Daily WHUFC News - 23rd November 2014

Big Sam baffled by Everton reverse
WHUFC.com
Sam Allardyce cut a frustrated figure after Saturday's 2-1 defeat at
Goodison Park
22.11.2014

Sam Allardyce cut a frustrated figure after his injury-hit West Ham United
side were edged out 2-1 at Everton in the Barclays Premier League. The
Hammers lost five important players in the build-up to their trip to
Goodison Park, before insult was added to injury when a clearly offside
Romelu Lukaku fired the Toffees in front on 26 minutes. To their credit,
West Ham recovered to equalise through substitute Mauro Zarate's deflected
effort eleven minutes after half-time and looked by far the more likely team
to go on and win what was, at times, a feistily contested game. However, the
visitors were struck by a sucker punch with 17 minutes to go. From defending
their own corner, Everton broke the length of the pitch through Lukaku
before Samuel Eto'o crossed low for Leon Osman to score on his 400th Toffees
appearance. Even then, James Collins came within a whisker of equalising for
a second time, only for Tim Howard to save his close-range shot with his
legs. Rather than blame the match officials for his side's defeat, the
manager bemoaned his players' inability to convert chances - Andy Carroll,
Matt Jarvis and Collins all went close - and the nature of Everton's winner.
"I think we've got two major things that have not allowed us to get anything
out of the game today," Big Sam began. "The first is that we missed too many
chances when in very good possession and in control of the game, and allowed
the opposition to break out on a punt down the middle and score their
winner."We discussed it before and there was one person we couldn't afford
to get the ball at his feet and run at us and that was Lukaku. If they had
managed to score through their passing game, then that's difficult to stop,
but to allow them to do it the way we did was extremely disappointing. "The
most frustrating thing was how many chances we had and didn't convert, apart
from the one we scored, of course."

West Ham started the game in a 3-5-2 formation but it was after the manager
introduced Zarate and Jarvis and switched to a 4-2-3-1 system that West Ham
took seemingly full control of the game. "We were in the ascendancy just
before half-time and Andy and Morgan had good opportunities. We were taking
control of the game better, getting our wing-backs down the sides and
getting our crosses in better. "That got even better when we changed to
4-2-3-1. We ended up with James Tomkins in midfield with Kevin and Mauro in
the hole. We also brought Matt Jarvis on, who has been waiting patiently,
and he had some really decent ball. Being super-critical, he should have
scored or at least made the 'keeper make a save. "Those are the things I'm
frustrated about. When we got to 1-1 that's enough. Let's be patient and
wait for the second, but I think we were really pushing that hard that we
lost concentration."

When asked about Lukaku's controversial opener, the manager almost shrugged
his shoulders, admitting that his frustration would not change referee Mark
Clattenburg's decision. Ross Barkley's shot hit Winston Reid and looped to
Lukaku, who was standing at least a yard beyond the last man, and the
Belgian fired past Adrian. "I can't control that," he said. "Only the PGMOL
and its chairman Mike Riley and the people who work under him can work to
get those decisions better. "It's a baffling decision. I'm totally and
utterly baffled by the decision so I'll ask for an explanation but sadly the
one I will get will not be enough to satisfy me, but there we go."

The frustration of conceding that goal may or may not have played a part in
two altercations between players from both sides following tackles on Morgan
Amalfitano. Winston Reid and James Tomkins were both booked for their
involvement in the handbags, with the former picking up his fifth yellow
card. Reid is now suspended for next Saturday's visit of Newcastle United to
the Boleyn Ground. Big Sam refused to criticise his players for showing
'passion' when their teammates had been 'unfairly treated'. "I can
understand why, particularly as Morgan got two and the third one on Mark
Noble from Steven Naismith was as bad as any challenge in the game," he
observed.

