Burnley 1 West Ham 1
By Hugh Southon
The ten man Irons earned battling point after Andy Carroll had all but committed ABH to earn a thoroughly deserved red card and leave the team struggling for nearly 80 minutes.
First he was booked by referee Stuart Attwell for allegedly catching Tarkowski in the face and only 90 seconds later he incredibly caught Mee with with a leading elbow which could have caused shocking damage.
It wasn’t quite a replay of the Arnautovic madness earlier in the season but equally as awful to watch and it means he misses next Friday night’s game against Brighton.
Antonio had given the Hammers an early lead when, after a huge Hart punt down the middle was badly controlled by a defender, the Hammer of the Year passed it into the net as Pope advanced.
The Hammers survived a huge penalty shout when Hart appeared to being down Wood but the ref waved away all appeals.
There was little to trouble the visitors and Antonio could have had a second when after Obiang came on as a second half sub for Arnautovic he engineered a brilliant passing movement with Antonio pumping the final shot into the keeper’s arms.
At the other end Gudmonsson rapped a shot against the post which rebounded towards the sprawling Hart’s back which the keeper turned and snatched before it had the chance of bouncing off him and back towards goal.
The Irons had defended brilliantly with two banks of four following Carroll’s departure and appeared to have seen off the Clarets but as has been so often the case they failed to see it out.
And it was Winston Reid’s international team mate Chris Wood who twisted the knife when heading well into the left hand corner after a Gudmundsson had left Cresswell for dead and crossed well.
Once again a case of so near but so far but a point lifted the Irons up to 14th place and with only 10 men to do battle for so long, one which most would certainly have taken before the game.
Well if true about Carroll then he should be rested for an extended period too teach him a lesson, to do what he did 90 seconds after being booked is beyond stupidity and has cost us two points, Sakho should be starting anyway because he gives us more than Carroll does offensively.
The one positive is that we can try Hernandez up front or a Hernandez and Sakho combination. If it works Slav will hopefully stick with it. We played much better football for a time with AC.
Hope so Russ 🙂
First of all congrats to the lads for a battling point with 10 men as Burnley have made a great start this season.The upside is that Carrolls dismissal has hopefully forced the managers hand and we might now see Sakho paired with Hernandez for 90 minutes against Brighton.
What a pile of ****, West Ham are run like a Sunday League side, the manager’s mate’s play even if they don’t go to training and turn up just before kickoff….. Carroll Should NEVER have started……I LOVE BILIC BUT HE HAS TO GO!
ABH?? Don’t be ridiculous. The first card was a joke and the second not much better.
Jeez Hugh you’re losing the plot. ABH? Carroll showed no intent on either player. Even the BBC is reporting how unfortunate he was.
And lest we forget we were heavily linked with their goalscorer but he wasn’t glamorous enough for many here.
Sorry Ray,
Intent or not; good strikers don’t resort to such reckless and dangerous tackles like that.
The second ‘elbow in the face’ was a potential jaw-breaker, and Andy may end up missing more than one game on review.
Think that Hugh got it right on that sending off!
Chris wood would probably have been a nice addition. Although he would have been what, number 4 or 5 ?
Carroll is a player you either love or hate, but truth is he gets constantly clubbed in each and every match, and the refs don’t do anything about it, yet when he gets the upper hand and challenges man to man, the defenders start with their sissiness and there Carroll gets punished. It is unfortunate, but this is how it is going to be until he retires.
That said, we were definitely better with Lanzini on, AND Carroll off. Better combinations, more flow, and quicker football. So I join the others who say this is going to be an opportunity looking at a bigger picture.
Finally, can someone tell me what Hart brings more than Adrian ? All that ball boxing high balls and couple of approximate challenges could have be very costly. That puts me in a state of hysteria every time he does this, and he does it too much.
Antonio and hernandez up front for me. Think they have chemistry. Perhaps hernandez and Sakho would work but got no evidence for it yet.
Ant and pee worked today fairly well, and similarly against Southampton. Shame we were down to 10 in both games to see it. Should be the starting line up imho.
We bought Hernandez and need to focus on him bring our number 1 striker. He don’t click with AC so for me it’s time to offload AC or keep him fit and use him as a sub for a final 15 or 20 min game changer. Otherwise we play **** football and have no consistency…..AC and Hernandez……one or the other they don’t play well together and for me it a no brainier Hernandez all day long so for me AC sending off is good news coz now Slavs hand is forced…….take a break AC now we can see some attractive football and see Hernandez link up with sakho I hope……
Slav put together a good formation, and we played quite well from the beginning.
That said, he couldn’t help himself by preferring to start the game with AC, rather than Sakho. Another poor tactical mistake!
Andy was clearly on a mission to prove his worth as a potential English striker, but probably did more harm for his ambitions.
If Sakho had started the game (as he surely deserved to do), then we wouldn’t have been under so much pressure playing one man down. Sakho does not play the sort of rough and bully-boy way that Andy sometimes resorts to. We probably would have been able to win that game with some comfort if we had 11 players on the field.
Glad that you put in a good word for Obiang, Hugh!
Aside from his major role in that fantastic fast passing attacking movement, he was everywhere during the 2nd half. He showed all the hall-marks of an experienced play-maker; vision, creativity, decisive thinking, beautiful passing, clever movement on and off the ball, composure and stability in possession, and a couple of solid long-range shots to boot!
Maybe we haven’t heard or seen the last of his ever-improving abilities-a little piece of Brazilian magic at Turf Moor!