Just got back from the game and these are the days that make all the pain and suffering of following West Ham United worth it! I’m still buzzing and, as such, please excuse any errors in my thoughts on the game, as not had the chance to watch any re-run or highlights.
We picked the same team as last weekend which I thought was fair enough, why change a winning team? However, given the power and skill of the Manchester City midfield I was slightly surprised that Sam Allardyce did not throw Cheikhou Kouyate back in the middle to compensate for this. However, why worry when you have Alex Song?! What a signing, what a player he is pure class and I still can’t believe we have him, surely he would walk straight back into the Arsenal team at this current moment in time? The two Davids need to secure the permanent signing ASAP.
I thought Manchester City started well and the referee certainly seemed keen to help them out best he could, well that was the view of most the Bobby Moore Lower! But we worked our way into the game and Song started controlling the midfield which is no mean feat considering what we were up against. We looked fairly solid at the back with both Aaron Creswell and Carl Jenkinson keen to get forward. Then came the goal, a good bit of work from Enner Valencia, who picked out Morgan Amalfitino to tap in. I understand there was talk of offside but I was the other side of the ground and to busy celebrating to really care.
The rest of the half was good stuff, with Manchester City and particularly David Silva and the world class Sergio Aguero always looking like they had a goal in them, however we saw it threw to half-time with Adrian making a great save from Aguero.
Second half Manchester City, as expected, stepped it up and we were under the cosh for certain periods of the half but still looked really threatening on the break with Valencia causing Vincent Kompany all kind of problems with his speed and skill. We rode our luck slightly with Aguero I believe hitting the crossbar and then Adrian saving well on the follow up. Then came goal number two and again more great play from Creswell with a super cross and then the goal machine Diafra Sakho powering the header in despite Joe Hart’s best efforts! The linesman was not going to give it so thank you goal line technology. The Bobby Moore Lower went mental and the Poznan micky taking celebrations were a wonderful moment. However, the excellent David Silva then pulled a goal back and the last 15 minutes were tense with Manchester City throwing everything at us, but we held out and again looked dangerous every time we went forward.
The final whistle and the ground went mental, the team received deserved standing ovation as bubbles was sang loud. Enjoy today because this is what is all about, those away trips to Peterborough and Barnsley a couple of years ago seem a distant memory, we deserve today! The Boleyn Ground was jumping today, embrace it as there will now not be many days left when the old ground makes you tingle like it did today.
One last though, surely we will be first on Match of the Day tonight?!
COYI
And we were first on MOTD Ian, great win I haven’t enjoy myself so long for such a long time COYI !!!.
Man City were obviously below par after their trip to Moscow, but even so, West Ham played really well in the 1st half and could have gone into the break 2 – 3 up and with only 1 on the board for all of their efforts there was apprehension coming back for the 2nd half. My personal thoughts were that West Ham would need to raise their game even more for the 2nd half because City were bound to, which they did, and to West Ham’s credit they also did raise theirs for the 2nd half. There were stages in the 2nd half where it looked inevitable that City would equalize, and they were bound to score. Thankfully it was West Ham that scored their 2nd goal next and what a goal, what a player we have in Sakho being the 1st West Ham player ever to score in 6 consecutive Premier League games. The De Silva goal was absolutely unstoppable master class, but fair game to the lads they stuck at the task, saw the game and the win out, and a great overall team effort, and Noble & Collins proved me wrong in that they did both excel beyond what I thought they would and handled City really well, as I would have started Tomkins and Kouyate instead of Mark & James, but they both upped their game and for once I was not concerned about Nolan being brought on late as I knew we were going to hold out. I knew we were going to do it as soon as the 1st half unfolded. The only concerns I had were that we didn’t punish City enough in the 1st half by not going into the break by more than 1 up. No they had to keep it going and raise their game in the 2nd half which they did and as soon as the Sakho goal went in, paradise, but all of the top teams never stop until the end, which City didn’t, and we didn’t because we are now a top team as well and are well worth our 4th spot COYI!