West Ham United 1 Manchester United 1

Sunday, 17th November 2002
by Jon Waeland

Picture the scene if you will…

A football supporter shuffles to the edge of the sofa in his South London flat, edging closer to the TV just as Manchester United edge closer to another away win at Upton Park. Just as suddenly as the supporter moves forward, Di Canio darts inside O?EUR(TM)Shea and touches the ball on to Michael Carrick at the edge of the 18-yard box. Carrick slips the ball through for Jermain Defoe, and cool as you like, Defoe slides it past Barthez, who tries to fool the young striker by sitting down.

The supporter, arms raised, leaps straight to his feet on the rug he bought at Shepherds Bush market the weekend before. However, he?EUR(TM)s not celebrating the goal, as he knows there must be something wrong with it. The supporter, wearing the commemorative ?EUR~Quinton Fortune 50th appearance?EUR(TM) United away kit, cannot believe that West Ham have equalised against the beloved team that he has followed for at least 3 and a half years. Surely one of the defenders must have been fouled?? Or maybe Barthez was hit by a steamed frog thrown from the Bobby Lower as Defoe rolled the ball past him??

Finally the replays come through, proving that Defoe was a shade offside as the ball came through to him. Hoorah!!! FINALLY, the reason for the goal, the draw, their poor form and their position in the league had made itself known?EUR?it was the linesman?EUR(TM)s fault of course. Sure it was the same linesman who didn?EUR(TM)t notice that Van Nisteelroy was offside for the first goal, but that?EUR(TM)s beside the point. The supporter grumbles, takes a sip of his London Pride, and yells at his girlfriend to make him a prawn sandwich.

And what a lovely picture that is!! Driving home with a smile for the first time all season, I happily listened to the Man U fans whinging away on 606. Insightful comments like ?EUR~We outplayed West Ham for the whole 90 minutes?EUR(TM) (what game was this guy watching??), ?EUR~West Ham are always so lucky against us?EUR(TM) (West Ham always play their socks of against you) and ?EUR~I don?EUR(TM)t care what we get for them, but Beckham, the Nevilles, Giggs and Solskjaer should all be sold?EUR(TM) (Great, can we have them all for free then please) were touted about as the prawn sandwich brigade struggled to come to terms with a team being at least as good on the day as they were.

Of course, Man United didn?EUR(TM)t outplay West Ham at all. Although we?EUR(TM)ve mostly been able to create only half-chances all season, we created quite a few of them last night, and especially in the first 20 or so minutes. Joe Cole?EUR(TM)s cross almost found Defoe at the back post a quarter of an hour in, but the impressive O?EUR(TM)Shea somehow managed to get across and put the ball behind for a corner. Four minutes later the provider turned poacher as Cole drifted into the box to meet a cross from Sinclair. Joe?EUR(TM)s superb header crashed against the inside of the post and bounced up off the turf for Defoe to chest in. Unfortunately Defoe was adjudged to be offside as the cross came in. I still haven?EUR(TM)t seen the replay, but I?EUR(TM)m told that Defoe WAS offside, so fair enough.

Although the passage of play was pretty even for the rest of the half, the distribution of chances fell decisively the way of the visitors. Minutes after Defoe?EUR(TM)s goal was disallowed, a cross came over from Paul Scholes. David James ran out aimlessly to miss it, and Solskjaer headed over from 10 yards out. Almost straight from the goal kick, Giggs came galloping down the left channel, shimmied around one of our defenders (Pearce?) and drove a low shot that James held very well under pressure from Van Nisteelroy.

As we all know far too well, few teams escape unscathed when United start creating chances, and the scoreline was defiled minutes later when a United corner was weakly headed out. Fortune collected at the edge of the box, knocked it wide to Solskjaer, and Van Nisteelroy deftly lifted the ball over an advancing James. He looked offside to me, but not to the linesman that Ferguson slammed in the papers this morning.

James was obviously still concerned that he?EUR(TM)d distracted Solskjaer as he tried to power home a header earlier on, so he tried to make things a little easier for the Norwegian by dribbling around Van Nisteelroy and laying the ball off to Solskjaer to have a go at the now open goal. Luckily Solskjaer couldn?EUR(TM)t take advantage, and as we all wondered why James didn?EUR(TM)t pick the bloody thing up, we managed to make it to halftime only one goal down.

The second half went slightly more our way than the first. I would say that West Ham edged United fairly clearly for most of the half, but then I would say that wouldn?EUR(TM)t I!! Whether they did edge the second half or not, the fact that West Ham played their most consistent full 90 minutes at home all season is without doubt.

Soon after the restart Scholes blazed over from about 25 yards, prompting the mighty arms of Glenn Roeder to unfold, unleashing his trademark waving and pointing before coming to rest again in the motivational ?EUR~folded arms and frowning?EUR(TM) position that he loves. For a change his uninspiring stance coincided with another period of pressure from the hammers. Cross after cross and corner after corner flew over, but as usual almost every one was calmly headed away by Blanc, Brown and others.

The thought that a goal must be coming started brewing inside me, but I put that strange feeling down to the dodgy looking cheese I had in my ?EUR~Humdinger?EUR(TM) burger just before kick-off. I shouldn?EUR(TM)t have been doubtful though, as the Boleyn came to life as Di Canio found Defoe bursting into the box with about 20 minutes to play. Confusion struck me as Defoe didn?EUR(TM)t try to beat the defender for pace, but it all became clear as he flicked out his right boot and lobbed Barthez. The most French person since Napolean could only look on as the ball floated over his gleaming dome and bounced off the crossbar.

