Manchester Utd 3 West Ham United 0 (28/08/10)

[scaramanga]

[/quote] UTJ Yet the statistics state that we didn't have a single shot on target ...[/quote]

I wouldn't want to presume and talk for anyone else, but for me personally, I saw a majority of lack lustre and to be quite frank, abject displays for most part of the last season.

Today we lost, but saw some patches, albeit small, but patches none the less, where we played some decent football. You are correct we were well beaten by Man U today and that the stats make for poor reading. But we never crumbled and we had a small bit of fight in us, which we never had a smidgen of last season. I think that is why folk are still up beat and holding some hope.

I am not saying I am over the moon with our display, but hey seen a lot, lot worse for the majority of last season, even in games when the stats were in our favour. In some of the games we won; Burnley, Sunderland and yep even Wigan I thought of football was *****.

Stats are stats, but don't beat yourself up with them,

[speculator]

What's the odds on Spector and LBM out the door by Xmas? Something Sullivan should have done in the summer.

[claret and bobby]

Don't really know where to start, I'm gonna try and look at the positives

Dyer looked promising, as did Noble who I think is pivotal for us this year.

I still want to believe in Cole, have always thought he will come really good for us but I really think he would benefit from playing with another striker belong side him. Him and Piq with a midfield of LBM/barrera Parker Noble Dyer could do wonders I think.

SPECTOR!!!!! WE ARE STILL PLAYING SPECTOR??????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[The Old Mile End]

Saw the whole game live here .....and to be honest, though I didn't expect too much out of it...we are just a bunch of weak, easy to beat pushovers.

You might get the odd crude tackle form Noble, but no one puts in an exceptional shift these days. Gabbidon did make a few last gasp tackles, and a couple from Upson, but none in same mould as say Collins used to when he'd put his body on the line to prevent goals etc. We have no "hard man", we have no one who can actually tackle. I find this incredible when you look at a player such as Spector, who has spent his entire career as a defender, and yet actually cannot tackle. What other skills did he have that made some coach somewhere sit up and take notice? Can't fault his attitude though, but why is it that players of such poor technique end up at West Ham?

Until the penalty, we had as much of the ball as they did. We just went nowhere with it though. Quite often we would end a 10 man passing move with a ball back to Green - a feature we did so much last season. Once again, as we showed at Villa, when starting a game with 90 odd per cent of last seasons players on the field, you are going to get the same type of sterile, negative display. Quite simply it is because this bunch of players had played themselves into a corner and do not have the neccessary to get out of it.

If you play last seasons team, you will get last seasons results.

It's only when the new players come on that things change around, but by then it has been too late and the game is being chased. Barrera must be wondering what he has let himself in for.

Unfortunately last seasons lot were so bad, despite being all up for sale, no one wants them. This club needs a total clear out of personnel to get rid of the atmosphere and attitude within it. But with such a lot of tosspot players acting in an unprofessional manner, it will be difficult to shift them. It's hard to remember any club that fared as badly as we did last season, retaining all the personnel that put them there, (managers aside).

We are a financially poor club, that employs rich players with poor footballing attitudes. The stench of defeat is rife within the club and the rut is set to continue. The only way out is for a change in personnel. If we can't sell the non saleable assets, then we have to face the prospect of selling the saleable assets.

[Chicken Run Supreme]

If you play last seasons team, you will get last seasons results.


We are a financially poor club, that employs rich players with poor footballing attitudes. The stench of defeat is rife within the club and the rut is set to continue. The only way out is for a change in personnel. If we can't sell the non saleable assets, then we have to face the prospect of selling the saleable assets.

Totally agree, in essence this is still same team as Zola and we are playing with same lack of confidence and same as last year once we go a goal down you know there is no coming back. Losing becomes a habit just as much as winning and we have 3 days to shift some personnel or I am seriously concerned that we will go down. Sure there are more than 3 teams on paper who are worse than us, WBA, Wigan, Blackpool,Wolves for starters, however, they are all above us and with Chelski up next we could soon find ourselves several points behind the rest.

I was genuinely optimistic pre season and that is fast evaporating. I was hopeful of 4 points after 4 games (1 point at Villa, 3 against Bolton-thought we might break hoodoo- and had written off Manure & chelski) Not sure how many games we will be before 4 points are on the board but game against Stoke is already a huge one and an absolute must win. Spector should not be anywhere near a WHU starting 11, Cole needs a Keane like striker alongside him - Keane has always scored wherever he has played - and if it takes Parker going to enable this and to shore up the defence , then so be it. Clearly this means dealing with Twitchy, but if thats what it takes then the end justifies the means IMHO.

