West Ham vaulted back into the top half of the Premier League table with a 2-0 win over Queen Park Rangers. An early own-goal put the Irons in front and Diafra Sakho secured the points in the second half with a header from close range.
3 things we learned from West Ham United’s win over Queen Park Rangers
The Irons probably should have beaten QPR by a bigger margin, but three points are three points in the end.
QPR remains at the bottom of the table with just a single win so far this season and a league worse -11 goal differential. Fortunately for Harry Redknapp, you can be relegated in the opening three months of a season, but there no doubt his team is a favorite to find themselves back in the Championship next season.
West Ham wasted little time taking the lead over QPR thanks to an own-goal in the 5th minute. Diafra Sakho forced the early corner for the Irons and after to a combination of poor defending and Robert Green not coming out for the ball, Sakho’s header hit off Nedum Onuoha’s knee and in the back of the net.
The rest of the first half was controlled by West Ham but they failed to utilize that dominance to score more goals.
QPR responded well to whatever Harry Redknapp yelled at them during the halftime break and looked like a slightly different side. They were certainly better in possession and looked far more lively on the attack at times.
All that positivity evaporated in the 59th minute when West Ham doubled their lead as QPR once again looked poor in the defense. James Tomkins chipped the ball up and over Green towards the far post after collecting it off a blocked shot from distance. Sakho snuck it completely unmarked and headed the ball into the empty net as several defenders looked on.
The Irons appeared had a third goal minutes later when Green inexplicably passed the ball right to Enner Valencia who was standing 12-yards from goal. Valencia gladly scored but the referee waved off the goal for no apparent reason. It wasn't a goal kick, so Green had put the ball back in play and there was no offside. Apparently, the referee determined that Valencia wasn't 10-yards away from Green, but it was really close.
Irons: Adrián, Reid, Cresswell, Tomkins, Jenkinson, Song, Amalfitano, Zárate (Nolan 76’), Downing, Sakho, Valencia (Jarvis 84’)
Goals: Onuoha (o.g. 5’), Sakho (59’)
QPR: Green, Traoré, Ferdinand, Caulker, Onuoha, Henry, Sandro (Tarrabt 67’), Hoilett (Zamora 46’), Karnjčar (Mutch 78’), Fer, Austin
Goals: None
3 Things
1. QPR are bad - They’ll be lucky to reach the 30-point mark this season. They’re a mess. They don’t defend well, they’re disorganized. They don’t play with any urgency or passion. It’s just 11 overpaid guy running around for 90 minutes thinking about what they’re going to with the rest of their day.
2. West Ham are pretty good - I’m not going so far as to call them contenders for European places, but the Irons play positive football and are capable of scoring goals, which is fun. Playing against QPR make is hard to showcase positive play, but the Irons were the dominant team for most of the game and took advantage of some really poor defending by Redknapp’s side.
3. It might be time for Redknapp to go - There’s a reason people always say it’s easier to fire the manager than the players. QPR’s roster isn’t bad. There’s plenty of solid players there, guys with EPL experience, leadership skills and talent. It’s not a team that is going to win anything, but they shouldn’t be this bad. At this point, you have to wonder how much longer Harry Redknapp is allowed to stick around. Despite his uncanny ability to keep teams up, they’re digging themselves such a hole with this terrible start, it may not matter by the end of the season.
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