Match Information:
Old Trafford, Att: 75,317
Teams:
Manchester United: de Gea, Rafael, Rojo, Shaw, McNair, Blind, Herrera (yellow card – A. Valencia 74’), Rooney (red card), Di Maria (Thorpe 94’), van Persie, Falcao (Fletcher 65’)
West Ham United: Adrian (yellow card), Reid, Tomkins, Cresswell, Demel (Jenksinson 65’), Amalfitano (Cole 61’) Sahko (yellow card), Poyet (Nolan 75’), Downing, Song (yellow card), E. Valencia
Match Review
What a game. We started poorly and Manchester United were quick to capitalise on it— but gone are the days when having early goals scored against us meant the game was over. We continued to push, and strong performances from Stewart Downing, Diafra Sahko, and Aaron Cresswell meant West Ham absolutely dominated the second half of the game. It was always going to be tough to match the performance against Liverpool whilst missing two of the key players who made that match what it was (the now-injured Cheikhou Kouyate and Mark Noble) but the team rallied well, and once they got into their stride, it was a different game.
With the improvements to the team, I can’t help but be a bit disappointed that we didn’t capitalise on our numerical advantage after Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney was sent off, and I think we deserved a least a point from our trip up north – but boy am I proud of the football we’re starting to play.
Ironsflash Moment
It was the best of moments; it was the worst of moments. Yes, I’m talking about the offside decision that’s divided not only a nation of football fans, but also the West Ham faithful. Kevin Nolan’s late “equaliser” was ruled out for being offside, and whilst Kevin normally seems to live on Offside Street, a lot of people will argue he was still on.
How did the boys do?
Adrian – 6
Let in two goals, and while he made some great saves, there’s a reckless part of Adrian which is making me a wee bit nervous. Booked.
Guy Demel – 6 (Carl Jenkinson 65’)
Defended well, and brought the ball forward when he could – but Jenkinson is going to prove tough competition for his starting position.
James Tomkins – 7
Had a busy day but did well to defend, and was useful during corner kicks on both ends.
Winston Reid – 7
A strong performance from Reid; frustratingly David Gold alluded on twitter that he “probably” would have been captain had he signed a new contract – I’d have rather seen him leading the squad on this occasion. So much for not fighting fire with fire.
Aaron Cresswell – 7/8
Looked great again, gets back well, never seems to take his eye off the ball, and is brilliant at moving the ball forward.
Alex Song – 6
Okay. Okay, I’m just gonna say it. Winning Man of The Match once does not entitle you to be captain for the next game. Was beyond reckless in the opening of the game. It seemed as if Rooney and Song were competing to see who could be the worst captain; luckily, Rooney won.
Diego Poyet – 6 (Kevin Nolan 75’)
Wasn’t the most noticeable player on the pitch, but his stats sure were impressive. According to @WHU_Stats, Poyet completed 27/30 passes in his first ever Premier League start. Not bad.
Diafra Sahko – 7/8
Constantly looking to score – and also starting to constantly score – but also won himself a silly yellow card. Great goal though.
Stewart Downing – 7
I never want to see him play solely on the wing again. He looks fantastic coming up through the middle, and it feels as if we’ve signed a new player since we’ve played him in a different position.
Morgan Amalfitano – 6 (Carlton Cole 61’)
Didn’t have the same impact starting as when he came on against Liverpool, but still more impactual than his replacement.
Enner Valencia – 6
Lively and active but missed valuable chances.
Subs:
Carlton Cole (on for Amalfitano 61’) – 5
I didn’t even notice he was playing. My feed must have cut when he was subbed on, but fortunately his presence was more noticeable in the last 10-15 minutes, and he had a few chances.
Carl Jenkinson (on for Demel 65’) – 7
The boy looks good – Demel wasn’t doing anything wrong— but the introduction of Jenkinson brought a well-needed spark to the second half.
Kevin Nolan – 7 (on for Poyet 75’)
Don’t get mad. Bringing him on made a difference—he had three chances in the last 10 minutes and may or may not have “scored” depending on your interpretation of the offside rule. He caused problems for the United defence.
Top Hammer
So who came out on top for the Hammers on Saturday afternoon? It’s a tough one as we did see some darn good performances – but for me, it’s a tie between Sahko and Cresswell. Both put in strong performances, and just seem to get better and better as the season goes on.
Halelujah. A post talking about hammers, & not just whinging about poor little wayne & how misunderstood the little lamb is. & how man u should always win cos they’re man u. With this team we’re gona get used to winning again. & long may it continue. COYI!!!
i think subbing demel for jenkinson 3 games running makes little sense to me. why waste a sub everytime on a loanee. .. youve got zarate, who’s done nothing wrong, sitting out in the cold. … He’s a goalscorer, creates and unlocks doors. … so to promote both nolan and carlton cole over him. .. i dont understand those subs at all.
I understand Sam’s change in line up to a certain extent Legends. Zarate, so far has only 1 wonder goal. Zarate was a free transfer, and Zarate apart from his one goal, still has yet to prove he can make the grade in this league, and as we’ve seen, even Valencia is struggling at times. Sakho seems to be the only one getting the goals at the moment, but no, I don’t agree with Sam replacing Demel. I can’t rate Demel highly enough, and it was Demel who played in every one on the 4 games last season when we got through all 4 games with clean sheets, and the moment he was replaced at Everton with around 10 minutes to go, Everton get their goal and won the game, when Demel had previously had it covered. I’m am always a bit concerned whenever Sam takes him off, as Demel is solid, why bother? This team now, without Nolan & AC is working a treat. I saw a recent news article about AC being ready to return in December. My immediate reaction was, Oh No!!! There is no going back to that dinosaur team that we had last year, no way ever, and if Sam wants open revolt again then just try our hand Sam OK? Carlton Cole still has the power and presence of a good impact sub, but no I’d be starting Sakho & Valencia as our strike force every time instead of Zarate and AC.
