West Ham United 0 Reading 1 (04/10/06)

[DannyboyDJL]

The top managers will turn him into a DM mark my words, he has the potential to be world class at that position. Has all the attributes to be very very good just sitting, but not going across the halfway line. After today i'd be tempted to play mascherano and mullins or Bowyer and mullins, we all realised the importance of mullins today.

[If only....]

Nightmare journey and only arrived at half-time. Sitting fuming in the car listening to the new that reading had scored after 80 seconds.

So my comments are based purely on the second half.

Tevez - don't see what he brings to the party. Looks threatening when he gets the ball and advances but just runs at opposition and loses it. No end product by way of shots or assists. Drop him.

Dailly - thought he played well. Distribution was reliable.

Cole - disappointed he did not produce more. Between him Harewood and Zamora we have a poor (certainly out of form, not match fit) strike squad - at least while Bobby Z's lucky rabbit is missing. He is well overdue another freak goal.

NRC - wins a few balls but does nothing with it. No leadership skills visible from where I sit. It does feel like he has the ar*e ache after not getting a transfer.

Gabbidon - better game than many of his recent efforts.

Spector - seemed o have a fair game given the pressure on the team and the fact that he is way off a first choice RB.

Sheringham - some quality touches that showed up many others. I am not a big fan but thought he made a difference today.

Yossi - some lovely touches but none of them lead to a clear shot or a killer set-up ball.

Zamora - not up to it unless his luck is in. Awful cross from a good position to absolutely nobody for example.

Etherington - some decent breaks and crosses. Finishing is weak - lacks confidence, like the rest of the team, when he has th ball in a shooting position.

Carrol - bugger all to do as long as he kept his feet in the mud.

Overall we seemed unlucky to me. Cannot recall Reading having a shot or any pressure. On the other hand we had quite a few efforts that had people out of their seats - mainly once the subs were on.

My conclusion is that we should "park" the Argies and get back to a team built on what we fielded last year as best we can given all the injuries. Spector for Scaloni. Bowyer for NRC? We are missing Ashton and Paintsil gave us the best right side threat for a good while.

[The Boys from the Boleyn]

I dont give a sh*t what our performance was like.

Does anyone think we actualy look like scoring? becuase i sure as hell dont and cant see where we will get a goal from.

And im sorry but Pards the tactical genius decision to just replace the two strikers didnt exactly do much to help...again :roll:

Erm, why exactly? Surely as a West Ham fan you value our paticular brand of passionate, attacking football?

And presumably our performance has to be good if we are to "actualy" look like scoring?

FWIW, i thought we looked decent and were unlucky several times.

Can't remember Cole losing a header which was a real bonus, Tevez ignited the team every time he started to storm forward and Mullins brought in a degree of level headedness that we really had missed.

I also thought Coker had a good first 45, bringing in some of his dynamic runs that we had so sorely missed but he trailed off towards the end and became virtually anonymous.

Positive, but improvement needed.

[PaulTheHammer]

My conclusion is that we should "park" the Argies and get back to a team built on what we fielded last year as best we can given all the injuries. Spector for Scaloni. Bowyer for NRC? We are missing Ashton and Paintsil gave us the best right side threat for a good while.

I completely agree with you on this and was a comment I made to my dad on the way home. Now I think Mascherano in particular could be a success but I am starting to have big doubts on Tevez. Javier seems willing to work for his money and put his head down to graft at what he is doing. On a number of occassions, I saw Tevez grow increasingly agitated with the passing and contribution of his colleagues. I can understand how he feels, because we as fans are just as disturbed by recent results. However, unlike Javier, he doesn't seem willing to accept that people make mistakes and just get on with it. I truly believe that Mascherano is the better team player and the one with the most potential who will be up for the fight if need be. If we are to go back to basics, he is the one I wouldn't want to push out of the picture, Carlos however despite his hard work, needs to sharpen up and roll up the sleeves.

What I did notice was the good work of Mullins who came back in today to do the business. I also felt that Dailly, so often slated by this forum, was a honest professional and battled hard for the lads. He was let down by poor communication from Carroll in the first half which only encouraged my desire for Green to be given a run. Spector was decent as well which pleased me as a new signing and now if only we could get Konch sorted out...somehow...any way possible, please?

[Harveys_HammersLH]

Just got home from the game.

I thought the overall performance was much better. Other than the goal Reading hardly had a touch.

Matty was looking more like his old self, Yossi was lively and Mullins was fantastic. I certainly wouldnt rush Mascherano back, Mullins was far more effective (and im not a Mullins fan).

I didnt think it was any surprise that we looked better thanks to starting with last seasons regular midfield.

NRC was ok in the first half but very poor in the 2nd. I would like to see the same midfield as today but Bowyer replacing NRC (and I am a NRC fan).

Tevez and Cole both looked lively and that partnership could have potential.

We generally looked ok at the back. Dailly was V Good imo.

If we had a bit of confidence we would have won today. We need a break and we need it fast. We dominated today but nothing fell for us.

Agree with the majorty of that SL.

