Avram Grant grunted:

"Yes, we are disappointed with this, of course. We don't want to be at the bottom but the most important thing is where we are at the end of the season. We spoke even today about continuing to do what we have done well until now - we forgot to do it today - and then we will continue to pick up points. That's what we need to do."

On the "lucky" West Ham scarf he'd been wearing in recent games and that was widely written about in the run up to this game (some clots not realising he'd worn it when his side lost to Manc City):

"I forgot to bring it, but it was not because of this that we lost. It's difficult to explain it. It was a bad day at the office."

Despite this, veteran Hammers hack Ken Dyer writing in the London Evening Standard asserted that Grant wore his scarf at SJP. He didn't.

Our second challenge of 2011 arrived hard on the heels of the morale-boosting victory at Wigan and like that game, looked to be another golden opportunity to collect three points. 

News that Shola Ameobi had joined Andy Carroll in the treatment room put a slight dampener on things, while fielding the unproven front pairing of Peter Lovenkrands and Leon Best surprised many who expected Nile Ranger to start (reputed "lifestyle issues" are claimed as a possible reason for that not happening).

Neither the Dane nor the Republic of Ireland international had looked particularly impressive at the DW Stadium, but were afforded the freedom of St.James' Park by a visiting defence who seemed afraid that they'd catch something if they came into close proximity with anyone clad in stripes.

Best marked his first Premier League start for the club with a hat-trick against the hapless Hammers, while Lovenkrands provided two assists and when Leon returned the favour, hit a smashing goal of his own. And to complete the party, Kevin Nolan shot home to maintain his record of netting when his side supersized their scoreline at SJP - following on from two in the 6-0 Villa thrashing and three in the 5-1 mackem mauling.

Things hadn't got off to the best of starts (quite literally), with Leon rising to meet a right wing cross from Joey Barton: shades of Shola's early miss at Wigan, although that was a far more goal-gaping chance. When a further opportunity came his way though, the ball was promptly dispatched and the facial expressions of the visitors took on haunted look once more (except for their manager, who always looks like that). 

West Ham had threatened Steve Harper's goal just once in the first half, when Scott Parker tried his luck with a shot that the keeper was equal to. By the end though, the Toon old boy looked utterly sick and almost visibly weighed down by the pressure of carrying his side. Kieron Dyer wasn't in the matchday 18. 

Newcastle opted to give Mike Williamson a second half runout in place of Steven Taylor, who had looked in some discomfort as he headed down the tunnel at half time. The visitors meanwhile made two changes of their own at the interval and looked more interested for a time thereafter. 

However normal service soon resumed with Best completing his treble (a mere 80/1 shot to do so) and then  departed to a standing ovation - anyone not getting to their feet presuming rooted to their seat in shock. 

Ranger appeared and seemed odds-on to register a maiden Premier strike against thoroughly demoralised opponents. And within ten minutes of arriving, a perfect opportunity to do so arose after fellow substitute Shane Ferguson cut in from the left and pulled the ball back for Nolan. With only the 'keeper to beat from less than ten yards out however Ranger contrived to place an awkward side foot effort wide of the goal. 

Getting the chance to play in his original left wing role rather than at full back as was the case in his League Cup outings, the Northern Ireland youngster looked lively and tangled with Ben-Haim, much to the annoyance of those sitting on what were formerly the benches - all good stuff.

On a night when Alan Pardew's current side thumped the club who sacked him in 2006, he suffered a blow when midfielder Cheick Tiote limped off. The Ivory Coast international had again been impressive before pulling up on 83 minutes with what looked like a hamstring strain, leaving his side - who had already used all three subs - to see out the game with just ten men. 

Pardew later revealed that all three players from his starting XI who were replaced went off with knocks. That included Best, of whom it's difficult to know what to say. Having never looked at ease in the games he played in last season, this time round he'd no sooner broken his scoring duck in friendlies than injuries kept him out of the picture until after the manager who acquired him had departed - not an unfamiliar tale round these parts.

Quite whether he's done enough in training and in this game to do so more than elevate himself to Alex Mathie "supersub" status remains to be seen, although Shola may be slightly apprehensive about the future if Best keeps this up. If nothing else though, his market value will surely have risen, and if West Ham are looking to replace the abysmal Carlton Cole....

Like the newly-signed Ben Arfa (who also netted on his first club start), announcing your arrival is one thing, but doing it consistently is quite another; while even having regular opportunities to do so cannot always be taken as a given (or Given). The general consensus about Hatem is that it's good business for a good player expected to make a full recovery, but having seen a host of highly-rated arrivals, forgive us if we reserve judgment for 20 games or so. Watching reruns of that goal at Everton following confirmation of his permanent transfer brought back memories of someone else who cracked in a long-range of similar beauty in a reserve game. His name was Fumaca....  

What it does mean though is that despite that new contract, Nile Ranger is effectively Alan Pardew's fifth choice - amid talk of an incoming body this month, to boost his options in that area. On that basis, the most obvious course of action with Ranger is to put him somewhere on loan to get first team game time, hone his first touch and shooting skills - and maybe get some common sense knocked into him by journeymen types. 

Still, Ranger is at least ahead of Xisco, who like Atlantis has disappeared beneath the waves again, after the briefest of sightings warming up at Spurs. The match programme for this game including some frothy, Hello! type nonsense about him enjoying Christmas with his new bairn and family. However the answers to some key questions were lost in the final edit: like what it is that he does here, what the hell is wrong with him and indeed, anything that might hint at the fact he has a playing contract to be a professional footballer. Can his wife be prosecuted for living off immoral earnings?

Legend has it that Pardew's first sighting of the Spaniard was as he arrived for the introductory press conference and Xisco was getting into an ambulance - having knacked himself during a training session held on the SJP pitch. The £5.7m man also claims to have picked up his command of English from watching films - heist movies presumably, although "The Long Goodbye" is presumably also on regular rotation. 

The win takes us up to eighth in the table and only seven points behind "crisis club" Chelsea. And the margin of victory means that United are second only to Manchester United in the home goals scored stakes (25 and 29). As a measure, we managed just 24 in the whole of the 2008/09 home campaign.  

Regardless of what happens at Stevenage, this has been a fine 2011 so far - even if injury concerns continue to cloud the long-range forecast for our subsequent trip to the dark place. The ability to beat rotten teams is as vital to our future as raising our game against so-called glamour outfits.  

Biffa