By CandH blogger Allen Cummings
Before the game against Villa on Monday all talk was of the Hammers reaching third place in the Premier League. After the game the popular media headline was that West Ham had ‘missed’ the chance to move into third spot.
The headline could just as easily have read ‘resilient 10 man West Ham hold out’and and that would have been spot on in my opinion!
Ok we didn’t get the hoped for victory, but we did put in a performance that was every bit as noteworthy for its sheer gritty determination and dogged desire to come away from Villa Park with something.
Much has been spoken and written about the attractive make-up and attacking threat of Manuel Pellegrini’s developing side, but against Villa we saw a team prepared to engage in the less glamourous side of the game.
This was a team prepared to dig in when the chips were down, following Arthur’s wrongful and disgraceful sending off by Mike Dean, who continues to believe everything is all about him (as the travelling West Ham fans sang repeatedly).
There have been numerous West Ham teams of the not-to-distant past who would have folded after that. The fact that the present team didn’t says much about the spirit that’s evident in the side now.
Disgraceful sending off!
Make no mistake Villa Park was an intimidating arena! The home fans, buoyed up by their return of Premier League football, smelled blood when Arthur departed.
But their thirst was quelled by a team who refused to walk away empty handed. A second clean sheet for a defence much maligned just a few weeks ago is well worth noting. Often watching from home fails to fully appreciate the effort put in on the pitch.
For those of us lucky enough to be at the game last night the sheer physical exertion of the game was etched on the players faces and reflected in their legs when the final whistle blew. They had run themselves into the ground for the cause – and it showed.
Monday night extended our unbeaten run to four games. It was another valuable point on the road, and kept our tally ticking along nicely.
And when I looked this morning we were, after all, sat nicely in third place with eight points (albeit jointly with five others) which is more than a decent start to the campaign in anyone’s language.
We all thought about the history of west ham not taking advantage of the situation , and so it proved yet again to be true . I was very much supporting a win . The red card was rather predictable and not a great decision by the ref . We were looking like winners . But having said that , it was Villa that seemed to collapse against ten men . We were never a threat in the final third and it needs to be addressed . [ reckon Carroll would have done better to be honest ] . Our very so much praised front line never created anything . They were non existent . The Villa front line was by far more effective . We fought hard and deserved the point , but surely we are missing a system where strikers can get at least a fair chance of a goal . LOADS OF TALENT BUT NO GOALS . !!!
But plenty against Watford and Norwich – all games are different
Allen, I always enjoy reading your posts – generous and fair-minded as usual. You are clearly ‘respecting the point’.
I certainly do mate. The team worked hard for that point – a 100% performance – without goals. Good teams dig in when necessary. That’s what we did! Coyi
I agree with you Allen and also MP when he says he was very happy that from the start to finish we were always trying to win. We dug in we fought and we showed grit when unfairly reduced to 10 men. Our final pass was not their and dead ball delivery not up to the standards it has been so far. That said Everton lost at Villa so we have gained a point on them there, as said previously Villa although lacking in points have played well in all their games, for me it’s a great point COYI!!!