WHUFC vs Birmingham (FA Cup) -- January 5th, 2019

what a nightmare... getting up at 4:20 on a saturday morning... couldn't get the appleTV to work... fumbling around n the dark...

finally get it going... missed the first 4 minutes of the game and the Happy Hammers are a goal to the good... this better be worth getting up for...

it's that man again...

2'
Goal! West Ham United 1, Birmingham City 0.
Marko Arnautovic (West Ham United) header from very close range to the bottom right corner following a corner.

Seems like a perfect game to give Nasri a run out - and so we do... to be honest... apart from Adrian being in and Noble being nowhere, it's pretty much our regular team... oh apart from Costa Silva...

13Adrián
30Antonio
23Diop
21Ogbonna
26Masuaku
41Rice
14Obiang
18Nasri
45Diangana
32Costa Silva
7Arnautovic

Substitutes
1Fabianski
3Cresswell
8Felipe Anderson
9Carroll
11Snodgrass
27Pérez
54Coventry

I guess that shows the gulf between the Premier League and the lower divisions, we've gone form not being able to name a full bench to naming an entire town among our potential replacements...

anyone over the age of two knows about our perilous journey against lower division teams in the various cup combos...

so it's nice that we have the cushion of a goal...

and a win will be a nice confidence booster... but as always with these things - don't count your chickens...

corner to Brum

dodgy pass out of the back gives the ball to Brum... but then a dodgy pass by them gets intercepted and we go up the other end where Diangana's shot is deflected wide for a corner (which comes to nothing)

nice long ball over the top to Arnie but the keeper is just too close and gets to it first...

Stat-wise we're on 83% possession...

oh shit... Arnie is coming off...

Carroll comes on as replacement but what the fupp... Arnie injured again?

He looks well pissed and is straight off down the tunnel...

All the footage was of a nasty tackle on Costa Silva so the Arnie problem might be bad (inasmuch as it wasn't the result of a tackle, etc)

20 minutes gone

what the fupp #2

while I'm typing that... Carroll is rolling around on the ground... the replay shows him getting bumped (and not particularly hard) by a Brum player...

well at least he's up and on his feet but that was a bit of a heart stopper for a moment...

Brum don't look to have much except thuggery in their closet... Carroll wins a free kick... which the keeper gets to make a nice close range save from...

and Brum go up our end and almost score...

we need to watch the quick break stuff... better teams won't miss so frequently...


and Carroll heads the ball off the line from the corner...

32 minute gone... we're down to 76% possession...

Birmingham don't look like a threat except that pretty much anyone can look like a threat against us

no real info on the Arnie subbing... he's now sitting on the bench... some people on social media think it's hamstring - which would make sense...

Nasri seems to be doing all right... it was his corner that produced the close range header that the keeper stopped...

he's linking up with lots of play but we're definitely not as good without Arnie

Diangana tries to cut a shot inside at the near post but it's just wide...

Rice does look good... so glad to have him at the back...

3 minutes till half time... plus anything for injuries, fouls, etc...

and Brum go on the beak... get right behind us on the touchline and fortunately antonio & Ogbonna are there to clear the ball off the line as it gets past Adrian...

Fortunately Brum shoot wide from the header out after the corner...


As much as I've been a fervent Adrian supporter over the years, I'm a lot happier with Fabianski this season and nothing I'm seeing today makes me think Adrian should be back in the first team...

half time whistle goes... carroll let's his hair down.

the longer this goes on, the more Brum are going to get into the game, they already see a lot more positive and up for it than they did in the early stages...

the 1 goal lead is proving vital at the moment because at 0-0 things would be a lot nervier...

we need a second goal... preferably two or three...

watching the highlights...

it was a costa Silva attempt that won the corner...

the Diangana corner was headed goanward by Ogbonna - Keeper parried and Arnie was right there on him to nod the ball into the net...


but again, all it does is make you think we need to have gotten more from the remaining forty three minutes of the half...

the more the game goes in, the more slender that lead will look and having had to clear off the line a couple times... we need a bigger cushion to feel any kind of comfort from this...

Nasri's got a 97% passing completion stat (god, I hate stats... ruining the game)

so he looks a big step up on Anderson (based on the midweek game) but it's also about end result and Anderson does have goals in him... we'll have to see whether Nasri does...

I must say... as painful as it is to have to drag one's are out of bed at 4 o'clock in the morning, I'm happy to be able to see games like this...

But as with the Carabou Cup debacle earlier... I'm using the free 7 day trial of ESPN+ to watch this... if we lose, I'll just cancel like I did last time... if we win, it might be worth the $4.99 a month to be able to keep watching...

biggest downside so far is having to sit here in the dark watching all 7 of the Spuds goals from their massacre of Tranmere...

my favorite form scouring the tweets of the world...

"fupping state of Andy Carroll. He should be putting scaffolding up somewhere not playing football"

a (whatever the word is for a lot of bubbles) of bubbles greets us as the 2nd half gets underway and Birmingham comes right out of the gates at us and Carroll is flattened after going for a ball...

Brummie corner

Brum go close...

one team is definitely more up for it this half and it ain't the one with the one goal lead...

in the last ten minutes our possession has dropped to 65%


carroll is complaining cos he looked like a chump going for that Nasri cross... mainly cos he lost his footing and so stumbled and got beaten to it by a defender...

Snodgrass is coming on to replace Nasri...

decent first outing...

tiredness is definitely setting in... you can just tell... I'm not surprised... I mean I tried to go to bed early... but it's not easy... then the dog woke me after and hour or so to take her out for a middle of the night piss... and then up again only two hours later to watch this...

the things I do for this club...


we really do need to get another goal...