Tuesday 11 January 2011

West Ham 2 Birmingham 1 - On the brink of glory!

Yes, it is time to sack Grant. The guy can't organise a team and can't inspire his players. He has the motivational ability of a slug and the tactical acumen of a deaf, dumb and blind nun. So no wonder that, coming into the game without a left back, with two kids at centre back, only one available striker to play up front, 10 men out injured,  and then reduced to 10 men ten minutes into the second half because of Obinna's stupidity we...won 2-1! All you Grant knockers, take a deep breath and say...well give him another week!

First half we were awesome. Sears was superb, making wonderfully intelligent runs as he came in off the flank. Upson and Faubert were camped in Birmingham's half. Noble, Parker and Spector were absolutely bossing the midfield. The goal was all down to Noble. He drove from midfield, opened up the Birmingham defence and after a chaotic mess in the box, the ball rebounded to him and his finish was superb. Such incredible power!

At half time, there were only three concerns. We were only a goal ahead, Obinna was making wrong decisions virtually every time he touched the ball and the defence had not been tested in the first 45. Sooner or later, Birmingham were going to wake up to the fact that Faubert was at right back, Upson at left back, and two kids were in the centre of defence. Put the ball into the box in the air and you are going to score. Attack Faubert down the right and you are going to score. Run at Upson and come inside in the box and you are going to get a penalty. Put the ball out to the flanks and you can get in unchallenged crosses all night. Send on Vidic and hang the ball up and how can you not score? And that was when we still had 11 players on the pitch!

Birmingham were obviously going to come out fired up second half; McLeish was fuming on the touch line. Sure enough, they came out on the front foot, and frustratingly, yet again, we retreated into a shell. The fans were doing their bit, the noise inside Upton Park was superb, and I'm bloody sure Grant didn't tell the players to give the opposition the freedom of the pitch.

But there is still a massive mental problem with these players - they are so, so brittle as soon as they come under pressure. Personally, I think it is because we lack a captain on the pitch. Both Upson and Parker are in their own zones, they forget that there are another nine players out there who need to be led. So when Faubert fails to maintain positional  discipline, NOBODY says anything to him. When Piquionne decides he has had enough and starts walking, NOBODY has a go at him. When Obinna makes bad decision after bad decision, NOBODY gives him a dressing down. You find yourself screaming at them, saying what Upson and Parker should be saying, and you look at the so called leaders and Parker is moving his hair out of his eyes and sniffing, and Upson has that mad stare in his eyes, and NOTHING is being said. We need a Roy Keane on the pitch, somebody to get into the faces of the spineless bastards, somebody to point fingers and bully and yell.

And so the goal was always coming. Sears saved one on the line by way of warning and, surprise, surprise, it was yet another set piece, yet another header and yet another goal. Birmingham should have scored two more: Murphy flashed one wide and so did Zigic. And, of course, Upson bodychecked Ferguson in the box. It was an absolute nailed on penalty but Fatty Dowd was too far behind the play to spot it. Thank God McBenni shared his crate load of burgers with Dowd at half time!

And then came Obinna's fantastic contribution. First half he had one shot on target, forcing a good save from Foster. Second half he had one shot on target, and Larsson's bollocks were still vibrating five minutes later. It was stupid certainly, but more than that, it was cynical, nasty and absolutely vile. I would not object if the guy was sent packing back to Inter tomorrow. Any man who has copped one in the bollocks can have nothing but contempt for what Obinna did. Larsson wasn't feigning. That hurt. Fcuk him, I didn't want Bowyer at West Ham and I don't want Obinna after that.

So 1-1 and down to 10 men and the team looked tired. There was only one winner from here wasn't there? I mean, I know Zola specialised in conceding a lead when down to 10 men and being played off the park in the process, but not many teams not only hang on but outscore the opposition when a player down. Certainly a team who didn't want to play for their manager would have every excuse to lay down and die! And I'm not going to lie here. Some did give up. Faubert for one. It took a brilliant covering tackle in the box from Noble to keep us in the game, with Faubert only just crossing the half way line as he JOGGED back. Piquionne also gave up. He had run around for 60 minutes for God sake, what more could be asked of him? But eight players were fighting, eight players were battling, eight players were doing their level best to keep the team alive despite Birmingham's effective three man numerical advantage. Cue the introduction of Cole and Hines. Suddenly there were nine players fighting!

And then came the goal! Parker played a good pass. Spector received the ball, attacked the right flank, on his right foot, LOOKED UP, saw the run of Cole, MEASURED the cross, completed the pass to perfection and Cole did what he does best in the box, swung his boot, mistimed the shot and, lo and behold, Foster came over all Robert Green and let a dribbling shot trickle into the net - except it didn't reach the net, the shot was so tame! Yes the finish was woeful but the build up was superb. Spector can play. We should persist with the guy.

