West Ham United 3 - 3 West Bromwich Albion

Sam's 'must win match' ends in a draw as West Ham's inability to hold a lead costs them dear once again.

Big Sam stuck with the team that valiantly went down to Arsenal two days previously and was rewarded early on when some intelligent and neat interplay by the much maligned Kevin Nolan, landed at Joe Cole's feet who made no mistake from 12 yards out, beating Ben Foster at his near post.

As the sun beat down on the Boleyn Ground, there was a brief feeling of joy, was this going to be the day we finally fulfilled our potential? The crowd certainly needed something to cheer, if Twitter rumours are to be believed, young protege Ravel Morrison had indeed handed in a transfer request adding to the Hammers woes over the festive period.
In addition to this, David Gold tweeted the return estimations for some of our bigger players. Early suggestions had predicted big Andy Carroll on the bench for this game, not to be, he is apparently out for another 3/4 weeks. Cue collective groan.

As such, an early goal was well needed, but rather than force forward and get that vital second, West Ham, a team with little belief at present found themselves on the backfoot, being outpassed by a belligerent and hungry West Brom outfit.

The cause was not helped by James Tomkins being subbed after eight minutes due to injury. Might I add what a stellar attitude this lad has got. In addition to his personal troubles at the present time, as the board for Guy Demel went up to indicate the sub, Tomkins waved it away and tried to run off his injury up and down the sidelines. His grimace of pain said enough and eventually the substitution was made. If we had eleven players with the courage and heart of Tomkins, I feel we would not be getting these continually disappointing results.

A surprise bonus of the festive period is the imperious return to form of Matt Jarvis. A goal against Spurs and some excellent displays continued today as he wreaked havoc down the left flank. That being said, despite the pressure and Carlton Cole causing a nuisance up front, there were no more first half goals to ease the mounting pressure on the West Ham back four. It must also be added with the removal of Tomkins, West Ham had no recognised centre backs playing. McCartney filled in magnificently, Joey O'Brien certainly struggled.

It was indeed the signs of a makeshift defence when Chris Brunt provides a killer pass that beat the offside trap and found Anelka, who slotted effortlessly past the recalled Jussi Jaaskelainen late in the second half. The ground fell under a spellbound silence, something that has become all too familiar this year.
 
It did not take the Baggies long to take the lead. A corner which perhaps should have been a goal kick was cleared off the line by big Carlton Cole and fell at the feet of Anelka, who prodded home his second is as many minutes. West Ham went into the changing room 2-1 down.

West Ham started the second half timidly and found themselves under increasing pressure from a resurgent West Brom side. The home fans were getting tetchy to say the least, more from the distinct lack of fight than their lack of quality. Anelka found himself in on goal again, two minutes after the restart but a good save by Jussi kept the Frenchman from sealing a ten minute hat-trick.

Modibo Maiga came on a the interval for the carded Carlton Cole and begun to make an impact, forcing a fingertip save from Ben Foster for a West Ham corner. Just two minutes later in the 65th minute, a beautiful curling left-foot shot by Maiga, bounced in front of Foster and found its way into the back of the net and built some belief around the Boleyn. The noise level was up again, the crowd roared into life (my throat is still sore!) and West Ham went on the attack again.

Maiga again was integral as he nodded on Noble's cross to the waiting Nolan, who dare I say it, athletically, poked in from six-yards out-3-2 West Ham! This couldn't be happening? Written in the stars perhaps? Beleaguered captain scores crunch game winner in East London...

Predictably it was not to be, as the impressive Berahino eased past Guy Demel two minutes later and slotted neatly past Jaaskaleinen. Although a sweet finish from a tight angle, I do feel Adrian might have had this one covered. Either way it was 3 - 3 after a mad eight minutes and a nervy finish for the East London side.

West Ham were either exhausted, flat or did not care in the final 20 minutes as this was the poorest spell of the game for the team. They were outrun and outplayed by the Baggies and Berahino was unlucky not to have grabbed the winner with a sweet, curling free kick that hit the corner of the upright. Jussi stood cemented to the spot for the fifth time this season. Mercifully, this one did not result in an opposition goal.

