I’m glad that match wasn’t ten minutes longer. It was a classic Boleyn Ground performance, cruising ahead but letting the opposition back in.
The match was a fairly weird one. Although I think we deserved our three points, neither team was carving out many threats on goal but both teams took their chances clinically when they arrived. Leicester’s second wasn’t really a clear-cut chance, it was just a real blast.
Baldock and Carew were excellent once again and it’s a joy to watch them play at the top of a 4-4-2. Baldock is fully deserving of his praise; a hungry, quick, natural finisher who is starting to really make an impact on this team, and this league. Four goals in his last two Boleyn starts says to me that he might be something special.
Alongside him, Carew is still proving he has more skill than I ever gave him credit for before. His touch and awareness is brilliant, as is his determination, although it’s his sheer desire to win each ball that referees seem to dislike. His booking was farcical, though I’m relieved to read that Allardyce took him off to null the chances of seeing a second yellow and not down to injury.
Julien Faubert had another good game and it was great to see him acknowledge our chants of his name after a good run. He’s had a weird old career at West Ham so far but I hope we keep hold of him. I know he isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but I hope he knows that some West Ham fans appreciate him. A few more games in the advanced-right position and he will only get better.
I think the strength of our squad was proven today. With Bouba Diop on the bench, Nolan and Noble did well in midfield, with Noble in particular showing some real class once again. His commitment has never been in doubt, but his prowess in the pass and tireless chasing of the ball has been second to none in the last two matches. Amazingly, I heard someone on the tube home saying he had a bad game… probably the sort of person that thinks Piquionne is a super star, but I guess that’s the good thing about opinion and different interpretation.
Piquionne actually did OK today, I’m no fan of his really but he looked better than he has done for a while. He is still way off the levels I would expect from a professional footballer at our club though.
In defence Winston Reid was great again, with some more work on his forward distribution he will be a good player for seasons to come. As will Tomkins who, when he came on, was pure class. McCartney was solid and is looking fit again, and O’Brien likewise.
Finally a word for Rob Green. Great to see him back in action and even better to see him give the fists to the Leicester fans as the final whistle sounded. To anyone who didn’t see it, he looped from the goal to the away fans and then to the Chicken Run, pumping his fists the whole way. Of course, the Leicester fans got really wound up but they can thank their own for Green’s over-enthusiastic display. A couple of idiots in their support thought it was OK to throw objects at Green as he took a goal kick… Needless to say he had the last laugh, and deservedly so.
Today was closer than it should have been but we played some really good stuff. We passed the ball accurately and intelligently and were too much for the Leicester defence to deal with. There’s still work to do though as this match should have been far more comfortable than it was. I mean, we were playing against a team whose big summer signing was David Nugent…
Unfortunately Saints won again today so we’re still three points shy of the top spot. Next up is Bristol City at the Boleyn Ground on Tuesday evening and, hopefully, another three points.
COYI
Faubert celebrates his goal.
Another great show from Noble.
Baldock scores his second with a cool finish.
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Excellent piece Earls Court on a great looking site! Good win today, and a good week overall, even if the syle of our play is possibly less than we’d like. I think it’s a case of needs must. Many, mant recent times have seen us dominate possesion, and end up losing. We are winning a bit ugly right now, but I’m hoping that will instill some confidence, which will bring some more good footbal. My only negative from your reort is about Piquionne. If as you say his performances fall way short of a WH player, I fail to see why we keep using him? We have other options, and for me he has almost always disappointed in a Hammers shirt. He needs to be shown the door by Jan at the latest. Then we have lost every dead beat from last season and we build from there as we have generally been doing. Anyway, look forward to seeing more from this site mate. COYI
It seems to me that some people are blinkered when it comes to Noble – they just cannot see what he brings to the team, thankfully Big Sam can see it!
A holding midfielder that can deliver passes that creates goals – a definite starter every game when fully fit.
Hey Matt, great to see you yesterday and nice piece on the game a fair reflection from what I saw. I am still amazed by some of the comments around Noble, I think he actually suffered a bit last year due to the poor performance of the others around him and living in the shadow of Scotty but this year he has been a real bonus.
Piquionne has got to go for my money, he is lazy and rarely picks the right ball or the right position, Carew and Baldock look like the makings of a good partnership though.
The other issue that needs looking at is the positioning of the crowd and the away support, the only really vocal sections of the West Ham crowd are the home section of the lower STB and the very north end of the Chicken run however these two areas are split by the away fans and when there is a good away crowd such as Leeds or Leicester yesterday we are almost overpowered by them. Surely the ground managers could re-accomodate the away support somewhere out of the way, such as the very south corner of the new West Stand! and give up the whole of the lower STB for the vocal home support to get stuck into.
Still 9 points from the last four games with some good battling performances and I think we are going in the right direction.
Come on Big Fat Sam we love you already!
It was bought up once at a Fans Forum about the away supporters being in the Trevor Brooking stand and its to do with security. Its easy for the away supporters to be segregated on the concourse whilst giving them access to bars and loos – they can put barriers across the concourse and move them as to how many seats are allocated and also its easy to get them out of the ground after a match especially when their are coaches to be parked which are usually either in Barking Road or as it seems this season by the East Enclosure. The police once wanted them in the Bobby Moore stand but it was thought fans wouldnt go for that and also they wouldnt want them in front of hospitality areas.