Baggies win tastes great for Sam
WHUFC.com
West Ham United started December in fine fashion with a 2-1 comeback win at
West Bromwich Albion
03.12.2014
Any victory over West Bromwich Albion would be sweet for a Wolverhampton
Wanderers fan, but Tuesday's 1-0 victory at The Hawthorns must have tasted
extra special for West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce. In April, West Ham
left West Brom looking over their shoulders nervously at the Barclays
Premier League relegation zone following a meek 1-0 surrender. In the
Smethwick End, a section of the Claret and Blue Army voiced their
displeasure at the performance of Sam Allardyce's team. Fast forward eight
months and Big Sam was back in his native Black Country leading the Hammers
to another impressive victory - their seventh in 14 league games this term -
and strengthening their position in the top five. As the travelling fans
jubilantly sang 'Barcelona, we're coming for you!' and 'We're going to win
the league!', the manager hailed the confidence of his players to recover
from a goal down to win this time around. "I've got a lot of disappointed
lads who are trying to get into the team and they're finding it difficult,
but they've got to stay hungry," Big Sam told West Ham TV. "When injuries
have come they've stepped into the team and been hungry enough to do their
job and that happened again here, wth Kevin Nolan stepping in, Enner
Valencia getting back and Winston Reid back from suspension. "We had no Mark
Noble, Alex Song and Diafra Sakho, but we've got players who have come on
the field and tried to make us better than we were before. "They're all
desperate to get on the pitch and keep this run going and show what they can
do. "We've used a huge amount of players already this season and we're still
winning games of football, which is great."
As they did at Everton in their previous away fixture, West Ham started
slowly, falling behind to Craig Dawson's tenth-minute header from a Graham
Dorrans free-kick. Just as Big Sam was discussing scrapping his 4-4-1-1
formation with assistant Neil McDonald and first-team coach Ian Hendon, the
Hammers rediscovered their passing rhythm and started creating chance after
chance. Kevin Nolan was denied an acrobatic equaliser by Ben Foster, but the
captain made no mistake on 35 minutes when he turned home after Andy
Carroll's own overhead kick was blocked by the Baggies goalkeeper. And it
got even better for the Big Sam and his players in the third minute of added
time when Cheikhou Kouyate forced Foster to push the ball aside for a
corner. Stewart Downing delivered to the far post and James Tomkins rose
above Dawson to power his header past Foster.
In the second half, the manager did change his system, bringing on a third
centre-half in James Collins and sending on fit-again speed merchant Enner
Valencia for Carroll in a bid to play on the counter-attack. The tactics
worked thanks to a resilient defensive display and a number of important
saves from Adrian. "It was a very strange game, because we made a
disappointing start, like we did at Everton and never got fired up and into
our passing game until we went a goal down again," a proud Big Sam observed.
"The odds are very poor against a team that goes a goal down away from home
to come back and win, because it doesn't happen very often. "The way we took
control of the game from when they scored to when we got the ultimate
winning goal right on the stroke of half-time was a fantastic piece of
turnaround play in a game. "I have all the stats written up on the board at
half-time - how many crosses we've put in, how many set plays we've had, how
many shots on goal we've had - and we'd had a staggering seven shots on
target and five more off-target in the first half. "That shows that, if
anything, we should have been more than 2-1 up and our poor finishing meant
we probably should have had more. "Certainly Andy Carroll's overhead kick
made the first goal with his technique and Kevin was on hand and he knows
how to sniff those out and score, which is very important for us. "Then, of
course, James Tomkins' header off the corner right on half-time killed West
Brom off, I think, even though they put up a spirited fight after half-time.
We looked a little fatigued after Saturday so we decided to sure it up and
the lads did a fantastic job doing that in the end. "The game changed in
many ways and we changed with it and, finally, we've won it and have 24
points from 14 points which is a fantastic total.
