There’s a familiar pattern which punctuates every West Ham and Arsenal encounter, that pattern happens to be West Ham take a shock lead and Arsenal come storming back and win the game comfortably and its happened in each of the last four league games.
On Tuesday night after Matt Jarvis headed the Eastenders in front it was vital that they clung onto that lead until half time; the home fans (those that could be bothered to turn up) would in all probability have booed the Gunners off and cranked up the pressure on top four chasing Arsenal; a pressure West Ham could’ve exploited into a desperate situation; because defeat was truly unthinkable with Everton at the time sitting above them in the league and this is Everton not Spurs; unlike the lilywhites they’re not guaranteed to bottle it.
As soon as Lukas Podolski equalised mere minutes after Jarvis had put the Cockney boys 1-0 up it gave license for the all too familiar and all too predictable West Ham/Arsenal pattern mentioned at the start of this article.
The first half performance at the Emirates was full of promise and good football; the 2nd half had an air of inevitability about it. We do seem to lack the attacking quality/cutting edge required to chase a game as the 2nd half was played almost exclusively in the West Ham half. And the rare forays up field didn’t exactly have the Arsenal back-four frantically back-peddling.
Not to criticise Andy Carroll too harshly as he didn’t have much in the way of support but…in successive games against Liverpool and Arsenal he’s been shackled too easily in my opinion, he has been out all season so perhaps he’s not quite firing as we know he can but for 16.5 million you don’t expect your star man to be so easily neutralised by the opposition.
I as I’m sure many Hammers fans couldn’t help but notice Ravel Morrison’s dazzling display for QPR in their 5-2 win over Nottingham Forest. His pace, guile, direct running and vision caused Forest problems for the entirety of the contest, not to mention his very well taken goal. There are rumours and counter rumours surrounding our young prodigy and why he joined Harry Redknapp’s band of promotion pretenders but none of us really know the truth…and if the situation is retrievable then he is someone who could make a seismic difference to West Ham’s attacking play next season; for he is someone who could run beyond Carroll and could create chances for him.
One more victory will be enough to finally banish any lingering doubts concerning relegation and for that reason the sight of Crystal Palace at the Boleyn on Saturday will be a welcome relief from the quality and decisiveness of Liverpool and Arsenal.
That’s 20 pts that West Ham have now lost this season while being in winning positions. That’s more than any other club in the Premier League. What is that telling us about West Ham. Well it tells me that maybe there is an extreme lack of confidence running through the entire team. Still I suppose that is not surprising when you’ve had all of your natural creative ability & flair drummed out of you & you are told just to do as Sam says or get dropped. I’d just like to know what goes on at those training sessions? West Ham fans would be ecstatic, if the manager didn’t rely on players forgetting all of their natural possession & field work in favour of them just getting crosses up to Andy Carroll. Can’t Sam see? Everyone is onto this & are marking Andy out of existence. The current West Ham games are like watching a team that is devoid of confidence in its midfield to work the ball upfield. Its like going backwards in time. If we didn’t have the players I could understand it, but we do have the players. Just inviting a team to come & get us is not the way.
The difference between Sam’s West Ham & Pulis’s Crystal Palace, is that mid week, both clubs needed the 3 pts. Pulis went out & actually got them. They’ll be giving nothing away when they come to the Boleyn on Saturday. If we can get one over on Pulis on Saturday after they did Everton at Goodison, it’ll be like winning the FA Cup in getting those 3 points. Palace under Pulis are a far different proposition than what they were before. I’m sort of just sitting back watching & wondering if Carroll is gonna actually start firing, because if he doesn’t, then he won’t be on that plane to Brazil. The choice is his, because at the moment he is a damned expensive investment who isn’t giving a return. If Carroll can’t perform then he shouldn’t be there. He’ll miss a lot more playing time than he did on Tuesday if he doesn’t start doing what he is paid for soon, AND HE IS PAID TO SCORE!!!
Even since Andy came back from injury, he’s played around 12 hours of football = around 8 full games playing time, with just 2 goals on the score sheet. I am trying to be as fair to Andy as I can, but to have the main target man only scoring on average about 1 in 4 games is just not good enough. Too much emphasis is put on Andy getting the goals. It just aint happening. There will come a time where we will have to stop making excuses for him, just as the time has come to stop making excuses for Torres who’ll probably move on in the window. Its great having a huge center forward, but just like Chelsea have a striker who is not scoring goals, then so do West Ham. Chelsea do have other talented players who can get the goals, and so do West Ham to a certain extent. Its interesting to note, that we won all those game without the main target man of Andy in the team, and its also interesting to note that had West Ham had the confidence to go out & win the game after taking the lead & jumping into the drving seat, then we’d have the same points tally as Man Utd, so West Ham do have the players. Maybe its the manager & Andy they can’t stomach???