[frankiemac]

We won 5-3!

Seriously, we looked clueless, part of me really wanted us to av a pop at them yesterday, however they had 2 more gears to step up into and we wouldnprobably have been trounced. Shorter odds on Rooney to get a hattrick yesterday than it was or us to win...says it all.

[Earl K]

Just want to say, that it's always a pleasure to read this forum; If the West Ham players were as knowledgeable and passionate about the Club as its supporters, then we would never be in such a mess.
I've been supporting this Club since as long as I can remember, probably around 1963, and it's long held family tradition, with my Father originally living just outside the ground. My brother was turned by George Best, and supported Man U, and I wondered whether I should have done the same, but in reality it was never an option.
Following West Ham is often painful, and it gives me no pleasure to knock them, but ultimately I need to vent my frustration; I am not looking forward to another relegation dogfight, but knowing that the pain is shared by the best supporters in the Country reminds me that in the end it's all worthwhile.

[cockney farmer]

Sorry if I am being repetitive but I cant be arsed to read all the thread. Though considering the length of layoff Gabbs looked promising, though Parker looked like it was his last game for us,thought Noble showed some fight, saw glimpses of Barrera and he will get better Piq need more game time I am sure he will score important goals for us , Spector I am embarrased we still need to play him in a starting 11, although not totally humiliated in reality Manure did not break into a sweat,

[bubbles1966]

.... I saw a majority of lack lustre and to be quite frank, abject displays for most part of the last season.

Today we lost, but saw some patches, albeit small, but patches none the less, where we played some decent football. You are correct we were well beaten by Man U today and that the stats make for poor reading. But we never crumbled and we had a small bit of fight in us, which we never had a smidgen of last season. I think that is why folk are still up beat and holding some hope.

I am not saying I am over the moon with our display, but hey seen a lot, lot worse for the majority of last season, even in games when the stats were in our favour. In some of the games we won; Burnley, Sunderland and yep even Wigan I thought of football was s***e.

Stats are stats, but don't beat yourself up with them,

Agree wholeheartedly.

Same fixture 6 months ago ended with the same result and same scoreline.

However, this one remained competitive longer and we kept going at them as best we could....we kept the ball better......and I can't recall a couple of side nettings and a post being hit last time....... Parker also put one wide from a decent move....

It's only going to take one result, one piece of good fortune and we'll be off and running....

As for the formation - you can see it's 4-5-1 away from home with us trying to break. It will work well against lesser teams than Man U and Villa.

Grant isn't tinkering much - he sees one set up away, and a different one at home.

[[HH]]

It's only going to take one result, one piece of good fortune and we'll be off and running....

Grant isn't tinkering much - he sees one set up away, and a different one at home.

...But still he doesn't know who his right-back is - 3 league games in, and we've had Reid, Faubert and Spector there.

I don't believe it'll be a 'Get one result and we're off' either. Every team that has struggled/been relegated have always shown brief patches of good play, or prolonged periods of domination, but falter because they don't capitalise on their good spell, and that in turn reaps the pressure on the defence even more so. Not great when your defence has been shipping 3 goals per game.

Dyer and Barrera have showed what we've been missing - mobility (never thought I'd say that about Dyer!). Pace gives rise to creativity. I truly hope that Obina's arrival will give us an extra dimension when attacking. We need it.

[bubbles1966]

Agree that right back has been an issue in the away games - i.e when Faubert hasn't played there.

I agree with Hadleigh that Faubert has been pretty poor in right midfield, and pretty decent at right back IMO.

That said, the two bad games have been Reid and Spector against Ashley Young and Ryan Giggs.........

I doubt we'll look so vulnerable against most of the league - and Obinna plus Barrera in wide positions allows Faubert to play right back. I know he isn't everyone's cup of tea but I think he's ok.