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West Brom 1 West Ham 2
2 December 2014
Last updated at 22:38
By Mike Whalley
BBC Sport
West Ham centre-back James Tomkins' first goal in two years sent struggling
West Brom to a fourth straight defeat. Craig Dawson ended Albion's
323-minute Premier League goal drought when he glanced in Graham Dorrans'
free-kick. But Kevin Nolan nodded in to equalise after keeper Ben Foster had
pushed out Andy Carroll's overhead kick. And Tomkins increased the pressure
on West Brom boss Alan Irvine by heading in Stewart Downing's corner in
first-half stoppage time. Victory strengthened West Ham's grip on fifth
place, and the jubilant fans greeted the final whistle with chants of:
"We're going to win the league."
By contrast, West Brom are slipping towards the relegation zone, having
managed just one home league win all season. It was another setback for
Irvine, who said he was hurt by criticism from Albion's fans after
Saturday's 1-0 defeat at home to Arsenal. The West Brom head coach's
decision to recall Victor Anichebe paid early dividends when the former
Everton striker won the free-kick that put the home side in front. After
Anichebe was pulled down by Tomkins, Dawson escaped his marker to glance in
Dorrans' left-wing delivery from six yards - Albion's first goal in four
matches. But, having wobbled in the opening 15 minutes, West Ham took
control and were deservedly in front by half-time. Kevin Nolan and Cheikhou
Kouyate had already been denied by keeper Ben Foster in a goalmouth scramble
before the visitors found an equaliser. Tomkins headed Downing's free-kick
across goal, and Carroll met Dawson's clearance with an overhead kick that
Foster pushed out, with Nolan nodding in the rebound from two yards. Albion
captain Chris Brunt hobbled off in first-half stoppage time, and as the home
side reorganised, Tomkins headed in from Downing's corner to make it 2-1.
West Brom managed 23 attempts on goal (including blocked efforts) against
West Ham - more than they have managed in any other Premier League game in
2014 The home side had the better of the second half, and Dawson should have
equalised soon after the break, driving wide from 15 yards. But West Brom's
pressure could not produce an equaliser, despite Anichebe's best efforts.
The striker escaped Winston Reid to fire in an effort from a tight angle
that Adrian beat out at the near post, then nearly equalised in the closing
minutes with a shot on the turn, but the West Ham keeper blocked with his
legs.
West Brom head coach Alan Irvine: "We were very much on the front foot. Then
we made a couple of mistakes and everyone got nervous. But I've never known
a second half as one-sided as that. "We'll try to reinforce the positives as
much as possible. You can't dwell too long on the negatives, and you can't
keep criticising people when they need support to help them."
West Ham manager Sam Allardyce: "It was a tremendous recovery after we went
1-0 down. It was a great, great away win for us.
"If we can have a good Christmas, then we'll have a look at what we can
achieve over the second half of the season. I'm hoping we'll get Mark Noble
and Alex Song back from injury for the weekend, and that wil give me the
selection headache I want."
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West Bromwich Albion 1-2 West Ham United
KUMB.com
Filed: Tuesday, 2nd December 2014
By: Staff Writer
It wasn't pretty and the purists won't be happy - but another three
priceless points keep Big Sam's happy Hammers in the hunt for Europe.
A triumph for substance over style for the second time in 72 hours saw West
Ham surge back towards the top of the table as goals from Kevin Nolan and
James Tomkins countered Craig Dawson's early opener. Just three points
behind second-placed Manchester City, it has been West Ham's best start to a
Premier League season - and never before have the Irons enjoyed a +6 goal
difference at this stage of the campaign.
That they do can be attributed to a steely resolve the club had perhaps
lacked during its entire history prior to Sam Allarydce's arrival in east
London some three-and-a-half years ago.
In the end it was two set pieces that did for a Baggies side already bereft
of confidence. But West Ham's best work was done at the other end of the
field, where goalkeeper Adrian stood firm when called upon whilst his
defence threw themselves into last-ditch challenges with scant regard for
personal safety in order to deny wave after wave of Albion attacks.
West Brom, backed by a boisterous Hawthorns crowd threw everything including
the kitchen sink at West Ham in a frantic opening ten minutes and got their
reward from the most simple of set pieces. Graham Dorrans, a former Hammers
target swung in a free kick and Dawson nodded home, unopposed to give Alan
Irvine's side a dream start.
It was the kick start Allardyce's side needed and a reply eventually came
seven minutes ahead of the break. This time it was West Ham to profit from a
set piece when Kevin Nolan, restored to the starting line-up in the centre
of midfield nodded home from close range after Andy Carroll's acrobatic free
kick had been cleared off the line.
