A Make Or Break Match We Simply MUST Win

Unlike the revisionists who shift their opinions retrospectively, I am not going to pretend I thought Curbishley anything other than a disaster as a manager of West Ham. The finger of blame has been pointed at Eggert and BG and Brown and Duxbury, but had Cursbishley spent the money available to him more wisely, we would not be in the mess we are in now. I well remember Curbishley criticising Pardew's summer signings after that epic Cup Final, calling them second rate. Well, in case you have forgotten, those signings were: Cole, Green, Spector and Bowyer. Compare those with Boa-Morte, Dyer, Quashie, Ljungberg and Davenport! Pardew bought all four for what Curbishley spent on Dyer alone! And that's before we look at the impact of Curbishley's signings on the wage bill.

However, today is a vital litmus paper game for Zola because of the opposition. Curbishley's last game in charge was, of course, against Blackburn Rovers at Upton Park, a game we won 4-1. The team that day read: Green: Behrami, Davenport, Upson, Neill; Faubert, Parker, Noble, Etherington; Ashton, Cole. We used three subs, McCartney, Bellamy and Mullins.

So many stories are told by looking at that team. Our bad luck is summed up by the stories of Ashton and Davenport. The sale of McCartney will, of course, merit a chapter in any history of the club because it triggered Curbishley's walk out. The sale of Etherington may well be cited as evidence of Zola's bad decision making - a natural left footed winger did not fit into his plans because he couldn't cope with playing on the right! Neill's name shows how far we fell financially, from out bidding Liverpool's wage offer to not being willing to agree to a two year contract for our club captain when he was demanding half his previous wages! And there is Bellyache of course, just beginning his comeback, scoring and looking as if he might yet repay what Curbishley spent on him. His sale, to be replaced by Savio, probably best explains our slump in terms of performances on the pitch. And then there is the formation of course, 4-4-2. Since that game, we have managed to score four in only two games, Pompey away last season and Burnley at home this. Zola's 4-5-1 and 4-3-3 formations go a long way towards explaining that stat. How many chances did we create at Pompey when, it seemed, seven of the outfield team were dedicated almost exclusively to stopping the opposition from scoring.

Can anybody see us scoring four against Blackburn today? You would have to be a blind optimist surely! Who exactly will score? All our hopes are pinned on Cole, a player, remember, who Curbishley considered second rate and who most still regard as a poor finisher for a centre forward. Where are our new strikers? We were forced to play a kid up front at Pompey - and he missed two nailed on chances - and we play the second "crucial game" this weekend, still without a new striker signed. It's beginning to look to me as if Sullivan and Gold are fiddling whilst West Ham burns. Two points were lost on Tuesday, God help us if we don't pick up 3 today in what is a MUST WIN game. I will take a 1-0 win. But under Turds, I was moaning that we lacked adventure on the pitch! How far have we fallen?