So after back-to-back humiliations dished out by Nottingham Forest and Manchester City, West Ham rediscovered their fighting spirit to claim a much needed and deserved three points from the City of Cardiff stadium.
The manner of the win went completely against what went before it; the defeats at Forest and City were limp, lifeless and gutless the performance in the Welsh capital however was full of passion, determination and bravery; epitomised by our central midfield pairing of Mark Noble and Matt Taylor who were the best players on the pitch.
A special mention also goes out to Carlton Cole who bagged his 4th goal of season; I think the fact that he was released during the summer turned out to be a good thing for him, as he’s come back with a renewed hunger and determination to succeed. No one could ever fault Coley’s effort but at long last he’s adding goals to his endless toiling; his stay at the club will surely be extended till the end of the season and perhaps even beyond that.
Sam Allardyce has been the most talked about manager in the country this past week and if he’s going to be criticised for the mistakes that he’s made (and rightly so) then he must get the praise for the crucial win he dug out and the inspired selection of Matt Taylor. I like the fact Sam didn’t speak to the media after the win, his talking was done for him by the players on the pitch; such a performance is surely contradictory to that the old chestnut of a cliché that he’d ‘lost the dressing room.’
I’m not suggesting that everything is now ok and survival is a given, but what I am saying is that David Gold and David Sullivan have probably looked at the situation we’re in and decided they’d rather spend the money that it would take to sack Sam on bringing in new recruits and I do happen to agree with this policy; for all Sam’s faults the lack of available quality managers is there for one and all to see and those that are calling for Glen Hoddle…I urge you to seek professional help.
Newcastle United up next and we must do something we’ve never done under Sam in the Premier League … secure back to back wins, I’d like to think if we can that a psychological barrier will be lifted and we could go into the run of fixtures after Chelsea with a real belief that we could win 3 or 4 in a row against the teams around us.
With our injured players returning and new recruits hopefully joining our battle against the drop there is cause for just a little bit of optimism, however three points against Newcastle is a must.
“After Chelsea”…….?
Don’t forget West Ham’s hit list of 10 games for revenge in 2014. STARTING WITH CHELSEA!
Chelsea V West Ham Wed 29 Jan; 19:45pm, for a 0-3 home loss on 24th Nov 2013.
West Ham V Norwich Tue 11 Feb; 19:45pm, for a 3-1 away loss on 9th Nov 2013.
Everton V West Ham Sat 1 Mar; 15:00pm, for a 2-3 home loss on 21st Sep 2013.
West Ham V Hull Sat 8 Mar; 15:00pm, for a 1-0 away loss on 28th Sep 2013.
Stoke v West Ham Sat 15 Mar; 15:00pm, for a 0-1 home loss on 31st August 2013.
West Ham V Man Utd Sat 22 Mar 15:00pm, for a 1-3 away loss on 21st Dec 2013.
West Ham V Liverpool Sat 5 Apr 15:00pm, for a 1-4 away loss on 7th Dec 2013.
Arsenal V West Ham Sat 12 Apr 15:00pm, for a 1-3 home loss on 26th Dec 2013
West Ham V Crystal Palace Sat 19 Apr 15:00pm for 1-0 away loss on 3rd Dec 2013.
Man City V West Ham Sun 11th May 15:00pm, for a 1-3 loss at Upton Park on Sat 19th Oct 2013.
Got it!
After chelsea, what do you mean by that………We can turn anyone over if we are firing on all cylinders….after chelsea indeed……..
Im a Forest fan and was pleased to see you win at cardiff. Theres too much of a need to sack managers when at the end of the day replacements seldom do better. A new approach sometimes gives a team a shot in the arm but it never usually lasts. We got rid of Billy the first time and it turned out disastrous. The names of the rumoured replacements to Big sam arent over inspiring. Be careful what you wish for but i hope you stay up as as been proven over recent weeks the fans deserve to
Yes after Chelsea…strange response, I’m not saying we should write-off the game, but what I am saying is that to win at Stamford Bridge which no away side has ever done in the league whilst Mourinho has been in charge maybe asking a bit too much.
Blimey guys I would’ve thought that was obvious.
Big Sam, The Pros and Cons:
Cons: He’s an arrogant SOB.
He never takes the responsibility
He built our team around one player (Who’s known to be injury prone)
He didn’t arrange any cover for AC.
He continues to play the AC based system even when AC isn’t on the field.
His style of football is negative
The West Ham Way is irrelevant to him
So are the fans.
Pros: Allardyce teams don’t get relegated.
