West Ham 2 Millwall 1 - Nolan sent off, so starting line up unchanged

To begin, the line up looked perverse. Why bring in Vaz Te, Maynard and Morrison and then start with a team that has no width and screams negativity? To be fair, Tomkins played superbly in the holding midfield role and Faubert had his best ever game for the club, but it was no surprise to see Millwall seize the initiative from the start. By the time Nolan was sent off, the possession percentage was 60:40 in Millwall's favour. Brilliant! Allardyce really fired them up after that 5-1 midweek thrashing!

Nolan deserved his red card. The tackle was shocking, a real leg breaker had he connected mid way up the shin or full on the ankle. It was a ridiculous challenge. Not that it mattered. Nolan has been a passenger for most of the  season and the team simply continued as if he was there - or wasn't there, because as this game showed, he offers so little beyond gobbing off.
 
In fact without Nolan we played better. The passing through midfield was some of  the best I have seen this season, until we reverted to the long lump up to Cole. But a man short, the long ball out was more justified. Offensively and defensively, Faubert was superb. He narrowly failed to get on to a McCartney cross in the first half and he was up and down the right flank all afternoon. His header against the bar early in the second half deserved a goal. The McCartney cross was superb and Faubert's movement - amazingly - and the header - even more amazingly - were fantastic. In fact, and I am pinching myself here, Faubert's movement in the second half was little short of sensational. He actually read the game! And he changed codes superbly for the Reid winner.

Cole's header for his goal was superb too. He bent his neck back and got real power on the ball after Reid stood it up from Noble's free kick. And the Reid finish was fantastic. I was expecting the referee's whistle from the moment Faubert took Forde out of the game, but Reid didn't care, he just drove it like a Tiger Woods drive on a long Par 3. Hard and straight, right down the middle.

Vaz Te came on and looked lively and Taylor edged himself back closer to full functioning capacity. We need his set pieces. Sadly Collison is looking more ordinary by the game. Another Academy Nearly Man perhaps.

The Millwall goal was a mess with Del Boy Trotter driving home beautifully after Faye played the Plonker Rodney role to perfection, dwelling on the ball in his own six yard box. What a dipstick. But he was good apart from that! The best thing you can say about the whole performance is that you wouldn't have known we were down to ten men. But then with Nolan on the pitch, we are effectively starting each game with 10 men anyway!

Player Ratings: Green 5 (Another kicking error), O'Brien 6 (one lovely shot just over), Faye 6, Reid 7, McCartney 7, Tomkins 8 (superb in the holding role), Noble 8 (tigerish in the tackle and a lovely range of passing), Faubert 9, Collison 5, Nolan 0 Cole 8 Subs Taylor 6 Vaz Te 6 O'Neil 5