I did say it was going to happen in my preview. Okay, maybe a certain Mr Carroll didn’t come off the bench and get the winner, but he still did make an appearance. Albeit, the game was well and truly over by that stage and I was hitting the panic button rapidly!
So as normal, West Ham have the chance to push themselves back up the table, close to the coveted 6th place but fail yet again.
Newcastle put an end to their run of 3 Away day losses out of 4 to West Ham and managed to find the net 3 times. They had only scored 6 goals prior to this game!
PRE-GAME
The son’s football match was a later than usual kick-off which means a bit of a lie in on a Saturday morning for a change.
His team won and he managed to score direct from a corner. I don’t know how he does it but that must be the 5th or 6th goal he has scored like that. They went on to win 3-1 and are now on a run of 3 games undefeated. Take note West Ham!
A late kick-off also means I generally have a relaxing Saturday. I’m generally not back until lunch time and means I can sneak off to the pub for an hour prior to the 3pm kick-off , which I duly did, as I don’t have a mountain of jobs to do.
I got back in time to fire up the fire-stick and get our game on.
Manuel seemed to have gone with the obvious line-up bar Balbuena & Zabaleta retaining their places. I didn’t mind the Balbuena selection but what on earth was the Zabaleta one all about?
THE GAME
The game seemed to take a while to get going. Both teams passing the ball about without really threatening the goal. West Ham with a few corners in succession, with a Balbuena shot from one going narrowly wide.
In the 16th minute the deadlock was broken. The referee adjudged Diop had made a connection with Almiron, I’m not so sure but the referee awarded a free kick and brandished a yellow card to Diop.
From the free kick, Shelvey floated the ball to the back post where it was headed back across the goal for Clarke to nod in past Roberto. 0-1!
Six minutes later it was 2-0. A corner taken short was played out to …. I don’t even know or care who it was, but they crossed it into the area and Fernandez headed it past.. I was going to say ‘the on rushing Roberto’ but I have no idea what he was doing! He wasn’t rushing that’s for sure, he was in no-man’s land!
My mood slowly started to deteriorate!
24th minute, another chance for Newcastle. Saint Maximin, the speed demon, who had a field day up against Zabaleta was played through the middle. Weirdly enough the player tracking him was Anderson but Saint Maximin was even too fast for him. Luckily this time Roberto did come rushing out and pulled off a save.
More or less the same thing happened in the 35th minute, a long ball forward allowed Saint Maximin to sprint onto it, chased by Zabaleta, his shot saved again by Roberto. The rebound falls to Saint Maximin again who rolls it across the area for Almiron but Roberto has managed to get across and pulled off another save.
West Ham cleared the ball up the field, but it wasn’t long before it was back down in their penalty area. A ball played back out to Shelvey, who hit a shot from distance off the cross bar.
My patience was really starting to wear thin!
We did have a chance towards the end of the half when a cross from Anderson teed up Haller to try the acrobatical, but his overhead shot was safely in Dubravka’s hands.
Just on the stroke of half time, West Ham had another chance from a corner when Balbuena headed goal wards but Dubravka managed to tip the shot over the bar.
The worse thing about watching a game at home is that at half time the missus normally has something for me to do. This time it was to put the washing out. Luckily, for me, that meant I missed Shelvey’s goal and Newcastle’s third of the day!
To be fair it was a very good goal but surely Roberto could have done better, especially from that distance?
West Ham managed to sneak a goal back in the 73rd minute. A corner by Anderson is flicked on by Haller, the keeper makes a save but the ball rebounds off Balbuena into the net.
As the stadium emptied, West Ham had another chance in the 90th minute. Lanzini played the ball down the line to Anderson, who picked out Snodgrass on the edge of the area and the Scot finished superbly on the volley.
A little too late! Final score 2-3!
OVERVIEW
What an absolute shitfest from West Ham!
Any regular readers of my blogs will know I’m generally a positive person but I’m really struggling now!
I have been saying for weeks now that we are far too predictable, Shelvey even confirmed that in a post-match interview. He said we played a high line and they have worked on getting players in behind all week in preparation. It worked, there was a few chances for them based on that only for Roberto to make the saves.
I would say we are also very predictable in going forward.
Haller is isolated up front, so defenders know exactly how to cope with him.
Anderson likes to run with the ball but will always look to lay it off unless he’s in the clear.
Yarmolenko will always try to cut in on his left.
Lanzini doesn’t look interested.
Noble and Rice don’t get forward enough and are never going to get goals.
Some of our fans on social media are blaming Roberto for our dip in form. He’s no Fabianski granted but I don’t think he can be solely to blame.
In my opinion he was at fault for two of our goals but at the same time he did make a couple of good saves from Saint Maximin which possibly counteract the faults.
I believe our formation is not working. And we never look like we are going to change it.
In saying that if we went for a two up top, Ajeti isn’t the solution as a strike pairing with Haller, it has never looked like working in the few times it’s been tried.
What can we do with the players at our disposal? Some of them are world class players but aren’t performing consistently!
Something needs done to freshen things up. Do we sack Pellegrini? But who do we realistically bring in? I can’t think of anyone! And those who say Mourinho, catch yourselves on, you might as well bring back Allardyce for the style of play Jose brings – shite defensive football!
Next up is Burnley away, a place where it took us 17 visits before we actually got a win! In fact, it was 1 win in our first 25 visits there, so never an easy place to go.
In saying that though, in my lifetime we have Played 12 times at Turf Moor, Won 6, Drew 3 and Lost 3.
See, I’m always looking for positives! But believe me, it’s getting harder and harder at the moment.
COYI!
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