After witnessing West Ham show four minutes of passion during the West Bromwich Albion match, I wonder if there is anything any manager could do with our resources and “unluckiness”?
How unlucky are injuries? They are inevitable. Everyone gets them; it depends on how important the player is to your team. It is more than likely that we would be in far less trouble had we had Andy Carroll from the beginning of the season. Then losing Winston Reid and Stewart Downing through injury after impressing in previous matches.
We therefore have over £20million worth of summer signings who have missed large parts and in Carroll’s case, the entire season. Last season’s rock and Hammer of the Year, Winston Reid, started the season in a strong manner and has joined the injury list for a long stay.
Among other injuries, Sam Allardyce faced West Brom in a crunch game, missing some of the most important players in the squad. I raise the question; What would (enter the best manager in world football’s name) do with our resources? Four full backs in defence. No Ravel Morrison to change the game. An unnatural wide-man. A fatiguing captain. Does the problem lie with Sam?
I appreciate all of the above and I know that we have been relatively unlucky compared to other Premier League sides; however, the lack of passion shown by Sam is something, which really gets under my skin.
We had a short while where the players and fans where fighting for the same cause. A lapse in defending stopped that momentum in its tracks. Allardyce was largely slumped in his chair, and probably noting down the statistics. The game of football is far more fluid than I believe “Big Sam” gives it credit for. You can have all the stats and all the figures, but passion and belief have to be installed internally. Knowing that Nicolas Anelka likes to shift the ball onto his right foot 76.4% of the time matters little when a ball falls to his feet 5 yards out. It’s like West Ham haven’t planned to concede with a bit of luck against them.
I thought the players had managed to break out of the “boring” statistic mind-set, and perhaps they did for the three minutes which brought two West Ham goals.
What separates the relegated sides come the end of the season, and the sides who stay up, is fight and passion. Unless Sam Allardyce can install that in the players he has available then he has to go. Get a manager in who will fire the players up, however that doesn’t mean a manager who will abandon all tactics (Paolo Di Canio).
What do you think? Time for Big Sam to go for the good of the team? OR Big Sam to stay as the unluckiness has been just that – unlucky?
Injuries? Who decided it was wise to have one recognised (and injured at the time), only three centre backs, but a plethora of full backs, wide men and midfielders going into the campaign. Surely part of problem zone Sam’s job is to balance a squad. That is supposing he has total control of transfers, and not the two dirty raincoat, which I doubt.
good shout mate every prem team shoul start the season with 4 reconized strikers we have 3 and only coz they resigned cc and as for midfield ive always felt we needed a right winger to cover for downing that clown puts joe cole there when his best position has and will always be in the middle spraying passes around he should replace diame who today was a liability sam has no idea the sooner hes gone the better
That’s the point I’m trying to get across. However, if your players don’t get injured and therefore you’re more “lucky”, you’ll never be found out for a bad squad selection.
Agreed. Sam had his chance to balance and add to the squad last summer. He chose the ‘glory’ signing instead of a number of ‘lesser’ stars, and we are paying the price. Add to that his tactics are so predictable, and you have a recipe for disaster. It is clear that many of the players are struggling to believe in the system and that Sam is failing to convince them. Time for him to go, while there is enough season left to have a chance.
luck, are you serious? we’ve got a good championship squad and that’s it. Goodbye premier league…..
