To begin, turkey is off the menu for me. I will check out the ingredients for humble pie and pop off to Tesco first thing in the morning. What idiot suggested surrendering the points because there was no way we could get a result? I stand guilty as accused. Pitch in guys, I deserve it!
Secondly, well done to the 12th man. The West Ham roar was back with a vengeance today and it put an extra yard into every West Ham player on the pitch - even Kovac! And amazingly, support for our guys exceeded the hounding of Lampard and Terry.
So how do we explain the transformation? Well here's where I recover some credibility because, of course, Zola came up with the incredibly original idea of playing a left footer on the left side of midfield and a right footer on the right. And what was the result? Suddenly we had balance. Suddenly the ball could be played wide. Suddenly the opposition full backs had something to think about. Suddenly our midfielders were tackling on the right foot if an opponent tried to pass them on the outside. Suddenly we looked like a team. Quite why it has taken Zola so long to hit upon this very basic idea is beyond me. Who knows, he may now stick with it!
Were we unlucky? The penalty was never a penalty and the referee did his best to make amends by making Lampard take it three times. Or perhaps he was just rubbing salt into the wound by forcing us to watch Lampard net three times in the space of two minutes! The encroachment decisions were absurd, we had five times as many players in the box when Lampard connected than Chelsea did! And the penalty decision was absurd too. Upson clearly took the ball, as was shown by where it ended up! But before we yell about being robbed, we should remember that Gabbidon deliberately handled in the box before he limped off and Green got the benefit of a 50:50 decision when he took out Kolu.
1-1 was a fair result on the day and that is to our tremendous credit. In truth, for all their possession, Chelsea created precious few openings thanks to a tremendously disciplined defensive performance. The entire team defended as a unit for the first time this season, I would suggest because, for the first time this season, everybody was comfortable in the positions they were asked to play.
Meanwhile, Chelsea made it easier for us by playing narrow, coming into our packed defensive bodies just as we did at Birmingham. Upson was superb and showed what we will miss if we sell him. Noble was everywhere defensively, as was Parker. Collison won the penalty and ran his heart out. Diamanti was impressive and tackled back with commendable verve, if not too much technique. Even Kovac occupied a space, although I lost count of the number of times he allowed Lampard to drift off his shoulder and out of eyeshot. He really isn't very focused. Up front, Franco was immense and was so unlucky not to head the winner in injury time. As for Parker's block on the line and clearance, that was brilliant. And he followed up by racing out and making a challenge on the edge of our box.
In recent weeks the team have lacked bite and fight but it was back today. The bookings for Noble, Parker and Franco speak of the passion and commitment as we contested that midfield as if we were in a war. Lampard, Bollocks, Cole and co must have wondered how they had ended up playing Bolton on an angry day at Upton Park! How Diamanti didn't get a yellow is a complete mystery - I counted three challenges which could have seen him booked.
The one big concern? Franco's booking. One more and he misses a game - and Cole isn't ready to return yet. That nightmare scenario of playing without either came a step closer!
But no negatives today. The team played for their shirts, the tactics were spot on, and the crowd were superb. If we can keep that going, we can escape!
Ratings: Green 5 (no difficult saves and he risked conceding a penalty. He also made a hash of a corner yet again)Faubert 6, Gabbidon 5 (Tomkins 7) Upson 8 Ilunga 7; Collison 7, Parker 8, Noble 8, Kovac 6, Diamanti 7 - Franco 8
Today there was commitment and passion in the team. I feel that we were robbed by the linesman who must be a Chelsea fan. Also, don't forget that the Carvalio challenge was a clear second penalty for us.
ReplyDeleteIf we can carry this passion and commitment to the rest of our matches we will not have any problem at all. Parker was as usual exceptional and a true leader. I can't say enough about him. And he is like this almost every game. If we can have a few youngsters following his example we will be in the top ten in no time. Remember that the 9th position is only two wins away! Let's build on this! Go West Ham!
Faubert was just as guilty mate, and Gabbidon's handball was beyond dispute. Then there was the Green bodycheck - outside the box, that would have been a free kick and a booking without question.
ReplyDeleteDo you now see why I keep going on and on about Gabbidon and his panic defending? West Ham must have calm and clear thinking in the heart of the defence. I still don't know why Da Costa was not used to replace Gabbidon (although Tomkins had by his standards a decent game). Also Illunga is still not anywhere near his best self. He is still not 100% fit and makes uncharacteristically too many unforced errors.
ReplyDeleteGreen's body check was not a penalty because when he touched him the ball was already outside the field (they just collided after the Chelsea player had already kicked the ball out).
It was refreshing to see some fight in the players today and a good point.But how many times have we seen the team put in a good performance like that and then resort back to crap the following match.Boxing day will be an important game a real 6 pointer,but I'm sure if they play with that level of commitment they will win.Having said that we don't want to go overboard,the team is still short of quality,which is not going to change overnight.I am still hopeful of some additions in the January window.
ReplyDeleteFor once I was proud of the hammers, we actually took the game to chelsea and played some nice football. I watched the game live on FSC and it turned out to be a great sunday morning. Nice fry up, and 1-1 with the blues. Went christmas shopping in Tampa with my away shirt on. What a great day! UP THE HAMMERS!
ReplyDeleteTactics right HF? We get a draw HF? I confess, I had a word with the big man upstairs. He said the best he can do for us was a draw - I took it
ReplyDeleteSavvakis
What panic defending mate? Gabbidon had Drogba in his pocket until he went off. Would you say Upson's tackle was panic defending too then? The 'hand ball' looked deliberate but it could have been an instinctive reaction. Only Gabbidon knows. That don't make him a bad defender though, just look what Carvalho gets up to and he's regarded as one of the world's top defenders.
Faubert and Kovac had a very good game too. I disagree with HF's 8 for Noble as I don't think his performance was anywhere near Parker's who was immense. The General was awesome too.
I hope this shows to everyone how important Upson is to the team.
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