Finally, the manager was asked about the five absent players - Diafra Sakho,
Alex Song, Enner Valencia, Cheikhou Kouyate and Stewart Downing - and
whether any or all would be fit to return against Newcastle. Senegal pair
Sakho and Kouyate and England midfielder Downing all returned from
international duty with knocks, while Song and Valencia are nursing injuries
suffered in training. "We hope they are not too long or too serious," he
said. "It's the worst international break I've had in my time at West Ham
United."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Tomkins disappointed with Everton loss
WHUFC.com
James Tomkins felt three points were there for the taking at Everton on
Saturday
22.11.2014

James Tomkins was disappointed that a valiant West Ham United effort did not
gain tangible reward at Everton on Saturday. The Hammers were shorn of five
of their star performers of the season to date for the Goodison Park trip
due to injury, yet they still departed Merseyside with the sense that they
should have taken something from the game. It looked for a while that they
would after Mauro Zarate cancelled out Romelu Lukaku's opener, but a
breakaway goal from Leon Osman 17 minutes from time settled it and left
Tomkins - and the rest of his team - cursing their luck. He said: "When we
got back into the game and made it 1-1, we looked the stronger team so we're
disappointed to lose it in the end. "The lads gave it all they had and
towards the end we tried to play off Andy. We showed a good effort and on
most days we would have gone on from making it 1-1 to winning the game. "It
wasn't to be and it's a hard one to take."

WIth Enner Valencia, Diafra Sakho, Stewart Downing, Alex Song and Cheikhou
Kouyate all missing with injury, the Hammers may have been up against it at
Everton, but Tomkins said the level of their performance was an indicator of
the strength in the squad. "We had a lot of players out and it shows the
squad depth we have now," he continued. "It was a good effort from us but
[the result was] not quite there."

Tomkins had to play the last 40 or so minutes in midfield when Mark Noble
hobbled off and he was happy to do his bit in the engine room of the team.
He continued: "I've played there a few times, mainly in the Championship,
but also in the Premier League, and I just want to do a job for the team
wherever I play. "When Nobes got injured I had to go in there and do a job
and I'm just disappointed we didn't get a result."

Next up for the Hammers is a home game with Newcastle and the No5 is looking
forward to putting the wrongs of Saturday right. "There were positives to
take as we go into Newcastle next week," he said. "We had a lot of crosses
and we're still looking good for the next game.
"If we can get a couple of the players fit who are out too we'll be in good
shape."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Everton 2 West Ham 1
22 November 2014
Last updated at 17:58
By James McMath
BBC Sport

Leon Osman marked his 400th Everton appearance with the winning goal in the
Toffees' victory over West Ham United. The 33-year-old midfielder slid in to
convert Samuel Eto'o's low cross as Everton made it six matches unbeaten.
Romelu Lukaku's fifth goal of the season gave Everton the lead after Ross
Barkley's blocked shot fell into his path. Substitute Mauro Zarate had
levelled for West Ham after his shot struck Phil Jagielka and looped over
Tim Howard. Osman's goal - his 55th for his club - proved decisive in a
heated encounter as Everton made it 13 Premier League matches against the
Hammers without defeat.

Sam Allardyce could point to the absence of five key players through injury,
with top scorer Diafra Sakho joined on the sidelines by Enner Valencia,
Stewart Downing, Alex Song and Cheikhou Kouyate. Andy Carroll came in, and
started brightly, releasing Carl Jenkinson with a crossfield pass and
looping a header over from a Aaron Cresswell delivery. However, it was
Everton who opened the scoring midway through the first half after a slice
of good fortune. West Ham's last Premier League victory over Everton came in
April 2007, when Bobby Zamora scored the only goal in a 1-0 win at Upton
Park. Barkley's shot deflected off Winston Reid and James Collins before the
ball broke for Lukaku. The Belgian appeared to be offside but the flag
stayed down as he fired his fifth goal of the season beyond goalkeeper
Adrian.
James McCarthy was in the Everton XI, despite controversially pulling out of
the Ireland squad for the Euro 2016 qualifier against Scotland. And the
midfielder was at the centre of a heated exchange in the latter stages of
the first half when his foul on Morgan Amalfitano prompted an angry reaction
from several West Ham players. McCarthy was booked, as was Reid for
confronting the Everton man.
Allardyce, whose side were looking to make it six league matches unbeaten
for the first time since 2009, brought on Matt Jarvis and Zarate in place of
Carlton Cole and Mark Noble six minutes into the second half and it paid off
within five minutes as the visitors levelled.
Zarate's shot from 25 yards took a big deflection off Jagielka and looped
beyond Tim Howard in the Everton goal. The tactical switch had given West
Ham greater attacking threat but it also left them more vulnerable at the
back. And Everton took advantage, creating the winning goal with a swift
counter attack. Referee Mark Clattenburg allowed play on after Collins
brought down Lukaku and it proved a good decision as Eto'o broke and
delivered a low cross to pick out Osman sliding in at the back post. Eto
should have made it 3-1 in time added on but side-footed wide from Osman's
low cross from the right.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Everton 2-1 West Ham United
KUMB.com
Filed: Saturday, 22nd November 2014
By: Staff Writer

