as Noble floated a ball over the Man City defence which Kevin Nolan dispatched expertly only to be pulled back for offside, when the captain was quite clearly level.

As the half progressed we still held our own against Man City and Yossi rifled a shot at the back post only to be denied by the frame of the goal.

Man City were less than impressive in the first half, thanks largely to our solid defending, and while they did play better in the second half only had one real chance as Barry walked through on goal only to pull his shot wide (although it would have been controversial with the midfielder clearly controlling the ball with his arm.)

In the end a draw was a fair result and as I said before you would have taken a draw at the beginning.

October 8, 2012

We have to be clinical

We played our first game against one of the top sides in the league and were shown our place, Against sides like Arsenal you cannot afford to waste good opportunities, and while we did put in alot of effort we showed our lack of quality in front of goal.

After Diame‘s superb strike put us 1-0 up, it was cancelled out by Giroud‘s first premier league goal. Carroll was also unlucky in the first half with a header from a corner but fired it straight at Mannone.

The second half was very frustrating as a West Ham fan. We got into decent positions but didn’t test Mannone as much as we should have. Nolan, for once was culprit of being hesitant in front of goal. Captain Kev is normally a reliable finisher but after being fed through one on one the Arsenal keeper didn’t even have to make a save, as Nolan cut inside only to be thwarted. Nolan again failed to live up to his usual high standards as he fired high and wide with a shot from inside the box.

While it might feel like in clinging at straws, in these sorts of games you have to make the most of your chances before they pass by. You cannot be hesitant and make sure you force a save out of every single opportunity, if you want to get anything out of these tough games.

We go into the international break with two vital games just around the corner against Southampton and Wigan, games we really have to get something out of with an extremely tricky month following on. We do not create enough chances against good sides to be picky but our two upcoming games will be very different fixtures, and I am confident that we have enough about us to pick up maximum point from the two fictures… COYI