I saw the first twenty minutes on a live stream that but it disappeared after that. We looked very bright indeed, with a lot of very quick passing and some good moves. We did not deserve to go behind, but it was excellent to see us coming back from one down to lead, even if we did concede an equaliser towards the end.
From what I can gather, both our goals were superb. Cole was on fire in the second half and Bellamy continued his good form. Ilunga, so people were saying, was Man of the Match.
The first goal was a bad one to concede with Behrami, Collins and Green all at fault to one extent or another.
But hey, who’s worrying. Another away game unbeaten and a cracking performance. Well done to Zola and his team.
West Ham Till I Die 
I enjoyed the radio coverage… sounds as though the game was there to be won, but I said beforehand that a point would be good, so I’m not complaining.
How biast can you get Mr Dale. You say our goals were bad ones to concede but West hams goals were excellent, how biast can you get. Owens goal was world class admit it you tool. Carrol is only a young lad and got his first seniour goal give the lad credit. IDIOT.
Good result, sonuds like we might have won. I feel a little disapointed but can’t complain with a good point. Up the Hammers, keep the faith!
A bit clumsy from our side on both of their goals, they owned our right side, with Behrami and Neill in problems all the time. (Neill could be happy that his own goal did not count.) But apart from that, a good performance. Mainly from our strikers and Ilunga.
Newcastle fan here… Pretty entertaining game, Jonas close to giving us the win in the end, but i guess the draw was a fair result… If there ever was a time to beat us at St. James for u guys, today was the day tho
We very nearly beat you lot at the death how can you say you might have won????????
ex Newcastle player scores against us again. Parker ex toon sets up Bellamy ex toon. You lot like toon players.
Tool 1978, Owen did indeed take his goal well. But if Behrmai had closed him down, Collins hadn’t slipped and Green had dived half a second earlier he wouldn’t have scored it. I didn’t mention Carroll’s goal, as I didn’t see it, but I heard on the radio it was a good one. Who’s the idiot now?
PS Please do learn how to spell biased. 🙂
Ian Dale stop being BIASED lol that better.
DevoDevo, what you been emailing Iain Dale about?
Ian Dale
Its all ifs and buts mate, Carrols goal was good give the lad a little credit and as far as Bellamy is concerned he is a quality little player i would love him back and i think deep in his heart he would jump at the chance at a return to NUFC.
Ian Dale
You are the idiot for not seeing the goal. ARM CHAIR SUPPORTER MAY I ASK????
Toon 1978. Nearly there. Just spell my Christian name right now!]
Bit difficult to see from Tunbridge Wells. Season ticket holder but don’t travel to away games very often I’m afraid.
Where did you see the goal toon1978?
Iain Dale
I take it you are one of those “NORTHENERS ARE THICK” band wagon jumpers .
I attend home games and travel away aswell,i do not sit in front of a computer watching free football. True supporter through and through and if i’m a thick Geordie in your eyes then so be it.
I saw the goal from the Gallowgate end mate.
you a season ticket holder?
Don’t get drawn in Iain,it’s not worth it mate.
Owen alway’s scores against us so no surprises there.
Let’s take the positives from today’s game and not worry about the Geordies who are well biased in their oppinions.
We are unbeaten in last six away’s so we are right to be pleased with that.
IF we can keep Bellers we will be ok for the rest of the season.
COME ON YOU IRONS!!
Looks like it’s chip on both shoulders time…
Sam H
I am, have been for 20 years.
Iain Dale
Just a little banter pal thats it, whether i can spell or not is besides the point, we are here to talk football, not to be journilists. West Ham have a quality side i admit and a draw was a fair result.
I’ve been going to West Ham for over 40 years but who’s counting?
Season Ticket holder with my son for last 10 years Bobby Moore Upper.
By the way,I do like Newcastle,but not when they play West Ham.
Shearer was world class in my oppinion.
TOON1978
First half was 50,50
Second half we should of won on first 25min dominance,we had good chances.
