I’m notoriously pessimistic, but at the urging of my nemesis I’ve tried so hard this season to be more of an optimist. I tried to take positives from losing to Stoke City and Hull City, and see the glass half full while we drop points to Newcastle United and Aston Villa (although that draw against Southampton is looking pretty impressive all of a sudden.) I’ve tried so, so hard. However, after that second half display against Norwich City, I’m running out of optimism.
The second half was one of the most depressing halves of football in my living memory.
This is a game I went into feeling pre-emptively sorry for Chris Hughton as I assumed he was surely getting sacked after the game. Little did I know our second half performance would be so appalling it would leave our fans calling for Sam Allardyce’s head instead.
It was a dreadful, dreadful half, and the result has left fans very worried about relegation. If we can’t beat Norwich- and not just can’t beat them but get walloped by them— do we realistically look good to stay up?
We know mistakes have been made leading up to this point— we all know we should have signed another striker in the summer. But then everyone talks about not having a striker, yet we’ve got two strikers constantly sat on the bench (and by the way did you know Modibo Maiga had the highest goals to games ratio for West Ham last year?) Not all our players look like they are able to give 90 minutes, and I swear to god if I see our captain offside one more time… Not to mention we are putting way too much pressure on an injured player to swoop back in and save the day.
It’s all well and good to state what we should have done, but hindsight is helping no one here. How do we move forward? What do we do from here on out?
What’s going wrong at Upton Park and, more importantly, how do we move on and fix this? How would you save our season- who would you drop, would you still keep Allardyce at the helm, and would anyone from the bench be getting more time?
Allardyce is the boss, and on paper, he should know best – but he also should be the man with the plan, and instead he’s the man that just lost to Norwich. This isn’t good enough, and something has to change—but what? If you’ve got the solution, let me know below.
Good article….
I’ve never been one to moan about our skipper but when u look at the way we played in the first half yesterday I think there is a big arguement for him not to be in front of a striker or Diame.
Collison has been taken off in the last two games & as a result we’ve looked worse. Collison gives the side balance & is an ideal partner for Noble but I cannot see the point in Nolan? I’m sure even Maigia would be a better option then Nolan in the system we played yesterday.
On another note there was once again some very poor use if subs. I don’t see the point of bringing a player on & then change he’s position 2 or 3 times! How can that player have a real impact on the game? Why not take off Nolan? He was the forward! And why not change it to two upfront, we just gave the result up in the end & even tho we have changed our style of play drastically in the last month we still never seem to hae a plan B.
I’ve always been a Big Sam fan & don’t want to see him go but he does need results….. Fast!
I wrote a comment on here in August saying I would take 17th in the league as the transfer business was dire, especially as I can see no goals in the team and got slaughtered by everyone… Oh I wish I was wrong.
There are more than a few questions to answer.
1. if we are tied financially by fair play, what makes anyone think we will sign anyone in Jan?
2.How can we get over run by Norwich in the 2nd half with 6 in midfiled?
3.What exactly is the skipper offering to the team at the moemnt, he is being carried.
4.What the hell has happened to Mo Diame this season?
5.Jarvis £12 signing is dropped for £5m signing Downing ?
6.James Collins is a liability and Tomkins also looks half the player with him alongside, watch us leak the goals now with Reid out until Xmas.
7.Why does our keeper refuse to dive at free kicks, his footwork is appaling for a top keepere?
8.Do we have a player who can get a free kick over a wall at the club? when was the last time we hit the target from a direct free kick? Do they practice in training?
10 points from 11 games.
Not played Arsenal, Man u, Chelsea , Liverpool or Man city A. Thats 10 games Nil points.
Leaves 18 games needed 30 points, so will need to win over half of them.
Get the gist, we are royally fu…ed.. !!!
With the abject crap our forwards have been producing, I only see one plan, Downing and Ravel up front, with Collison, Noble, Diame and Taylor in midfield with O’Brien, McCartney, Tompkins and Demel our back four with Adrian in goal.
McCartney? You sure? Did you see him vs Cardiff in the cap 1 cup?
Our 1st half performance was the best I’ve seen from us in a long time, possibly better than when we played spuds, so there are positives.
Consistency is our problem.
LOST FOR WORDS , OUR LAST THROW OF THE DICE IS FOR MR CARROLL TO COM BACK AND TO REVERT TO SOME KIND OF NORMALITY OTHERWISE ITS HELLO LEYTON ORIENT
when the hell will sam drop Nolan and Jussi….tye cost us bog time yesterday,,,and Jussi easy catch flapped fumbled and whallop penalty…..they was utter shit in the second half
Yeah absolutely wounded. Really backed us before season started. The Carroll sage is starting to take the piss, everytime we think he’s nearly back boom,don’t be stupid. If we can’t sign a quality striker cause FFP.(don’t say we can sell to buy. Who can we sale n who’s gonna buy them? N for how much.) we can’t score. And if u don’t score u get relegated.
Norwich have always been a difficult side to beat at Carrow Road and coming off the back of a 7-0 defeat they were always going to be looking to bounce back quickly. We played them off the field in the first half and probably should have pushed for a second goal to effectively kill off the game. Now, it is difficult to blame Allardyce for this defeat as it was individual errors that cost us the game. All the manager can do is set up a game plan and ask the players to stick to it. I feel a bit for him as he cannnot account for Jussi fumbling the ball and Collins taking out an opposition player in a dangerous position, although he should be drilling it into the players NOT TO GIVE AWAY FREE KICKS ON THE EDGE OF THE F**KING AREA. He is definitely culpable for not bringing in a decent second striker though and gambled on Andy Carroll’s fitness. A gamble that has not paid off. Unfortunately, it’s going to be damage limitation until Carroll’s return or the January transfer window; whichever one comes soonest.
Two points:
1 – Buy a striker
2 – BUY A FUCKING STRIKER