West Ham Utd 0 Tottenham 2 (08/12/08)

[neil_d]

Gutted. I'm sure we finished the game with 4 strikers on the pitch, but still decided to try to pass it from our goal line to theirs. Got fed up of just thinking "someone bloody shoot"! (And why the hell was Di "Every time I get the ball I'll lose it" Michele doing up his bootlace at that freekick?!) Ah well, **** it, roll on next Sunday...

- Neil

[Essex bill]

Just got back

And who says getting behind the team and creating an atmosphere helps the performance of the team??! 'We are West Ham's claret and blue army' ringing out around the BML loud and proud for a good solid fifteen minutes and we completely cave in and concede a goal! Think i might start booing from now on....

Fair play to the spuds, they done a job on us this evening. They are only marginally better than us but at least they showed signs of going forward and having a shot.

We need some strikers, when was the last time one actually scored?

**** this, i've got a sore throat for them *****, the one fixture of the season i want a win more than any other and they play like that. You test my patience sometimes West Ham!

[shaunieboy]

Just remembered we could have been 2-0 down in the first half, Modric in the first minute, clear sight of goal. And Pavylenchenko or whatever his name is hitting the post. Anyways here a quote from Zola :

I understand the fans' frustration. We gave everything to make them happy.

You could have fooled me, I did not see a team give everything tonight

[garyloz]

It really seems like that is the problem with Faubert. Most of his faults are mental...the way he avoids challenges when dribbling in the open field...the way he passes to the other team when no one is closing him down, and then puts in a killer cross a moment after coming to split second stop minutes later (albeit many, many more minutes).

As the season's progressed, those mental faults are still there. Still, he seems to have become a better player. I hadn't seen him dribble around a single defender up until these last couple of weeks. He's getting more crosses in. Mental issues aside, he is an ideal wingback. He's rentless in defense, is quick, crosses well, and gets pretty high for someone typically covering a shorter player. Sure, the C&B specs are on but I don't think this is much of an overstatement.

Hang on, this is Julien Faubert you're talking about, right? The bald French one? Don't seem to recognise the fella playing on the right from your description.

Just got back and unfortunately tonight panned out just how I expected. Let's face it, if Sunderland and Liverpool had taken their chances we would have had similar results there too.
It's a familiar story, flattering to deceive with pretty passes in our own half but once in the final third no movement and precious little goal threat. Everyone wants to be holding the ball up or laying it off to someone else, no one is driving into the box to support Cole or Bellamy.
We never looked like scoring tonight and once we went a goal behind that was game over. We knew it, the players knew it and Spurs knew it too. Zola panicked and threw the slippery Di Michele on. Did he actually complete a pass? He seems to have no spatial awareness whatsoever. He appears to be completely unable to read the flight of the ball. I am beginning to suspect he may be blind in at least one eye.
Best chant of the night? Spurs singing "1-0 in your cup final" they were bloody right too. I bet Lampard and Cole are relishing Saturday's Zola love-in, to be followed by a meek handing over of three points and about four goals.

[Essex bill]

Oh i nearly forgot, where did that stewards jacket come from in the BML??! Great laugh, brought back memories of the broom from last year!

[sutts07]

Thought the whole thing was just very uninspiring to be honest!

It looked for a good hour like two poor teams playing out a poor 0-0 bore draw on a cold night. But then it has to be said they did edge it in the last half hour. I would stop way short of saying they 'outclassed' us though, as some on here seem to think, they simply found 2nd gear and we were stuck in first.
Games are won in key areas of the final third, wingers and forwards spring into life and make something happen. We seem to have a complete lack of class, creativity and quality in the final third. It is hard to get excited when we are on the attack as you can see that it is leading to nothing.
We do not have (and unless a takeover happens soon - will not have) a Joe Cole, Yossi Benniuon, Eyal Berckovic or Paulo Di Canio that can get the ball and light up a dull night with a piece of magic. We do not even have a Julian Dicks type player who is going to get the crowd going with sheer grit and dedication to the West Ham United cause. I honestly struggled to pick out one player out there that cared about that game more then any of the 30 odd thousand West Ham fans in the ground.
Speaking of which i also thought the crowd and atmos (although much better then normal) was not even close to what we should expect from a West Ham v Spurs game under lights, for large spells it was dull. Great in places as we tried our best to spark the boys into some form of life, but i guess its all catch 22... if we are not given anything to get passionate about, it is hard to get passionate!

Very disappointed, massively uninspired and pretty worried!

