Alan Curbishley

[EvilC]

I'm not absolving Curbs of blame - I just think it's too simplistic to blame him for every injury. Bellamy to my knowledge hasn't ever been injury prone, and if you're happy to take Fauberts injury as bad luck then surely Dyers must be as well - a long injury record won't suggest a broken leg to a bad tackle unless the player has osteoperosis. Upson as you say has played the majority of this season, so I don't think it's really fair to count last seasons problems in with this seasons, which leaves Scotty and Freddie.

Bellamy has had at least six knee operations through his career.

[giblet]

Neil - a lot of the Curbs signings have been players that have had (to my knowledge) long histories of being injured.

Not quite true, but putting that aside:
This opinion is held by many- that Curbishley bought risky players last summer.

But, what did you expect him to do?

I say again, as far as I could see, he had only 3 choices- buy crap, buy good/risky, or don't buy at all.

When we tried to go for good/not-risky, i.e., Bent & Barton, they didn't want to come. Yes, as it happens, we're above both Spurs and Newcastle at the moment, but at the time we looked like a considerably worse proposition for a player.

We will (if the funds are available!) be able to buy better this summer, as we'll be a better proposition.

I really, really do not understand the continuation of this argument- that "Curbishley bought crocked players, therefore he's ****".

The only counter to all the above is the argument that Curbishely, or the club, should have already been scouting for cheap/good players in Europe. Before the season ended. When we didn't know what division we'd be in. Yeah, right.

Just have some patience.

[capt pugwash]

with all the curbs bashing although some of it deserved, how many of these signings were his and how many were eggys? Curbs: Parker, Bellemy, Upson, Neill. Eggs: Faubert, had to be as we all know curbs has no clue outside of the UK ,Freddie looking for that world class signing same with Dyer. Solano desperation signing. Maybe their not all Curbs fault he's just getting the blame?

[Sloop John B]

I really, really do not understand the continuation of this argument- that "Curbishley bought crocked players, therefore he's sh*t".

I agree, he went for the best that he could get. He risked it and it backfired. Yet, he's still a good enough manager to get a mid-table finish.

Many seem to moan about the signings of Ljungberg, Parker and Upson yet when they have played they've been some of the best players in the team. It's not like these players can't get a game when fit, they usually go straight into the team, simply because they are much better than what we had.

[EvilC]

Not quite true, but putting that aside:
This opinion is held by many- that Curbishley bought risky players last summer.

But, what did you expect him to do?

I say again, as far as I could see, he had only 3 choices- buy crap, buy good/risky, or don't buy at all.

When we tried to go for good/not-risky, i.e., Bent & Barton, they didn't want to come. Yes, as it happens, we're above both Sp*rs and Newcastle at the moment, but at the time we looked like a considerably worse proposition for a player.

We will (if the funds are available!) be able to buy better this summer, as we'll be a better proposition.

I really, really do not understand the continuation of this argument- that "Curbishley bought crocked players, therefore he's sh*t".

The only counter to all the above is the argument that Curbishely, or the club, should have already been scouting for cheap/good players in Europe. Before the season ended. When we didn't know what division we'd be in. Yeah, right.

Just have some patience.

Giblet - I'm not rabidly anti-Curbs, although he wasn't exactly my number one choice. I'm just trying to offer a balance somewhere between "Curbs for Mayor, he can marry my sister any time" and "Curbs is a **** and needs to be sent to Guantanamo".

Is it not fair to say that he didn't buy a good few players that have been subject to a higher than average number of injuries in the past?

I'm not sure how Barton is low risk, ask that kid in the bar in Bangkok.

[Sloop John B]

Is it not fair to say that he didn't buy a good few players that have been subject to a higher than average number of injuries in the past?

I'm not sure how Barton is low risk, ask that kid in the bar in Bangkok.

Double negative there

But I think that's fair, if you mean he did buy players with higher than average injuries. But then if players of that calibre didn't have some issue about them, I doubt they'd have been going anywhere.

[giblet]

But I think that's fair, if you mean he did buy players with higher than average injuries. But then if players of that calibre didn't have some issue about them, I doubt they'd have been going anywhere.

Yes, this is precisely the point.

It's worth remembering that average/poor players also get injured (Davenport, Quashie), so the risk of buying better players who may have had an imperfect fitness history is put into perspective.

I'd say forget about Eggy, his mad enthusiasm, and his promises.

I'd guess (and I can only guess) that Curbishley's aim, privately or otherwise, was to get the team mid-table and look like a better transfer prospect for this coming summer. He is experienced, and has been thinking long-term. There was only ever the smallest chance that we'd get into, say, the top eight, regardless of who he managed to sign.

I'd say that the purchases he made played a big part in achieving that aim.

In the med/long term, he is going for something very difficult- a complete reconstruction of the team, while maintaining at least mid-table- something that quite a few other managers have failed to do.

For a large part of this season, we had an extraordinarily good defence. And, against ManU, we had good part of the possession, and most of the passes were on the deck.

I say that, regardless of the three big defeats, and the toothless display against ManU. The fact is, the above shows the intent- to give us a very good defence and a defence/midfield that passes on the floor.