West Ham's five match unbeaten run came to a predictable end at Goodison
Park this afternoon - courtesy of another baffling decision by the match
officials. Mark Clattenburg has a long history of making game-changing
decisions and so it was the case once again when he allowed Romelu Lukaku's
clearly offside goal to stand. And although the Hammers corrected that
particular wrong shortly after the restart, Leon Osman's 76th minute strike
was enough to earn the home side all three points and condemn Sam
Allardyce's side to a first defeat since the end of September.

Sam Allardyce already had his hands tied before the interference of
Clattenburg, having lost an incredible FIVE players during the international
break - Alex Song, Cheik Kouyate, Enner Valencia, Diafra Sakho and Stewart
Downing all being ruled out of contention.

That meant a first start of the season for Andy Carroll, who was to end the
game deeply frustrated at the lack of service he was provided with during
the afternoon - much the same as the rest of his team mates who were unable
to grab a second equaliser, having initially restored parity 11 minutes
after the half time break courtesy of a Jagielka own goal.

Everton started the game strongly and Mirallas, Lukaku and Naismith all
squandered early chances to break the deadlock. When they finally did it was
through Lukaku's 26th-minute offside effort; Ross Barkley's shot was blocked
by James Collins before falling to the offside Belgian who slammed the ball
into an empty net, with Adrian wrong-footed.

Just 11 minutes later the striker was disappointed to find the net again
only to see his effort ruled out - correctly this time - for offside.
Moments later Clattenburg again angered the travelling contingent when a
dreadful challenge from behind on Morgan Amalfitano by Naismith resulted in
a yellow card, not red. Annoyingly, Winston Reid was also booked in the
melee for his reaction to Naismith's challenge - a caution that will see him
miss next week's match against Newcastle having reached the five-game limit.

Just five minutes into the second half Sam Allardyce decided to throw
caution to the wind and introduced Matt Jarvis and Mauro Zarate. Just five
minutes later the Argentinian levelled the scores when his shot took a
wicked deflection off Jagielka, looping over Howard into an empty net.

At that stage of the game it seemed as if only one side would win the game -
that being the Hammers, who began to pile on the pressure as Everton visibly
creaked. However a classic counter attack by the visitors was to cost West
Ham a share of the spoils.

Having broken from a United attack, a long ball found Lukaku who laid the
ball out wide before James Collins cynically attempted to prevent him from
progressing any further. Eto'o made for the byeline before crossing for
Osman, who steered the ball home at the far post.

Although West Ham huffed and puffed in search of what would have been a
second equaliser, there was to be no repeat of the 2-2 draw at Stoke
recently.

And whilst the Hammers will feel aggrieved at losing the game due to
a(nother) dreadful call by a so-called top-class referee, Allardyce will at
least be able to take comfort from another decent performance - even if it
was one that ultimately ended in failure.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Lukaku and Osman goals help Everton to 2-1 win over West Ham
Last Updated: 22/11/14 7:54pm
SSN

Leon Osman's second goal of the season sealed a 2-1 victory for Everton over
high-flying West Ham at Goodison Park. Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring for
Everton in the first half with Osman's 73rd-minute strike sandwiching a West
Ham reply by Mauro Zarate.

Best of the game

Man of the match: Leon Osman, rounding off his 400th appearance for the
Toffees with the winning goal in the second half.
Attempt of the match: James McCarthy's long-range shot in the second half
fizzed just over the bar.
Save of the match: Adrian made a smart stop with his legs when it looked
easier for James Collins to score from around five yards out.
Talking point: Never nice to highlight an embarrassing dive, but Ross
Barkley throwing himself to the ground when not even touched by Kevin Nolan
should be addressed.
Goal of the match: With the other two goals rather scrappy, Osman's winner
takes the honour and it was great work from the vastly-experienced Samuel
Eto'o to set him up, not to mentioned some excellent refereeing by Mark
Clattenburg to wave 'play on' in the build-up.

