Jussi Jaaskelainen pulled off three superb saves to earn
West Ham a 0-0 draw with Southampton at St Mary's on Sunday.
In a match devoid of many moments of class, the oldest
man on the pitch proved decisive as Saints were denied a first home win of the
season.
The 38-year-old was first called into action after 11
minutes, somehow keeping out a Dani Osvaldo effort when it looked easier to
score - the best chance of a tepid first half in which Kevin Nolan had a goal
ruled out for offside.
Rickie Lambert hit the post moments after play resumed,
with the England international, making his 200th Southampton appearance, then
denied by Jaaskelainen as Mauricio Pochettino's side pushed for the opener.
The veteran Finn, supported impressively by James Collins
and Winston Reid, was also at his best to stop Morgan Schneiderlin, who was
lucky not to be booked in the first half for a poor tackle on Mohamed Diame.
Referee Andre Marriner chose not to even award a
free-kick for that challenge and was in the spotlight again after adjudging a
Joey O'Brien lunge on Adam Lallana only worthy of a booking.
Heading into the game, much of the talk revolved around
Ravel Morrison. The highly-rated 20-year-old was handed his first Premier
League start in place of Stewart Downing, who has joined Andy Carroll, Joe Cole
and George McCartney in the treatment room.
Southampton brought in Nathaniel Clyne, Jay Rodriguez and
Luke Shaw, with the latter almost caught out in the opening minutes. Diame
impressively controlled a crossfield ball and turned the teenage left-back,
giving him space to sting the palms of Artur Boruc.
West Ham were quickest to settle in miserable conditions
on the south coast, but Saints should have taken the lead with their first
chance of the afternoon.
After losing his man down the left, Rodriguez's cute
cutback from the byline found Osvaldo unmarked - but the Italian's goalbound
strike was impressively blocked by Jaaskelainen.
Diame saw an audacious long-range drive whistle just over
as West Ham pushed for an opener in the rain, which they thought they managed
just past the half-hour mark.
Boruc spread himself well to stop Jarvis when through
one-on-one but captain Nolan rifled home from outside the box - only for the
offside flag to cut the Hammers' celebrations short.
Schneiderlin was fortunate not to receive a yellow card
for a poor challenge on the already booked Diame, with West Ham furious as the
midfielder left in pain on the floor without so much as a free-kick.
Lambert nodded over and Morrison curled just wide from 25
yards, before Marriner called time on a turgid first half.
Victor Wanyama, particularly poor in the first half,
forced Jaaskelainen to tip over from distance shortly after the restart, with
the opener almost coming from the resulting corner.
Lallana swung the ball in and Lambert's powerful header
rattled the post, followed by hopeful calls for a handball against the
impressive Collins when Wanyama attempted to strike home the rebound.
Saints had seemingly given up on their attempts to
threaten West Ham with aerial balls and reverted to playing on the deck, with
Osvaldo slipping through Lallana only for Jaaskelainen to thwart him.
Pochettino's side continued in the ascendancy and
Schneiderlin saw a threatening overhead kick headed away by Reid after Osvaldo
had seen a shot blocked.
Mark Noble and Wanyama were both booked for late
challenges, with Joey O'Brien soon joining them for a tackle on Lallana that
saw tempers fray and could have resulted in a red.
The challenge came after Jaaskelainen superbly turned a
Schneiderlin volley around the post, with the veteran goalkeeper then
brilliantly clawing away a curling Lambert effort.
0 comments:
Post a Comment