ACSF: West Ham Utd 0 Tottenham 1 (29/07/09)

[jevs]

Some of you need to calm down.

Yes, we need to buy 1-2 more attackers who can put the ball in the back of the net, but there is no point flying off the handle with a preseason result.

Let's just remember the preseason form of Sp*rs last season, and how they went in the real thing.

Don't think it was the result that pisses people off but the complete lack of effort from pretty much all the team, I just got the impression that they didn't want to be there

Hammer Sandwich

For what it's worth, I've been a fan and season ticket holder since 1973................I thought defensively we looked generally O.K., I thought we looked very lightweight in midfield, we had no creativity, and , apologies to all you C.C. fans , but all the time we build our entire attack around Carlton Cole we are DOOMED ! He can't control the ball, doesn't read the game,can't direct a header, and can't shoot ! I'm fed up with all these " he's a handfull" comments , or "he works his socks off". He's just not up to it, and the sooner Zola realises it the better ! I really appreciate everything Zola has done since he arrived, but he has to understand that Cole is not the answer ! This is not only a comment on today's abysmal performance, but an overall evaluation of the last year or so. Let's get a PROPER striker , and then we might start to move forward !.......... Come on you Irons !

FWIW too, i pretty much agree with all of that. Just my opinion but but i've never rated CC.

[RWJ]

This is why in my opinion Collins is nothing more than average, he went straight to the ball and left Defoe unmarked.

He's slow as f***.

Its school boy stuff, he always manages to cost us a goal.

Really winds me up.

[davids cross]

Playing a biggish pre-season friendly against our biggest rivals was always going to cause a slight over reaction either way. A win and it would be mostly sweetness and light a defeat would only amplify the result. Broadly, the friendlies are about peaking for fitness in a few weeks, bedding in new signings and looking at team tactics. Yesterday did just emphasise some problems that have carried over from last season that haven't been addressed. Hopefully they are going to be dealt with in the coming weeks.

[wolverine]

after watching the game yesterday, i thought i would give my view FWIW

my main gripe was that when we did have the ball, our build up play was so slow and ponderous that the opposition had plenty of time to get men back behind the ball, which then made our task that much harder, we were then having to thread "eye of a needle" passes, which invariably resulted in losing possesion.

the amount of times we played a short 5 yd pass sideways to someone, without actually getting anywhere was becoming tiresome,
i know this was meant to draw out the opposition to close us down, so we can exploit the space behind them, well the tactics worked, they certainly closed us down, and we didn't exploit the space behind, all it did was force us back and back, and then forcing us into a long punt upfield.

well that's my opinion, i only hope we play better againt the chinese team, although it will probably be harder as they are midway through their season.

COYI

[psychoscoredall4]

zola out

[bubbles1966]

my main gripe was that when we did have the ball, our build up play was so slow and ponderous that the opposition had plenty of time to get men back behind the ball, which then made our task that much harder, we were then having to thread "eye of a needle" passes, which invariably resulted in losing possesion.

the amount of times we played a short 5 yd pass sideways to someone, without actually getting anywhere was becoming tiresome,

COYI

Aside from Ilunga, there was no real sign of anyone trying to join Cole.

I get frustrated at the number of times we reach 30 yards from the opposition goal, look up - see no one there, and start retreating.

We are crying out for forwards and a goalscoring midfielder....

[Groundsman]

Thats not your opinion Wolverine, thats actually what happened Not sure what we would have done had Noble not came on, as he is the only one able of playing the long ball option.

[RWJ]

Bubbles

Stanislas,Jimenez and Dyer I think were the other ones as who were trying to get forward, the trouble was we didnt have no ball winning midfielders apart from collison, plus I think they looked tired after about 30 mins into it.

Just couldnt get ball off spurs, as I said spurs looked a fitter team.

Say we got Kovac back, we would then have the trio in Parker,Behrami Kovac to break it up and provide the attacking players.

We only had Noble who isnt a ball winner at all, hes better on the ball than off it. Same with Jimenez and Dyer.

I think Zola has been working them very hard, but as the season starts we will see the benefits of it.

[QuintonNimoy]

The point that most people keep putting across is that Sp*rs looked fitter than us. Thats ok they say, cos Sp*rs are a couple of games ahead of us.

What I asked - and thus no one has answered - is why we are two (plus) serious games away from where Sp*rs, Man United etc are in terms of preparation? And perhaps, Sir Alex et al have it wrong?

I've had a thought. Man Utd's competitive season starts on the 9th. Ours starts on the 15th. Spurs starts on the 16th. Maybe Spurs have it wrong?