So, we won 2-1. Time for Grant to show immense dignity in the post match interview and have yet another chip at Brady. I like the guy. I think he should be given more time. But I fear the decision has already been made. And if his replacement is Hughton, God help us!

Player Ratings: Green 7 (Very good on crosses this evening); Faubert 4 (He was awful second half), Tomkins 6, Reid 5, Upson 6; Sears 7, Parker 7, Noble 7, Spector 7, Obinna 0; Piquionne 5. Subs Cole 6, Hines 4 Kovac (Not on long enough to rate).

22 comments:

fred149 said...

Noble 8 as he was the most determined to keep us in it and made a world class tackle in the box and picked his passes superbly i also dont think parker played that well i think he kept running in circles why running towards the wrong goal and constantly lost the ball with his passes so parker down 1 rating

Hammersfan said...

Fred, I thought Noble was wonderful first half but he tired badly, lost possession a few times in key areas and was missing from the game for 15 minutes before he was withdrawn. Parker helped to set up the second remember.

Anonymous said...

It's not that were "brittle" & it's not a lack of fitness,the reason we go to pieces or fail to kill teams off when we are clearly outplaying them (same for Barnsley etc.. etc..)is plain & simple = NERVES! this team has been living on it's nerves for over 2 years (probably more)
Just 1 example..Sears blazed a chance over the bar in the 1st half when a simple 3 yard pass to Parker on his right would have been a certain goal (they probably wont show it in the highlights as there was so many other chances).
THIS TEAM IS PETRIFIED FROM TOP TO BOTTOM!!

Sav said...

Grant must go now! It's our only chance. Who was the good manager was clearly shown when the two managers had the opportunity to speak to their teams at half time. Grant totally lost the plot in the second half. And then, we got lucky once again.

I say enough is enough. Let's get a real manager in to fix up the team and pick up a few points and stay up.

Hammersfan said...

I'm sorryy Sav but that is a disgusting response. What sort of West Ham fan are you exactly? For pity's sake, put aside the vendetta. We have just won a game with 10 men. Sure Birmingham had us under the cosh at the start of the second half but I was amazed we competed with what Grant had to select from. No Ilunga, no Gabbidon, no Ben Haim (he's gone), no Collison, no Dyer, no Hitzlespurger, no Cole, no Stanislas, no da Costa - in the circumstances, the result was fantastic.

What is your issue? We have just won the first lef of a Cup semifinal. We are one small step from Wembley. Why is being proved right SO important to you? Celebrate, for one night at least, celebrate!

Hammersfan said...

I am, as you can tell by the number of typos!

Hammersfan said...

And no Behrami!

B4V4R14N_H4MM3R said...

We certainly need more powerful half time speeches and a player with some guts who is able to wake the whole team up and leads them.
Nevertheless I still stick with Avram, it's a difficult situation with so many regular players out and no proper (fit) right/left back in the whole squad. If our back four is in shape we'll stop playing our nervy football. But to do so we have to archieve some deals as long as the transfer window is opened.

Anonymous said...

Idiot Cole should have buried that shot, lucky for us Foster obliged.

Sav, no offense mate but you're a bellend of the highest order. One game away from a Wembley final, snatching a win with 10 men for almost a half of football and still complaining about the manager. A record of 4-3-1 in the last 7 games and still the peasants whinge about the manager.

Another manager wouldn't have gotten us this far in this tournament yet the poor bloke is still slated by the peasantry for his team's inability (due to lack of personnel that can put the ball in the back of the net) to finish off their opposition after totally dominating them in the first half.

IronFerret said...

I disagree with your scoring of Faubert, I thought he provided an excellent extra option throughout the game, but was rarely utilised. He was aso our best crosser of the ball on the pitch.

However, I do agree with your comments on Obinna and our lack of a captain.

Obinna was useless today even before his ubsurd decision to hand Birmingham the upper hand. So many times he went for the shot instead of a better option. This has been going on all season, and shows our lack of a decent attacking coach. The introduction of Wally Downes can be linked with improvement on our defenders.

The lack of a captain is really showing. While Parker and Upson are ability wise our best players, they aren't the smartest players beyond their own game. I remember how vocal Steve Lomas was to everyone, always keeping players organised, and this is what we seriously lack. However, this should be shared with Avram Grant, who I only saw shouting twice throughout the whole game.

I do think that Grant is not the man to keep us up, but you cannot fault him as a manager in cup competitions. Let's enjoy this result and keep it up for the second leg!

