A look at what really happened over the 90 minutes

West Ham United beat Millwall 2-1 on Saturday in a hard fought game that wasn’t one for the purists.  The atmosphere was tangible through the television screen and there was much made about the extra precautions to avoid a recurrence of any sort of crowd trouble.  However, I want to focus on the game itself, as I feel there are many interesting and critical points to cover.  After the shelling West Ham took at Ipswich on Tuesday, it was understandable for many Hammers fans to be skeptical of their chances against their most hated rivals on Saturday.

As has been the case for many potential tough games and some away games, Big Sam set the squad in a 5-4-1, with Carlton Cole up top to fend for himself.  His only real support was to be from tireless runs by Julien Faubert, who was playing as a right winger with a mind to come forward and play off of Cole when he could.  The rest of the midfield, however, stuck to what they’ve been doing all season. Noble played behind Nolan as a defensive minded midfielder, allowing the captain to drift about (somewhat aimlessly), and Collison played out left to provide a bit of width.  The back line of McCartney, O’Brien, Reid, Tomkins, and Faye would play tough and for much of the game the fullbacks McCartney and O’Brien would do an excellent job of denying Millwall many opportunities to cross the ball.  Of the two, McCartney showed the most promise getting forward and crossing the ball into the box (often to no one other than Cole), which is a bit odd because with Faubert’s runs it would have been more ideal for O’Brien to get forward.  Either way, the game was turned on its head in the 9th minute when Nolan, the captain leading by example, got sent off for lunging in with both feet.  Now, while the tackle didn’t make any great contact, he did leave the ground with both feet in the air in front of him, and on another day he could have seriously hurt the player.  In any event, it was reckless and in today’s game the ref is always going to send off a player for it.  So, almost immediately West Ham were at a huge disadvantage.

 

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What happened over the next 80+ minutes is incredibly interesting and compelling, as Big Sam may have pulled of a great tactical victory.  From the time of Nolan’s sending off until the end of the game, Tomkins came out of his restricted centre back position to play as a free roaming destruction specialist, coming out of the defensive line to support Noble and company in the breaking up of Millwall attacks, then tracking back into his old post in the back line and repeating the process.  How he was able to play for 90 minutes is beyond me and personally he was my man of the match.  Tomkins was simply immense for the entire duration of the match, getting in some great tackles and regularly breaking up dangerous moves with his head, his feet, and his tireless running.  For the rest of the first half, Noble, Collison, and, frequently, Tomkins kept Millwall from running roughshod over the middle of the pitch.  This forced the visitors to look for outlets out wide, where many of their potential crosses were denied by solid play from our fullbacks.  It must also be noted that West Ham did not simply sit back and concede possession in the hopes of a 0-0 draw.  We were regularly on the front foot in the first half, breaking up Millwall attacks and streaking towards goal with Faubert, Cole, Collison, and McCartney making runs while Noble tried to hold his position and the ball in the center of the pitch before switching the play.  On numerous attacks you could see Tomkins playing level with Noble (Noble had a great game, keeping the gate shut on Millwall at the top of our box with some great tackles while also sending good passes out wide).  When the attack would come to nothing, the team did a great job of collapsing back as a unit and preventing Millwall from counterattacking quickly.  The reason for many of West Ham’s failed attacks was that Cole, isolated up top, would often find himself in the box with 4 or 5 Millwall defenders, while trying to control or head crosses from Collison/McCartney and waiting for a run from Faubert on the right side.  To be fair, when we weren’t attacking full sprint and actually taking our time, we would often have Faubert and Collison up and in the flanks with Cole central and Tomkins and Noble would boss the midfield (cannot stress Tomkin’s performance, he played like he was a natural defensive midfielder at times).  With the Hammers pressing much of the first half, especially leading up to halftime, a goal was fairly imminent and it came in stoppage time, with the ball being sent in from midfield via a Noble freekick after Cole had been fouled (he was beat up this game), whereupon Reid headed the ball nearly straight up near the edge of the six yard box, and Cole was able to run underneath it and flick it back into the high center of the net.  It was a scrappy goal, but was wholeheartedly deserved by the better side.

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The second half saw a change right off the bat, with Big Sam taking off Collison in favor of Matty Taylor.  I thought it was a good substitution as Collison, despite his running and competence on the ball, was largely uninvolved and rather than keeping any real width (he is, after all, a central midfielder), he kept drifting a bit inside and clogging up the midfield.  With Taylor in, I was hopeful that he could combine well with McCartney, who had been running up the left side and sending in some good crosses.  The second half continued much as the first half had been played, with West Ham not really looking like they were a man down.  There was a ten or fifteen minute spell that was really quite dull as the ball became bogged down in midfield and the play just wasn’t quite as open as it had been.  Millwall managed to build a slow attack rather than trying to streak in on the counter and West Ham failed to clear, with Faye inexplicably standing over the ball and looking at it rather than hoofing it clear, whereupon Henderson hit it back to the top of the box for Liam Trotter to volley it home.  It was a good goal but it shouldn’t have happened.  The ball should have been cleared.

Rather than capitulate and be resigned to the fact that, at a man down, we were lucky enough to have led at 1-0 and try to hold on to the 1-1, the squad seemed to realize that they had more than held their own the whole game and the equalizer appeared to not only wake the boys up after the 10-15 minute calm spell, but pissed them off as well.  We began getting the ball in the attacking third again and, pressing forward, Cole got a bit more support than he was used to.  Three minutes after they had equalized, Faubert chased a ball into the box and challenged Millwall keeper David Forde, who only managed a weak punch out to the edge of the box, where Winston Reid lashed the ball into the top of the net.  It was a great goal by Reid and well earned by West Ham, and Faubert’s effort and energy deserves as much credit.  Millwall claimed it was a foul by Faubert, but the Frenchman was trying to duck out of Forde’s way when they collided, and the referee made the right no call.

 

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The rest of the game came down to West Ham maintaining as much pressure as possible while staying compact when they were off the ball.  We still looked dangerous at times and Faubert had a decent chance after some great work by Cole before the Frenchman was subbed off for the fresh legs of Gary O’Neil in the 80th minute.  Millwall won some corners, which was fine as we defended their initial crosses very well.  Tomkins and Noble continued their tremendous efforts in midfield, really getting stuck in at the top of our box and putting in a great all around performance.  The heart was evident in both of them.  We held on for a deserved 2-1 victory, and while the game wasn’t too terribly great, many of our key players put in wonderful shifts.  Tomkins (my man of the match), Noble, Faubert, McCartney, and Cole all looked great and worked their socks off.  Great to see us come out on top in difficult circumstances.  The win will hopefully kick off a great run for West Ham, and it may serve as a galvanizing event, as the celebrations by Big Sam with Carlton Cole seemed to show a real collective spirit, if not a huge sigh of relief.

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