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 

West Ham 2 Everton 3

A quite remarkable match ended (as it usually does) in favour of the Toffees, when these teams meet. Three goals and a sending off in 14 minutes saw the Hammers condemned to their second straight home defeat.
It was not all doom and gloom, West Ham started brightly and scored the opener via the gifted Ravel Morrison. Some intelligent and pacey wing play from Matt Jarvis, gave Ravel the time to tee up his shot before seeing it deflected and past the hapless Howard between the sticks. West Ham for large swathes of the first half were dominant and looked good for the lead. Had we any sort of attacking threat up front, we could have seen the lead doubled. As it is Maiga is an absolute waste of space and ever reliable Kevin Nolan is lacking form. Perhaps he misses his old buddy big Andy Carroll. Lets hope the bed wetting hasn't started up again.
The general consensus in the Trevor Brooking Lower was that we would most certainly take 1-0 at half time. We nullified the Everton attacking/counter-attacking threat and looked threatening ourselves; much better given two toothless performances on the bounce at Southampton and at home to Stoke.
However, there were rumblings and murmurings from the tunnel and lo and behold Martinez had only gone and done it. That's right guys, big Romelu Lukaka was making his way onto the pitch. Cue collective groan around the Boleyn. Ode to having a manager brave enough and forward thinking enough to make the necessary changes; changes that ultimately won them the game.
Everton proceeded on the attack (shock horror) and in some respects West Ham did well to nullify their threat in the most part. Mark my words, this Everton side are good. Very good. Barkley, Oviedo, Osman, Lukaku, Bloody Baines....the list goes on to their attacking threat and they will undoubtedly blow a few skirts up this year.
So the attacks come thick and fast and the West Ham defence are guilty of stepping off far too much. But it's ok because Ginger James Collins made up for that with a flying tackle just outside the area to fell new England prospect Gnarls Barkley. Shame young Gnarls didn't jump up and take it because every shot he seemed to have today flew into Row Z. So up steps Leighton Baines and pings it into Jussi’s right side top corner. 1 - 1.
The Boleyn crowd however remained upbeat; the sight of Maiga leaving the field helped this and on came Mladen Petric who started rather brightly. Now Maiga can learn a lot from the Croatian frontman. Chase the ball being the number 1 lesson. Secondly, being a striker, you can put a foot in. It is not going to damage your rainbow laces if you make the odd tackle. Just the odd one Modibo! Anyway Petric did just this, chased a ball towards the Bobby Moore Lower, challenged Howard, putting on enough pressure to win the ball back. He then looked up and picked out a perfect pass (these are all things I have never seen Maiga do - so excuse my surprise) to captain Kevin Nolan, who made his only important contribution of the game, falling over like a sack of spuds and earning the Irons a penalty. The fans were elated, we could not believe it. Up steps recently yellow-carded Mark Noble to very coolly slot it into the bottom left hand corner. 2-1 with 14 minutes to go.
One of the lads behind me said, 'I would give my left nut for that clock to be 10 minutes later.' Now my Father always taught me to never wish my life away but I had to agree with the tattooed young chap. How prophetic his words proved to be also. Everton attacked once more and Gnarls, despite his inability to shoot on target, was linking up well with Big Romelu. Having seen Gnarls flirting with the penalty area and knowing he is on a yellow card, Mark Noble flies in and brings the young lad down. Now it appears to me and the other thousand or so West Ham fans in our block that he had got the ball. It looked on Match of the Day like he had got the ball. I am not even going to mention the fact that his first booking was innocuous and not worth a card. I just won’t. So in his infinite wisdom and due to the fact he probably had Everton in his acca this morning, Lee Mason sends off Mark Noble. Bad times. Then we realised where the free kick had occurred. That’s right folks. Edge of area, bang in front.
I don't need to explain the rest because we all know what happened. The only difference was Baines went left side this time. Oh and pinged it off the inside of the post, just to take the mick a little more. Some early suggestions had been that Jussi could have moved quicker or was poorly positioned. Absolute drivel for me. There was no saving it. Even Batman wouldn't have got there in time.
So the end was nigh and the inevitability of what followed was clear. Everton poured forward and a pinpoint cross found the head of Lukaku who deserved one to be fair, found the back of the net, knocking himself out in the process.
Cue many a West Ham fan exiting the ground. I like a numpty decided to stay, to see the end and watch Ricardo Vaz Te miss a golden opportunity to head us a point. He must have been watching Gnarls as it ended up somewhere in Row Q of the Bobby Moore Stand.
Things to note. Petric is better than Maiga. To be honest, Big Sam is better than Maiga but Big Sam doesn't have the front to pick himself I suppose. I heard a few murmurs of folk saying that Maiga had 'won at least five good headers...lets be fair on him...' Really? Is that what it's come too? Anyone who watches West Ham regularly knows this season has been like playing with 10 men. I for one have lost my patience with Maiga and praise be, I reckon Big Sam has too. Carling Cup on Tuesday night, what is the harm in giving young Ellliot Lee a go? He can't be any worse.
Winston Reid was absolutely outstanding. He is so passionate for the club and team. When Baines second went in, he was screaming at the bench in sheer frustration. One can only assume that he aimed this at Noble, who should know better than to give away the free kick in that spot, especially when Lee Mason is around.
Ravel Morrison continues to develop and impress. He needs to keep his place when the big guns are back.
Kevin Nolan. Can we send him on compassionate leave? He is not the same player this year and I think the news that Carroll is out for a while has affected him.
Apart from the result and the referee, there were a lot of positives for the West Ham faithful as we did play well and dominated the game in patches. I am getting a bit hacked off with the constant praise of James Collins too. I swear that man has a howler a week and this time the free kick was a big one. It was a rash challenge and any defender should know better.
So it is not panic stations yet. We can still cling onto the coming of age of Ravel and a new player who looks lively upfront. However, next week's game against Hull becomes rather important as we have a tough run after that. We can all hope for a morale boosting win under the lights on Tuesday in the cup and then let the season start properly from that. I hate to say it but poor signings in the transfer window has got us into a little bit of a pickle. Let’s get behind the club and hope that the powers that be can pull us out also. Not to mention the odd referee decision going our way!

Jussi 7

Fine. Couldn’t do much about the goals

Rat 7

Held his own

Reid 9

Just outstanding

Collins 6

Solid despite his one howler a game

Joey O Brien  7

No problems

Morrison 8

Our best attacking threat

Diame 6

Ok. Got kicked about a bit

Noble 6

Difficult to rate. Shouldn’t have been sent off

Jarvis 6

Set up a goal but otherwise ineffective

Nolan 6

Nothing much to write home about

Maiga 4

Poor. Again.

Petric 7

Worked hard, largely earned the penalty

Ricardo Vaz Te 5

Did little. Missed a good chance

Taylor 5

Off the pace, Doesn’t cut it at this level.