At the end of a week in which an England match was postponed because no one in Warsaw could close a roof to prevent rain from flooding the national pitch, Nigel Adkins turned to a Polish stopper to plug Southampton's leaky defence. So Artur Boruc, the former Celtic goalkeeper signed as a free agent in late September, made his Premier League debut – but could not deter another deluge of goals.
Southampton did not manage a shot on goal before half-time, but if they were contemplating a first clean sheet of the season as they went into the dressing room at the interval, they were to be badly disappointed as West Ham scored twice in the opening three minutes of the second period.
Mark Noble scored the first, although unintentionally as his long free-kick eluded friend and foe alike, bouncing on the six-yard line and past Boruc, who was anticipating a touch from James Collins that never came. Then Yossi Benayoun seized the opportunity given by an error from Saints’ stand-in left back Maya Yoshida, ran down the right and hit the ball across goal for Kevin Nolan to apply the finishing touch.
Southampton found a way back into the game when Rodriguez, who appeared to be offside, held off Collins and got in a shot that was going so far wide that it became a pass to Adam Lallana, the Southampton captain turning to hit the ball high past Jussi Jaaskelainen. Enter Lambert, with a chance to level from a free-kick, but he chipped the ball into the roof of the net. Before he could make any further impact, it was 3-1, Noble scoring from a penalty after Jose Fonte handled as he challenged Carroll for Noble’s set-piece.
Modibo Maiga, a late substitute for Carroll, who had made up for any lack of technique with his usual physically committed display, then scored a goal that the match barely deserved, capping West Ham’s second half with a splendid strike, a curling shot past Boruc with the outside of his right foot after he had dribbled down the right and swerved inside the hapless Yoshida.
'It was a surprise we won 4-1 when you look at what we did in the first half,' Allardyce said after the match.
'The good thing for us is the professionalism of players that took a little bit of criticism at half-time for what was a bit of a lacklustre performance. The only good thing we did was not to allow Southampton any real chances in the first half. We were just not playing well enough and, if we were to overcome them, we had to play better than that and we had to do that by upping the tempo and showing the sort of desire we showed against Arsenal, Fulham, Sunderland and Aston Villa this year.
'Of course, doing that in the second half and giving that sort of performance and scoring the goals - obviously the timing was brilliant because we went out, got right at them and scored two very quick ones - gave us a fantastic 4-1 victory.'
'We can forget the first half now and just enjoy the victory and really focus on the positives of how we turned the game around when we looked like we were struggling. In fact, we didn't look like we were struggling, we were. To come out and put it right, not just in terms of winning the game but winning the game comfortably is great.
'Scoring four goals against any side in the Premier League is no mean feat and 4-1 is a brilliant result for us.'
The result means Southampton have now conceded 24 goals in just eight matches back in the Premier League. It is a record that will no doubt see the position of manager Nigel Adkins come under scrutiny.
West Ham (4-3-3): Jaaskelainen: Tomkins (Spence, 88), Reid, Collins, McCartney; Noble, Nolan, Diame (O’Neil, 68); Benayoun, Carroll (Maiga, 82), Jarvis
Man of the match: Mark Noble
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