The game ended with a chorus of boos and I was adamant Big Sam would have to be releived of his duties after this one. The chairmen wanted 6 points from the festive period, we had 2 points with one to play.

My only conclusion is that there is so much that needs managing behind the scenes that it would be dangerous to get rid of the big man just now. I don't really buy into the concept of 'if you were in this situation, you would appoint Allardyce' philosophy, he has got us into this situation.

That being said, there are two sides to every argument. The first being managing this horrific injury list, a team with no morale, clearly a difficult and bullish young starlet etc.  The other side is the short-sighted signings, the negative tactics, the distinct lack of fight from key players at the moment, our shocking return from free kicks and corners at the moment (I thought Big Sam was a master of the set piece?)

Either way, its tough work being a Hammer at the moment - do spare a thought for us. Happy new year, to all and here's hoping 2014 can start brightly in an away game at Fulham where quite frankly anything can happen.

Jussi 5
You were right first time Sam - his time has gone
JOB 4
Very poor - out of position - a fish out of water
G McCartney 7
Fought tirelessly
Tomkins 5
Injured after 8 minutes
Rat 6
Played well - needs to improve his forward balls
Noble 5
Mediocre today - very negative when passing
Diame 3
Where is the fight?
Jarvis 7
Played well - had bottle -created chances
Nolan 6
Scored a goal - was ineefective otherwise in midfield
Cole 6
Worked hard - well taken goal
C.Cole 6
Gave it his limited all


Maiga  7*
Turned the game - something to be positive about
Collison 6
Ran around a lot
Demel 5
Disappointing - Berahino made him look a bit silly for the third goal

West Ham 1-3 Arsenal

A better performance by the Hammers still ended in defeat, as Arsenal turned up the heat at the top of the table.
West Ham fielded a much-changed side from games' past as Maiga made way for Carlton Cole and Ravel Morrison was omitted from the squad with Kevin Nolan returning from suspension. Adrian kept his place in goal and despite his festive misdemeanours, James Tomkins lined up alongside James Collins in the centre of defence.
Arsenal named a strong side with Ramsey, Walcott, Ozil, Cazorla and Giroud all starting.
West Ham started brightly with Carlton Cole causing a number of difficulties for Mertesacker and Vermaulen in the centre of defence. Mark Noble played extremely well in the centre of midfield breaking up a number of Arsenal attacks. As usual, Arsenal were slow to start, but once they got into their stride were very difficult to live with. Crisp, fast passing but with Olivier Giroud up front, not a great deal of end product. Despite a slow start, at the halfway point, Arsenal had dominated 68% of possession and had the majority of the chances. Theo Walcott had the best chance at the end of the half when a scything through ball fell to him in the six yard box, the West Ham faithful praying for the offside flag which never appeared, somehow he managed to drive the ball wide. West Ham were hanging on, but went in at the break 0-0.
It seemed like a change of gameplan for the Irons at the break as we looked to soak up pressure and hit Arsenal on the counter attack. As we know, a plan executed with some aplomb against the hapless Spurs team at their place last October (sorry - I couldn't resist!)
Early in the half, after a broken down Arsenal attack, West Ham broke and a Diame ball into the box was half cleared to an unmarked Nolan on the edge of the 18 yard area. A powerful drive straight at the keeper caused Sczezny only to parry to the awaiting Carlton Cole who deftly popped the ball into the Arsenal net and a surprise 1-0 lead to the Hammers. I was doubly over the moon as I had Cole as first goal scorer so was in the money. A trip to the sportingbet lads was in order, only to find they had promptly cleared out halfway through the second half!
So it was back to the football and buoyed by a vocal Upton Park crowd, West Ham's counter attacking style continued to find openings in the wobbly Arsenal defence. We successfully soaked up the pressure and hit on the break with Diame and Joe Cole the main tormentors. One such ball into the box, left Carlton Cole six yards out with an open goal at his disposal. Sadly, he could only manage to shot wide and when Joey O'Brien's free header squirmed inches wide, nerves set in and you could feel it was not going to be our day.
Ramsey pulled up with what appeared to be a torn muscle and on came Lucas Podolski who.had an immediate effect on the game. However despite staunch defending from the East Londoners, after much pressure a Walcott shot managed to wriggle through the defence and flailing arms of Adrian to equalise for the Gunners. For the last 25 minutes the gulf in quality and indeed the lack of belief from  West Ham filtered through as the North Londoners piled forward. Kieran Gibbs played in a hugely advanced role and terrorised Joey O'Brien, to cause a straight swap for Guy Demel. It was to no avail sadly as a cross whipped in from the left and deflected off a West Ham defender straight into the path of Walcott who rifled it into the net, scoring his first ever goal in the Premier League with his head. Hard to believe? This is West Ham, don't forget!
The home side had all but thrown in the towel by now and further Arsenal passing and moving mesmerised our drained defence and some nice interplay saw Giroud lay off to Podolski who fired into the bottom right to seal the victory.
The game ended with West Ham in the attack, but really it was all said and done and a noble performance was never enough against such a high quality attack. That being said, we did exposé the Arsenal defence on a number of occasions and if we had a real striker of any quality, we would have gone 2-0 up and who knows what might have happened. As with so many games this year our lack of quality firepower cost us, but as always, when our best players return,  I am confident we will be fine.
Hilariously, Carlton Cole was named man of the match. This depresses me as it depicts the huge lack of ambition at the club really. It was indeed his misses and his absent performance for the most part of the second half that cost us dear. If anyone was man of the match, I would suggest Noble, who worked tirelessly against a world class midfield.
West Bromwich Albion at home followed by Fulham away on New Year's Day now become huge fixtures for us.
Merry Christmas one and all and a happy new year.

