Lacklustre Hammers succumb to Everton

West Ham 0 Everton 1

It's a strangely early kick-off at 1pm so it's a dash from Hackney Wick to see David Moyes, Geoff Hurst (the last surviving member of the 1966 World Cup winners) and Sean Dyche lay wreaths for Bobby Charlton and Bill Kenwright. 

It's an attacking line-up with Kudus in for Soucek. West Ham create an early chance when Paqueta lobs the ball over Patterson and pulls back for Bowen to scuff the ball wide. It's the sort of chance he normally scores from and that sets the tone.

The game is as grey as Everton's terrible away kit. Tarkowski and Branthwaite are taking no prisoners at the back for Everton. Matt quizzes us on the two Everton players who have both got hat-tricks against West Ham - who are Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jack Harrison. A melee erupts when Kudus objects to Tarkowski's late tackle, Pickford rushes from his goal to get involved and is loudly jeered by the Bobby Moore Stand. Paqueta is lucky not to give a goal away when he loses possession and Harrison breaks, only to shoot straight at Areola.

West Ham don't really know how to play against another counter attacking team. Antonio is getting no change from the giant Branthwaite. The BBC reports one fan saying at half-time, "it's two teams both trying hard to lose." 

HALLOWEEN HORROR

After the break Ward-Prowse delivers a decent free-kick but Bowen puts a free header over the bar. Pickford still hasn't been tested. On 51 minutes the impressive Branthwaite wins a tussle with Antonio and sets up Harrison to play a one-two with Calvert-Lewin. The Everton striker takes a great first touch to spin past Aguerd and Zouma and fire into the far corner. Then we discover the real reason for our poor showing - Nigel has forgotten his lucky banana. 

Fraser contemplates ordering another pitch invasion against a Sean Dyche side. Bowen volleys a half-chance over but the side looks tired after the trip to Greece and we're missing the suspended Emerson's attacking runs. Everton nearly make it two when both centre backs go for the same ball. Everton win the header and Doucoure races through. He's denied by a brilliant stop from Areola. 

Kudus has worked hard but Bowen is strangely out-of-sorts, while Alvarez starts to give the ball away. Soucek and Benrahma come on for Antonio and Ward-Prowse and the Hammers improve marginally. Benrahma struggles to get past his full-back, but late on produces a great volley from Paqueta's cross, only to be denied by Pickford. It's a rare shot on target.

We succumb to the inevitable 1-0 defeat and the side's form is starting to get worrying. Everton defended excellently, and Thursday-Sunday football isn't easy, but then again none of the back four started in Athens and we created very little. Things need to improve and quickly.

PLAYER RATINGS: Areola 7; Coufal 6, Zouma 6, Aguerd 5, Cresswell 6 (Ings n/a); Alvarez 5, Ward-Prowse 5 (Soucek 6), Paqueta 6, Kudus 6; Antonio 5 (Benrahma 6), Bowen 5.

Fortounis not always hiding as Hammers' Euro run ends

Olympiakos 2 West Ham 1 (Europa League)

It's a 5.45pm trip to the Old Dairy with Lisa for this, where we wait for a tardy Matt, who has been delayed by dodgy Tory MPs. The team is worrying, as Coufal is injured and Aguerd, Zouma, Alvarez, Paqueta, Bowen and Antonio are all on the bench for this difficult fixture. 

"Tonight you dine in Hell" reads the huge banner behind the goal. At the London Sradium we can hopefully respond with a banner reading, "Tonight you dine in the Best Meze Cafe."

The squad players don't do themselves many favours and struggle to cope with steady Olympiakos pressure and the raucous crowd. Areola has to make a decent low save and the Hammers get a couple of corners before the Greeks take the lead after 32 minutes. 

Fortounis runs from deep. Ward-Prowse isn't tight enough and Mavropanos stands with his arms behind his back rather than blocking as the Olympiakos man fires home from the edge of the area. Not selecting Alvarez is strange, as he is suspended for the Everton match, and he might have prevented this run. Mystic May is also partly to blame as I've just said that only having one point from two games Olympiakos can't be that good.

In first half added time a routine cross is sliced by Ogbonna into his own net. Danny Ings has only had ten touches, but does create a half-chance in the box, firing against the keeper just before the interval. 

Ward-Prowse sends a free kick wide of the post and Danny Ings fires a decent-half chance wide from Emerson's cross after the break, but the Hammers are still mainly chasing shadows. On 56 minutes Moyes brings on Bowen, Paqueta and Antonio in a bid to try and save the game, but it's the home side who threaten a third with Areola again having to save smartly. 

Bowen can't get in the game, Antonio isn't holding it up and Paqueta is giving the ball away every time. Only Lucas being Lucas he then brings the Hammers back into the game with a sensational volley after Antonio's cross is headed out to the edge of the box.

The Hammers puff away for eight minutes of added time and Matt lambasts sub Cornet for his poor control and being a waste of £17 million. But there's no way back and the record of 17 games unbeaten in Europe is gone. The Hammers remain top of the group on six points but now need to win the home leg against Olympiakos and field a full-strength side for that one now we've been to Hell and back.

