Wigan 1 West Ham Utd 0 (02/02/08)

[Phil S]

with the pitch as bad as it was and Wigan players giving us no time on the ball it's no wonder we struggled.

I want Aston to be a West Ham player but he really isn't worth a place at the moment, not even on the bench.

4 5 1 would have allowed Solano to start, with Bellamy coming on later to try to win the game

why Cole keeps getting subbed is beyond me

a bad day at the office, and even the pies supposedly the best in the prem weren't all that!

[dodger]

My thoughts in a nutshell:
**** pitch, first poor performance since Everton, that's life, haven't lost much ground on teams above, Man Utd got a last minute goal against the Spuds which was funny, move on.

[Devils Advocate]

But saying that, no one did & i was more worried about how little we was getting the ball to Ashton in the first place..

Which is in large part due to Ashton not appearing to be willing to move to receive it. He doesn't seem to be looking to get himself into space, and if the ball is played more than a yard either side of him, he more or less waves it goodbye. Heaven forbid that we should play the ball more than 3 inches above his head either, that simply won't do!

I'd love to see the Ashton we'd thought we'd got when he first arrived, but I don't think we're going to now. Something is definitely wrong with him, Whether it's mental or physical or a bit of both I don't know. However, the excuse of lack of fitness following the injuries is wearing very thin. He's now got quite a few games under his belt in the last couple of months, and there is no sign of improvement.

[SL]

Not read any of the thread but here are my thoughts.

I was very disappointed to see us start 442 with Deano and Cole up front. Why on earth would you change a winning team and a winning formation which is performing well and getting results? Cole should have been up top on his own with Deano and Bellamy on the bench.

I was very disapointed by the performance in general. 2nd to everything, didnt look up for it and didnt look at all comfortable playing 442. No gameplan or general idea of who was doing what.

Deano's performance was disgusting imo. Looked like he couldnt (or didnt want to) walk let alone run. Awful body language aswell. How on earth he stayed on and Cole got subbed I will never know.

IMO Mullins is not good enough and simply dosnt have enough about him to play in a 4 man midfield. He looked lost, gave the ball away easily and worst of all he was getting caught in posession. He can do the job of just sitting in front of the back 4 in 5 man midfield but imo he isnt good enough to do much more than that.

I thought Bellamy looked sharp and did more in 20 minutes than Ashton did all game.

[Bobby Orangeboom]

But saying that, no one did & i was more worried about how little we was getting the ball to Ashton in the first place..

Which is in large part due to Ashton not appearing to be willing to move to receive it. He doesn't seem to be looking to get himself into space, and if the ball is played more than a yard either side of him, he more or less waves it goodbye. Heaven forbid that we should play the ball more than 3 inches above his head either, that simply won't do!

I'd love to see the Ashton we'd thought we'd got when he first arrived, but I don't think we're going to now. Something is definitely wrong with him, Whether it's mental or physical or a bit of both I don't know. However, the excuse of lack of fitness following the injuries is wearing very thin. He's now got quite a few games under his belt in the last couple of months, and there is no sign of improvement.

Yeah you're right, i don't know what is wrong with him but something definately is & want the same as you IE The Ashton we thought & seemed to have when he first joined.

For the first time since he's been here, i'm thinking things about him.

[Langley Hammer]

I don't know but he didn't have a good game..

But saying that, no one did & i was more worried about how little we was getting the ball to Ashton in the first place..

Agreed, I did notice that as well. Some of the first touches were not good either. One incident I seem to remember is Freddy crossing the ball in from the right and no-one was in the box. This has been a constant feature of our poor game and needs to be addressed.

Have we given up as we are in mid-table mediocrity? Is there nothing left to play for so we have just given up?

[cockney hammer]

have to say that something is not right there with deano perhapes he does not want to play for us anymore? i think he will be gone in the summer looks like we might get bent form the filth if the rumours are true..

[Bobby Orangeboom]

Agreed, I did notice that as well. Some of the first touches were not good either. One incident I seem to remember is Freddy crossing the ball in from the right and no-one was in the box. This has been a constant feature of our poor game and needs to be addressed.

Have we given up as we are in mid-table mediocrity? Is there nothing left to play for so we have just given up?

That would lead to Ashton as you can't really blame Cole, he done the same amount of running & dropping off for the Ball as he does when playing on his own up front..

[Dannyboylister]

Ashton made a couple of good near post runs but freddie then solano seemed more intent on finding nobody on the opposite wing. Good to have Bellers and Nobby back they work well together.

[Pete Beale]

2 incidents of note.....

Carlton Cole lost the ball in the Wigan half and chased the player back 30 yeards before winning it back with a good solid tackle to prevent a Wigan attack.