Anonymous said...

We're gonna do this lot in the 2nd leg,we should have done them in the league match but we bottled it.So far I've seen nothing from them that worries me (apart from the 6'8" freak,thank God he wasn't playing from the start as we just can't handle him - McLeish must be blind) We will get a draw up there & we are going to Wembley! COYI!

Anonymous said...

A semi final at Upton Park under floodlights but still plenty of empty seats. Rumour that Wayne Bridge was there.

Overall a good game. Obinna should have earned his ticket back to Italy tonight. Would have taken the draw after the sending off so hopeful we can defend the lead at St Andrews. Ferguson started pulling the strings for them when we were down to 10 men.

I would give Spector an 8. He had a hand in the first goal, set up Cole brilliantly for the second, worked hard throughout and was still trying to act as the second striker when all around him were tiring. New contract for him and
Grant to be given more time ... I hope.

Terry said...

The Free Beer FC Story? what the hell is that?

Hammersfan said...

Go out and buy the book to find out. Watching West Ham is like watching a pub team 50% of the time isn't it?

Anonymous said...

You say there were plenty of empty seats HF but the crowd yesterday was 34,754 not bad considering the match was on tv. and birmingham didn't sell out all their tickets.

Comical Ali said...

Great results and first half performance and yes we should certainly celebrate.

Let's not get carried away though as the final score flattered us to say the least. We were extremely lucky to score the second goal courtesy of a goalkeeping howler and lucky again not to have conceded a penalty, it was nailed on in my book.

As for Grant, I'm not particularly sure if he can take either credit or criticism for this performance. The first half was fantastic, the second half was terrible and the overall result was lucky.

Would love a day out at Wembley but would swap it in a heartbeat for premiership survival. That's what Grant's job hinges on and so it should. He's yet to prove that he can successfuly manage a PL team.

Anonymous said...

I totally agree with 01:36, Spector was man of the match in my opinion. The first half he stopped Ferguson dictating play and only through the reshuffle caused by Obinna's childishness was Ferguson allowed to control Brum attacks. Why are the club and their media friends still debating Grant's position when apart from the Newcastle game he is producing results that would put him in the running for Manager of the Month? We are only 2 points from 14th place with several important players due back from injury in the next few weeks. The only team to survive after being bottom at Christmas (West Brom) is also the only one that didn't change their manager!

Chunky said...

A great win last night given the circumstances although there were some real low points during the second half. Thank god lady luck is lying on her back for us at the moment!

Its a total mystery to me why we can only do this in the Cup. I mean, where are these performances in the PL? If only we could have 2 managers and leave only the cups to Grant!

I am nervous about the return trip but at least we only need a draw. Hopefully Ipswich will perform a miracle for us tonight but after the pounding they took at the weekend it does not look good.

Anonymous said...

Keep Grant - simply because there is no-one else to come in. Definitely thanks but no thanks to Allardyce, same goes for Martin O'Neill - always seemed a bit too 'emotional' for me, moody. Grant's non-comittal, bland approach is just right and has doesn't cater to the 'media' either. Don't want someone jumping up and down on the sideline like say, Pardew.
Hughton ? - maybe in an assistant capacity, but not as manager. And Grant definitely WAS screaming at the inept Reid [£4m] last night. He just looks like a clumsy fouler, can't think what possessed the owners to buy him out of his depth here.

And the comeback with 10 men - doesn't look like a team where the manager has 'lost' the dressing room - remeber Pardew, he definitely did.
Right now, I'd stick with Grant - I'd love him to at least get to Carling Cup final. Just hope the owners, half-owners, whatever, buy a forward and another proper defender, assuming Bridge does come on loan and Upson stays until 'free' to leave.

gateman

fred149 said...

yes but apart from that parker didnt do much and strated resorting back to rash tackles but i know noble tired but he was still the one coming out wit hthe ball in 2nd half and his commitment overall impresses me everytime maybe its time we think about making nolbe our captain or at least vice captain if parker stays after summer

fred149 said...

i know obinna was very reckless and stupid yesterday but there is no doubt he has talent but that talent hasnt been nurtured properly obinna is a player waiting to be tamed i think we should isgn obinna permanantly but we need to bring in a strikers coach preferbaly di canio or bring bac kzola s the strikers coach people saying obinna is a bad player and should be sent back to italy are wrong

Iker Vega said...

Good rate. Noble-Parker will lead as for the glory at Wembley!


West Ham - Arsenal, Derby de extremos en The Boleyn

Read this HF, hope you all like it.

http://futbolporlavena.blogspot.com/2011/01/west-ham-arsenal-derby-de-extremos-en.html