Andy Carroll, quoted after the game…
“No player is bigger than the club. We showed that today & come together as a team to get a result.”
Scores on the doors
Randolph 7, Cresswell 6, Reid 7, Collins 7, Ogbonna 6, Bryam 7, Noble 5, Obiang 6, Antonio 7, Lanzini 8, Carroll 8, Feghouli 7
Those of us at the game were somewhat bewildered at the end of a very tedious first half. None of us saw the second half coming. At all. But at half time Slaven Bilic substituted Angelo Ogbonna and brough on Sam Byram. We reverted to 4-4-2, with Antonio playing up front with Andy Carroll. Almost immediately, you could see and feel the difference. And it was this tactical change which won us the game.
Instead of the languidity of the first 45 minutes when no player seemed to have the desire to do anything but pass sideways or backwards, there was an urgency to our game. We play best when the players inject some pace and that’s what happened for the whole of the second half. We went at Palace in a way we didn’t in the first half and it meant that they were put on the back foot. That’s not to say they had no attacks. They did. But we had more and as the second half wore on we always looked the more likely to score. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
When I saw Slaven Bilic’s team selection I was surprised to see James Collins in the lineup in a 3-4-3 formation. That’s not to say I don’t rate Collins. I do. But I did wonder whether this wold work today. I was also surprised to see Fernandes left out of the starting eleven. We had a reasonable first ten minutes, but Palace then came back into it. Given who their manager is I was surprised at the intricacy of their passing. We had more possession than they did, but we kept giving it away. Mark Noble was the worst culprit. Several people around me were saying they reckon Nobes has ‘lost it’ On this performance, especially in the first half, you would have to agree with them. Over the 90 minutes I’d say he was the weakest West Ham player on the pitch.
If you don’t believe me when I say that we had an awful first half, our first shot came on 27 minutes, and Palace’s first shot didn’t come until three minutes later. It was dire stuff. In the first half only Carroll and Lanzini really looked up for it and on it. Carroll played some delightful first touch passes and was awesome in the air. Lanzini had his little tricks but was constantly fouled just when he looked dangerous.
As the second half developed, and we got used to 4-4-2, Sofiane Feghouli came into his own. He’s another Antonio in that you wonder if he has a clue what he is to do next, but in a way that makes him even more dangerous, because if he doesn’t know what he’s about to do, neither do the opposition. He delivered a superb cross from the right which Andy Carroll was unlucky not to score from. You could almost tell something was about to happen. And happen it did.
In the 68th minute the Palace goalkeeper rushed out to the edge of his area on a suicide mission to close down Michail Antonio. At this point, just remember that last night Antonio was running a temperature… Antonio dinked the ball past the keeper, then placed a superb cross (or was it a shot?) for Feghouli to bundle into the net under severe pressure from a Palace defender. Cue mass delirium.
The most important thing after getting a goal at that stage of the match is not to give one away, and to be honest we never looked like doing so. When Loic Remy entered the fray, I was a little concerned as he has scored several against us in the past. Today he looked a shadow of his former self.
Michail Antonio was in bed with flu yesterday, got out of bed pulled on his shirt & played magnificently today – that's dedication for you
— Lady Brady (@karren_brady) January 14, 2017
Seven minutes after the first goal it was Antonio again who proved the provider. Again from the left. Andy Carroll was waiting seven yards out from the goal level with the right post. It was like watching a ballet dancer in slow motion. Up came his legs, rising behind his body and then bam. Scissor kick, into the top right hand corner of the net. Cue not just delirium, but cue mass delirium. It was a goal to rival that Di Canio one against Wimbledon. It was no more than Carroll deserved. He was the best player on the pitch by a country mile.
The third goal was almost as good, and it came from West Ham’s second best player, Manuel Lanzini. Lanzini has it in him to replace Payet and it has to be said we didn’t miss Payet at all today.
.bq “We had Payet. Dimitri Payet. We just don’t need him anymore…”
And that’s the only mention the disloyal moneygrabbing French **** will get in this article. Lanzini took a delightfully timed pass from Antonio to dink it over the oncoming Wayne Hennessy into the net. This was Antonio’s third assist of the game, the first time a West Ham player has provided 3 assists in a game since 2000. They were also his first assists of the season, which is a bit of a surprise.
Manuel Lanzini has scored a goal in each of his four Premier League appearances against Crystal Palace; double the amount he’s scored against any other Premier League club.
Surprisingly we only had 44% of the possession. We only had three shots on target, all of which resulted in goals.
I thought this was one of the loudest crowds we’ve had at the stadium so far, but it really only came to life in the second half. The first half was a bit of a library. It’s clear that it’s up to the team to lift the crowd at the moment, rather than the other way around. At Upton Park there were games when the crowd realised the team needed a lift and they provided it. So far this season that has never happened. One other point. We were told the match was a sellout prior to the game, so no doubt we will see an attendance of 57,000 listed in the papers. No way was that a sellout. There were at least 2-5,000 empty seats.
One final word. I thought Sam Byram was a revelation today. He hasn’t played for three months, yet looked totally comfortable both in defence and attack. He made some crunching tackles, made several timely interceptions and also nearly bagged a goal. Think of the contrast between the performances of Havard Nordtveit in that position. I pray he will keep his place and get a good run of games under his belt.
We are now twelfth in the table, our highest position so far this season. Our goal difference has been reduced to -9. We can look forward to the Middlesbrough game next week with some confidence. As long as we play 4-4-2.
PS David Hautzig is away.