LC1: West Ham Utd 1 Aldershot Town 2 (24/08/11)

[e17]

Just saw the clips...what the hell was Matty Taylor doing running into the net on the second goal? Did he think he was playing FIFA? Played everyone onside, too.

Forgivable purely because he was one of the only bright sparks all evening. For the first 5 minutes he came on, anyway.

[Hampshire Hammer]

When I saw the starting line up, I just knew we were gonna lose last night.

Which suggests to me at least one of three things...
(a) Allardyce was more than happy to get knocked out of the League Cup at the first opportunity
(b) He knows next to nothing about the players in his squad
(c) He knows next to nothing about winning football matches in general

Quick question for anyone who knows...
We started the game with 3 defenders, 3 or 4 wingers (depends if you call Sears a winger or striker), one midfielder, and 2 or 3 strikers.
So what formation were we attempting to play?

I admit to being worried when I saw the lineup. I think my son and I spent most of the first half trying to work out our formation.

Having calmed down I think the answer is (a). I'm not sure if Boffin had been told to kick at every opportunity but it looked like some of my worst fears with BFS taking over, kick it long to the big man and look for second ball. The trouble is all too often the big guy either didn't jump or flicked it on to one of their guys.

I thought McNaughton was doing ok until his sending off, obviously a bit green but ok

[frankiemac]

calm down, calm down

sam has just emailed me....we lost cos we had 10 men....no need to panic

all is well!!

[Juliansleftfoot]

if only O'Neil was fit he would be the perfect solution to this

What's the latest on O' Neil? Will he back this side of Christmas?

[TheAlmightyAmmer]

i would have had more respect for him if he came out and seid it was not good enough and seid he demanded they work harder in training or something rather than all that keep it positive bollox

do you not notice that the best managers don't criticise their players in public?

what goes on in the dressing room is a different matter

[the pink palermo]

do you not notice that the best managers don't criticise their players in public?

Unless they are a young CB on debut .

McNaughton didn't determine the composition of the bench either .

[the pink palermo]

Will posters please stop re-hashing desperate snippets of posts designed to work as a 'told you so' and just f***ing let it go.
f***ed off with the same little reverse digs, resulting in re-hashed debates that ended a year ago.
f***.

Yes, I'm talking about that last comment, PP. U GAY

Only just seen this one

Be fair I took one hell of a beating , an absolute battering for nearly an entire season .It was round the clock from 5 different time zones..........

I'll try and restrict it to no more than once a fortnight or so.............point taken = thumbs up thingy

[ashbanki]

Unless they are a young CB on debut .

McNaughton didn't determine the composition of the bench either .

The more worrying aspect to this is that we are a Tomkins or Reid injury away from MacNaughton having to start (Don't worry Sam, you just undermine him and carry on chasing midfielders or putting in bids for numerous forwards!)

[w4hammer]

What's the latest on O' Neil? Will he back this side of Christmas?

i hear he really is in danger of never playing again.

Either way- is he the answer....really?!

[Hockley Hammer]

I didn't see it as Sam having a pop at McNaughton.

If you asked me about the sending off i'd say the same. We had a young defender making his debut, he made an error and tried to make up for it, overdid it a bit and got sent off. It's a shame but he had done well up to then.

They are all facts, why gloss over it, I'm sure Sam will talk to him about it, last night was probably not the best time.

Last year we had a manager in denial about why we were crap or we lost.

I'd say Sam has been spot on of his assessment of every game so far. We should have got a draw v Cardiff, We should have won against Leeds and we should have won last night (at half time). The fact we didn't is because we are West Ham and we don't do the basics very well, especially at home.

[Matt of iron]

Would like to thank Aldershot for not making me sit through extra time.
.

Glad it wasn't just me.

[beckton]

I didn't see it as Sam having a pop at McNaughton.

Nor did I.



All this over analysis of every word spoken and every decision made is all a bit silly.

We would have probably won with 11 men, Allardyce tried a few things and they didn't work.

And people start suggesting it's a chapter from the bloody Da Vinci Code.

[cockney farmer]

It the way we do it , looking forward to Sunday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XQzQYFYfy8

[PrinceH]

It the way we do it , looking forward to Sunday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XQzQYFYfy8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Well, West Ham can usually be seen as a roller coaster, but this season I think it will be more like a rollator....

[riksdodgydeals]

did we have 20k there last night, just seen league cup show and blackburn only had 8k

fair play to our support

[Puff Daddy]

We never used to lose so often at home when we had Kovac in our team

[Denbighammer]

We never used to lose so often at home when we had Kovac in our team

Put your rod away Puff, you ain't catching anything with that ^

[DICAN10]

did we have 20k there last night, just seen league cup show and blackburn only had 8k

fair play to our support

rovers fans are staging a mini protest by boycotting games... it's been going on for 7 years

[e17]

did we have 20k there last night, just seen league cup show and blackburn only had 8k

fair play to our support

There were proper miffed looking little uns sat below, next to, & above us in the East stand

Fair play to them too, they made more noise than most of the adults.

[Pop Robson]

Few of our side came out with much credit this evening , and not too much will have been learned by the Manager that he didn't already know about his players .A few of those on display tonight may well be shipped out in the next couple of days , with Barerra and Stanislas the most obvious departees .

One down one to go