[JBs Caravan]

I kept looking over @ the bench expecting to see GFZ & SC sitting there,cos the negative tactics,and lambs to
the slaughter hallmark,was what those two had installed last season !!!
What on earth is going on,it seems 1 or 2 are just plainly going through the motions,i felt the positives were
clearly Dyer & Gabbs .but Dyer gets subbed? how do you explain that one,the greyness that is beyond believe
is the fact we recruit players,and yet they never find their way into the team?so why is this allowed to happen?
they may not be the main targets,but if they are recruited then surely i assume they are good enough to play,there is
no point signing them to play in the stiffs,that league is pure rubbish,so put them in the team
I as a supporter expect to see Da Costa,Reid,Obina,Barrera on the verge of selection no more excuses
I as a supporter expect to see Stanislas,Spector,Sears,Behrami shipped out before Aug 31st
The problem we are in,is created from within,this morning G&S must be asking themselves has AG & Co stamped
their identity on the club,currently no!,the old crap that nearly got us relegated last season is still being involved
AG it has to stop now,otherwise our patience will start to run out
AG ENFORCE YOUR IDENTITY NOW

[WoodgateHammer]

SPECTOR!!!!! WE ARE STILL PLAYING SPECTOR??????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-
Couldn't agree more, I told my boy at the start when I saw Spec's coming out of the tunnel we would without doubt be in the ****.

Lo and behold he gives away a stupid penalty when were still in the game, and then leaves Barbatov for the third.

If Grant wanted to play a five man midfield, why the F*ck play that C*nt instead of Foxbat at RB and Barrera on the right of MF..for ****'s sake please let's not waste two thirds of the season ****ing about with players out of position or indeed players that should even be on the bench.....it's harsh, but for me Spector shouldn't play another West Ham game, he's been a liability for way too long and it showed again.

Rant over, Chelski up next, anyone for us getting beat by more than four ?

[simon1982]

Stop playing that fing 4 5 1. We simply don't have the players to do it. Defensively we are not good enough to contain teams. I'm sick of seeing opposing defences coasting against us, that match turned into a training game at 2 nil and we did sod all about it. Play faubert at rb and go 442. Play 2 up front and have a go! Right now we're the whipping boys and part of it is self in flicted.
The worst result possible is a defeat so if we lose then make we have let them no they've been a game. Another thing I hate is the love in and respect that we show all the so called superstars, just clatter the to**ers instead of shaking their hands while begging for their shirts!!!

[Dubaian Iron]

Watched the match in Israel. Not suprised by the comments on here, in a bad way. When we were getting tonked away from home everyone was screaming out for some Curbishly style tactical discipline against the big four. Well, Grant set us up in the right formation, anything but 451 at Old Trafford would be absoulte madness. I might have thought about a 4-2-3-1, given that at the moment Noble and Parker seem to be our best players... but in reality, we'd probably have been torn to pieces...

We passed the ball well today, and I was impressed with Dyer who hasn't lost much of his pace, and Gabiddon. I haven't seen Parker pass the ball so well for a long time. And Noble impressed too.

But there are two reasons why we lost today. We don't have a recognised right back, and for some reason we played Boa Morte in the centre. He was a passenger the first half. I'd have rather we kept diamanti and used him the centre. If we'd gone it at half time 0-0, I'd have fancied us for a point. But an individual mistake cost us and once behind at Old Trafford... well, there's no chance.

If we don't buy a recognised right back before September 1st then we are in trouble. But tactically, I can;t see what else Grant could have done today.

[Romford]

Lets be honest...

We are sh!t

We don't work hard enough, we lack spirit, we are not getting the best out of any of our players and all that shows as we have not scored a single goal in the League in open play. There is no excuse for laziness and lack of fight.

To see our manager coming out with cobblers at the end of each game is doing my head in too.

I cannot think of one thing to look forward too right now...and after the huge let off last season, i think its a bit of a disgrace.

We need a huge cull...the players are just not good enough and have a poor work ethic.

[Pop Robson]

What's the odds on Spector and LBM out the door by Xmas? Something Sullivan should have done in the summer.

He did, LBM got a new deal, was it 2 years ?

[Romford]

He did, LBM got a new deal, was it 2 years ?

Really sums up our problems...

[ironilunga]

Its not so much the result that pis*es me off but more so the fact that we are going into these games with one arm {or should I say one wing} tied behind our back. For the love of god please sign a RB, this is getting ridiculous!

[bristolhammerfc]

I think the damge Zola did to this club will take a long time to repair. Players were allowed to do what they wanted, disipline was non existent and promises were made that quite frankly were criminal.

Confidence of our younger players has been shot, and no leadership amongst the senior players.

I don't mind players being s*it, we have always had two or three, but they always put in the effort which was forgivable.

What I see on the pitch is players who think and have been told that they are better than they are, players who walk off after a loss laughing and joking then jump in their cars that cost more than most peoples salary and swan off to their big houses and play their PS3's.

I think it is a massive task for the new manager, and don't know what the owners can do to help sort it out other than what they are doing.