West Ham Till I Die
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Zaman Siddiqui's Match Review

No title for Spurs: Part 2

We look to have, once more, ended Tottenham’s challenge for the Premier League title. In the previous season, we were the last side that Spurs failed to beat before being unable to catch up with the eventual champions Leicester City. Had they won on that night away from home, they would’ve gone level on points with the Foxes. If Chelsea can win against West Brom and Boro, then they will be crowned champions. In fact, they could win it before Tottenham even get the chance to kick a ball! In addition to achieving the same feat in two consecutive seasons, it would be yet another haunting memory created in front of the West Ham faithful. Make it happen, Chelsea.

Tottenham will play all of their home matches next season at Wembley, whilst their demolition plans for White Hart Lane and construction plans for the new stadium are being completed. This is very likely to be a huge blow for them, as they have picked up a whopping 50 points out of a possible 54 this season at home! A bit of mathematical deduction informs us that they have not lost at home – the only side to do so in this PL campaign. They will rue playing at Wembley, as they have only won there once despite playing five times. They have suffered defeats to Monaco, Bayer Leverkusen and Chelsea as well as being knocked out of the Europa League by Gent, who were subsequently knocked out by Genk in the next round (another north Belgian team).

Playing at home certainly hasn’t been easy for us. There has been enormous pressure on us to deliver this season and get yet another top half finish. With the Payet debacle and various injuries, it certainly hasn’t been easy. That is, let alone the problems around the ground. Admittedly, it is very difficult to turn an Olympics venue into a football stadium, but we have fared well. We know that the board have good intentions, as indicated by the price freeze amongst other things. Hopefully, Jack Sullivan doesn’t keep tweeting about our transfer targets in the summer. Anyway, Tottenham are likely to finish in the top three for the second season running. Next season, they will need to find their feet quickly at Wembley.

Spurs must really hate the sight of us. We have now won three of our past four home Premier League games against them, losing just the one. The important thing is that we’ve won in both our final derby match at the Boleyn and the first derby match at the London Stadium. It is even more tragic for them given that they wanted to play here and couldn’t defeat us. The thing is, had they ended up playing here, we would have felt a sense of injustice about the negotiations with the bigger club getting the decision going its way. When we were announced as the tenants of the Olympic Stadium, I saw it as a huge win for us, which signalled that we could rise up the Premier League table through increased ticket revenue and branding. I still believe in that vision. Spurs and Chelsea have come a long way this century and are likely to improve even further. This is a vision exclusive to the elite London football clubs. I certainly hope we can be part of that in the coming decades.

Lanzini has quite a record for scoring in derby matches. Nine of Lanzini’s 14 PL goals have come in London derbies – that’s 64%! The Jewel has certainly scored in important matches throughout the season. As a matter of fact, he scored against Palace back in January when Payet didn’t want to play for us anymore. He has now scored in a match which ensures we will play in the PL next season. There was a lot of responsibility on Lanzini’s shoulders when the snake hissed and slithered back to France. Thankfully, the Argentine has done well leading the team in attack. In my Palace match review, I mentioned that he scored in the Superclásico derby after just 43 seconds against the Boca Juniors. I couldn’t find any other anecdotes pertaining to him. He’s just too good!

Earlier in the season, I was extremely sceptical of playing with a back three. But given our recent run, I would advocate playing in the same formation next season. A clean sheet against Everton (which means Lukaku didn’t score!), no goals conceded at Stoke and a clean sheet against high-flying Tottenham. We have kept three consecutive clean sheets at home in the league for the first time since March 2016.The team are doing particularly well at preventing strikers from getting in the right space. Stopping Lukaku and Kane certainly isn’t easy. For instance, in this match, we knew that Alli and Eriksen would play behind Kane. So in order to prevent them from scoring, all three had to be marked. Easier said than done. Noble did well to prevent any balls from going into the box as well. Also, dare I say it, but Fonte looks to have improved over the past few weeks.

This match certainly felt like a derby. We attempted 16 tackles in the first half against them; we were only successful with one of them. That shows you the type of match we were expecting. We weren’t afraid to make tackles, dribbles or headed clearances. As this was a derby, we needed to be audacious. Nobody knows this better than the skipper who made four interceptions in the opening 35 minutes; more than the entire Spurs side combined (3). I think this was our best match at the stadium. The crowd were lively, the team played with desire and passion – what more could you want? This was the most complete performance all season: what I mean by that is that everyone played a part. Even the goal (despite being a bit scrappy) showed the hunger and determination of the players. I think Tottenham feared us a bit too much. Then again, that’s what a derby at the LS will do to you (ask Big Sam). Tottenham’s defeat to us was the first time they have lost to a team outside the top eight in the Premier League this season.

Something I think we should take away from this match is that we shouldn’t be too hypercritical of certain players. There are quite a few players in the squad who have improved a lot during their West Ham careers, but don’t always receive the credit they deserve. Many were quick to suggest that we should permanently drop Fonte or Calleri. Could you imagine how ridiculous that would sound now? Fonte actually played some good football upfield, and Calleri is getting more involved. It takes time to improve and I think we should acknowledge that. For instance, our £20.5M signing Ayew has been involved in six goals in his past 11 Premier League games with four goals and two assists. Many also said Masuaku couldn’t defend. We now know that is far from the case.


If we could finish in the top half this season, that would be absolutely insane given all that has happened this season. I have said it and the pundits have too and it too: we need to spend in the summer. We had Payet to sell us the dream of the London Stadium, but who are we going to have next season? Each additional place in the table is worth an incremental £2M. Furthermore, we need to win our remaining games. Leicester won the title as a result of their continued form from the previous season. You never know…

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