You lot had the last 10 mins.
Happy hammer with a point.
Toon 1978. Yes. I think we can agree on that. You;re much more polite than those Sheffield United tossers!
If Zola is happy then I am happy, Always nice to be six poinst ahead of those dirty spuds!!
C’mon Wigan you can do it, although a draw would be nice!!
We dominated second half. Poor defending cost us all three points. Cole played his heart out today with a superb goal. Just don’t see why Di M, is even a sub. Bellamy out with hamstring injury…great! who wants a limping Welsh…we get to keep ‘im
Let’s face it, Iain, you’re just a posh southern softie (roll of eyes) and if you have a life away from football then you must be REALLY weird (roll of eyes). I bet you speak posh and spell proper, as well, so how can you be a West Ham fan (even bigger roll of eyes).
Still, as long as it’s just a bit of friendly banter, eh?
Did anyone see Harry Hill’s TV Burp when he had that Geordie hot dog seller on? I think it was Burger Barry, or something. Bet it was toon1978.
By the way, some of my best friends are Geordies and I sat next to one in school in 1967, so they can’t be all bad.
Good result. I also said that Cole would score. Maybe he is growing in confidence!. Like
the previous Upton Spark said Owen always scores against us. At last we are moving in the right direction.!
Did anyone go? I couldn’t make it watched it on a very dodgey t.v.
Thought we played well,apart from neill who was roasted all afternoon.
Does Neill ever stop a cross?
With a bit of luck chris Neill might be on his way!! Getting on a bit, time for Parker to be Captain!!
Scummy Sky Sports said we were looking at this player called Moon from Panatha what ever they are called, he is a RWB with blistering pace apparently!
A couple off weeks ago I was very scathing of Cole. Mr Cole, I’d like to apologize. Please keep up your scoring record but don’t start missing sitters again.
Got to watch the game of fox sports over here in the states. This is what I took from the game. Owen’s goal was a good shot, but poor marking. He was given too much space. Bellamy’s goal was a production from several offside traps that finally didn’t work. A great finish. Should have had a PK right after second half kickoff. Cole’s finish was fantastic. Had his back facing the goal and created space, then cracked it in. We were very luck on neil’s owngoal. Their was definatealy a push prior. Here is my bitch. Noble had the exact same break away as bellamy and choked. Also he is crap on set pieces. We must have someone else who is capeable. I’ve complained in prior posts he is too inconsistent. I thought collison is playing much better. I thought for most of second half we were on the verge of a third goal. The last 20 we played defensive and it cost us. For most of the game our centerbacks were able to control all the high crosses until the end with carroll placing the ball in the corner. Green wasnt even able to react. Overall we played well. Neil still seems to be a liability constantly beatin towards the box. Well deserved point, with a little luck three. Also cole and parker worked well
Toon 1978
hope you do alright this year,and l do mean that ,always watch your game’s.that’s from the heart of a londoner.
toon why are you even on this site? bye bye! and u contradicted yourself because the goals were mostly sue to poor defending
Excellent result and performance another point in the bag. Zola’s 1 to 1’s with Carlton are paying off 8 goals in 19 not a bad ratio. overall rating 7, cole,bella’s,Ilunga 9,neil 5 and berahmi 6. a draw would be nice at wigan against the spuds would be nice. Another good days I’m just not going to read the papers for a few days and I can enjoy the football. COYI !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Toon 1978
First of all learn to spell mate. Of course it’s not beyond the point! Not when you can say others shouldn’t consider you a ‘thick geordie’, and then get basic spellings incorrect. Don’t happen to think you lay the carpet out for that impression do ya?
Also, our goals were definately better than yours. Owen’s was down to a myriad of individual errors, and a goal which Green should have saved. Parker played a cute through ball and Bellamy gave Given no chance with his sweet strike.
Cole controlled the ball well and finished powerfully from a tight angle. Carroll scored a decent headed goal, but the defence should have dealt with the cross better, Upson at fault here. Certainly it didn’t match Cole’s finish however.
