It's not the despair, Laura. I can take the despair...

I remember once hearing another West Ham fan saying that the spring feels empty the seasons we are safe from relegation, and I laughed out loud.
Today I’d do almost anything for that empty feeling. However, I’m slowly edging toward another state, or rather survival strategy, that is best described by the John Cleese quote from Clockwise:

"It's not the despair, Laura. I can take the despair. It's the hope I can't stand"

I’m about to accept relegation and have found myself thinking that we may have a decent squad for the fizzy pop. Comfortably numb as Pink Floyd put it.

But then the terrible feeling of hope resurfaces as I wonder if it’s the feeling of nothing to lose that is needed in our team to make our cramped performances give way. Maybe a game away against Everton is the perfect fix(ture)? They have not that much to play for and even though they have an impressive home (and away) record, motivation is a powerful force. Everton is of course heavy favorites with the bookies, but Stoke Wolves and Birmingham have all left Goodison with a point and we (Stanislas more than me, I must confess) scored against them at Boleyn Ground - when all hope was gone.
So here I am, wondering if I can stand the hope a point on Saturday would bring.


(thanks to Jolly for reminding me of the Cleese quote)

If support could kill

What does support for a manager really mean?

The latest player to back Zola is Robert Green that dubs Zola “a great manager” and the other day Mido told the press that "Everyone is working so hard for the manager. We're behind that man. He is a top manager, in my opinion, and we're all behind him". Just the other week two or three other players including Scott Parker said more or less the same thing.

But what does “a great manager” mean to a footballer.
I’m pretty sure that if players outside West Ham are asked to name a great manager Fergie, Wenger and Mourinho would all be named but Zola wouldn’t even enter their mind. So why do our players say he’s a great manager? These are players working with him every day so they should know, right?
First one must consider if they are just lying as this is the politically correct way of behaving. No one wants to look like a managerial problem so on the direct question “what do you think of Zola as a manager” they don’t have much of a choice do they? But I’m sure that some players actually do think he is a good manager. How come?
Of course the he players can like a manager for several reasons. He can be a good “man manager” making the players feel comfortable and wanted. How can you dislike that? He can avoid the hair-dryer treatment, which is most certainly appreciated by players in the short run. Also he can be accessible to the players, being there for them when they want him, which is probably a totally new feeling for players used to old-school Curboid managers. I think Zola have all these “qualities”. Zola is also apparently very good one-on-one with the players giving each player “quality” time with the manager working on (what he/they think is) their individual needs. There are a so many statements confirming this that we (almost) have to accept it as the truth. It also appears as if the training sessions are enjoyable to the players.
So the players lead a good and enjoyable life with Zola as their manager. The fact that they don’t win games with him at the helm is just a minor flaw in his managerial CV.

But the players are not the only ones backing him, almost every manager of teams we have played of late has backed Zola as well. Now, that is a League Managers Association kind of thing as they know that they could be up next and they all by default despise the sacking of any manager.
Old West Ham players also seem to get behind Zola with Julian Dicks, Don Hutchison, Ian Bishop, Tony Gale and John Moncur among those having given him their support. Some of that is maybe due to genuine support for him as a manager and some of it can reflect that they don’t want change during a season. But I bet some is also that they want to be regular nice guys not wanting to stab his back and the statement have no real relation to what they actually think of him as a manager. I’m sure pretty much the same persons will back the next manager too.

So what do we do with all this backing of Zola?
Nothing. I think their greatest value is as a post-topic, at best.

If.... we actually mention the unmentionable....

I do not want to mention the War. As we are all a bit superstitious and if some players begin to think in the same way, and if.... Well, Yes if. If we can lose against Wolves and Stoke at home and if Hull can get some energy from their last win (a win that was not hard to predict) we actually can "do a Newcastle". A team too good to go down, a team with disastrous finances but with good individual players but no team gut. We have done it before and we can do it again. Go d....

Despite the money from the Davids.... Despite that we might have a handful of players in South Africa this summer...

But what do we have next year, if we go d..... At least you can speculate.... I am not sure of most of the contracts. Some of them may give the players freedom to leave if we drop. Some may be longer than I know, the David's may offer useless contracts, who knows? But let's start anyhow.

Green - Will probably leave anyhow. Has spoken about doin a couple of years abroad, but where? It will of course depend on how he will do in an England shirt this summer, a question raised as he has been less strong in the last months then when he became England No1.

Julien Faubert - Will miss Africa, but will leave us, as I see him go back to a top team in France.

Jonathan Spector - As he won't attract any PL teams he will be here next season as well.

James Tomkins - I guess some teams will be interested, but I guess he knows that he can have use of a season in the CC, he will stay too.

Matthew Upson - Sold. How much can we get?

Gabbidon - Will be released, sorry to say, as he has been injured too many games, too many times now. But we surely could have use of an experienced CB next year. Will not go to another PL team I guess, so Cardiff or retirement....

Manuel Da Costa - Still young he could do a year in CC and grow. Guess it is up to the (new) coach and how Da Costa enjoys London. I would keep him, even if it may be a year for Spence to get a place in the first 11. If da Costa leaves it would be for an international career.

Daprela - Stays.

Ilunga - Goes to West Brom, Newcastle or Bolton. (pity)

Diamanti - How much I would like to see him here in claret & blue in CC he will have his career somewhere else. May be back in Italy - in a top team - rather sooner than later, but may also chose a career in PL. He may not attract the top four, but which ( other)team can he chose that plays as beautiful as him?

