West Ham 1-2 Newcastle United

[The Fish 10972]

great result. west ham were awful but we showed great spirit again after going a goal down to take all three points. credit again to hughton. he's workign with pretty much the same standard of player that went down last time but he's got them battling and working for each other and, crucially, not letting their heads go down when we're up against it.

 

these are the sort of games that will keep us up. after the equaliser, they never really looked a threat and we seemed to have all the ball. strange that we seem more composed away from home than at st james this season.

 

nolan was a passenger again for most of the game but then he pops up with the winning goal so what do you do? simpson looked rusty but still played better than a fully fit pirch has been.

 

The bit about us being better away from home...

Is this the sort of thing managers talk about some players not having the bollocks to play at home in front of 50k-they buckle under the pressure?

 

Out of the starting 11, only Collo has played for a bigger team than NUFC. Does it have an impact? If so-who do you think has suffered from it?

I personally think our lack of quality in the final third is our biggest problem at home.

 

I'd agree with that. The biggest frustration for me is that with Ben Arfa, Jonas and Routledge we have one great little player and two tricky wingers... exactly the kind of players a newly promoted side can use to establish themselves as a Premiership mainstay once more. Ameobi and Carroll looked decent today, there were Shola's mandatory lapses in concentration, but all in all I thought the pair proved me wrong. I didn't think they would play well together, but I'm happy to say I was wrong.

 

I was watching it at work with a West Ham fan and it was interesting that he was nervous about our physicality and mentioned Da Costa specifically. I thought the pair of them bullied and bothered the WHam backline all game, I don't think Green dealt with the crosses well at all. With better delivery we could have caused even more problems.

 

Don't think it would work as well against, say, Blackburn, but I'd definitely give that team the chance to put the shitters up the mackems. I think with Barton, Nolan, Carroll, Ameobi and Harper in the 1st team we have five players who "get" this derby. The former pair more through their personality than any abiding affection for this club. I don't mean they need to kick lumps out of the deck chairs down the road, but I just don't think Jonas, Collo, Williamson, Simpson etc. I just don't think they'll burst a blood vessel next Sunday.

 

Dunno who I'd play against Arsenal mid-week though. I don't think the cups are priorities and this was a decent performance by a cohesive team. (I toyed with the idea of saying balanced, but I think people would presume I meant balanced formation-wise, which it absolutely wasn't)

[shackbleep 0]

Barton on the right was inspired today. Instead of doing what many feared and dropping inside, he whipped in some telling balls and was heavily responsible for both goals.

 

Nolan never plays better for us than when he's playing just off the strikers - certainly was that way last season. The introduction of Tiote who plays a holding midfield role similar to Essien & Makalele is giving Nolan the freedom to move forward more.

 

Simpson was caught a few times today but it was his first game back.

 

However we can't lose sight of the fact that for 70 minutes today, West Ham were utter garbage. Rather than being ecstatic that we beat them, I'm more relieved that we didn't drop points against someone who deserved fuck all from the game.

[Guest alex]

Credit to Hughton like, in that he had the bottle to play a relatively attacking 4-4-2 away from home against a poor side struggling for form etc. We thoroughly deserved that though. An excellent victory, I thought. We more or less bossed the game from the moment they scored.

[Monroe Transfer 0]

Was there a special reason why Hughton was wearing a suit?

 

Must say it was rather dashing.

 

Good result albeit against a poor side. Pleased for Carroll, had a few games without a goal and hopefully this will help lead to a few more.

[Guest alex]

Was there a special reason why Hughton was wearing a suit?

He was going for an interview after the game.

[The Fish 10972]

Barton on the right was inspired today. Instead of doing what many feared and dropping inside, he whipped in some telling balls and was heavily responsible for both goals.

 

Nolan never plays better for us than when he's playing just off the strikers - certainly was that way last season. The introduction of Tiote who plays a holding midfield role similar to Essien & Makalele is giving Nolan the freedom to move forward more.

 

Simpson was caught a few times today but it was his first game back.

 

However we can't lose sight of the fact that for 70 minutes today, West Ham were utter garbage. Rather than being ecstatic that we beat them, I'm more relieved that we didn't drop points against someone who deserved fuck all from the game.

 

He did drift inside quite a bit, certainly in the 1st half, I just don't think West ham made concerted efforts to hit us down the wings. I know Obinna caused Simpson some problems early on, but after that, most of their danger came from long balls or through balls through the centre.

 

I think it would have been more apparent if we were up against a better side.

[The Fish 10972]

Was there a special reason why Hughton was wearing a suit?

He was going for an interview after the game.