When you consider Noble’s chance, a blatant Bellamy penalty that was denied, you lot did not have as many clear chances.
You can say we like ex-toon players, and take the mickey out of us that way. But the fact is, most of them would get in your team.
Bowyer on your bench, when he doesn’t make ours. Dyer, Bellamy and Parker would walk into your team and be your best players. Where do they play now?
Our team is definately better than yours. The league table over this and last season proves it, even with our injury problems and off-field issues. West Ham should’ve won today.
As for your constant calling Iain an ‘idiot’, the fact is, ‘so within, so without’. Just as your view on the world is in fact your view on yourself, so it is with labelling people certain things. That is, deep down, what you fear yourself to be.
As you spelling errors would testify!
So stop wasting your time abusing and trying to start arguments on a West Ham blog. Otherwise you only continue to fulfill your own labelling of others. Typical eh?
craig bellamy, love him. i’d let him father my children if i was a doris, i hope to god he stays. quality.
Well done Carlton…keep proving the doubters wrong.
You are doing great work Gianfranco BUT WHY DO YOU PERSIST WITH NOBLE??? Did not hear of him apart from when he missed the chance and when he was substituted. I’m sorry but he’s out of his depth.
Agree with you Sactown Hammer.
i don’t think Noble is out of his depth(see FrannyZola)as he has been getting over an injury plus has just become a dad and is having some late nights with little sleep.
I will admit he has not looked as sharp lately so maybe a chance for a rest which will rejuvenate him hopefully.
Upton if Noble is not fit don’t start him. Your better off starting mullins in the middle and let Parker do all the attacking. My complain on his set pieces are that his kicks are not dangerous. Look up at Everton with Arteta. It seems like every other game he gets a goal off a free kick. We need a better option from our exsisting squad. Perhaps when Dyer is fit, move Berhami in the middle. We need a threat comming up the middle. It would create more chances for Bellamy and Cole.
good & fair result – there were large periods where possibly, we could of nicked it, but I’m pleased with a point
Upon Spark, I take your point mate but it’s not just recently that I’m on about. Also, Sactown is right, if he is not 100% then he should be playing anyway. But I have not seen anything special from Noble since he came to recognition.
Don’t get me wrong, he’s a local boy and the rest of it but so are most of us on here…we’d almost die for our club out on the pitch BUT, this doesn’t make us good enough at football or mean we should play in our first team does it.
He disappears from games. When we play with him it’s like we’re a midfielder less. He has been trusted with the set pieces which is even more unbelievable then the fact that he does play at all.
His crosses are looped up there with no whip or pace at all like all the players that can cross do, (Nani, Arteta, Young, Bentley, Fabregas etc), giving every defender on the pitch and their children the chance to get underneath it and clear it. His conversion rate on direct free kicks is….well I can’t remember the last time he scored a free kick …but he takes them.
If he’s supposed to be the creative spark then he’s too slow to get in the box and does not get enough assists. If he supposed to be a defensive midfielder then he is like the police in the American movies….they get there too late, when all the action has happened. I have seen a number of times myself, when a midfielder who Noble is supposed to track back, scores against us, you see Noble just about getting back in the picture while the guys off celebrating his goal.
Let’s take Collison as an example. Right away you can see the guy has something. He is already better than Noble. He excels in strength, pace, touch, reading of the game and shooting compared to Noble.
I have nothing against him as a person but I hope someone comes in for him before everyone realises that he is an average squad player. Because if that does happen, then I can only see a move to the Championship for him.
We can feel sorry for him, but the emotion should not be allowed to cloud our judgment. How long will we wait for him to come right? He is no way near the standard of our past youngsters or Sears and Collison.
I hope four in four keeps the Cole dis-believers quiet now!!