Jack Collison - A real talent that I guess could attract many teams in PL, but he do also have a big WH heart and will have an operation in his knee this summer. So stays!

Kovac - Sold the 10th of May. Germany, Russia or home....

Scott Parker - Uh, how much we will miss him. But we must understand that he wants to do another year or two in the top flight. Harry would probably be there for him....

Mark Noble - We can not sell all our central midfielders. Noble can attract teams like Villa, Sunderland and Blacckburn. Tottenham is no alternative. But we will do our best to keep him in our team and as a new Captain he might stay here with his big West Ham heart.

Junior Stanislas - Must stay. And I'm very happy about it!

Behrami - Will go back to Italy. Or Spain.

LBM - Will not be offered any new contract anyhow.

Dyer - Will not be offered any new contract anyhow. Will leave.

Carlton Cole - Will probably be sold to Arsenal for 10 millions. Anyway.

Ilan - Will leave anyhow.

Mido - Will leave anyhow.

McCarthy - Has a contract that do not expire this summer, but probably a contract that tells that he can leave if we go down. But I am not so sure that he will (if we will). At least not if he misses the World Cup at home this summer. Can be an important senior for us in the CC.

Freddie Sears - The youngster has not blossomed when on loan in the CC. Will he come back and lead the line now? Not so sure. May leave.

Zavon Hines - May be our key-player next season.

Nouble - Our new Carlton Cole must stay.

From our own ranks: Stech, Kurusz, Edgar, Spence, Fry, Örn, Montano.

This may be a very good, but much too young team - with only McCarthy, Noble and Spector at least a bit older. Will D&D buy some senior players from a Birmingham sale? If they still really will fight for the Olympic Stadium we can not do more than a year in CC, and it leaves them with a lot of more spending.

Well, anyway but looking at this it is this leaves us with another question and opportunity:

Who may be the best guy to lead youngsters to success, educate them and take that time?

It may well be Zola.

If he stays this season out, without being able to keep us in PL, the answer to our future may actually be the Italian. But what about the others, the players?

When enough isn´t enough

In my last post, before yhe Arsenal game, I wrote that we were the worst prepared team for the relegation battle (of the ones down there) because the managment or the team never expected us to be where we are at the moment. To many losses seems to have erased the little that was left of the confidence. The team doesn´t act like a team anymore.

Zola and Clarke doesn´t seem to be able to get the team going. Benni McCarthys statement about the half time speech at the Wolves debacle is a bit telling. Noone seemed to listen according to The Mirror "The manager tried but everyone's heads had dropped. We didn't really perform. Everyone's heads were in their shirts and everyone was shy to show their faces - it was really hard." Quite worrying one would think..?

I really thought Zola was going to say "enough is enough" and walk out after the game vs Wolves. Especially after the players failed to perform as they did. I thought he was to proud to take that kind of shitty performances (and I thought he could afford it). Now it seems like he´ll stay and maybe it doesn´t matter? How many times has it actually worked out to change the manager (especially with seven games to play?)? I don´t know.

I do know however that I received a letter from mr Sullivan the other day and he wrote the way a lot of us fans feels. At last someone who speaks his mind and recognise shit when he sees it. Maybe it was a publicity stunt with an agenda and maybe it wasn´t good from a psychological point of view (or maybe it was?) but it was surely refreshing.

The most important game of the season is a very worn out expression but it´s never been more valid than for this game. Every game will be more important than the other til the end of the season. At the moment it seems like the only thing that´ll keep us up is if Burnley and Hull also have stopped to gather points. We shouldn´t fool ourself. Ofcourse they haven´t. Therefor we need to gain some on our own, starting tomorrow (and I just can´t see how that´ll be possible with the last couple of games on my mind).

A win vs Stoke puts us on track for 35p. A loss and I can´t see us get more than 32p. Will that be enough? Probably not.

(Game: Prediction, Outcome, +/- from the game, +/- overall)

January:
Aston Villa - WHU: 0p, 1p, 1p, 1p
Portsmouth - WHU: 3p, 1p, -2p, -1p
WHU - Blackburn: 3p, 1p, -2p, -3p
Total January: 6p, 3p, -3p, -3p

February:
Burnley - WHU: 3p, 0p, -3p, -6p
WHU - Birmingham: 1p, 3p, 2p, -4p
WHU - Hull: 3p, 3p, 0p, -4p
Manchester United - WHU: 0p, 0p, 0p, -4p
Total February: 7p, 6p, -1p, -4p

March:
WHU - Bolton: 1p, 0p, -1p, -5p
Chelsea - WHU: 0p, 0p, 0p, -5p
Arsenal - WHU: 0p, 0p, 0p, -5p
WHU - Wolverhampton: 3p, 0p, -3p, -8p
WHU - Stoke: 3p
Total March: 7p

April:
Everton - WHU: 0p
WHU - Sunderland: 1p
Liverpool - WHU: 0p
WHU - Wigan: 3p
Total April: 4p

May:
Fulham - WHU: 1p
WHU - Manchester City: 0p
Total May: 1p

(Prediction, +/- according to prediction, pointing towards x amount of points)

Total 2009: 18p
Total 2010: 25p, -4p, 21p
Total 09/10: 43p, -8p, 35p

The 5 most annoying statements

1. "We're 100% behind the manager"
That statement may just have a tiny bit of an off key ring to it don’t you think?
Maybe a sentence from Sullivans “message from the chairman” can explain why. “I was angry and upset as every supporter in the stadium at the disorganised way we played…”
There are at least 10 other observations that turns this statement into one of the daftest from G&S yet.
Filed under "shit we need to say".

