The Hammers have recorded only their fourth loss of the season in what was the first match that saw Sam Allardyce’s men leave empty handed since September. With the likes of Alex Song, Stewart Downing, Cheikhou Kouyate, Enner Valencia and Diafra Sakho all sidelined with injuries largely brought about during international duty, Saturday’s match up with Everton was always going to be difficult. In that respect the Hammers certainly put in a good shift, but as is the case with all things West Ham related, life is rarely that cut and dry.
The Toffee’s were put 1-0 up through a very fortuitous strike from Romelu Lukaku. West Ham then started to show signs of improvement in the second half, and were justly rewarded with an equally lucky goal from substitute Mauro Zarate. Both goals were the result of cruel deflections. From there the Hammers admirably went all out for the victory, only to be pegged back once more through Leon Osman, whose goal was the result of West Ham over-committing players to an ill-fated corner in the opposition’s half. The last few results have been nothing but frustrating to witness. West Ham seem to have nevertheless impressed the fans across the board with their performance against Everton, but this should not be a notion shared by all.
Adrian – This match saw nothing of much significance involve the former Betis keeper. Adrian was unlucky with the first goal, as was the rest of the defence, and had no real chance of keeping out Leon Osman’s tap-in for the second.
Carl Jenkinson – Arsenal can not consider themselves a big team if they are looking forward to seeing Carl Jenkinson back at the Emirates next year. Whilst he had a good start to his West Ham career and could easily be going through a small patch of questionable form at the minute, it is rare to see Jenkinson make any kind of tackle whatsoever, make use of his weaker left foot, or put in an actually decent cross. Like Matt Jarvis, the England U21 international may well get into good positions, but his final ball often leaves much to be desired. If it wasn’t for Jenkinson’s pace and all-round admirable work rate, he would be surely kept out by the more defensively sound Guy Demel.
Winston Reid – As always, Winston Reid done himself proud against Everton and should have really been part of a winning team. Thoughts of signing a new CB seem to now be on the horizon with everyone involved with the club however, as Reid’s reluctance to sign a new contract has halted his once inevitable hero status at West Ham. To make matters worse, the New Zealand captain will be out of next week’s fixture against Newcastle due to suspension.
James Collins – Ginge has continued his turn around of form since the opening day of the season with a solid performance against Everton. He perhaps should have been sent off however for his ridiculous last man lunge on Lukaku on the lead up to their winning goal. Leaving our slowest CB back from corners to deal with rapid counter attacks is just never going to end well.
James Tomkins – Although he embarrassed himself by nearly going down after being pushed in the chest by Kevin Miralles, Tomkins still performed admirably and should prove good cover during Winston Reid’s suspension.
Aaron Cresswell – Cresswell was largely bypassed on Saturday, seeing very little of the ball and not getting as involved as we have come to expect in the team’s attacks. All of West Ham’s crosses, that were supposed to find Big Andy in the box, managed to only fall tamely and calmly into the hands of Everton keeper, Tim Howard.
Mark Noble – Once again, Mark Noble was another West Ham player who got completely bypassed against Everton. A midfield three of Noble – Amalfitano – Nolan was never going to dominate an opposition who are known for their strong passing plays in the middle of the park. More worryingly however, Noble was taken off early in the second half after failing to deal with a heel injury picked up after Steven Naismith cynically brought him down from behind. The man from Canning Town was replaced by Matt Jarvis, who simply failed contribute to the match in any form whatsoever.
Morgan Amalfitano – Our newest Frenchman played very well against the Toffees and deserved to get more out of the match with his performance. He was by no means outstanding, but he nevertheless provided West Ham with a good attacking outlet who was prepared to defend when the time came. Amalfitano, who was so much more noticeable than the ever-anonymous Kevin Nolan, was replaced by Ricardo Vaz Te late on. His one attempt to send in a cross in the dying minutes was absolutely hopeless.
Kevin Nolan – West Ham fans like Kevin Nolan. As a captain and a character around the team, his contribution is nothing but positive. However, his time as a player was over a long time ago. Nolan has barely had a single great 90 minutes in the entire three and a half years he’s been a the club. Time after time he makes literally no contribution to the match. He can’t defend, he can’t pass and he can no longer attack. He is slow, ineffectual and a pointless addition to any Premier League starting XI. Sam Allardyce’s obsession with Nolan is the number one reason why the West Ham boss has never been truly excepted down at Upton Park. This all may seem very harsh, but I’m afraid it is simply the tough reality of our captain’s below par performances.
Andy Carroll – Whilst it was great to see the big man back in the fold once more, against Everton Carroll certainly looked like a player who hadn’t been out on the pitch for a while. That said, the service he received was so non-existent that most forwards would have looked out of place in such circumstances. Some truly hard work now awaits Carroll on the training pitch as he looks to become the player we all know he can be.
Carlton Cole – When West Ham start with Carlton Cole up front it’s hard to see us scoring, let alone winning. He will always be a hero in the East end, but his contribution on the pitch is almost as non existent as Kevin Nolan’s. Carlton was replaced early in the second half by Mauro Zarate. It was simply a crime that the Argentinean didn’t start the match as his inclusion began to turn the tide for West Ham. The whole team started to perform when he came on and his (albeit lucky) goal was proof that he should have started. Never again should Kevin Nolan or Carlton Cole play ahead of Mauro Zarate.
Sam Allardyce – Whilst injuries certainly plagued his squad in the lead up to the Everton game, Big Sam’s tactics on Saturday were pretty rubbish. Who goes into a game with Andy Carroll, Kevin Nolan and Carlton Cole all in the starting XI? No pace, no movement and no goals is what you get when you simply throw in all your so called ‘big men’. I admire Allardyce for not playing one up front, but this was a move that was always going to backfire. When West Ham fans saw the starting line-up, and then saw Mauro Zarate left on the bench, we all knew that Allardyce had returned to the problems of last season. We didn’t necessarily expect to beat Everton and were definitely given a decent offering from the players, but Big Sam’s line up was unfortunately doomed to fail from kick off. All is not lost however as West Ham currently still sit 6th in the Premier League,