West Ham 1 Fulham 1
After last week's good display I thought West Ham would start this game with a bit of impetuous. However West Ham looked rather flat in the first half of this game.
It is a great option to have a long ball forward to Piquionne from deep but West Ham seemed to think it was a requirement in the first half hour. The players continued to pump long balls forward to Piquionne and the Fulham defence were not troubled in the slightest.
West Ham did fashion one chance in the 6th minute when from a corner Piquionne headed goalwards from 7 yrds but the ball was cleared off the line by Salcido on the far post. However that was the sum of West Ham's efforts in the opening half hour.
At the other end Dempsey shot well wide early on from 20 yards. In the 10th minute Duff also shot wide from distance. In the 30th minute it was Johnson's turn to shoot from distance but he put his shot over. Then in the 33rd minute Davies chipped the ball over a static West Ham defence and Dempsey ran onto the ball to score from 9 yards.
After the goal West Ham tried to play a bit more with the ball at their feet. However, despite a bit more drive going forward, failed to create much in front of goal. Obinna did well in the 42nd minute to beat two defenders but then shot well wide from 10 yards.
On the balance of play Fulham probably just deserved to go into half-time a goal to the good.
West Ham had an early scare in the second half when Dempsey shot over from wide right in the area. However West Ham responded well to this and in the 50th minute Obinna crossed from tight to the touchline on the right and Piquionne headed home the equaliser from 7 yards.
West Ham then pushed forward and in quick succession saw Barrera shoot over from wide left in the penalty area and Piquionne shoot wide across goal from wide right. After that however Fulham settled.
As the game progressed both sides created chances but Fulham probably had the best chances to get the winner. West Ham owed much to Robert Green in saving a point from this game. In the 59th minute Green bravely threw himself at Dempsey's feet to deny the striker after he had broken into the area. In the 86th minute Green got down to just divert a Davies 30 yard effort wide. A minute later Green again did well to save a header from 8 yards out.
West Ham's best chance probably fell to Parker in the 88th minute but from only 7 yards out he could only fire into the side netting from tight to the touchline. In the dying minutes Kamara shot over from 18 yards and Noble did well to create a chance for himself but his effort was easily saved.
After West Ham's first half performance they will probably be happy with a point from this game but I suspect Fulham will be unhappy not to have capitalised on the number of chances they created.
posted by Keir Clarke @ 3:47 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Ok, west ham didnt play their best, but they didnt play badly!!!!
To play how they did last week, every week, just is not going to happen. If we keep playing like this, cut out the mistakes, and keep possession more (we gave away far too much of the ball), we will get the results. Parker and noble had a good game, as did the front three of Barrera, Piquionne and obinha. Upson i thought had his best game for a long time and Green again proved that he is back to best and over his blip.
Their goal was lucky, it was a deflected shot that made its way to Dempsey, who, to be fair took the goal well. Lets look at the positives of the game, and move forward to wolves.
With any luck Hitz will be back to take LBM place as too be honest, I think he is the weak link in team at the moment!!
COYI!!!!
Green ,for the second game running,ensured that we got something from the match. Upson indeed played out of his skin. If these two players can build on their recent performances that will go a long way to getting us out of trouble .
Failure to keep better possession of the ball ,especially in the first half,nearly cost us the match.
The obnoxious Fulham "supporters" at the match would do well to remember the last time that Fulham won at Upton Park. Exactly. Sometime in the twentieth century. Sit down, shut up ,and learn some manners ,you bunch of boring apes.
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