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How we rated the Irons against Birmingham

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Adrian: Decent smother save near the end but lost track of a corner which eventually saw Carroll clear off line and dived full length for shots obviously going wide. Rusty 5

Antonio: Still so scary as a right back but always a handful going forward. if only he could improve first touch 6

Diop: Still not at the level he was alongside Balbuena and showed himself capable of taking a yellow for the team with one cynical challenge 6

Ogbonna: Sorry Angelo but we really are missing Balbuena 5

Masuaku: One disastrous error which led to an outstanding chance for the visitors but as ever not bad at all going forward 6

Nasri: Given he has played no football for a year he looked in really good nick, passes found their target and some of them tightly controlled. Looks a really exciting signing for us 7

Rice: Such a relief he has signed his new deal. Totally outstanding when breaking up stuff and getting us on the move.  Superb 9

Obiang: Difficult to find new words for similar performances each week. Ok, nothing outstanding 6

Diangana: Looks so threatening until it comes to the final ball. Once he gets that right he will be one hell of a player 7

Silva: Had one top effort go over the top, wasted few passes and highly mobile. Looks a real prospect 6

Arnie: Off after 20 minutes following that precious early goal 6

Subs

Carroll: Fine header for the second goal but missed two more great chances. We need  more from him in all areas 5

Snodgrass: All action stuff as usual but the over hit set pieces frustrate 6

Anderson: Brought on to carry the ball during final stages but that didn’t truly work out 5

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Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!"

Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

6 comments

  • West Ham Fan No 32 says:

    I thought most of the players were 6 out of 10, Silva, Rice and Diangana 7, Nasri an 8. It was a decent performance not sure when we will see a decent referee would give him a 4. 2 0 against a decent manager and aggressive team is an ok result COYI!!!

  • Clive says:

    I find it interesting how the Carrol bashers only want to talk about the negatives in his game, such as the chances he missed. but they have to at least concede he saved a goal at one end and scored at the other. So he made an important contribution to the outcome of the game. At least we know Carroll was playing. There were others today, Obiang for instance, who I didn’t even realise was playing until the end.

  • zahama says:

    I watched on TV and thought that Antonio was far better than Diangana – also I feel that while Balbuena- Diop is our best defensive partnership Ogbonna actually played well and bailed us out on a couple of occasions plus his decisive header from the corner set up the early goal – so I think that 5 for him is a bit harsh – I woudl give him a 7 for today

  • matty53 says:

    Good first game from both Silva and Nasri both look very promising
    Think you are very harsh on oggie and over hypeing declan it wasent rices best game and it werent oggeys worst
    Just my opinion

  • markro says:

    How happy are we all that Rice has committed himself to us long term? MOM by a country mile.

    Highly encouraging from Nasri – I’ll predict now that he has a two or three year deal at the end of the season. I really hope his six month deal includes the option to extend.

    Silva had a very good game too, lots of energy, falling deep to help out and link up the play and a couple of decent chances.

    Diangana continues to frustrate me: he MUST start to produce end product – at the moment he’s all fur coat and no knickers. He also needs to realise that his right leg is for more than just standing on. Hopefully MP will get him to improve his general gameplay.

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