West Ham Utd 1 Bolton Wanderers 3 (21/08/10)

[Chuck D]

Without wishing to engage in a debate about Wenger, thats three signings in 15 years. Lehmann won the league with him without losing a game, and Walcott is still a kid who might make the real top grade.

I'm trying to think of a manager - who while at our club - had even a 50% hit ratio on his signings? Pardew maybe?

I think Moyes is a "no nonsense" type, which would suggest that we wouldnt have the type of problems you are getting at, but then, I would have said the same about Grant, or Capello.

But, and I think it could be the real issue, Wenger, and Moyes have the commonality that they are pretty much in charge of their clubs from top to bottom.

We took that away from Curbs, and he left, Zola swallowed it, and we saw how that worked out.

If the club is really going to reflect the manager - as Everton do with Moyes - they have to truly be in charge, and for a good period of time.

[Romford]

Macari and Pardew obviously at a different level...we actually keep to the laws of this country, don't have influence in the government and give a toss about the local community. But thats a different argument.

Grant has a big job here to do...we can all see that. Does he have the qualitities, the tactical nouse (which he lacked today and last week) and the drive to make it work ?

I really don't think the actual players we buy are the problem...its what we don't seem to be able to get out of them.

[BubbleBoy]

I'm resigned to the fact that we will lose our next 4 league games now, but I thought Piquionne and Berrera should decent quality at times.

If we lose the next few I hope we don't lose faith in trying to pass the ball. There were encouraging signs first half

[Earl K]

I always thought that Avram Grant was a strange choice as manager, especially after his experience at Portsmouth. The only thing going for us is that there are at least two teams worse than us, Wigan and Blackpool; I'd be surprised if Grant is still there after 10 games.

[stu1]

re: Parker - at long last we didn't look like a one-man band.....his performance was ok with a couple of real creative moments, and is it perhaps a sign that most of the front 6 actually turned up for the first time in years that some have read that as anonymity?

Very good post

[fmgod]

People say Parker isn't playing as well it's just that he isn't getting noticed as much or needing to do as much. last season everybody was so dire it wasn't hard to stand out whereas today a couple of other players shined/

[Marchweather]

Reid was left with two men and gambled on the wrong one. Not his fault.

It looked to me as he misjudged the flight of the ball and was going to backtrack and then realised he needn't do that....

[Puff Daddy]

Good league home debuts for both Barrera and Piquionne. I thought they were excellent, tore Bolton apart. Unluckily we didn't get the ball into the net in the first half.

.... and due to some woeful defending and hesitant goalkeeping, couldn't keep it out of our net in the second

[Nutmeg]

It looked to me as he misjudged the flight of the ball and was going to backtrack and then realised he needn't do that....

It looked to me like he took the outside man and Faubert didn't challenge his man. In saying that there was no communication between them all so they should all be held responsible.

[Puff Daddy]

and for Elmander and Bolton's third, Gabbidon was found wanting. Not a critiscism, just a statement of fact.

[hadleighhammer]

Thought we were very unlucky yesterday. Still doesn't change the fact we are most likely to be 0 pts from our first 6 games.

Played well with width. Thought Barrera looked good and nice to see Dyer earn his wages for once.

Parker to be fair put a shift in, but I don't think it was a proper 'Parker' shift that we have been accustomed to. Can say the same about Villa. Think there is something up there.

[Northammer]

The match wasn't shown live here in Norway, but in replay at 06.00 this morning - so I stayed away from any news/internet/friends to be sure of not knowing. And during the first half it seemed to be worth the trouble (of being anti social AND getting up early on my day off).

I had a feeling - after watching chance after chance going astray, that if we failed to score before half time, the air would go out of the team, and we'd be vulnerable to a typical Bolton-goal against. And here we are.

BUT, the first half performances from many of the players did show that there is a lot of good times to expect at the Boleyn in the coming months.

I'm tired of focusing on the negative aspects, singling out the mistakes made by this player and that player- and neither is it my job to do so.

