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West Ham disciple. Night-owl Premier League watcher. From Sydney, living in Melbourne. Sydney FC, Socceroos, Matildas. Is sport, Is good.
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15′
SPURS – 0
WEST HAM – 0
Cresswell and Walker crash into one another, fairly, mind you. West Ham find a way to calm things down, and keep the ball. A good ball is played over the top to Valencia, but he’s offside.
Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham United: 2015 Premier League live scores, blog
13′
SPURS – 0
WEST HAM – 0
West Ham seem unable to keep the ball for long than a handful of passes, and are pushed all the way into their own half. Reid launches it long, and Noble comes up with it, but then is again forced back. The pressing from Spurs is suffocating.
Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham United: 2015 Premier League live scores, blog
12′
SPURS – 0
WEST HAM – 0
Spurs again surge forwards, with Dembele. He’s fouled, and the free kick is taken quickly, out to Townsend, who threatens with a run, but ultimately loses out to the defender.
Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham United: 2015 Premier League live scores, blog
10′
SPURS – 0
WEST HAM – 0
HUGE CHANCE!
Harry Kane latches onto a long ball over the top, running between two defenders. He toe pokes the ball goalwards, with Adrian stuck in two minds about whether to come out. It flicks off the post and out for a goal kick.
Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham United: 2015 Premier League live scores, blog
9′
SPURS – 0
WEST HAM – 0
Lamela takes the free kick, straight into the wall. Spurs are really up for it early here, brimming with enthusiasm and bite. West Ham find some relief with a series of throw ins up the left. Jenkinson tries to cross, but it comes to nothing.
Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham United: 2015 Premier League live scores, blog
‘8
SPURS – 0
WEST HAM – 0
So, it looks like Bentaleb has the ‘long shots’ thing covered. Spurs push forward again, and Tomkins fouls Mason outside the box. Free Kick.
Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham United: 2015 Premier League live scores, blog
6′
SPURS – 0
WEST HAM – 0
CHANCE
Nabil Bentaleb absolutely smashes a ball at the top corner, for bout a mile away, and Adrian saves magnificently. Bentaleb shoots again from distance after the corner, and Adrian again saves.
Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham United: 2015 Premier League live scores, blog
‘5
SPURS – 0
WEST HAM – 0
This is a midfield of steel for the Hammers, and Kouyate displays this, winning the ball from Kyle Walker. But Spurs regain and shuffle the ball around the centre of midfield. Mason and Bentaleb there for Spurs, two youngsters. Townsend eventually works a cross in, which is dummied by Dembele, to be collected by a West Ham defender.
Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham United: 2015 Premier League live scores, blog
‘3
SPURS – 0
WEST HAM – 0
Equally, West Ham’s front three are also pressing from the outset. Sakho and Valencia are blessed with considerable pace, which helps with the pressing. Kouyate tries to shoot from a huge distance, and puts it into row Z.
Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham United: 2015 Premier League live scores, blog
‘1
SPURS – 0
WEST HAM – 0
Lloris begins by blooting the ball clean out of play, and so West Ham take possession. Spurs look very keen to press, setting a clear tone here.
Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham United: 2015 Premier League live scores, blog
Will this be Lamela’s time to finally show his worth in the league? Will Downing continue his fine form (he has made more chances that Eriksen has this season). Will Andy Carroll gain a tonne of weight back at home with his foot up? (answer to that last one: yes)
Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham United: 2015 Premier League live scores, blog
‘0
SPURS – 0
WEST HAM – 0
The teams are out on the pitch, lined up id perfect military rows! The atmosphere sounds cracking.
Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham United: 2015 Premier League live scores, blog
Also, to delve deeper into the decision to leave out Eriksen… the Dane has been on fire this season, and has been banging in the goals like nobody’s business. 5 of his 9 goals have been from outside the box, which begs the question as to his absence: West Ham will be sure to sit very deep in this away derby, so won’t that ability be, you know, kind of useful? A super-sub perhaps? We’ll see.
Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham United: 2015 Premier League live scores, blog
Of course, West Ham are hoping they can brush off the muck they left their 4-0 FA Cup defeat to West Brom covered in. One of the most enduring images from that match was Kevin Nolan being utterly embarrassed by Brown Ideye, so if anyone wants to revisit that, here you are:
Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham United: 2015 Premier League live scores, blog
Evening all, thanks for joining our coverage on The Roar.
