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