The cliche is so overused it borders on ridiculous. Yet here I am, about to use it again.
It’s a game of inches.
If Chicharito’s curling effort on Wednesday curled an inch more, we are on 16 points. Out of the drop zone. The optimism we feel a bit of now would be full blown euphoria. But it didn’t go in. We are in 19th, no better off table wise than we were after the disaster at Everton. But we are playing better. Crystal Palace were de facto relegated a few weeks ago and now look at them. Who, other than probably god and every living West Ham supporter walking the earth, says we won’t go on an even better run and be comfortably mid table in a month?
The first seven minutes of the match were spent trying to sort out the truly abysmal performance of NBC Sports streaming service, for which I paid. I got it running on the iPad just as Obiang was warned for doing something. Not sure what, but the guy in black looked annoyed. Then my son hurt himself on a Lego piece, so First Aid was applied from minute seven to minute thirteen. Finally, with the iPad leaning on a box of paper clips, West Ham won a corner. The delivery was weak, but West Ham were able to keep the ball in the Stoke end. That bit of possession ended when Lanzini drove towards the box with Arnautovic crossing in front of him. Lanzini expected his teammate to zig. When he zagged instead, the threat for whatever it was worth was over.
When West Ham played as well as they ever have in the final year at Upton Park, it was the counter attack that played the crucial role. In the 16th minute, Stoke won a free kick from 25 yards out. Shaqiri sent it into the box right onto the head of Shawcross. His soft header looked to be a simple pickup for Adrian. But the ball rolled to the Spaniard’s left and off the post. West Ham cleared and broke on a counter with Lanzini leading the way. As he cut to his left inside the box, he fought off a challenge from Allen. But Pieters followed his teammate, and Lanzini went down. Replays showed the penalty was soft at best, and perhaps a dive at worst. But we have been on the wrong end of so many of those kinds of decisions I was happy to accept the gift. Noble stepped up and buried it, and West Ham were on top.
Stoke 0
West Ham 1
As the first half continued, The Hammers continued to look defensively solid and organized. Stoke certainly tried to penetrate, but most attacks ended with a hopeful ball into the middle for Crouch. A strategy we can certainly sympathize with.
Mark Noble, for all of his service to the club, is a divisive figure at this stage in his career. Many supporters have long called for the end of his days in the starting eleven. But over the past few matches, Noble has been critical to West Ham’s success. So when he came off injured in the 34th minute, my heart sank. Not because Rice wasn’t capable, but because things had started to click for us. Without Noble, I wondered if the balance we had found would be lost. Minutes later, Stoke won a free kick but Cresswell cleared. Moments later, Arnautovic was sent in alone by an inadvertent header off of a Stoke player. Butland closed down the angle and knocked the ball out for a corner.
Stoke came back down the other end and Shaqiri sent two very fine crosses into the box, but on both occasions nobody was there to receive the knockdowns from Crouch or Shawcross. Moments later, Lanzini tried a long, low drive that forced Butland into a diving save to his left.
In the first minute of added time, Cresswell intercepted a pass from Ramadan and broke into the Stoke end. He found Arnautovic in the box, ten yards from goal. The former Stoke player did well to beat both men in the box, but when he should have scored he didn’t even hit the target. That had “only if” written all over it.
Halftime
Stoke 0
West Ham 1
Stoke won a corner in the opening minute of the second half when a Ramadan shot from just outside the box went off Zabaleta. The Shaqiri delivery found Diouf in front of goal, but his header went over the bar. Stoke continued on the front foot and won a free kick moments later but Shaqiri sent it right to Adrian.
Masuaku is very, very good on the ball. In the 50th minute he dribbled into a crowd that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a train platform. But somehow he came out of the crowd and won a free kick. Cresswell’s delivery found Arnautovic at the far post but his attempted header back towards goal went over the bar. The home side followed that by winning a handful of set pieces, but the Hammers were resolute.
Hernandez has scored more goals against Stoke than any other team in England other than Wigan. Just saying in case Moyes was curious.
Back to the game.
In the 59th minute, West Ham should have been elated with a two-nil lead. Arnautovic made a fantastic run and was fed in all alone. He dropped his right shoulder and tried to beat Butland at the near post but hit the side netting. It looked in, which made the reality even more disappointing.
By the 65th minute, the action was utterly frantic. Both sides tried to attack after misplaced opposition passes. But neither side could keep up their pressure. Antonio looked gassed, but instead of Hernandez it was Sakho that replaced him. In the 68th minute, Arnautovic had yet another great look at goal but his left footed effort went off the bar. It could have been three for him on his return to the Bet365.
Stoke won a corner in the 72nd minute when a Charlie Adam won a corner after his shot was deflected out by Obiang. West Ham dealt with the set piece, but Stoke came back with yet another ball from Adam. This time it was a cross that found Shawcross in front of Adrian. For all of Arnautovic’s chances for us, Shawcross had his for Stoke. And just like his former teammate, he couldn’t find the net.
The law of averages says that if you have enough chances as a footballer, eventually you will have some success. In the 75th minute, Arnautovic had the ball near the top of the Stoke eighteen yard box. He rolled a pass to Lanzini, and made the perfect give and go move into the box. Lanzini found him, and the man Stoke supporters love to despise….hate is too soft a word…slid it past Butland.
Stoke 0
West Ham 2
West Ham should have made it three in the 83rd minute when Hernandez and Sakho broke on a counter. Hernandez seemed to have enough time to make a soufflé let alone take a shot. He decided to pass to Sakho, who first tried to chest the ball over the line from three yards out. When that didn’t work, a cheeky back heel was next on the agenda. Neither idea found the back of the net.
Finally, Obiang released Lanzini and Sakho on a counter. The wantaway man from Senegal timed his run perfectly, Lanzini timed his pass perfectly, and Sakho took his chance perfectly.
Stoke 0
West Ham 3
A few minutes later West Ham looked to better their goal difference, and it was Hernandez that could have added a fourth. He broke into the box and tried to beat Butland from a few yards out. But the angle was too tight, and the ball went out for a corner.
There was a moment in added time that caught my eye. We were up by three. We could have been up by six. The three points were ours. Done and dusted. Stoke had the ball and pressed forward down the left, because it’s probably not acceptable to just say “I’m through with this” and walk off. Like gnats buzzing around your head, West Ham defenders harassed any Stoke player with a sniff of the ball. Did they want the clean sheet? Or have they just rediscovered the joy of defending well? Whatever it was, it was lovely to behold.
Final Score
Stoke 0
West Ham 3
“Seven points from three above. Now we need seven from three below. Stoke was above us going into today” was the text I received from my best mate, Jon. Who, by the way, was furious to see Bilic go and lectured me that Moyes was an awful choice. There is a lot of time left in the life and times of West Ham under Moyes, so the final verdict is yet to be read by the jury. But it would be hard to say we are worse off than we were a month ago.
Oh, and if ANYBODY on our board tries to take ANY credit for this, they had better re-consider. Sometimes less is more. And in their case, saying nothing is the best option.