You are negative George and are truely 2nd best, get behind your team they are starting to fight back
I said before today’s game, that from the next 20 games, West Ham need 7 wins & 5 draws. Well that was one of our draws & we’ll take a point thanks very much. West Ham can take a lot of positives from this game, because at last we have re-discovered our ability to come back from behind. That Scott Parker spirit has been missing, but from today we are not scared to go behind, just as all of the big clubs are never scared to go behind and come back. West Ham’s fans have a lot of knockers. Why don’t you lot get off of Nolan’s & the lads backs. Nolan almost won us the game today, and would have if West Brom’s 3rd goal not been absolutely inch perfect that gave Jussi no chance. I do think that the 1st half was played a bit like a practice match and that both teams, West Brom in particular, didn’t wake up until the second half. West Ham scored a good goal via Joe Cole in the opening minutes, and West Ham also let in 2 very soft goals to give West Brom the lead at half time. I do think that Jussi should have stopped the 1st Anelka goal, he seemed to hesitate and Anelka just run straight through him. The 2nd West Brom goal was also very soft & Jussi should have stopped that too. Sam , I think was a bit to blame with some strange switches in our defense selection, and he should have played Jussi against Arsenal, so Jussi looked unsettled, and yes he let in 2 soft goals, but Sam did make the right decision in bringing Maiga on in the 2nd half, and what an improved player he is now. What a great goal he scored to draw West Ham level, and he almost scored a 2nd had the West Brom goalie not been up to making a brilliant save, and then up pops Kevin and gave us what I thought was the winning goal had West Brom’s 3rd and leveler not been inch perfect. West Ham are not going down. When Reid returns, the defense will be sound again, and when Andy returns we’ll have our fire power back. We played better without Collins, and O’Brien needs to be replaced by Demel more. West ham could have won this game, but then again, when a late West Brom free kick hit the post we could have lost, so be happy with a point today & the rest will follow, as this same West Brom team that have given Chelsea, Spurs and other top teams hard games, were pleased they snatched a draw from us. West Ham look more settled and showed signs of pulling out of the trough we have been in. Stop knocking the team & the manager & start giving them united support, as we will all need to be united with this 1st point today towards recovery.
I tell you what? I reckon Sam should study the game that Norwich played against Man U, yesterday. Norwich were brilliant. Norwich were winning balls and they weren’t losing it. The ball was sticking to them like glue. They absolutely controlled long sections of the game and had Man U on the rack. Man U were very lucky to win that game 0-1. They only won it when a fluky rebound was laid off to Welbeck. Otherwise they would not have scored. The only thing Norwich lacked was that finishing touch; otherwise Man U would have been cleaned up. That’s what West Ham have to do against the big clubs. Just take control of the game and go for it. At least and at long last, West Ham have finally regained their scoring touch. They scored 3 really good quality goals, which is more than can be said for the 1st 2 West Brom goals that were really soft and if Jussi had been back to his old form then West Ham would have won that match easily yesterday. Look at Hughton’s tactics. They are bloody good. Combine that with our possitives we have learned from yesterday’s game, and then there’s no way we are going down. Are you lot going to finally get behind your team? Or are you going to hinder them with negatives and be part of the problem? West ham are not a big club. Do not put pressure on them. They can hold their own against any club and also had Arsenal for the taking on boxing day, and if they’d shown the same spirit against Arsenal as what they showed against West Brom, then they would have won that game game too. West ham are not a big club, get over your negative rubbish and start getting behind your club. West Brom’s team players would have been the first to tell West ham’s players at the final whistle yesterday that “YOU ARE NOT GOING DOWN” OK
This time last year, and after 19 games, we had still only won 23 pts, but after our New Years day fixture against Norwich we made this 26 pts from 20 games and went on to finish the season on 46 pts. West Ham are a little short of that target this season, and we shouldn’t forget that we got relegated on 42 pts back in 2003. We may have luck if others continue with their bad form, but we cannot rely on others to win us a reprieve, so yes, West Ham are just 8 pts down on what they had won at this stage last season. Is that really so bad? Just 2 wins & 2 draws down! We have to make sure we make our tally = 18 pts after our next match against a Fulham team who are reeling after being done 6-0
C’mon. Stay possitive lads!
Fulham v West Ham 01/01/2014
Team selection from players available. This was Saturday’s lineup with Demel on for the injured Tomkins.
Jääskeläinen, Demel, McCartney, Noble, Rat, Nolan, Diamé, J. Cole, C. Cole, Maiga, Jarvis
Substitutes: Adrián, O’Brien, Diarra, Taylor, Collison, Chambers, Potts
After injuries, the above are all West Ham have left available. If Potts is out on loan? Then he will have to be recalled! What is the story with Potts? Does anyone know?
West Ham’s hit list of 10 games for revenge in 2014
Chelsea V West Ham Wed 29 Jan 19:45. for a 0-3 home loss on 24th Nov 2013.
West Ham V Norwich Tue 11 Feb 19:45. For a 3-1 away loss on 9th Nov 2013.
Everton V West Ham Sat 1 Mar 15:00.For a 2-3 home loss on 21st Sep 2013.
West Ham V Hull Sat 8 Mar 15:00 for a 1-0 away loss on 28th Sep 2013.
