One hour of tremendously GOOD football.... (is not good enough)

24 games without a cleen sheet. 1 point in 6 games. Not happy days at Upton Park. Still I can't remember a better West ham since... ??? But now I'm talking about what we did outside the box. We dominated totally in the first 45. Totally. But we couldn't break the deadlock.
Sears had fun, and a shot that deflected on Howard into the woodwork. But not so much more.
In the second half Collison made his first goal! After a wonderful backheel by Parker he did not hesitate for one second. But at the same time that changed the game totally.
Everton woke up from their slumber and West Ham started to think how and if they could defend themselves, instead of continuing with their wonderful passing on the right side of the pitch. So I was not surprised when the cruel 1-1 came.
Lescott was totally on his own in our area! Can't say who to blame (Neill I guess, but...) but after that we conceded more after totally have lost control of the game, It took Everton four minutes to make two more. Both from Saha. Beautiful goals, but it should not happen. We left him totally on his own at both occasions. His second after a stupid misscross from Faubert. The midfield has a responsibility to to mark players. They did not. We seem to need more physio training. That is for sure. We lose games late on. This was a bitter loss. But still I see a future here. Parker guided Collison to a good game, and Bellamy Sears. Youngsters side by side with the more experienced ones.

Green 6 - Want him to dictate more in his box. Did not have anything more to do than to pick out the ball from the net. And you can't fault him for any of their goals.

Faubert 3 - Disaster! I usually see - or want to see - the potential in the Frenchman. But today he made one (!) of maybe ten crosses right, his defense was remarkable wrong. Seems to lack confidence, it's possibly the reason.

Neill 4 - Our captain is not our captain sufficent enough. Not on the field at least. And he is not good to mark his player in the box.

Upson - Had to leave the field early injured (not seriously though). Bad for us.

Collins 7 - Good game. Important for us. Strong and our only threat in the air. Likes his play.

Illunga 7 - Energy and good ideas. Plays safe, and still creates a lot. One of our better players today.

Bowyer 5,5 - The flank is not his best position and did not offer a lot forward. But I liked his raw style in the midfield which won a lot of balls.

Collison 7 - Wonderful goal taken. Looked mature on the field and dictated when we pushed forward.

Parker 7,5 - Strong! Geniously backheel. Worked hard. This is the way I want to see him. Strangly subbed late on.

LBM 6 - When Zola subbed him we lost a lot of energy where Arteta who had been quiet all day all of a sudden found space. He do a lot of mistakes, but still works and makes it hard for the opposition. Not a bad game at all.

Sears 6,5 - Wonderful first 45. Do really like to play with Bellamy. Could have scored at two occasions. Faded.

Bellamy 7 - So important for our offence. Still without a goal!

Subs:

Etherington 5 - offered very little.

Di Michele - Had no time to make any impact at all.

Football is a very cruel art! Still we can't blame any other but ourselves. We could not close the game in any way! Two more goals from us, or less cracks in our defense in the end of the match(es) and it had been three points!

So what is the conclusion: We need a win! That is for sure.
Now we really struggle in the wrong end of the table. We need to have a clean sheet, 'cause the team starts to shiver in every game after about 70 minutes... They know that we usually let loads of goals in at the end of the games.
But I want to see Zolas work continue, and I want to see young players like Collison and Sears - both of whom were two of our better players tonight - continue to play.

We shall not forget that for 60 minutes today we played very, very GOOD!