Yet the Hammers were not done; with a minimum of two minutes additional time
indicated by the fourth official - and 47:20 on the clock - James Tomkins
rose to meet a Stewart Downing corner to send West Ham into the break with a
goal advantage.
Tomkins' goal was to be the last shot West Ham were to have in the game,
whereas Albion created 11 shots at goal in the second period without really
testing Adrian - until five minutes from time, when the Spanish stopper made
an instinctive save with his feet from Victor Anichebe from point-blank
range.
By that stage Albion's best chance of the game had come and gone when Dawson
found himself with a free shot at goal earlier on in the half. Faced with
virtually the entire goal to aim at, the defender dragged his shot wide of
the post from just eight yards; with it went the Baggies' hopes.
The win lifts West Ham back into fifth place in the Premier League and above
Swansea, who provide the opposition for West Ham's next league fixture this
weekend in what promises to be a truly intriguing battle between two teams
enjoying unexpectedly positive seasons.
West Bromwich Albion 1-2 West Ham United: Match Facts
West Ham Utd: Adrian, Reid, Cresswell, Nolan (c), Tomkins, Kouyate, Carroll
(Valencia 65), Zarate (Cole 78), Downing, Jenkinson, Amalfitano (Collins
65).
Subs not used: Jaaskelainen, Jarvis, O'Brien, Demel.
Goals: Nolan (35), Tomkins (45+2).
Booked: Tomkins (18).
Possession: 41%.
Shots on/off Target: 11 (10/1).
Number of Passes (Long Passes): 350 (74).
West Bromwich Albion: Foster, Wisdom, Baird (Ideye 83), Lescott, Gardner
(Varela 65), Anichebe, Brunt (Mulumbu 45), Dorrans, Berahino, Dawson,
Sessegnon.
Subs not used: Myhill, Gamboa, McAuley, Samaras.
Goals: Dawson (10).
Booked: Brunt (34), Sessegnon (70).
Possession: 59%.
Shots on/off Target: 23 (14/9).
Number of Passes (Long Passes): 318 (87).
Attendance: 23,975
Referee: Mike Jones (6).
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West Ham take all three points from West Brom
Last Updated: 02/12/14 11:24pm
SSN
West Ham continued their impressive start to the season at the expense of
West Brom with a comfortable 2-1 win at The Hawthorns. The defeat pushes the
Baggies further into the mire, and heaps the pressure on boss Alan Irvine.
The home side had taken the lead just 10 minutes into the game through Craig
Dawson; and it seemed to knock the confident Hammers who started the day in
fifth. James Tomkins' nightmare start was compounded when he was beaten for
pace by the recalled Victor Anichebe, and Dawson evaded the visiting defence
to head home. But West Brom could not maintain their lively start and the
Londoners grew into the game with captain Kevin Nolan getting more involved
alongside striker Andy Carroll.
It wasn't long before they levelled and it was through that man Nolan. Just
after the half an hour mark, Ben Foster parried Carroll's bicycle-kick and
Nolan headed home. Then on the stroke of half-time, Tomkins redeemed himself
to give the Irons the lead, powering in a header from Stewart Downing's
corner. Irvine clearly gave his men a talking to as they pushed forward to
get an equaliser. Anichebe and England starlet Saido Berahino both had
half-chances but failed to trouble Adrian sufficiently.
By the end of the game, the home side had four strikers on the pitch
including Silvestre Varela who gave Carl Jenkinson a challenge as he sent
some probing balls into the box, but Tomkins, Winston Reid and substitute
James Collins held firm. The home side eventually made the Londoners'
goalkeeper work as Anichebe got himself into some good space but his
snapshot was well saved. It looked like they may get a point when the ball
fell kindly to Dorrans on the edge of the penalty area. He could only direct
his shot wide of the post before the final chance of the game fell to
first-half scorer, Dawson, but his volley was well blocked as the Hammers
held on.
MATCH RATINGS
West Brom: Foster (6), Wisdom (5), Lescott (6), Dawson (6), Baird (5),
Gardner (4), Brunt (6), Dorrans (6), Berahino (6), Sessegnon (5), Anichebe
(6).
