Noble stops rot as Bilic finally feels at home
WEST HAM are winning again, Andy Carroll is back in the starting line-up, the London Stadium crowd are calm and relaxed.
If it wasn’t for Mr Reliable Mark Noble missing a penalty, West Ham supporters could have been forgiven for thinking that things were returning to normal after a tumultuous six months.
In the end, it mattered not as their captain tucked in the rebound to defeat visiting Burnley and end a run of seven matches without a win.
After a tough spell facing Spurs, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool in the league, this was the ideal start to a run of fixtures against teams they must beat, or at least pick up points against, if they want to avoid a relegation fight next year. Hull City at home and away matches against Swansea on Boxing Day and Leicester City at the turn of the year await.
Hammers manager Slaven Bilic hopes this victory will help his players get over what he considers their fear of winning. He compared their mentality to a ‘cramp’ — a side so low on confidence they are hampered even when ahead.
‘I saw that cramp in the second half,’ he said. ‘They were afraid of winning. It’s normal. It happens to most clubs who are underachieving and we were before the game.
‘It can only go away with climbing up the table. Hopefully, this should put us in a position on Saturday so we go with less cramp and more confidence. We can only get rid of it with wins.’
This was the sort of match you get when a team with a poor record at home play at home against a side who are dire away. Burnley arrived in east London — and left — with just one of their 17 Premier League points coming on the road.
Carroll made his first start at the London Stadium — his first in four months — and was involved in the first meaningful chance of the match in the 33rd minute.
Michail Antonio passed to Manuel Lanzini, who played the ball to Carroll. His deft touch on the edge of the box allowed Antonio, who had continued his run, to shoot towards the bottom corner, but Tom Heaton saved.
That chance seemed to breathe life into West Ham at the end of the first half. A couple of minutes later Pedro Obiang struck the left post with a fizzing drive from 20 yards and towards the end of the half Noble clattered the right upright with a curling effort, when Dimitri Payet played a short corner to him.
Then, moments before the break, Ben Mee pulled Winston Reid down inside the box for a penalty. Burnley manager Sean Dyche was adamant that Heaton was fouled by Antonio and Cheikhou Kouyate jumping into him from the corner.
‘Any other keeper would fall on his back, flailing around and it’s given,’ he complained. ‘Ours does it the proper way — that used to be applauded. Now it’s called naive.’
Noble saw his first effort from the spot saved by Heaton, but he stuck in the rebound. That is only the second penalty Noble has missed in seven years — he has taken 16 — and he ran off with a cheeky smile, in relief as much as anything. The goal was needed. From not registering a shot on target in the first half, Burnley began to batter West Ham’s goal in the second.
Stephen Ward’s long free kick sent into the box hit a tangle of bodies and dropped for Sam Vokes who, back to goal, improvised to send the ball narrowly wide of the post with the flick of his boot.
Another Ward set- piece was headed towards goal by Mee and evaded West Ham keeper Darren Randolph but Cresswell cleared.
Vokes then missed an open goal heading over when Scott Arfield’s shot was saved by Randolph but bounced into the path of the striker.
And with 20 minutes remaining, Randolph made a superb diving save to keep out Arfield’s powerful, swerving free-kick.