As a fan I'm entitled to only draw the positives of this game (something which I, for the sake of my mental health, simply have to do)

[Wade]

I always thought that Avram Grant was a strange choice as manager, especially after his experience at Portsmouth. The only thing going for us is that there are at least two teams worse than us, Wigan and Blackpool; I'd be surprised if Grant is still there after 10 games.

Grant getting stick already

Its the players, not the manager for crying out load!

[irving boleyn]

Load! Aim! Fire!

[solar hammer]

Bar a shaky start, the first half produced some of the best attacking football I've witnessed from us for yonks. It seems everyone knew Cole would miss, me included. It wasn't just the pen miss, the bloke has been utter tosh for a while now, he falls over like a girl at the slightest touch and he's completely off the boil. The second half depended on who would score first and it had to be them.
I'll take the positives, Bolton are our bogey, club, we never beat Villa at their manor and at last with the right formation and starting 11 we saw what we can do in the first half. Now let's make it count with goals.

[Puff Daddy]

Agree a bit with Chuck and Romford.

Virtually impossible to change a players mentality. Bit like people you work with really. There are some who work their b***ocks off. There are some who won't. It doesn't matter what the job is, some people make great lavatory cleaners, some people make great bosses.

You can train people to improve their ability and their decision making and even to a degree their speed. But what you can't change is their work ethic. We have some people who don't give a flying f*** when the chips are down. Great when things go their way, but when they don't you might as well pack up and go home. How many games have we won by coming from a goal or even two down ? Not many that I can remember. Not lately anyway.

I agree with you but that comes down to captaincy. The captain should inspire and raise the team to greater effort after they fall behind in the way Billy Bonds did. We just never see this from Upson, nor any other captain we have had for a while. It is as though the players accept this as another bad day at the office and just hope against hope that something may happen and that somehow, we just might get a goal back. It is so obvious, I don't why whoever happens to be manager cannot spot it and that greater importance and signifcance is not given over to the selection of captain. It seems to me that we just nominate somebody, anybody, for the role as though this isn't really that important, it is just a case of , "we have to have a captain, so who who wants to be captain ?", without first of all, drawing up a shortlist of possibilities and conducting a proper assessment of their strengths and weaknesses and characteristics. The captain is the pivotal person on the pitch. The manager's eyes and ears and ensures that the manager's instructions are carried out, but he should also be able to make instantaneous changes to plan if and when things are not working. This should be so obvious to whoever is in charge, but seemingly, we either overlook it, or go about it completely the wrong way

[w4hammer]

good managers take average players and turn them into well-drilled and organised teams, where everyone has a role/function and knows what he has to do, when attacking or defending- read Hodgson at Fulham....I think Grant did this in parts at Portsmouth- albeit in difficult circumstances, we just need to give him some time, and the players to do as they are told. 38 **** games last season and two this with the same squad says alot, but not all- we will get a settled defence, and we will score goals,....just keep the faith and let fate take its path...

[Pop Robson]

Bonds would have stayed on the pitch yesterday and made sure he got Davies back

[bubbles1966]

good managers take average players and turn them into well-drilled and organised teams, where everyone has a role/function and knows what he has to do, when attacking or defending- read Hodgson at Fulham....I think Grant did this in parts at Portsmouth- albeit in difficult circumstances, we just need to give him some time, and the players to do as they are told. 38 sh*t games last season and two this with the same squad says alot, but not all- we will get a settled defence, and we will score goals,....just keep the faith and let fate take its path...

Anyone who watched yesterday's game, and who failed to see the improvement in our creativity and goal threat must have **** in their eyes. More reasonable efforts in one game than we had for months on end under the previous management.

The next game will most likely be unpleasant unless we sign a good centre half this week.

We'll get closer to Chelsea than any of their most recent opponents.

Come Stoke and Spurs and we'll be in with a chance.

I really don't think we're that far short. A quality centre half alongside Upson will transform us.

I think Grant will get it right - we just need to show some patience.

[hammerbenj]

not a dig but a genuine question.

i read constant slagging off of upson's captaincy on here yet zola and now avram didn't/don't show any signs of changing it, why is that?