Turned over at Villa

Aston Villa 4 West Ham 1

Not a very enjoyable experience watching this on Sky. Villa have the better of the first half with Watkins and Diaby dropping deep to cause problems in front of West Ham's defence. Bowen tests Martinez with a speculative shot and Coufal plays in some inviting crosses, but the pressure soon mounts. Areola produces a great save to tip away Douglas Luiz's shot and Watkins swivels to shoot wide when he should score. 

The opening goal comes when Paqueta fails to track Douglas Luiz, whose effort is slightly deflected but should probably have been stopped by Areola who gets a hand to the ball. Paqueta gets his bearings wrong with an overhead kick as the Hammers revive a little before the break,

It looks all over early in the second half when Paqueta tries to be too clever on the left when he should simply clear it. His back pass puts Alvarez in trouble and the Mexican fouls Konsa for a penalty, converted by Douglas Luiz.

The Hammers show some character to come back. Alvarez finds Bowen whose shot from the edge of the box takes a deflection to fool Martinez. After that the Irons look the more likely side, winning a series of corners. Antonio, who has been disappointing, starts to raise his game and tests Martinez as well as getting in a dangerous cross. From a Ward-Prowse corner Aguerd's volley is blocked by Cash.

Kudus comes on for Soucek, but when the West Ham sub mis-controls, McGinn pounces to send a long ball up to Watkins. Coufal is caught upfield and Zouma does the right thing by sending Watkins wide on to his left foot. Only Watkins then fires a rocket into the top of the net to score from an acute angle. Villa score a fourth as subs Tielemans and Bailey combine. Bailey's stepover sends Aguerd towards Spaghetti Junction and the Villa man curls it home.

Not good enough from the Hammers, though defeats will happen on the road and the first two goals could certainly have been prevented. Villa have now won 11 in a row at home. Paqueta will be better in other games, today perhaps the strain of the betting furore caught up with him. While Soucek or Antonio should surely be rested for Kudus. The next five league games are against winnable opposition in Everton, Brentford, Forest, Burnley and Crystal Palace. That should give us more of an idea of how our season will go.  

Stop! Hammer Time

Good fun to be on the Stop! Hammer Time podcast this week with Phil Whelans, Mark Gower and Pete Harcourt. Click on the link to hear four blokes discussing all things West Ham and not being entirely happy with the ref against Newcastle. 

Jarrod Bowen's on hire

Loyalty isn't something you normally associate with modern footballers. So it's great to hear Jarrod Bowen say that West Ham took a chance on him when no-one else did and he wants to repay that trust by staying at the club for the rest of his career. Jarrod has signed a new seven-year contract and is now part of Essex royalty, through, erm, dating Dani Dyer and having uber-geezer Danny Dyer as his father-in-law. Had Declan Rice left, Paqueta gone to Man City and Bowen departed we could have been looking at a very different season. But the betting investigation into Lucas has done West Ham a favour and now Jarrod is committed to the club, which means we can really start to build a top side.

At last some Kudus for Irons

West Ham United 2 Newcastle United 2 

The London Stadium is burning on a ridiculously hot October afternoon - proof that the last thing Rishi should be doing is allowing more oil wells and encouraging the Laurence Fox brigade. Away from planetary concerns Matt and Lisa have been to a Kings Place talk on Rachmaninoff (so genteel that Matt felt he couldn't wear colours) which strangely enough wasn't full of members of the Toon Army. Fraser is tanned from a trip to Benidorm, Michael has been networking at Politicos bookshop and Nigel's been to see Muse live. 

The Hammers start well and take the lead early on. Antonio finds Paqueta who plays a lovely ball over the defence to Emerson. His touch is good and the full-back takes it round the onrushing Pope and crosses for Soucek to score with a simple finish. That's Tomas's fourth goal of the season - he's already beaten last season's tally. 

West Ham play well in the first half with Paqueta showing some delightful touches and Alvarez strong in the tackle. Guimaraes is booked for a foul on Emerson but then is bizarrely spared a second yellow after a late tackle on Ward-Prowse. Emerson gets booked for waving an imaginary card, but Almiron escapes for the same offence. Dan Burn has a header just wide of the post but apart from that Newcastle never really get going after their midweek win against PSG.

At half time Matt produces his copy of When Saturday Comes and shares the article revealing that the smallest settlement in Europe to have a team in the top division is Loughall FC from County Armagh in Northern Ireland, a village with a population of 232. Some groundhopper types are visiting the Lakeview Stadium because of this, not that this would appeal to any of our number. We're also joined at the break by Nigel's pal Reg and his son Kurt 'Henry' Cobain. In row 63 Reg seems to think the London Stadium can't compare with the intimacy of Barrow FC. 

Predictably enough Darth Vader's Newcastle improve in the second half after words from Eddie Howe. Alvarez sends a diving header narrowly wide but it's all Newcastle after that as Areola makes a great stop from Burn's header.

Paqueta is involved in a fifty-fifty tussle but the ref gives the Toon a very soft free kick. Alvarez heads the free-kick across his own box, playing Isak onside, who scores. "You're not fit to referee!" chant the home fans. Three minutes later Trippier gets down the right, just onside, and lobs a cross in to Isak, who scores as Aguerd and Coufal lose concentration while appealing for offside.

