Newcastle United 4 West Ham United 0

Monday, 19th August 2002
by Graeme Howlett

West Ham suffered their worst opening day defeat since 1988* at St.James Park tonight, shipping four goals in a disastrous second half performance to a rampant Newcastle side.

With the scores level at half time, the Hammers had every right to feel happy with their performance, setting out as they did to contain the home side.

But yet again it was an all too familiar story after the break, raising the spectres of Blackburn and Everton last season once Lomana Lua Lua gave the home side the lead on the hour mark with a close range shot.

Twenty five minutes later it was 4-0, with Lua Lua, Shearer and Solano all finding the net, leaving the Hammers starting the season in the worst possible way - at the bottom of the Premiership table.

Missing Freddie Kanoute and Paolo Di Canio through injury, an unfamiliar partnership of Joe Cole and Jermain Defoe led the Hammers attack, whilst Seb Schemmel was promoted to midfield alongside new boy Edouard Cisse, making his competitive debut for the Hammers.

Ian Pearce filled in at right back, whilst the summers other big signing - Gary Breen - was left to warm the bench, with Roeder sticking with his preferred partnership of Dailly and Repka.

However Roeder may have been questioning his decision early on, as the Czech had a poor half, gifting the home side three free-kicks on the edge of the box within a 15 minute spell. Repka would argue (justifiably) that referee Durkin was showing a little home bias. Fortunately none of the chances came to much.

The pattern for the first half was set within the first five minutes; Roeder's side had come to defend, and look for opportunities on the break. Unfortunately they were limited to just a couple of half chances; Ian Pearce went close with a header, and the excellent Joe Cole screwed a shot narrowly wide after a touch of magic on the edge of the box.

Fortunately the home side were also a bit rusty in front of goal. Lomana Lua Lua went closest with a rasping drive which beat both David James and his near post, but despite enjoying the lions share of possession Newcastle rarely troubled the new Hammers captain.

As you will have read above the second half was a different story entirely. The Hammers' demise began in the 61st minute, when ex-Colchester striker Lua Lua was able to squeeze a shot through a sea of legs from close range.

The second - Lua Lua's and Newcastle's - arrived 11 minutes later, when even the acrobatics of David James failed to keep out a bullet header from the young striker. Four minutes later a third; Alan Shearer slotting home an unselfish pass from Lua Lua, who could have grabbed the Premiership's first hat-trick of the season had he instead elected to shoot.

The final nail in the Hammers coffin arrived with 4 minutes to go; a Hammers defence, all at sea, allowed a low cross to evade them all - a gift gratefully accepted by Peruvian Nobby Solano, who stabbed home the cross at the far post.

Under the spotlight tonight are Glenn Roeder's questionable tactical decisions, which clearly contributed to the overall horror show. The decision to play the diminutive Cole and Defoe up front and then play the counter-attacking long ball over their heads went - well, over the heads of many of us watching Hammers supporters.

Also mystifying was the replacement of Seb Schemmel and Edouard Cisse by John Moncur and Vladimir Labant when chasing the game at 0-1. The pair had been two of the Hammers liveliest players, and even if, as Glenn Roeder will surely claim, the duo were less than fully fit surely they would have been a better option than the disappointing Moncur and Labant.

With respect, when was the last time either of those players changed the course of a game? One can only guess Roeder was thinking damage limitation even at that early stage. Clearly Schemmel was disgusted with the decision, as he stormed off the pitch straight down the tunnel. And rightly so.

All the while Titi Camara, who had astonished all and sundry by banging them in left, right and centre during pre-season was left languishing on the bench, probably wondering why he had bothered to finally get off his arse and work for his 20 large per week.

The game started off in shambolic fashion with the hashed late fixture change, which left many Hammers supporters out of pocket after they had booked flights and trains for the Saturday after Sky had announced that they had no plans to move the fixture to the Monday night.

Sadly the performance of West Ham was every bit as shambolic; no doubt those Hammers who had been dedicated enough to make the 600 mile round trip for the match will feel every bit as cheated.

* And guess what happened that season? We were relegated, finishing 19th. The team which finished below us, bottom of the league?

Newcastle United ...

Player Ratings:

David James (7) It's not often you can concede four goals but still hold your head high. James can; but for some excellent saves it could have been much worse.

