West Ham 2-3 Everton
I think all West Ham supporters should feel hard done by after this result, I certainly do! We may have been dominated as far as possession of the ball was concerned, but our ability to win the ball back and stop Everton finding a way through our tremendous defence time after time meant that we more than deserved at least a point out of a tantalising match.
Winston Reid was certainly my man of the match and is a player who I believe could get into any side in the league. He’s strong, he’s determined, good on the ball, great header of the ball, fantastic tackler and isn’t the slowest either. He showed all of these qualities in the match making last ditch tackles, out muscling Everton and throwing himself at absolutely everything! He is a man who gives everything every single week and I hope he stays with this club for the rest of his career. £3 million! Bargain of the century!
Ravel Morrison showed glimpses of why so many of West Ham and England fans alike are excited about his potential and got himself a goal, a lucky goal, but a goal all the same.
Mark Noble may have played very well throughout the game, however for his awfully ridiculous challenge on Ross Barkley which resulted in another sublime Leighton Baines free-kick and left us with only 10 men, I think he deserves a fine of at least 1 week’s wages! I think he lost us the game!
Jussi Jaaskelainen was fantastic last week against Southampton and is a terrific shot stopper but he was another defining factor in losing us the game. We’ve conceded three free-kicks in or last two home games and I think only one of them was unstoppable. Speaking on Match of the Day, Leighton Baines said how he put the ball to Jussi Jaaskelainen’s right because of the Finish goalkeeper’s position. Jussi must take responsibility for conceding the first free-kick as I certainly think a top-flight keeper should have saved that, just as he should have saved Jermaine Pennant’s in the game against Stoke.
I feel that Razvan Rat played very well yesterday considering it was his first ever Premier League start. He looked stronger and quicker than I expected and looked good on the ball. He gave Modibo Maiga at least three opportunities to run on to his through balls, but of course, he was too slow to catch them and to be honest did not look like he wanted to catch them!
Mladen Petric came on for around 30 minutes for his debut and looked a bit short of match fitness but still managed to be ten times better than Maiga and played a huge part in the winning of the penalty when he showed good strength and determination.
I still struggle to understand how Matty Taylor makes it on to the bench, but I won’t get in to that.
A good performance. An exciting match. A disappointing result.