Saturday 4th May
15:00
Boleyn Ground
West Ham United vs Newcastle United
Goalscorers
Analysis
We knew this game was going to be a dead rubber, and it really proved to be so. There was very little in the way of goalscoring opportunities, excitement and class.
As we have done on many occasions this season, we defended very well. Other than a couple of rushes of blood to Jussi Jaaskelainen's head, we were never really in danger of conceding.
Part of the reason for this is that we consistently restricted Newcastle to long range shots. 75% of their attempts on goal came from outside the box, and, as a result, they rarely threatened the score sheet.
In response, West Ham managed the majority shots from inside the box in good attacking positions (not that it made a blind bit of difference!).
The image below shows where we had our attempts on goal from. As you can see, only one came from distance, with the majority coming from in and around the six yard box.
(Purple = Saved, Red = Off Target, Orange = Blocked)
In truth, we didn't really create enough on Saturday. I've mentioned in a number of previous blogs that a lot of joy for West Ham this season has come through the left flank. Getting Matt Jarvis involved enough in the game, isolating a full back, has resulted in a host of chances being created.
Well, on Saturday, we seemed less focused on getting the ball out to the left for Jarvis to attack.
The image below shows where West Ham had their possession throughout the game. As you can see, there is an almost equal amount of play was spent on each flank. The trouble with this tactic was that Ricardo Vaz Te didn't really have his creative boots on. The second image shows the passes that led directly to West Ham chances on Saturday. As you can see, none came from the right wing, whilst three came from the left.
One thing that was interesting was seeing the style of play that both teams implemented. An almost identical number of passes were played (314 to 369) and an almost identical number of long balls (62 to 69). What was evident however, was that West Ham were far better and the long ball game than Newcastle.
Rob Elliot in the Newcastle goal attempted 26 passes, 25 of which were long balls. He completed just 15% of his passes. On the other hand, Jaaskelainen was actually responsible for the most successful pass combination for West Ham; successfully passing the ball to Andy Carroll on 9 separate occasions, shown in the image below.
My final word needs to go to Winston Reid. I voted for the recently appointed New Zealand captain as my Hammer of the Year, and he delivered another performance to validate my choice. To be honest, if the voting hadn't already taken place, I might have voted for his goal line clearance as Save of the Season too!
In reality, this was a pretty rubbish game. But it resulted in the point that has now seen us mathematically safe, so can we really grumble? Seeing teams like Southampton and Norwich suddenly plummet into a relegation scramble, it's quite a nice feeling to be playing out meaningless mid table clashes for a change, isn't it?
General Play
4-2-3-1 Starting Formation 4-2-3-1
28.1 Starting XI Ave. Age 26.8
Winston Reid Best Performance 64.06
65.95 CI Rating Danny Simpson
Jack Collison Worst Performance Rob Elliot
57.48 CI Rating 54.13
50% Possession 50%
(averaged from opta, prozone & squawka results)
70% Passing Accuracy 80%
62% in Opp. Half 65%
Joey O'Brien 86% Best Accuracy 93% Jonas Gutierrez
314 Passes Attempted 369
Gary O'Neil 51 Most Passes Attempted 58 Cheik Tioté
62 Long Balls 69
Gary O'Neil 8 Most Long Balls (excl. GK) 10 Fabricio Coloccini
Offensive Play
10 Attempts on Goal 12
3 On Target 3
4 Off Target 5
3 Blocked 4
1 From Outside Box 9
Kevin Nolan 3 Most Attempts on Goal 3 Hatem Ben Arfa
7 Corners 3
6 Offsides 4
21 Crosses 15
9 Successful Crosses 2
Gary O'Neil 6 Most Crosses Attempted 6 Yohan Cabaye
70% Aerial Success 30%
Andy Carroll 9 Most Duels Won 2 Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa
Defensive Play
16 Tackles Attempted 16
11 Successful 12
Kevin Nolan 4 Most Tackles 5 Cheik Tioté
31 Clearances 47
James Collins 10 Most Clearances 9 Steven Taylor
8 Interceptions 9
Joey O'Brien 2 Most Interceptions 3 Cheik Tioté
4 Blocks 3
Winston Reid 2 Most Blocks 1 Jonas Gutierrez
Discipline
13 Fouls 13
Kevin Nolan 3 Most Fouls 6 Cheik Tioté
1 Yellow Cards 3
West Ham United: Joey O'Brien
Newcastle United: Cheik Tioté
0 Red Cards 0
West Ham United: -
Newcastle United: -
Head to Heads
Jussi Jääskeläinen vs Rob Elliot
0 Goals Conceded 0
2 Saves 3
1 Crosses Claimed 1
47% Passing Accuracy 15%
17 Total Passes 26
15 Long Balls 25
88% % Long Ball 96%
Winston Reid vs Fabricio Coloccini
75% Aerial Dules Won 50%
2 Tackles 2
2 Blocks 0
1 Interceptions 0
9 Clearances 6
1 Fouls Committed 0
82% Passing Accuracy 89%
33 Total Passes 37
7 Long Balls 10
21% % Long Ball 27%
0 Assists 0
Kevin Nolan vs Yohan Cabaye
52% Passing Accuracy 80%
23 Total Passes 41
5 Long Balls 4
22% % Long Ball 10%
2 Crosses 6
2 Successul Crosses 1
0 Chances Created 2
0 Assists 0
4 Tackles 2
0 Blocks 0
1 Interceptions 0
1 Clearances 0
3 Fouls Committed 0
3 Attempts on Goal 2
2 On Target 0
0 Goals 0
Andy Carroll vs Papiss Cissé
0 Goals Scored 0
3 Attempts on Goal 2
0 On Target 1
90% Aerial Duels Won 50%
40% Passing Accuracy 81%
25 Total Passes 21
0 Chances Created 1
0 Assists 0
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