GOALS TO NEWCASTLE
Newcastle United 3 West Ham 2
Fourth from bottom plays fourth from top. It’s 282 miles from London Stadium to St. James Park, but less than ten metres from the kitchen to the front room, so the journey doesn’t play the same part in today’s fixture as it would do ordinarily. Angelo Ogbonna returns for his first game since the defeat at Manchester United, the last time West Ham were beaten in the Premier League. Ian Crocker, a West Ham fan, is commentating for Sky this afternoon. Let’s see how neutral he comes across this afternoon now he isn’t having to commentate on a Scottish Premier League fixture.
Dawson is forced to take one for the team after just ten minutes, not unlike his early card against Leicester last week, bringing down Joelinton after Bowen’s loose pass. Thankfully the free kick comes to nothing. A neat free kick from Noble is headed straight at Dúbravka, Newcastle’s Slovakian keeper. He could have been a teammate of Souček and Coufal back in the Czechoslovakian days of the USSR. As it is, Souček scored for the Czech Republic when the two countries last met in the Group F of the Nations League in November (2-0), and Coufal scored in the earlier away leg two months earlier (3-1). Despite all that statistical bullshit, Rodak was in goal for Slovakia for both games, so if I was trying to make a clever point I guess I’ve failed spectacularly.
At St James Park, West Ham are beginning to look like the home team, but as a result unable to hit Newcastle on the break with pace. It is going to be a different type of game to the ones played over the previous few weeks. There’s no real sign of Lingard in the first half hour, but he is entitled not to be front page five games in a row. West Ham win free kicks and put down their markers in the first half hour, but on 35 minutes Dawson commits his second bookable foul, but this time doesn’t stop the man. The referee plays advantage and though Saint Maximin’s weak effort is saved by Fabianski, tracking back, Diop drags the ball into his own net. Then the referee waves the red card at Dawson. And another bloody own goal.
This was not in the script.
Nor is Fabianski dropping the ball from an ensuing Newcastle corner four minutes later, which Joelinton steers over the line for a second for Newcastle. The man with the monobrow name stabs home a second, in every sense. Armpits. It’s like watching one of your parents having sex in front of you with a stranger. Having sex with the stranger that is, not watching with a stranger, though that would probably be just as bad. However you might try to frame it, this isn’t supposed to be happening, and West Ham are not mentally prepared for it. And the poor old Duke of Edinburgh still has to be buried this afternoon.
The second half dictates the risk that Hammers will need to take to get anything from the game. It all seems a little bit dark side of the moon at this point. At least the returning Ogbonna is playing well, making important interceptions and helping the team almost look like they have eleven men on the pitch. Lingard puts Bowen through one on one with a quickly taken throw, but Bowen fails to convert the chance. But it was a decent chance, created out of nothing by a team playing with ten men.
The chance wakes Lingard up and Hammers start to dominate the game. A goal back will change all of this, even with the one man difference. Hammers get a free kick out on the right, but Lingard isn’t hitting the target today. Saint Maximin goes off for Callum Wilson, the statistical scourge of Hammers’ defences from past and present, with eight PL goals against them.
Coufal heads Johnson’s far post cross hard at Dúbravka but the keeper is sufficiently well-positioned to keep it out. I’m struggling to remember West Ham pulling a two goal deficit back this season, though there was the Tottenham game… Then Diop heads home Bowen’s cross on 72 minutes, marginally onside after a nail biting VAR call. Minutes later and West Ham have a penalty, a handball from Clark, jumping with Souček, brilliantly spotted by the Stockley Park boys. Lingard duly takes and dispatches the penalty with power, in off the post, Noble having been substituted minutes earlier.
Before the joy can be devoured, Joe Willock heads home to restore Newcastle’s lead, seconds after Johnson has cleared off the line spectacularly. Newcastle have made the extra man count, and the best Hammers can hope for now is a late equaliser. This is the moment for Lingard to exit with a tight hamstring. It obviously gets worse. The flicket of joy emerging from this tragedy is seeing Lanzini take to the stage as substitute. His lone goal this season was that third at Spurs. But that would be too much to hope for, wouldn’t it?
Hope rises again out of the ashes of that third goal with the fourth official’s raised revelation of EIGHT minutes of stoppage time, during which Callum Wilson weaves through the defence and almost scores a personal career ninth against the Hammers. Substitute Benrahma eschews the chance to open his account at a potentially perfect time, and the hanging guillotine whistle sounds to bring this unexpected defeat disappointment into focus.
Summary? On reflection, there is much to be taken away from the game.
First a little applause for the officiating. Today witnessed some great refereeing from Kevin ‘Un’ Friend and positive VAR work from the peeps at Stockley Park. Newcastle United benefited from the positive advantage being played after Dawson’s second bookable offence, leading to their first goal and a subsequent dismissal, both correct. VAR on the other hand offered the certainty of West Ham Diop’s second half goal being allowed to stand, and the penalty award, unseen by the players at the time, which brought Moyes’ side back into the game.
And, as if you didn’t know it, it’s a team game. Dawson hasn’t been the same player without Rice. Masuaku plays more freely and efficiently when he has the security of Cresswell around him. Diop needs discipline, also provided by Rice. What Antonio does off the ball is probably worth a goal a game when playing alongside Lingard. Ogbonna adds backbone and organisation to the defence. VAR is sometimes your friend. Some PL referees have excellent games, but their playing advantage doesn’t always work to your advantage. Fabianski’s first half error was almost chalked off when he nearly saved Willock’s point blank range header at the end. And probably best of all, West Ham were 2-0 down at the break with only ten men, but they did not concede, fighting their way back into the game, and almost grabbing a point in the process.
So maybe not as bad as you first thought. These kind of seasons only come round for the Hammers once every 35 years after all. West Ham may have missed the chance to climb up a place but they remain fourth, and next week meet the team for now one place below them, Chelsea.
1 Lucasz Fabianski, 5 Vladimir Coufal, 23 Issa Diop, 31 Ben Johnson, 15 Craig Dawson, 16 Mark Noble (c), 18 Pablo Fornals, 28 Tomas Souček, 11 Jesse Lingard, 20 Jarrod Bowen
Substitutes: 9 Saïd Benrahma, 10 Manuel Lanzini, 24 Ryan Fredericks
Scorers: Issa Diop, Jesse Lingard
