West Ham 1 Spurs 1
Fair result this. Though no thanks to the Man with no Brain, Kaboul, self-imploding again - this time with a gift leading to a Cant Control opener. If only Spurs had a decent defence, hey? Chances for both sides, decent keeping on occasions and guilt ridden misses taking the headlines.
A proper ding-dong derby, without being anywhere near the classic last year was. Robinson saving well from Ashton and Parker. Robert Green embarrassing himself with the Dawson equaliser, but redeeming himself with a rather all too comfortable save in the 90th minute from Defoe. From the penalty spot. Oh dear. Well, whatever. Green did his homework and opted for the same side as last years kick. Defoe should have tried something different. Like fucking smacking it in rather than the lame placement that allows the home side to add a new chapter to the next edition of 'The History of West Ham United'.
As for the first half incident where Green probably should have got a red card, for what looked like a nailed on penalty (Keane, chipping the ball over him in a 1-on-1 situation and then....well, you've seen it I'm sure....Greens trailing leg bringing down Keane). And before any 'ammers claim he dived, it would have been far easier to just stand his ground and tap the ball in - if he wasn't touched (ooh) by Green. Which he was. Hence the lack of balance. And having seen it several times now, Keane loses balance because of Greens leg, and had he tried to remain on his feet its doubtful he would have got to the ball. I've said that already, haven't I? If Keane allowed gravity to pull him down in a far more dramatic manner, it still doesn't change the fact that Green was guilty.
Arguably, Keane was offside in the first place, so karma balanced it all out for us. Equally, you could say two big decisions missed by the officials. Still, play to the whistle, no? If anything, Riley (the man in black) made sure he made the game all about his rather average and consistently inconsistent ref'ing. Around 32 or 33 West Ham fouls given, compared to Spurs who gave away about 8. They got booked 3 times, we got booked 4 times. Doubt any West Ham or Spurs fan would agree he had a good game.
Was quite happy with our work rate today. Ramos has influenced the team in a positive way thus far. Looked more of a unit for once, away from home. Bit more confidence. Although, four strikers on the pitch at the same time with Berbs back in midfield was a little strange. Good to see Bale back too. Wonderful talent that kid.
Kaboul, a fine athlete, but blatantly inexperienced and allowing him play in a team that generally isn't very good at defending is just asking for trouble. He has made mistakes far too often now. Jan tran window target(s)? Please let it be a centre-back.
Ramos has to also work on eliminating these individual mistakes that are costing us. Robbo's recovery is continuing and some of the players are looking far improved (Berbatov, an obvious example) with their application and purpose.
Like I said, fair result. Brummies up next in the league.
