Wolves 1 West Ham 1
West Ham started with Ben-Haim in for the injured Upson, with Gabbidon moving to the centre to partner Da Costa. Dyer was in for Barrera. Wolves suffered an injury early on and had to replace Craddock with Stearman in defence within the first five minutes.
Wolves started the brighter of the two sides and in the 10th minute got the reward for their early pressure. Jarvis hooked the ball into the net from 7 yards after West Ham failed a number of times to clear the ball. A minute after the restart Wolves almost got their second but Jones was denied by a good Green save.
It took West Ham about 25 minutes to settle into the game. After being on the back foot for most of the half West Ham began to maintain possession for periods without really creating any chances.
In fact it was Wolves who continued to look the more likely to score. In the 31st Ben-Haim was forced to clear the ball off the line. From the corner Green made a fingertip save from a point blank header from Stearman.
West Ham's best chance probably fell to Dyer in the 40th minute. Dyer managed to get in behind the Wolves defence but couldn't control the ball and the ball rolled harmlessly into touch.
Some awful defending in the last five minutes from West Ham almost gifted Wolves another goal. The only consolation for West Ham going into the break was that they weren't more than one goal down.
Within eight minutes of the start of the second half West Ham were awarded a penalty for a foul by Foley on Obinna. Noble scored from the penalty.
Within minutes of the goal Green flapped at a ball, the ball fell to Jarvis who shot goalwards only to see the shot blocked by his own player. A few minutes later Piquionne hit the bar after a pass from Boa Morte. Then a couple of minutes after that Obinna shot goalwards and Mancienne blocked the ball on the line.
In the 66th minute Dyer crossed into the box and Obinna shot from 10 yards and the ball was deflected wide for a corner. In the 76th Obinna shot from distance and Hahnemann saved. In the 77th minute Dyer was replaced by Cole.
As the game progressed West Ham seemed to dominate play and looked the more likely to get the winner. In the 84th minute Noble passed across the box and Cole just managed to connect with the ball. Two minutes later Cole broke clear but couldn't beat Hahnemann with his left foot.
In the 91st minute Parker played Obinna free and looked odds on to score only for the ref to pull the play back for a foul on Parker. A minute later Parker broke into the box but shot straight at Hahnemann. A minute after that Piquionne put the ball into the back of the net but the goal was disallowed and Piquionne was booked for handball.
This was definitely a game of two halves. Wolves should have been two or three goals to the good at the end of the first half. However after 90 minutes West Ham will be disappointed not to have snatched all three points.
posted by Keir Clarke @ 3:04 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
I dont know why, but i am very disappointed with the result. I know a point away, unbeaten run etc, but against a very average wolves side we really should have done better. Wolves dominated the first half and looked like they actually wanted the win. West ham had one shot (off target) in the first half, compared to Wolves 7-8.
In the second half, West ham played like the team we know, but 20mins in, with west ham looking more likely to score and completing dominated the game, Grant, for reasons i cannot fathom, changed the formation of the team to a more defensive one (4-5-1), which allowed wolves to get back into the game and allievate the pressure.
Im all for points away etc, but we really should have carried on pushing.
On the plus side, Dyer played very well, and obinha, (once he decided to play) also played well. Lets hope we can now continue our run and get a win next week against Newcastle
Surprised that Ben Haim played at left back ,as opposed to simply replacing Upson and letting Gabbidon carry on where he has been playing recently. Remains a concern that ,despite making a couple great saves ,Green is still punching at balls unconvincingly at times. But, given how poorly we started the match ,and that we cud have been 2 down or more at the break ,this is a very good point.
In the end, though we could have won it, come the end of the season,it may be massive that we denied Wolves the 3 points when it looked almost certain the points were theirs at halftime
Possibly the best and worst halves of the season in one match. Frustrating that we couldn't capitalise on our second-half dominance with a goal. Obinna really could do with netting a league goal.
Dont think AG switched to 451 but 433. I think he's warey of dyers injury record. He'd be the first person in a hell of a long time to get a season out of him. As for the game, after a very poor 1st half i was very pleased with the second. I'm sure we'll start climbing the table soon. On 3 points of mid table.
i agree with dyer coming off to be honest. he had a good match, and needs nursing. but cole came on and played a lone role. Piq clearly took a right mid position and obinha clearly took a left mid role with LBM tucked in the centre, hence 451. Which in my opinion was wrong, we needed to press for the win.
I understand we are only 3 points off mid table, but this was a game we should be getting the points. we was 3 points off mid table before the match too.
I want us to win, but if we dont start performing for 90 mins of the match, we wont survive. No match in the PL is easy anymore, and performing for less than 45mins wont cut it.
Whilst i appreciate people saying we could have won it at the end, we also could have been 3-4 down in the first half!!!!!
lets hope this was a "one off" and next week against newcastle we see the west ham that made us so proud after the spurs game
COYI
Your spot on with the fact cole ended up on his own but still 433. This was the problem under zo#a. We stuck with 433 but we, as a team lack, the confidence to maintain the strict positioning & it ends up looking 451. At least AG is changing it during the game to try & change things, zo#a never changed it. AG did the same against fulham.
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