The win takes Everton up to 17 points in the Premier League, one behind West
Ham, who started the day in fourth place. In the 26th minute, Ross Barkley
cleverly controlled a headed pass from Naismith to wrongfoot a defender but,
as he shaped to strike the ball, it was blocked.
The wild deflection fell kindly to Lukaku, in space on the left of the
six-yard box, and the Belgium international calmly gave West Ham's Spanish
keeper Adrian little chance as he swept it in for the opening goal. Eleven
minutes later Lukaku put the ball in the back of the net for a second time
but was ruled off-side.

In the second half, Argentine striker Zarate, who had only just come on for
West Ham as a substitute, picked the ball up on the right in the 56th
minute, ran across the top of the Everton box and fired through several
defenders. The ball hit Jagielka's out-stretched leg and took a big
deflection over the advancing Tim Howard, who could do nothing to prevent
the ball looping high over his head and into the net for the equaliser.

James McCarthy went close for Everton three minutes later after running at
James Tomkins, cutting inside and curling a beautiful shot just past the far
corner of the goal.

Close

The decisive goal came in the 73rd minute after Lukaku broke quickly over
the half-way line and James Collins took him out. Ref Mark Clattenburg
played an excellent advantage and Samuel Eto'o, on as a substitute for Kevin
Mirallas, collected the ball to thread a perfect ball across the box to
Osman racing in on the far side. And midfielder Osman made no mistake to put
Everton back in front with his second goal of the season. Moments later
Howard kept Everton in front with a point-blank save with his legs from
Collins. In the dying minutes Osman and Eto'o again combined with a
wonderful one-two on the edge of the West Ham box, Osman pulling it back in
front of the goal only for the Cameroon international to hit it hard - but
wide.

Paul Merson

Paul Merson said Sam Allardyce will feel disappointed with the result,
despite West Ham having a lot injuries. I was quite impressed with West Ham.
With the amount of injuries they had, they did alright. You take five
players out for a team like West Ham and send them to Everton and you think
they'd get done, but they were really good. Lukaku might have been offside
for Everton's first goal, the equaliser. I think he got lucky. But then West
Ham were very good, moved the ball quickly and put crosses in and put
Everton under pressure. Then, against the run of play, Everton went down the
other end of the park and Osman scored.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Allardyce 'baffled' by referee's opening goal decision
Last Updated: 22/11/14 7:08pm
SSN

West Ham boss Sam Allardyce was annoyed with the officials for not ruling
out Everton's first goal in their 2-1 defeat at Goodison Park.
West Ham manager Sam Allardyce says he was "baffled" by the decision which
handed Everton their opening goal in the 2-1 win at Goodison Park. Even a
post-match explanation from referee Mark Clattenburg as to why Romelu
Lukaku's strike was allowed to stand - despite him being offside immediately
before Ross Barkley's shot rebounded to him - failed to appease the Hammers
boss.Allardyce said he will be taking up the matter with officials' chief
Mike Riley next week. "A little bit of it was our fault but that decision
baffled me so we have to be frustrated," said Allardyce. "The first shot was
blocked by Winston Reid and it falls to Lukaku who is two yards offside.
"For me there will be some way forward next week for an explanation. "I have
had an explanation from the referee but I won't discuss that publicly, I'll
discuss it privately with the PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials
Limited) next week."

After a couple of meaty challenges from Everton's James McCarthy - who
provoked an all-out melee after going over the top on Morgan Amalfitano -
and Steven Naismith, Allardyce, whose sides down the years have been accused
of being over-physical, claimed they asked Clattenburg for greater
protection."I think they were yellow cards. Naismith's challenge on Mark
Noble was probably the worst of all and because there wasn't a furore it
went unnoticed," he added. "Noble ended up coming off injured because of
that. "They showed a certain degree of physicality and we had to ask the
referee to protect us and I don't think he did that too well."It is a part
of the game we accept but the most frustrating thing is our controllables.
"We have been very good this year at converting chances with very good
delivery in the final third but our finishing was not good enough and
because of that we have ended up losing and a referee's decision has
contributed to it."

