Tough result to swallow, losing 3-0 on the road. I’m conflicted on my feelings about Jack Collison’s red. Yes he deserved it and shouldn’t have reacted the way he did, but part of me is happy that he cares enough to do something about Jimmy Kebe’s showboating. I think it’s fair to say everyone got what they deserved out of the situation. Collison sits for a couple games, Kebe is exposed as a prat, all’s well that ends well.

Never again do I want to see an unenthusiastic, uninspired performance like the last 75 minutes or so of the Newcastle game, but neither do I want us to be a team that will park the bus in front of goal and cling desperately to scoreless draws.  West Ham is tied with Wigan as the lowest scoring team in the league, and losing Mark Noble for a month after his appendectomy will surely not help matters.  I can only hope that no more 0-0 draws are on the docket for what should be three winnable games against Birmingham, West Bromwich, and Blackpool.  It’s one thing to play defensive against a top-4 club, but if it continues against the middle and lower-tier teams, that splinter of doubt that’s been in the back of my head will start to grow into genuine worry about our hopes for Premiership survival this year.

Cole has been getting a lot of stick from the fans for his recent performances.  It’s almost too easy to forget that he single-handedly carried the team for the first part of last year until his unfortunate knee injury.  Since his return he has been a shadow of the player he was before, with his touch deserting him and any speed almost non-existent.  Yet for some reason, whenever he plays it seems like the rest of the team feels that he is the only option for moving the ball upfield.  More often that not, it seems like the defense or midfield will win the ball and send it forward only to see it come right back at them from a bad trap from Cole.  For all his size and physicality, I just don’t see Cole being that kind of target forward.  He was at his best when the ball was played on the ground, with good movement and support from his midfield and wings.  Asking him to be the primary hold-up player has not and will not work, but for whatever reason, when he plays it seems like that is the only way to go.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this season, the offense performed much better when Obinna and Piquionne were leading the line.  Both player and ball movement seemed to be more fluid, and the team as a whole played the passing game that West Ham is known for.  Even for this game, the lone West Ham goal came from a team move, involving Cole only for the finish, not during the build up.  The rest of the game showed no hint of the same offensive tactics.  Maybe he has never fully recovered from his injury, but Cole may be better off coming on as a late game substitute at this point rather than the focal point of the offense.  I would think that Avram Grant would return to the lineups that were resulting in positive play and results, rather than the toothless attack  that resulted in Saturday’s loss.

The silver lining in the matter, if there is one, is that Mark Noble’s form has been outstanding as of late and should he continue to play well, the team can continue to get some good results.  I’m not going to go as far as saying that Hitzlsperger would be the best player on the team this year, but West Ham’s star injury curse continues unabated for another season.  After seeing high profile signings like Freddie Ljungberg and Kieron Dyer getting hurt before ever substantially contributing to the team, and losing star players like Dean Ashton and Carlton Cole during the peaks of their performances, it’s almost laughable how bad the luck has been.  In June when World Cup squads were announced, a part of me was happy that Scott Parker was not selected, purely for the reason that had he gotten hurt ala Ashton, the loss of West Ham’s single most important player would have doomed the squad before the season even began.  I find myself apprehensively going through match reports after international games in which West Ham players are participating, hoping beyond hope that we won’t lose anyone else.  No such luck regarding Hitzlsperger, and what makes it worse was that the initial injury was only supposed to keep him out for a couple weeks.

Well, such a hand has fate dealt the team.  It’s good that the team has been able to play well without him.  Hitzlsperger’s return will be like the brand new signing that he really is.  It makes you appreciate the semblance of depth in the squad this year.  There seems to be enough cover in the team to make it through a major injury, though I pray that the next inevitable hurt will not be a crucial player.  Offensively, Freddie Piquionne and Victor Obinna’s emergence have kept Cole from being irreplaceable, and even now Fred Sears and Bennie McCarthy are tearing it up in the reserve league games.  There is good variety among the midfield as well.  There is skill and pace among players like Pablo Barrera, Junior Stanislas and uber-crock Kieron Dyer, and steel from Valon Behrami (who should be back soon), Radoslav Kovac, and Luis Boa Morte.  Matty Upson and Manuel da Costa have shored up the central defense, but any number of players could step in on a short-term basis should any injuries arise.  So on and so forth, you can at least appreciate the balance of the squad that has been assembled this year.  Injuries will be unfortunate, but at least this year it feels like they will not be devastating.  Anyone remember having to play a front line of David di Michele and Diego Tristan?  Shudder.

