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West Ham avoid embarrassing defeat after shoot-out success

Article by Tom Burford

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West Ham scraped through to the 3rd qualifying round of the Europa League last night over Maltese minnows Birkirkara FC, needing a penalty shoot-out to help them progress.

This was a real struggle for Slaven Bilic’s men in a tie they really should have won comfortably. But they will be pleased to qualify and go again next week against Romanian side Astra.


West Ham got off to a terrible start in the game, and were easily second best in the early exchanges. They fell behind early on through a goal by former Juventus striker Frabrizio Miccoli, who slid home a low cross after Birkirkara broke following a loss of possession in the Hammers’ midfield.

This seemed to inspire the Maltese outfit even more, as they now had something to cling onto in the game. They piled men behind the ball who regularly swamped out the ineffective Zarate who was playing as the lone striker.

West Ham’s night got far worse on half-time as the last leg’s match winner James Tomkins was sent off for his part in some jostling in the penalty area as the Hammer’s prepared to take a free kick. It looked to have been a harsh decision for actions we see week in week out in the Premier League, but the players should have known not to get involved with these scuffles, as the Birkirkara players were doing everything in their power to get men sent off; diving, complaining, feigning injury. It was embarrassing to watch.

At this stage, West Ham were staring elimination full in the face, but Cheikou Kouyate was switched to centre-back and played very well for the remainder of the game.

Bilic made a couple of changes in the second half with Diego Poyet and Modibo Maiga replacing Amalfitano and the very disappointing Kevin Nolan.

West Ham still struggled to test the ‘keeper throughout the second half. West Ham would have needed more than extra-time to score on the night, but they did have the ball in the net only for it to be promptly rule out as Maiga, lazily, strayed into an offside position.

Referee Enea Jorgji then capped off a horrendous night in charge of the game by sending off the wrong player, Birkirkara centre-half Mazzetti the unlucky culprit who was noway near the challenge that led to his second booking. West Ham will have to get used to these poor refereeing standards in Europe. and we moan about the standard in the Premier League!

It stayed 1-0 after extra-time, so on to the dreaded penalties. West Ham managed to win the shoot-out 5-3, Poyet tucking home the winner.

So the Hammers’ are through, but only just. This will be a huge wake-up call for all concerned, the majority of the team that started last night just can’t cut it at this level anymore. Bilic will be delighted to have the likes of Payet, Ogbonna, Lanzini and Obiang available for the next round as this is a side in need of real inspiration at the moment!

Bilic will know this was a real close call, but I think he responded well in his interview, trying to keep some of the blame from his players. He told the official website in a post-match interview; “The most important thing is that we are through. They started better and they were very aggressive. But after they scored we took control of the game.

“We had a man sent off and we had to adjust to that. But the guys showed their spirit and commitment and the most important thing is that we got no injuries and we have got through.

“When it came to the penalties anything could happen, but they were very confident when I asked them.

“That is good because I have seen the character and confidence in their eyes. They were all brilliantly taken. We now go to Romania and it will be the same kind of atmosphere.”

That would have taken a huge amount of energy from the tank, so Bilic will definitely need to freshen up in the next round. The players need to stop getting involved in all of these altercations manufactured by the opposition aswell. They fell for it last night, and it very nearly cost them.

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