13 Unlucky For Some But Not For West Ham's Phoenix Like Rise
By the final whistle of West Ham United's thumping victory over struggling Manchester United, it had been just a tad under thirteen days since the Manuel Pellegrini inspired Hammers renaissance began following the International break, Four games, three victories and one draw, scoring fourteen and conceding only two is in stark contrast to the woeful previous four games.
On the subject of luck Hammers have in the past been on the receiving end of plenty of bad, however the 'lucky' thirteen day period might be a turning point from fortunes always fading! During the Romelu Lukaku exorcism that occured in the match against the Red Devils, there was a time when lady luck was most definitely smiling down on the London Stadium, most notably when the well placed linesman must have been wearng his claret and blue specs as he decided that Pablo Zabaleta was not offside when receiving Noble's astute through pass, the 'Lino' was even more generous when deciding Felipe Anderson's 'libero' flick in to goal was not off side either!
Strangely this rare bout of luck continued when 'Yarmo be there's' left footed shot, which may have been curling in anyway, took 'that' wicked deflection to leave De Gea rooted to the spot as he helplessly watched the ball sail in to the back of the net. Weirdly despite having been given two massive chunks of 'the good stuff' Hammers fully deserved to go in two nil up at half time, as apart from Lukaku grazing the outside of the post on the only time he outjumped Diop or Balbuena, the visitors were toothless and useless!
Back in the day it would be virtually inconceivable for an Alex Ferguson team to 'roll over and die' during the early stages of a match, and if they did perform badly they would get the famous 'hair dryer' treatment from the red nosed one during half time and come out like a team possessed. That was not to be the case and apart from scoring a fluke goal by Marcus Rashford following the substitutuion of Pogba, they offered little real intent going forward although Marouane Fellaini did force a great save from Fabianski from a well placed header.
Normally losing a 2-0 margin against any team, particularly such a rare one as was the case against Manchest United, would have spread fear and panic but such was the intensity of the players, and the crowd, that returning to a two goal margin did not seem a massive task at all, and so it proved when Captain Mark 'Teflon' Noble played the pass of the game which dissected the visitors defence for a second time, on this occasion his perfectly weighted through ball to Marko Arnoutovic left the forward with plenty of time to slot past the stranded De Gea.
The London Stadium was really rocking by this point and those who say there is no atmosphere should maybe reconsider their opinion, amusingly the away support's chants of 'United, United' only helped to 'amplify' the chants of the home fans own United chants! Perhaps the most telling observation of Hammers' performance both on and off the field came from the unlikely source that is Jose Mourinho, the beleagured United manager eulogised about Diop's performance describing the 21 year old as a monster who commanded the pitch, he continued by sneaking in a criticism of his own player recruiters by saying well done to the person who discovered this 21 year old. As if that wasn't enough, he then went on to laud the performance of Robert Snodgrass who had come on as a late sub!
How the mighty have fallen? But as Marko Arnoutovic said when asked if he had any sympathy for Mourinho "No, I just think about what we are doing here", and what 'We' are doing here is witnessing the beginnings of a team that has finally managed to embrace the style of play required in order to fulfil Manuel Pelegrini's vision. He didn't 'crack' or fold when there were zero points on the board after four matches, but just about everyone else from the outside looking in did, those who suggested that somehow Pellegrini's time in China had blunted his ability have been proven incorrect.
Thirteen might just become a lucky number to have, of course as Mark Noble so eloquently commented during his post match interview, the team will lose matches and sometimes not deserve to win, but if the team plays with the same ethos and desire then the fans will be in for a roller coaster of a ride, or in the words of the inimitable Darren Harry "Buckle up buttercups". - Ed