2. Gianfranco Zola insists David Gold and David Sullivan are not meddling in first-team affairs at West Ham.
"We realise the performance was absolutely appalling. We can't play like that again, and I'm sure the manager will be making changes for Saturday and I'm sure it will be a much better performance.” That couldn’t have been an owner could it?

3. "I don't think they're putting any pressure on me”
That is Zola again and “they” are the Davids of course. I’d insult your intelligence if I commented this one. Filed in the same folder as no 1.

4. “The most important thing is that they enjoy playing football”
It’s hard believing that anyone in our team is enjoying football at the moment.
I bet one of the most enjoyable feelings of a footballer is when he recognizes that his hard work pays off. Saying "go out and enjoy yourself" never worked.

5. “You're not fit to wear the shirt”
We tend to bear down hard on players not giving it all for the team. Maybe we should all take that “long, hard look” at ourselves that Matty Upson urged the players to take. Getting behind the team and “loving them the most when they deserve it the least” is nothing that comes easy to me, or most fans, but I’m convinced that even if we need to pretend, as most of us will have to, it is the most effective.

Which nail in the coffin was this, Zola?

Do you remember West Ham-Reading 0-6?? Well, that was not under Zola's regime. Just as to put some things in perspective. But anyway it's not easy to say anything clever after 1-3 against Wolves in THE important game of the season....

Yes: We dominated and had two or three times as many goal scoring opportunities as Wolverhampton. The team who had scored least goals in the league did not create much, but still did three goals! In a way this makes things even more Embarrasing.

I have defended Zola even in my sleep, but can no longer see Zola turn this ship. Sorry I want you here, but... this.... Well, I still can see the players do it, but they got to do it fast. Please grow that confidence that can build champions!

We are lucky that there are Hull, Burnley and Ports, three really bad teams out there this year. I guess they do mention us in the same sentence....

As we didn't show any creativity, even less any teamplay today. The Wolves tactics was easy to spot and understand, but our tactics were? Can someone explain please?

Green 4 - I do not care much about the English national team, but if this is the best they can get.... I mean Greeno used to save shots like this. Used to save at least one shitty shot in the game. Well, not his fault any of the goals... but not very convinving either. Back to No6?

Faubert 7 - Probably our best man out there, back from injury he showed energy and was one of few that won some 50-50-situations.

Tomkins 2 - Sorry man, but you did it against Bolton, a extremely important game, and you did it again. Situations that seems to be of no harm, turns up to be crucial against us. Won't do. I can understand that you got hurt.... I hope you can survive and come back stronger, but not sure. Off 45.

Upson 3,5 - Was lost at their second, slipped at their third. Our Captain was not even able to handle his back four. Will be sold this summer if there are any bidders left.... Will he even go to SA?

Daprela 5 - Deflected the shot which led to 0-2, but tried. Our future man, but hop to see Ilunga next.

Behrami 4 - Not good enough. Very invisible and when he went into the middle there was even less creativity than when Kovac was on the field. Yes, alright he ran but that is not enough.

Parker 7 - Well, this man showed a big heart and was self-sacrificing as always. Lost some and won some but fought! Lovely double- opportunity!At the moment he is our only man to sit next to Capello on that flight.

Kovac 3 - Disaster. Lost every ball, missed every pass. What happened, all of a sudden he looked like the player he was when he came.

Diamanti 6 - Tried and fought. That is what I demand. But not one of he best games as Wolves were good to defend close on him (and on everyone of our players). Should use his speed more.

McCarthy 4,5 - Had some good ideas, more pace than most of the others and some passes that can fit Cole when they have played more games together. But as they all were lost today, I was not satisfied. Is not up to even 60 minutes yet.

Cole 5 - Well he wanted so much, he fought and looked quite good when he came down in the field to pick the ball up. But up there not much today. Wolves had no problems to defend their box at all. Was prevented by the lack of creativity from midfield, on the other hand he is far from any form at all.

Subs:

Spector 4,5 - On for Tomkins at halftime. The good thing with the American is that he can play nearly everywhere. The bad thing is that he seldom do it very well (apart from Arenal last game). Was lost on their third and conclusive goal.

Stanislas 4,5 - On for Kovac at halftime. Had big problems with the guests hard and close defending, and as he seldom goes to the left, close to the line, he was no problem at all for Wolves. Well, at least he showed some energy and had a great cross. I had expected a bit more but when Wolves do have their lead it's not easy for a young guy to make things goin...

Franco 6 - Three nice tries before he with an even nicer chip gave us our only goal. Far to late, but that is not his fault. The problem is that he when he came on looked really fast. But I guess he is the slowest man in the team....

Well, we are not doomed yet. Far from. But I think Zola is.

Stoke next.

A game for men

Tonight’s game is a decider extraordinaire.
I have heard the word “sixpointer” maybe once to many already, but one of our most important jobs tonight is to make sure that Wolves go home empty handed.

The key words for tonight’s game are commitment and composure. If Zola knows any additional ways to help the team with this he should do it even if it meant playing a side that may not be the best in every position. Almost regardless of what players we field we have the better players compared to Wolves, so it’s the team effort that is in need of boosting and has been desperately lacking. This may be the kind of game when experience outweighs talent, when understanding of the game plan, regardless of the situation in the game, is crucial.
We cannot afford another game when the fear of losing turn our game into a thoughtless ball chasing event.
Work rate is, as always, also crucial and nothing bothers me more than players not carrying their weight, but without knowing what work should be done, running is of little value. We have seen it once too many already this season.