Great finish son!!
cole was pure class today and i hope he keeps it up and i want to say sorry to cole for slatting him he is now turned a corner and can hopefully be the rare loyal stars we have at the hammers with ashton and green i now hope cole is like this for the rest of the season and we will be dynamite and avoid relegation
Franny great post, my point exactly. Their was a sequence in the second half where collison had the ball, dribbling across the goalbox and beating several defenders, but unfortunatly had his shot block. but it was attack that was dangerous. It reminded me of when we had Benyohoun. Berhami shows signs of this. Maybe instead of wishing for new players, we will have to do with what we have.
Toon 1978 season ticket holder for 20 years eh ? What a waste of fuckin money. Paying to watch that shite week in week out need your head looked at ! COYI keep up the great work Iain.
Always said that Cole can be a class player if he learns to find the back of the net. A bit like Harewood and learning the offside rule!
Cole’s brilliant at doing the Heskey hold-the-ball-up-thing, and if he carries on playing anywhere near as well as the last few days he’ll continue to hush the boo boys. Couldn’t be happier for him. Very happy with Collison’s progress, dont think from what i’ve seen Sears and Tomkins are as ready as he is for first team football, but the future is looking bright.
If it wasn’t for the Sheffield United bastards, and our Chairman being penniless I would be an ecstatic hammer, but ill take being a happy one tonight.
UP YOU IRONS.
Another great performance and we deserved more for our periods of superiority with Jonas being the major threat to us. The ever improving, goal scoring Cole with the speed and wizardry of Bellamy really is a potent force. I agree totally with the constructive comments from FrannyZola regarding Noble . His progress has been very, very disappointing indeed. He needs to improve in some of the weaker parts of his game very quickly in order to stay with Collison who looks the part already and for me is probably our best midfielder.
Zola has done remarkably well to stamp his own style of play on the team in a relatively short time and my optimistic view is that we could all be in for a magical period of football the ‘West Ham way’ during his tenure which I hope lasts for many years if he is to be as successful as I think he will be.
Absolutely Sactown…we’ve had midfielders like that at West Ham since I can remember. They are absolutely vital to our style and tradition. Barring injuries, I would be happy with what we have too. We still have Ashton and Dyer to fit in….mouth watering!
Agree ironsmith. The difference between how Curbishleys team played and Zola’s plays is clear to see. The build up to our first goal demonstrates this. The thing is that these are the SAME players Curbishley had. I can only give credit to Gianfranco for not only sticking to his guns but not changing his belief in his style on our recent bad run when quite frankly, many mangers, let alone one in his first club job, would have changed and gone extremely defensive.
Yes Chris, very happy for Cole also. We should support him for what he is. He causes untold problems to the oppositions defenders. If he gets 15 a season; along with his other contributions, I’d be more than happy.
I am very optimistic about Collison also ironsmith. It says something for Gianfranco and Clarke to quickly get him on a 5 year deal so recently after coming to the club as our management. I do hope the big team vultures do not start circling.
Gabbidon, Collins, Collison and Bellamy. We have the spine of the Welsh team. A sneaky loan bid for Aaron Ramsey would do nicely.
After this performance by parker are there any people still wanting parker to go!
No I didn’t think so.
Seems there’s alot of debate wether noble should be dropped.Collinson is physically stronger,but noble’s pass and move should not be underestimated(maybe he should do more upper body work in the gym like j.cole did )also he needs to work on he’s finishing.
Zola(one of the best players ever) has been working one on one with cole on his finishing and its paying off,maybe noble needs the same.
Feelin very positive COYI!!!!!!
Just home from work gunna eat humble pie,sorry C.Cole.
Got back from Newcastle late last night. God, it was cold up there – but it would be I suppose. I thought it was an excellent performance apart from the last 20 minutes where we allowed them to get back into the game. After Cole scored there really should only have been one winner. Given’s save from Collison was exceptional but he seems to do that at least once in every game. I didn’t think that Upson and Collins looked quite as secure as they had recently and Neill was, again, very shaky although Ilunga had an excellent game. I noticed some criticism of Behrami on some earlier posts. Yes, he played a part in Owen’s goal but I thought he had a decent game (helping Neill out several times) and, for me, he has been a great signing. Collison put in another good shift and, although he worked hard, not a lot went right for Noble. Parker was my MOM, Bellamy and Cole always looked like breaking down the Newcastle defence and both took their goals really well. All in all a good performance at a ground where we have usually struggled to get anything. The team look far more confident away from home at the moment than they are at Upton Park. I think that’s six games unbeaten on the trot on the road now – most unlike West Ham!
