Tomkins leads the way

DISCLAIMER Now, I know this is out of date but, due to the inability of Yahoo’s emailing service, the email has only just landed in my inbox. Therefore, I thought I’d still upload because, well, it’s a bloomin’ good read.       

Monday was my birthday. All I wanted this year was three points, and for once, West Ham actually delivered. It wasn’t the best performance of the year, but it sure as heck was a step up from the hideous Hull City game. Afterwards, Sam Allardyce was videoed –rather creepily – singing “we’re nearly saaafe” and I’m starting to share his enthusiasm as we are thisclose to staying up.

We’ve certainly got to tighten up our game before we play Liverpool, but on the whole, I’m pretty happy with last night’s performance.  Here are my player ratings of the good and –sadly – the not so good on display at the Sunderland game.

Adrian – 7

Even in a game where Sunderland out shoot us, Adrian didn’t have much to do. When needed, he was on form and pulled off a brilliant double save in the second half. I’d like to see him do a bit more holding of the ball rather than just swatting it away, but he did well.

Winston Reid – 5/6

I’m a big Winston Reid fan, but he’s just not back to his best yet. He did well to stop most balls from coming through the middle, but we’re still missing his confident leadership at the back.

George McCartney – 4

McCartney seemed to stay too central, which allowed for Sunderland to have an unmarked man always available out wide on the flank—and they regularly utilized this. We were lucky Sunderland didn’t turn those opportunities into goals.

Kevin Nolan – 6

Kevin’s at his best when he and Carroll are working together, but on Monday they just didn’t seem to click like they normally do – trouble in bromance paradise, perhaps? He was lucky not to have given away a handball, but gets an extra point for turning around and lovingly kissing the Sunderland defender on the forehead whilst being held in the box.

James Tomkins – 8

A bit clumsy at times, and lucky Howard Webb didn’t call one of those pushes, but was a rock at the back and headed clear at all the right times. He looked far more solid and confident than Reid. Man of the match for me.

Andy Carroll – 7

Great positioning and a wonderful goal, but he’s still got a little ways to go with his ball control. It’s great that he’s winning everything in the air, but that next touch isn’t quite back to form yet.

Matty Taylor – 5

Didn’t seem to have much of the ball, but I didn’t see an awful lot get past him either. Not a very noticeable presence on the pitch for this one.

Mark Noble – 6

Slightly frustrating game from Noble for me – he certainly ran his heart out, but seemed to miss a few crucial tackles, lose the ball a bit easily and had to spend most of the game cleaning up after others rather than moving forward on his own.

Guy Demel – 6

Decent performance but frustrating in that he normally pushes up on the flank, but didn’t seem to do as much attacking – yet still somehow ended up with his man on the wrong side of him.

Mohamed Diame – 6

Thank goodness he scored that goal as up until then he was doing very little for me. He had a few moments of skill and brilliance but looked consistently lethargic, and was going down way too easily.

Stewart Downing – 6

Downing was instrumental in bringing the ball down the flank, but the slight problem was that the ball didn’t seem to go any further than that. He could have used Demel to pick up the ball on the overlap and run it into the box, but a strong defensive stance did not allow for this. He did well to nearly get a third goal, but needs to do more to get the ball in the box.

SUBS:

Pablo Armero  – 5

The man, the mystery, that is Pablo Armero finally made an appearance, and jury’s still out on him for me. He skitters about when on the ball, and although he seems to have quite a bit of pace, he mainly used it to double back and chase players. Also, he was nutmegged for the goal. So there’s that. But it’s a first game; nerves are natural.

Roger Johnson – 6

Supporting a mysterious black eye (did Sherwood get him?) Johnson came on for Diame to shore up our defenses, and I must say, the man is growing on me.  Not the best Johnson on the pitch though, not by a long shot.

Antonio Nocerino – ?

By the time he came on the name of the game was ‘Just don’t let Sunderland score’ and I spent a lot of that time hiding behind my scarf. I’m sorry, but the end of that game was terrifying.

The players put some work in on Monday night – but we also must acknowledge that we did have some strokes of luck at Sunderland – that Webb didn’t see the handball and that Adam Johnson didn’t start the game (one of the weirdest decisions in football) – and hopefully we will rise to the challenge on Sunday.

What did you think of the game? Who would you have given the highest player rating to? Will we survive Sunday – and will Sam need to retain his lucky – and rather fetching – blazer and tracksuit combination? Let us know below.