With our lot, it'd be more likely he had to attend some kind of legal proceedings

[Papa Lazaru 0]

Credit to Hughton like, in that he had the bottle to play a relatively attacking 4-4-2 away from home against a poor side struggling for form etc. We thoroughly deserved that though. An excellent victory, I thought. We more or less bossed the game from the moment they scored.

 

Yeah, he went for it and got his reward, if only he'd done it against Blackpool and Stoke who knows what might have happened!

 

I reckon it'll be same again for the mackems and i'd agree, i think Shola tends to do quite well against them and we need to cause them problems.

[TicTacWoe 0]

My Thoughts-

 

Tiote is superb

 

Simpson isn't a world beater but is a hell of a lot better than Perch

 

Nolan was invisible for most of the game but scores vital goals (in his role as our pound-shop fatter version of Frank Lampard)

 

Thank god Smith is permanently benched now

 

Two up front is encouraging from CH, pity we don't have a better option to play with Caroll (shola is fine as backup but nothing more though he played well today)

[The Fish 10972]

[sammynb 3517]

great result. west ham were awful but we showed great spirit again after going a goal down to take all three points. credit again to hughton. he's workign with pretty much the same standard of player that went down last time but he's got them battling and working for each other and, crucially, not letting their heads go down when we're up against it.

 

these are the sort of games that will keep us up. after the equaliser, they never really looked a threat and we seemed to have all the ball. strange that we seem more composed away from home than at st james this season.

 

nolan was a passenger again for most of the game but then he pops up with the winning goal so what do you do? simpson looked rusty but still played better than a fully fit pirch has been.

 

The bit about us being better away from home...

Is this the sort of thing managers talk about some players not having the bollocks to play at home in front of 50k-they buckle under the pressure?

 

Out of the starting 11, only Collo has played for a bigger team than NUFC. Does it have an impact? If so-who do you think has suffered from it?

I personally think our lack of quality in the final third is our biggest problem at home.

 

This.

Away from home if we take it to the opposition we will always find more room because likewise they will have set out to play in a similar vane.

At home everyone bar Man U, Citeh, Arse & Chelsea will park the bus and try to stifle the play and Hughton needs to work that out and play accordingly.

 

GL, I know Tiote isn't a Rob Lee type player, well not in RL's prime but there is something more about his game than merely a DM destroyer. The way he runs forward (hope you were watching pirouette Parker) and tries to make a positive pass, instead of just breaking up play and then knocking it to the defender or keeper behind. And his biggest plus is even when he fucks it up, he works to get that ball back, there is none of that Jenas/Butt/Smith roll around on the ground as if you've been fouled and stand there with your hands on your hips watching the play race past you.

[spongebob toonpants 4153]

However we can't lose sight of the fact that for 70 minutes today, West Ham were utter garbage. Rather than being ecstatic that we beat them, I'm more relieved that we didn't drop points against someone who deserved fuck all from the game.

 

Thats exactly right. When we got beat 3-1 by WHU the year we went down, even though it was early in the season, the performance was so bad you knew we were doomed. I watched todays game with a lifelong hammer, he reckons they are nailed on to go down

[Dr Gloom 22185]

My Thoughts-

 

Tiote is superb

 

Simpson isn't a world beater but is a hell of a lot better than Perch

 

Nolan was invisible for most of the game but scores vital goals (in his role as our pound-shop fatter version of Frank Lampard)

 

Thank god Smith is permanently benched now

 

Two up front is encouraging from CH, pity we don't have a better option to play with Caroll (shola is fine as backup but nothing more though he played well today)

 

yup; shola and carroll won't cut it against better defences. there's no real pace in that pairing to get in behind and we're relying on good quality balls into the box really. we're crying out for a player in the bellamy mould

[OTF 7496]

Yeah Tiote was fantastic again today. Had his worst game for us last start, but even then he would have been the best we've had in that position for a long time. Nolan needs to improve his tackling and defensive involvement, but with Tiote alongside him he can get away with doing less than he'd have to alongside a less able partner.

 

Barton gave away a lot of ball in this game, but still managed some very good contributions, most of all his assist but also free kicks and a decent run or two. I'd still be tempted to play Routledge on the right with Barton and Tiote in the middle. Nolan is undoubtedly a better scorer, but Barton will contribute more across a match. I can see where Chris is comin from having both Barton and Nolan in there with Tiote however it's a dangerous game when you try to play your 'best' players and not your best players in each position.

 

As someone else pointed out it's hard to judge our performance in this game because West Ham were so poor for most of the match. In their good run our defense looked troubled.

