AFTER conceding so many late goals and losing so many games from winning positions, it must have been doubly satisfying for Nuno and the whole West Ham team to grab an injury time winner and hold on for the last few minutes, away from home against north London neighbours Tottenham Hotspur.
London derbies are always edgy and especially away from home, coming away with a priceless three points after no wins in ten games could not have been timed better for the thousands of away fans who turned up probably more in hope than expectation.
Just for a change the ‘you’re getting sacked in the morning’ chant wasn’t aimed at Nuno Espirito Santo who wouldn’t have failed to see the funny side after beating his former club.
Nuno finally instils some fight into the battling Hammers
West Ham’s coach appears to have found a way to implant some spine into his team, at last. As the bbc.co.uk web site reported:
“Head coach Nuno Espirito Santo was impassive for the most part, but he must have been overjoyed after a win that was priceless on a personal level and also for his team.
West Ham would have been full value for a point after a first-half display in which they scored one and threatened more, along with a performance that was full of the battling qualities they have so often lacked this season.”
Battling indeed: Special mention must go to Dinos Mavropanos who has come in for so much stick from us here as well as fans elsewhere: today he was indeed a warrior. Not perfect but battling for every second. When you consider he was stretchered off last weekend with a neck injury. Respect is due.
Mateus Fernandes, also, fought for ever inch: No quarter given from one who is still just twenty one and not the tallest – his contribution was awesome.
As the report put it:” West Ham’s task now is to build on a triumph that was celebrated wildly by their travelling followers after losing all six of their Premier League London derbies this season.”
No Paqueta? No problem, apparently. Whatever Nuno said, he’d better keep on saying it for the next three months. Now you’ve started, keep on battling, Hammers.
Dinos’ effort was good to see his attitude can never be faulted in my opinion always playing for the team. Today all stuck with him. Good to see they were rewarded and they deserved it.
That was the best 45 mins this season. 2nd half it lloked like, at times, that we were hanging on for a point. I was prepared for the worst but up pops Wilson and we nick all three points. So no complaints from me and we should keep Wilson as he’s capable of doing more than he did.
I can’t remember when I last saw a first half like that from us…We must go on now….If we play like that and go down then the football gods are against us.
Soucek also rolled back the years with his performance, it’s hard to find a West Ham player that didn’t put 100% in today, they fought like tigers and deserved the win. Am hoping the first half performance was as a result of Jerez joining and he has got the team pressing high and one touch passing.