Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Sunderland was a dire game in truth, and one in which we were lucky to escape with anything from.
Here are five things I learnt about West Ham from their performance:
1. We showed resilience.
Starting with a positive, although overall it was a pretty poor performance, and Sunderland outplayed us for long periods, I was pleased that we showed enough resilience to hang on in there to claim a point.
Just remember it would have been far worse to have lost that game against a side below us in the Premier League table. In particular I thought James Tomkins and James Collins in defence were outstanding, constantly making last ditch interceptions and throwing themselves in the way of goal bound shots.
In addition Jussi Jaaskelainen was excellent in goal, pulling off a string of fine saves. Without a doubt, this valiant defending was what earnt us a point, as well as some luck.
2. Another clean sheet
Another positive was that this was our 8th clean sheet of the season out of 16 games. As Sam Allardyce pointed out at the end of the game that is one area we are doing well in. Whilst things aren’t looking great at the moment, if we can keep up this record then we just need to find a way of scoring goals to start winning matches.
Indeed against Sunderland we could have even snatched an unlikely win with a couple of opportunities near the end, which can always happen if you keep a clean sheet.
Let us hope we can improve with the return of Andy Carroll, which shouldn’t be far away according to reports. In addition there is the January window in which we just have to pray we can find a good quality goalscorer.
3. Disappointing going forward
As was alluded to in the previous point, we cannot score goals regularly at the moment, and it is a real problem. In fact against Sunderland, aside from a couple of set pieces, we never really looked like creating any chances, and the team was devoid of any sort of creativity. This was despite the fact we had several good players on the pitch who we know can create things such as Ravel Morrison and Mohamed Diame.
It just seemed like Allardyce had set our stall out to defend and get a point rather than take the game to the opposition, which was disappointing at home to the bottom club in the league.
Far too many times Modibo Maiga was left isolated up front and unable to do anything without support. To be fair I thought Maiga did alright but there was rarely anyone there to help him when he held the ball up well or got flick-ons.
It seemed strange when earlier in the week Allardyce and David Gold were touting Morrison to play in the ‘Nolan’ role behind the front man, that he seemed to be played in a much deeper position where he couldn’t utilise his creative skills as well.
4. Keep playing Diame in centre of midfield!
We started to see glimpses of Diame’s form last season against Sunderland, particularly early on. Whilst he seemed to tire later in the match, he made a few of those driving runs right into the heart of the Sunderland defence, causing John O’Shea and Wes Brown rare moments of trouble.
This is something we have sorely missed this season, probably caused partly because of Diame’s own poor form, and the fact that he has been in and out of the team, not to mention that when he has played he has often been put out on a wing where he is nowhere near as effective. I therefore urge big Sam to keep playing the Senegalese international in the centre of the park, and hopefully before too long we will see some of his form from the last campaign being replicated.
5. Crowd support
I would just like to mention the support from the home faithful. Whilst the majority were good and vociferous as usual, there were a minority who were getting on the team’s back at certain points which certainly wasn’t helping the players of whom looked nervous and lacked confidence.
It reminded me of a period two seasons back in the Championship where we had a bad run of home form, and certain sections of the crowd regularly booed the team. This was very disappointing to me. Even more so were the supporters singing the name of Paolo Di Canio, implying they wanted the Italian to replace Allardyce as manager.
I personally want Big Sam to stay, and feel he is the man to get us through this difficult period, but even if you don’t, I can’t believe anyone would seriously want Di Canio as our manager, given the debacle that happened at his previous club, ironically enough, Sunderland earlier this season.
This is the sort of period where the support should really be getting behind the team. When the chips are down, we should be doing our bit to lift the side and I would like to see a lot more of the support doing this in future fixtures.
Wht we larnt ws quite smple.
1.We have built the most boring negative team in the championship (will be soon).
2.Jarvis was the biggest waste of £12m I have evr seen
3.Mark Ward at half time lookd like he had more passion than any of the players showed in 90 mins.
4.Thereason we have so any clean sheets is because we play no stikers and 3 sitting midfiled players.
5.The midfiled i better with Nolan in it, Morrison and JoeCole were inafective and did not know how to press the ball.
6.This is the most underwhelming west ham team I have ever watched at Upton park, with no exptions.
7.BFS has taken the soul of this club..
8.. I have had a season ticket since 81, I do not enjoy it anymore because of this football and will give up until BFS goes !
Hi James,
What match was you at? We were total garbage and Collins was dreadful. When they announced the man of the match it must have been a tough decision, I would have given to the ball boy who could at least get a ball to a player !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Everyone is banking on Carroll, has anyone considered he might get injured again.
