TEAMS: West Ham starting XI: Adrian (GK), O’Brien, Tomkins, Collins, Cresswell, Kouyate, Noble, Nolan, Jarvis, Amalfitano, Zarate Subs: Randolph (GK), Hendrie, Pike, Poyet, Samuelsen, Maiga
7.45pm Kick Off Come on you irons!
Latest Score: Birkirkara FC 1 West Ham United 0 (Aggregate Birkirkara 1 West Ham 1)
Final Score Astra v Inverness is 0-0 after 90 minutes so Romanian team Astra will go through to the next round to face West Ham or Birkirkara
7: Hosts been very active over the first seven minutes playing neat football to feet. Irons look taken by surprise as the Maltese outfit how no fear and one free kick is allowed to fall wide by Adrian
14 GOAL Birkirkara score 1-o and 1-1 on agg! Miccoli is the scorer, converting a low cross from six yards
The Hammers have started as though they have just left the sunbeds and Collins was lost in a race down the right before the ball was played into Miccoli who slid the ball into the net as Joey O’Brien failed to get in a challenge. This has been a very poor start.
19: Hammers respond through some trickery from Zarate which brings their third corner but Tomkins header from Amalfitano flag kick sails high over the top .
24: Hammers still can’t find any serious rhythm although are trying to push forward and Zarate is denied a clear corner when keeping the ball in before it rebounds off a Maltese and the referee blithely gives a goal kick.
30: More sustained pressure and possession from the Irons with Amalfitino prominent in most of their good work but unable they are unable to create clear chances.
33: A Noble challenge on Miccoli results in both men being shown the yellow card. Noble appears to make reference to Miccoli’s weight
38: Birkirkara seem to be targeting Mark Noble to try and get him sent off for a second yellow. He needs to keep his cool.
40: Free kick to West Ham just outside the six yard box
42: James Tomkins could be in trouble here as a Birkirkara player falls to the floor in the penalty area
44: James Tomkins is SENT OFF Harsh decision!!! West Ham down to 10 men
Tomkins entirely blameless as he came under ‘attack’ from Birkiraka defender and was forced to throw him to the ground. The Maltese defender gets a yellow and JT a red. Disgraceful decision -quite disgraceful.
45: 3 mins of added time
Half Time: Birkirkara FC 1 West Ham United 0 (Aggregate Birkirkara 1 West Ham 1)
HT: Summary: No urgency, no rhythm and a midfield lacking any pace. This game is screaming out for some real creativity from a Hammers player. Mark Noble has been regularly losing possession and picked up a yellow for a silly foul before refusing to shake hands with a Birkikara defender after a fairly routine challenge. Poor and he has to be careful.
The Tomkins sending off was a shocker by the referee and the second time in two European games we have been down to ten men. Now it’s gonna be hard.
The midfielder is so slow with Noble and Nolan in there and it’s there that we are losing the game. This is a real early test for manager Slav Bilic on what should have been a nice little excursion into European football.With seven regular first teamers in the side from last season there really are no excuses. (Hugh S)
Inverness draw 0-0 after 90 minutes so Romanian team Astra will go through to the next round to face West Ham or Birkirkara
46: Second half kicks off with no changes. Come on you irons!
47: Kouyate is now playing alongside Collins at the back with a four-man midfield and Zarate up top
50: The hosts are looking very comfortable on the ball with their extra man in what is still a very hot night. The question is who on earth can Slav throw on to change things – thoughts drift towards Martin Samuelsen but it’s a gamble with the game poised as it is.
57 Jarvis header over the bar as the team continue to cross into the box when they do move forward. They would be perhaps better off trying to play into Zarate’s feet.
58: Poyet for Nolan, Maiga for Amalfitano
62: Noble plays a great ball in behind to Jarvis but the winger shows serious lack of quality in crossing straight into the keeper’s arms.
There’s been plenty of to-ing and fro-ing but neither team has a serious edge surprising given the circumstances. The Hammers produced one decent move when Noble again played in a great ball but Jarvis’ cross flashed across goal to safety for the Maltese.
77: Goal scorer Miccoli is replaced. The 36-year-old looks tired
87: Free kick to West Ham in a dangerous position. Cresswell hits it straight into the wall and appeals for handball are turned down.
90: 4 minutes of added time until Extra Time of 30 minutes
94: Extra time it is! I think West Ham have only had one shot on target! Just 5 shots and 57% possession. We should be dominating!
Summary: Where do you start. No shots and no chances as several of these players fail in an opportunity to impress the new boss. This is all fact finding mission for the new manager who has seen the team fail all over the pitch. Long aimless balls from the back at times recalled previous times and Modibo Maiga’s presence was an even more serious reminder of the bad old days.
Thankfully the opposition haven’t been good enough to make the extra man count and have created very little themselves. Now another 30 minutes with both sets of players looking dead on their legs.
We’re still in it but the temp has to be stepped up from the pedestrian pace we’ve seen so far (HS)
98: The pace has dropped dramatically and the home side in particular are looking seriously weary. The Hammers with a man down now look well into things but it’s still difficult to see where a goal may come from.