Avram Grant made a brave (and ultimately correct) move by selecting Frederic Piquionne and Victor Obinna for the side ahead of Carlton Cole, coming off of the duo’s sharp performances at the mid-week Carling Cup match.  Since he became a regular first team player, this is the first time I can remember Cole being left on the bench as a result of team selection and not for injury reasons.  Perhaps it’s what’s best for him to take a break, considering that he’s been nowhere near the form that made him so invaluable to West Ham last year.  He’s not quite been the same player since his knee injury, as he doesn’t seem to have the same explosiveness and movement that, combined with his size and strength, made him such a handful for opposing defenders.  Luckily Piquionne has shown the ability to be a similar target forward, and it was his strength in the air that won the goal and the game on Saturday.  Obinna put in another strong performance, and his pace seems to cause all sorts of problems for defenses.  I feel that sometimes he is too eager to pull the trigger on a shot, and there were a couple times against Spurs that he had the option to pass to a teammate in a better position but instead opted for a difficult try at goal.  However, last year’s squad seemed hesitant to ever shoot, with the exception of Diamanti, so I like that we’re not trying to pass the ball into the goal. For me, Obinna is a must-start at this point.

Another impressive performance came from the much-maligned Robert Green.  An absolute wall today, he showed why he was chosen as the England number one.  Considering his performances in the World Cup and the first weeks of the season, it’s easy to forget that he has the ability to be a top notch goalkeeper, and hopefully this will help him regain some confidence that has been lacking.  I loved his “up yours” salute towards the press box at the end of the game.  It was the first bit of emotion that he’s showed ever since his problems began, and was a real reflection of how important this performance was to him especially.  I was beginning to wonder if it was time for Marek Stech to get some playing time, especially after his strong game against Sunderland in the Carling Cup.  The pessimist in me thought that it may be a good idea to play the youngster in a game that I didn’t think we could win.  I figured that Green’s confidence had been shot already, and that missing a difficult fixture could help him recover.  At least when I’m wrong, I’m spectacularly wrong.  Green had a phenomenal game, and should maintain his place in the team for a while yet.

In short, it was a strong showing from the team as a whole.  Midfield was bossed by Mark Noble and Scott Parker, but one of the few disappointments from the game was the subbing Kieron Dyer after 42 minutes.  It could have been a lot worse, but Grant has come out since the game and said that it wasn’t injury but illness that forced Dyer out.  Pablo Barrera came in continued to play well, and I would think he warrants a look with the first team sometime soon.  Even Luis Boa Morte, who has been a favorite target of the boo birds at Upton Park, came in and contributed, sticking in with hard tackles and breaking up any flow that Tottenham had.  I felt that the defense had their best game in probably the past year, with Matthew Upson and Manuel da Costa dominating and Danny Gabbidon holding his own on the left flank.  I think we may have found our best pairing in the center of the defense.  Oh, and Lars Jacobsen looks like a great signing now as well.  A very solid (and natural) right back, he may not contribute as much offensively as, say Glenn Johnson, but he has really shored up a problem area for the team.

So ends a great week for West Ham football.  A tie at Stoke City, a win at Sunderland, and now a home victory over Tottenham.  That’s better I could have hoped for.  A home fixture looms against a tough Fulham team, but the way we’re playing, we can give anyone a good match.  I’ll sleep well this week knowing that we’re on our way up, and that we’re doing this without the help of Thomas Hitzlsperger.  He’ll be back soon, and we can really get on with the season.

Tony Pulis is probably developing a reputation as 2nd half manager, as following his team’s inspired play against Aston Villa last week, his players came out with a completely different attitude again.  Once again, the first minutes of the half were our undoing.  Jermaine Pennant ran onto a through ball and lifted a perfect cross for Kenwyne Jones to nod home over da Costa.  Jones nearly added a second ten minutes later, prevented only by a fine save by Green who tipped the goal-bound shot onto the post.  Green has shown the ability to be a top-class shot stopper, but he needs to be able to command his area better and not give up any rebounds.  Every cross into the defensive box or long distance shot makes me cringe, but he has produced some truly first class saves at times.

After the first Stoke goal, it seemed an almost certainty that a second one was coming.  To their credit though, the West Ham players weathered the storm (aided by Green’s tremendous save), and slowly took control of the game again.  The Hammers nearly got a second goal on back-to-back occasions, as Victor Obinna took a shot that had the Stoke keeper at full stretch for the save, and da Costa had a good header turned away as well.  The run of luck that’s been with West Ham this game held, as a Ricardo Fuller header from a Delap throw-in came back off the crossbar in what was the last good chance of the game.

The final result meant that West Ham claimed their first point of the season, in a solid performance on the road against a team whose direct style of play has been a weakness for our defense so far.  I’m glad that we’re a team who will at least try and play some passing football, as I find the Stoke City and Blackburn Rover style completely unappealing.  I still feel that movement, passing, and possession was better in last week’s game against Chelsea, but the glimpses of good football were there again today.  Considering our recent woes on the road, the point gained from this game is very welcome.  This week sees us traveling to Sunderland for a Carling Cup match-up on Tuesday, and next Saturday has Tottenham coming to Upton Park.   I hope we can keep on improving our performances and maybe nick some points from a strong Tottenham club.