Team needs our proper fans. if your not going to get behind the team, don’t come. Simple as. We’ve got to get behind the team and give them our support. UNITED. That’s what we stand for isn’t it? United till the end, through thick and thin. Ultimately, we don’t have an impact on signings, board decisions, mangers, tactics/team selections etc. So surely the least we can do is get behind the team and build Upton Park back up to what it used to be! COYI
if the west ham fans do not like what is going on at the club they support,then they are quite right to voice any concerns that they have, to follow a club like headless chickens is just not on.The supporters pay good money to watch the team and lets be honest the play has been dreadful,The manager needs to leave NOW . The owners are in it for the profit,do not let them con you with any P.R stunt. WEST HAM UNITED IS ONLY AS GOOD AS ITS FANS,AND THEY HAVE PUT UP WITH A LOT OF SHIT,WE DONT WANT TO WIN EVERYTHING,WE DO WANT TO PLAY FOOTBALL,WE WANT HONEST OWNERS AND A DECENT MANAGER .
You can sing your heart out cheer as loud as you can but as the players don’t respond to the support what do you do.
Im sick of being ripped off every bloody week.Being told a load of crap by the chairmen the manager and anyone else at west ham. The whole situation is a joke and we are the laughing stock …sort it out for f**k sake
James ! James ! James ! , trevor is absolutely right what game was you watching in all the years I’ve been watching my West ham and I’ve seen some shity games the palace and Sunderland games are right up there, i am West ham United through and through but there is only so much i can take, Dave, Trevor, and mick are all right in saying what they said. Terry i remember my first ever game at The boleyn it was 12th of April 1965 Chelsea at home we won 3-2 next game West brom at home we won 6-1 last game of season Blackpool we won 2-1 i was hooked i could not wait for august came i could apparently sing bubbles at the tender age of 3 , i am West ham thought and thought but there is only so much that even i can take,i hate to hear my team being booed off , i hate hearing one of our players being told he’s not worth a w**k and it saddens me to have to say enough is enough myself and my six friends will no longer go to away games until BFS has been sacked we all pay our well earned money and are intitled to our say .
Hi Geoff
We were very poor I don’t deny that, I’m just trying to take some positives out of the current situation, and I genuinely think we will improve later in the season as long as we stick with Allardyce. And I understand the frustartion, I feel it too and I haven’t been watching West Ham anywhere near as long as you but I have seen our fair share of managers (from Redknapp onwards) and I genuinely feel Allardyce has been the best. He will keep us up this season. Things aren’t always plain sailing we just need to stay patient and more importantly behind the team
First up – Trevor, watch the game – if you seriously think Collins was dreadful then clearly you don’t watch it – he and Tomkins were excellent, Linda had his best game in a long time and Demel was his usual excellent and underrated self – a good show from the defence albeit against an attack almost as limited as ours. Dave, spot on mate – Jarvis is pathetic – the guy is lazy and cowardly when “covering” back – and his delivery up front poor, let alone his total inability to cut inside and shoot – £10million – you must be kidding. He hides, bit like Nolan for much of any game this season. We missed Downing for sure ( and how come the FA haven’t done Flanagan for the tackle that put him out – red card for sure).
Why are we so negative – surely this was a game to start Carlton and Maiga up front, have a go. Failing that, its worrying that BFS thinks CC is second best up front out of the two. Why in God’s name when the opposition have a corner do we pull everyone back – that way they push everyone up – leave Jarvis or Morrison on the half way line – just to give the opposition something to think about.Morrison was very poor – too selfish and poor shooting in a game he should have run> Joe Cole -sorry but he looks old,unfit and out of his depth – Diame at least looked a lot more like his best, lets just hope the Scouse filth don’t take him. As for the criwd< as yet I think they are being remarkably supportive – and when they jeer or boo – or cheer when a player on a poor game is taken off then they are usually right. Likewise, the scorn at the idea of a man of the match on Saturday. We were outplayed by the bottom team – its time to stand up and be counted – Noble, Tomkins and Diame did – but thats not enough
the person who wrote this article has on claret n blue glasses and is clearly delusional
Di Canio seriously ???!!!! who thinks he is the right man ? … he doesn’t know how to manage a team …look what he did to sunderland sold mignolet , sessegnon and other good players ,,,
SAM is the perfect man for us … it’s injury that has been causing us trouble this season …. i have good hopes for our team from january with many injured players coming to squad…. let’s support our team people in whatever the result is COYI !!!!!!