View from the South – West Ham United vs Birmingham City

I had arranged to meet up with Chris and Will in London for a pre-match pint and I managed to get away from work albeit later than I would have liked but still in plenty of time. I had told Jonny, my eldest son to get himself on the train and meet me at Waterloo. The thing about public transport in this country is that at the end of the day, it tends to be overpriced and totally unreliable. I should have had plenty of time had the train I was to catch from Guildford turned up when it should. As it panned out, it arrived just before the next one and then took nearly twice as long to get to London. Jonny’s train from Farnborough came in a couple of minutes later and we the travelled together to the Dirty Dick pub at Liverpool Street.

It was now getting on towards seven o’clock and it was clear that we had to get a move on so no time to grab a drink. To add insult to injury, Chris told me that he had got me a pint in but as I was late he’d drunk it; it was his fifth and he was feeling good! “Yow drank my pint!” I exclaimed horrified. “Yeah,” said Chris with an inane grin on his face that only those that are well on the way to getting inebriated possess. “Mind yow, it was a bit warm and flat by the time I necked it since yow was late,” continued Chris. That was typical I thought; drinks my pint and then has the temerity to complain about it! Will, of course, never short of a word at times like this interjected, “well it’s yow’er own fault for being late” which was a bit rich coming from someone who makes every late tackle look positively punctual!

Will and Chris continued to torment me mercilessly all the way to Upton Park tube station, the banter fuelled handsomely by their respective blood alcohol levels. The train was delayed by the number of passengers at Upton Park according to the driver; no s**t Sherlock! Amazing isn’t it? There is a major cup semi-final being played and the organisation is taken by surprise! This meant that by the time we got to the ground, queued to get in, the match had already been going for ten minutes. I was fiercely reminded as to whose fault that was of course!

We did get in just in time to see Blues go behind however which lowered the mood even more; hungry, tired after a day’s work and with one of my so-called mates having drunk my pint, the sight of the West Ham attack being all over us like a swarm of insects was not good viewing. Noble pounced in the 13th minute. The midfielder’s run and cross found Obinna, whose header was cleared off the line. Spector pinged the ball back across the goal where Noble had time to steady himself with Liam Ridgewell ball watching and failing to close the midfielder down. Noble still had the most impossible of angles but he caught it beautifully on the half volley. The fierce drive squeezed between Scott Dann and Ben Foster on the near post as the sheer pace on the ball found the net. Whilst a lovely strike this was a truly horrible piece of defending and a dreadful goal to concede. 

West Ham should have added to their tally before half-time. Jonathan Spector’s fierce shot was punched behind by Foster, who then saved well from James Tomkins’ header from the resulting corner. Foster brilliantly pushed Obinna’s near-post drive behind following a swift break, Freddie Sears volleyed Julien Faubert’s cross wide and over from 25 yards. West Ham were simply all over Blues at this stage with the home side’s pace and movement too much for Blues’ ragged defenders. Blues were struggling with lack of tempo and the 4-5-1 formation that has served us so badly on so many occasions now. I don’t know how many times I have to keep saying this but Cameron Jerome is not the type of player who can hold the ball up top for you. He needs support and someone to play off and for this formation to be effective you have to have pace and width and be prepared to move the play forward and not sit deep.

There was precious little of any of these qualities from Blues in the first half last night. Blues mustered a tame side-footed effort from Gardner and a looping header from Scott Dann neither of which troubled the West Ham defence and Blues were lucky to be only 1-0 down at the break. To compound matters, Dann pulled up moments before the break with what appeared to be a hamstring injury and left the field on a stretcher. He was replaced by David Murphy during the interval with Ridgewell reverting to centre-half and Birmingham came out a different side. The tempo increased, Hleb, Gardner and Ferguson moved the play up the pitch more and the wide men got up in support of Jerome who almost equalised in the 55th minute when his bullet header from Larsson’s corner was cleared off the line by Sears. It was to be a brief respite for the home side as two minutes later with Birmingham in the ascendancy another Larsson corner saw Ridgewell get in front of his marker, Winston Reid to power home a header for a deserved leveller.