His defences (barring horrific injury lists) are strong.
Allardyce teams don’t get relegated.
He took a shattered squad and rebuilt it in one season.
He’s done what’s been asked of him so far,
Allardyce teams don’t get relegated.
Ok, so I can’t stand the man and our season to date has been appalling. However, good choice or bad, we fielded kids against Forest and our first team squad with major injuries just can’t compare with City, so just forget the last week. I hate seeing us always so low on the possession stats. I hate that our chances on goal are always less than the opposition. I want Sam gone. But gone on our terms. Gone when we can replace him with someone better. When we have a squad that won’t fold when it’s tough. I’m tired of people calling for his head and also complaining that most of our players aren’t Prem quality. Our Club is still near broke. We can’t afford the top players and we, currently, can’t attract them.
Seriously if we can avoid relegation we must see that as a result. Possibly next year too, though for me, signing Bilic in the summer would be great. TBH Sam may be awful, but for now he’s the kind of awful we’ve got to stick with and support.
This time last year, and after 21 games, we had still only won 23 pts, and went on to finish the season on 46 pts. West Ham are just 5 pts short of that target this season. Is that really so bad? Just 1 win & 2 draws down! Every season is different + we didn’t have the same injury problems last year. We are getting over that. We’ll be alright. Believe it. COYI
Flamineo you make some great points. I agree with you on just about all of them. Bilic would also be my choice come the summer, for now I simply don’t see a better man for the job of keeping us up; certainly not Hoddle, Di Matteo or Mackay.
I don’t sometimes agree with Sam’s non possesion game plan, but we should not just use Sam as a door mat until we get someone else. It’s either all the way with the manager we have, or no way at all, i.e. sack him. West Ham are not sacking him. The club’s inner circle have made this quite clear, so let’s get over this & get right behind him. Do not go into every game half cocked. Sam is our man. Get over it & let’s get on with the job, because if we just get on with the job, then I am sure that Sam has plans to lift us into the European competition qualifying places in the Prem & take us into the Stadium as a top notch outfit. (Don’t forget, that Sam was even being touted for the England job at on stage, but like Harry, Sam is a club man & is virtually a legend.) Sam has made those intentions for our club quite clear + I really hope, that once in the new stadium, that the owners then press for a change of circumstances, in that we can eventually own the stadium & turn it into an 80,000 capacity ground, if we can build the team to match, so either get behind the manager & the team or we go nowhere. GET IT. LET’S HAVE LIFT OFF!!!
I don’t sometimes agree with Sam’s non possesion game plan, but we should not just use Sam as a door mat until we get someone else. It’s either all the way with the manager we have, or no way at all, i.e. sack him. West Ham are not sacking him. The club’s inner circle have made this quite clear, so let’s get over this & get right behind him. Do not go into every game half loaded. Sam is our man. Get over it & let’s get on with the job, because if we just get on with the job, then I am sure that Sam has plans to lift us into the European competition qualifying places in the Prem & take us into the Stadium as a top notch outfit. (Don’t forget, that Sam was even being touted for the England job at on stage, but like Harry, Sam is a club man & is virtually a legend.) Sam has made those intentions for our club quite clear + I really hope, that once in the new stadium, that the owners then press for a change of circumstances, in that we can eventually own the stadium & turn it into an 80,000 capacity ground, if we can build the team to match, so either get behind the manager & the team or we go nowhere. GET IT. LET’S HAVE LIFT OFF!!!
I won’t even talk about Glen Hoddle, as the twaddle that comes out of his mouth sometimes is beyond belief. No Sam is better than most of them. No club is doing it easy, so we cannot expect a change of manager would achieve anything more.
I think West Ham should appeal to the FA in regards James Tomkins 2nd yellow. I mean James had his back to the Cardiff player when he attempted to clear the ball. James had no idea that the Opposing player was going to rush in. He was accidenttally caught in the face by James. Thank heavens West Ham had the resilience to still get the result.
This is much better West Ham. “Keep the rage going”. Get bloody angry. Sam deserves to have a run of back-to-back-wins after this Saturday. There was an absolute strength, determination & steel about Saturday’s result. Keep that flipping anger going lads, you owe it to Sam, everyone & yourselves.
Totally agree on the ridiculous second yellow JB. He wasn’t even looking at the player, and as a defender, its his job to clear his lines. Overhead kicks by forwards are OK but a defender cant raise his foot higher than, what, a metre ??? Total nonsense, and a decision that was made by a Ref. who clearly knows nothing about the finer points of the game.