Subs: Mulumbu (5), Varela (6), Ideye (4).
West Ham: Adrian (7), Jenkinson (6), Tomkins (7), Reid (7), Cresswell (7),
Kouyate (6), Nolan (8), Amalfitano (6), Downing (7), Zarate (6), Carroll
(7).
Subs: Collins (5), Cole (5), Valencia (5).
Man of the Match: Kevin Nolan
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James Tomkins regrets overreacting to Kevin Mirallas push
BBC.co.uk
West Ham's James Tomkins has said he regrets trying to get Kevin Mirallas
sent off by overreacting to a push from the Everton midfielder.
Tomkins, 25, fell to the turf clutching his face after being shoved in the
chest by Mirallas during a heated match which Everton won 2-1.
Hammers manager Sam Allardyce described Tomkins' actions as "silly". And
Tomkins said: "I wouldn't want to do anything like that again. I've taken
plenty of stick about it." Although Mirallas admitted pushing Tomkins was
"stupid", the 27-year-old Belgian criticised the Englishman for not setting
a better example. In telling the Evening Standard he would never play-act
again, Tomkins said he was thankful Mirallas was not sent off. "As a player,
I'm against what I did and I wouldn't have wanted it to happen to me," he
said. "At the time I probably did want to get him sent off but, looking at
it now, I shouldn't have done it."
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Cresswell is Europe's finest
KUMB.com
Filed: Tuesday, 2nd December 2014
By: Staff Writer
Aaron Cresswell has been named in the European team of the week by Spanish
daily AS. The 24-year-old full back scored the only goal in West Ham's
narrow 1-0 win over Newcastle at the Boleyn on Saturday to cap another
promising performance. And that particular achievement has been recognised
by AS, who name a European XI each week consisting of players from outside
La Liga. Cresswell is one of five players from the Premier League to be
included in this week's selection; the others being Jason Shackell
(Burnley), Charlie Austin (QPR), Robin Van Persie (Man Utd) and Santi
Cazorla (Arsenal). Also included in the team from outside of England are
Ralf Fährmann (Schalke), Dutch international Nick Viergever (Ajax), Stergos
Marinos (Charleroi), Xavi Alonso (Bayern Munich) and Levekusen winger Karim
Bellarabi.
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West Ham boss Sam Allardyce warns against complacency after West Brom win
Last Updated: 03/12/14 12:07am
SSN
Sam Allardyce has warned against complacency after West Ham recovered from a
goal down to secure a 2-1 victory against West Brom at The Hawthorns. The
Hammers consolidated their place in fifth in the Premier League after
first-half goals from Kevin Nolan and James Tomkins cancelled out Craig
Dawson's opener for the home side. Allardyce, who raised a smile as the
travelling support sang "We're going to win the league" after the final
whistle, believes his side can challenge for the European places but wants
his players to stay focused as they get set to embark on a hectic festive
season. Sam Allardyce has told his players to remain focussed after their
2-1 win away at West Brom. He told Sky Sports News HQ: "We're on form for it
[Europe] at the moment and if we can keep that form up yes, but like I said
we won't move our predictions on until mid or the end of January once we've
got Christmas out the way. "We don't want these lads to get over-confident
or get carried away and we want to make sure they look after themselves in
between now and Sunday. "If we can have a good Christmas, it hasn't been
like that for the last two seasons, steer clear of injuries and keep the
players coming back then who knows what we can achieve in the second-half of
the season."
West Ham's win means the East Londoners have suffered just one defeat in
their last eight league matches and against West Brom it was the visitors'
defence which shone. The Baggies, who had four strikers on the pitch towards
the end of the game, piled the pressure on in the second-half but the
Londoners held firm with Allardyce, who hopes to have Mark Noble, Alex Song
and Diafra Sakho back in the squad to face Swansea on Sunday, delighted with
his side's determination. "I haven't played a game away from home and had
five attempts on target and five off target in one half so I think that
shows how much we dominated after going a goal down," he said. "It became
very scrappy second-half and then for us it becomes a case of keeping the
back door shut and we did just that. "It wasn't very pretty at times but we
dug it out and it's a huge three points away from home at West Brom."
