In an all to similar fashion to the humiliating defeat at the hands of West Brom earlier this month, the Hammers have once again put in a shocker of a performance against Alan Pardew’s Crystal Palace – and have deserving lost what was deemed as a ‘must win’ match as a result of such a poor offering.
With this season, which initially proved to be oh so promising, now seemingly feeling like it is over already, Palace stormed to victory through an unexpected Glenn Murray brace, as well as a solitary Scott Dann header. Enner Valencia eventually pulled one back for the Hammers, but his goal came all too late in the proceedings for it to make any meaningful difference in the end. Glenn Murray nevertheless received his marching orders in the second half – but such developments simply came all too late from a West Ham point of view.
Adrian – Could have perhaps dealt better with the second goal, but ultimately this defeat had very little to do with the Spaniard. He did however pump far too many long-balls forward with less than successful results.
Carl Jenkinson – One of the only West Ham players to put in a good shift this weekend. Jenkinson was on fire during the last 20 minutes or so, and almost got on the score-sheet as a result of his efforts.
Winston Reid – Whilst he was perhaps caught napping in the lead up to Palace’s second goal, Winston Reid was the best performer for Big Sam this Saturday – even if he was part of a defence that conceded three goals to a team with an apparent shortage of strikers.
James Tomkins – Tomo simply had a bit of a shocker this weekend, looking uncharacteristically all over the place for the majority of the match and playing far too many aimless long balls. As this has somewhat been the case in the last few outings for the Englishman however, perhaps James Collins deserves a call up in place of Tomkins for the next game against Chelsea.
Aaron Cresswell – Despite being one of Sam Allardyce’s consistently best performers this season, Cresswell didn’t really turn up against Palace, and pretty much handed Glenn Murray his first goal with a grand mistake from out of the blue.
Alex Song – The main man has simply looked out of sorts throughout the last month – giving the ball away far too often, lacking the defensive brilliance that shone so brightly at the start of the campaign, and just looking a bit too nonchalant for long periods of each match. As long balls kept being pumped over the Cameroonian however, it perhaps comes as no surprise that Song hasn’t been able to find much momentum of late. He will however, no doubt turn it around for the rest of the season. The newly acquired Nene came on for Alex Song in the second half, and with his sweet shot from outside the box painfully striking the post, it seems West Ham may have just about sourced themselves a gem in the flairy Brazilian.
Mark Noble – This was an impressive(ish) performance from Nobes as he really allowed West Ham to go on the attack in the second half. His all round game was far too slow for most of the first half however. His free-kick which struck the bar deserves early doors does deserve some credit though.
Cheikhou Kouyate – The big man from Senegal didn’t really get into this weekend’s match. Kouyate was good whenever he got on the ball, but his overall involvement unfortunately remained pretty minimal.
Stewart Downing – The recently recalled England international has simply been a ghost in the last few outings. As is the case with Alex Song however, the Upton Park faithful will likely see a step up from Downing in the next few weeks.
Enner Valencia – Before his goal he was pretty ineffective – but after the impressive strike – Enner Valencia came into his own and looked very dangerous to say the least. The Ecuadorian must therefore build upon this goal and take such confidence into the next few matches.
Diafra Sakho – Unfortunately for every West Ham fan watching the match against Palace, this just wasn’t Diaf’s best performance in a Hammers shirt, with many of us likely forgetting he was even on the pitch. As too many long balls and not enough real service was offered up by the rest of the team however, the likes of Sakho and Valencia can’t really take the blame for such a shocking result.
Sam Allardyce – Although the players themselves must take the majority of the blame for Saturday’s defeat, Big Sam’s tactics really didn’t help matters either. The team played far too many long balls up to a defence that could easily handle them and a strike force that favours playing on the deck – for that alone – the former Bolton and Newcastle manager really doesn’t deserve a great deal of credit.
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