One surprise was the lack of atmosphere at St James Park, not what you normally get.
I was talking to some Newcastle fans in a pub before the game (£1.95 a pint of lager and it wasn’t even happy hour!). They were guys in their 30s and 40s and they were saying that everything would be OK once a new owner came along (even though Ashley has taken the club off the market) and Keegan was back as manager. A young guy (son of one of the others) told then they were “deluded”. I think he got that one about right.
Good match, satisfactory result. However, we should have taken all three points and would have done so but for some sloppy defending. The midfield was excellent and Cole and Bellamy gave Newcastle real problems. Admittedly Mark Noble is not firing on all cylinders at the moment but, in my view, there is no doubting his class and future in the Hammers first team.
West Ham look so much better organised these days and they are playing an admirable fluid, passing game. It’s a major change when you feel so confident of the Hammers getting results away from home these days. Especially at places like St James Park!
An Issue of concern is the way in which we keep giving teams a goal start (It has happened in the last three PL matches). So far we have recovered from it, but it is not exactly advisable is it? Another is the way in which, after going ahead, we gave away the initiative, played deep and invited them on to us. Even after we survived the Neill OG, the pattern did not change! It was only after the equaliser that we got it back together.
My one gripe is that Sears was not used in the match when Bellamy came off. I think Sears pace would have posed a far better offensive threat then Di Michele. I would like to see Sears and Tomkins get more match time before the en of the season, but I guess that is largely dependent on results and the fitness of others.
We now have two back to back winnerable home games against Fulham and Hull City, we must aim to take all six points in those matches. No excuses!
Yes Chris, fair is fair, Parker was outstanding against Newcastle. Then again he has done very well in all our away games this season. As for selling him, well he would still be my preference out of all the key players, but no, not if there is no need to do it.
West Ham look really strong in the midfield area and we still have Dyer to accommodate! My one concern is that we need to ensure we have players who can provide width as and when. With Etherington gone and Faubert and Boa Morte possibly on the way, outside of Dyer, we will be reliant upon Reid, Stanislaus and Lopez as cover.
At half time I saw an statistical analysis of West Ham’s first half attacking play and 22% went down the left side, with just 4%down the right 74% through the middle. That’s fine, as long as we have the players on the bench to give more width against different teams and in the event of the opposition changing tactics during games. It’s is horses for courses!
I think, for an away game, it was a very good result. I was entertained, the game had everything I wanna see in a football match. Effort, goals, drama and quality players plying there trade and playing like they mean it. All four goal were good goals, 47,000+ crowd, good away support ( I could hear the West Ham singing ) Just one lucky brake, and we could have won! The only negative, and I dont really wanna moan, but Lucas Nil was poor again. overall i´m still buzzing about 2009. Hope all the crap about Tevez and selling the club dont drag out or effect the team . COYI
great to have players back but who will be u front when we have ashton fit again coz i think the prospect of 3 up fotn could do us well
I won’t give my opinions on the match as this has been done to death and everyone pretty much agrees that poor defensive play cost us the win.
I would like to comment on SJ’s analysis of the stats. I said on a previous thread that we have NO natural width and the way to combat this would be to play Dyer & Ilunga as wingbacks with Parker holding and Behrami & Collison either side of Parker.
I couldn’t believe Dyer wasn’t on the bench and I also think it’s a scandal to have Di Michele in front of Sears.
Apart from those gripes, the progress under Zola has been immense and cannot be underestimated. Compare the football we are playing to the rubbish under Curbishley.