Tottenham Hotspur 1 - 2 West Ham United

For the second time in ten weeks, West Ham United have beaten Spurs at White Hart Lane to heap even more pressure on the underachieving North London club.

Stand in Spurs manager, Tim Sherwood, showed his intent by playing two strikers, something AVB was reticent to do whilst Big Sam named an experienced, yet largely second string side. Noble, Diame and Morrison dropped to the bench and there were call ups for Matty Taylor, Alou Diarra and Jack Collison. Razvan Rat returned to the starting line up and George McCartney filled in at centre back for the injured James Tomkins.
Carlton Cole made only his second start of the season upfront.

Tottenham started the brighter of the two teams and ex-Hammer Jermain Defoe, had a gilt-edged chance. Spurs continued to make a lot of the running in the first half with chances for Adebayor and Sigurdsson both going astray. As has been the case for a majority of this season, there was a lot of huff and puff from Tottenham but little final product and as the minutes ebbed away, West Ham knew they had every opportunity of nicking a chance on the break.

That being said, there were few West Ham chances in the first half, with Carlton Cole striking tepidly at Lloris and Jarvis causing difficulties down the left hand side, sadly there was little else to write home about. Defensively though, the Irons were outstanding. Marshalled by stand-in skipper James Collins, West Ham frustrated their opponents, not dissimilarly to the league match here in October. Diarra and Collison sat in front of the back four and broke up Tottenham's play well and looked to attack on the break.

In the second half, Sam swapped a tired looking Carlton Cole for Modibo Maiga. The latter won a corner for the Irons that was well defended and saw Tottenham burst up the pitch. Townsend found Defoe, who beat Matt Taylor, to produce a pinpoint cross to Adebayor, who rifled the ball into the top of the net. The Spurs faithful went wild and from Adebayor's celebrations, you would have thought he had just won the league for his side.

As the game moved into the final third, Big Sam looked to make further impact and brought on the ever-impressive Mo Diame for Joe Cole. His low shot from Maiga's flick on brought the best out of Hugo Lloris as West Ham refused to lie down once again at White Hart Lane.
 
