West Ham United London (Home) 19.10.2024

From the start Spurs were on the front foot, with Pedro Porro threading passes into the box to try to find Dominic Solanke, with Areola kicking the first away and the second being put out for what would be the first of twelve first half corners Tottenham were to win.  Dejan Kulusevski was dominating the ball in midfield, having a free role across that area of the pitch and the pressing he and his team-mates were applying was forcing turn-overs in possession.  A poor clearance by Areola only went to Porro and his forward header to Johnson saw him try to flick it over Kilman to Solanke, but the defensive header went straight back to him wide of the goal on our right.  Brimming with confidence, Brennan struck the bouncing ball first time, but it fizzed wide of the far side of the goal.  

Emerson Palmieri got a couple of lucky bounces when winning the ball deep in his own half and there was a minute’s possession for the Irons before it was moved right to Bowen.  He pulled a low ball to the back of the box, where Kudus was in space to fire a first-time shot at goal that Vicario did very well to push over the bar in the 11th minute.  The forward had all the goal to aim at and put it straight at Guglielmo, who got a good hand on it to prevent it going in.

Some of the Spurs players’ control and passing was off, but when they got it right they found ways through the tight West ham defence that was squeezing the space.  Udogie broke free on the left, pulled the ball into the area for Maddison, who laid it back Bissouma and he passed to his left to Son inside the corner of the box.  He showed to go left, sold Wan-Bissaka and opened up his body to curl a right-footed shot that went wide of the far post by inches.  But, despite looking the more threatening, it was the Irons who opened the scoring.  A ball into the box wasn’t effectively cleared and Bowen put it low, across the face of the goal, it took a flick off Micky van de Ven that ran it into the path of Kudus, who this time found the net with a shot into the ground that bounced up over Porro at the far post.  This suddenly made the visiting supporters find their voice.

Spurs were finding good space wide on the left, with Son and Destiny Udogie linking well.  Sonny got into the box and drove a left foot shot at goal that was blocked with a sliding tackle for a corner and another corner came when Destiny dug out a cross towards Brennan Johnson, who couldn’t get a header on it, but Pacqueta got a shoulder on it to take it wide of the goal.  Every time the ball went into the West Ham box, there was panic among the defenders.  There were some Spurs fans who were expressing unhappiness at the slow build-up, but with little space to exploit, the team had to build moves that pulled opponents out of position to get a move going.  When Son took a corner and worked it short with Maddison, James played a pass across the 18 yard box to Porro, 20 yards out and his hit from a position just right of centre took a flick, forcing Areola into a good save diving low to his left when he had been going to wrong way and recovering to get hold of the ball as Johnson looked to snaffle it in.  

Areola was hopeless with the ball at his feet and played a ball straight out of play wide to the left of the penalty area with no West Ham player within five yards of it.  He hit a long free-kick forward and Kudus pass to Pacqueta saw a feeble attempt to win a foul when he went down after the ball went past him.  Solanke got to it first and knocked it on to Maddison who was 12 yards inside his own half.  He ran the ball forward to ten yards outside the Hammers box and played it right to Kulusevski on the corner of the box on our hand.  Dejan came inside to just right of the D and hit a left footed drive that Areola got a hand to at his near post, but hit the upright, went across the goal-line before hitting the other post and spinning into the net.  He had deserved his goal for the performance he had put in and the ineffective Pacqueta had opened the way for Spurs to start the move.

The Brazilian midfielder was soon involved again, with Brennan running away from him, he didn’t have the pace to keep up so had three attempts at pulling him back by the shoulder before the referee stopped the game to give him a yellow card just minutes before the end of the first half.  Bet he wasn’t too upset about that !  Spurs were keeping up the momentum towards the West Ham goal and when Destiny pulled the ball across from the left to the back of the penalty area, Pedro took to the air to hit a volley with both feet off the ground that flew narrowly over the bar.  The space for Udogie had been made by a smart back-heel by Dejan inside the box to fool the West Ham defence.  Just before the first half ended, Son found space on the left and hit a shot from a tight angle, but it was blocked.

At half-time, Pape Matar Sarr was brought on for James Maddison presumably to bring a big more energy to the midfield, with Bissouma covering him if he went forward.  Since the Spurs goal, the North-East corner of the ground had been pretty quiet, perhaps realising what was coming.  Son and Udogie worked the ball on the left and Destiny’s shot was deflected wide for another corner.  Nothing came from that but when the two linked up again, Son’s pass for Destiny to run onto inside the box near the dead-ball line saw Wan-Bissaka got to block a first-time cross, but the Spurs left-back chopped the ball back and rolled into to Yves Bissouma 12 yards out to run onto and smash it home, low through Kilman’s legs to put Tottenham into the lead.  Yves does like celebrating a goal and a lot of the credit would have to go to the young Italian, who showed great composure to set it up.

