A good day at the office for West Ham

Well that was better! A much-needed three points were picked up as West Ham easily brushed aside a very poor Fulham side.

To be honest I was a tad disappointed we did not win by more, given our dominance, but hey let’s not be greedy, given our recent run of desperate form.

Shock, horror we started with a striker, granted one who is horribly short in form and confidence but in all fairness to Modibo Maiga from where I was in the Bobby Moore lower I felt he put in a decent shift and led the line reasonably well.

His days here are probably numbered at West Ham and, for all parties, it will be for the best that the lad is moved in, but credit where credit is due, Maiga turned up on Saturday.

And in another shock Mohamed Diame was recalled and played in his correct central midfield position. We are a different team when he plays this role and this now must be stuck too.

Ravel Morrison was left out the starting 11 and unsurprisingly Joe Cole and Jack Collision dropped to the bench in order to accommodate the out of form skipper.

Meanwhile it was great to see George McCartney make his first Premier League start of the season at left back.

We looked up for it from the start and created plenty of chances with Kevin Nolan, Stewart Downing and Maiga all coming close. Fulham offered absolutely nothing and it was frustrating to go in at half-time with the scores still level. But we were playing well and the crowd appreciated this with no booing being detected from where I was!

Within a couple of minutes we took the lead, Maiga and Diame did well in closing down the Fulham defence and the ball rolled perfectly for Diame who finished, albeit with the help of a nice deflection.

You could sense the relief in the celebrations both from the fans and the players. As the half rolled on we continued to batter Fulham, with Downing looking very impressive, however, again there was no end product.

Allardyce then made some nice positive substitutions with Joe Cole replacing the disappointing Matt Jarvis, Ravel Morrison for the much improved Kevin Nolan and Carlton Cole for the even more improved Modibo Maiga!

Then we had lift off, Ravel played a lovely defence splitting pass to Downing who delivered into the box and Carlton stretched to knock it in, Carlton went mental, I went mental, the Bobby went mental, it was a great moment and I was well pleased for Carlton!

We were now in cruise control and Ravel started toying with Fulham before showing some outrageous skill to set Joe Cole up for the final goal of the day.

Job done, we were good, but let’s not get carried away, Fulham were awful, but we can only beat what is front of us and we did that with great conviction.

It is of vital importance that we follow this up at Crystal Palace by not losing. Be interesting to see if Allardyce changes the team, it worked well Saturday and I would be tempted to keep the same, using the Coles as impacts subs.

However, the long-term dilemma is should Nolan or Ravel be playing with Diame and Noble, surely down the line it has to be Ravel?

Ratings

Jussi Jaaskelainen 6 Basically he had nothing to do, no mistakes made which is nice.

Guy Demel 6.5 Steady display as always provided a threat moving forward.

James Tomkins 7 Great to see him back in the side as I think the lad is class.

James Collins 6 Still looks prone to an error at any moment but was steady.

George McCartney 6.5 Considering how long he has been out, I thought he did well.

Mark Noble 8 Another excellent display, always wants the ball.

Kevin Nolan 6 Much improved from the skipper.

Mohamad Daime 8.5 Excellent stuff from Big Mo, he is a leader in the middle.

Matt Jarvis 5 Poor and lacking confidence, but let’s stick with him.

Stewart Downing 9 Looked class today and MOTM for me.

Modibo Maiga 7 He did well, feel free to disagree with me though

Joe Cole 7 Came on looked lively, did not have the hump and scored!

Carlton Cole 7 A superb cameo from the big man, he brought the house down!

Ravel Morrison 7 Wow, just wow, what a player we have here.