The
light blue jerseys filed silently out of Upton Park, sadly acknowledging
a stark truth: West Ham’s full–hearted effort has moved the prospect of
a Chelsea title a long stride closer to reality. A tremendous battle in
the autumn sunshine gave the East London team the victory they
deserved. City’s rally had arrived too late and carried too little
conviction.
Goals
from Morgan Amalfitano and Diafra Sakho had carried them clear, and
despite a fine retaliation from David Silva late on, City never did
enough to state a plausible case. They were left cursing their luck with
some belated chances, but they had done nothing to establish their old
class upon a battling West Ham side.
City
had issued a few false promises in the opening stages. In the second
minute Sergio Aguero, running from half way, battered a hopeful drive
which procured a deflection and saw Adrian scrambling at the foot of a
post. Four minutes later, Mark Noble tripped Aguero, and David Silva
struck a free kick a foot high from 22 yards. And yet, amazingly, that
was as good as it got for City for the entire half.
Diafra Sakho celebrates scoring West Ham's second goal with Cheikhou Kouyate
Sakho rises highest to head home the second goal for West Ham to put them 2-0 up
The goal line technology shows Sakho's header did cross the line despite the best effort of Joe Hart
Alex
Song assumed control in midfield, the front runners Morgan Amalfitano
and Enner Valencia began to pull City’s centre back apart at will, and
the champions were reduced to hopeful retaliation on the break.
In
seven minutes, Amalfitano was harshly booked for bringing down Jesus
Navas, and in the 19th Joe Hart was stunned as a free kick was lobbed
into the box and the keeper innocently collided with Valencia. But it
was all a prelude to the inevitable West Ham goal, which emerged a
minute later. Song slid a pass down the right, Valencia sprinted on,
reached the by line and pulled back a tempting pass. The ball defeated
the stretch of Pablo Zabaleta, and Valencia was awarded the simplest tap
– in. It was no more than West Ham’s control had deserved.
The
notion that West Ham have suddenly become a team of tap dancers is
clearly fanciful. They are strong, muscular, relentlessly direct. But
this should have come as no great surprise to City. They knew precisely
what would confront them, and they were failing to cope with the
problems. The harder that West Ham chased and harried, the more
obviously did City appear to lack appetite for the fight. For a side
with title pretensions, it was woeful.
Influence
of Alex Song was pivotal to the West Ham effort. With economy of effort
and subtlety of touch, he organised midfield to is own requirements. In
truth, his influence stood in complete contrast to that of YayaToure,
who was a trudging irrelevance as his team struggled.
West
Ham were winning battles all over the pitch, and might have taken a
second when Valencia dived at a half – chance as a low cross came
skidding in from Cresswell. Vincent Kompany, who along with Elaquim
Mangala had been enduring a nightmare, was booked in 44 minutes for
cleaning out Valencia with a peevish lunge. Then, from the rarest of
breaks, City might have equalised on the stroke of half time, when
Aguero almost squeezed in a chance at the near post. He failed, and it
would have been a travesty had he succeeded.
Manuel Pellegrini sat and shook his head in the dug out. This was not how it was supposed to be.
The
City manager sent out the same side for the second half, presumably
obeying the old managerial dictum which says: “You lot got us into this.
You can get us out’. Yet his team’s plight might well have grown even
worse when the thoroughly rattled Kompany went crashing into Valencia
and escaped the card which was have seen him dismissed.
David Silva scores for Manchester City to make it 2-1 but it was not enough to take anything from the game
Silva celebrates his goal with captain Vincent Kompany as the Spanish midfielder halved the deficit
Morgan Amalfitano scores to put West Ham 1-0 up and celebrates his goal with team-mate Stewart Downing
Amalfitano (center) scores past Manchester City's goalkeeper Joe Hart to give West Ham the lead at Upton Park
Amalfitano (right) celebrates his goal in the first half that put West Ham 1-0 up
Sergio Aguero speaks to referee Martin Atkinson as the City striker endured a frustrating afternoon
Aguero was lucky to stay on the pitch after this over the top challenge on Mark Noble
Nevertheless,
City started to enter the game. Toure began to appear vaguely
interested, and the appearance of Stevan Jovetic for Edin Dzeko
introduced an extra sense of purpose. In 59 minutes, they won their best
chance yet, when Aguero’s shot was saved by Adrian’s knees. A minute
later, Aguero struck the bar and the ball bounced down to Toure, who
drove it into the keeper’s midriff from four yards.
By
now, the fight was on, and City seemed more likely to prosper when an
interchange between Silva and Aguero allowed Toure to bounce a drive
against the angle of post and bar. But in the 75th minute, West Ham
appeared to strike the decisive blow, when Aaaron Cresswell, advancing
down the left, flighted a cross and Diafra Sakho, leaping immoderately,
scored the header which gave him his seventh goal in seven games.
Downing challenges Yaya Toure for the ball as the Manchester City midfielder looks to break away
The Manchester City away fans shield their eyes from the sun as they watch their side lose at West Ham
Manchester City's manager Manuel Pellegrini looks dejected as his side fall behind to West Ham
But
as Upton Park celebrated, City began to play their most impressive
football of the match. At last, the flouid movement which had been
absent, returned with a rush, and their reward arrived within two
minutes. A fine goal it was, with Silva picking his way nimbly from the
right, deceiving Mark Noble, evading another tackle, and swirling the
most precise drive inside the far post.
From
there on, the match was up for grabs, with City making the most
despairing efforts to take the consolation of a point. Jovetic smashed a
drive high, likewise the substitute Alex Kolarov. But West Ham somehow
survived the frenzied attacks, and as the final whistle sounded, they
collapsed in claret and blue heaps all over the field; exhausted, but
justly triumphant.
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