The kick off is just a few tantalising moments away, and there have been a few surprises in the respective starting line ups. Spurs fans will be perplexed by the news that Christian Eriksen has been left out, for reasons that have apparently been explained as “tactical”. One assumes that Pochettino may have an eye on the Europa League second leg against Fiorentina in four days time. West Ham fans, on the other hand, will be pleased in the extreme to find out that Kevin Nolan has been dropped to the bench, and that Big Sam has picked what most believe is their strongest team. Here are the teams in full:
WEST HAM XI: Adrian, Jenkinson, Tomkins, Reid, Cresswell, Song, Noble (c), Kouyate, Downing, Valencia, Sakho
SUBS: Jaaskelainen, Demel, O’Brien, Collins, Nolan, Jarvis, Cole.
TOTTENHAM XI: Lloris (c), Walker, Dier, Vertonghen, Rose, Bentaleb, Mason, Lamela, Dembele, Townsend, Kane
SUBS: Vorm, Davies, Fazio, Stambouli, Chadli, Eriksen, Soldado
West Ham have made an unhelpful habit of grabbing a lead and then sitting back, only to concede very late in the match. If this happens tonight, Spurs might well take advantage, as they’ve scored more goals in the final 15 minutes of their games (9 goals) than any other section in the match. Harry Kane has won more points with his goals than any other player in the league, and may well prove the match winner if he maintains his red-hot form. He has 11 goals in his last ten Premier League games.
Oh, the heady moments before a derby…. let’s get started!
Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham United: 2015 Premier League live scores, blog
Cheers, Janek, huge fan of your work on the site. Problem with Nolan is that he tends to score in very convenient moments for himself (and the team, to be fair); that tear he went on last season where bagged consecutive braces basically saved us from relegation. When he isn’t though, it is Championship level stuff.
Why Kevin Nolan is bad for West Ham
Quite hilariously, the images linked to have had “Papua New Guinea” (and a number of other letters and symbols) put in place of “.png” in their web addresses. So if anyone wants to to see the tactic diagrams as intended, just delete from the word “Papua” onwards and put “.png” in the address. Then the image comes up like magic.
Why Kevin Nolan is bad for West Ham
As it stands, Tyler Blackett is currently United’s most experienced available defender, in terms of appearances for the club. If it’s not injuries, it’s red cards, and the fact that they had to finish that derby with Carrick, Valencia and McNair in defence is ridiculous.
The chaos isn’t necessarily LVG’s (though he ought to be present in player recruitment) it’s more the club’s lack of planning, of adequate reinforcement, or any semblance of squad balance. Yes, they’re only 4 points off the top four. They’re also only 4 points off the relegation zone, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be relegated.
They were fortunate in the extreme to draw to Chelsea, and should have been smashed by this under-performing City, with a very kind ref mainly to thank that they weren’t. All three appeals should have been given, meaning that Rojo should have been sent off too.
Yes, the play has improved since Moyes, but for all the money spent on attackers, they still managed not to score against Burnley, to draw with Sunderland and have only scored 3 or more goals twice this season, against QPR and in that 5-3 loss. All is not well.
Manchester United have sunk into chaos
I think you’ll find that I’m very much not a Manchester United fanboy, COYI
Manchester United have sunk into chaos
Harrowing. Stomach churns just remembering it. Bloody Steven Gerrard.
For the love of the game: My football story
“or why the audacity of this finish renders us blind and mute in amazement”
And “this finish” is supposed to link to this: http://www.gfycat.com/PlaintiveJoyousIndri
For the love of the game: My football story
“For him, attempting to tackle one of the bronzed behemoths, sculpted in the sugar-cane fields, who were now his classmates, would have ended in paraplegia or, at best, a scene similar to this.” The “this” is supposed to link to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_f5Rr93v_Q
For the love of the game: My football story
It’s difficult, isn’t it? If West Ham wants to take a critical step up, then the Olympic Stadium is a prerequisite. The deal we’re getting, even with the cost rising recently, is phenomenal. A brand new stadium, large enough and already built. As it stands, with the kind of football we’re playing and the results we’re getting, we’ll fill it twice over easily. Hopefully the atmosphere won’t be too neutered, and it will be sad to see the Boleyn Ground turned into apartments, but progress is always a good thing.
For the love of the game: My football story
17′
SPURS – 0
WEST HAM – 0
A good counter attack via Sakho and Downing leads to a West Ham corner. Downing takes it, its headed out to Noble. He works it back inside for Cresswell, who winds up and spins the ball well wide.
Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham United: 2015 Premier League live scores, blog