There has been quite a few good things said about our display against Arsenal, and I am not contending any of that. However I am not sure that it has much bearing on the Wolves game. Against Arsenal we were in the very situation when we have been quite decent this season – with nothing to lose. It would have been really interesting to see what the game had looked like had Diamanti scored from the spot. That is when the composure is needed.

Tonight is all different. We are expected and more or less forced to win. In that situation the fear of losing may turn out to be an enemy much more powerful than Wolves. It’s man or mouse time.

Few causes of rejoicing but the public Spector

A bit lucky there. Portsmouth did win their game against Hull with two goals in the dying minustes - 88th and 89th. And Wigan scored their winner against Burnley in the 90th. So after todays loss against the new PL leaders at the Emirates we still have it our own hands. We are talkng about the dirty fight we will be involved in to the bitter end.

After two goals down against a 10 man Arsenal you can say that we did OK, but far from enough. When Diamanti missed his first penalty in a West Ham shirt (just before the break) we may have lost our chance in the game. Still I suggested for myself: This may be good for us as the home team won't come out to the second half like hungry tigers. We will...

Well, from then we seemed to take control of the game, but to be truthful Arsenal did what they wanted to pretty easily. They did what they needed. Not less not more. We were - apart from Cole's shot at the post late on - never able to threat.

Since Zola has taken over the team we've most of the time been able to play quite well in these games, but never been able to threaten the top four. Any of them. A couple of years ago we actually had som wins, on the other hand some truly lousy efforts. Nowadays we seem to know that we may be able to take a point but never disturb the hard opponent's enough to win three. As even Hull and Burnley do.

I do really hope that this was the last loss this season!!! With some luck and hard work it may even be so!

Green 6 - Some really good saves. Not to blame for the goals: But why has he stopped to save those penalties that he used to?

Spector 7 - After some early moments where he sold himself awkwardly easy he grew and ended as one of the very best players we had for the night. If he made a mistake he used his speed to regain the ball. As several times against Arshavin and Fabregas! He helped the others out and even ran for some attacks! Credit to the critisised American.

James Tomkins 7 - Another decent game with aggressiveness and no-nonsese. (Far better then against Bolton... of course)

Matthew Upson 5 - Not as his best as he lost out on the first goal and handled the ball clearly which gave the home team their penalty. Not a Captain on the field (as I usually point out).

Daprela 5,5 - This young guy has the right attitude, and had a fighting face during all game. Good contribution, but not a decisive effort. Well, FB's seldom have. But he will be important for us from now on, even if I'm longing to see Ilunga back to his best.

Diamanti 7 - Well he missed the penalty (I guess Almunia knew which corner Diamanti always shoots in) and he missed some other shots, but when he really had a golden opportunity he sadly chosed to pass instead. But: even if he made the wrong decisons from time to time he was one of few players that looked inspired and tried to change the game.

Behrami 5 - Ran, but was not able to influence the team today.

Kovac 6 - Ran, and had an import task to stop Fabregas and (in the first half) Song. Did pretty well, but he could not do anything going forward. I do not complain, I mean it was Song and Fabregas for God's sake...

Stanislas 6 - Happy to see him on the field from the start as he has speed, energy and (some) width, but if he shall play on the left he must sometimes go to the left and not every time move into the field. Worked hard and had a beautiful cross (from the right!)

Franco 4,5 - Well, he gave us the chance to get into the game. But apart from the attack from Vermalen - which gave him a red card and us a penalty - Francoe was never friend with the ball and did not do enough to be left on the field. So subbed, and rightly so. But maybe too late.

Mido 4,5 - A very silent game, so he is here to prove something? Well, you can see that he has a lot of football in his body, but his capacity has seldom bloosomed or really given us anything. So far. Was close to score on Stanislas beautiful cross though.

Subs:

Cole 5,5 - a late sub and he does make difference as soon as he shows, but apart from that wonderful shot to the post, he seemed far away from top form and lost the ball much easier than he usually does.

Noble - Nice to see him back even if he was not given any time to shine. "As if..."

McCarthy - Hardly involved but in some few moments he showed what speed can do, and the strong, fast pass to Cole makes me dream of a beginning of a beautiful friendship... I hope to see the South African start on Tuesday. And Cole!

Wolves next. Our most important game of the season!!! (again...)

Last game at Boleyn 2015?

When the talk about a move to the Olympic stadium started again after the G&S takeover I was a bit slow to catch on. Of course I knew the Davids would be interested in selling Upton Park and renting the Olympic stadium, but so were the Icelanders.

The pre-crunch antics of Sir Sebastian Coe, olympics minister Tessa Jowell and others had me fooled there for a while thinking that a “commitment to the International Olympic Committee” was actually important.

One may say that I failed to recognize the change in scenery laid down by the credit crunch.
In a BBC interview Sullivan points out the obvious that building a 80.000 seater just to use it for a few weeks and then tear most of it down to turn it into an athletic arena with a 25.000 capacity (that will be used for athletics a handful of times each year), must be downright waste of money .
However, what he chooses to disregard is the initial investment needed to turn it into a football ground as this is supposed to cost quite a lot more than transforming it to an athletics venue. That initial extra investment is, as I see it, the only real stumbling block in his quest to move the Club.
In a situation where the UK is pressured by the EU to speed up deficit cuts, every chance of reducing costs and increasing income will be very welcome. Talk of honoring a commitment will be wasted on governments facing a harsh financial reality, but if the initial investment or the long term stability and income will be the most important is still unclear. I guess it will depend on how the initial tab can be divided.

