HUDDERSFIELD
MO FARAH, Usain Bolt... a poignant farewell after a disappointing defeat at the former Olympic Stadium has been something of a theme this summer.
But a freakish goal from Pedro Obiang – deflecting off two Huddersfield defenders, Christopher Schindler and Mattias Jorgensen, and then the post – looks to have saved Slaven Bilic from an ignominious hat-trick.
Substitute Andre Ayew added further gloss but it is clear from the rhetoric swirling around the club in the past week – with Sporting Lisbon chipping freely into the pot – that the pressure remains squarely on the shoulders of West Ham’s Croatian manager.
Thankfully for Bilic, on his 49th birthday, a muchimproved display – if somewhat lacking in the sort of football they want here – at least provided some sort of uneasy stay of execution after the disastrous start to the season.
On the road for the first three games of the season while athletics once again held sway in West Ham’s leased ground with the World Championships, the Hammers had been a shambles.
Goals went in by their threes and fours – at Old Trafford, St Mary’s and St James’s Park – to such a degree that a stadium that was blamed for their woes last season was being seen now as a safe haven.
The club moved to the London Stadium in anticipation of hosting Real Madrid and Barcelona – the harsh reality hit home last night that these days even Huddersfield present formidable opponents.
In fairness, David Wagner’s newly promoted side had been playing with a confidence completely lacking from Bilic’s players this season. Fans travelling down from Yorkshire were joking that they could even go top of the table with a seven-goal win.
Make that half-joking, they were heading for West Ham after all.
With his team selection, Bilic was hedging his bets – five changes including reshuffles at both ends of the pitch.
Skipper Winston Reid was back in a back three and Andy Carroll was deployed up front, fit again for the first time since April. It took the pony-tailed striker 71 seconds to make his presence felt, drilling a ball across goal that just eluded Cheikhou Kouyate at the far post.
Javier Hernandez should have scored in the 13th minute.
Teed up perfectly by Mikhail Antonio, he fired against the bar from 10 yards. Bilic was bouncing in frustration.
James Collins failed to really connect with a free header from an Aaron Cresswell freekick midway through the first half and for all West Ham’s positivity and territorial advantage, it was hard not to feel nervous about how many chances the home side were wasting.
Huddersfield were rattled, pressed back deep in their own half, and West Ham – dare anybody whisper it – were playing quite well.
It was delicately balanced, though. Just one major incident could swing this match. So when Reid chose this week of (3-4-3) COURTOIS AZPILICUETA LUIZ CAHILL ZAPPACOSTA KANTE FABREGAS ALONSO WILLIAN BATSHUAYI (4-1-4-1) SHEHIC MAXIM QARAYEV MICHEL RZEZNICZAK ALMEIDA GUERRIER AGOLLI BADAVI MADATOV PEDRO NDLOVU REF: T Sidiripoulos (Gre). TV: BT Sport 2. KICK-OFF: 7.45pm.