Obinna then inexplicably back heeled Sebastian Larsson in the nether regions off the ball and after briefly consulting his assistant, referee Phil Dowd brandished a red card. Blues, already now on top used the extra man effectively and there looked to be only one winner at this stage. Ridgewell might have scored a second but strayed narrowly offside heading too close to Green. As dominant as West Ham had been in the first period they were being outplayed in the second and parity was only preserved by pretty desperate defending. Blues were denied a clear penalty when Upson shoved Barry Ferguson in the back as he shaped to shoot. I was near the front and saw this incident clearly; it was deemed a shoulder to shoulder challenge by Phil Dowd; No way, Jose! I don’t know how many times this season I have had to report similar incidents but the statistics show that Blues have not had a single penalty awarded this season in the Premier League and only one in our cup run; against Villa in the last round. It simply defies credulity that our appeals keep being waved away when some of the ridiculous awards against us are considered. This incident was one of the most blatant so far this season.

Avram Grant threw on Cole and Zavon Hines for Frederic Piquionne and Sears before Murphy headed a glorious chance from Larsson’s perfect cross wide. He really should have scored and salt was about to be rubbed in the wounds. The 10 men finally managed a shot through Winston Reid’s weak effort and, amazingly, retook the lead totally against the run of play 12 minutes from time when Cole’s even tamer effort from Spector’s cross deflected through Roger Johnson’s legs and then between Foster’s, with the keeper wrong-footed. It was a Robert Green moment for Ben Foster who had otherwise had a good game.

Birmingham continued to press and replaced the tiring Alexander Hleb with Jean Beausejour, and Larsson with Nikola Zigic. Once again, this was a change that should have happened much earlier than 87 minutes as West Ham looking so suspect from set pieces could have been tested more. I felt Fahey should have been the man to make way rather than Larsson whose deliveries into the box caused West Ham trouble all evening. Zigic had only one real chance nodding just wide in the closing moments as Blues poured forward. Blues had lost a game they really should have won on their second half showing though it is fair to say that West Ham were worth at least a 1-0 lead at half-time so perhaps a draw would have been a just result. There is now work to do in the return leg and Blues have made things far more difficult than they should have but I believe that they will prevail in front of a partisan St Andrews in two weeks time. This narrow defeat may turn out to be a blessing as it will ensure an attacking intent from us from the outset. Avram Grant probably has his stay of execution; Napoleon would have liked him in his army as did he not say he preferred a lucky general to a good one?

The Good: The second half performance but this was a fantastic opportunity missed to put the tie firmly in our hands.
The Bad: Our passing, lack of tempo, lack of penetration and predictability in the first half; dreadful defending for West Ham’s opener.
The Ugly: Firstly, the 4-5-1 set up by Blues in the first half; I thought we weren’t going to park the bus! We shouldn’t even try because we are rubbish at it! Secondly, the winning goal which was an absolute farce. Finally, Obinna’s cowardly kick out at Larsson; he deserved his red card.

KRO SOTV

West Ham United: Robet Green 7, Julien Faubert 7, Winston Reid 6, James Tomkins 8, Matthew Upson 7, Scott Parker 8, Jonathan Spector 7, Mark Noble 7 (Radoslav Kovac, 90, N/A), Freddie Sears 8 (Zavon Hines, 74, 6), Frederic Piquionne 6 (Carlton Cole, 73, 7), Victor Obinna 6 (sent-off 59). Subs (Not Used): Ruud Boffin, Luis Boa Morte, Frank Nouble, Jordan Spence.
Goals: Noble (13), Cole (78)
Booked: None
Sent-off: Obinna (59)

Birmingham City: Ben Foster 6, Stephen Carr 8, Roger Johnson 7, Scott Dann 6 (David Murphy, 46, 7), Liam Ridgewell 7; Sebastian Larsson 8 (Nikola Zigic, 87, N/A), Craig Gardner 7, Barry Ferguson 7, Keith Fahey 6; Alexander Hleb 8 (Jean Beausejour 83, N/A); Cameron Jerome 7. Subs (Not Used): Maik Taylor, Matt Derbyshire, Jordon Mutch, Martin Jiranek.
Goals: Ridgewell (56)
Booked: None

Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire) 8; apart from the penalty incident which in my view he got totally wrong, I thought the referee and his assistants had a good game.