Sunday 3 April 2011

Deep in the Mire

The weekend is not yet over, but the results so far have been close to catastrophic. We needed Spurs to win at Wigan. It didn't happen. Newcastle are now safe. The point Blackburn got at Arsenal was a disaster. Birmingham's win over Bolton gave them breathing space. Villa's point at Everton gave them hope, and it was so nearly a win. At sixty minutes of the game yesterday we were as good as safe. By five o'clock, we were one of the favourites for the drop again.

What went wrong? We were beaten by a better team unquestionably but the selection of da Costa over Tomkins cost us, without question. First half, da Costa did well, second half he was poor and we paid the price.

There's two conflicting views on what Grant should have done at half time. Some say, at 2-0, he should have gone hell for leather for the third, ignoring the fact that the 2-0 advantage was achieved on the basis of containment and long ball break out. Others maintain Grant should have filled up the midfield, ignoring the fact that we couldn't get the ball out of our own half other than with a long ball and with one up top only, the long ball just invites wave after wave after wave of attacks from your opponents.

United were the better team and Mason made two dreadful decisions but we were lucky to be 2-0 up at half time so we have to accept that, overall, our performance with the ball was awful. Was Ba tired after his travels? Was Parker carrying a knock or feeling the effects of his father's death? Neither of them performed on the day. And apart from the long ball that led to the first penalty, Hitz was ordinary too. It was a sterile performance overall but the players were trying, just firing blanks all afternoon.

Let's keep perspective. At half time, we were delighted. Nobody was criticising Grant and the team at that point. For 45 minutes, our manager out thought the best manager in the British game and, as a defensive unit, we were impressive. How many saves did Green make in that first half? One. Credit where credit is due. And that credit is due because we defended as a unit as we did at Tottenham.

Where did it go wrong, ignoring Mason's contribution? One stupid tackle from Noble, but moments earlier he and Parker put in very similar tackles and won the ball and I was yelling "Great challenge Scotty" and "Great tackle Markie". The margins are slight, especially when you are tackling players with the quality of the Man Utd boys.

The second United goal was just genius. You could have had a back four of Brietner, Adams, Moore and Maldini and Rooney would still have scored that goal. Shit happens; live with it.

The third goal was a joke. It was never a penalty. And the fourth was scored when we chased the game and lost shape. The very thing that one of Grant's critics wanted us to do from the start of the second half!

Did we know United would come out fired up for the second half? Of course we did. I said at half time, the trouble is Hernandez, Berbatov and Nani will come on sooner or later; and I would have taken a point at half time had it been on offer. In fact, I said that if conscience allowed it, I would have money on a United victory at the interval. We had been under the cosh all first half and as soon as United scored, we were going to be in trouble. And so it proved.

But knowing what will happen does not mean you can do anything to prevent it. Japan knows it will be hit by earthquakes and tsunamis but what good is knowing? When we came back from three goals down at West Brom, all the credit was given to Parker; I heard no criticism of the West Brom management from West Ham fans. When the reverse happens, it is all Grant's fault even though the opponents are the best team in England. That defies logic.

The key now is not to panic. We are deep in the mire but three wins should see us safe. Man Utd were never really on the radar. We move on.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

sorry too many words.... just lost the will to live and couldn't make it to the end - perhaps Ironside can help?

Hammersfan said...

Sorry, I write for an intelligent readership, not idiots. 732 words is hardly a mountain for anybody with a very basic IQ.

Stani Army said...

11:01, Have you tried Chandos at WHTID? He'd be right up your street...nice and concise!

Come on HF, you're making excuses for Noble. If it happened the odd time then fair enough but he has a habit of giving free-kicks in dangerous areas. Be honest.

And which bloody idiot picked Da Costa? Tut tut

How unlucky were we with other results though?! Or have those teams adjusted who they have on their 'radar'?

Hammersfan said...

We got the same result at Everton as Villa. We got the same result away to Spurs as Wigan achieved at home to them. We were within 6 minutes of getting the same result at the Emirates as Blackburn achieved. Wolves were hammered at newcastle, just like we were and we beat Wolves at home, just as Newcastle did. I don't think the radar is that different do you Stani?