According to Telegraph, a West Ham spokesman said: "Our position is that we want to talk and see if a way forward can be found that can retain the athletics legacy and also allow us to make sure we get the most out of the stadium”.

Now that’s a scary thought. Keeping the tracks would mean taking away a substantial part of the match day experience. People arguing that this is insignificant as “the seats furthest away from the pitch is still closer to it than the ones at Wembley” are unlikely to be football fans and misses the point by a mile. But I don’t have to convince any Bubbleview reader about that. Still, I’m a bit worried that G&S thinks that the “customers” will turn up in enough numbers to fill the 55.000, or so, seats anyway and are willing to oblige to reach a compromise with the UKA (that are hoping to land the 2015 World Athletics Championship) just to finalize the deal.

The decision on who gets that 2015 athletics gig is to be decided in November, and the deadline (?) for the final (?) decision on the future use of the stadium is said to be December so if the UKA bid fails West Hams negotiating position is strengthened.
These deadlines also mean that we will see quite a few turns in this saga yet, but as things lay it looks to me as if the Boleyn Ground will stage its final football game in 2015.

West Ham ill prepared for a relegation battle?

Another loss last weekend. This one well expected. Not least because West Ham during Zolas tenure still haven´t beaten any of the "top four". They have a new chance to change that this coming weekend when we take on Arsenal. I haven´t seen anything during the last two games that points towards a point or three, more to the contrary actually. I think we´ll get well beaten once more and our confidence will suffer another blow.

It´s not in the games vs. Chelsea and Arsenal (and Bolton since we allways loose against them) we should expect to save our season. It would, however, be nice to get some bonus points once in a while. All the other teams around us seems to do that and that´s what we did last time we were involved in a relegation scrap.

We still have some games left with obvious chances to get some points. Zola has spoken about ten more points to reach 37 and safety. The games vs. Wolves, Stoke, Sunderland and Wigan will be massive. Not only do they represent our best chances of gathering points (together with Fulham away where we usually play well). They´re also teams we fight and can´t afford to drop points against.

I think West Ham have got the most talented team in the relegation battle. Though I also think we´re the worst prepared team to be in this situation. I don´t think the managment team or the players recognised this as a possibility (though I know a lot of the fans did) last summer and aren´t mentally prepared. This ofcourse is a great disadvantage towards the other involved teams.

In the prediction made early January I hoped for another eleven points from now until the end of the season. If we get those eleven points I think we´ll survive. To get them won´t be a walk in the park though.

(Game: Prediction, Outcome, +/- from the game, +/- overall)

January:
Aston Villa - WHU: 0p, 1p, 1p, 1p
Portsmouth - WHU: 3p, 1p, -2p, -1p
WHU - Blackburn: 3p, 1p, -2p, -3p
Total January: 6p, 3p, -3p, -3p

February:
Burnley - WHU: 3p, 0p, -3p, -6p
WHU - Birmingham: 1p, 3p, 2p, -4p
WHU - Hull: 3p, 3p, 0p, -4p
Manchester United - WHU: 0p, 0p, 0p, -4p
Total February: 7p, 6p, -1p, -4p

March:
WHU - Bolton: 1p, 0p, -1p, -5p
Chelsea - WHU: 0p, 0p, 0p, -5p
Arsenal - WHU: 0p
WHU - Wolverhampton: 3p
WHU - Stoke: 3p
Total March: 7p

April:
Everton - WHU: 0p
WHU - Sunderland: 1p
Liverpool - WHU: 0p
WHU - Wigan: 3p
Total April: 4p

May:
Fulham - WHU: 1p
WHU - Manchester City: 0p
Total May: 1p

(Prediction, +/- according to prediction, pointing towards x amount of points)

Total 2009: 18p
Total 2010: 25p, -4p, 21p
Total 09/10: 43p, -5p, 38p

Kovac was good!

As I've been away, I was not able to watch the game against Chelski until now, and as most things have been said out there already, there are just a few things that I've been thinking about.

As opposed to many/most comments on the net I think Kovac was very good. We all know that the Czech can't offer much goin forward and - yes - he lacks feet to pass the ball like an Aquiliani.

But he has improved a lot defensivly and against Chelski he ran like a lion hunting. I think he was the main reason, together with our team spirit (and maybe Chelski's lack of the same), that we had an even game in 55 minutes. We all saw that Parker was dominating - if not the pitch, at least - the team. But I think he is offered a lot of liberty when Kovac is there behind him. Parker did a hell of a job defensivly as well, I know, but still I think they are doin quite well together. If we just had an even more creative passer in front of them.... In the last ten minutes Kovac was probably the most tired man on the field, but that is another story.

Gabbidon's come-back gave the team a less hysterical look when we defend. Maybe he will partner Tomkins next year. As I guess Upson - who once more didn't captain the team on the field or played like a CB Capello would like to have - will be sold.

Why Diamanti and Cole (the knee I suppose) was rested is still a big Q. At least Mido seemed to enjoy to play. As opposed to Ilan. Dyer also showed that he is not a finished article even if I once more would have given Stanislas more time.....