Andros Townsend pulled up with a hamstring injury which will see him out of action until the new year and Sherwood decided to pull off Adebayor to much applause from the Tottenham fans.

Then the moment came from an Adrian clearance, which found Maiga's head superbly who knocked down to Diame. He played it into Matty Taylor, who had the vision to put Matthew Jarvis in wide on the left. Jarvis took a first time shot which cannoned into the back of the net, to even the score on the night.

Big Sam sensing blood or deja vu, made his final change of the night bringing on Ravel Morrison for the final ten minutes of the match. Diame et al continued to be a nuisance and a long cross that looked to be going out of play was kept in by Jarvis who managed to find Ravel, who played himself out of trouble before laying off a perfect ball to Diame, wide on the right. Diame with time to pick out his man, played in a majestic ball that spun and swirled in the air and found Maiga's head which in turn found the left hand corner of the goal and a 2-1 scoreline to West Ham. This was Maiga's first goal in twenty games and was fabulously taken by the much maligned centre-forward.
 
Tottenham brought on Lewis Holtby for their final throw of the dice and tried to test the West Ham defence. Their best opportunity came for Nacer Chadli, who through on goal was quite brilliantly challenged by Joey O' Brien and thus tamely knocked his effort towards the open arms of 'keeper Adrian.
 
In fact, it was West Ham who had the best opportunity to wrap up the game with a threatening break, started by Jack Collison with some nimble footwork, who played out to Ravel Morrison. Diame thrust forward as Tottenham's withered defence found themselves stretched once more. A half clearance fell to Maiga who beat his defender sublimely and shot from thirty yards only to watch the ball thunder off the crossbar and fall at the feet of a Spurs defender.
 
West Ham saw out the five minutes of added time to record another sublime victory at White Hart Lane. It was even more pleasing to note that West Ham's squad was ravaged with injuries and suspensions, while Spurs had a rather strong side. The Spurs' faithful were expecting a response following their 5-0 slaughter at the hands of Liverpool at the weekend, sadly it was not to be as West Ham out-thought and outplayed their rivals on their home patch once more this season.

So the pressure eased somewhat for West Ham and hopefully some selection headaches for Big Sam come saturday and the trip to Old Trafford. Taylor and Collison were superb in midfield and Adrian continues to impress between the sticks. Overall, the spirit though was pleasing for a team accused of not showing the passion and integrity associated with this magnificent football club.

The only down side to the evening was that the draw for the semis could have been kinder, West Ham handed a tie with in-form Manchester City. Still you have to beat the best to win the competition and Wigan knocked them out last year, so there is always hope. Something our north london rivals will be clinging onto, in these rather embarassing times.

Adrian 7
Excellent accuracy and some splendid saves
O'Brien 7
Played supremely well - some excellent tackles
Collins 8
One of the best games I have seen him have - no mistakes!
McCartney 7
Filled in fabulously
Rat 6
A solid if not inspiring game
Diarra 6
Chased shadows a lot today
Collison 7
A great game - harrassed and bullied the Tottenham midfield
Taylor 8
Really stuck his hand up today - key role in the equalising goal
Jarvis 7
Looking like he is returning to form at the right time
Cole 6
Was mostly on the backfoot - not a lot of threat
Cole C 6
Won some headers

Diame 7
Immediate impact on a tiring Spurs defence
Maiga 9
All is forgiven Modibo - best game so far
Morrison 7
Pace and dribbling always a problem for defences