Allardyce was also unhappy about the way his side conceded the winner. It
came from a quick counter-attack and saw Clattenburg make the right choice
in playing advantage when Lukaku was fouled. Clattenburg's decision allowed
Leon Osman to score on his 400th appearance after Mauro Zarate had equalised
four minutes after coming off the bench. "One punt up the middle was a
hugely disappointing way to concede," said the West Ham boss. "There are
opportunities when Everton try to get Lukaku in to get running at players
but to allow him to get in from a clearance, defensively that was the only
disappointing thing today and unfortunately it has cost us a goal."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham Kevin Nolan unhappy with Romelu Lukaku's goal for Everton
Last Updated: 22/11/14 10:28pm
SSN

West Ham captain Kevin Nolan is unhappy referee Mark Clattenburg allowed
Romelu Lukaku's opener stand in the 2-1 defeat at Everton.
Lukaku appeared to collect the ball while in an off-side position after Ross
Barkley's shot was cleared off the line by a combination of Winston Reid and
James Collins. Several West Ham players remonstrated with Clattenburg after
he awarded the goal and Nolan was far from amused with the explanation that
he was offered by the referee. "It was quite strange what he said," Nolan
told Sky Sports News HQ. "He said our defender passed the ball to him which
I don't really get. "It's a block and it's a cop-out if the referee and the
linesman are saying that because at the end of the day it was a block. The
lad's shooting at goal and the defenders on the line are throwing themselves
at the ball and Lukaku was in an off-side position. "That's the be all and
end all and you can never ever defend it. You've just got to hold your hands
up and say 'I got it wrong'. Then we've got to take it on the chin and he's
got to take it on the chin.
"It's just disappointing when they come up with silly things like that."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
EVERTON 2, WEST HAM 1. RE-ENTERING THE ATMOSPHERE.
By David Hautzig 22 Nov 2014 at 19:08
West Ham Till I Die

If I'm exaggerating here, it's only by a little bit. We could win 150 games
on the trot, and Everton could be winless for month's…. and we would all
expect to lose at Goodison. Hell, we wouldn't expect much better at Upton
Park. We don't beat Everton. The last time we did was 2007. Before that, I
think you have to go back to the parting of the Red Sea. And to add insult
to injury, or in this case injury to possible insult, after being relatively
knock free of late we come into today's game missing some key players;

•Stuart Downing hurt his knee playing for England. Well done, Roy. You play
him out of the position that got him the call up in the first place, making
it an utter waste of his time. I hate International Breaks.

•Diafra Sakho, after looking like he could be a Superhero flying around
London saving damsels in distress when he's not playing football, has a back
injury.

•Enner Valencia is hurt. I don't know where it happened. I don't care. I'm
just pissed off about it.

•Cheikhou Kouyaté injured his knee. He played in the ACN on Wednesday and
only trained with us yesterday. Have I told you I hate International Breaks?

•Alex Song. Huh? Where the hell did that come from? First cup of coffee,
kids are still asleep, and I see that. Great. Bet you I open the door now to
find my car stolen.

The starting lineup caused a stir on Twitter (as if that's any surprise).
For the longest time we called for Sam to play two up front. Today, with so
many of the players we have depended on to do just that unavailable, nobody
would have been shocked to see us revert back to a lone striker and a
prayer. So the fact that both Carroll and Cole started at least cemented the
two up top plan. I would have much rather seen Zarate, but Cole has played
fairly well so far this year. Sam got the benefit of the doubt from me, but
not many others. As for his decision to go with five at the back, that
seemed very risky. Why play all three center backs when you only have three
in the squad?

The game began in the way many West Ham supporters expected. Everton had the
lion's share of the ball, and we tried to play crosses into our returning
Big Man. In the third minute Jenkinson played what would be the first of
many balls into the box, only to have Tim Howard grab it before AC could get
there. A few minutes later Carlton Cole won the ball from James McCarthy,
although he didn't actually do anything other than chase McCarthy so closely
that the ball popped out. That led to Andy Carroll feeding Jenkinson down
the right side, who slid a low cross across the goalmouth. Jagielka
deflected it away, but to be honest the only West Ham player trying to
attack the ball was Carroll and he wasn't that close.

The ninth minute gave a glimpse of what Sam's plan seemed to be. Tomkins
launched a ball into the box that Carroll won. To be fair, regardless of
what anybody might say about him, Andy wins most of the balls launched at
him. Maybe if somebody else had been on the end of his knock down the
results would have been different. But it was Carlton Cole, and he couldn't
handle it. Then a cross from Cresswell found Carroll, but it lacked the pace
needed for any header off the end of it to be effective, and it sailed high.
Even with a second striker out there, Carroll looked isolated. Kind of like
when you are asked to move a sofa and the guy on the other end can barely
lift it off the ground.