[hammerdivone]

Question chaps.

For all of those saying "Sp*rs are a couple of friendlies ahead of us", why is that the case?

Well we did lose one game to the weather, but I still have the feeling we've been a little light in friendlys.

For what it's worth, I've been a fan and season ticket holder since 1973........ apologies to all you C.C. fans , but all the time we build our entire attack around Carlton Cole we are DOOMED ! He can't control the ball, doesn't read the game,can't direct a header, and can't shoot ! I'm fed up with all these " he's a handfull" comments , or "he works his socks off". He's just not up to it, and the sooner Zola realises it the better ! I really appreciate everything Zola has done since he arrived, but he has to understand that Cole is not the answer ! This is not only a comment on today's abysmal performance, but an overall evaluation of the last year or so. Let's get a PROPER striker , and then we might start to move forward !.......... Come on you Irons !

So Cole has been rubbish over the last 12 months you say? In the words of the great Chuckmeister, the things you learn...

[Henry Hill]

The not being fit enough theory is fine other than one thing: We didnt fade after an hour or 20 minutes, we were utter cack from the first minute.
It was ALL tottenham throughout the entire game. We didnt have any spells where it got any better. Thankfully, like a few posters said, Tottenham's finishing was so woeful it stopped a very, very embarrassing scoreline. They closed us down and we didnt wanna know. It was sideways, backwards, and then back to Green to punt long to give it back to them.

There was zero movement - and I mean none - when we got possession. Nobody moved for anyone. Everyone was walking. Okay, the humidity effected them, but Tottenham weren't playing on the part of the pitch with air conditioning were they? It was the same for both teams. ALL of our players looked completely lightweight and with no clue which direction they were supposed to be facing or position they were supposed to be in - Jiminez, Dyer, Stanislas, Collison, all the same, tackled too easily and didnt have any clue what to do to make things better.

Nothing changed when Noble and then Parker came on (apart from Noble clashing with O'Hara). Or when Hines or Savio or whoever else we brought on. The last too showed a bit more keeness and urgency - but that just meant they turned into trouble and lost the ball quicker.

Anyone watching the game will remember this bit. At one point in the second half we tackled them on the edge of our box and broke to the midfield and Tott were caught upfield and we had numbers already higher up the pitch - I thought, ah, here we go, a swift counter attack? - No. They took about 19 f**king passes back and forth across the centre circle among 3 players in space, and then went backwards - enabling the entire Tott team to get back into position behind the ball - then, when Tott were finally back in positions, they went forward and promptly lost it. Time to put the kettle on and I wished Id stayed in the kitchen.

Friendlies might not mean anything. But they have to be a pointer if you are good or *****. If the players were overworked ahead of this match then that might have played a part - because we looked leaden and knackered the moment we took the field. Like they'd all just eaten a big five course meal and couldnt run. So either the humidity, the soft pitch or over-training played a part in making them all look listless and clueless -- or, if it didnt, we have got big, big problems ahead.

Henry

[mushy]

I mentioned Sky in response to Mushy's point about "unknown" players. There are very, very few unknowns out there now.

I agree that the results dont matter. What matters is:

A - The performance
&
B - What was learned from it.

The performance - from what I have heard - was truly awful. It was said to me that if we had lost 5 nil we couldnt have had any complaints. What was learned from it, only Clarke & Zola know.

What concerns me - as I might have mentioned - is that we seem (fitness wise) to be so far behind Sp*rs. That (not why we lost a friendly, which I agree is by the by) is what I am trying to understand.

I would like to think - with all the humdrum surrounding Pintus etc - that we are in this (fitness) position by design, rather than having been suprised by how fit Sp*rs were. I'd hate to think that Zola was expecting us to be outrunning them, only to get our arses spanked.

Are our fitness team the only ones who really know what level the players should be at now, seeing as we seem to be doing a different thing to other sides?

Which is why I said the following in my post 'Now I am not saying for one minute that we have signed another Franke Mac or Mark Ward'
These were relative unknowns at the time and I made the point that its doubtful that this will happen again -which you appear to agree with but still want to argue?
For me I could not give a toss how fit they look now as long as they look fit come the first day of the season.
By the way Orient looked fitter then us in that pre-season game way back when, do you think we should find out who took training then and recommend him to Duckers? .

[dapablo]

It's all a BLUFF in advance of the real match.

[Bobby Orangeboom]

Pre Season or not, i thought it was so pony & just really feasted on my little Treats under my Seat for the 90 mins that i managed to smuggle into the Ground in order to hit Mr Bentley square on the bonce but realised we were too far away..