I think social media has added an extra and welcome dimension to our game. Allowing supporters to connect with each other almost instantaneously has been as valuable to me as watching the matches on Fox and NBC. Our game is far more about community and bonding than any American sport could ever hope to be, and without things like Twitter and blogs I’d never have “met” Iain, ExWHUEmployee, Hugh Southon, the folks at KUMB, or any of you. I’ve also become friendly with supporters of some other clubs, one of which is West Brom supporter @AndyfromNewHamp. I first got to know Andy through a daily radio program over here hosted by Chelsea TV’s Neil Barnett, former Newcastle midfielder Ray Hudson and a few others. We’ve gone on air together to preview matches between the two clubs, and we chat via Twitter regularly. Which we did again yesterday.
Before television coverage over here became arguably better than in the UK, it was brutally difficult to get any info on any club other than Manchester United, Liverpool, and maybe Arsenal. So for an American, history is not ingrained. It’s learned. Not so for UK born and bred Andy, and I got a great little lesson from him.
“Our clubs share a tradition of style over substance, of generating talent from within. Geoff Hurst started his career as a Hammer and ended it as a Baggie. But above all else both clubs were at the forefront in embracing black footballers when racism was rampant. Your Hammers provided inspiration with Best, Barnes and Coker. We followed suit a couple of years later with the trio of Regis, Cunningham and yesterday’s recipient of an MBE, Brendan Batson. Our clubs may not have the silverware of more celebrated rivals, but it can be argued no two clubs have had a great influence in opening the doors to black players than the Baggies and the Hammers.”
With what has happened here in the USA recently, hearing that gave me even more reason to wear my now 20 year old jumper with pride.
Even sitting in the stands, I suspected Tony Pulis to have some kind of impact on his new club. He beat us in his first game in charge of Crystal Palace. Actually, if memory serves me, wasn’t Roy Hodgson appointed West Brom manager the day we overcame a 3-0 halftime deficit to draw them at The Hawthorns? While that season was an absolute nightmare, the draw that day wasn’t half bad. I can’t say I feel anything like that today.
I was waiting for the starting eleven with the hope that Valencia and Sakho would lead the attack again. Pretty dumb of me, I guess. At least Amalfitano kept his place.
Early yellow cards to important players will always cause uneasy feelings, and those feelings were provided in the 4th minute when Kouyate made a reckless challenge and brought down Sessegnon from behind. The free kick didn’t cause many problems, but the ball came back to Sessegnon giving him room to make a run into the West Ham box and unleash a hard shot that was blocked out by Collins. It was the first of many problems caused by Sessegnon.
The first chance for West Ham showed some impressive movement with and without the ball. The only thing missing was the final touch, and when Downing and Cresswell combined for a nice one-two in the penalty area our left back appeared to be pulled down by McAuley just as he shot. The attempt went over the bar, and the referee ignored Cresswell’s protests for a penalty.
When West Ham have looked their best this season it has been the added pace and skill of players like Sakho, Amalfitano and Cresswell that have made the difference. Downing has basically been a new signing with his switch to the top of a diamond formation, and he combined with the aforementioned three to give West Ham the lead after ten minutes. Downing sent a chip to Amalfitano at the top of the eighteen yard box. After quickly turning towards goal, Amalfitano made a gorgeous pass with the outside of his right foot to Cresswell on the left side of the box. His cross found Sakho doing what he does best, running into a dangerous area to receive a pass and have a go at goal. Pass received, ball in net. Simple.
West Ham 1, West Brom 0.
It could have, and maybe should have been 2-0 a few minutes later when Song found Downing speeding down the left flank. Downing cut inside and beat McAuley, but his angle was tight and his hard shot was well saved by Foster.
By the number of comments posted on virtually every article on this site, it’s plain to see that you all like to debate and discuss. Well, I want to throw this out there right now. In the 16th minute, Cresswell sent in a long cross that was obviously intended for Carroll. Foster came out to collect the ball in his gloves before AC’s skull had a chance, and that was that. Here’s my question. If it were Valencia out there with Sakho, would Cresswell have even made that pass? Or would he have looked for a one-two with a midfielder to get deeper and allow the strikers to run into areas? Or something like that. Anything but a long cross into the box?
Sam recently said Adrian is as good a keeper as DeGea, and that he should be challenging for a spot on the Spanish national team. Based on his save in the 22nd minute I won’t argue with him. After beating Song on the right side, Mulumbu sent a cross to Baird on the edge of the box. The defender took his shot straight out of the air and would have ripped the net if Adrian hadn’t gotten his left hand in the way.