One thing though is you thought Etherington looked back to his old self. I thought he was very poor today (short passes and poor crossing).

[jacko]

Agree with the majorty of that SL.

One thing though is you thought Etherington looked back to his old self. I thought he was very poor today (short passes and poor crossing).

Agree with SL, and harvey, sort of, but I thought Matty started really playing well in the last fifteen minutes. He is a dangerous player when he is on form. He just needs to get his consistency back.

[BMLGirl]

We have nothing down the right. Last season we mixed things up and attacked down both wings, as well as through the centre. I think we've struggled down the right since Repka left, tbh.

It's better when Painstil is playing (although sounds like he's going to be out for a while) but with no-one supporting him fully down the right hand side, Yossi has no inclination to stay out there so drifts into the centre. Spector did OK yesterday, but looked a bit slow and is certainly not someone we will see flying down the wing and overlapping with the RM.

Would like to see Noble back - not sure how long Bowyer is going to be out for, but certainly a few weeks if he's having an op. Mullins and Mascherano would be too defensive together in the middle, and with NRC doing very little in the creative role, we need someone else. Step up young Mark?

For all our possession yesterday, we really created very little around the goal.

[Bulphan Hammer]

It might have been mentioned, but i thought the Reading fans were absolutley **** yesturday. 1 nil up away at a team who's manager walked out on you to go join and they barley sang a song first half. Had the odd "Pardew Out" during the second half but that was about it.

[Harveys_HammersLH]

We have nothing down the right. Last season we mixed things up and attacked down both wings, as well as through the centre. I think we've struggled down the right since Repka left, tbh.

It's better when Painstil is playing (although sounds like he's going to be out for a while) but with no-one supporting him fully down the right hand side, Yossi has no inclination to stay out there so drifts into the centre. Spector did OK yesterday, but looked a bit slow and is certainly not someone we will see flying down the wing and overlapping with the RM.

Pardew said that hopefully Pantsil will be back for the Portsmouth game.

[Hambrosia Stu]

My conclusion is that we should "park" the Argies and get back to a team built on what we fielded last year as best we can given all the injuries. Spector for Scaloni. Bowyer for NRC? We are missing Ashton and Paintsil gave us the best right side threat for a good while.

I've thought that for a good while now. It's like the Jack Charlton scenario. Jack wasn't the 2nd best defender England had(Moore being the best). But he was best at playing the role that was needed alongside Moore

Mullins added the stability you get from knowing the system, what those around you are doing, or are going to do. Sure Mascherano has skills Hayden doesn't, but in terms of keeping the shape of the team, Mullins has to be given an extended run in the side.

Tevez, again has undoubted skill, but it's one thing having the skill, it's another applying it.

I'd definitely play Mullins, and also Teddy. Give them a few games and watch the shape of the side return.

We need to go back to what we're good at(as I hear from virually every interview for the last couple of weeks), but we need people who understand how we play, playing!

So, a spell on the bench for Mascherano & Tevez. When we get our shape and style back, then try to fit them in. In the meantime they could learn a lot from watching how the players in their position are playing, and how we play as a team. Mascher could learn a lot from Mullins. Not in terms of skills, but in terms of movement within the side, and the things Hayden was doing so well for us last season. Likewise I'm sure Tevez would get a better understanding from watching Teddy play a couple of games. How he links with players, what positions he takes up etc

[simon hammer]

I've thought that for a good while now. It's like the Jack Charlton scenario. Jack wasn't the 2nd best defender England had(Moore being the best). But he was best at playing the role that was needed alongside Moore

Mullins added the stability you get from knowing the system, what those around you are doing, or are going to do. Sure Mascherano has skills Hayden doesn't, but in terms of keeping the shape of the team, Mullins has to be given an extended run in the side.

Tevez, again has undoubted skill, but it's one thing having the skill, it's another applying it.

I'd definitely play Mullins, and also Teddy. Give them a few games and watch the shape of the side return.

We need to go back to what we're good at(as I hear from virually every interview for the last couple of weeks), but we need people who understand how we play, playing!

So, a spell on the bench for Mascherano & Tevez. When we get our shape and style back, then try to fit them in. In the meantime they could learn a lot from watching how the players in their position are playing, and how we play as a team. Mascher could learn a lot from Mullins. Not in terms of skills, but in terms of movement within the side, and the things Hayden was doing so well for us last season. Likewise I'm sure Tevez would get a better understanding from watching Teddy play a couple of games. How he links with players, what positions he takes up etc

Spot on Stu. A balanced team is way better than a team of eleven breathtaking individuals who can't play together. A lot of people rate Mascherano much higher than Mullins, and probably rightly so, but the fact is that NRC looks crap alongside Mascherano...yet put Mullins in there and our central midfield works much better, particularly NRC. I'd revert back to the team before Tevez and Mascherano arrived. They are undoubtedly excellent players with masses of potential, any fool can see that, but they don't appear to be fitting into our team which has left me wondering if the both of them going in the Janurary window would be such a bad thing after all?