Sunday 31 January 2010

If only Terry was as impotent as Zola's West Ham!.


Zola has passed judgement on the performance and, for once, he came close to hitting the nail on the head when he said, "We didn`t pass the ball around very well and we didn`t take on opponents and get the ball into dangerous areas."

Great, but why was that exactly? To explain the inept performance, you only have to look at the way Zola chose to set up the team. With an 18 year old kid leading the line on his own and no natural width in the team, how exactly did Zola expect us to get the ball into the box and create chances? Our most likely source of goals was Faubert. Why? Because he was a right footer playing on the right flank and so able to knock in crosses without coming inside. Faubert, however, has an aversion to trying to go around a full back so even his balls into the box were from deep, making it easier to defend and harder for players to get into the penalty box in support. How could we penetrate down the left? Collison and Spector are BOTH right footed, so the ONLY two balls into the box from the left came when Diamanti found himself on the left in the first half and when Parker burst into the box and crossed in the second.

The worry is, how will this change if Zola persists with his bloody mindedness? I was disappointed to see Sears come on instead of Nouble. The game was crying out for the introduction of Stanislas in place of Collison, with Diamanti switched to the left and Junior told to attack the full back on the right, whipping in crosses off his strongest foot. In this way, we would have stood a chance of getting behind Blackburn's back four rather than standing the ball up aimlessly for Blackburn's big defenders to head clear. With Stanislas and Faubert attacking the right flank, Blackburn would have had something to worry about. Instead, Collison and Diamanti kept turning inside into the congested area in the middle of the pitch and Cole and Sears could not make runs for fear of being offside. How often did we get into the final third without even attempting to get the ball into the box?

People are talking about McCarthy as if he is a genius. Well he will need to be given the paucity of supply. I was lambasted when I criticised Behrami 15 months ago, saying he was over rated. I stand by that opinion. Yes he is a dynamo, yes he brings great energy to the team, yes he closes and covers superbly, but what does he offer going forward? When does he play a killer pass? When does he whip in a cross? When does he break into the box and have a crack? Zola was right to take him off yesterday because Noble was doing the defensive midfield job adequately and we needed forward impetus. The trouble is, we then became vulnerable at the back and Roberts really should have won the game for Blackburn, having completely mugged Tomkins. Behrami is unquestionably worth his place in the team but so is Parker, and neither offer a goal threat from midfield so the inclusion of both gives the team a defensive bias which we can ill afford when playing at home to teams intent on suffocating the game. Wolves, Hull, Wigan and Stoke will all come to Upton Park looking to stop us scoring. We have to unpick those defences and we won't do so playing like we did yesterday!

And back to McCarthy - he isn't a genius is he? In fact, he has been off the pace for the last two seasons. We have bought an ageing striker whose best days seem to be behind him - some might describe that as a "shot bolt". Yes he may chip in with the goals needed to save us, but he will only do so if chances are created for him, he is not a Rooney who will magic opportunities out of nowhere.

The problem remains balance. Tomkins is inexperienced and needs to be protected. God help us if Upson picks up a long term injury because with Da Costa and Tomkins at the back, we would ship goals every game. With all the focus on the need to find a new striker, people seem to have overlooked our lack of defensive cover. Tomkins would be a great understudy at this stage; instead he is first pick.

The other problem remains Zola's tactics. We need to be more direct. I don't want to return to the long ball lump of the Curbishley era but why pass ten times when one pass will do the job just as well? Yesterday, the build up was so slow, so deliberate, so telegraphed. Only Diamanti attempted to play killer balls and his delivery was poor for most of the afternoon.

What would I do? Go 4-4-2 at home. My team would read:

Green: Faubert, Spector, Upson, Ilunga; Stanislas, Parker, Diamanti, Collison; McCarthy, Cole.

This would still leave a right footer on the left flank but I would like Diamanti to be freed up to float, and to break into the box more often. Parker would be restricted to defensive duties but that can't be helped given his ineptitude in front of goal. Why the guy can't work on his finishing, I don't know. This side would offer much more of a goal threat surely.

Your views?

12 comments:

marc said...

well written.
Some very good points.
Beats your feeder club post by miles.

Anonymous said...

Questions, questions, but what the answers?

If Cole and Mcarthy become are first choice “front two” then we need them to see plenty of the ball in the final third.

Route 1 is the long ball which is not the West Ham or the Zola way.

Route 2 is to try and pass through the middle. Whilst we have the likes of Parker, Behrami, Noble, Collison and Kovac who all industrious, they prefer to play in the middle and struggle to provide the final ball. Diamanti is good at set pieces but otherwise only provides the odd flash of inspiration. Gudjohnsen might have been the link man but he’s not coming.

