The day begins with “West Scam United” emblazoned on the
front page of the Sun. Apparently a
representative of Daley & McCann Festive Gifts Plc arrived at Chadwell
Heath offering cheap Fortnum & Mason hampers. The lads duly
parted with their cash and the iffy hampers never turned up. Meanwhile Big
Sam’s told the press that moaning Mauro Zarate wasn’t good enough to make the
team more often and that his dropping of Kevin Nolan is evidence of his
‘clinical’ team selection.
Inside Ken’s Café Fraser has made a rare appearance and
Nigel has been at the quiz books, asking Michael, Lisa, Matt and myself to name
the 12 capital cities in the world with only four letters. We get Lima, Oslo,
Doha and a few others before losing the will to live.
West Ham make a bright start to the game, going ahead with a
fine ball. Downing chips a good ball through to Amalfitano who does well to
find Cresswell on the left. He puts in a good cross and Sakho beats two defenders
to glance home. “Diafra Sakho he scores when he wants!” chants the Bobby Moore
Stand.
Downing makes another good break down the left but elects to
shoot rather than find Sakho and we wonder if this might be costly against a
Pulis-inspired Albion. Sessegnon looks dangerous whenever he breaks and slowly
WBA edge back into it. We receive a warning when Adrian makes a great save from
a Baird volley. Kouyate is having a bit of a ’mare, and Song is off form too,
as they fail to shield our defence. Then West Ham commit too many men forward
and it’s a two versus two break from Albion. Berahino finds Sessegnon on the
left and runs into the middle to get behind Reid and covert with a calm finish.
WHU look really jaded in the second half as Malumbo hits the
side netting. Cresswell miscontrols it a couple of times on the flank and
Jenkinson’s crosses aren’t finding their man. Three games in a week looks too
much for Andy Carroll who has his least effective game since his latest
comeback and is easily marshalled by the impressive Lescott.
West Ham’s best chance comes when Sakho is brought down and
Cresswell thumps a fine free kick against Foster’s post. There’s also a
scramble around the line as Sakho nearly puts it in only to get kicked in the
back and leave the field injured. Sub Matt Jarvis makes a difference and does
well to beat his men and get in a couple of dangerous crosses, only to play the
ball just behind the strikers. It’s a mystery why Big Sam doesn’t bring Noble
on to improve the midfield.
But it’s generally poor fare and Albion continue to impress
on the break as Collins makes several late interventions. In the end a draw
looks a fair result. Teenage Kicks
comes on the PA, but there haven’t been many kicks today, teenage or otherwise.
We retreat to the Central, with a guest appearance from The
Gav and Michael waiting for his mate Godot, who mysteriously fails to show. Matt
rages at the PA for playing Bridge over
Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel who are bloody useless. Quite right, apart
from changing the face of 1960s popular music and Paul Simon’s 12 Grammys over
a 40-year career what have Simon and Garfunkel ever done for popular music? Nigel
quips that Matt thinks the Beatles are overrated too. Rather than discuss the
game we then return to trying to name those four letter capital cities.
Being charitable, at least we got something out of the game
against a desperate side trying hard to impress Mr Pulis. But that’s one point
out of nine now. Sakho, Kouyate and possibly Song might be going to Africa so
we need to regroup quickly to aim for that top six finish. Though at least we're unbeaten this year.
PLAYER RATINGS:
Adrian 6; Jenkinson 5, Collins 6, Reid 5 Cresswell 6; Amalfitano 5 (Jarvis 6),
Kouyate 5, Song 5, Downing 5; Carroll 5 (Cole n/a), Sakho 6, (Valencia 5).
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