One of the best performances at Upton Park this season saw the Hammers climb to 13th as beat Hull city 3-0. My preview headline for this one was win and we stay up and I still believe it. If we get an invincible sense of ourselves at home and can pick a point or two away, we might even be able to enjoy the last couple of games of the season rather than be biting our nails.
All the lads were top yesterday, though big shouts out to Faubert, Diamanti and Cole who were all excellent. I've been speaking about Faubert's quality for some time, he has improved markedly as the season has gone on and I'm really pleased he got the goal he clearly wanted to get. I liked Diamanti from the moment he stepped on the pitch for us, the guy has an amazing left foot and is the creative powerhouse that makes things happen. Cole was just very strong for us yesterday, causing the Hull defenders all sorts of panic.
As for Hull, they were poor. I thought it was a crazy decision to makes 3 subs when you are down to ten men with around 25 minutes to go and they paid the price for that when Gardener limped off. But they looked a team bereft of ideas and could well struggle if they continue to play like that.
Here are my ratings;
Green - 7 - was aware for a couple of good saves
Spector - 7 - solid and reliable
Upson - 7 - marshalled the defence well
Tomkins - 7 - helped keep the Hull attack quiet
Faubert - 8.5 - my man of the match, he was excellent
Diamanti - 8 - buzzing arond like a good un and kept Hull on their feet all game
Parker - 8 - quality play as usual from Scott
Kovac - 7 - valuable interception for the first goal and played well overall
Behrami - 7 - got a good goal and unlucky to get a second, never seen him have that many chances!
Cole - 8 - worked hard and finished his goal calmly
Franco - 7 - clearly enjoyed being back and linked well with Cole
Subs:
Ilan - 6 - pretty quiet when he came on
Mido - 6 - likewise
Collison - only on for 10
Zola/Clarke - 8 - got the lads well organised for this one.
Really chuffed at this result, we now need to keep the momentum going. Come on you Irons!!!
Might be wrong but cant see the momentum going far after Man U, Chelsea and Arsenal all away....
Posted by: TBI | 22/02/2010 at 19:50