We looked good with two strikers – Amazing, I know. We played with both Modibo Maiga and Carlton Cole for the final period of the match, and would you believe it? We only went and scored! I wish Big Sam would change our system up earlier in the match sometimes, as Carlton Cole must be at full fitness by now and we did look much better in attack when he came on.
Our away fans are amazing – I think when all you can hear are the fans losing 3-0, you know they’re bloody good. I think my personal favourite chant from Old Trafford was “you’re nothing special, we lose every week.” However, our Twitter fans were quite fickle – after singing Sam Allardyce’s praises for beating Tottenham Hotspur in the cup, they were calling for his head when we couldn’t win away to the Red Devils. Now I’m not his biggest fan by any means, but surely we weren’t ever really expecting anything from that match?
We can’t wait for Winston Reid’s return! – James Collins and James Tomkins were both poor and looked out of form against Manchester United, and you all know how sad it makes me to write that about JT! Winston Reid is a calming influence in the back four and we really do miss him. It’s been reported that he’s aiming to be back for January, so let’s hope that’s the case.
We’re all feeling the danger of the drop – It’s December and I know I’m already anxiously watching results from other teams coming in, hoping that they will have slipped up like we have. I know there are ‘worse teams than us’ and ‘we’ll be alright’, but this season is reminding me more and more of the Avram Grant relegation campaign, and that frightens me!
We may be hard pressed to hold on to Carlton from January – Ok so this is clearly a tongue in cheek point, but the one thing that used to frustrate me about Cole is that when he had too much time to think about his shot and what he had to do, he would make a mess of it. He looked really confident slotting the ball under a diving De Gea, and it was great to see. I genuinely think it’s worth keeping him if Andy Carroll’s fitness is shaky.
What did you think of the match? Leave a comment or tweet me at @alwaysintune.
I know this is looking back in hindsight, but had I been given the choice of trading 3 Premier League points over the weekend, such as Spurs gained in exchange for spot in the League Cup semi final, I’d have had no hesitation in choosing the 3 points, but what is done is done & we should relish our chance at cup glory, but back to Saturday’s match at Old Trafford, and that was absolutely pedestrian defending West Ham. You cannot hope to stay in the premier League if you continue to defend like that! Man Utd are nothing great. They are nothing near the team they were last year, and yet you let Man Utd run right through you. It was absolutely embarrassing to watch. In fact the café where I was watching the game, turned the channel over at half time to watch the Man City game, so I had to return home to continue, but I’d seen enough by half time anyway, as there was no way you were going to win that game. Man Utd are nothing special, they just run at people with pace and you just couldn’t handle it West Ham. I mean the 1st goal appeared to be no danger and yet you just let them run right through you, and Januzaj, that little jerk who was diving over tackles trying to win free kicks like a little fairy without contact even having been made, well he just turned you inside out James Collins. I’m sorry James Collins but I think your use by date has come. Last year you were the mainstay in defense. This year you are not. You are just getting beaten for pace and are getting turned inside out. Both of those 1st 2 Man Utd goals were like child’s play. There appeared to be no danger, just men running at pace. They are nothing of the team that they were last year when you defended heroically when it was only a fluky deflection of off James Collins that cost us a 1-0 defeat. As I say, this Man Utd team is nothing of what their team was last year, and David Moyes is nothing of the manager that Sir Alex Fergusson was. It’s no wonder David Moyes has never won a trophy (I don’t call him grabbing a Charity Shield from Fergusson’s team as winning a major honour). All the time you kept losing out on 50% 50% balls, and then when you did win the ball you lost it again. The only way to do any good against Man Utd is to try & take control of the game. The way you played West Ham there was no way you were ever going to take control of that game. By half time I’d had enough. The owner of the venue where I was watching had had enough, in fact everyone had had enough, the telecast was changed to another game and I was out of there & on my way home to check it out on-line. I was quite impressed with returning home and going on-line with 20 minutes left to play that you had kept the score at 2-0. Had Carlton Cole came on & scored when the game was still at 2-0 we might have had a chance, but at 3-0, no, I am pleased you scored Carlton, but with the score going to 3-0 just as you came on, you were brought on just too late. Unfortunately, if Sam had given you an entire 2nd half to do something it might have been different. You did do something and that was fantastic, thanks very much Carlton, but no, it wasn’t your fault that you were brought on just too late. I understand Sam giving you a rest after a hard game on Wednesday night, but no, a comeback should not have been required in the first place. Had you made it 2-1, instead of 