Route 3 is to get the ball down the wings. If we stick with the “diamond” then the full backs need to get forward more, Faubert has done ok lately and we miss Illunga’s runs down the left, but this is probably still not enough. That leads us back to a 4-4-2 formation. Parker and Behrami give us a good engine room as the middle 2 but who is going to play wide?

I don’t know what the score is with Dyer and Boa Morte but assume they are not going to be about much before April, and yes we miss Matty. On the right we could take a chance with Stanislas, move Faubert there, or play the likes of Collison or Noble out of position,

Whilst it will not be a popular decision, the real answer is to sacrifice one of the central midfielders for a genuine wide player. If Man. City value Behrami at £15m and will include Petrov and perhaps Richards in the deal, then the balance is restored.
Moses (Palace) is another who is available. He would be a gamble but can play wide and give us more forward cover.

John Terry? If his form is not affected then he should go to South Africa for football reasons. Ashley Cole will be first choice left back (didn’t he play away as well?) so unfortunately Wayne loses out. Gerrard should however, be given the captain’s armband.

Anonymous said...

Agree with everything you said H F,i'm not saying sack Zola but his tactics are way off imo.

Tom said...

HF, cracking post, one of your best by far ... as I stated in an earlier post, GFZ planned to play 4-3-3 with a back four of

Faubert-Collins-Upson-Illunga

a midfield three of

Berahmi-Parker-Collison

with three up front being

Dyer-Ashton-Jiminez

his bench had LBM, Cole, Noble, Diamte, Spectre, to name a few meaning GFZ could change to a 4-4-2 or a 4-5-1 at the drop of a hat .... however, the injuries have decimated his squad and any type of balance he may try to play ...

We saw yesterday that in 4-4-2 we get ripped apart and it was the same at Pompey on Tuesday night, however with MaCarthy I do think it will change ... he might not have the pace but he will have guille to pick up up off Cole and his instinct will still be there ...

For me saturdays team should be,

Green

Berahmi-Tomkins-Upson-Illunga

Faubert-Parker-Collison-Diamante

Cole-MaCarthy

Pace down one flank with Diamante delivering from the other ... GFZ has played wrong footers on the wrong wings because they needed to come inside to link up with Nouble ... now he has forwards back I see him reverting to a 4-4-2 ...

Finally, to piss Hairy redneck off I am suprised that double D have not nabbed the lads from Pompey, Begovic and the CH .... they would be welcomed additions in both the short and long term ... I am also supprised we were not in the mix for the lad Moses or Beckford

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Terry is one of those I totally agree .... and regardless should have the captaincy stripped from him ... mainly because it shows a complete lack of respect to a team mate and colleague ... by keeping him as captain creates an alfa male culture which has been Englands achilles heel for years ..If I were Bridge tho ... I'd send an old codger round to get his old girl up the duff ..

Dave D said...

This would be my line up for the next game.

Green
Behrami-Tompkins-Upson-Spector
Stanislas-Parker-Noble-Collison
Cole-McCarthy

I think Behrami as I have said before would make a good right back as he has played in that position in Italy and with Parker & noble holding the midfield down allowing stani & colli to bomb down the wing.

Even if we dont sign McCarthy I would still play this formation but with Nouble.

And as for Diamanti? I have left him out as I want to see Noble played in a standard 4-4-2 formation, If he fails to cope, move collison in the middle & put Diamanti wide on the left.

Anonymous said...

Scott here...

Terry would not be so potent if Karren squeezes his bits as hard as she did mine.

Anonymous said...

My team would be.
Green
Spector tomkins upson illunga
Stanislas behrami parker diamanti
Cole mccarthy.

Collison needs a break imo that's why he's out. I like noble but he has not played well in a forward role lately and although he played excellently as defensive mid parker as we all know is much betterm we need behrami's work rate in a 442 and we need players on the wings that can play without cutting in all the time.
Diamanti is our only left footer in the midfield and we have been missing stanislas' pace when he's not playing. Rightback is a no brainer for me spector has proven himself left back right back whatever and produces far better runs that faubert who apart from the blackburn game has played terribly all season - why zola persists with him is anybodys guess its not even his natural position. And with illunga back and mccarthy to aid cole up front we'd have a real chance! But unfortunatly that team will never be picked. Oh well I can dream.

Anonymous said...

Spector at CB that's interesting?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1247607/John-Terry-Why-time-blow-whistle-footballers-foul-play.html

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

We had a great response to the recent survey monkey questionaire

The results are as follows...

To our question

"Is hammersfan a negative wally?"

54% of you think hammersfan is a wally!

To our question

"Do you think he is actually a hammers fan?"

33.3% of you said NO

For those of you who still might want to take part Click here to take survey