I woke up and it was all a dream. West Ham aren't a bunch of disorganised, gutless, journeymen giving a convincing imitation of headless chickens as they maintain a firm grip on a relegation place. Instead, they are well-set up, with a proper regard for the opposition's strengths and weaknesses, tactically sharp and flexible, and playing with skill and purpose all through the team. And they are not in the bottom three (temporarily at least).
This was a game when it felt like the natural order was restored. West Ham played cultured football, retaining possession in midfield while the forwards ran with purpose to create space and opportunities and the defence was vigilant and operated as a cohesive unit.
Rob Green fills me with confidence. When a save is required, he's as good as anyone. When Obinna needed a bollocking for sloppy play in injury time when the game was won, he still got it from Rob Green.
The manager changed the defence to cope with Stoke's physical bombardment. In the centre Upson marshalled the rest well, and Da Costa won almost every header against Carew, who has at least four inches in height on him. And, of course, he scored our second goal with the type of header that has to be called imperious. Tomkins moved to right back and performed steadily, although he didn't get forward as much as Bridge at left back. But both had decent games with Bridge a regular outlet on the left going forward (and I can't believe I'm writing this about Bridge).
Parker, Noble and Hitzlsperger were awesome and completely dominated the midfield, always looking composed in possession and available to each other for pretty triangles, or incisive through balls (first goal thanks to Noble), incisive runs (third goal thanks to Scotty), good deliveries (free kick for the second goal from Hitz) or powerful shots (third goal that I'm sure Begovic got out of the way of, and another earlier effort from Hitz).
Up front, Ba, Cole and Piquionne were tremendous. If I wanted to picky-on Piquionne, he could and should have scored, but his running and aerial power occupied fullback and centre back on his side. Carlton was desperately unlucky not to score and played with power throughout, occupying Shawcross and Huth throughout the game. Ba is a livewire looking to score every time, and he's so sharp in the area (even if he does look like Bambi on ice when he's running) and that's what got him the first goal.
So, I'm remaining a believer. I don't much care about the cup, but I can't wait for the next two league games. Spurs away and Man U at home. We'll all find out if we're dreaming or the ugly ducklings have become swans, the caterpillars have taken beautiful flight as butterflies.
Come on you irons!
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