3-1, it might have been different, but once again without a decent strike force, West Ham hardly had a shot on goal, except for your goal Carlton. It was just so embarrassing and frustrating to watch in front of all the other people at the venue of where I was watching. I almost smashed my glass in anger, but refrained because it wasn’t my property. You can’t blame big Sam for not jumping off of the touch line and shouting himself hoarse & blue in the face. If you haven’t learnt what he had been drumming into you in the lead up to this game, then it’s not his fault. Sam is not out there on the field with you, trying to play alongside you as well as coaching you lot. So is that all that teams have to do to beat you West Ham. That just run at you with pace when they have the ball, and then they do the same when they don’t have the ball, and you get done. As I say, this Man Utd team is nothing of the team they were last year, and yet you were unlucky to lose 1-0 last year. Christ, pull yourselves together, this is the Premier League, not the B league. West Ham did not control the game at all. No, not at all. They do have the players but once again they just fell apart. Why? West Ham could have beaten this Man Utd team who are a shadow of the team they were last year, had West Ham got their act together. The points are just too valuable to throw away like this. The one thing that the northern teams have that West Ham don’t is the hunger. The absolute hunger and driving passion to win is not there. It sometimes never used to be there in the old days either, as Jimmy Greaves said when he left West Ham, that he just could not continue playing for a team that does not have that hunger and driving ambition for success, like which he played alongside at Spurs. A team that does not have that killer instinct is gone. Have West Ham learned nothing from their failings of the old days??? After watching this game, I’d say we’d be lucky to get 1 point from the next 3 games, if we are lucky? As we have only got 1 point from the last 4 games. I’d like to say 3 points against West Brom, but who knows with this club, and as for Arsenal well just forget it, as that’s just in our dreams & in our bubbles at the moment, but having said that, you have to win the next 2 games West Ham. Win these next 2 before going to Fulham on New Year’s Day. Then win at craven cottage. Then & only then, with 23 points under our belts & with 18 games left to play, will I feel we have a chance to survive. There are 26 points required from now, for the psychological barrier of 40 to be reached by the end of the season. If we still require 26 points after 28th Dec & going into the New Year? We will not survive. Play Carroll now ffs! (& ffs is a swear term & not a reference to Sam) this would be my selection for the match v Arsenal, and Carroll, ready or not, you are playing, or you can be sold in the new year, & I am not joking, after more than 15m spent & more than 1 year’s wages paid, enough is enough!
Jääskeläinen, Demel, McCartney, Noble, Rat, Nolan, Diamé, Morrison, Carroll, C. Cole, Jarvis
Substitutes: Adrián, Collins, Diarra, Maiga, J. Cole, Collison, Taylor,
Also, West Ham are only 1 of 3 teams who have not won more than 3 games. The 2 other teams that share this shocking statistic being West Brom & Sunderland. Change this terrible Stat soon West Ham.
Dude, CALM the hell down. United are not as great as before yes I admit. Give them time and they’ll get near to their best. It’s their first season with a new manager and Moyes is that man, can’t expect something great immediately. Ferguson took 3-4 seasons before it slowly being winners and such. Your comments are ridiculously to a biased extent. Whichever team you support we’ll see how well they do towards the end of the season. Nothing great/special? We’ll see you biased cunt ranter
spot on mate! I couldn’t have aired my frustration any better. I am sick of such pathetic displays, as you say, united are awful and we could have got something from this with a bit more effort. It’s all down to the Manager I’m afraid, and Allardyce has to go, he is as bad as Grant, at that’s saying something. The club is turning into a joke! I’m afraid, at the moment, unless a miracle happens, we are down.
If we go down this season I will not shed any tears,our owners and manager have acted with such stupidity they deserve all that is coming to be honest.You cannot expect to survive in the prem with a 15 million pound injury prone striker and other utter crap ones,you need to score goals to win football matches and our strikers are simply not good enough,we should have gone out and bought quality in the transfer window and did not.brought carlton cole back,is he god,because we need god,jesus and moses to get us out of the brown stuff we are in,i never thought I would hear myself say this,but I hope we do go down,and like people say,you do learn from your mistakes,David Sullivan,David Gold,Sam,take note.
And some silver lining in going down lads, is that I cannot see how we can possibly move into that White Elephant of an Olympic stadium that is built on a nuclear waste dump, if we are in the Championship. The Boleyn ground has atmosphere, & approval was given for it to be enlarged. I’m really over the worry of going down now. I am looking at the possitives of keeping our Boleyn home. At least we own that. Spurs stuffed our ownership of the Olympic Stadium, so why be a tenant? A club without it’s own ground is nothing!