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Well the Jockneys en masse made our way to St James Park , we discussed the game beforehand and my prediction was 1-0 to The Irons and Anderson the scorer! Well I was close..... sort of!!
This was way different to last seasons capitulation by the same score which left us downbeat to say the least.
Well to be brutally honest we could have lost this and this was an out of sorts West Ham playing a Newcastle brimming with confidence after 3 consecutive wins.
Apart from our 3 goals some major factors added as Zabaleta made a terrific intervention to deny Rondon and the "Toon" striker was denied twice by Cresswell blocks, Fab made a crucial early stop and he promoted confidence at the back.
We still made a number of errors notably Nobes in the first half but his willingness to win back possession was evident. Rice his usual assured self and terrific (apart from the odd stray ball) in front of the back four, the only alarm was defending set pieces!. Our first goal came about with Anderson losing possession and Noble first to the ball playing in Zabs who in turn found Snoddy who put the ball on a plate for Chicha who got ahead of his marker.
Our second saw Chicha chase and catch Rices' looping forward clearance and dispatching with aplomb and finally Wilshires through ball and Anderson did the rest. A great trip home and where we did not take chances v City we did here! Maybe not a fair comparison but we were at Huddersfield and I am still shocked we got a draw as we were all over the place. Maybe an indication that Snr Pellegrini sees a problem and deals with it.
Anderson and Hernandez got the plaudits but despite the usual throwing arms in the air when he gets a poor pass Arnie was a constant thorn in Newcastles side constantly occupying defenders and creating space.
Still a few flaws to "iron" out but we saw progress, not complaining though 3 goals and 3 points plus a clean sheet and that in contrast to the same fixture last season was literally like West Ham dancing to a different "Toon".
Great afternoon in the Toon!
We very much enjoyed our afternoon up in the gods at St James Park on Saturday. You may be a long way up but you can certainly see who is putting in a shift and how easy it was to open up Newcastle time and time again in that 2nd half.
I thought we thoroughly deserved the 3 points but we did ride our luck at times especially in the 1st half and Perez certainly should have done better from that free header. I kept saying to my youngest that every time the opposition has a free kick or corner we look vulnerable in the air. Bearing in mind we scored 3 goals we could have easily scored another 2 or 3 more from clear cut chances.
Good all round performance but thought Noble certainly looked rusty at times and Arnie certainly didn't have one of his better games. Great away day and we certainly enjoyed our evening. For some reason after receiving plenty of pre match banter from my Geordies friends they are not wanting to engage in my Cockney banter!!
but thats football
You get chances and you either take them or miss them. How many times as it happened to us? Look at the Brighton and Bournemouth games hell even just last week against City we had some great chances but didnt take them, this week we did. Im not saying had we taken the chances against City we would have won but the score line would have looked a bit more positive and given even more reason to be optimistic against the Bar codes and the Taffs tomorrow... bring it on you super Irons!!!! KTF!!!! Mr Optimistic knows best!!!!
Just one point given Rice's
Just one point given Rice's impeccable performances lately ,I think he's just a natural in that position but it's not the back 4 he protecting ,it's the 2 centre backs he gives them that extra split second ,it's Masu we need someone to sit in front of ,who plays L B for the under 21s surley he'd be a better option than Masu ,I think we're in trouble for both full back positions , hasn't Zabs made it clear this is his last season ?
I'm he seems to be developing
Imo he seems to be developing into that rare beast in football these days ,a complete all rounder