I agree Grant made a mistake picking da Costa ahead of Tomkins. I think you will find Parker gives away more free kicks in those areas than Noble. Should we drop Parker Stani?

Golden Corner of PMD H.C. said...

Deep i the Mire: ManU + Masonic Trance

up the hammers!

penyabogarde-goldencorner.blogspot.com

B4V4R14N_H4MM3R said...

@ Stani - C'mon, to blame Grant for Da Costa's bad second half performance would be a bit harsh. In the first 45 minutes he did a very good job, just like against tottenham, so why should Avram substitute him ?
All in all we were lucky to get the two nil lead at half time and we were unlucky to concede the penalty and the fourth goal. If we've had lost 2-0 not too many would have moaned about the result.
Let's try to forget about the game and prepare for the trip to our bogey team. COYI!

T.I.S said...

Nice article HF. I don't want to sound like you here, but I've defended Grant for a large part of the season and have come to the conclusion that antisemitism is the reason why Grant has got so much stick from our fans, those idiots on WHTID just wont admit it! NOT ONE good comment was to be given to Grant when we beat Stoke AND Liverpool, not one on that site.

Hammersfan said...

Creful mate, if you sound too much like me, the guys in the white coats will arrive and lock you in a padded cell.

To be fair to Stani, Bavarian, I don't think he was suggesting that da Costa should be substituted, he was just scoring a point against me because I criticised Grant's decision to pick him ahead of Tomkins in the first place.

Gio said...

Well stated. I think you nailed it, precisely. Let's get on with it.

Stani Army said...

No HF, all I'm saying is that at this point in the season, in our position, we should have every team on our radar, Man utd included. Especially when we're 2-0 up against them. Look at the results our rivals got yesterday? We have to believe it can happen. That was my point.

As for the other point; Noble's fouls tend to lead to goals, quite peculiarly. But let's not compare Noble and Parker hey? Parker may foul like Noble but Parker does lots of other (good) things too.

Bavarian,
It's an argument me and HF were having from the other post mate. I said that Da Costa was our best player but HF was disagreeing. Because HF was not blaming Grant for much yet was criticising Da Costa, I decided to be the sarcastic little sh*t that I am and highlight that it was Grant who picked Da Costa. It would have then forced HF to concede a Grant error, which he did. You're forgiven though, you wasnt to know. Da Costa would start for me every time.

"To be fair to Stani"...are you feeling alright HF?

Hammersfan said...

I know Parker gave the rallying cry at West Brom but who had a habd in all three goals? That would be Noble. Who gave away the free kick against West Brom for their third goal? That would be Parker. Who gave away the freekick for Blackpool's goal? That would be Parker again. I could track back and check others Stani.

Stani Army said...

...only if Noble could track back like you HF! :)

USA Dave said...

While I wouldn't dare say yesterday didn't hurt our hopes, I don't see it as catastrophic as you seem to,HF. At the end of the day, we lost 1 point to some teams, 3 points to West Brom, and stayed even with Wolves and Blackpool. Considering we were playing the best team in the league I can handle that. In fact, Wolves and Blackpool lost a goal on GD to us. It is so tight that unless we (or any other team for that matter) go on a torrid run, this will go down to the very last minute of the last day.

As for the actual game, we were utterly outplayed. If you can honestly say at 2-0 up you were felling comfortable after watching then I would have admired your optimism. And while I am not and have never been a Grant fan, I cannot blame him. He has been CRUCIFIED in the past for sitting on leads only to blow them. If he had tried to pack the midfield in an attempt to do the same yesterday we still would have been thumped. And he would have been blamed for that. Instead he stayed the course with what had us up and we were over-run by an army. I would have liked to see Keane out there earlier, but that's it from my point of view.

This ain't over. Not even close to it. We may go down. But we may stay up as well. If I had to make a pick today, I'd say Wolves, Blackpool, and Wigan will have a hard time getting more points that us. And I'm a pessimist when it comes to WHUFC.

Anonymous said...

1107 you write for an "intelligent readership" why the hell don't any of them reply? I can count the number of literate posters here on one hand.