Southampton 0 – 0 West Ham

Whereas last weekend’s draw with Manchester United arrived as nothing but a frustrating disappointment, Wednesday night’s share of the spoils at St. Mary’s had the opposite affect. The Hammers were effectively brought down to nine men for a large portion of the match, with Adrian’s comical sending off and yet another injury to Andy Carroll, who was forced to play on due to a lack of remaining substitutes – yet Big Sam’s boys ultimately held out for the well earned point.

In retrospective news, West Ham fans have had much to be both happy and deflated by. Adrian has subsequently had his one match ban rescinded after Southampton’s Sadio Mane was adjudged to have fouled the Spaniard in the run up to his red card, but alas yet again, Andy Carroll has been struck down by another major injury which will likely keep him out for the rest of the season.

Deja vu or what.

Adrian – The Spanish shot-stopper kept things at bay until his ill-timed sending off for hand-ball outside the box, which by the judgement of even the most bias of West Ham fans, could have easily stood as a justified sending off.

Carl Jenkinson – The Arsenal loanee contributed effectively to West Ham’s mid-week clean sheet at St. Mary’s, but as his side were kept on the back foot for most of the match, Jenkinson’s attacking freedom was greatly restricted.

Cheikhou Kouyate – For the second game in a row, Cheikhou Kouyate has been forced to play at centre-back in the absence of Winston Reid and James Collins, but has thrived as a result of the change, and offered the travelling Hammers support another man of the match worthy display. The big man from Senegal might even be better in this defensive position, which could free up a very valuable space in the heart of West Ham’s midfield for future games.

James Tomkins – The same praise can be given to James Tomkins, who has just signed a well earned contract extension with his boyhood club. Although he was shaky in parts, overall Tomo done a great job at ultimately keeping Southampton quiet.

Aaron Cresswell – As was the case with Carl Jenkinson, West Ham’s other flying full-back was forced to tone down his attacking desires with his side needing to defend out the match.

Alex Song – Whilst this wasn’t the Barcelona man’s most vintage performance in a West Ham shirt, Song nevertheless proved useful at breaking down everything just in front of his back four, even if he did spread the ball about a bit too nonchalantly. As it is Song of all players however, the West Ham faithful will likely not cause a fuss over his potential mishaps.

Morgan Amalfitano – As is perhaps sometimes the situation when the Frenchman plays away from home, Wednesday night was simply not Amalfitano’s match. He got involved with some good moves on a few occasions, but ultimately nothing much came from his efforts. The former Marseille man deserves full credit for being one of West Ham’s most surprisingly good moves over the summer nonetheless.

Stewart Downing – If West Ham were ever going to score against Southampton, it would likely have been through this man. As defending turned out to be the ultimate goal of this match however, Stewart Downing’s attacking qualities had to be somewhat tamed.

Enner Valencia – As we have already payed witness to, Enner Valencia is just not that effective when deployed out wide. He looked lively in part but seemed largely indifferent overall. The Ecuadorian was replaced late on by Matt Jarvis, who for all his energy and commitment down the wing, never really made an impact either.

Diafra Sakho – In a similar sense to Enner, Diafra Sakho is not best utilized as a out wide on the wing either. This was one of his most quietest games in a West Ham shirt, which was ultimately brought to an early end by the returning Andy Carroll, who replaced the Senegalese hitman in the second half. As we all know by now however, Carroll was seemingly rushed back too early for this match, and is now receiving surgery on a season ending injury as a result. The best of luck is wished to the big man, but as this isn’t the first time West Ham fans have been in this situation, the Upton Park faithful may be left asking whether or not they will ever see Andy Carroll finish one whole season in a Hammers shirt.

Carlton Cole – In what was a rare start for West Ham’s cult-hero, who nearly packed his bags for the Hawthorns on deadline day, Carlton Cole was reintroduced into a team that wasn’t really accustomed to playing with ‘three’, or more like one, up top. That said, Carlton performed alright until he was forcibly substituted for the oncoming Jussi Jaaskelainen. The Finish veteran done well in the absence of Adrian, and proved his worth as a back up keeper in the process.

Sam Allardyce – As this game played out largely under circumstances that Big Sam could not control, the former Bolton and Newcastle boss did a decent job a steadying the ship and earning the clean sheet. Both Kevin Nolan and Mark Noble could now be back in contention for their boss as the Hammers take on West Brom in the FA Cup this Saturday.

