West Ham Utd 2 Reading 4 (31/03/12)

Relive every moment of every first team game since the beginning of the 2005/06 season. Our archive of matchday threads originally posted in the General Discussion Forum.

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prophet:marginal
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Re: West Ham United v Reading: Match Thread

Post by prophet:marginal »

Faded & Dead wrote:I've a horrible creeping feeling that Birmingham are set to give us some heartache, same as last year, in two or three games before the season is out...

They would give us two competetive games, for sure.

But, after last season...

I was going to say that we owe them, but we don't... Our players owe US to make sure they get a result against them...

Seriously, they are in my mind well-equipped to beat any team over two legs, but I think our teams' paths might not cross unless we reach the playoff final.

It wouldn't surprise me to have the 3-6 places line up like this

West Ham / Reading
BCFC
Brighton
Blackpool / Hull / Cardiff.

I'd sooner miss Cardiff; they've lost at Wembley more than once in the recent past.
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Re: West Ham United v Reading: Match Thread

Post by hammer »

Up the Junction wrote:ps. I'd just like to say "hello" to the young lady I had the pleasure of sitting next to today, should it be that she posts on here.

West Lower, seat N169, cracking sausage rolls, more clued up than your average supporter :)
Katie wrote:Thanks G, I thought you had a nice penis bulge too. Xxx
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Re: West Ham United v Reading: Match Thread

Post by the pink palermo »

carnage wrote: I know everyone is down after a poor defeat but everyone appears to have thrown the towel in.
Not me Carnage .

I wasn't at yesterdays game but the considered opinion of everyone I have spoken with who was at the game was

A. I was stupid to miss it , and
B. We bossed the game for 43 minutes and yet again missed several chances .

Time to hold our nerve .
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Re: West Ham United v Reading: Match Thread

Post by Romford »

FrankieMacsPerm wrote:
Scholari? Beckenbaur?
They won the World Cup...so obviously they are in a different league
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Re: West Ham United v Reading: Match Thread

Post by Posh-Hammer »

I understand what you are saying Carnage but its loosing valuable points to all the other teams who we realistically should have beaten, Doncaster for one, that has left us in the position we are now, turning our attentions more towards the play-offs. On paper we have the best squad in the division, and I know being on paper doesn't win you games, but expectations were rightly high. After yesterdays poor second half, I am not throwing in the towel, it's just being realistic. I can't honestly say, hand on heart that I feel we could confidentally beat any of the teams in the play-off positions. We were all confident we could beat Watford after thrashing them at thier home ground.
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Re: West Ham United v Reading: Match Thread

Post by Earl K »

I don't think anyone in their right mind would fancy the play-offs, it's a complete lottery, no matter how good you are; I can still see that prize ponce, Poll, not giving us a stonewall pen. against Palace.
I don't see us winning the last 6, but I can't see Reading keeping their incredible run going to the end, either; I live in hope.
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Re: West Ham United v Reading: Match Thread

Post by Pop Robson »

Reading have Leeds, then away to Brighton and Southampton coming up next over a period of 8 days.

While we have Barnsley, then Brum and Brighton at home.

Must be time for us to start a winning home and shake off the negativity. BFS has to take some of the blame for the negativity by dragging on the situation with his comments this season, lets shake hands and forget it.
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Re: West Ham United v Reading: Match Thread

Post by Dwight1970 »

swash wrote:Scaloni

The trouble is football has completely changed.

No manager now will be given the time to play good football but without getting results.

John Lyall would not have lasted half as long as he did in the modern day environment.