Ian Pearce (6) Filling in at right-back, Pearce looked far less accomplished than when in the centre. His passing was sloppy, and too often he was caught out of position. Still some way to go before he gets anywhere near being the potential international we remember from three years ago.

Nigel Winterburn (6) One or two crunching tackles will have warmed the hearts of many watching Hammers as will the age-defying penetrative bursts into the heart of enemy quarters. But defensively? Average, at best.

Christian Dailly (5) The warning signs were there as early as the 12th minute, when Dailly lost his man at a corner in a move which should have resulted in a goal. That same poor marking was heavily punished in the second half, as Newcastle ran riot.

Tomas Repka (5) Same old, same old ... too many free-kicks given away on the edge of our box combined with losing your rag after the first goal went in do not make for a favourable player rating, Mr.Repka.

Seb Schemmel (8) Played his heart out as per usual, even in an unfamiliar role which manager Roeder obviously believes he can thrive in. Tonight Seb justified that faith, having a good game on the right flank, working hard at both ends of the pitch. Disgusted to be taken off, Seb? Not half as much as the rest of us were.

Michael Carrick (5) In a word - anonymous. Playing against his boyhood heroes would be enough to spur young Michael on, one would think. Not tonight apparently; he was a yard off the pace all night and struggled to compete with the lively Jenas and Dyer. Being told to sit deep does not appear to help Michael's game.

Edouard Cisse (7) A decent start. Okay, one or two of the passes were a little loose, but overall the Frenchman acquitted himself well in his first Premiership outing. Maybe he's not 100% fit yet - but even at 50% he would have still have been a better option that his replacement, Moncur.

Trevor Sinclair (5) Raring to go, so we're told. Not judging by tonight's performance he wasn't. Playing on the left (has he asked to play there since winning that place for England?) there was a distinct lack of trademark runs and bursts of pace. Roeder's tactics didn't help his attacking nature, but we still expect more.

Joe Cole (9) Outstanding. Joe has been on the weights throughout the summer adding a stone to his boyish frame, and it showed tonight as he put it about against the big Newcastle defenders. We saw tricks, we saw shots - and almost a goal after one piece of individual skill which brought a collective gasp from the watching 50,000 people. Joe, like Schemmel wants to win badly - they simply need to transfer that desire to the rest of the team. Man of the Match by a country mile.

Jermain Defoe (6) Never really in the game, but another grossly hindered by Roeder's tactics on the night. He's never going to win long balls in the air against big defenders, so why he was asked to is a mystery. On the floor he was much more dangerous, but opportunities to trouble the opposition were few and far between.

John Moncur (6) Moncs was probably more surprised than anyone to be getting on the field tonight. Unfortunately some will say it was only 1-0 when he came on. Never really got a sniff against the youthful Newcastle midfield.

Vladimir Labant (6) Is he a defender, is he a midfielder? Well nobody seems to know - but one thing is for sure, he looks a bloody liability wherever he is on the pitch at the moment. Takes a mean free kick of course, but he needs to start producing the kind of form which led Glenn Roeder to fork out ??1m last year. Last season he was acclimatising - this term there are no excuses.

KUMB Match Facts

West Ham United: James, Pearce, Winterburn, Dailly, Repka, Carrick, Sinclair, Schemmel (Labant 71), Cisse (Moncur 71), Cole, Defoe.

Subs not used: van der Gouw, Breen, Camara.

Newcastle United: Given, Hughes, Dabizas, Bramble, Bernard, Solano (McClen 87), Dyer, Jenas, Viana (Elliott 89), Shearer, Lua-Lua (Ameobi 81).

Subs not used: Harper, Griffin.

Goals: Lua Lua (61, 72), Shearer (76), Solano (85)

Booked: Winterburn (34, mistimed slide tackle), Cisse (38, foul - bad call), Shearer (77, late tackle)

Referee: Paul Durkin (5)

Attendance: 51,072

Man of the Match: Joe Cole (9)

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Match Facts

West Ham United: , , , , , , , , , , .

Goals: None.

Booked: None.

Sent off: None.

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Subs not used: .

Goals: .

Booked: .

Sent off: None.

Referee: .

Attendance: 0.

Man of the Match: .