[OTF 7496]

My Thoughts-

yup; shola and carroll won't cut it against better defences. there's no real pace in that pairing to get in behind and we're relying on good quality balls into the box really. we're crying out for a player in the bellamy mould

 

They'll do ok against decent defense as long as they get service. The problem there being that teams with good defenders are normally good teams and so the service won't be as good.

 

Lovenkrands does make the right runs for the most part, there's value in him still in my opinion. There is if course no guarantee that his touch or finishing will be good on the end of his runs, or of course that the ball will even get to him. Th runs he makes are similar to those that you see from the likes of Kalou except Kalou obviously gets a lot better service at Chelsea.

[acrossthepond 878]

Tiote had a brilliant shot too that was luckily (for WH) deflected away. I'm trying to hold back the enthusiasm but he has looked the business since day 1 and had he played against Blackpool I think we'd have beaten them.

 

Good performance against an admittedly awful relegation rival. This is exactly the kind of game we failed to win two years ago and seeing it won with relative ease (and even after falling behind) gives me hope that we will stay up. Jonas has really grown into a genuine menace on the left and I think his final ball is improving, Barton was a tad sloppy in giving away possession at times but there was no doubting the quality of either of the balls he provided for the goals, Krul dealt with crosses well, Shola and Carroll put themselves about - all in all I'd say this team can beat the mackems and I look forward to this derby with similar anticipation to the KK 2008 derby.

[Park Life 71]

Was there a special reason why Hughton was wearing a suit?

 

Must say it was rather dashing.

 

Good result albeit against a poor side. Pleased for Carroll, had a few games without a goal and hopefully this will help lead to a few more.

 

I'd like to see more 'blackness' from Hughton. More dazzling suitery and perhaps a big old chunky watch.

[Rob W 0]

Pity is we've already thrown away points against some of the other dross............................

 

Still - 9th ain't so bad..................

[Park Life 71]

Pity is we've already thrown away points against some of the other dross............................

 

Still - 9th ain't so bad..................

 

Teams who sit are going to be a problem at home, as we don't really have the guile to create enough.

[Monkeys Fist 43115]

Was there a special reason why Hughton was wearing a suit?

 

Must say it was rather dashing.

 

Good result albeit against a poor side. Pleased for Carroll, had a few games without a goal and hopefully this will help lead to a few more.

 

I'd like to see more 'blackness' from Hughton. More dazzling suitery and perhaps a big old chunky watch.

And a cane

[Guest alex]

Was there a special reason why Hughton was wearing a suit?

 

Must say it was rather dashing.

 

Good result albeit against a poor side. Pleased for Carroll, had a few games without a goal and hopefully this will help lead to a few more.

 

I'd like to see more 'blackness' from Hughton. More dazzling suitery and perhaps a big old chunky watch.

And a cane

Some dancing too.

And singing.

[sammynb 3517]

Was there a special reason why Hughton was wearing a suit?

 

Must say it was rather dashing.

 

Good result albeit against a poor side. Pleased for Carroll, had a few games without a goal and hopefully this will help lead to a few more.

 

I'd like to see more 'blackness' from Hughton. More dazzling suitery and perhaps a big old chunky watch.

And a cane

Some dancing too.

And singing.

 

With his support staff doing backing in black face and white gloves.

All old time classics.

[Park Life 71]

Was there a special reason why Hughton was wearing a suit?

 

Must say it was rather dashing.

 

Good result albeit against a poor side. Pleased for Carroll, had a few games without a goal and hopefully this will help lead to a few more.

 

I'd like to see more 'blackness' from Hughton. More dazzling suitery and perhaps a big old chunky watch.

And a cane

Some dancing too.

And singing.

 

Perhaps a backflip or two when we score and big old diamond on the pinky finger.

[Park Life 71]

Was there a special reason why Hughton was wearing a suit?

 

Must say it was rather dashing.

 

Good result albeit against a poor side. Pleased for Carroll, had a few games without a goal and hopefully this will help lead to a few more.

 

I'd like to see more 'blackness' from Hughton. More dazzling suitery and perhaps a big old chunky watch.

And a cane

Some dancing too.

And singing.

 

With his support staff doing backing in black face and white gloves.

All old time classics.

 

You go too far Sir!

[sammynb 3517]

Was there a special reason why Hughton was wearing a suit?

 

Must say it was rather dashing.

 

Good result albeit against a poor side. Pleased for Carroll, had a few games without a goal and hopefully this will help lead to a few more.

 

I'd like to see more 'blackness' from Hughton. More dazzling suitery and perhaps a big old chunky watch.

And a cane

Some dancing too.

And singing.

 

Perhaps a backflip or two when we score and big old diamond on the pinky finger.