105: That’s the first period gone and the score stays as it is. The Hammers probably just edged it but with ten men allowing only one up it’s hard to see that valuable away goal emerging.
107: Birkirkara down to 10 men after Vukanac is booked for his second yellow for bringing down Zarate
What goes around comes around as it was Vukanac who caused Tomkins to be sent off
108: James Collins is shown the yellow card.
115: We are just five minutes away from penalties. West Ham dominate possession but can’t score.
117: Maiga puts the ball in the back of the net but it ruled offside
118: Martin Samuelsen replaces Matt Jarvis
120: Extra time played just 1 minute of added time until a penalty shoot out!
121: That’s it! PENALTY SHOOT OUT IT IS!
We had every chance to up things as the hosts tired and failed to do so. There’s players here who will surely have fallen out of the frame as far as the new boss is concerned.
The Shoot out
Noble steps up Scores 1-0
Fennech to take Scores 1-1
Zarate great shot 2-1
Petr Klut scres 2-2
(Sorry no names on short could be misspellings LOL)
Cresswell scores 3-2
Big miss by Birirkara 3-2 it stays
Joey O’Brien BOOM 4-2
Birkirkara No 8 Scores 4-3
Poyet SCORES cool as a cucumber
HAMMERS THROUGH 5-3 ON PENS PHEEEEEEW
What a dreadful selection!!! 🙁
Ahhh,relax,it will be fine,lol
Of course it will be.No need to go into wetpants frenzies yet 😉
No down to 9 men,Nolan as well
When will we ever learn,no centre forward ,
Line up looks a bit, errrr, last season.
Bilic out! Lol
take Nolan off put Kouyate in Central defence and bring on Poyet IMO then if we haven’t scored bring on Samuelson for the least effective forward.
Half time report
We are being outplayed, outfought and out coached lads!
Merry Michael nailed it, shocking selection of players, who to their credit are putting in a lot of effort, but we lack composure and creativity.
Oh dear, another half to redeem ourselves though, fingers crossed!
Anyone notice the irony that we qualified through fair play league and in two games we have picked up a load of bookings and two sendings off, at least it will be a longer break next summer 😉 also on the plus side we could win the record of being the earliest premier league team ever to say we are concentrating on the league !
Lol,yep,bring on the Prem.We all knew the deal with the qualifiersThat we wasnt going to play our strongest team.If it bites us on the arse,such is life 😉
The worst part of this game is these players will be needed.. The best part is never again all together…
nothing to lose bring on Samuelson let him loose and hope !!!
The best part of this is that Jarvis, Maiga, O’brien, Nolan and maybe a few more got their chance, and didn’t take it. No reason to complain then when the season starts, and they’re not in the team!
It aint a surprise we are struggling.Its Allardyces players from last season.Proves why we were so sh*t in the second half of the season & proves what a load of sh*t he has left with us to offload.
This is a p*ss poor performance but some of those so called fans on wetpants are a f*cking disgrace.It is embarressing reading the sh*t they write.They should go support the Spuds.They make me sick!!
I hate penalties!!!!! WHO CARES now, we are thru~~~ YAY;)
Lol,yep,we are through,move on to the next match with a stronger team i hope 😉
The team is seriously lacking in creativity, all they did was square ball and back pass. Obviously the red card for Tonks didn’t help…
Zarate was doing alright but he needs a striking partner (not the ineffective Maiga). Nolan, please let him go, he is the dead wood. Noble did nth right apart from the penalty… JO’B, he’s just clueless on the pitch…
So next round we should be having Payet, Valencia, and hopefully Jenks as well…COYI
Where was the rest of the squad ?
Why only six subs ?
Where is Burke and Lee, let alone Reid. One minute he’s up there doing the media conference with Bilic the next he’s gone AWOL
hahahaha you have to laugh. Worse than last season and still one up front for most of the match. The manager made very poor selections.
66 I agree that other site is a disgrace. Some of the people on there are pathetic. They expect Bilic to come in, wave a magic wand and everything will be ok. It takes a while to get the players he wants and get the team playing the system he wants. We didn’t lose, we are through and lessons have been learned. Let’s stay positive.
However, Ching, have to disagree with you on Zarate. I don’t think he’s what we want or need. Dump him with Jarvis, Nolan, JOB and the rest of Sam’s dead wood. Biggest problem is finding a team that would want them.
I know,i was on there & they made me want to puke.Terrible fans.Glad they are only on a forum & i dont have to sit next to them at matches,i would end up punching them,lol 😉
The Allardyce Select XI got us through.Now lets see more of the first team for the next round 😉
So we scrap through,lessons learned,we need to pick a stronger team for the next round,many of these players who played tonight have no right to be near the first team proper for the league & finally i learnt that some of the guys on WHTID are the most shocking Irons fans i have had the displeasure of reading comments from.Absolute disgrace & do their site not credit at all!!!
Think I created my own brand of Maltesers through that game. Shall we all agree to brush this match under the carpet and pretend that never happened?
Heat, lack of fitness obviously played its part but the lad put a shift in. We’ll look better with Jenks, Payet, Valencia and Sakho.