I think we played pretty alright this weekend and 4-1 was -as Zola said -flattering for the home team. But once more we let the fans down after goin 2-1 down. Why do we, once more, seem to just give up??

The picture of our next manager emerging?

Ludo “Oi Big Boy” is gone (i.e. left the Club).
Regardless of the reasons for this, slipped discs or not, he will probably be replaced fairly quick even if living without one for the rest of the season can’t be a catastrophe. Green will hardly transform into butterfingers by the lack of one.

But if the rumor on KUMB are right Hughes sidekick at Blackburn and City, Kevin Hitchcock, is lined up.

He may be a West Ham supporter but if he is coming, and I say IF, we need to wonder no more about our manager situation next season.

Behrami states the obvious - but ducks the implications

Finally someone from the team stands up and admits it – we have a mental problem. For those of us watching we didn’t really need Behrami to tell us that, it has been evident, and a major point of discussion, almost since the arrival of Zola. From the very start Zola made a point of changing the players attitudes as a way toward success

“The players can’t be afraid of trying, my job is to encourage them to play
their game and not being afraid of losing… … football is all about enjoying
going out there”

Still one of the most evident features of the squad under Zola’s rein is the lack of mental stability. Countless times we have seen the game plan collapse, most strikingly when we have been two goals up on a team that gets a player sent off! The fear of losing is never far off.

What are the reasons?
When Zola came in he changed into the 433 system “a system I like and that can be very effective” he said. The response from the team was more ambiguous, at least after a few losses. Noble went on record saying "you need a couple of years to get it right".
The timing of this fundamental (?) change in game plan wasn’t the best either, as it turned out. Ashton picked up his final ankle injury in his first training session with Zola and injury plagued the squad the whole first half of the season.
So a team with several players that were not really considered starters were asked to change from the familiar 442 they were brought up with. And to make it yet a bit harder, it was more or less an “on the job training” as Zola came on after the start of the season. If a grain of doubt is planted under those circumstances there is a great risk of it getting nourished and grow. I feel we didn’t really ever have a squad able to play according to Zolas wishes, but that is maybe another issue.

We turned it around last season and that must have installed some belief in the future in the players, but the never ending (?) doubt over what players were going or staying as well as other aspects of the owner issue handed us just the start of this season we didn’t need.
Zola couldn’t do much about player trades but to minimize the damage. What I do think he could have done this season, after it was evident that the results were not going our way, was to minimize all types of insecurities he had any control over.

Quite often you hear coaches saying “at the moment it doesn’t work so we have to go back and work on the basics” We’ve heard that from Zola as well, but still he kept on experimenting with different systems (433, diamond 442 and standard 442). He has also been guilty of tampering with the starting lineup as I pointed out in THIS post about the back 4 (8?), as well as playing midfielders in all kinds of positions.
I am fully aware that it’s hard to decide to give a certain back 4, midfield, or striker duo time to settle in if it seems as if it doesn’t fully work out. It must be hard resist acting on the “maybe if we…” idea, nevertheless it’s of fundamental importance to do it as little as possible especially in times of turmoil.. Some of these changes were obviously due to injury and to a limited squad (making it tempting to make 2 changes to cover for one injury), but that can’t by far explain all the different starting lineups.
As much as I can sympathize with Zola’s urge to find the right player for the right position, constant change will be detrimental to player, no team, security. As this was one of Zola’s main issues he should have tried hard to avoid it as he knew success depended on security! It’s no coincidence that teams that start week in and week out with the same players seem to play above their player standard. When under pressure, knowing what the players next to you will do is an immense advantage and may well have solved some of the problems (in the form of conceded goals for instance) attributed to “individual mistakes”. When you know from many games together what your team mate will do, you don’t have to use valuable time to evaluate the situation and decide on a solution – you act on what may look like instinct but what is actually a result of spending time together in games in similar situations. This is something I think Zola could have provided, at least to a higher degree.

Life isn’t fair, with a better start to his managerial career in terms of available players and owners, the chance of Zola turning into a West Ham icon would have greatly increased. Unfortunately that was not to happen and I think the time to turn this around is long gone.

As much as I hate the thought of a manager coming in and playing “grave digger ball” to secure points and league survival, I can’t see Zola being successful with us. Given the right resources he can be a great manager but that will never be given to him at West Ham.

Davids! Please find us a manager that can do what Zola couldn’t and give him the funds to give it a shot! (but wait until the summer)

Another bad loss

Why is it that it allways looks exactly the same when we play Bolton? The team seems clueless and surprised. I find it very odd since Bolton doesn't look like a team that brings a lot of surprises to their games? We seemed absolutely clueless from the start.

Since we usually lose against Bolton I didn´t expect a win but I did expect some fight and for the team to be prepared from the kick off. In the prediction I decided for a draw which means we now lost another point.

Now we´re looking forward to two really difficult away games, Chelsea and Arsenal. I expect zero points from those two games. Everything else is a bonus. Durin Zolas time as a manager we seem to draw vs the "top" teams from time to time but never win. Now is a good time to change that and get the first one signore Zola!

