After a rather disappointing and nervy beginning to West Ham’s second spell in the Championship, they finally showed why everyone is tipping them for promotion. James Bannister gives his analysis on the 4-0 victory over Watford.
Not even a minute into the game and Watford had one decent chance to take the lead early on, not good for the nerves, yet just as I was praying for the side to wake up, they took the ball to the other end and won a corner, the delivery was met by Tomkins and West Ham were 1-0 up inside two minutes. The game became a little more equal for a while, with both teams having chances and Tomkins always threatening from set pieces, a very pleasing sight considering in recent seasons the Irons have been poor at defending and attacking dead ball situations. Then right before the half time whistle, Joey O’Brien picks the ball up at the halfway line, makes a darting run through the Watford side and shoots on goal, his first shot is stopped but he manages to get a foot on to the rebound and slots it into the goal. 2-0 West Ham at half-time.
After the break the two sides came out and both seemed to be sharing the chances, but West Ham never looked too threatened by Watford’s attack, with Tomkins and Reid especially doing well at the back. West Ham managed to score a third through Carlton Cole, after a nice pass from Herita Ilunga, which will give the Congolese defender’s confidence a much needed boost, after the arrival of George McCartney who will be competing for Ilunga’s position. Scott Parker then scored a lovely goal right before the end to make it 4-0 and West Ham record back to back away wins. Beautiful.
If I could think of many negative points, then the ones I would say were the early chance from Watford, showing the side need to be as alert as possible from the word go and possibly the lack of possession at times, but this wasn’t very often. Also Ilunga’s performance at times was questionable, but like I said we always have McCartney. I would also like to see the squad with big John Carew up front, he has tweeted that he should be fit for Sunday, so maybe he will have a role to play against Leeds!
Lots of positives to take from this match, especially another clean sheet, proving Big Sam is definitely whipping these guys into shape as they are not running out of steam. Four goals in one game is a major boost for fans and players, as I was worried we wouldn’t be the biggest goal threat at times, as noted in the Cardiff and Doncaster games.
We now sit in third place, despite it being early days, six points in three games is good and can only help us in our quest for promotion.
Like James’ analysis? Pop over to http://hammercrossedheart.blogspot.com/
Great result….seems like Sam’s getting them playing like a team again…..COYI ‘><'
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