Despite the home side having close to 80% possession in the opening ten
minutes, it didn't look all that bad for West Ham. Any time an Everton
player touched the ball, he was hounded. Harassed. Bothered. They didn't
have any time to turn with the ball and plan their next move. That was
encouraging, and I'm guessing Sam was happy about that.

In the 14th minute, Steven Naismith should have made it 1-0. The reason he
didn't was because after he passed to Lukaku in what he expected to be a
give and go, Lukaku decided it was just a give. No go. Adrian handled
Lukaku's shot easily.

A few minutes later the home side had another opportunity that should have
opened the scoring, but didn't. Osman laid a terrific through ball for
Coleman, who cut the ball back to a wide open Naismith. But his shot went so
far over the bar that Adrian barely moved.

Fans of the English Premier League often chide the fans and players in Serie
A and La Liga for their propensity to simulate. OK, I'll just call it what
it is. Diving. But today, we saw some pretty shameful play acting from both
sides. The first was from Ross Barkley, who dove through the air without
even being touched by Kevin Nolan's breath, to win a free kick. Thankfully
nothing came of it. Then Naismith worked himself into another dangerous
position when he took advantage of a deflected ball off his chest, but his
shot was from an extreme angle.

The pressure from Everton was mounting, and you could feel a goal coming. It
did, when Diving Barkley's shot deflected off of Winston Reid's heel, right
to Lukaku. Adrian was moving to his left, the direction Barkley's shot was
going. So when it fell Lukaku, the net was wide open. Not going to miss
that. Replays showed that Lukaku was definitely in an offside position when
Barkley took his shot. I asked my Twitter mate @RockyWHU to clarify the rule
there. We may both be wrong, but since the ball deflected off a West Ham
player was Lukaku still offside? I'm just putting it out there.

Everton 1, West Ham 0.

The pre-game fears about our formation, with only three in the midfield,
were playing themselves out to be more like premonitions. Without Song or
Kouyate available to get the ball from the back line, we couldn't play the
ball through the midfield. Nolan was….uhhhhh…..ineffective. So the full
backs were left to try and push the ball upfield, which was probably part of
Sam's plan. Most of those attacks came down the right side, with Jenkinson
trying to find Carroll. That happened again in the 30th minute, but despite
showing good athleticism Carroll's header sailed wide. Another one minutes
later was from too far out. Then a low cross from Jenkinson, followed by a
dummy from Cole was just behind Carroll. The ideas were there, but the
execution wasn't. Oh, to have Valencia or Sakho.

The 32nd minute presented the first real opportunity for West Ham when a
sloppy pass from Distin was intercepted by Nolan and laid off for
Amalfitano. His shot was off target, but to be fair that was his only bad
moment of the game. In fact, Morgan was our best player in the first half.
Running at the Everton defense, showing glimpses of the creativity that made
him so effective against Liverpool and Unreal City. The Everton players knew
it, too, and they decided to do something about it.

Minutes after Noble was roughed up by a cynical challenge from Naismith,
McCarthy went after Amalfitano. He came a long way to get to his target, and
with studs right on top of Amalfitano's foot he got it. The proverbial ice
hockey game broke out, with pushing and shoving on all ends. McCarthy saw a
yellow card, as did Winston Reid. The latter means Reid won't be available
for next week's game against Newcastle. Clattenburg is usually a pretty good
ref for us. Not so today.

West Ham had one final mini opportunity right before halftime when Carroll
used his strength to win the ball in midfield. He ran with it towards the
box and fired, but his shot was wide.

Halftime.

Most West Ham fans took to Twitter to demand that Cole be taken of for
Zarate. It didn't happen at first, but in the 50th minute the clubs official
Twitter account not only acknowledged the fans demands, but announced that
Zarate was indeed getting ready to enter the game. Seconds later, he did
just that along with Matt Jarvis. Cole and a limping Noble came off,
possibly still feeling the effects of the Naismith challenge. Tomkins was
moved out of the five man defense and into midfield. Sam did that a lot in
the Championship, with mixed results. OK, mostly bad. But today the options
were limited.

