TACKLE OF A CAPTAIN
Newcastle United 1 West Ham 1
The first three minutes of this game prove a delightful contrast to the following 87. Newcastle have the ball in the back of the West Ham net after barely a minute, Joe Willock poking the ball into the back of the net after a byline run and cross, but the ball is eventually deigned to have been pulled back from an out of play position. Hammers barely have time to breathe in a hefty gulp of relief before the ball is in the back of the net again, this time Calum Wilson (remember him?) slipping Sean Longstaff’s through ball past Fabianski.
It is an all too familiar backdrop to an away fixture this season, but even the Hammers’ form on the road hasn’t seen such a swift reverse thus far this season. It seems the feeling of a leaf newly turned is premature. Successive 2-0 victories in the League and Cup have been against lesser mortals, and the proverbial shit is metaphorically flickering against the figurative fan and into the away supporters’ end.
It takes ten minutes for the Hammers to launch their first well crafted attack, Antonio’s shot well blocked when it seems initially bound for the bottom corner. When West Ham win the first corner of the game on the half hour, it’s an unexpected sighting to view Declan Rice heading over to the corner flag to take it. I cannot recall him ever taking a corner for the Hammers, though I could be wrong.
Before any comment can pass about this new tactic, the ball to the far post picks out Paquetá, who seems to have freed himself from his marker, and stepping to the edge of the six yard box, slots his shot neatly past Nick Pope, and he celebrates with two body flips before landing, off balance, in front of the celebrating West Ham fans. Five minutes later Benrahma hits in a shot that only just misses the Newcastle far post. In first half injury time, Coufal’s set piece cross is headed just over by Aguerd. As the teams head off for half time it seems hard to believe that the East London side began the match so badly.
The second half makes the casual observer, and I would include myself as part of that collective, feel that maybe Hammers are finally beginning to look like that David Moyes’ side that are tough to beat and difficult to break down.
Aguerd has another chance to find the net from Benrama’s cross, and Emerson too gets forward and looks dangerous as he takes up promising positions. Joelinton is booked for simulation, diving in the West Ham area and clearly demonstrating his artificial intelligence.
Then, the moment of the match. Wilson somehow beats the Hammers’ offside trap, and with most of the team pushed forward in search of a winner, Wilson is through one on one with Fabianski. Just as he appears ready to pull the trigger, Aguerd, carrying all the stature of the lost cause on his shoulders, times the most perfect of tackles to send the ball spinning away for a corner. It is no exaggeration to give that one the official Bobby Moore stamp. After their sprint to the edge of the area, both Wilson and Aguerd collapse, retching from their efforts. It’s the closest any tackle can get to the stature of goal.
And that’s it. Newcastle have ended up looking the lesser of the two and have forfeited third place in the league to Manchester United, who they meet in the League Cup Final at Wembley later in the month. West Ham can only hope that their reward from the Mancs will be to roll over in their fifth round FA Cup tie in March.
1 Lucasz Fabianski, 5 Vladimir Coufal, 24 Thilo Kehrer, 33 Emerson, 21 Angelo Ogbonna, 41 Declan Rice (captain), 27 Nayef Aguerd, 11 Lucas Paquetá, 9 Michail Antonio, 20 Jarrod Bowen, 22 Saïd Benrahma
Substitutes: 2 Ben Johnson, 28 Tomas Souček, 8 Pablo Fornals, 18 Danny Ings, 12 Flynn Downes
Goalscorer: Lucas Paquetá
