It would have been easy to understand if the majority of West Ham United fans were to go into the game with Chelsea in a very downbeat mood.
A succession of dreary results had taken the shine off the start to the season that we were able to enjoy. A draw at home to Stoke was an improved second half performance, but the first half performance left a few questions. Then we faced two very tough away trips to Tottenham and Manchester United where a mixture of misfortune and a poor performance hindered us from picking up any points.
To add to this, we had Chelsea at home to look forward to. With the past defeats, the side was looking for a strong response and the news that Andy Carroll wouldn’t be involved on the morning of the match circulated and left many West Ham supporters fearing the worst.
Though had it not been for one of the best second half performances at Upton Park in recent memory, the loss of Carroll to a knee injury would have been compounded even further. Despite this victory, can we last until his return without our enigmatic number 8?
Our attacking options still have questions hanging over them, Maiga has shown promise and could really deliver, but when used out wide in the Stoke and Spurs games he was very ineffective. The other option is the spirited Carlton Cole, who will undoubtedly be buoyed by a very effective performance over Chelsea, and some will be hoping that his first goal since Wembley will help him find his form that he showed during the run in to the Play Offs.
Carlton is a player who greatly splits many opinions in the terraces. Some will say that he has been at the club for nearly 7 years and has achieved very little for the promise that he showed.
Although some would be of the opinion that he has been a hard working contribution to the side, and the last of a rare breed of players who show extreme loyalty to the club that he serves. You cannot but admire the dedication he showed to the club by not just staying with us as we dropped into the Championship last year, but the willingness to take a pay cut so that he could help the club out.
Still, his form to many is rather undesirable and with Carroll missing until the New Year, at least. Can we rely on these two to keep us on track of having one of the best seasons for many years?
In my opinion, Carlton Cole doesn’t fit the mould that Andy Carroll fits; they are very different players with similar attributes.
Cole possesses an abundance of strength, which could be seen by the way he held off Branislav Ivanovic when he scored at the weekend. Carlton needs support from the midfielders more than Carroll, which Carroll doesn’t need as much as Cole. Carroll is able to hold up the ball for longer, with his touch of control being impeccable.
Though Carlton Cole’s is rather out of touch, he needs support from Nolan and Diame quicker, so I would recommend moving Nolan into a cemented second striker position.
With Maiga, he needs to be partnered with a striker, so only pairing him with Cole would work. I believe that we have strikers that can cause problems in the Premier League, but coming into the make or break month of December needs our strong start to continue to keep us firing and hopefully we can start to look ahead in the league, rather than who could catch us from behind.
Carlton Cole is a Hammer though and through. When Caroll would leave; Colo will be there as he was since so many of our high profile strikers came and gone including one Tevez who we all like!
He is faithful and committed to the West Ham which in these days of mercenary very few players have this courage and determination and willingness to die hard for the club. two years ago, we had another one who left us and moved to Tottenham once we were relegated.
So please keep off Colo. He is one of the rare breed. And as far as I am concerned,I do hope CC continues to score in every gamme which would make Big Sam think about keeping Andy Caroll on the bench.
The other point about CC is that he is level headed and do not carry a BIG EGO about him. So hands off Carlton whilst Caroll owuld leave come end of the season whilst we would then have to rely on our CC who will always be there and I hope that he finishes his career with us and takes his place alongside the few of our true legends!
Agree on every single bit of this. Well played!
Couldn’t have put it better RK!
I listen to some of our lot at times and I think “they haven’t got a clue!”
Loyalty and commitment to the cause is vastly underestimated these days and you don’t have to be a genius to have spotted the so called talented mercenaries who have used our club as a stepping stone instead of wanting to play for this club from the heart or were dedicated to the cause!
I like Cole as a person, and for his dedication – but I’ll like him a whole lot more as a player when he can stop overthinking chances. All of us can count a dozen times over the last few years when he’s had clear chances on goal which he bungled. But I don’t think it’s because he doesn’t have the ability physically, I think he mentally just overthinks things a good deal and cheats himself out of goals. He has the ability and potential to be a lethal striker.
That said, I still wish that Sam would experiment a bit more with two strikers on the pitch, actually playing as strikers. Maybe a 4-4-1-1 style with Maiga as a 2nd striker, Cole or Carroll up front and Nolan playing a bit forward as central midfield, Diame or Noble behind him and Jarvis and Taylor on the wings. The only striker who seems to have decently adapted to the wing is Vaz Te, but even he hesitates frequently, was it Norwich he was forward and free and instead of trying to cut in off the wing he stopped and held up waiting for the whole team to come up, which they did, along with the whole Canaries back line. Even then, I think a pair of stylish strikers like him and Maiga could produce some great results too.
It’s true that Carroll being out will be a big lose especially as it seems as if every time he is settling in and finding some form then BANG! He is injured again. The trouble with cole is that he cannot be everything that fans want him to be! Talented-yes, limited almost certainly. Although his head is in a better place this year and the work big Sam has done mentaly has done wonders for his confidence, if 2nd half of chelski is anything to go by. But the reality is he still needs far closer support more quicker than Carroll would and iam not sure how this fits into Big Sam’s master plan. As cole needs 4-4-2 whereas we currently play 4-4-3. Can we cope with a small squad and mounting injuries? Short term? Yes! Over busy x-mas period? Probably! But will it take its toll over the second half of the season? Undoubtably! without re enforcements in Jan! However, we have a great opportunity to get one over one of the poorest mickey-mousers team in years! And one without that dirty diving, cheating Sauz! With the right aptitude we should win quite comfortably! Easy 2-1! COYI!