West Ham 3 - 0 Fulham

CHRISTMAS COMES EARLY FOR HARMONIOUS HAMMERS IN THE FORM OF AN IN-TUNE CARROLL

Written by Stavros Constantinou

LOUD NEIGHBOURS. A first half masterclass sees the cottagers stay cut short as they are evicted by half time. A goal after 50 seconds came after Carroll had nodded the ball perfectly in the path of Vaz Te allowing him to feed a ball for Kevin Nolan to smash passed a stranded Schwarzer in the net. This goal was the premier league’s quickest this season but it is early days yet.

The fast chicken delivery - Nolan does the chicken dances to celebrate his early opener

Carroll, 9 minutes later headed down a diagonal ball by Vaz Te in to the feet of an oncoming Diame. He struck it first time on the half volley but it looks like he caught it too perfect if possible as the ball clips the crossbar and goes over! Replays show that Schwarzer got a touch on the ball and therefore proved to be a fine save from the Australian.

West Ham half an hour later made it 2-0 from a corner that resulted from fragile Fulham defending. Fulham seemed to be too occupied by Kevin Nolan’s positioning forgetting that football is a game of 11 men and not 1, proving costly as Winston Reid scales a powerless Diarra to smash the ball into the back of the net with his head. Schwarzer protested but this was just breath wasted as the goal stood and West Ham extended their lead.

If West Ham’s game plan was to play the long ball into Carroll and touch it on for another player to score then Sam Allardyce is a master tactician as this proved to be instrumental in their success over Fulham. This was also the case in their third goal as Collins sends a ball into the box from a free kick and without doing too much Carroll becomes the puppet master once again dictating the play and the direction of the ball. Hangeland and Diarra looked helpless to prevent the goal as they were pressurised into making a mistake enabling Matt Taylor to fire the ball into the goal, putting West Ham 3-0 before half time. If man-marking was their tactic it evidently did not pay off! Looks like it’s back to the drawing board for a mercurial Fulham side.

Gameface Sam - Allardyce remains cool as he watched his team dominate

The joy and happiness was short lived as the talismanic Carroll limped of the pitch holding his hamstring! We hope that it is nothing serious but it looks like he will be out of the England squad. Carroll nonetheless proved his worth and exited the pitch, rightfully with a standing ovation. Vaz Te and Nolan linked well throughout the game looking like they have worked on their partnership and communication skills in training; this could prove significant in the upcoming games as West Ham will be fighting for a top 10 finish.

Fulham never really threatened, their best chance came a few minutes from the end as their new boy, Berbatov came off the bench to play in Duff whose attempt was saved by the keeper and tipped out for a corner. Berbatov once again in the dying seconds of the game fed a lobed pass to Rodallega as he struck it on the volley forcing Jaaskelainen to tip it onto the post. Apart from this it was a pretty quiet game for the West Ham Keeper.

One's joy is another's sadness - Martin Jol looks on as his team fail to pick up points in their last two league matches

Although suffering this defeat Fulham will not be worried as they know they have enough quality in their squad to stay up and fight for a potential European place, however for Jol today has been anything but jolly. 5-0 thrashing over Norwich in their first game but a 3-0 hammering in their third, proving that the premier league is anything but a walk in the park and no game is easy!