I'm afraid too many posters on here are stuck in the past

Surely you cannot deny football has changed, had it been the same John Lyall would have probably been sacked after relegation in 1978 and if he had survived could you imagine the abuse he would have on forums like this had they been around for not getting the best squad in the Division 2 promoted in 1978/9? Today he would have gone in those circumstances and look at what would have missed out on. The finances in football at clubs like ours allow very little time to build anything every week for years it has all about survival or promotion for us with money being the main focus not football. Years ago some well run clubs almost accepted relegation as an acceptable route to rebuild teams today you would probably be classed as an idiot for saying that. Now relegation is like a prison sentence and you need to escape ASAP, this is why we appointed BFS and anyone who thought we realistically had any other option is deluding themselves, if it turns out BFS couldn't get us up I doubt anyone would have. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and maybe we could have appointed a promising young manager but as with Pardew we might have had to accept that promotion might not happen for a couple of seasons, had we done that I doubt the fans would have turned up in numbers to see a side in transition losing as many as we won and therefore financially the club probably thought that route too much of a gamble rather than going with someone like BFS.
So many keep banging on about the likes of Norwich, Swansea and Southampton and the way they are achieving success but look where those clubs have been over the last few seasons and where the building started, we could do the same but how many of us would suffer for relegation and League One football to kick start it.
I don't like the fact BFS was appointed and if he fails to get us promoted then should feel he has failed but we really shouldn't assume that anyone else would have. I would happily go back to the days when someone like Lyall would be given time to do his job but those days are gone for a club in our position and I struggle to think what we could have been different this season by the board.
Football on the pitch stopped being enjoyable for me long before BFS turned up, with the exception of one season under Pardew not since Harry was manager can honestly say that going to the Boleyn Ground was not a good experience more often than not so let's not kid ourselves that BFS has come in and ruined it all. The main difference to me was in the past was fans had a different passion and the ability to entertain or even laugh at ourselves in times of struggle nowadays we rarely demonstrate any of that making the atmosphere somewhat different and in my opinion for the worse, I am not blaming supporters for this just trying to say football is different be it on the pitch, in the stands or in the boardroom and we kid ourselves if we think things were cherished in the past are really there in the game today especially at the top level.
At the end of the day maybe it is League One, administration and a clean slate that we need to get our so called West Ham back because even if we do go up I can only see the same arguments being on here next season that we have seen for over the last decade, so come on then who fancies Orient away in the League in a couple of years?
Sorry for boring all those who have read this all the way through but I think the problems at our run a lot deeper than what happened yesterday or even with promotion will not go away so needed to get off my chest.
West Ham United we are a special club and the atmosphere at the Boleyn Ground can really influence the results on the pitch sadly for some time it has been in negative way rather than a positive one, as fans I think we really need to accept whether we want to support West Ham United or a non descrpit Premier League team, if it is West Ham I think the atmosphere will return quickly but if it is the latter we might have to wait until a rich Arab rolls up to improve things.
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Re: West Ham United v Reading: Match Thread

Post by COYI »

It's same points deficit between us and Reading as last weekend - minus the game in hand obviously - we are now 3 points closer to 1st place.

Try to stay positive.

:crest:
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Re: West Ham United v Reading: Match Thread

Post by hadleighhammer »

sutts07 wrote:As good as the first 40 mins was, we were 2-1 down at half time when he decided to throw on another center half as replacement for Noble...
Spot on. Just cannot understand it. Didn't work aswell that's for sure.
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Re: West Ham United v Reading: Match Thread

Post by hadleighhammer »

Morocco Mole wrote: Jay Roberts was the best centre forward on the pitch today by a mile. I love Carlton to bits but Roberts is everything Cole should be but for some reason isn't. Aggressive, cynical, direct and a proper nuisance. Over 90 minutes he absolutely ******* destroyed 'The Beast' today as he has done to every other West Ham centre half that's ever tried to mark him.

Very underrated...we should have signed him years ago.
Sam would only play him right wing anyway.
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Re: West Ham United v Reading: Match Thread

Post by NorthBankAlliance »

No one can blame the home support backed the team as always to have the usual shoved back in our faces. Fair play to reading they done a job on us and have some proper decent players playing for their club, at least we ain't got a fanbase like theirs though on the upside!
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Re: West Ham United v Reading: Match Thread

Post by mattjp »

We played really well first-half, conceded twice and then Sam made a mind-boggling half-time substitution that sums him up as a manager. 2-1 down in the biggest game of the season and he brings a centre-back on for a midfielder and pushes his best defender into a midfield position. Contrary to popular belief, the problem is not that we don't play on the floor, it's that teams are set out too defensive-minded too often.
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Re: West Ham United v Reading: Match Thread

Post by joyful »

Does anyone know if Noble was really injured?



