This is kind of off topic. But the truth is I wasn’t too bothered to think about today’s monumental match when I woke up this morning. I don’t know why, either. I think maybe the last few weeks have brought a clarity to my frustration and fury, and I couldn’t get past that. It started with the Burnley match when I was over there for work. And the match itself wasn’t the seminal moment for me. It was the early lunch at Nathan’s with Nigel, his son in law, and one of my bosses, followed by the wonderful West Ham Way event at the East Ham Working Men’s Social Club, ending with a walk up Green Street to the train. I live in upstate New York for gods sake, and I felt palpably sad. I couldn’t shake it for days, even though I had a great rest of my stay in my favorite city in the world. Thankfully my wife, she of two Masters Degrees, was able to sum it up for me. She had been to Upton Park twice, including a game on our honeymoon, and other than Paolo Dicanio couldn’t name a single player that has ever worn our shirt.
“You can live with lousy players and bad teams. But what these owners did was destroy a community and fabric of life. For that they should never be forgiven.”
Amen.
Then, in what could only be described as spooky, I took a break from writing the paragraphs above to scan some fan sites, only to read the horrible news that Nathan’s would close later this month. If Liquor were blood, our board would have plenty on their shameful little hands.
So as we began what could end up being our last week in the Premier League for the foreseeable future, I tried to be excited about the starting eleven names as they were released on Twitter. Unfortunately when I saw them excitement is not how I would describe my reaction.
Overall we started the brighter side. But when you have chances to take an early lead in a match of such importance you simply have to take them. Lanzini found himself in the box after some decent interplay in the 6th minute, but his shot was deflected wide into the path of Arnautovic. He tried to play it back to Noble in the box, but Leicester were able to clear the ball from danger. A few moments later Arnautovic tried to chase down a sloppy back pass to Hamer. The Leicester keeper lost control momentarily but Arnautovic was unable to capitalize. Minutes later Lanzini got on the end of a Masuaku cross but his low shot was deflected out by Arnautovic for a goal kick.
Leicester looked a lot like us the last few months in the first twenty minutes or so. They sat back, barely moved, and allowed us to have as much of the ball in midfield as we wanted. It wasn’t so much that we bossed the center of the pitch. Leicester conceded it. Yet my mate Jon texted me and predicted a Leicester City goal against the run of play, and every nerve in my body felt obliged to agree.
West Ham had another opportunity in the 32nd minute when Lanzini ran past Morgan and rolled a pass to Arnautovic in the box. Hamer came out to cut down the angle, and Arnautovic had nowhere to shoot so he tried to get the ball through the keepers legs but Hamer played it well. Moments later the West Ham leader got a quick shot off in the box that clanged off the crossbar. Just as the fear of missed chances started to overwhelm me, Masuaku sent another cross that Arnautovic played back in front of goal, and that’s where Mario was to put it in the back of the net.
Leicester City 0
West Ham 1
Leicester gave the visitor section a scare in the 39th minute when Zabaleta tried to intercept a pass to Diabate and missed, giving Diabate some space to move forward and have a go. But his low shot rolled wide, with Adrian watching it the whole time. Minutes later a similar theme played out when Cresswell made a terrible mistake when he tried to grab a pass to Mahrez on the right side of the West Ham box and missed by a time zone. Or two. Mahrez marches into the box but his cross was deflected to safety by Ogbonna.
Halftime
Leicester City 0
West Ham 1
I never liked that movie Forrest Gump. In fact, I’ve always been bitter about the awards it won. That year also had Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, and Paul Newman’s epic performance in Nobody’s Fool. And Gump was judged to be the best? Really?
Back on topic.
When Cresswell tried to be too cute when a simple back pass to Adrian would have been more than sufficient, the words “stupid is as stupid does” came to mind. Cresswell went to ground, Vardy looked enraged as he tried to go around the fallen defender, and the look on the referee said red card. Thankfully it was yellow. Leicester didn’t do anything with their free kick, but a new tone was set. Leicester started to chase down balls and pressure West Ham, and we looked anxious.
Moments later Mario sent Arnautovic into the box with a rolled pass, but when he had a chance to shoot he looked for the extra pass. That did not end well, and Leicester cleared the area. In the 60th minute Mario waited a moment too long to roll a pass to Arnautovic and the Austrian was flagged offside. A second goal should have arrived from those chanceschances, but did not.
The 63rd minute saw Hammer hearts rise precipitously into the esophagus when Maguire got on the end of a deflected Vardy shot and sent his own from the top of the box that caused Adrian to dive to his left, but the shot went over the bar.
Set pieces are always a reason for the supporters of the side taking them to at least relax for a second or two, if not get a bit excited. When Mario stepped up to send the ball into the Leicester City box, it was in a good enough area for us to pay attention. When Maguire headed the delivery out of the box, another lobbed effort back in was all I was looking for. When Noble struck it on the volley, the angle of the TV camera was perfect. The ball looked tethered to the far post, and quite possibly the best shot I’ve ever seen our captain strike followed that line past the keeper and into the net. Poetic that Noble may end up being the guy that saved our season, don’t you think?
Leicester City 0
West Ham 2
West Ham thought they had a penalty shout in the 70th minute when Noble went down in the area, but the referee waved it off. Rightfully I might add. A minute later Arnautovic did all the work needed in the box to get a good shot off but Maguire got a crucial touch in to send the ball out for a corner.
So. Moysie. Arnautovic is on the pitch in discomfort. Andy Carroll is going to come on. Obviously for Arnie. But wait. Lanzini came off. Like for like in hair color, or maybe choice of hair gel based on the sheen in the sun. But football? Not that sure. Especially when Arnautovic came off seconds later for Fernandes, a move that made me a little antsy. This had better work or you will need Mel Gibson with blue face to save you from an East London mob.
Gray had a good chance to get Leicester back in the game when he beat Zabaleta down the flank, but his cross was perfect if Adrian was the intended recipient. Then, ten minutes later, Silva registered the home side’s first shot on target and Adrian handled it well.
Leicester could have made the extra time interesting in the 89th minute when Benlouane got his head to the ball at the far post, which forced Adrian to make either a good save or a crucial interception, depending on whether Benlouane’s header was a shot or an attempt to get the ball in front of goal. Regardless, Adrian smothered it.
Final Score
Leicester City 0
West Ham 2
As the old saying goes, credit where credit is due. West Ham showed up today. The tactics worked. Even the questionable substitutions worked. The players chosen did their jobs and did them well. They gave Leicester City enough of a hard time with every ball that the home side collectively looked to throw in the towel. And at the time of writing, our position in the league looked a million times better than it had three hours earlier. We might even end up mathematically safe by dinnertime. Yet unlike other years when I was naive enough to think the board would learn from their ways and we would not continue this hamster run of relegation fights, I have no such illusions. We may survive this year. We will be promised things. Some may even hope.
And I will still never forgive them.