On Remembrance Sunday, the image of Paolo Di Canio, the former West Ham United favourite, was everywhere at Upton Park. On video on the giant screens at half-time, chatting away in his unmistakable Anglo-Italian, and in an article in the match programme. “My spirit, heart and soul are still at Upton Park,” he said.
How West Ham could have done with his attacking flair and imagination, not to mention his marvellous predatory instincts, as they slipped back into the Barclays Premier League relegation zone.
Only when Tony Hibbert, the Everton defender, inexplicably sliced a goal-bound yet gentle lob from Junior Stanislas into his own net did West Ham rise from their slumber. Too late; no one had a fraction of the Di Canio genius that might have saved the day.
“Our attitude was very good,” Gianfranco Zola, the West Ham manager, said. “It is not pleasant to be back in the bottom three, but the team is fighting and they want to change things. We are going to find the solutions.”
Without Carlton Cole, absent with a hamstring injury, West Ham had no physical presence up front. That Dean Ashton is reported to be one negative expert opinion away from having to retire, because of a persistent ankle problem, is another worry for the manager, whose downbeat demeanour spoke volumes.
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“Until someone tells me that Dean is not going to make it, I’m still confident that he will be coming back,” Zola said. “He is not involved with the first team, he is working his way back on his own with his physio. I don’t know when I will hear anything.”
Zavon Hines, 20, is lithe but lightweight and could not produce the heroics of his stoppage-time winner in the 2-1 defeat of Aston Villa last Wednesday night. Guillermo Franco is hardly a beefy bully, either.
Everton — seven matches without a win in the league, Carling Cup and Europa League — could thus absorb the sporadic pressure and pounce opportunistically. Louis Saha curled in a 20-yard shot that, for a low drive, carried a rare out-to-in bend. It was his ninth goal of the season and fifth in his past three matches against West Ham.
Dan Gosling stretched the lead, at the second attempt, from Yakubu Ayegbeni’s pass, only for Hibbert’s clanger to change the flow. “I thought he should have cleared it,” David Moyes, the Everton manager, said. “We’ve had a difficult period, a tough October, but we’ve showed great character.”
Cole should return for West Ham’s next match, away to Hull City on November 21, when, to paraphrase Di Canio, spirit, heart and soul will be needed in abundance.
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West Ham United (4-1-3-2): R Green 5 — J Faubert 6, M Da Costa 4, M Upson 5, J Spector 4 — S Parker 8 — V Behrami 4, L Jim?nez 4 (sub: A Diamanti, 57min 4), J Collison 5 (sub: J Stanislas, 46 5) — G Franco 4, Z Hines 5. Substitutes not used: P Kurucz, R Kovac, M Noble, J Tomkins, F Daprela. Next: Hull City (a).
Everton (4-2-3-1): T Howard 6 — A Hibbert 4, J Yobo 6, S Distin 6, L Baines 6 — J Rodwell 5, J Heitinga 5— D Gosling 6 (sub: L Neill, 76), M Fellaini 6, T Cahill 7 — L Saha 6 (sub: Yakubu Ayegbeni, 57 5). Substitutes not used: C Nash, S Coleman, K Agard, J Baxter, J Wallace. Booked: Rodwell, Hibbert, Fellaini, Heitinga, Yobo. Next: Manchester United (a).
Referee: A Wiley. Attendance: 32,466.