Now of the old team as a core starting 11, keep Adrian, Demel, Reid, Collins, Noble & Downing, with the new additions being Cresswell, Kouyate, Sakho, Valencia & Zarate
i think we’re on the same wavelength here Johnny. Demel for me is a solid player, a physical beast that wingers hesitate at when they have to compete against him. a good player. established. nothing against jenkinson who im sure is a very good player too. but sam should chose 1 or the other, not both, just for the sake of keeping them happy. seems weak and pointless if that’s the situation.
the only 2 things i’d add to your comments are firstly, the exclusion of Song is an oversight. He’s a very good player indeed amd should be in. And second, i get the Collins over Tomkins decision but think on current form it should be Collins over Reid instead. Reid seems like he’s got an inflated head problem – the way he passionately turned to blame his midfield immediately after being roasted by Van Persie at the weekend, says to me he feels he wasnt really acountable for the goal (but he could have cleared up the threat with better application).
I was watching the West Brom v Burnley game yesterday, and what a difference Jeoleon Lescott has made to that team, can anyone tell me, after trying for around most of the 2nd half of last season to sign him, as to why West Ham didn’t sign Jeoleon Lescott, he has totally transformed West Brom into solid unit with which to push up from defense in attack from, as the first 2 goals that West Ham let against Man Utd would have been totally preventable had we had a decent defense in place, as in the 1st half we made Man Utd look better than what they really are, as even with all of their changes, they have an average team and an average manager. If we’d had our team’s defence strengthened around Lescott, it would have been us going into half time at 2-0 up and could have and should gone on to beat Man Utd by at least 3-0, we were that good in the 2nd half, and as Sam said, Sakho could have had a hat trick. We had 13 chances at goal compared to Man Utd’s 8. This lack of a solid defensive unit that we had for a large part of last season, is the only ingredient now missing in West Ham’s team!
Sakho was man of the match and we need to get over thinking we were unlucky.
If sam got it right we would have beaten utd .Why didn’t Noble start? That would have made sense particularily with Kouyate out,and where is Zaurate ?He’d have had the weak Utd defence all over the place.And what the hell were Carlton Cole and Nolan doing on the pitch.
We weren’t unlucky Sam botched it!!!
Yes Noble is the glue that holds West Ham together, sorry for my ignorance as I just assumed Noble was injured, as if he wasn’t then WHY WAS HE NOT PLAYING??? as it was quite obvious that his absence played a major part in our not winning!
Noble was injured (calf) – Kouyate is out with a groin strain picked up against Liverpool (he should have been subbed – keeping him on was a huge mistake) – Jenkinson should be playing in place of Demel, its a joke how Demel is even picked over him tbh, bringing CCole into this team at any stage of any game is beyond a joke, i know some revel in his loyalty but no disrespect, the guy is a very average player and his finishing standards are garbage, as is his positioning, hes always waiting for the ball to hit him, he rarely attacks it which is why hes so bad with his head – Nolan surprised me with his energy but you have to say he lacks the technical ability, he can get by most of the time on his rawness but we still need better options, he at least gets into better positions than CCole – and defensively, well ive been watching Reid since the season began and have to say he is nowhere close to the standard he was before he got injured last season, meaning our defensive unit is disorganised, you also have to account for Cresswell who imo is great but has a tendency to be caught out now and again, nothing serious but he will grow as a player in the PL as he gets more experience – its was obvious to me that without Kouyate we lacked that solidity in midfield, Song imo is a great player but he made some basic errors against Man U, one that cost us, i also think Poyet who imo is a great signing, needs a bot more experience before he becomes the real deal in the EPL and Amalfitano was in and out of the game – but these things combined didnt allow Downing the same freedoms he experienced against Liverpool which meant our front 2 had to work harder in open play – overall i dont think Sam made wise choices against Man U using Demel or CCole, Jenkinson has far more energy and is better technically, his crosses are excellent and more dangerous compared to Demels, CCole doesnt do it for me, never has and never will, as the PL moves forward each year he just keeps getting worse, brings no more than frustration to the team imo – one can only hope Sam will see some light, i doubt it, Nolan is going to have to work his socks off if he wants to play in this team, i think Sam has already warned him he more than most will need to work for a place, captain or not – one other point was Valencia, hes quick and good in the air, hence why we need better crosses into the box, but his finish soon after Man u scored their first was disgraceful, how he didnt hit the target from 10 yards is astonishing, seems to me he needs to gain some composure instead of blasting his way to glory, score one cracker against Hull doesnt mean they all have to be, could have made all the difference in the end – on a brighter note i still think we saw enough to lift our spirits about this season, but we still need some fine tuning to ensure we get what we deserve from games – Rooneys send off was right, but we never took advantage enough to get anything from the game which was also enhanced because of Sams decisions. COYI
I read somewhere that Noble has a calf strain, hasn’t been that much written about it though. I’m sure if he was fit he would have played, he’s about the one definite starter we have in the side, although Cresswell is looking an inspired signing. COYI.