20 minutes later Ashton lost the ball in a similar position yet slowly strolled back to the centre circle without seemingly a care in the world as Wigan broke forward again.

Frustrating to say the least.[/quote]
Yup,spotted that.Summed up the day for me.

[hammerbenj]

2 incidents of note.....

Carlton Cole lost the ball in the Wigan half and chased the player back 30 yeards before winning it back with a good solid tackle to prevent a Wigan attack.

20 minutes later Ashton lost the ball in a similar position yet slowly strolled back to the centre circle without seemingly a care in the world as Wigan broke forward again.

Frustrating to say the least.

Yup,spotted that.Summed up the day for me.[/quote]

it's striking the balance lads, cole wins the ball back but we then break so who is up front when we counter back?

cole is not going to be able to then get forward for the attack is he?

it is not a strikers job to run back 30 yards when he loses the ball.


10 out of 10 for effort CC

never gonna be good enough for a top 6 side though.

[WHURS]

2 incidents of note.....

Carlton Cole lost the ball in the Wigan half and chased the player back 30 yeards before winning it back with a good solid tackle to prevent a Wigan attack.

20 minutes later Ashton lost the ball in a similar position yet slowly strolled back to the centre circle without seemingly a care in the world as Wigan broke forward again.

Frustrating to say the least.

Yup,spotted that.Summed up the day for me.[/quote]



the only trouble with the cole tracking back bit is the reality that the tackle at the end of it was his second touch.

both players let the ball sail over their heads on many occasions but at the moment only 1 of them are getting picked up on it. but when yesterday there was a better service into the front two ashton found a team mate more times than cole found his second touch anywhere near himself or a claret and blue shirt.

[Hammer Laffers]

Ant/Laffers/anyone else who went, who would you say was out MOTM? Oh and how did Bellamy look when he came on?

As everyone else has said, Anton, he look assured all the time and had yet another good game. Bellamy looked ok and a match fit one would have scored the chance that he blazed over the bar.

[westhamaaron]

Went to the game yesterday it was absouloutly awful,they really brought us down to there level of play, ashton was toilet he doesnt make runs but when he does his offside, he doesnt jump, his got the touch of a rapist and he doesnt create anything sorry 2 say but his got 2 go, Mullins was **** aswell 1 nil down and he just passes back all the time so negative, neill is ****ing terrible always out of position and gets all confused when going forward i cant stand the bloke how he is captain mustifys me, the positives out of the game was anton and upson,
We need 2 forget this 1 and crack on and not let the scum in north london gain anymore ground on us
Come on you irons!

[Hammer Laffers]

Was terrible...whatever could go wrong went wrong. Even our good attacks ended with a horrid cross.

I saw most of you KUMBers up there actually...Laffers(I think I recognised) at half-time...not happy with the first half .

Why does everyone recognise me?

[il_martello_di_genovesi]

Was terrible...whatever could go wrong went wrong. Even our good attacks ended with a horrid cross.

I saw most of you KUMBers up there actually...Laffers(I think I recognised) at half-time...not happy with the first half .

Why does everyone recognise me?

You must stand out...I recognisd Clarke too...not the others though.

[wolf359]

Was terrible...whatever could go wrong went wrong. Even our good attacks ended with a horrid cross.

I saw most of you KUMBers up there actually...Laffers(I think I recognised) at half-time...not happy with the first half .

Why does everyone recognise me?

I don't know what any of you look like. But I'm sure I squeezed past a few of you downstairs, it was bloody packed. Never had to que up for so long to get in and then out of the bogs at half time.

[ponder]

My thoughts in a nutshell:
sh*t pitch, first poor performance since Everton, that's life, haven't lost much ground on teams above, Man Utd got a last minute goal against the Spuds which was funny, move on.

Innit. It's not the end of the world. We can't expect to go up there and smash them 3-0 every time

Overall, the loss hasn't affected us too negatively. Still in the top half by a 7 point margin, and within touching distance of the teams immediately above us.

[bubbles1966]

Haven't seen more than a fleeting highlights but reading the threads it's difficult not to notice how the midfield's passing always gets slaughtered when Ashton is in the team, but doesn't when he isn't.

The result was again predictable from the team sheets on.

Boa Morte dropped - a mistake - he had been very effective in last 2 games against Wigan. Horses for courses.

Ashton - how many times have the team as a whole failed to score in games Ashton has started this season, compared to when he doesn't? Anyone know?

Cole and Bellamy for me from now on, with Zamora on the bench (playing for reserves Monday).

[hornsey]

seems that ashton was out wide alot yesterday.
why?