There have been some memorable games over the years against Man Utd, the famed Ludo game where Andy Cole was handed a decade of sleepless nights and the Spector game in the cup where he truly put them to the sword. We even saw Davor Suker almost break into a gentle canter to nod home a winner a few years back. From a West Ham perspective Saturday’s result and performance was great, we attacked we defended and we fought back. This result really allows us to kick on from what was a worrying start to now being 7 points from Man Utd, Everton and Chelsea. A proper claret and blue run of form which if we can maintain it looks as though it could take us to our best season since leaving the Boleyn. Ok calm down, a bit…
Essentially the superstars are beginning to fire. Anderson who has looked so promising thus far is now using Brazilian style back heels to score against sides managed by Mourinho. Can there be any greater gratification as a West Ham fan than watching this type of football bring us success? Yarmolenko is now becoming an immense pain to opposition defences and it seems his cut in from the left move is virtually unstoppable as the size and presence of the Ukrainian allows him to shield the ball with his body while swinging a long left leg towards goal. All these things bode exceptionally well for the season to come and if our top players continue to exploit highly expensive defences in this fashion then the accrual of points and goals will become much easier than it was earlier on in the season.
As for Declan Rice well again he continues to progress at a particularly impressive rate. With England squad announcements coming soon we must be close to the conclusion of the England or Ireland saga and I hope Southgate does the right thing (hoped that a lot recently). An England team with Declan Rice would have another dimension of work and linkage between the defence and midfield. We have seen at West Ham how effective Rice can be and how assured he is for a man of such few years. He has made mistakes in the past and has learnt from them and now has the chance to become one of the best midfielders in the country.
Noble and Arnie uphold all which is good about West Ham at the moment. Noble goes from strength to strength in the midfield and his energy level and work rate against Man Utd was again tremendous as it was against Everton and Chelsea. Where does Noble find the energy for these performances, he is like the Duracell bunny and now he has quality players to link up with it just spruces the whole team up and generally makes it work.
As for Pellegrini, it seems this manager is a true motivator of players, look at how Zab and Noble have played for him in the last couple of games. Maybe MP’s early season axe policy hit home with a few players and in addition although there are always 12 sides to any dodecahedron, it does seem to me that the loss of Chicharito and Wilshere has allowed work-rate to temporarily increase which has allowed key relationships to form in the defence and midfield. It is clear that the three of Obiang, Rice and Noble have blended perfectly and seeing how a fit Wilshere deals with this will be very interesting and can only add competition to the squad.
Lets hope now we can carry this form into the next phase of the season. A couple of games against our beloved North London friends and the possibility of a feel good cup run just compliments the optimism we now have as a club and I like many want it to keep getting better and better as we still have Lanzini and Carroll to come and for once we are not relying on them to get us out of a losing streak. Great performance Saturday lets keep it up and smash everyone. COYI!