Straight from the kick off, West Ham lumped the ball into the Spurs box and Antonio went down, presumably mis-timing his jump at a Spurs defender and sat on the floor begging for a penalty.  Spurs got on with it and the ball was won by West Ham just inside their half, moving it forward for Kudus to run at the Tottenham defence, until he reached the D.  From inside it, he tried a shot straight at van de Ven in front of him, with Wan-Bissaka free outside him on his right.  As it was, Spurs won the ball halfway inside their half with Bissouma poking it away from Pacqueta, who unsurprisingly went to ground.  Son picked it up on the halfway line, played it right to Kulusevski, then continued his run to receive a return pass, which wasn’t entirely into his path.  However, the Tottenham captain swept a left foot shot at goal, not connecting that cleanly with it and so deceiving Areola, who had dived early.  It was stopped by his foot, the ball then hit the in-running Todibo and went in off the keeper to make it 3-1.  The ball just about got over the line, with Wan-Bissaka perhaps too far away on the other post, but not even making an effort to get across and Johnson on hand in case it needed putting in.

From the kick-off, Soucek wrestled Brennan Johnson off the pitch to get a yellow card that had been a long time coming, having clothes-lined Maddison in the first five minutes of the match.  All the noise was now coming from the Spurs fans in the ground and that got even louder when Pape Matar Sarr eased Bowen off the ball halfway inside the Tottenham half.  He spread the ball left to Heung-Min Son, with only Todibo and the keeper between him and goal, starting his run on the halfway line.  Running at the French international, when he got inside the box, he performed three step-overs to unbalance Todibo and beat Areola at his near post with a fierce left-footed shot.  In the space of eight minutes, Spurs had gone from 1-1 to 4-1 making the lack of space denied them in the first half by a regimented West Ham side look light years away, as they enjoyed the acres of space they now found.

The goal signalled the first trickle of exits by those “Cockney Boys” and perhaps the next Spurs chance made most of them think about an early train back to Dagenham.  Sarr was again the ball-winner, putting on to Dominic, but his ball intended for Johnson was partially blocked, only to run in front of Son, who stroked a first-time effort low that was past Areola, but bounced back off the foot of the keeper’s left-hand post and away across the goal.  The Irons finally summoned up a move of their own, after three subs had come on after the fourth goal.  Somerville slid in Emerson on the left of the box and his cross was blocked by Micky, ballooning the ball into the air.  Vicario came to block it again, but Emerson got it across goal and Kudus came onto it on the opposite corner of the six-yard area to fire a shot in on goal that Udogie blocked on the line before it was put out for a corner.  Desperate for anything, the claret and blues surrounded the referee wanting a penalty and he had to wait for a VAR review.  After a wait, he pointed to the corner and it wasn’t the spot-kick that the Irons wanted.  We found out five minutes later, when PGMOL posted a message on the big screen that the ball had hit his hand, but it wasn’t in an unnatural position (i.e. tight to his side).

Another poor kick out by Areola found Porro again and the ball was worked to Kulusevski, who bent a shot just wide of the keeper’s right-hand post, which might have taken a touch off a defender, but the referee didn’t think so.  When Kudus came inside to have a shot from the edge of the area, it looked dangerous, but van de Ven blocked it and the ball ricocheted forward to the edge of the centre circle in the Spurs half, where Solanke out-muscled Todibo to take it on and despite being tugged back, he won the ball off the same player again.  Spotting Johnson to his right he played it in front of him to strike first time with a trademark low shot towards the far corner, but Areola got down to it and palmed the ball out, just wide of Dominic, who had continued his run into the box.  His hard work in creating the chance deserved a better bit of luck in the ball falling for him, but it wasn’t to be his day.

Substitute Soler’s major contribution to the match was to get booked for dissent, arguing that his two-handed push into Sarr’s back wasn’t even a foul !  Meanwhile, Solanke was holding the ball up really well and a hoofed clearance by Porro saw Dominic hold off his marker to play it back to Pape Matar Sarr.  It was a good example of centre-forward play, even if the move came to nothing.  Vicario had to drop to his right to push away a bouncing effort from Kudus on their right, but it was a reasonably comfortable safe that he dealt with and pushed the ball away from in front of goal.