(Game: Prediction, Outcome, +/- from the game, +/- overall)

January:
Aston Villa - WHU: 0p, 1p, 1p, 1p
Portsmouth - WHU: 3p, 1p, -2p, -1p
WHU - Blackburn: 3p, 1p, -2p, -3p
Total January: 6p, 3p, -3p, -3p

February:
Burnley - WHU: 3p, 0p, -3p, -6p an
WHU - Birmingham: 1p, 3p, 2p, -4p
WHU - Hull: 3p, 3p, 0p, -4p
Manchester United - WHU: 0p, 0p, 0p, -4p
Total February: 7p, 6p, -1p, -4p

March:
WHU - Bolton: 1p, 0p, -1p, -5p
Chelsea - WHU: 0p
Arsenal - WHU: 0p
WHU - Wolverhampton: 3p
WHU - Stoke: 3p
Total March: 7p

April:
Everton - WHU: 0p
WHU - Sunderland: 1p
Liverpool - WHU: 0p
WHU - Wigan: 3p
Total April: 4p

May:
Fulham - WHU: 1p
WHU - Manchester City: 0p
Total May: 1p

(Prediction, +/- according to prediction, pointing towards x amount of points)

Total 2009: 18p
Total 2010: 25p, -4p, 21p
Total 09/10: 43p, -5p, 38p

Bolton bolted Hammers again

We ought to know better by now. But... I expected a win this weekend, even if most of us have seen too many losses against our boogey-team (even more "boogey" than Tottenham?).

And today was awful. Awful.

While Bolton always knew what to do... all the time, it didn't seem that we had a clue. When Bolton attacked they knew were to find Davis, Elmander and the impressing Chung-Yong. We looked up and found noone and no or few runs. Our players (except Cole) was in a place where they are expected to be when we attack. Not like Bolton. This was Bolton's first away win in six months! A bit.. no very embarrasing as we never looked close... even if Stanislas shot right at the bar in the dying minutes was a beautiful effort.

This loss leaves us in a dire situation. Again. We may need a point or three in (at least) one of our fortcoming away games. And the opposition are Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. So after this new "fiasco" (passed by Bolton now) we do have to show much, much more guts, much more energy, much more teambonding, more skill. Or we'll get relegated! But that can't happen can it?

Green 5,5 - May need to work more in the box as their goals hardly was delt by by the CB:s. Even if not at fault for any of the goals he had a bit of a tired game.

Faubert 5 - He was not at his best, had some awful passes, but still I do not know why he was subbed as he was much more involved in attacks than Behrami. (Injured?)

Tomkins 3,5 - Young players do good games and bad games. But a CB is not allowed to do these mistakes. Tomkins first half was his worst ever or at least since Yakubu scored for Everton in Tomkins debut. Was more or less at fault at both goals and did some other serious mistakes. Grew during 2:d. To late then.

Upson 5 - Is this our captain? I guess the annoying Kevin Davis is not his favourite...

Spector 5 - OK, Fooled sometimes but tried hard, and compared with his friends in the back four he was the most decent one.

Behrami 4,5 - During the first half, did he have any passes to the correct address? In these games you got to show some skill, I did not find it in Behrami. He fights yes, he runs yes, but every Bolton player do the same.

Kovac 5 - Did what he had to do and was expected to do (Fought!). But no more.

Parker 6 - After some lousy play were he lost the ball possession and had some even lousier shots he came in and fought and ran hard.

Diamanti 7 - Even if he had three great opportunities from the same (?) free kick spot and was unable to score he was my man of the match today as he was the only one who did the unexpected and at the same time was there to be found when others needed som help.

Franco 4,5 - Not his game at all. Had a wonderful scoring opportunity which he just "fluffed". Played to far away from Cole and to far away from the box.

Carton Cole 5 - Not at his best at all, but tried, fought and came down to midfield to pick the ball up. Continues to limp, does he need a rest? Will McCarthy be ready?

Subs:

Dyer 6 - Liked what I saw, even if he missed the best opportunity of the game when he was totally free. But that was just 30 seconds after he had come on. The n he showed some skill but not enough.

Mido 4 - Looked slow and far away from the rest of the team. May need a start to begin to show... (or be rested forever?).

Stanislas 5 - Offered something different and - again width and some goal opportunities. As he only gets a couple of minutes each game he is very eager to show what he can do - which isn't always the best way to play...

Chelsea next.

Scary rumours!

Even if Jason Burt may have lost his good relation to the topnotch of our club, by supporting Fernandes (which I did myself) and have lost some good information sources when Nani and Dux left, he may still be the best informed journalist in West Ham matters. So it is very worrying to read his article in todays the Telegraph which states that Behrami will be sold in the summer and Diamanti too.

We all know that Upson's and Green's futures in claret and blue may be in doubt as their contracts soon is ended and they both seem to leave for finishing a career with a top-four club (Upson) or abroad (Green). At least those rumours haven't been crushed by the players themselves. Or the Club. So this we know. But to lose Behrami and Diamanti would be a disastrous act, as it's not only as a declaration of war against Zola, but also against the fans. We all know about the financial situation - as Sullivan has repeated in the journals every day since he arrived – and we know that the club has to act. But by selling two of our most popular and important players would be against all sense. We do not have anyone else like Diamanti! Noone else can close down games with his free kicks! If he continues like this he will get the status of an Hammers icon.

Please, let this just be - as I suppose is the case with poor paid Collison - a part of the negotiating process. Otherwise Sullivan will have no friend's left. And as Joppe has speculated about here earlier, Zola will leave rather sooner than later.

I doubt anyone will renew their season tickets this summer if Burt's article is telling us the truth. We may have to clean our debts, but not by selling these players!

To read Burt's article read HERE.