Surely there would be at least one more chance for Defoe before full time, and he wouldn?EUR(TM)t miss or be offside again. It turns out that there would be one last chance for Defoe and that he wouldn?EUR(TM)t miss this time. He was offside however(or so I?EUR(TM)m told), but luckily the linesman who didn?EUR(TM)t wave his flag when Van Nisteelroy strayed in to make it 1-0 decided it would be fair to let the equaliser stand.

Redeeming his earlier errors, James preserved the well earned draw with two terrific saves in extra time. The first from Solskjaer (after Dailly had slipped and fallen) was superb, but the second, a glorious double save in the dying seconds, was different class. If only he could catch crosses?EUR?

Player Ratings

David James (7) One wild flap and a strange decision to dribble round Van Nistelrooy aside, big Dave had a decent game. I was too far away to see the double save at the end properly, but I?EUR(TM)ve been told by bandwagon chasing friends of mine that it looked like the save of the season so far from the TV replays.

Nigel Winterburn (8) With this man as an example, how have we been so poor at the back all season? Not only does he give 120%, he?EUR(TM)s also confident on the ball, always looking to make space and absolutely dependable. Should be the first name on the team sheet whenever the people at the retirement home give him the okay for a day out.

Christian Dailly (8) Solid, and particularly strong in the air. He and Ian Pearce dealt with the superb movement from Van Nisteelroy, Scholes and Giggs in such an assured way that it makes me wonder why we?EUR(TM)ve been run ragged by Stern John, Carlo Corrazin and others.

Ian Pearce (8) Looks the best of our central defenders by a country mile at the moment. Pearce appears to read the game better than Repka, Dailly or Breen, and doesn?EUR(TM)t suffer from as many moments of madness that the other three frequently succumb to.

Sebastien Schemmel (7) Still can?EUR(TM)t cross or defend for toffee, but I have to grudgingly admit that his usually fruitless enthusiasm does somehow help us to create more chances down the right.

Joe Cole (8) I still feel he?EUR(TM)s wasted out wide on the left or right, but he worked his socks off today and did as much as he could playing out of position yet again. Joe mugged the woeful trio of Silvestre, Veron and Fortune about half a dozen times each, and his 360 degree leap and flick was absolutely sublime, especially as he still had time to glance over his shoulder to make sure Schemmel was expecting his moment of magic. Unlucky not to score with a superb first half header.

Michael Carrick (7) Superb. Had the awareness to realise that Veron and Fortune are both absolutely useless when put under a little bit of pressure, and his distribution was as cool, collected and accurate as we?EUR(TM)ve come to expect.

Edouard Cisse (7) Protected the back four well, and got a number of telling tackles and touches in to break up Man United?EUR(TM)s slick passing. It?EUR(TM)s a shame that his cool, assured passing in the middle of the pitch doesn?EUR(TM)t translate into incisive, defence splitting passing in the final third.

Trevor Sinclair (7) A little anonymous, but held the ball up much better than he has done recently. Once again the only attacking player than can win anything in the air, but I?EUR(TM)d like to see him getting past the front two more often.

Paolo Di Canio (7) As always, our mercurial Italian was involved in almost every promising move we put together. At the moment we?EUR(TM)re completely lost without him, and the sooner the (current) board realise this the better.

Jermain Defoe (8) Looked sharp from his very first touch, and thrived on the best service he?EUR(TM)s had all season (which isn?EUR(TM)t saying much!!). For some bizarre reason Jermain looks much more dangerous with the ball at his feet than he does flinging himself into 6 foot 4 defenders to try to win it in the air. Who would?EUR(TM)ve guessed??!!

Subs: None. Although I?EUR(TM)m tempted to criticise Roeder for using the Harry Redknapp theory of making substitutions (i.e. don?EUR(TM)t substitute anyone unless they?EUR(TM)re missing a limb), the only people deserving of criticism are the jobsworth stewards who tried to steal our ?EUR~BROWN OUT?EUR(TM) banner. I hope the fat, incoherent /in the white ?EUR~supervisor?EUR(TM) stewards jacket

Man of the Match: Christian Dailly (8), but only just from Winterburn and Defoe

Chant of the Match: ?EUR~You only live round the corner?EUR(TM)

KUMB Stats

West Ham United: James, Schemmel, Dailly, Pearce, Winterburn, Cole, Carrick, Cisse, Sinclair, Camara, Defoe.

Subs not used: Van Der Gouw, Breen, Repka, Garcia, Camara.

Manchester United: Barthez, O'Shea, Brown, Blanc, Silvestre, Fourtune, Giggs, Scholes, Veron, Solskjaer, Van Nistelrooy

Subs not used: Ricardo, Phil Neville, Forlan, Davis, Richardson.

Booked: Cisse, Fortune.

Goals: van Nistelrooy (41), Defoe (87).

Attendance: 35,049

Referee: M.Halsey

Man of the Match: David James

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Match Facts

West Ham United: , , , , , , , , , , .

Goals: None.

Booked: None.

Sent off: None.

: .

Subs not used: .

Goals: .

Booked: .

Sent off: None.

Referee: .

Attendance: 0.

Man of the Match: .