Slaven Bilic took a huge step towards consolidating his new look and style West Ham team last night. The topsy turvy nature of his away form and home form, apart from providing emotional trough and peaks, also contained real risks. In recent history Aston Villa were an example of a side who could achieve the occasional extraordinary result away but nevertheless struggle and avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth because they had dreadful home form. Bilic did much to allay any such fears by the nature of this team’s performance.
Bilic’s reading of the home form problem was also proved spot on. Many, including apparently the joint Chairman, David Gold, assumed that he would start with the same side which completed the historic Anfield win. Gold along with many other commentators anticipated that Moses would start on the bench. Bilic’s decision to start Moses was however entirely logical from his analysis of the Anfield win. He said then that West Ham had the players needed to perform away from home, but not the necessary squad depth to enable a system capable of unlocking defences at home.
So Bilic had the toughness and analytical ability to sacrifice the entirely blameless and unlucky Obiang from his team selection, despite the emotions of the momentous Liverpool win. This decision provided rewards throughout 88 minutes of this match. Moses was considered by many to be the Man of the Match. He was a constant outlook for West Ham, stretching and engaging an increasingly demorilised Toon defence for 88 minutes until he departed the pitch to a standing ovation. The highlight of Moses’s performance was of course his barn storming run after 48 minutes, culminating with a shot which thudded off the woodwork for Payet to calmly complete his brace for the night. West Ham has again the guile and pace in their team to exploit teams with speed and aggression. West Ham under Allardyce and before seemed most vulnerable when they were attacking, perhaps at a corner with top teams, especially Arsenal and Chelsea set up to rapidly expose their momentarily depleted defensive resources. Last night West Ham did unto Newcastle what had been in previous seasons done to them. Payet’s second goal arrived only 30 seconds after Newcastle were pressing with a free kick outside the West Ham penalty area.
This squad will be further blessed with counter attacking verve when Valencia hopefully returns to full fitness. In the meantime Moses looks a fine recruit and may be a crucial part of the jig saw in unlocking defences at home.
For Obiang consolation appeared in his 59th minute substitution of Lanzini. Bilic again impressed here as few commentators saw this move as West Ham were playing well but tactically it was spot on to consolidate the team’s position. Obiang went on to provide the stiffening and resolve in midfield to help snuff out any threat Newcastle could mount. For a long time West Ham managers have belatedly reacted to games with their substitutions, normally in response to changes in the opposition Manager strategy. Bilic provided a glimpse of a manager who will instead proactively strategise his team and shape the game.
Despite the withdrawal of Lanzini West Ham still carried a threat. The potency of a counter attacking verve, even at home cannot be under estimated. West Ham’s ability to hit Newcastle on the break instilled fear and ate away at their fragile confidence. Newcastle had their moments, especially after the introduction of Ayoze Perez and actually produced more shots than apparently they had all season. The fact that they did not seem to seriously threaten our victory, despite this being their best attacking performance does not augur particularly well for their long term prospects this season. Apparently McClaren has been rewarded with a transfer spend of over £50 million this summer, far in excess of what was provided to Bilic. In many ways Newcastle and West Ham are in similar stages of rebuilding both with new Managers. On this evidence Bilic has grasped some nettles that McClaren has not. In particular McClaren’s team whilst comfortable in possession do not appear to have assembled enough threat.
Nevertheless the Newcastle rally in the second half meant that West Ham’s defence was tested, which was in a way reassuring. Randolph confirmed the club’s judgment in signing him with a number of fine saves. Arguably he has done nothing wrong and deserves to keep his place against Manchester City, though Newcastle did not threaten him much with aerial crosses. . How Bilic manages the returning availability of Adrian will again provide some insight into his management style. Pleasingly Ogbonna was not the headless chicken we saw against Bournemouth but again appeared a composed and classy defender. His substitution after 42 minutes this time was due to injury rather than ineptitude. Bilic’s choice to replace him was also interesting, rather than replacing like for like with Collins he brought on Jenkinson and moved Tomkins into his preferred central defensive slot. This indicated the pecking order we suspected with Collins the fourth of our centre back options. Jenkinson also had the strength of character to provide a solid performance and proved he had not descended from hero to zero after the Bournemouth debacle.
Above all last night West Ham took, for the first time this season, the lead at home. The goal after 9 minutes steadied the nerves of both the team and the crowd and meant that we were able to cope with periods of sustained Newcastle possession without any erosion of confidence. Payet, the home Stadium Man of the Match, has barely got a mention in this report yet which is to not to deny the guile and creativity of his performance. Ultimately it was his clinical striking which won the match for West Ham and we now seem to be a team which carries threat from all across the pitch. If Payet is kept quiet, we have, as Lanzini proved against Liverpool, other players who can set up and score goals. Ally this to a Sacko who seems to thrive on leading the line from the service he is now receiving West Ham have clearly potential to be a multi-dimensional rather than one dimensional attacking force.
Last night was the first brick in establishing the Boleyn as again a fortress for our final season there. There will be much tougher tests to come but already it seems unlikely that the team as set up last night would have endured the debacle we witnessed against Bournemouth. Football is a confidence game and what we saw last night was a West ham team which could grow into a powerful outfit with increased instilled confidence. Potentially this could be a very exciting season indeed. What remains to be seen is our resilience after adversity. My worries about this stem not so much from the team but our crowd. The Premier League is the most competitive league in the world. Teams like , Swansea and Crystal Palace now have financial resources which dwarf teams like Marseille Ajax and most other European and even global teams. We will go behind again at home this season, not just against teams like Chelsea or Manchester City but even against teams like Watford and Aston Villa. The challenge then is not just for the team but the crowd. We have seen what this team can do with support. On Sunday I heard a Leicester crowd roar their team back from a 2-0 deficit to a stunning 3-2 win. How would our crowd react if we had unluckily gone behind last night, perhaps from a deflected goal and debateable penalty? How would we react to being 2-0 down against Aston Villa? I know we have to have put up with a lot of dross, especially in recent times, but my hope is that one day our crowd can rise to the class of a Leicester crowd and provide the same unstinting support. This season, at home, will be as much a test of the Crowd’s resilience as it is the teams’.
Come on you Irons!
David Griffith