How come the crowd seemed reasonably supportive but we still lost?

Sam, Why haven't you delivered on the bare minimum things we appointed you for--- stopping us giving stupid goals away and closing out games from winning positions?
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Re: West Ham United v Reading: Match Thread

Post by Wheels »

I was at the game yesterday and as I saw it, that was the most inept Managerial performance most of us are likely to see in our lifetimes. Avram Grant was an awful manager but he did not claim that he was anything special, Zola is not managerial material although he could be a decent coach. But BFS makes all sorts of claims about himself and slags the fans off at any opportunity but he is a 'One trick pony'. We played well up until they scored their first goal, playing the ball on the floor and looking like we could win by 2 or 3 at least. Then they score 2 quick goals and he reverts to his one way of playing. Diop when he was playing fitted well into the team protecting the back four but he is injured and we do not have anyone else to play in that position, accept it Sam. The substitutin of Noble for Collins was awful, I accept Noble was injured but it called for a more attacking option to replace him not moving our best Centre back into midfield. For me that was our worst performance since Cardiff away in 2004 and what a surprise that Jobi McAnuff
was playing for Cardiff that night as well. Sorry rant over I will now try to calm down. Headbanger
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Re: West Ham United v Reading: Match Thread

Post by bubbles1966 »

joyful wrote:Does anyone know if Noble was really injured?
Allardyce says 2 week thigh strain - :arry:
How come the crowd seemed reasonably supportive but we still lost?
We played well for quite a lot of the game, it was an important match, and Faubert aside - no one had an absolute 'mare.
Sam, Why haven't you delivered on the bare minimum things we appointed you for--- stopping us giving stupid goals away and closing out games from winning positions?
In fairness, he was quite right in saying that the game was the complete reverse of what normally happens. We did create quite a few decent openings - the forwards scored a couple - but the defending let us down.

They just looked stronger and fitter than us as the game went on - and he's made some mistakes in the way the squad is constructed (IMO) which leaves him with a lopsided bench and the inability to close games out.

The kind of West Ham that used to lose to Bolton.
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Re: West Ham United v Reading: Match Thread

Post by steptoe61 »

Once again a West Ham team bottles it in a big game,nothing new there
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Re: West Ham United v Reading: Match Thread

Post by joyful »

The kind of West Ham that used to lose to Bolton.
exactly! But he takes and has taken no responsibility for this. I didn't see the games against Watford or Doncaster but, if he'd come out after those games and said. "We should be beating teams like that. I must take responsibility and work hard to put it right" I might be inclined to cut him some more slack.

But he has set himself up as the be all and end all and blamed individual errors/refereeing decisions/the crowd/ etc, etc all season while taking every opportunity to have little digs.

It's time for him to discover a] where the buck stops and b) just a little humility.
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Re: West Ham United v Reading: Match Thread

Post by bubbles1966 »

joyful wrote: It's time for him to discover a] where the buck stops and b) just a little humility.
Don't hold your breath, Joy. :lol:

He doesn't do modest and self-effacing.
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Re: West Ham United v Reading: Match Thread

Post by Puff Daddy »

joyful wrote:Does anyone know if Noble was really injured?



How come the crowd seemed reasonably supportive but we still lost?

Sam, Why haven't you delivered on the bare minimum things we appointed you for--- stopping us giving stupid goals away and closing out games from winning positions?
That winning position was never a winning position. It is true to say we dominated the first 30 minutes or so and we pushed for the second that never came, largely due to Matty Taylor putting over too many crosses in the air, when a belter across the floor along the 6 yard box just in front of an on-rushing attacker would probably have brought the rewards our play deserved. As it was, it was always obvious to me, Reading would have a spell in that game, because every team always has its spell in every game. So at 1-0, we always needed that extra goal and had we got it before half time as we needed to, our lead was always tenuous
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