Bad leadership is better than no leadership - West Ham 0 - 0 Sunderland

The West Ham faithful sat through yet another stalemate at Upton Park, as Sunderland will rue missed opportunities to win the game.
Well, that is the last time I will be making any predictions before a West Ham United game. I was that confident, I put them in my acca, breaking one of my many gambling rules of fun. Don't back West Ham, or any team that is so woeful in front of goal for that matter. 
It all started so well, with the Man City and Arsenal goalfest, followed by some relatively pleasing team news from Big Sam. I think he picked the best team he had at his disposal, with Tomkins passing a late fitness test and Joe Cole coming into the starting line up. Nolan was suspended (a blessing in disguise I thought) so Ravel came back in and lined up with Jarvis, Noble and Diame to make up the midfield. Maiga kept his place up top after a fairly decent performance against Liverpool last week. 
This was touted as a 'must win' for both teams, yet I suppose being brutally honest, Sunderland needed it more than us. This was indeed evident by the way they started and kept up the relentless pace of the game. The Sunderland midfield hurried us off the ball and did not let us create any real chances of note. This was mirrored by Andre Marriner's shockingly poor refereeing decisions, leaving us with little to no chances in the first half with fans and players extremely frustrated. 
An example of Marriner's ineptitude came in the first half when West Ham had a free kick that big Ginger James Collins was lining up to boom into the box. Jozy Altidore, crept forward as a one man wall, causing Marriner to blow up and rightfully usher him back. He promptly ignored the ref's requests only to shuffle ever closer to the dead ball, much to the crowd's disgust. Altidore looked at the ref, the ref shrugged his shoulders before ushering Collins to get on with it, at which point Altidore leapt forward and at the point of contact was literally two yards from the dead ball. To add further insult to injury, the ball cannoned off the striker's right bum cheek and towards the West Ham half. Altidore, waiting for the referee's whistle and ensuing card/free kick, hears the golden sound of silence and finds himself through on goal and bearing down on Jussi. Due to being apoplectic with rage, I didn't see what happened, but he clearly didn't score. This most certainly would have been for the best as I daresay he would have had a few hundred West Ham fans wanting to send the boys 'round if he had.  
Sunderland continued to press hard and Jussi tipped a rifling effort onto the bar at the end of the half and West Ham continued to look, like headless, leaderless chickens.  
The second half started, subs came and went, they were all pretty useless and we continued to get played off the park by bottom of the pile Sunderland. Nerves were a jangle and the crowd remained quiet until the final 25 minutes or so where we tried fruitlessly to inspire this desperately misfiring team. It was to no avail and the game ended in a horrible 0-0 and Sunderland will quite honestly feel very hard done by. They had 59% of the possession and 19 shots on goal. Luckily we had a keeper who had one of his better games.  
My favourite part of the game was when Jack Collison came out for a cheeky little warm up at the start of the second half. He was eating a banana and managed to stretch, applaud the crowd and take a chunk of the fruit simultaneously, without a second thought. It was mightily impressive to say the least and I only wonder if he could transform these multi-tasking skills onto the pitch we might be onto something. Imagine a West Ham player who could run, look up and shoot at the same time, eh?  
I think Noble had his worst game so far this season. Jarvis was equally very poor. Maiga has the ability to jump really, really high. Like he seems to hang in the air for what seems like an age before ultimately missing the ball and bottling out of the subsequent tackle. Ravel ran around and around and around the opposition penalty box, either too frightened or too lazy to pull the trigger. James Collins continues to amaze me how he plays Premier League football, he literally offers nothing. His free-kicks are usually over hit and inaccurate and gone are the day of his aerial threat. At the death, he had a chance to win it with a clear header but the ball glanced off the side of his big ginger bonce and dribbled out for a goal kick, a beautiful and poignant metaphor for West Ham's general attacking threat at present. 
It was the first time I have been bored at West Ham this season, there really was nothing to shout about at all. We keep banging on about the striker situation but it's the least of our worries. The team have no belief and no drive at the moment which is a massive concern in a relegation scrap. I actually missed Nolan for a brief moment in the game, which goes to show what sort of a state we are in. 
I would not have been surprised to see the back of Big Sam this morning after such a feeble display at home. Also, I thought his post-match comments were laughable and embarrassing, praising the point and the clean sheet, bemoaning the fact that we needed 'just 1 goal in eight of the games' etc. etc. I wonder if Pellegrini sets his side up to think 'just one goal, that's all we need today.' It's farcical really, but hey ho this is West Ham United, where anything can happen.
Even before the game, Sullivan came out having a little whinge about Andy Carroll and his injury. Apparently he would not have signed him if he'd have known he would not have played so far this season. In other news, the publishing firms that rejected Harry Potter wished they had have given it another read and people are quite sad that Nelson Mandela died too. I mean really, what is the point? I wish our owners could keep their mouths shut at times and let the football (for better or worse) do the talking. 
Or at least spend some time thinking whether Big Sam is indeed still the man, from where I am looking, the players and fans seem to have lost faith. But these are owners who like to stand by their man, just like they did with Uncle Avram. We can only hope there is not the same result at the end of the season.
This week we go away to manager-less Spurs before a trip up north to the champions, Manchester United. That is followed by the visit of Arsenal on Boxing Day. This fan is a little anxious to say the least.   