Finally – well done Carlton Cole! When you play like that you can understand why supporters were frustrated with your performances earlier in the season.
TBISB – I sent Iain a link to a Brooking tribute documentary that I had never seen, which I thought people would find interesting.
I agree width could be a problem and I like the wing back system that DevoDevo advocates. If you remember Redknapp employed it successfully in the 1990s. With Tomkins, Upson and Collins we have the centre backs to facilitate the wing backs.
4-3-3 seems Zola’s favoured system, but we need to build a squad with the capacity to play or adapt to a variety of formations.
A lack of width leads to the more negative teams squeezing the play and West Ham running in to a brick wall through the middle. I think that may well have been exactly what has happened in quite a few matches this season at Upton Park.
Watching The Sunday Supplement. It tells you everything you need to know about your average football hack. Frightening!
I also totally agree with DevoDevo’s comments on the progress under Zola and Clarke, they are starting to look like a real team and ,as long as the board to do not screw us up, we can look forward to raising our ambitions this season. I think the next two games are crucial to that, six points against Fulham and Hull and things are looking good.
Oh dear Toon didn’t do himself any favours did he even spelling Northerners wrong -never mind mate we all have off days.
Still all that aside I was at the game I thought we should have killed them off in that 20 minutes spell after the second half we need to start to punish teams that are playing badly even in spells. As a consequence they did gain the upper hand in the last 10 – 15, so all in all a point maybe a fair one! That said we should have scored in that spell and that would hae done it plus I thought Bellars deserved a penalty when he was grappled to the ground.
I don’t like to criticise geordies as in my social life and work life I have met quite a few and they have always been pretty sound. I was there at St James and have been there many times before and sorry the home support definitely only sings when their winning. (I think the Geordie passion / loyalty thing is a bit of an urban myth)
The next 4 games are important to keep up momentum Fulham and Hull should give us at least 4 points an FA cup win against hartlepool and then The Arsenal who I think at the moment we can beat they are not looking good and are not up for a scrap. We should nick a point at least, so a min 5 points by the end of jan and through to the next round of the cup, All ready then to take on Man utd and start febuary off. I can’t wait and I’m still not reading the papers just enjoying the football and all the posatives that surround our club. COYI !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lyon, Nantes and Rangers want Fabuert !!!!!!!! upto 5 million I’m on my way to sort his Ferry ticket from dover. Another step to keeping our better players and a few more quid in the bank. We’ve still got about 10 to get rid of but hay we are going in the right direction.
Wing back system is a nightmare if you,ve played it!!
No one plays it no more,its defensively inept.
Some people tried it in the 1990’s but teams playing against it found out that If you push your fullbacks up high, the system is easily outplayed.
People now prefer 4 5 1. (I’m reading this by the way)
Toon down pub? I thought it was a great game and is what the Premier league is all about! Sweet attacking football that makes it the most watched league in the world.
If we keep our boys we can finish top 10 if we cave in and sell to Man City we are going to struggle…..Zola keeps saying he has no money to spend, he said this after Ethers and Bowyer had gone.
Which means only way he is going to get cash is if the club sell big names. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen and we just get a couple of loans in to steady the cracks.
Well done Carlton Cole!
Five year contract – give the lad a ten year one!
A lot of good points made here and I do agree with others that Noble should be rested and perhaps put on the bench for a while.
A bit worried about our lack of funds which will catch up with us eventually unless we sell our best players and we all know how we feel about that!
The geordies down the pub made me laugh! What the hell were they drinking?
Anyway,I’m not even going to comment on the Sunday papers that are full of shite again about our players.
I found the Liverpool comments re United’s Alex Ferguson very interesting and it seems others are in agreement with Rafa as I am by the way.
I am fed up with reading about Man City this that and the other.As far as I’m concerned they can go and p-ss in the wind. Sorry but it has to be said.
Who does Hughes think he is? He’s getting worse than Redknapp and that’s bad enough.
