West Ham Utd 0 Ipswich Town 1 (27/09/11)

[beckton]

Baldock played a lot of the time as a second right back and using his aerial presence defending corners.

So I don't know who the 2 of the 4-4-2 were meant to be.


I would have stuck him on Bullard, then at least he'd been further up the pitch.

[paulhs1]

Before we all string ourselves up , we started the evning in 4th place, and finished it in 4th place .

Forest are in the bottom 5, Millwall the drop zone .Brighton conceded three in 10 minutes, and with us still to play a fewof the the other sides in the top 6 in the next 6 weeks it's still in our hands to climb the league by our own efforts .

Disappointing result tonight, poor perrromance,but still plenty to play for .

I still think we will win automatic promotion but it will be based on away and not home performances. Something is just not right at home but away we are a real force. Put it down to a number of factors, teams playing their cup final, our system, the way we play, whatever it is, it's just not working at home.

[irving boleyn]

So missed Scotty's bursts.

[The Old Man of Storr]

Is he still calling himself Sam Allardici by any chance ?

[Georgee Paris]

Cole lost his battle and Carew was winning his. Bentley was cack. Brian looked out of shape - so did Linda. Nolan should have scored but was fairly invisible - so was Noble. Bullard played some wonderful balls. Ipswich reminded me of Wigan. We were ****. Sam ****ed it last night. Baldock didn't have a chance.

[Coker]

and what was up with Obrien hel sprint forward then stop turn back every time, why dont any of our players try and run with the ball for a change ,

trouble is we seem so slow in everything we do , time weve worked it out thereve got 11 men behind the ball, so what do we do a toe punt towards Cole, every ****ing time

[JBs Caravan]

I have watched KN @ least 4times in various matches this season,can somebody please explain what
he contributes,apart for waiting for tap-ins ?
Drive....... poor
Tackling ..non existent
Ownership..zero
Delegation...World Class
Goal Scoring...average
Passing....Hayden Mullins clone

[steptoe61]

Hope we dont have to play them in the play off semis again.

[LeOir]

We simply cant kept expecting just to win because theorectically we have better players. We have got by till now and its going come back and bite us if we don't find a way to play and fast. I'm really not certain what our style is yet, currently we are very reminisant of the Curbs era. Got to say the crowds are going to dwindle further with performances like this.

We have to bought numerous players that fit all the positions without two key ingrediants of the modern game, creativity and pace.

I'm left very flat watching us even when we win, some excitment please.

[hawkins_hammer]

We were dire for twenty minutes, forced our way on top by using Cole better (actually passed to his feet a couple of times!!!).

Second half we came out the stronger team but the second he took Cole off we lost all impetus and the game could have gone either way.

Ultimately we were mugged, that's Allardyce's winning mentality for you.

[Smudger1]

Just couldn't face posting last night, far too down

That performance has been coming for the past month, I really didn't expect to be saying lack of passion, lazy, thoughtless, tactically inept, over inflated belief in their ability even arrogrance about an Allardyce side

Big Sam got a few things badly wrong last night, the experiement even thought it only lasted 20 minutes of playing 442 was the wrong game to choose. I know there have been lots of calls for 442 myself included but against a midfield of Bowyer, Bullard, Andrews and Leadbiter having not played the formation all season was asking for trouble. It put us on the back off from the off and we never recovered.

Playing Bentley on the left, he has a fantastic right foot but no pace or left foot good for anything more than standing on, on the right flank his ability to create half a yard allows him to deliver decent balls into the box but on the left that half a yard disappears as soon as he pulls the ball back to his right foot. Our third formation change in the first 45 minutes did see Baldock and Bentley switch flanks but only for the last 5 minutes of the half.

Cole who was back to his worst in the first 45 was probably out best player in the first 15 minutes of the second, the understanding with Baldock was starting to develop, a couple of nice runs, good hold up play and a left foot shoot that would of done Bentley proud. I hope it was only Cole needing recovery time form his cold that forced that the Carew change.

I'm not even going to start on Cap't Fantastic or this will turn into War & Peace beyond saying he looks a yard off the pace, hopefully his legs haven't gone but at the moment there is to much arriving a split second too late or not fully closing players down.

The good news is the Baldock looks a bright propesct he had a good touch and looked confident, if Sam can get him playing 30 yards further up the field rather than as an auxiliary fullback things will improve.

Hopefully last night will prove to be the necessary kick up the arse that shouldn't be needed but clearly is; am I ever looking forward to Saturday now and the return of 4-5-1.

[ricko]

Can someone tell me why we signed Montenegro on loan? The fact he is on loan would suggest we expect him to make a first team contribution this season. I thought he was meant to be a super speedy left winger?

Why was Bentley (right footed right winger) preferred on the left to a player we signed as cover for that position?