Jussi 7*

Man of the match - kept us in the game
Demel 6
A solid game
Tomkins 7
Fights solidly for the cause - came bursting out of defence with some good runs
Collins 5
A bit of a liability for me
McCartney 5
Did northing of note - poor crossing
Noble 4
Looked a bit lost today
Diame 6
We are completely reliant on his bullocking runs
Joe Cole 5 
Without my rose-tinted JC specs on, nothing really of note today
Jarvis 4
Very, very poor
Morrison 5
Doesn't know what to do with the ball when he has it
Maiga 5
Tries hard - fails miserably

Big Sam's moment of truth? West Ham v Sunderland preview

When I bought my season ticket this year, I did not think a pre-Christmas fixture with Sunderland at home would be the make or break point of our season. Oh how quickly us Hammers forget, eh? There I was at the start, after the comfortable dispatching of Cardiff City, mulling over exactly what position in the top ten we would finish. Would we nick into a Europa spot? It could happen you know...
Well, it feels like a bicentennial age since Kevin Nolan boomed the ball into the top left corner and won the game for us. A majority of the rest of the season has been woeful to say the least, bar the master-class against Spurs and a home-drubbing of Fulham. Like that match two weeks ago, this one is also a must win.
A lot of West Ham fans have been wondering whether Big Sam will be sitting down to his turkey dinner a jobless man or indeed the manager of West Ham United for his third Christmas in a row. My gut feeling is the latter. These are owners who don't like to move managers on and as a club, loyalty is one of our better traits.
That being said, Gullivan must have learnt from the horrorshow under Avram Grant, where he was backed in the transfer window and even with the collective might of Parker, Ba and Robbie Keane going hammer and tongs, still couldn't keep us up.
Sunderland however are in a slightly more precarious position than us. Common sense tells us that Gus Poyet is probably slightly more clueless than dear old Sam at this juncture in their respective clubs and Sunderland do need this victory more. 
It will be the usual situation at Upton Park, with West Ham storming out of the blocks (like they did against Fulham) searching for that opening goal to calm and settle what will be a vociferous crowd. However, if the goal does not come, the crowd will turn and nerves begin to set in.
I for one am not too bothered about the injury news. Having been one of the more vocal detractors of Captain Kev this season, I am in fact glad to see him unavailable. I do not take for granted the excellent effect he has in the changing room and with the lads, my grievance is only poor form. As such, I am looking forward to Ravel  moving further up the pitch and see this as an excellent opportunity for him to show the world what he really can do.
If Tomkins does not make it, this will be a big miss. However, even with two broken legs, a torn hamstring,  a couple of black eyes, I still imagine the backroom staff would patch him up and send him out once more unto the breach.
I hope not to rue my overconfidence come Saturday night, but I do think our class will show through at some stage, why not now? As West Ham fans we have over-hypothesised this season too many times, but on the whole, there have been glimpses of some excellent play. Hopefully, with our backs to the wall and in our darkest time under Big Sam's reign, it will click tomorrow and ease the pressure on all and sundry. After all, let's face it, we don't want a new manager do we? Who is out there of any note? 
On a brighter note, Carroll's return looms ever nearer and Maiga on a law of averages has to score at some time. Diarra looks like he is out on his ear come January and the board have promised a decent striker in the window, so there is room for positivity come what may. Although nothing would make us more positive than a good three points, with a depleted side tomorrow. Come on you Irons! 