Now I hear Wenger likes the look of our Collison. Yea,keep looking mate,cos we ‘aint selling him (I hope).
Where was Dyer? Does anybody know why he wasn’t even on the bench?
pards was on sky today giving a big insight to what egg was all about.very interesting,not what we all thought at the time i bet!!!
Watched on Fox Soccer in the US. Neill is becoming a liability, looked uncomfortable all game, and sliced almost own goal was a joke. For the first time I really want him out.
I just felt watching it that we lacked a little belief, and we stood off them a little to much, both goals were due to people not being tight enough, Newcastle had a free pass to cross from the left all game mainly due to Neill lack of pace meaning he drops to far off. This is the weak link at the mom, it needs to be addressed by Zola and Clarke.
Wigan have just made my weekend much better!!
A draw would have done it but I am happy seeing those overated spuds lose!! Next up Fulham, fingers crossed!!COYI
spuds – lol, well done the wigan boys,
Gerat Attitude and effort! The team is improving. Hope we play the same against Fulham, it’s an important match.
How long before Harry quits? hahaha
Hi Iain
Love the blog – Any chance you could set up some kind of on going league table on your site naming and shaming the most discredited – irritating journalists or newspapers that are aniti-hammers or are simply just wriiting total shit about our beloved club?
cheers
D&G lol, I think you were trying to say,
“I hope Harry stays at Tottenham forever”
hahaha
Once again we’d be a top four side if it was an 80 minute game.
Long time reader, first time poster.
Didn’t go to the game, but managed to catch football first last night, thought we gave a good account of ourselves for what is not exactly a happy hunting ground for us. Result was fair on both teams. Bellamy is starting to do what we all hoped, Cole is getting more confidence from his purple patch. Looking back Berahmi was the main culprit of the conceeded goals (not closing down Owen for the first or Duff for the cross for the second) but given his form of late I think I can let him off one subdued performance.
My only slight concern is we just need to learn when to kill games off. When we got the second, I think Newcastle were there for the taking, one more goal could have sealed it. In time we will I know, but the table is so tight, three wins and we could push up to the european places, whereas three losses could see us flirting with the danger zone again.
Despite my scepticism at Zola’s appointment (his lack of experience rather then the Chelsea connection I might add) he & Clarke are putting together a decent team, the training methods are working, the players seem to want to work for him and each other. I also believe we will keep our core team together despite the gutter press doing there habitual stirring. Nani seems to be setting up a decent scouting system, of which we should will reap the benefits of in time to come.
All I can wrap this up with is, the future is bright the future is Claret and Blue.
Good post from Basildon Bob. Don’t wait too long before your next one.
Welcome to the land of posting, Basildon Bob.
You’re right with the marking, but I felt for the first goal the crucial moment came when Joan Collins decided that Owen was going too far away from the area for him to follow him, decided to head back into the area but didn’t appear to ‘pass him on’ to Behrami for marking. I think if Behrami had been a bit more switched on he would have picked him up, but it was a moment’s lapse that cost us dearly.
A wonderful saving tackle by Upson was the highlight of the game for me, but then as a defender I really appreciate that side of the game.
Thanks Upton Spark, will try to
Graybo, yeah forgot about the cracking Upson tackle, certainly one of the best centre halves we have had in recent times.
MESAGE FOR AGENT ARRY , another successful mission, well done continue the good work and soon religation will be yours!!!
E1…
he-heh… nice smile for Monday morning… thank you.
Morning all. A bit quiet on here. 2nd bid for Bellamy refused and Zola looking to tie Ilunga up for another two years. I have to say, apart from a couple of small lapses, Ilunga has fitted in really well and seems very comfortable in the Premiership. He looks a real West Ham player.
Good to see Arry embroiled in a relegation battle, it couldn’t happen to a nicer man. The transfer business of Defoe was hilarious and could only happen at a club that pays 17m for Bent and 15m for Bentley. They really look poor and, at this moment in time, look a decent bet to go down at 14/1. 🙂