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West Ham are gonna win the league!' quips boss Sam Allardyce as they go 5th
in the table
Dec 02, 2014 23:56 By Neil Rowlands
Hammers manager praises the strength of his squad after 2-1 comeback win at
West Brom makes it 5 wins and 2 draws in their last 8 league matches
The Mirror
James Tomkins had West Ham in dreamland and left boss Sam Allardyce joking
that they can win the league. The Hammers are off to their best Premier
League start, challenging for a Champions League spot after moving up to
fifth with Tuesday's 2-1 win at West Brom, and Allardyce is delighted with
their form. "We're gonna win the league!" he quipped post-match. "For us to
have 24 points at this stage of the season is one hell of a total based on
where we were this time last year when we were almost in the bottom three.
"Our strength in depth is what is paying off for us at the moment. We had to
make changes to the team again, some by fatigue and some by injury, and we
used the squad to its maximum. In the end we have pulled off another
victory. "We had seven shots on target and five off target by half-time - we
generally don't get that in a whole game away from home. "I think [last
month's loss at] Everton was 17 attempts with three on target, but this was
seven attempts on goal by half-time, which shows we were in dominant mood.
"The second half was somewhat disappointing because we did not carry it on,
but I was still very happy with the victory. "
Allardyce' triumphant return to his native Black Country was in contrast to
eight months ago when Hammers fans called for his head after losing for a
fourth straight time. "What happened before is in the past," he said. "The
game moves on very quickly. "For us now, our summer months of hard work in
terms of recruitment and what we did in pre-season is still paying off for
us." Defender Tomkins, a laughing stock in the game last week after a
shocking piece of play-acting against Everton, went from zero to hero as he
scored the West Ham winner.
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Agony but happy Sam only cares about the points
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on December 2, 2014 in Whispers
Claret & Hugh
Sam Allardyce – quite rightly – adopted a "never mind the quality look at
the points" attitude in a quick post-match analysis.
The boss watched his team complete a win over the second of his former
clubs this evening and was delighted. Newcaste beaten, Albion beaten but in
a game which had most of us biting our finger nails down to the quick. But a
beaming Sam declared afterwards: "It was a tremendous recovery after we went
1-0 down. It was a great, great away win for us. "If we can have a good
Christmas, then we'll have a look at what we can achieve over the second
half of the season. I'm hoping we'll get Mark Noble and Alex Song back from
injury for the weekend, and that wil give me the selection headache I want."
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VERDICT: A team caught between two cultures
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on December 2, 2014 in Whispers
Claret & Hugh
Match verdict
BY HUGH SOUTHON
You have to be a cracking side to play that badly and win! Well so they say
Come on now, let's take the positives from a game that started in shocking
style, picked up sufficiently for us to seal the points and then slid
downhill so badly, you began to wonder if there was a bottom. Along the way
we discovered that Sam Allardyce will have no compunction on removing anyone
from the action, including the club's record signing Andy Carroll, and that
Alex Song is needed back like yesterday. It was a night when the nerves of
tough men were shredded and when you were forced to smile as the Irons
faithful sang: "We're gonna win the league."
Kevin Nolan demonstrated too that he still has a habit of turning up when
most badly needed for the first goal and James Tomkins will be forgiven some
pretty awful defending by scoring the winner. There was much to complain
about – particularly defensively – but the simple truth is that at the end
of it all I can't be bothered to do so and will only let a long gasp of
relief and declare: "Well done boys."
There were moments of quality but these were far outweighed by the
monumental weaknesses of both teams on the night and I was grateful that
most of the opposition movement was in front of our defence rather than
through it. No way will I complain about Valencia's input after a spell out
through injury but there is clearly a problem when AC is up top on his own.
You could almost hear the thought process of the player – "do we lump it to
him or play it through." This was a team caught at times between two
cultures. The answer is clear – we play it through. it's the only way, It's
put us where we are. There can be no turning back nor do I think there will
be with Valencia returned and Diafra Sakho no more than 90 or 180 minutes
away. It's now more a case of where Andy Carroll fits into all of this. I'm
beginning to think the answer is: WITH GREAT DIFFICULTY! Highly, highly
interesting days ahead"
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