7th October, 2007

KB: KUMB; HM Hammers Mad; ST Sunday Times; SE Sunday Express; SM Sunday Mirror; OB Observer;
DM Daily Mirror; GU Guardian; TM Times; HD Hammers Diary; SK Sky; DE Daily Express

JS John Simkin h WH WestLondonHammer AH AaronHammer SM Sunday Mirror

West Ham v Aston Villa: Video Highlights

Sky Sports: West Ham then enjoyed the majority of possession and were unfortunate not to be awarded a second half penalty when Zat Knight hauled down Carlton Cole in the 18-yard box, but they looked blunt in attack and failed to muster an equaliser... Another member of McClaren's latest England squad, Dean Ashton, had a quiet afternoon and picked up a knee injury which could rule him out of the forthcoming Euro 2008 qualifiers with Estonia and Russia... The first decent opening fell to the home side after five minutes when Young turned past Gabbidon and sent over an inviting low cross, but Luke Moore failed to connect with a volley. West Ham tried to retaliate and Freddie Ljungberg ran at full tilt to meet a deep centre by Matthew Etherington but his flying header was well saved by Carson who was perfectly positioned... Villa, though, almost gifted West Ham an equaliser after 55 minutes when a poor clearing header by Mellberg went straight to Cole just outside the six-yard box, but he failed to make proper contact and Carson was able to save. (6th October, 2007)

BBC Sport: Young, showing flashes of inspiration, was prominent as Villa continued to create and waste chances. The winger had shouts for a penalty before sending in a cross that Agbonlahor could only head straight at Robert Green. But their pressure paid off on 23 minutes. Gabbidon tripped Agbonlahor 20 yards out and paid the ultimate price as it was his deflection that sent Gardner's free kick past Green... West Ham's chances were sporadic, but Cole should have done better when the ball fell to him 10 yards out after a weak clearance in the 56th minute. Villa had shouts for a penalty turned down on 75 minutes as Young tormented the defence once more. His cross after cutting in from the left appeared to brush Neill's arm, but referee Steve Tanner was unmoved. Temporarily awoken from their slumber, West Ham briefly threatened as Cole volleyed narrowly over from 15 yards. But the chance failed to spark any concerted pressure and even the introduction of Mark Noble and Luis Boa Morte failed to lift the disjointed Hammers. (6th October, 2007)

Hammers Mad: West Ham's neat approach work was generally good but the end product was way below their expected standard. Their only reply was a weak header from Freddie Ljungberg, who began brightly but then faded against the strong-tackling Wilfred Bouma. It was significant that Dean Ashton was unable to make much of an impact. He was effectively shut out of the game by another impressive performance from Martin Laursen. Carlton Cole, who took over from Henri Camara in the first half, possibly had West Ham's best opportunity to equalise ten minutes into the second half but the Hammers striker, who had a shot spell on loan with Villa, failed miserably to get enough power behind his effort to beat Scott Carson. At this stage Villa were sucked into a survival battle as West Ham made more of their attacking options with Lee Bowyer rising the tempo. As Villa dropped further back on to the defensive Cole had another effort but it was just off target. (6th October, 2007)

Daily Telegraph: In fairness, as the late West Ham manager John Lyall used to say, the Hammers are spreading themselves a bit thin these days because of injuries. Yesterday they were without Craig Bellamy, Bobby Zamora, Anton Ferdinand, Scott Parker and Kieron Dyer among others. Now it looks as if they may also lose the powerful Ashton again; he broke his ankle during England training in August last year and missed the rest of the season. McClaren, who had hoped that he might prove the ideal substitute for the injured Emile Heskey, seems destined never to get his hands on him. "I think it's very, very doubtful [he will be available for England]," said Alan Curbishley. "He couldn't run near the end, so I imagine that's it really, but it all depends how bad he's done it, obviously he's walking around – Parker was in a position that he couldn't run last week, but I imagine a week, even two weeks, looks a bit tight." Early on, it looked as if the pace of Agbonlahor might be completely ruinous for West Ham. Lucas Neill was given even more of a chasing by the young Englishman than his fellow Australians in Marseille. At one stage he was literally hanging on to the winger's coat tails and was fortunate not to give away a free-kick in a dangerous situation. (Clive White, 8th October, 2007)

Daily Mirror: West Ham, whose striker Dean Ashton sustained suspected medial ligament damage to add to a huge injury list, could have equalised had sub Carlton Cole not spurned three chances as they crashed to a third straight league reverse. Midfielder Freddie Ljungberg said: "We have lost three games but it was only 1-0 again today and I think if we can get the first goal in a few matches we can go on a winning run." (James Nursey, 8th October, 2007)

The Times: Home fans occupy the ends behind both goals at Villa Park these days and the atmosphere is intensifying correspondingly, not least when Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor are flying at defenders. Gardner drove in his second free kick in a week, albeit via a deflection off the hapless Danny Gabbidon, after the defender’s disputed foul on Agbonlahor and although West Ham clawed themselves back into the game, Villa showed they can win by digging in. “I thought we were brilliant first half, lost a bit of energy after half-time and West Ham seized the moment,” O’Neill said. The win would have been more comfortable if Steve Tanner had opted to award a penalty for any one of three law-breaking moments from Lucas Neill. (Peter Lansley, 8th October, 2007)

The Guardian: Not that it would be fair to blame the ordinariness of the football entirely on the fact that Villa fielded eight English players to West Ham's six. In fact Ashley Young, born in non-exotic Stevenage, provided most of the better moments with some vintage wing play on the Villa left. The former Watford player tormented West Ham in general and Lucas Neill in particular through his penchant for running at opponents and beating them with speed and skill. "He was a great outlet for us and caused havoc," enthused Martin O'Neill, the Villa manager. "There were moments in the game when he was unplayable."
Certainly Neill was unnerved by the problems Young posed. Having appeared to haul his man down in the penalty area, he later dumped Gabriel Agbonlahor and then intercepted a cross with an upper arm. The referee, Steve Tanner, saw no evil either in Neill or Zat Knight, who on other days might have been penalised for manhandling West Ham's Carlton Cole. Paradoxically, Tanner did decide that Daniel Gabbidon had brought down Agbonlahor when in fact the Villa player merely lost his footing as he tried to extricate himself from a tackle on the edge of the West Ham penalty area. Craig Gardner's firmly struck free-kick then took a ricochet off Gabbidon past Robert Green, who might otherwise have saved with ease. Alan Curbishley was miffed at the way his team lost but admitted that chances should have been taken. The problem for both sides was that while they were reasonably well off for playmakers, with Nigel Reo-Coker and Hayden Mullins industrious in their respective midfields, they were both short of goal takers. (David Lacey, 8th October, 2007).

KUMB: That’s three defeats on the bounce and they have been due to facing difficult opponents home and away as well as suffering injuries to key players. It was not a great spectacle, and you can see why the manager made his later claim that we might have merited a draw. Villa did drop deep in that second half, but we were unable to punish their lack of adventure. They defended pretty comfortably as we created few chances on the back of a lot of possession. We relied largely on Ljungberg to be the creative spark but we had a front two that could not profit from the few chances we created. Ashton in particular did not look at all fit. The killer counterattacking pace is not there at the moment and we need it back. (East End Martin, 9th October, 2007)

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