DRAWING DRAWING WEST HAM

It could easily be three when Burn's pass dissects the Hammers defence, Isak rounds Areola and shoots against the base of the post. The keeper has done well to not bring the Newcast'e forward down and it's a turning point. Perhaps sensing that he can't wind up the Vicar's Son any more without spontaneous combustion, Moyes finally brings on Kudus and Benrahma. 

Kudus has an instant impact impressing with his control and turns. A Ward-Prowse free-kick goes over the bar, unlike his Southampton efforts. Just as Michael is bemoaning another loss to his Newcastle bête noire, Coufal pays the ball inside to Kudus. The former Ajax man takes one touch and half-volleys home a crisp finish into the bottom corner before running to the Bobby Moore Stand. Now that was classy. 

"West Ham are massive!" echoes around the stadium as the crowd sense a late winner. They almost get it when Bowen cuts in on his left foot and his low drive is just touched by Pope, denying Benrahma a tap-in at the far post. 

I SOLD MY CAR TO LUCAS PAQUETA

The whistle goes and we'll take 2-2 against the Sportswashers, who are likely to be in the top six at least. We retreat to the Eagle's beer garden where two pub teams are on the TV and Nigel tests Matt on what is unique about St Johnstone. They are of course the only UK league team to have a 'J' in their name. We also learn that Nigel, who is off to see Jay Rayner's jazz night, has this week seen a version of Wishbone Ash play. They split but not in the style of a wishbone, with whoever gets the biggest half keeping the band name.

As Sinead provides the East London Pale Ale we have a discussion concerning Lucas Paqueta songs including, "There's nobody better than Lucas Paqueta!" and of course, "Just sold my car to Lucas Paqueta!" to the tune of the We Buy Any Car ad. Nigel leaves wondering if he can do a deal with Lucas for his Honda.

So the international break arrives with the Hammers seventh and on 14 points while topping our Europa League group. Not a bad start at all.

PLAYER RATINGS: Areola 7; Coufal 7, Zouma 6, Aguerd 6, Emerson 7: Alvarez 7, Ward-Prowse 6, Paqueta 7, Soucek 7 (Kudus 8); Bowen 7, Antonio 6 (Benrahma 6). 

Paqueta stars for record-breaking Hammers

SC Freiburg 1 West Ham 2 (Europa League)

Who needs away fans? It's an early evening 5.45pm kick-off watching on TNT and early on there's encouragement when the Freiburg keeper Atubolu gives away a comedy corner with an air-kick. West Ham take an early lead when Bowen wriggles down the right and gets in a great cross with his weaker right foot. Paqueta rises brilliantly to power home a header that is more Alan Shearer than Fancy Dan Brazilian.

Bowen and Kudus are looking a mobile front two and West Ham almost double their lead when Kudus's effort is fumbled by the keeper on to a post. Freiburg aren't showing much and Paqueta is unluckily to have another goal disallowed for offside.

But the fear is that Freiburg, who finished fifth in the Bundesliga, must improve in the second half and so it proves. The German side play with much more intensity and four minutes in Fabianski makes a fine double save only to see Sallai lash the third effort home. Aguerd should maybe have come out quicker to block rather than stand with his arms behind his back, as is the defensive vogue. It's almost two when a looping header drifts against the post and Holer slices a great chance over the bar.

But this West Ham side is now very experienced in Europe and refuses to panic. Aguerd and Mavropanos remain resolute and Emerson comes on for Kehrer. Bowen slips through and fires against the keeper to win a corner. Atuboli doesn't come out with any conviction and Aguerd gets ahead of him to power home a header from Ward-Prowse's delivery.

The Hammers strike it around well after that as Paqueta sets up a great chance for Kudus, who fires wide of the post. The game ends with Paqueta somehow beating three men on the touchline and playing a great through ball to Bowen, who sadly shoots wide. That would have been the assist of the season. 

So the Hammers complete a record run of 17 games unbeaten in Europe by an English side, beating Pep Guardiola's City, Don Revie's Leeds and Bill Nicholson's Spurs. It's about time David Moyes got some credit for this. Irons!  

The benefits of a settled team

Finally David Moyes seems to know his best X1. West Ham's good start to the season has been helped by so few changes. Nayef Agued missed the first half of the season last time out and Kurt Zouma had several injuries, so the centre back pairings were always changing, but this season the partnership is flourishing. 

Last season Coufal, Kehrer and Johnson vied for the right-back role but now Moyes has settled on Vladimir Coufal and the RoboCop has made three assists in a row. Alavrez and Ward-Prowse have become certain starters and Soucek appears to be preferred to Benrahma, and without Declan Rice in the team Tomas is scoring again as he gets forward more. While Antonio has seen off Scamacca and nailed the striker role, at least until Kudus breaks through.

Meanwhile West Ham could complete a record 16 games unbeaten in Europe if they avoid defeat at Freiburg, which would better the records of Pep Guardiola's City, Don Revie's Leeds and Bill Nicholson's Spurs. Come on you Irons!