Also, why is one of our brightest, creative young players playing on loan at Notts County when we have been crying out for this kind of player over the last few weeks???

[Scaloni Is The Messiah]

and what was up with Obrien hel sprint forward then stop turn back every time, why dont any of our players try and run with the ball for a change ,

I'm 99% sure he was told not to run too far forward by SA. You could see his eyes light up every time he saw space then suddenly stop, pass and shuffle back into position. Only explanation as he usually loves doing it.

Overall, by far the worst showing of the league campaign so far for me. Incredible how few chances we created, given how much time we spent in their half. Very concering signs. Not least that we've scored one goal (a penalty) in three games against sides who are likely to finish halfway down this league. That's not good, given the attacking talent we've got. We didn't look like scoring once last night. Cole was outmuscled and outjumped every time, and still we persisted with hoofing it straight to him, until Carew came on. When he did, we did exactly the same thing, though he did win a few headers (though about 5% actually went where we needed them to). It's just thoughtless football. There was a lot of space in midfield we could have exploited. On the one or two occasions we passed it around in midfield, we had them running ragged. Then straight back to nervy passes back to Green and huge pumps upfield to the big man.

I don't believe Allardyce is solely a long-ball merchant, but last night was a time where it was clearly the wrong thing to be doing and he did nothing to change it.

Carlton is an odd one. Looked so comfortable in this league until the Millwall game, and suddenly he's got the same nervous demeanour he had last season, where he seems to expect to lose every challenge and miss every shot. We need him firing if we're going back up. Sam needs to get him back where he was as a matter of urgency. That's what man-management's all about.

[stubbsy07]

Piss poor from start to finish. Never felt we were going to score.

The full backs are poor. O'Brien isn't a very good player. McCartney's delievery is shocking and he is ****ing slow aswell.

Midfield are constantly over run, despite in most games have a extra man in there.

Never looked like scoring.

Centre Halves done well.

[Romford]

I bumped into Brian Dear on the train home tonight FWIW. Reckon we'd have looked sharper with him out there...

We'd look sharper with Brian the Snail upfront

What size is Stag these days boss.... ?

[Romford]

At least we've got an easy October coming up

f***s sake, losing to a team who got dicked 7-1 at P'boro is a shambles.

But then, we beat P'boro 1-0

?
?
?

Profit?

Whats happened to your mate Lansbury ??

[Romford]

Didn't Bentley on the left do exactly what Bentley on the right normally does (fail to play the simple ball, tart around and bottle challenges) with the added problem not being able to cross on his right foot?

UTJ - did Allardyce do a press conference after the game?

Obviously some on here are being very quiet about Bentley...

Show pony who has very few tricks....and no pace (and can't beat an egg)

[Romford]

Cole lost his battle and Carew was winning his. Bentley was cack. Brian looked out of shape - so did Linda. Nolan should have scored but was fairly invisible - so was Noble. Bullard played some wonderful balls. Ipswich reminded me of Wigan. We were sh*t. Sam f***ed it last night. Baldock didn't have a chance.

I thought Cole did well considering...better than Carew

[Hambrosia Stu]

Carlton is an odd one. Looked so comfortable in this league until the Millwall game, and suddenly he's got the same nervous demeanour he had last season, where he seems to expect to lose every challenge and miss every shot. We need him firing if we're going back up. Sam needs to get him back where he was as a matter of urgency. That's what man-management's all about.

It may have something to do with how he is being used,
It must get pretty soul destroying having no support, and the only supply being high balls hoofed in the general direction of his head, that he has to compete for, knowing that even if he wins the ball against 2 central defenders, there is nothing he can conceivably do with it, as he has no one near him, no one making runs past him to flick it on to…

He’s has at least 2 seasons of that ****, so no wonder if his head drops at times

I’ve felt for a long time, that to get the best out of Cole you need to use him as Pardew used Marlon Harewood. Marlon was a big, powerful striker, but hopeless in the air. Sure, Cole is a lot better than Marlon ever was in the air, but Cole’s strengths, imo, are receiving the ball to feet (or chest, or anyway he can actually bring the ball quickly under his control). Once he’s got the ball at his feet, he has the strength to hold defenders off, turn them and run past them or play someone in, or hold it up and lay it off

[The Gibbins]

What i also dont understand is how predictable everything is. We pass the ball between back four and then a hopeless ball up to Cole, where im not really sure what he is supposed to do with it. It's head height and he has 2 marking him, and Baldock (although he made some good runs) was playing on the right wing ffs so nowhere near any flick ons or loose balls.

Every set piece, no matter the angle is going to Tomkins. He has certainly been a threat, but we have done this for about 6 matches now and im sure teams have sussed every corner is going back post if i can.

We have Noble, Lansbury, Bentley, Nolan, Collison etc in midfield, how can we not play football at home like Ipswich did? Every game this season we have played like an away team, we couldnt string any passes together.