The new formation paid dividends immediately. Zarate won West Ham their
first corner of the game by doing nothing more than running at a defender.
See, Sam? It worked. The corner came to Carroll, who fired a ball right into
Barkley's chest. After his first half dive I was sort of hoping it broke one
of his ribs. No such luck.

Then, instead of waiting for some luck, West Ham made some. Zarate and
Amalfitano worked a nice one-two. When Zarate got the ball back, his shot
deflected off of Jagielka and over Howard. Zarate wants to run. He wants to
get into the area. Does he do everything Sam wants of him all the time?
Probably not. But you need players like that, and when you have them you can
make your own good fortunes when they were otherwise hiding.

Everton 1, West Ham 1.

West Ham looked energized by their equalizer. Carroll made a great pass to
Jenkinson, who then played a cross into the box that Howard had to punch out
of danger. Everton looked like they wanted to prevent West Ham from feeling
too optimistic when McCarthy got the ball on the left, cut inside, and fired
a long range shot wide.

Amalfitano was still West Ham's best player, so Everton decided one nasty
challenge in the first half wasn't enough to take him down. Mirallas decided
to take his best shot and received a yellow card for his troubles. That's
when West Ham got into the acting game. Tomkins reacted to the Mirallas
tackle with a silly push. Mirallas pushed back, touching Tomkins chest.
Obviously the chest pain shot up to his cheeks, and JT grabbed his face.
Maybe he was angling for a move to Sampdoria? Embarrassing.

In the 63rd minute Naismith skillfully controlled a long pass from Osman
with his chest and sent Lukaku through on goal. His pass was just a bit too
far to the left, forcing the hefty Belgian into a bad angle. Then came the
kind of substitution you simply know will have an effect on a game. Mirallas
off, Eto'o on. I bet each and every one of us had some vision of him hurting
us at some point.

From the West Ham point of view, everything was going through Zarate. Both
good, and a little bad. In the 67th minute he tracked back to win the ball
right outside of our box…only to lose it seconds later. I wonder which
moment Sam will remember? Zarate then won a free kick down the left side.
The ball eventually found its way to Amalfitano whose shot was deflected
wide for a corner.

This is not Nolan bashing, but he had a lousy game. His only decent moment
came in the 71st minute when his long pass fell perfectly into the path of
Matt Jarvis. But instead of putting his shot across the goal, he went for
the near post….and it was nowhere near the goal. Moments later Jenkinson won
another corner, but nothing came of that either.

The visions of Eto'o hurting us turned into reality a minute later when
Everton launched a counter attack. Collins brought down Lukaku a few yards
past the center circle, but Clattenburg rightfully played the advantage. The
ball fell to Eto'o. A younger player may have rushed it, passed too early,
or shot it wildly. But class is class, and Eto'o has oodles of it. He slid a
ball perfectly to Osman who tapped it in.

Everton 2, West Ham 1.

West Ham came very close to a second equalizer when Matt Jarvis's low shot
found James Collins directly in front of Howard. Ginge tried to redirect the
ball into the net, but Howard made a fine save.

Ross Barkley came off in the 79th minute for Muhamed Besic. Not particularly
noteworthy, but figured since I made a note of it I'd include it.

The next substitution was beyond baffling to me. In the 82nd minute, Vaz Te
climbed out of whatever hole Sam had been keeping him in and entered the
game. OK, fine. But when every single West Ham fan likely expected Nolan to
come off, Amalfitano got the hook.

Our best player overall on the day. Off.

Our worst player overall on the day. Stayed.

Zarate won another corner in the 84th minute, and Carroll once again got to
it. His header was off target, and he tried to claim it deflected off
Naismith. Replays showed no such thing.

Five minutes of added time gave West Ham a bit of hope that at least there
was time to salvage a draw. Problem was, Everton controlled the majority of
those five minutes. It should have been 3-1 when Eto'o couldn't convert a
pass from Coleman right in front of Adrian.

West Ham had one chance. A deflection off of Jenkinson landed right in front
of Vaz Te, with space on the right side. Here was his chance to show who he
was. Which he did, with a useless ball that flew over the bar for a goal
kick. A final cross by Jenkinson, his 732nd of the game, was grabbed by my
fellow American and Everton ran out the clock.

