Habib Beye Watch - West Ham

Habib's injury troubles meant another game at right back for Steven Taylor in what was at least an entertaining game as West Ham seemed prepared to allow Newcastle to play. 'Tayls' was probably the best of the back four showing at least some endeavour as Jose Enrique struggled with his distribution again.

The back four seemed to cope well initially with Bellamy being left offside on countless occasions in the first 30 minutes. Newcastle's frailties appeared to be in midfield where Geremi's incompetence, Guthrie's manflu and a failure to match the Hammer's formation seemed to allow Parker the freedom of the city. Presumably Jonas and Duff were played on opposing wings so that naturally coming inside on their stronger foot would narrow the midfield and put pay to West Ham's extra man in the centre. All it actually did was stifle the forwards runs and make both wingers predictable.

Jonas was derided for a lack of productivity (at least by fans surrounding me in the corner on Level 2 of the Sir John Hall stand). In my view it was Jonas who linked with Owen for his early chances and indeed his goal. Jonas also had a hand in Carrol's first goal for the Mags, with him and Duff ending up on the same wing in front of the Gallowgate.

For all the impotence of the midfield it was again our defence who were culpable for both goals. Bellamy got lucky when an attack seemed to break down and then the ball sprung to the ex-Mag who finished well. The ease at which Bellamy broke free of his marker was alarming although it could be argued that this was a one off as Bellamy was well shackled for most of the match. The West Ham second goal was similar in that the central defenders switched off, allowing Cole to take a touch and thrash one into the net in front of the Leazes. Given cut a forlorn figure as he picked the ball out of the net, clearly not impressed with the ease at which Cole found himself unmarked 8 yards out from goal.

West Ham's defence attempted to make a game of it too with Neil skewing a clearance into his own net, only for the referee to rule out the goal because of a supposed push by Taylor in the box. In agreement with many fans at the game, there didn't seem to be a lot in it.

Kinnear took the hapless Geremi out of the firing line and introduced N'Zogbia who at least showed a bit of hustle and urgency as we fought for the equaliser. Andy Carrol was impressive up front and scored a very good goal. Had he and Owen not spurned earlier chances then Newcastle might have taken the points needed to make a break from the bottom half of the table. On this showing though, that would be a false position. Let's hope JFK can get some bodies in and some quality time on the training pitch before our next league game.