(You can't have failed to notice that both Upson and Ferdinand, in fits and starts, now make the majority of their passes to feet.)

So, what happens next? Well...we ship out and buy in, not big changes, but hopefully enough to make 10th the minimum, the displays and control of a higher quality, the fitness better.

We will not look "great" when the next season starts, as the starting team will inevitably not have played together in the PL.

I will predict that we will start to look very good and very consistent by the end of 2008. It may be a long time to wait for some...

[Het-Field]

He has had the benefit of a first full season. However there are one or two things that worry me.

1.Injuries. One cant blame him for the injuries. However, one can blame him for buying injury prone players. Honestly, I felt the likes of Dyer,Parker,Faubert,Bellamy,and Ljungberg would take us to the next level. Yes we have gone up by five places. But without seening enough of our new signings we dont know where we could have gone to.

2.Lack of resilliance. Yes we came back from a goal down to Middlesboro,Manure,Fulham etc but we also threw away leads to Brimingham,Reading (Both Relegated), Aston Villa, Newcastle, Bolton, Spurs, Sunderland. We were also lucky to take Derby County out at Upton Park This is a worrying trend, and at no point after Solano's goal today did I feel we were on the way to winning the game.

3.Lack of goals.
Its a vital that we start clocking up more 2-0, 3-0, 4-0 wins. Especially given the strength of our strikers. 2-1, 1-0 wins just dont do it, and they dont inspire confidence.

4.Sitting back. When we score we need to go for more. Not rest on our laurles. Sunderland, Derby are two examples of teams who clawed us back before we took them out.

[prophet:marginal]

Curbs got a win or more against half the table...

...room for improvement still, but no doubt he deserves a shot at it again, without the injuries next time...

Derby 6 +6
Boro 6 +4
Fulham 6 +2
Blackburn 6 +2
Reading 4 +3
Birmingham 4 +1
Sunderland 3 +1
Man Utd 3 -2
Liverpool 3 -3
Wigan 1 -1
Bolton 1 -1
Everton 1 -1
Portsmouth 1 -1
Aston Villa 1 -1
Man C 1 -2
Newcastle 1 -2
Spurs 1 -3
Arsenal 0 -3
Chelsea 0 -5

[Fishbone]

Curbs got a win or more against half the table...

...room for improvement still, but no doubt he deserves a shot at it again, without the injuries next time...

Derby 6 +6
Boro 6 +4
Fulham 6 +2
Blackburn 6 +2
Reading 4 +3
Birmingham 4 +1
Sunderland 3 +1
Man Utd 3 -2
Liverpool 3 -3
Wigan 1 -1
Bolton 1 -1
Everton 1 -1
Portsmouth 1 -1
Aston Villa 1 -1
Man C 1 -2
Newcastle 1 -2
Sp*rs 1 -3
Arsenal 0 -3
Chelsea 0 -5

Since when has 9 out of 19 been half

[prophet:marginal]

Since my glass got rounded up, not down.

You stressing over fractions??

[Fishbone]

Not stressing over fractions, just the sort of thing Curbs would point out to us fans.

[prophet:marginal]

How about we doubled twice as many teams that did the same to us, then?

Objective, fair and reasonably good news?

[nzhammer]

bit of a sobering thought, west ham under curbs only managed 6 more points (49) than when relegated under Roader (43) in 2003.

[officeboy]

bit of a sobering thought, west ham under curbs only managed 6 more points (49) than when relegated under Roader (43) in 2003.

It was only 42 points we had in 2003.
And only 35 points from 35 games for the period that Roeder was actually in charge.

Also we were only 8 points off the 5th place in 1999 (57) or 4 points off the 7th place finish (53) we had in 2002

[beex]

I've been shouting , "Curbs Out!" since his appointment but now I think it's time to wipe the slate clean.
There is now a REAL chance of getting some of the "crocks" fit in the mid-season, so I think that the new season is the time to assess Curbs.
Don't get me wrong, I've been VERY unhappy and still am about West Ham under Curbs, but I'm not into banging on about the past.
The season is over now and it looks like he's staying (barring a miracle )
so let's see what happens next year

[nzhammer]

(Scratches head), i was of the thinking we finished on 43, but i stand corrected, but you can see where im coming from! This season was not much better than the relagation year!

[officeboy]

(Scratches head), i was of the thinking we finished on 43, but i stand corrected, but you can see where im coming from! This season was not much better than the relagation year!

But equally, this season was not much worse than seasons where we came 5th or 7th.
And realistically we were a million miles away from coming 5th this season and also never were in any sort of danger of dropping anywhere near the bottom 3 this season either (after all, we got to Fulham's 36 points in January with 15 games to spare)

[hawkins_hammer]

(Scratches head), i was of the thinking we finished on 43, but i stand corrected, but you can see where im coming from! This season was not much better than the relagation year!

Your joking right?
Ian Pearce up front? Half the team not trying? Any memorable games from that season that we won (excusing under Brooking)? Maybe one away at Chelsea but that was it.

[saludo de carlitos]

Curbs left to his own devices buying players = disaster. curbs on shoe string budget = probably ok. point being this is the first time in his career he has had wonga and he has come up short as i thought he would. too many old pals at club now curbs.