A really bad week

Last week was a rather bad week personally. My broken wrist turned out to need not only an operation. They had to make it a "stiff operation" (I´ve got absolutely no idea what the correct English term would be but I try with that one) and I won´t ever be able to use it properly again. Than again, it could have been worse, a lot worse.

Back to more important stuff and the reason why you read this post. West Ham. After two straight wins and six points the team got the expected zero points vs. Manchester United last week. Noone could argue with the result and at least the first goal was a real peach.

I expected 0 points from that game and it means that the prediction still points towards 39p at the end of the season. This weekend we´ve got an "easier" opposition. Bolton at home. In my prediction I´ve only calculated with 1 point due to the fact that we´ve been struggeling with Bolton for the last decade or so (at least since their "fat-Sam" years). I really hope we´ll get all three points since this is one of the game were we've got a decent chance to get some plus points on board. The fact that the next two games afterwards are Chelsea and Arsenal away makes it all the more important to put some points in the bag asap!

(Game: Prediction, Outcome, +/- from the game, +/- overall)

January:
Aston Villa - WHU: 0p, 1p, 1p, 1p
Portsmouth - WHU: 3p, 1p, -2p, -1p
WHU - Blackburn: 3p, 1p, -2p, -3p
Total January: 6p, 3p, -3p, -3p

February:
Burnley - WHU: 3p, 0p, -3p, -6p an
WHU - Birmingham: 1p, 3p, 2p, -4p
WHU - Hull: 3p, 3p, 0p, -4p
Manchester United - WHU: 0p, 0p, 0p, -4p
Total February: 7p, 6p, -1p, -4p

March:
WHU - Bolton: 1p
Chelsea - WHU: 0p
Arsenal - WHU: 0p
WHU - Wolverhampton: 3p
WHU - Stoke: 3p
Total March: 7p

April:
Everton - WHU: 0p
WHU - Sunderland: 1p
Liverpool - WHU: 0p
WHU - Wigan: 3p
Total April: 4p

May:
Fulham - WHU: 1p
WHU - Manchester City: 0p
Total May: 1p

(Prediction, +/- according to prediction, pointing towards x amount of points)

Total 2009: 18p
Total 2010: 25p, -4p, 21p
Total 09/10: 43p, -4p, 39p

Hindsight – an exact science!

Now that the latest financial figures are out there is a huge demand for interpretations of them. As this is not an easy task and there are may ways to be “creative” when describing the financial situation, people seem to be hesitant to comment on the wider picture and most comments has been on some easy to understand figures, like the cost/benefit of Dyer and Ljungberg.

While I wait for someone I trust to do a readers digest version of the numbers, I’ll do the same.

Those were very lucrative contracts, to say the least, and few with insight at the time would have called them conservative or maybe even reasonable. As things turned out, these contracts together with some other misjudgements are still costing us dearly, no doubt about that. As things turned out, they are a not insignificant parts of the threat to our PL existence that we have been under, on and off, for the last year or so.
What is generally not commented on, however, is the situation at the club at the time they were drawn up. The judgement on these contracts are passed with the key in hand, as most judgements are. We now know that Dyer and Ljungberg were never to add much to our team, and of course there was always that risk. Eggy got carried away and loved to be able to sign high profile targets. He did pay over the top for their (and others) services and I’m certainly not here to defend these contracts as such. But Eggy and BG were filthy rich at the time, they thought there was no danger involved. Bad business maybe, but no financial danger. Having a wage bill of 80% of the annual turnover is not sustainable, as Igoe points out in his accounts comments, but I bet it's not unusual during a build up phase when a rich owner takes control.

The Ashton contract has also been extensively discussed.
As things turned out it was another major mistake. However, Cole was also handed a long term contract a little more than a year ago, a fact that more than likely saved this and maybe also last years PL contract, and will secure a decent return if we have to let him go. If Cole had picked up a career threatening injury last spring, however, having him on a long contract would have drained our funds and a horrific £/game calculation would have emerged.

With almost 4 years to run on Coles contract would any of you like to cut
it short today to reduce the risk?

OK, so the comparison stinks, Ashton had a well known problem that should have cautioned us. But I also remember thinking, when he scored the astonishing goal against ManU in the penultimate game of the 07/08 season, that it was typical that he produced such a showpiece with the summer window coming up. I was overwhelmed with satisfaction when we just a few weeks later had secured his services for another 4 years. As things turned out, it was a bad move and in hindsight there should have been a few clauses included, but would we have gotten his signature had they been included? Was it totally appalling to be willing to take a risk to be able to “take the Club to the next level”? Again, this was some time before the financial meltdown.

As things turned out these are the very things that have put us in a very awkward financial situation. G&S and other owners with a restricted budget wouldn’t have done those things, and that’s also why I preferred G&S to a sugar daddy today, but remember that our owners back in 07/08 were filthy rich and that one of our main problems back then was to lure any decent player to us, almost regardless of what we were offering (now known as the Kaka to City dilemma). But the key words in the first sentence of this paragraph are “as things turned out”… If the world had NOT seen a financial meltdown there wouldn’t have been much discussion about these contracts today. The odd “we could do better with our wage bill” would still be heard but as our owners would have been able to line up decent replacements (i.e. not Tristan) we would be reasonably happy. The Icelanders were guilty of doing risky and even bad football business, but not of more or less willingly ruining our club.
Without putting these decisions into a context the discussion will revert to “everything is the Icelanders fault” which is a bit of an exaggeration. Unless they were responsible for the sub-prime mortgage fuelled financial bubble bursting that is.