Much of the last 15 minutes (plus seven minutes of added time … more of which later) were played at walking pace.  Spurs were conserving energy for games to come, while West Ham had mostly worried about keeping the score down, rather than trying to narrow the gap.  After another bustling run by Solanke, taking on four players, he played the ball to Johnson on the right, but he was tackled.  Kulusevski recycled it and played it back to Porro and his cross to the far post was met with a stooping header by Werner that Areola pushed aside just between Solanke and Johnson, who were closing in.

Solanke and Bissouma were given a rest with Richarlison and Bentancur coming off the bench, but in the 82nd minute, Micky muscled Bowen off the ball and was pushed over by Kudus who then kicked him twice while he was on the ground.  The Dutchman got up to indicate that the West Ham man was crazy by pointing at his temple and then pushed Kudus who then retaliated by pushing Micky in the face.  As players rushed in, Richarlison got caught by Kudus shoulder and went down there was a lot of pushing and shoving and then Kudus went after Pape Matar Sarr and pushed him in the face too.  So, there were at least three red card offences committed by Kudus, but Madley decided to show him a yellow and show van de Ven a yellow.  Only when VAR mentioned he might like to take a look at what a lot of us saw from the stands, did the referee come back on, cancel Kudus’ yellow and pulled out a red.  I think you have to question why VAR were involved at all, as the linesman on that side and the referee both saw what happened and why did VAR get the ref to look at it on the monitor rather than saying it is a red card offence, send him off ?  Four minutes to sort out what could have been done in one.

Destiny Udogie was substituted with Archie Gray coming on, immediately making his mark when Vicario passed straight to a West Ham played and when the ball came into the box, Archie picked it off and then showed quick feet to shift the ball from one foot to the other to take the ball around the Irons’ captain.  The last few minutes of playing time was most notable for Cristian Romero who was hot holding back with some challenges on Summerville and Emerson after the referee delayed blowing for free-kicks.  Richarlison showed some good energy when he came on, but the game was settled long before that and was fouled to give Spurs a last chance when Porro’s free-kick was placed onto Brennan’s head, but the ball was glanced wide.

The collapse of the West Ham side was spectacular and they had been given the run-around in the first half despite only being 1-1 at the break, but Tottenham went into another gear as they pulled their players around at will in the second half.  In reality, it should have been more than 4-1 and while it was a crushing win, there is still improvement to be had and putting teams to the sword is one of them.  The tactical switch of putting Sarr in for Maddison paid off handsomely and the Irons could not live with the determined part he played in winning the ball and setting up plays.

While Kudus was undoubtedly the best player that West Ham had, his footballing intelligence was not matched by his common sense.  Complete stupidity by the forward, whose meltdown leaves his side without him for probably three matches and if the FA look at everything that went on, it could be more.  There was no need for any of it, but perhaps he wants to win some gold stars with their fans by showing a bit of fight.  Whatever it was, he deserves heavy punishment for his unwarranted aggression.

West Ham spent £132 million in the summer of which £15 million was on Wan-Bissaka, who was better going forward than doing his defensive work.  Some of the players they fielded I had no idea of who they were or where they were signed from, so the quality that they bring to the club must be something the coaching staff are seeing in them that isn’t being realised on the pitch.  With a new manager thrown in, it is a mix that doesn’t blend that easily and while they have had varied results, it is difficult to understand how they hadn’t lost a league game away from home this season before this one.  A policy of being tight and playing on the break is fine, as long as you are able to do the first part for 90 minutes.

For the first time in a long time at Tottenham I witnessed away fans being walked to the stadium from Northumberland Park station. before the match.  The large number of police deployed on the day was probably about right for the amount of Irons fans who were there at the start, but by the end, less than a van-load would have sufficed.  Only about four of their players went over to clap their remaining few supporters at the end, with only Summerville getting close to them, while handing over a shirt.  There weren’t enough left to raise a chant about the manager’s position at the club and the silence from that corner contrasted with the chippiness they had exhibited an hour before.  That was because from about the 75th minute, the away section began emptying and most of their number were probably back drinking in Stratford singing anti-Spurs songs to themselves. 

During the first half, Bissouma had a rocky start top the game, but settled well and Heung-Min Son showed a little indecision when he was on the ball, but that was all a thing of the past once the second half got underway.  The passing was crisper, the movement into space allowed Spurs to work the ball around their players, who tired as the match went on.  Solanke showed his worth even without scoring and Kulusevski ran the show, closely followed by Porro, who defended well and looked to get forward too, coming so close to scoring with his scissors kick volley in the first half.

So, with a win over the Irons and the Goons losing later in the evening with another player sent off, it was a good day out.  

East Stan

• Players took the knee before the match.