West Ham 1 – 3 Southampton

Today was simply a bad day at the office for the Hammers. Ronald Koeman’s Southampton schooled Sam Allardyce’s team in what was a well executed and much deserved result for the Saints. Although the ever pressured West Ham boss usually takes the majority of the blame after his team’s defeats, today the players must also accept a great deal of the responsibility. Whilst this is already the second home defeat for the Hammers this Premier League season, this match up with Southampton lacked the fight and determination that was so well received in the first home loss to Tottenham. Today’s performance rather worryingly displayed a lack leadership, character and dare I say it, effort. Perhaps Kevin Nolan’s role with in the team only becomes apparent when he’s not there…

Despite Mark Noble’s uncharacteristically distanced shot (which took a cruel but fortunate nick off Southampton’s Maya Yoshida) sneaking past Fraser Forster’s post in the 27th minute, the Saints managed to bounce back through a Morgan Schneiderlin brace either side of the half time interval. Both goals came from poorly defended set plays, one of which being a quickly taken short corner that not one of the West Ham players seemed to notice. At 1-2 Southampton continued in the manner in which they started the game, eventually sealing the win through Graziano Pelle who made it 1-3. At no point in the 90 minutes did West Ham really look like taking anything from the match.

Adrian – Although he wasn’t the worst performer by a long stretch, Adrian seemed unsettled and could have possibly dealt better with the events leading up to the third Southampton goal. 

Joey O’Brien – Whilst the lovable Irishman has so far kept his head above water this season, today’s performance rather crudely highlighted that Joey O’Brien isn’t quite good enough to be a starting member of a Premier League team. His willing utility-man nature will however be an important asset within the squad.

Winston Reid – This was probably one of the worst performances the Upton Park faithful have seen of the usually flawless Winston Reid in a West Ham shirt. Although we are all most likely influenced by the often discreditable paper-talk that surrounds Reid and his contract situation at the moment, something about today’s performance revealed a tad of disinterest in the New Zealand captain. As he is usually one of our most reliable players however, perhaps it is only fair to let him off the hook on this one.  

James Tomkins – Likewise with Reid, James Tomkins failed to live up to his usually high standards in this afternoon’s match. The centre back pairing never managed to assert their dominance against Southampton’s strike force, largely because of the slightly Andy Carroll like Graziano Pelle. 

Aaron Cresswell – Today Aaron Cresswell continued his impressive start to his Hammers career, yet his performance was far from perfect. Whilst he provides a lot of positive energy going forward, the ex-Ipswich Town man sometimes looked vulnerable and uncomfortable at the back.

Mark Noble – Despite making up for his penalty miss against Spurs in timely fashion, Mark Noble also had a performance to forget in today’s match. As previously mentioned, when Noble plays well, West Ham play well. Today however we learnt that this also works in reverse. He seemed to be taking too many touches with most of which focused on playing the ball backwards or across rather than anything more threatening. 

Cheikhou Kouyate – West Ham’s number 8 was the only player who can really be proud of his performance today. As Kouyate continues to prove his worth in the Premier League, the most pessimistic of West Ham fans are already worried about bigger teams looking to acquire his services in the near future.

Stewart Downing – Whilst the ex-England international usually acts as a glimpse of light when the team are playing badly, today Downing was part promising, part anonymous.

Ricardo Vaz Te – West Ham’s opinion polarizing winger is not doing much to prove his critics wrong. Although Big Sam should never be playing his potentially laziest player as a wing man who needs to track back, Vaz Te is running out of excuses for is lackluster performances. He was replaced by Mo Diame in the second half, who looked equally out of place on the wing.  

Mauro Zarate – Whilst West Ham’s new Argentinian striker stole the show against Crystal Palace last week, against Southampton he simply failed to get into the match. Apart from showing a slight habit of backing into defenders and giving away a needless fouls, Zarate contributed very little today. He was eventually subbed for Ravel Morrison, who at least looked hungry for the ball and purposeful in his play.

Carlton Cole – For all the strikers the club have signed in recent years, it’s hard to believe that Carlton Cole is still leading the line for West Ham. How can a player who starts the week by being linked with a mere £1 million move to Championship based AFC Bournemouth, then arrive at the weekend as Sam Allardyce’s first choice front man? Although rumours suggest that Diafra Sakho has recently been struck by a minor back injury, today’s performance inevitably displayed Carlton’s flaws in top flight football. He however should never be sold to any other team, let alone AFC Bournemouth. Carlton was replaced by Enner Valencia, but only when it was too late. 

Sam Allardyce – Whilst the players clearly failed to live up to their potential in today’s game with Southampton, Big Sam once again didn’t help the situation. Allardyce displayed how his constant failure to adapt his formation can lead to big problems. As Southampton have become a notoriously determined technical side who like to dominate possession in recent years, today Mark Noble and Cheikhou Kouyate were crying out for some assistance in the midfield. Someone like Mo Diame or Diego Poyet could have easily aided the situation in a three man midfield collaboration. This however seemed to have gone unnoticed by Big Sam. The Hammers boss also waited far too late before substituting Carlton Cole, therefore giving Enner Valencia only around ten minutes to make a difference up top on his own.