It hasn't been easy, in fact it has been an act of escapology that Houdini would have been proud of, but I have managed to extricate myself from my depression. In the words of Macbeth, on learning of the death of Banquo but the escape of Fleance, at half time on Saturday "I had else been perfect, whole as the marble, founded as the rock, as broad and general as the casing air" but after our shambolic second half performance I was once again, "cabin'd, cribb'd, confined, bound in to saucy doubts and fears."
Looking for the glowing embers of hope amongst the ashes and dust of our cremation in what became the Furnace of Light on Saturday has not been easy. As I blogged yesterday, that second forty five minutes were amongst the worst I have ever witnessed, and boy have I witnessed some dire performances (as opposed to Dyer performances!) over my 40 plus years of supporting West Ham. Where is the hope? Where is the way forward?
Well, the clue is in those words, "The Way Forward". Last season we survived by not conceding goals but that isn't going to happen having lost Neill and Collins. Our only way out of this mess is by outscoring the opposition - which on recent evidence means banging in three goals a game!
Had you asked me if this was possible at the start of the season I would split my sides with derisive laughter. Admirer of Cole though I am, I could not see him scoring at a rate of better than one every three games, and there was nobody else on the books to chip in as far as I could see. How times have changed! Cole is playing out of his skin, terrifying defenders and knocking in goals at a rate of one every two games; and suddenly he has a partner! I know we must not get carried away on the back of one tap in goal, but I saw enough from Franco to confirm that he is NOT another Tristan or Di Michele. This guy can play football, is hungry, and doesn't come over all wobbly legged when in the penalty box. At last, defenders have somebody else to worry about and that must help Carlton who, since the departure of Bellyache, has been battling against a back four on his lonesome!
Now, when Zola wakes up and puts Diamanti on from the start, we will, at last, have a side that will intimidate the opposition. The days of opposition managers thinking "Score one and we are guaranteed a point, score two and we have all three" are over. Add in Collison and we will have four players eager to get into the box and with a great eye for a goal. With Stanislas and Hines available on the bench, we also have a plan B option of employing pace to unlock defences down the flanks. In fact there is a guy called Faubert too who should provide this option!
I hope Zola has seen enough of Kovac not to use him again unless in a dire emergency. Behrami should be the cover for Parker, with Stanislas, Faubert or, crazy idea I know, Dyer employed on the right side of midfield. Against the lesser teams in home games, I would favour moving Behrami to right back and bringing in Stanislas or Dyer on the right side of midfield anyway. The attacking options would then be fantastic!
Generally speaking, teams go down because they can't score enough goals rather than because they concede too many. So the way forward is to attack, which is the West Ham way anyway!
6 comments:
I think that is one of your best posts. I completely agree with you, especially with the stupidity of selling James Collin's, letting Lucas Neil go and that Franco 'IS' a player. I really feel we are missing Neil's leadership. Spector is rubbish, surely those o the bench can see that, he lost Keiron Richardson for their equaliser as well. I would still drop Noble and put Diamanti on from the start in front of Parker, with Behrami and Collinson on the flanks. I'd swap Spector for Faubert as well!
Blimey, HF! I’ll have a pint of whatever you’ve been drinking!
Admire your bravado but it all sounds a bit ‘charge of the Light Brigade-ish’. Admittedly it used to be the West Ham way but I not sure that we could pull it off these days. We could end up getting slaughtered every game.
S4W
Let's face it mate, there's no point in us trying to defend at the moment!
That was my point exactly in my post to your blog yesterday. There is no point in defending because let's face it that ship has sailed when we lost Collins and Niell. So, thankfully we now have only two options. One, is to remain in complete denial and pretend we can defend. The other is to face reality and do what should anyway come naturally to a West Ham team and attack, attack, attack! Hopefully, we will be able to score one more goal than the number we concede! And we will playing ball high up the field. Even if we go down, we will go fighting and the fans will enjoy the treat. We will do it our own way, the West Ham way.
Best form of defence isn't it and they don't like it up 'em do they mr hammersfan
and i reckon that Franco could also turn out to be the gee up man we need on the pitch altho if he's not lets hope someone takes on the mantle soon because on field leadership is what we are really lacking in
Totally agree. On the attacking and creative front, I am confident as you are that West Ham have the right mix. It's the defence which have been a worry as both Tomkins and Upson have looked unusually shaky. One would have thought that Steve Clarke being a former defender would have identified the pairing's shortcomings.
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