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Carroll ‘Swans’ Back Into Side And Inspires The Hammers

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Carroll scoring against Swansea CityFollowing the recent poor run of form for West Ham United, I have to admit I was a little bit doubtful about getting anything from this game versus Swansea City. I think it’s fair to say that morale has been a little bit low around the club recently, with fans starting to panic at our dip in form.

 

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The game saw a number of changes from the midweek defeat to Fulham, Andy Carroll retuning from injury to take the lone strikers role, Ricardo Vaz Te came in for Joe Cole, who cannot play 2 games in 3 days, and finally, and a surprise move, but one I have been asking for, for a number of weeks, was Matt Taylor being put into left back.

 

It was an attacking line up by Sam Allardyce, and a statement of intent that he wanted to go for it. Swansea were unbeaten in 8 games, so full of confidence, and we know after playing them at the Liberty Stadium at the start of the season, just how good they can be.

 

The game was a scrappy affair from start to finish. Swansea like to pass the ball around, but they lacked any real cutting edge in the final third, and their star man, Michu hardly had a touch of the ball. West Ham on the other hand were carving out a few chances, most notably Nolan had two good attempts on goal in which he was unlucky not to score, and Vaz Te also had a run and shot at the near post, superbly tipped around the post by Tremmel. Mohamed Diame also had a chance first half, but that was an easier save to make for the Swans keeper. After his first half display, I wondered if we were going down the same road as the QPR game, with the keeper having a good game, and frustrating us.

 

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The game continued in a similar vein in the second half, with Swansea having the ball on the floor and some possession, but West Ham were creating the chances. Andy Carroll had an early chance, shooting over from 15 yards out, and then had another chance on his weaker right foot which was again saved, and the follow up cross and then Diame shot went over the bar – it just wasn’t going to be our day. Joe Cole replaced the anonymous Matt Jarvis on the hour, and West Ham continued to press. As the clock ticked down, the moment we had all been waiting for arrived. Mark Noble’s corner, which was surprisingly spot on, floated into the middle of the penalty area, and Carroll rose above Ashley Williams to power his header low into the net for his first goal at Upton Park. The relief around the ground was there to see, the players celebrated with the supporters, and West Ham were on their way.

 

Barring a couple of goal mouth scrambles towards the end, Swansea didn’t really threaten the West Ham goal, Jussi Jaaskelainen only having to make a couple of saves of note. West Ham held on for 3 precious points.

 

Key players for West Ham – Andy Carroll was again unplayable, and if he can keep up this form, then he will be key to a good finish to the season and a top 10 place. He took his goal well, and is exactly what we’ve been waiting to see from him. He also carried out his defensive duties at the end, winning headers and making clearances. The difference in quality is incredible when he is in the side, and I hope he can get a run of games until the end of the season, in order to prove himself to the West Ham fans who are still dubious as to what he brings.

 

Winston Reid was yet again solid, and is definitely staking a claim for the Hammer of the Year award. Apart from QPR, I haven’t seen him make a mistake all season. He is one of our key men and we need to keep him fit.

 

Finally, those who were losing the plot over whether Diame would stay or go, I think yesterday showed that he isn’t really the finished article yet. He looked jaded and tired, his first touch was poor, and those mazy runs we are used to seeing were not there. I hope that he wasn’t playing so well in the first half of the season, just to get a big move, and that his form will pick up in the coming weeks. No doubt when on song, Diame is a real handful, and if he can improve his final ball after those runs he makes, then he will become an attacking powerhouse that we have desperately lacked over the years.

 

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Match Ratings: Jaaskelainen 7, O’Brien 7, Taylor 6, Reid 8, Tomkins 7, Noble 7, Nolan 7, Diame 6, Jarvis 5, Vaz Te 6, Carroll 9. Subs: Cole 6, O’Neil 5, Pogatetz 5.

By ChelmoHammer

Follow me on Twitter: @ChelmoHammer

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3 comments

  • John says:

    i think Vaz Te deserves a 7 had a good game and tested the keeper twice, set up Diame for his bicycle kick and got back and defended well

  • Hugh Bevan says:

    Vaz Te was better than you rate him. Jarvis was a 4, he was utterly useless. We still weren’t much better than previous weeks overall to be honest. Also very harsh on Diame, you give Nolan a 7 and Diame a 6? Nolan played the same as he has all season, rubbish. He had 2 easy chances and didn’t score, that is his only use in the team and he mucked it up. Whilst we were better with AC in the side I wouldn’t say the difference was incredible. Aside from a headed goal from a set piece we still weren’t great in my opinion. The setup was too negative as per usual.

  • ironsnut says:

    I think that we should not underestimate the pressure that these players are under and some are being played out of position. My team would be:
    Jesskilainen
    O’Brien Tomkins Reid Pogatetz
    Cole Noble Diame Collison Jarvis
    Carroll
    This should allow either Cole or Collison to move to support AC and still leave 4 in the middle. Then we have alternatiues once Mcartney and Collins are back to put Mac at left back and move Pogatetz and Collins as CB’s.
    This should give us more mobility from midfield, and Diame can go on his runs and be covered he could even get up to support AC. This would then pose the problem of who do defenders mark? Tactics are one of those subjects that can be the subject of endless conversations. But if we did something like this we could also defend with 5 across the back with Noble or Collison being in front of the back 4 and still have out balls to either Cole or Jarvis and then to AC. If we take a realistic judgement, we got 3 points. If we win ugle and only 1-0 does it matter. The whole point is to stay in the Premier League. There is no point in getting carried away with how we play, we need to win matches, not play nicely and lose. I do think that injuries have affected us as we have a small squad. It does appear that Nolan plays better when AC is playing but is that good enough to keep someone else like Collison out. For me I would make Noble captain and Nolan vice captain, mainly because you donot normally drop your captain without unsettling the side.
    I would like to see the same effort against Villa and 3 points to give us a bigger gap with Spurs, Chelsea and Man U coming up.
    Having said all this the Manager makes the decisions and we just spout hot air and vent our frustrations.
    Let’s hope that Sam can get things right and we start to see us playing the way we did at the start of the season a run of a win and 3 draws would be ideal if not 2 wins and 2 draws. Ever the optimist.

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