West Ham play Everton and it’s this season. What happens ?
How about a late 90+ winner for Everton, scored by Lukaku.
Yep, Our entire season summed up in 94 minutes.
We actually played well for long periods of the game although, a bit like our opponents, we could not get the ball to our forwards to get some shots off. Both midfields moved the ball around well, with Everton having a slight advantage, as they move it just that bit quicker.
Reece Burke played another good game after coming on for James Collins early on. One for the future definitely. We took the lead in the second half, with a sublime strike from Stewart Downing. I say sublime, I was off my seat berating the same Downing as he lost the ball, which luckily enough went to Song, and then back to him to place it into the bottom left corner.
As with all other WHU EVE games, the equaliser was quick enough, and 6 minutes later Leon Osman took down a good cross, and volleyed it past Burke and Adrian, to set up the finale. Which was another point giveaway post the 90, when Lukaku was given most of the penalty box to head home the winner.
Anyway, yesterday had some other subtexts that need addressing, that were far more important than the game.
We qualified for Europe ! Well, more or less. UEFA have some weird scoring nonsense that they use to fill up qualification places for the Europa League, and assuming Liverpool qualify for a place due to League position, we are in. Great…..
Put it this way, it was either us or Everton, and it is based on fair play. I have never seen two teams cheering their own team getting yellow cards. This shows you just how much the Europa League is thought of amongst us mid table teams. Look how knackered we have looked post Xmas. Do we really need another 10 + games in a season ? If we do get in, we need to take it serious if only to get a good preseason out of it, like our InterToto run back in ’99
I imagine this was Sam’s last home game. Actually I hope it is. Once again we were negative in attack as we play only one up front, and refuse to pass to him on the floor. We play Valencia on the wing where he is ineffective. We play Downing on the right, when he is the most left footed player ever, and would struggle to cross a road with his right foot. We looked a little more lively when CC was subbed for Nene. But we still couldn’t get the shots off.
My Sam bashing is now over, unless he is here next year. With that in mind, I will thank him for getting us promoted and keeping us there, and now it’s time to move on.
One other last home game was the big fella himself Carlton Cole. A divisive player among the fans , but colour me a CC Yes type of guy. He has always given 100% despite not being played as he should be, and has not been given credit for his ability on the ground (normally by managers. Grrrr…..) . He loves the club, and his charity work should not go unnoticed. I met hm once, and he is a nice fella as well. He will be the first to admit this season could have been better, but did he ever give up, or turn against the poor service he was getting ? Legend. The standing ovation he got on leaving the pitch was fantastic. #alwaysbelieving
MOTM today was Mark Noble, with notable contributions from Winston Reid and Reece Burke.
Mrben09 