From that moment on, until halftime, West Ham looked complacent. Unworried that West Brom could hurt them. We gave up the ball in midfield and looked like we didn’t believe there could ever be any consequences. Sessegnon and Wisdom combined in the 25th minute with a quick series of passes inside the West Ham box before Sessegnon’s shot went wide. Sessegnon then sent Brunt down the left but his shot also went wide. Next came a free kick from Brunt after Mulumbu was taken down by Song that didn’t have enough hook or bend and went wide. Add in an attempt by Morrison that curled over the bar and you have a long stretch of West Brom dominance.
The inevitable finally happened in the 42nd minute after West Ham lost possession for the 641st time in the half and led to a counter attack by Sessegnon. He cut towards the box and found Berahino running at goal and he side footed the equalizer behind Adrian. I’m guessing Sam will blame Collins for backing off Sessegnon, and probably Reid for not marking Berahino. And both of those accusations would be true. But those two mistakes were only a small part in the larger picture that led to the goal.
West Ham 1, West Brom 1.
At halftime I took to Twitter as I usually do to gauge what the West Ham faithful were saying. I wasn’t surprised to see the majority calling for Valencia to come in for Carroll, who simply had not been a factor in the first half. If we all could see that Valencia’s pace might be a better option to Carroll as a target man against this particular defense, then the 13th highest paid manager in the world would see it as well, right?
There I go again, being silly. No changes to start the second half.
Early in the second half Downing found Sakho breaking into the box but our leading scorer was called offside. Note to Teddy. Work on Sakho’s timing on runs a bit because he is called for offside quite a bit. A couple of crosses later that Foster collected easily and it was all West Brom again. Berahino got a little help from a deflection off Collins to force a good save from Adrian, and then Mulumbu and Sessegnon combined on the right side but the latter’s shot hit the outside netting. With so much space in front of him and so much time on the ball, it’s a miracle Sessegnon didn’t score or set up two or three goals.
Over the summer there was a rumor that West Brom were interested in Matt Jarvis. Remember him? Speedy winger who was supposed to be the best crosser on the planet? Cost us a lot of dough? Yeah, that guy. Well, he came on for Amalfitano in the 54th minute. The TV showed Pulis sending messages down to the bench a lot during the game. I wonder if he sent one to Sam asking him if he could have a look at that Jarvis fellow. A few minutes after entering the game he did beat two West Brom defenders before sending a low cross into the box. It was meant for Carroll, but it went to McAuley.
West Ham came inches away from taking the lead and possibly all three points in the 59th minute after Mulumbu fouled Sakho outside of the box to earn the Hammers a free kick. When Cresswell stood over it to take it I was surprised. After his kick went off the post I see why he took it and hope there is more from him like that in the future.
There were more than a few cynical Tweets today about Valencia coming on. Sure he would, the Tweets said. But not for Carroll. The conspiracy theorists promised it would be for Sakho. In the 70th minute, Downing collected the ball on the right side of the West Brom penalty area. After a few twists and turns he sent a low cross in for the onrushing Sakho, but the striker couldn’t get his feet on the ball and Foster smothered it. Sakho stayed down, and seemed to tell Foster he was OK. But he got up slowly, holding his lower back. The same part of his body that was assaulted by the Senegal team physio. So even if Sam wanted to take Carroll off for Valencia, he couldn’t. I wonder how Sam felt about that.
Valencia showed what his pace can do in the 75th minute when Song sent a probing ball down the right side. Valencia looked like he had a different gear available than the West Brom defenders and ran onto it right before the touchline. His cross found Jarvis running across the area but he couldn’t get more than a slight touch and the ball rolled comfortable to Foster. We can only wonder what might have happened had Valencia at least come on earlier.
After what can only be said was a non-descript performance, Carroll came off in the 84th minute for Carlton Cole. I’d like to say more about that…but I won’t.
For the final five minutes of the second half and the four minutes of added time, the only side that looked to have a second goal in them was West Brom. Sessegnon had tons of space in front of him in the 89th minute but his shot was poor. Then he and Morrison linked up well, ending in a pass towards Varela that Reid was able to intercept.
Final Score. West Ham 1, West Brom 1.
Let’s look at today in a vacuum, forgetting our strong start this season. Are we so good that a loss/draw to a team like West Brom is a shameful result? No. Are we a work in progress, in which there will be stretches where we play out of our skin and others where we are dire? Yes. I’m not happy, and I’m guessing many of you aren’t either. We had a full squad available to us today, and we were generally outplayed by West Brom. Some may disagree, but I think Sam cost us points today. Despite being flagged offside many times, Sakho’s ability to get behind the Baggies back four was our one tactical bright spot. A spot that would have been even brighter had Valencia started alongside him instead of Carroll. My fear is that this will begin a very tough stretch for us, with more frustrating results like we saw today. And when the going gets tough for Sam, he digs his heels in and retreats even further into the system he is most comfortable with. The system we thought we had left in the bin.
I wonder what David Sullivan is thinking right about now.