Crystal Palace 1 - 0 West Ham United

It was back down to earth with a terrifying thump for West Ham fans as they suffered their eighth defeat of the campaign so far.
Carlton Cole got his first start of the season in a straight swap for the much improved Maiga. Ravel Morrison came into the starting line up in place of Matt Jarvis, with Mo Diame keeping his place in the Iron's midfield.
A thunderous atmosphere saw the home side start brightly without creating a multitude of chances. West Ham weathered the inevitable storm, before beginning to get a foothold in the game, dominating possession and creating useful chances. It was a typical London derby, with lots of scrapping and balls being fought for and it really was a case of who wanted it more. That did look like West Ham for the most part of the first half, with Diame going close with a header over the bar and Nolan once again, tapping the ball into the arms of the keeper Speroni, following a cute Mark Noble free kick.
It was a West Ham error that earned Crystal Palace a corner which was well executed by Barry Bannan but cleared by the West Ham defence. The ball fell nicely again to the corner taker, who whipped in a magnificent cross to leave the West Ham defence wrong-footed. Add a deft Morouane Chamakh touch and it was 1-0 Palace with Kevin Nolan and Mark Noble left flailing hopelessly as the ball trickled past them and into the net.
It was a hammer blow (no pun intended) for a team which dominated possession in the first half however only managed one chance on target; the story of our season.
The second half began and despite a lot of huff and puff from the West Ham attack there was little final product as the Hammers flattered to deceive. Big Sam had seen enough of a lacklustre performance by Carlton Cole and another vital miss from Nolan and pulled them off in favour of Maiga and Joe Cole. The pace of the game was difficult for Cole to keep up with but he hassled well, while Maiga didn't really have many chances in front of goal. In fact, it was Crystal Palace on the break who looked the more threatening and managed to create some chances which should have killed the game off. Cameron Jerome clean through on goal saw his shot well saved by the diving Jussi and Jimmy Kebe netted, only to be ruled offside.
The major talking point of the game came from a West Ham corner where from Chamakh's clearance the ball fell to Downing who rifled the ball into Speroni's net only for Tomkins to have been judged offside in the process. A bizarre decision, where upon replay it appeared that Tomkins had been fouled and indeed West Ham could have had a penalty.
West Ham continued to knock on the door with no real force and found themselves wanting once again in the attacking department. Downing had a free kick saved low to his left by Speroni, but Palace's dogged defending and closing down kept West Ham at bay. Our attacks lacked any pace at all and as such our continuous attempts to pass through them fell flat on their face. 
Big Sam will rue the disallowed goal, however we should have at least have had a goal in the first half, in particular Kevin Nolan's woeful strike, which would have made the second half far more interesting. I wouldn't mind except this is the third time I have seen Nolan attempt a volley this season, through on goal, to no avail. Luckily against Spurs and Fulham it didn't matter. 
Full credit, to a Palace side invigorated by the appointment of Pulis. They played their socks off and gave our playmakers (ahem) no time on the ball. In addition to this, the noise and atmosphere truly was something to behold at Selhurst Park. They refuse to lie down and I dare say there could be some interesting twists before the end of the season. 
A very tough run of fixtures follow before the mercy of the transfer window. Initial talk is of Andy Carroll being back for the West Brom game on the 28th December, but I shall hold my breath on this one. If we can somehow snaffle 5-6 points in December, hopefully the new year will bring some fresh legs and momentum to what has been a disappointing season so far.  

West Ham United 3 - 0 Fulham FC

West Ham went back to winning ways in the London derby against their relegation rivals. 

It was a must-win game for both teams and after the seemingly constant debate surrounding West Ham's tactics in recent weeks, Big Sam changed the formation and the personnel. Modibo Maiga came in as the lone striker and Mohamed Diame came into the team also, with Jack Collison and Ravel Morrison making way. 

