Monday 23 August 2010

That Cole Penalty!



Why? Why did he take it? Yes he scored one last season, and yes he netted from the spot pre season but I can't have been alone in saying "He will miss it" as Cole put the ball on the spot.

It certainly wasn't planned. Avram expressed surprise that Cole took it and said "It happens".

What this shows is the complete lack of leadership on the pitch. Who is the captain? Where were Upson and Parker when they were needed? All they had to say was, "Come on Carlton, really? Leave it to somebody else eh?"

That miss cost us the game. Had we scored, I am confident we would have gone on and won. The penalty miss spoke volumes for the collective failing of the team. They cross the line and are rudderless. We need a captain. We need Hitz!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yet another post mocking players attached to the club that you claim to support.

You wouldn't be saying this if he'd have scored would you?

What's to say another player would have taken that penalty and scored it. The fact that Noble scored later is not an indication he would have scored the first.

Yes, it was a poor penalty, but don't have a go - get behind the players FFS. He put some away pre-season and, after all, deserves to get on the scoresheet given the effort he's put in as the sole striker.

Upson was the other end of the pitch. AG stated that there are a few penalty takers at the club, so why would interference be needed. Carlton is one of those penalty takers.

OK we lost, get over it. There's more to life that football. Your "blog" is always so negative or a poor attempt at mickey taking.

Stop getting on player's backs. I think for you it's so easy to be critical because you seem to be a negative person, always moaning.

Why not do a positive "blog" for once. On Saturday the team played so much better than last week and the likes of Barrera, Dyer, Noble and Picquonne showed such an improvement.

Half the team are still trying to 'gel', Gabbidon is only recently back from injury, as is Dyer. Picquonne, Barrera, Ried are all new in through the door. You can't expect it to click straight away.

Depending on what happens over the next few days (with regard to transfers) we will see our squad finalised and I am sure we will see a much improved unit.

We should use the upcoming games against Man U and Chelsea as an opportunity to get players working together on outlet plays (through Barrera and Dyer). I wouldn't wager us getting any points from anyway so its worth a try.

DUTCHAMMER said...

Why he took it is a beyound me. Now you can see why I laughed at your thread a while back asking REMY OR COLE!!! Cole is so over rated and if we get a serious offer around 12million we would be crazy not to take it. He cannot play upfront with Piquionne, so ideally we need a mobile partner up there. Sell Cole bring in Keane for parker and strengthen midfield and right back with the Cole money.

Hammersfan said...

Read the half time match report 1245

At least Cole has a heart Dutch!

johntan said...

Completely different topic but we need two first choice center halfs and a left back badly. Sell Upson to whoever will pay 5 mil and let the Diamanti deal go through for whatever fee it is lets say 5 mil. With that money plus a bit from the pockets of G and S I would buy Wheater, Samba and an experienced championship left back who has a bit of pace (I dont watch championship football but am sure we can find a solid left full back from there because full back is the easiest position on the football pitch to play). I dont know how much this would cost but I would suggest to G and S that they pay it otherwise we'll not win a game all season. I honestly cant think of a team that we could keep a clean sheet against can you HF?

Anonymous said...

I think leadership is a big problem for us at the moment, particularly at the back and also with the Manager.

HF - I agree with you for once, a penalty taker should be clearly assigned by the Manager with clear 2nd, 3rd and 4th choices etc. It's not for the team to decide in the heat of the moment.

That's bad enough but our defence is my biggest concern...

Green is generally a quiet player anyway but at the moment is particularly low on confidence.

Upson is also a quiet player, out of form (again) and has never shown any leadership qualities. Why he ever became Captain is beyond me. Personally, I think he should be dropped (he'll probably be out for a while now with a broken nose anyway).

Gabbidon is another quiet player and is trying to adjust back to first team action after a long absence. He needs more games but results may suffer in the meantime.

Tomkins spectactularly failed to deliver after being given yet another chance in the first team. It pains me to say this but I'm not convinced he'll ever be PL standard. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Faubert is an average winger and clearly not a defensive right back. We need a specialist right back and have done ever since Lucas Neill left.

Ilunga is still struggling for form and barring the potentially good but inexperienced Daprela we don't have any other cover at left back.

Bottom line is, we have an extremely poor defensive unit particularly with regard to full backs. I can't believe that this hasn't been addressed in the summer. Yet again we have an inbalanced squad full of battling midfielders.

Not impressed with Avram at all, not with his transfer dealings, team tactics or motivation. Coyle shouted at this team about every thing on Saturday, the Bolton players knew they had to perform for him.

Avram barely said a word, is that just a coincidence? His record is hard to judge as he took over a winning team of stars at Chelsea and a relegated team of underdogs at Pompey. In both cases he had very little to lose and everything to gain.

Hammersfan said...

He did take one team to a Champions League final and the other to an FA Cup final.

Stani Army said...

MANAGER'S FAULT!!!

Anonymous said...

Maybe HF but that's why judging his record is so difficult. Admittedly, I'm feeling more cynical after the weekend but I'm just not convinced by him.

I don't think that he particularly had to do much to get Chelsea to the CL final. He didn't sign any players, the team pretty much picked itelf and the system was already in place. The players would hardly have needed motivating either.

Getting Pompey to the FA Cup final was probably harder when you put the club's situation in to context. That said it was still Pompey the underdogs against the world so, again, you have a very unique situation.

The WH job is a more stable job in which he has to create his own squad and team. He's not been able to do that in the PL before and that's what worries me most. He's completely unproven in doing what is needed at West Ham (as was Zola).

Stani Army said...

I said it from the start, the guy is not a good manager and was not employed on merit. No one else was even interviewed or considered. He has no eye for a player and his techniques are pre-historic.

Zola's Premier League experience at time of sacking: 20 months

Grant's Premier League experience at the time of appointment: 14 months!!!

THEY APPOINTED A GUY WHO HAD LESS PREMIER LEAGUE EXPERIENCE THAN ZOLA!

GRANT HAS NEVER COMPLETED A FULL PREMIER LEAGUE SEASON AS MANAGER!

BringBackZola! said...

.....and he won't complete this one the way he is going... great point stani you always speak a lot of sense. Doesn't look like HF will comment on your post - well not with a sensible answer anyway. Probably try one of his poor attempts at being witty and humorous and ignore your view altogether.

Hammersfan said...

I'm waiting for Stani's article actually.

Stani Army said...

Thanks BBZ. I don't think he will make it either. It will be interesting to see how Gold and Sullivan react come December time. They will have to either back their man to save face by splashing cash now and/or in Jan, or sack him. He appointed Petrovic as assistant because he realised his own limitations as manager but it hasn't worked so far. Petrovic will be doing all the real work of course.

Why do I need to write an article HF? It's all up there, nice and concise :) He was a bigger risk than Zola.

Just to be clear, I'm not getting some kind of sick pleasure by using our plight to prove that Zola was a better manager than Grant. Just highlighting who the owners are, what they did to get their man in and how their man is not adept enough to do the job. Zola is gone and he wont be coming back any time soon unfortunately. The words of that unnamed Chelsea player who said that Grant didn't have a clue still haunt me.

BringBackZola! said...

Stani - Obviously I don't want to bring back Zola - but like you I can clearly see that Avram isn't any better.

Hf - hahaha we gave you two choices - ignore the post or not reply sensibly and because you so hate being told what to do, you go for a third option and demand an article - I don't think it's needed as it's quite obvious what Stani is saying.

Hammersfan said...

We? Who are "we" exactly?

Anonymous said...

We HF? who is we? we're the we that keeps you moderating old chum, we win!