Stoke v West Ham Sat 15 Mar 15:00. For a 0-1 home loss on 31st August 2013.
West Ham V Man Utd Sat 22 Mar 15:00. for a 1-3 away loss on 21st Dec 2013.
West Ham V Liverpool Sat 5 Apr 15:00. for a 1-4 away loss on 7th Dec 2013.
Arsenal V West Ham Sat 12 Apr 15:00. for a 1-3 home loss on 26th Dec 2013
West Ham V Crystal Palace Sat 19 Apr 15:00. for 1-0 away loss on 3rd Dec 2013.
Man City V West Ham Sun 11th May for a 1-3 loss at Upton Park on Sat 19th Oct 2013.
And a very happy New Year to all
Get him out now before it’s too late, thing are looking grim, but if we can get another manager in and fire up the players we might have a chance of staying up
9 goals in three games sam must be going for a record. what the f#@k is sam and the board doing it looks like they want to be in the championship. do they want any supporters left it could be another L,Orent with 3000 home suport at O.S might as well ground share.WHAT A JOKE SAM OUT bring somone in that cares about the club pls
Whilst I accept we all need to get behind the team, the team also need to give us something to get excited about, paying large sums to watch dross is not going to get people excited. Lets see some inventiveness and ability to run at defenders and movement up front rather than Rat playing endless long balls up to Maiga for a hopeful flick on to someone who’s not there! Start entertaining Sam and then you’ll get some support!
Do we not learn from history, Roeder should of been sacked in December stayed relegated Grant should of been sacked in December stayed relegated Allerdyce should of been sacked in December , see the pattern? Anyone who can’t see the man is out of his depth is a fool, everyone’s concern would be who comes in but if our owners are such good businessmen then surely they are looking for the best man to come in. Look what the board at Swansea and Southampton have done, managers that play the game the right way and are tactically superior to the normal managerial journeymen that is the easy option (Hughes,Allerdyce,Holloway) to name a few.
We are in our chairmanship hands only they can change things, please act now before we are treating orient away as our big game next year!
look davidswe as fans respect what you have done for the club totally but now its time to realize you have made a mistake appointing fat sam we as fans put up with negative boring football last season as results were decent but this was always going to happen as soon as results turned we don’t like him his attitude arrogance and excuses 451 every week demel taylor maiga obrian collision all championship players time for sam to go and give what moneys left to a new manager with new ideas ie bilic or he and his excuses will take us down!
You’re an idiot. Demel, O’brien and Collison are decent players. Unless we’re on about different players as I ain’t got a scooby who obrian is.
Gaz you are the idiot. Taylor,Obrien (right spelling?) ,part of the ‘Bolton bunch’ are two of the worst players it is my misfortune to have seen in decades and both, with their pals Nolan and fat Sam should pack their bags now and perhaps give us a chance to survive. My old favourites Joe and Carlton Cole and Collins are now past their sell-by date unfortunately and being realistic rather than negative or disloyal I will tellyou we are in a difficult positiokn. The Davids now need to show bravery and true business acumen but dont hold your breath.
They are saying we will have to sell Ravel Morrison to free up funds to buy new players,Why not sell A.C. And put Morrison on a decent wage then bring in a couple of half decent players.
Who would buy a permanently injured £15 million striker? Oh, yes, that’s right, we would.
Billic IN
Billic in I agree, sick of seeing week after week this is the one we must win and we don’t , wake up Sullivan say good bye to Sam
Morrison did not attend Upton Park for the Arsenal game because he went AWOL. Nothing to do with a groin strain. Maybe the Club will now want to get rid of him?
Sam got us up, well done. Anyone with half a brain knew he shouldn’t have been the man to build west ham and given money. Look what he done and what is happening. Not surprised and already for the championship. Bring it on.
I think the BIG question is who do you bring in if you get rid of SA who has a proven track record in the Premiership and is up for the challenge? I don’t even think Billic would be able to do any better with the depleted squad we have at the moment but I do agree I see the trend far to clearly with regards to management sticking with the likes of Roeder and Grant and getting us relegated when other clubs got rid, I just hope its not the case if Alladyce stays in charge. COYI get us out of this sh@t and prove we do have the balls to ride through this bad patch! We are a Premiership Team and for the money we pay we deserve much better than this shower of sh@t!!!!