[one mcavennie]

De Michelle or whatever hes f--king name is, doing he laces up when we have an attacking free kick. What an utter c--t

[King Guy]

To be honest i feel like we played very similarly to the last few games, except we didn't get a result, because at the end of the day the spuds side performed better than liverpool and sunderland did in the past couple of weeks. I know spurs is always a big game for us, but I was only really hoping for a draw considering 'arry's record against us, and our striking options being as piss poor as ever.

anyone that expected more than a draw from the game was being a tad too optimistic, really. spuds have got some world class players and a quality manager to boot, and i don't think the doom and gloom reactions are really justified.

[Joe_B]

The lack of quality over the last 4/5 games is alarming. Having Noble back should help this, we have missed him massively. In some ways we were playing much better attractive, flowing football with the 4-3-3 formation, albeit with terrible results. Since reverting back to 4-4-2, we have looked absolutely awful, albeit with better results...

[Claret & Blue World]

Just got in. Has anyone seen Craig Bellamy since half time?

I thought he went off at one point

Thank god I wasnt the only one to notice.

He's just simply not very good at all is our welsh special needs players

[davids cross]

Still absolutely ****ing steaming about it. Steaming all the way home, couldn't sleep for steaming..............What tepid garbage, ****ing awful, no entertainment, no imagination, deserved nothing. Nothing to take out of the game at all.

[Alf Garnett's (Ex) Missus]

My main concern from last night was that we gave away the ball in dangerous areas and far too easily all game. Every time we fannied about with the 'to-me-to-you' sideways shuffle in midfield we lost the ball - all because we have no-one that can play the ball forward with ANY class.

Faubert is one of the worst players I have seen for an age - slow, cannot dribble, cannot pass, cannot cross and cannot mark or tackle - his positional awareness is ****ing awful. And the reason LBM wasn't brought on for him may have had something to do with the bellends that booed his name when the subs were read out.

The front two do not gel at all - Bellamy chases every ball and is not close enough to CFC when we do knock a ball forward. I cannot see where the next goal for us is coming from personally and it worries the hell out of me.

Last night was a poor game and to be fair but for Gomez' b*llocks it could have been 1-1 and not 2-0, but it pains me to say it that their midfield is a class above ours and I would have anyone of them over Mullins/Faubert.

Upson was quality and I thought Parker was effective in breaking up the game but **** me we are a very, very poor side and I can see the Fizzy beckoning with her siren call unless we start putting some goals together.

[kennyskills]

This was a P*** poor performence. Bellamy shooting from everywhere shows a lack of confidence in his team mates. what we need in January is quality.

[szola]

We lost. We lost at home. We lost at home to sp*rs. We lot at home to sp*rs without even trying, without even going at them. We let sp*rs dominate the play. At home.


It was a disgrace.

[Iron Spine v2.0]

In the heat of the moment last night I moaned that we were ****, awful, turgid, ****, crap, disgraceful and an insult to football.

Having now awoken in the cool air of a fresh morning I must now admit...



















We are ****, awful, turgid, ****, crap, disgraceful and an insult to football.

edit: Come on lets not kid ourselves any further... Zola = Merde with a loveable cheeky grin.

[norfy]

This was a P*** poor performence. Bellamy shooting from everywhere shows a lack of confidence in his team mates. what we need in January is quality.

thats the thing we wont be getting!!!..your benchmark is...ddm...tristan...has been(never weres) lower italian/spanish league rejects on loan!

[Clacton-ammer]

= That is all today.

I don't usually post the day after a poor performance as my feelings are running too high and I will spout more bollax than normal, but Davids the Cross and Mrs Alf Ex are pretty much spot on as I feel today. See what tomorrow brings after I have tortured myself over and over today.

[beckton]

The only positive although not saying much, the atmosphere was a lot better than the Arsenal game.



Where is Sears?

We shouldn't have to rely on a novice striker but he has to be a better option than either Tristan or Di Michele.

What has happened to Collison, our best midfielder a few games ago is getting splinters sitting on the bench.

Mullins is a decent option away from home but lacks any creativity when you need something in home games.

On last nights performance Noble is not a RM, he gave the ball away 3 or 4 times in the space of 5 minutes.

Collison or Noble who can get into the box to support our forwards has to partner Parker in midfield at the very least for home games.


We should have had a penalty for handball yet again it was turned down are we ever going to get one this season.

The ref seemed to point to his chest and although my lipreading skills are not brilliant seemed to mouth, 'shoulder' and then gave a corner.

Having watched ssn this morning Ilunga could have given one away aswell, so maybe it just evened up that decision.


A poor performance and result, worrying times.


.

[Antwerp_Lad]

Still pissed off