I must say the atmosphere was electric in the Boleyn Ground on this cold, Saturday afternoon. The Fulham fans sadly only managed to muster a measly 1500 bums on seats, meaning the majority of the Trevor Brooking stand was filled with Happy Hammers. They most certainly made a noise, with a majority of the stand singing the whole afternoon. The players responded duly and had a number of good opportunities early on. Maiga started brightly and had a header ricochet off the crossbar in the opening ten minutes. The West Ham pressure continued and it was James Collins next, whose header found the side netting. 

The team were most certainly knocking on the door but found themselves frustrated time and time again by the quality of shot or chances eking just wide. This was typified by the captain Kevin Nolan being set up with pinpoint accuracy by Matt Jarvis. Nolan in acres of space, set up a scissor-kick volley, only to tamely tap his effort at goalkeeper Stekelburg. 

West Ham continued brightly but Fulham looked vaguely dangerous on the counter attack. Most of their fluidity came from the quite lively performance of Adel Taarabt who caused the defence a couple of hiccups, but no major problems. Despite the dominance, the half ended 0-0.

The second half started with chances at either end. However it was Steve Sidwell who lost the ball in the Fulham midfield, Maiga collided with Scott Parker, who fell to the ground in pain, yet the referee decided to play on, leaving Mo Diame in acres of space and ready to pull the trigger. The ball took a wicked deflection off a beleaguered Fulham defender and into the right hand corner, for the first goal of the afternoon and to the temporary relief of all and sundry in East London today. Cue chants of 'how sh*t must you be? We're winning at home.'

Nerves set in however and a number of chances at either end were spurned. The better of the chances were at the Bobby Moore end with Maiga and Downing amongst a few players who could and should have done better with their final product. 

On came the reinforcements to settle this once and for all, with Joe Cole, Carlton Cole and Ravel Morrison replacing Jarvis, Maiga and Nolan respectively. In all honesty, the quality from the bench proved far too much for a beleaguered Fulham side, who saw Ravel set up a pacey Downing flying down the right wing, who put the ball on a plate for none other than Carlton Cole to pop into the back of the net and make the game safe at 2-0. Once again, the home crowd erupted. Fear finally overcome by elation and the realisation that in fact we are a good team who can play some excellent football at this level. That being said, Fulham on the whole were woeful. Still, lets not ruin the party just yet! 

The quality of football was typified by a searing run by Ravel Morrison who literally skipped past four Fulham players and looking to go the whole way himself, unselfishly pulled back for Joey Cole to fire into the bottom left hand corner for another deserved Hammer's goal. 3-0, thanks for coming.  

If one was to be critical, we could and should have put the game to bed earlier on. But credit to Sam and the players who continued to attack Fulham until the game was won. The team selection worked well too with Mo Diame providing much needed strength in midfield and Maiga, despite the criticism, having a very good game. If only he had played more, he might have pouched one or two of the chances that came his way. 

So a brief climb up the table and onto Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Tuesday night. Here is hoping the mighty Irons can make it two wins out of two, something they have not done since their return to the Premier League. Although Tony Pulis and a dogged Palace team will have something to say about that. 

Jussi 6
Not much to do but solid
Demel 7
Much better after his howler against Chelsea
Tomkins 7
Solid as usual
Collins 6
Often moves out of position but not caught against this oppo
McCartney 6
A solid return to the side
Noble 7
Played well as always
Diame 7
A poor first half but grew in confidence and his goal was obviously vital
Jarvis 7
Good distribution
Downing 7 
Some good opportunities - needs to get his shooting boots on
Nolan 5
Better - still not blowing my skirt up 
Maiga 6
A good game overall - wish he was more committed in 50/50s


Ravel Morrison 7
An absolute livewire from the bench
Carlton Cole 8
Well it had to be didn't it? Second touch and points secured
Joe Cole 8 (MOM) 
Marvellous play, goal and response from last week