I guess it's time to release the parachute, fire the retro rockets, and
prepare to come back down to earth. I can't say I didn't expect the result.
I did. I actually put a 2-1 loss down in my pool. But with so many of our
best players out, a bus parking attempt at a 0-0 draw like we tried last
year wouldn't have shocked me. Instead, we played. And at times played well
enough to have gotten a result. Would things have been different had Zarate
started instead of Cole? Who knows. I won't get in to those "what ifs". We
were in it. It could have ended differently. Most trips to Goodison don't
even let us think that.

I'm looking forward to seeing them at our place later this year.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham fans react to Zarate's display against Everton
HITC
Olly Dawes

West Ham slipped to a 2-1 loss at Everton, but fans were full of praise for
striker Mauro Zarate. West Ham striker Mauro Zarate has been out of picture
lately, which has led to speculation that he could head back to Italy and
sign for Torino In January. That led to manager Sam Allardyce demanding that
the Argentine fought for his place rather than leave the club, and with his
Hammers side 1-0 down at Everton this afternoon, he turned to the former
Inter Milan forward for help. Just six minutes into the second half, Zarate
was brought on in place of Carlton Cole, and he made an almost instant
impact, cutting inside from the right and hitting a deflected shot over Tim
Howard to bring West Ham level. Zarate continued to cause problems for the
Everton defence throughout, but could do nothing as Leon Osman slid in to
convert Samuel Eto'o cross into the net to give the Toffees the win. It was
a blow for West Ham to lose the game having fought back to equalise, but
Zarate's display was a welcome boost given his recent absence. West Ham fans
took to Twitter after the game to praise Zarate for his performance, with
some fans comparing him to his compatriot Lionel Messi and West Ham legend
Paolo Di Canio. That's high praise for Zarate, but some were still concerned
over his lack of defensive ability.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Two more Irons injury worries
Posted by Sean Whetstone on November 22, 2014 in Whispers
Claret & Hugh

There are concerns for two more Hammers tonight following this afternoon's
physical game with Everton at Goodison Park. Mark Noble hobbled off in the
51st minute to be replaced Matt Jarvis. Earlier in the match Noble was
fouled an flattened by Naismith who himself was stretchered off later in
the game. Morgan Amalfitano seemed also to take a battering especially from
a bad foul from McCartney which could easily have seen the Everton player
sent off. Amalfitano was also limping during the game and was subbed on 82
minutes to be replaced by Ricardo Vaz Te, hopefully as a precaution. The
latest injury scares come on the back of injuries to Valencia, Sakho,
Downing, Song and Kouyate all of which were declared unfit to play today.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Injured five may be out for a while!
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on November 22, 2014 in Whispers
Claret & Hugh

West Ham's injury crisis looks set to stretch into the next two or three
weeks! ClaretandHugh has learned over the last few minutes that the five who
missed today's game are struggling with knocks and problems which could see
them miss the games against Newcastle or WBA.
We understand that Chiekhou Kouyate is the most likely to be available and
he was absent today after returning from his international duties exhausted.
We were told by a source: "There's a variety of reasons for the injuries –
knocks from the Stoke and Aston Villa games from which recovery has been
slower than expected whilst the Senegal boys had problems while on
international duty. "Given the circumstances we thought the team produced a
highly spirited performance in very difficult circumstances today and we
deserved better than a 2-1 defeat."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
LEROY: Unlucky Hammers show great spirit
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on November 22, 2014 in Whispers
Claret & Hugh

West Ham can consider themselves very unlucky to have lost a game from which
they definitely deserved a point! For starters Everton's opener from Lukaku
was at least two yards offside and that's the kind of break you can do
without when stripped of five of your best players. But despite that, the
Hammers battled well, particularly in the second half, and were worth at
least a point against a very average Everton side. It was a little
surprising to see Cole and Carroll line up together and to be honest I
didn't see much link up work going on between them. And not surprisingly –
shorn of so many good players – we lacked quality where it mattered. Having
said that nobody could fault their attitude in a game which was nasty and
niggly at time. Mauro Zarate was nice and bright and scored soon after he
arrived and showed he really should have a first team future at the club.
However, what this game did show was how absolutely excellent Sakho and
Valencia are as a strike force and the other missing players were obviously
badly missed. However, to see the team show so much fight and spirit and
come within a tiny margin of getting the result they deserved really does
demonstrate how far we have come this season.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

http://vyperz.blogspot.com



---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com