Things could be worse, imagine our lot supporting Man City (flying high, team full of superstars…….Relegation NOT on the Horizon) and losing to the bottom club Sunderland!
Kind of puts things in perspective!
If Big Sam had the budget that citeh has, I wonder if he could make a good job of things or whether he would fail miserably?
Trouble is javis and downing are paid to supply Carroll with half decent crosses which is not happening as forwards they should also have efforts on goal another thing sadly missing. As we gave seen all season fatty will only play one way if it works or not easy to defend against and he has been found out . Palace showed us last night if you go a goal up you don’t have to park the bus. There will be no progress until fatty is removed which isn’t likely any time soon. Bit depressing really
That’s the trouble Dj, West Ham are relying too much on ariel work, sure Geoff Hurst was great in the air, but he wasn’t being supplied in the air all of the the time. It seems that West Ham are always relying on these ariel balls to Andy, with 95% of them being cut out. I’d like to see more tight interplay & footwork on the ground. Diame has that skill & is being ignored by BFS. Morrison has it & has been shunted out by BFS. Anyone who shows any flair gets shown the door by BFS, and yet that is why Hammers fans always showed up at games, because they knew they’d be in for a feast of football. Under BFS its a famine. Look, I have been an admirer of Sam for his defensive work, but having to be defensive for every game is depressing, its up to the fans to pull ranks & make their voices heard. Like, if its looking like we are just going to fall over the line & feebly survive relegation, which is looking a possibility, then make a demonstration outside the administration building after the last home game of the season v Spurs. If you don’t want BFS then everyone as paying customers, should make their voices heard ON SITE & OUTSIDE THE OFFICE!
COME ON LADS, LETS THRASH THE FLAMIN CRAP OUT OF THESE CHEATS ON SATURDAY!!!!
Going into game 35, West Ham have lost 4 of the last 6, & 5 of the last 7 games. A dip in form at this late stage of the season is not wanted. We only want to lose 1 more game at the most. We want at least one more win & 2 draws, or 2 wins & a draw, or 3 wins, or why not revisit our February form & win all 4?? COYI This is West Ham FC, show them we are not a bunch of flamin pansies!
That’s the trouble Dj, West Ham are relying too much on ariel work, sure Geoff Hurst was great in the air, but he wasn’t being supplied in the air all of the the time. It seems that West Ham are always relying on these ariel balls to Andy, with 95% of them being cut out. I’d like to see more tight interplay & footwork on the ground. Diame has that skill & is being ignored by BFS. Morrison has it & has been shunted out by BFS. Anyone who shows any flair gets shown the door by BFS, and yet that is why Hammers fans always showed up at games, because they knew they’d be in for a feast of football. Under BFS its a famine. Look, I have been an admirer of Sam for his defensive work, but having to be defensive for every game is depressing, its up to the fans to pull ranks & make their voices heard. Like, if its looking like we are just going to fall over the line & feebly survive relegation, which is looking a possibility, then stage a rally outside the administration building after the last home game of the season v Spurs. If you don’t want BFS then everyone as paying customers, should make their voices heard ON SITE & OUTSIDE THE OFFICE!
That’s the trouble Dj, West Ham are relying too much on ariel work, sure Geoff Hurst was great in the air, but he wasn’t being supplied in the air all of the the time. It seems that West Ham are always relying on these ariel balls to Andy, with 95% of them being cut out. I’d like to see more tight interplay & footwork on the ground. Diame has that skill & is being ignored by BFS. Morrison has it & has been loaned out by BFS. Anyone who shows any flair gets shown the door by BFS, and yet that is why Hammers fans always showed up at games, because they knew they’d be in for a feast of football. Under BFS its a famine. Look, I have been an admirer of Sam for his defensive work, but having to be defensive for every game is depressing, its up to the fans to pull ranks & make their voices heard. Like, if its looking like we are just going to fall over the line & feebly survive relegation, which is looking a possibility, then rally outside the administration building after the last home game of the season v Spurs. If you don’t want BFS then everyone as paying customers, should make their voices heard ON SITE & OUTSIDE THE OFFICE!