Saturday 2 February 2013

West Ham 1 Swansea 0 - A HUGE 3 points!


West Ham's Andy Carroll scores
Bloody hell, we needed that. Swansea were unbeaten in seven and had beaten Chelsea over two legs without conceding anything more than a ball boy, so certainly were no soft touches, but anything less than a win today would have seen us knee deep in the relegation mire. Now, it barely touches our ankles thanks to Everton's and Wigan's late equalisers and the 0-0 draw between QPR and  Norwich. Villa next week is huge, but QPR are as good as gone and Norwich still don't know where their next win is going to come from so we can all breath a little easier.

Of course, those two home grown yard dogs, Noble and Tomkins, will receive no credit from their critics, but it was a Noble corner - for some reason he has displaced Joe Cole and Taylor on set piece duty again - that set up Carroll for a thumping header whilst Tomkins was a commanding figure at the back, with Jussi rarely called into action.

In truth, we should have won by a more comfortable margin. Carroll had one effort saved by Tremmell's legs and put another great chance over. Diame also made a hash of two reasonable opportunities, whilst Nolan forced two good saves in the first half and Vaz Te called the German into action either side of the break. Meanwhile a wicked Joe Cole cross from the left should have been buried but Vaz Te failed to connect.

At the other end Jussi made a couple of half decent saves but even with Taylor as a makeshift left back, the defence coped well. Swansea passed and passed and passed but too often forgot to penetrate the box, and Allardyce will love the possession to shots count after this one! Vindication he will claim! And give him his due, we always looked the more likely to score and win.

There are still concerns looking forward. Carroll was excellent today but Jarvis was again desperately disappointing and all but the blinkered will see why Arsenal and Spurs decided not to stump up for Diame. Yes he is a bull but his ball control and vision are not really top drawer, and his finishing is woeful.

Those on Noble watch might have noticed how many passes he completed, that he assisted the winning goal, and that he put in a fantastic block in the first half to prevent a Pablo cross that would almost certainly have led to a Swansea opening goal. Oh, and who was that running the ball clear deep into injury time, only to be fouled by a desperate Chico? No surely not that carthorse Mark Noble?

Player ratings: Jussi 6; O'Brien 7, Tomkins 7, Reid 7, Taylor 5; Noble 7 Diame 6; Jarvis 3, Nolan 7, Vax Te 6; Carroll 9 Subs: Cole 6, O'Neil 5, Pogatetz (Didn't touch the ball!)

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

noble was poor again mate n i would say that jarvis was our best player.did you watch the game????

Hammersfan said...

You clearly didn't or you would know that Jarvis was withdrawn after being largely anonymous.

Anonymous said...

Ha, slap em down Fannie

CdnHammersFan said...

Awesome 3 points!
Now I can start my Saturday.
So much more productive after a win.

Go HAMMERS!

Anonymous said...

Who is the geezer that said Jarvis had a good game !!!! Terrible mate , just like your post !!!! What does he do ??? Same as Vaz Te , a complete waste of time and they and a lot of others in the team just aren't good enough !!!! Shame on you for that shit comment !!!!!

PM24 said...

Didn't see the game HF but I am so relieved we won. I'm glad Sam stuck with tomkins, a few fans were calling for him to be dropped but he will never mature into a top draw player by being dropped every time he has a dodgy game. Apparently he had a very good game which will do his confidence the world of good. I have more confidence of us beating man utd at home than villa away such is are terrible away form, but we should be looking for a win. I'll take anything other than defeat. By the way, I actually think QPR will survive as they have sured their defence up and, whilst they are not scoring many at the moment, I have a feeling they will put a decent run together and claw their way out.

Anonymous said...

You must have been at the boleyn if you've gave player ratings armchair hammer? Which end were you in?

Sav said...

I couldn't watch the match so I will spare you any comments about your most probably biased comments about how good Noble was. I tend to believe 17:21 about how good his performance was. Thank God for the three points however.

It is imperative that Noble should make way to give us a chance to see what players like Wellington can offer the team. Also, I much prefer to see Collison in the starting line up.

Hammersfan said...

The Bucharest end! Cheap beer, big screen, beautiful waitress.

Sav, don't you know about USA Goals?

Anonymous said...

I was at the game today and Noble should definitely not be dropped. Whilst he is sometimes woeful in possession (much like every other WH player on the pitch and I can think of about examples for each of them today), out of possession, Mark Noble changes the game. His tackles in midfield literally save our bacon time and again. Home grown or otherwise, nobody puts in that much effort when we don't have the ball. He frustrates me when after the heroics, he often misplaces passes but hey ho at least we've got a midfielder that can read where he's needed and gets bloody well stuck in. No, he's not particularly imposing or technical on the ball and he is often slow mentally to release the right ball but he is so often where our possession and play-making begins. Nobody breaks up opposition play more. So no, he shouldn't be dropped. The haters would soon miss him when we were getting carved open in the middle.... As for the first comment, no disrespect fella but Jarvis was absent until he was subbed with the exception of about 2 decent crosses. Vaz had all the exposure 1st half and he screwed it up constantly. Much better send half.

Anonymous said...

Yeah and i bet the waitress really fancied you,you sad decrepid twat.

Anonymous said...

I was at the game today and Noble should definitely not be dropped. Whilst he is sometimes woeful in possession (much like every other WH player on the pitch and I can think of about two examples for each of them today), out of possession, Mark Noble changes the game. His tackles in midfield literally save our bacon time and again. Home grown or otherwise, nobody puts in that much effort when we don't have the ball. He frustrates me when after the heroics, he often misplaces passes but hey ho at least we've got a midfielder that can read where he's needed and gets bloody well stuck in. No, he's not particularly imposing or technical on the ball and he is often slow mentally to release the right ball but he is so often where our possession and play-making begins. Nobody breaks up opposition play more. So no, he shouldn't be dropped. The haters would soon miss him when we were getting carved open in the middle.... As for the first comment, no disrespect fella but Jarvis was absent until he was subbed with the exception of about 2 decent crosses. Vaz had all the exposure 1st half and he screwed it up constantly. Much better second half.

Anonymous said...

19:00 "beautiful waitress" - are you not married, are not over the hill? are you not a dirty pervy old man?

Anonymous said...

Aaw,not posting all the comments armchair?

Anonymous said...

Swansea are in pre-cup-final mode so dont get too arrogant about this victory!

Anonymous said...

too much time eyeing the waitress - i thought that we were poor