Saturday 20 November 2010

The Shadow of Liverpool 3 West Ham 0 - And we didn't even chase shadows!

Now let's get something straight from the start. This is NOT a good Liverpool team.  It is a shadow of the great Liverpool teams that have rolled us over year after year at Anfield. They were beaten at home by the King's Head, Blackpool for pity's sake! Yes they beat Chelsea, but Chelsea were without Lampard and Drogba - and look at the Plastics' last two results anyway! Gerrard didn't play either, and Liverpool lose 50% of their side when he doesn't make it on to the pitch. But even 50% of a very ordinary Liverpool team were enough to murder us!

Why? Because, just like last year, we arrived at Anfield without any heart, desire, belief or game plan. The decision to set up 4-3-3 was brave but utterly foolhardy. And the time it took Grant to change things around was pathetic. At one point, before Liverpool had scored, the commentator said, "Liverpool are comfortable and West Ham are compliant" and that said it all. Grant stood, Zola and Roeder like, on the touchline, doing nothing. We were yelling, "They're not closing, why the hell are they not closing" but Grant just stood there, looking glum, looking resigned, looking mournful, looking utterly clueless.

What in God's name was going on? Liverpool players ambled into acres of space between our defence and midfield, and absolutely NOBODY went with them. Nobody marked. Nobody tracked. Nobody closed. In fact, nobody in a white shirt bloody moved!

And nobody shouted either. Not Grant. Not Upson. Not Green. Nobody. There was no anger, no passion, no fury, no recriminations, no attempt to put things right. Green blinked. Upson stared. Grant glowered. But nobody said or did anything. They just waited for Liverpool to score. Then waited for Liverpool to score again. And then waited for Liverpool to score a third. Grant did revert to 4-4-2 eventually but it seemed like some sort of divine afterthought. Why the switch wasn't made after five minutes, by which time Liverpool had already had three shots, is completely beyond me.

In the stands, Sullivan and Gold also sat in silence but something will be said tomorrow, that's for sure. The fans, of course, found their voices, singing the name of Di Canio. I would favour Pardew personally.

Did anybody play well or even decently? Green made two superb saves but was hopeless the two times he was tested under crosses. Noble tried valiantly but what chance did he stand? The team had no shape and it was back to the very worst days of Zola. In fact, the performance was identical to our surrender last April at Anfield. So much so, that I was tempted to just copy last season's match report, but Gerrard played last year, and Torres this, so the Liverpool teams were different.

Outside of Green and Noble, the team were utterly useless to a man. Ilunga was out of position every time Liverpool attacked and made no attempt to hurry back. Gabbidon was hopeless. Upson was terrible. Boa was Boa. Kovac was Kovac. Cole was comatose, Piquionne anaesthetised and Obinna embarrassing. And Jacobsen looked like a Blackburn reject. Big Benni came on and did nothing. Barrera came on and did very little. Tomkins came on and was played out of position.

We needed to fight like Blackpool fought at Upton Park last Saturday. Instead, we set up deckchairs as if on Blackpool prom and let Liverpool pass round and through us. It was embarrassing and disgraceful and showed that these gutless bastards should be sacked to a man!

Player ratings: Green 6; Jacobsen 3, Upson 3, Gabbidon 1, Ilunga 1; Kovac 2, Boa 1, Noble 5; Obinna 1, Cole 2, Piquionne 3 Subs: McCarthy 1, Barrera 3, Tomkins 4

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Couldn't agree more. An absolute shambles. West Ham players should hold their heads in shame. It bad enough to get poutplayed, but the attitude was unforgivable.

Essexhammer said...

Well said HF......whoever would want to take over this mob though must be a glutton for punishment,they were an absolute shambles today....

Anonymous said...

ukhustla

I cant believe G&S still have faith in Festa.
Festa has to go we need someone who can kick them up the backside and make them proud to wear the shirt. Passion to play...a never say die attitude even when we are 5-0 down to keep plugging away....we need someone to teach them how to find the net........WE NEED A BLOODY MIRACLE


Paulo Di Canio...maybee??? the guy has all of the above

Anonymous said...

That was really pathetic wasn't it? I'm a long term season ticket holder, and I am not sure I want to go again this season.

Grant just has to go; it's the blind and clueless leading the blind and gutless at the moment.

And Paulo is not the answer, fascist tendancies apart, he is even less experienced than was Zola. A passionate man? Yes, but a proper leader of men, I doubt it. He's not a tactician either as a far as I can see.

I cannot seeing it matter who takes over now, assuming Grant does not stay on, because we are too far gone already.

Happy days.....

JC

Hammersfan said...

Spot on JC

John said...

Oh dear oh dear oh dear!Perhaps the David's will do something constructive about the situation next week. I sincerely hope so. think the fans deserve and definitely need a boost of some sort.

Anonymous said...

Cole was our best player. Unfortunately isolated on his own up top them substituted by a clueless manager. Our midfield carries on providing no support what so ever to our front.

You would have to explain to me why noble gets a 5 and its no good green playing well in games we're whipped in. He has been at fault at games we should have won...and that's where it matters

fred149 said...

di canio as backroom staff in coaching role not manager bring pards back aswell

James said...

I'm annoyed by the result, but equally annoyed by your allegiance to the phrase "to a man"...so irritating.

Pardew in.
He left too soon. Like Marilyn Monroe and Rod Hull.
DiCanio is a terrible idea. A manager with no experience and racist tendencies.
Pardew was a very organised manager, with a good system and managed to take Liverpool to penalties in an FA Cup final.
I was against Grant being sacked in a reactionary storm until today

T.I.S said...

Good review. I don't want to see anything to do with West Ham right now. I refuse to watch the Wigan game, as I can't face being depressed by the sight of these pathetic players. I feel so distant from this team it's unreal, and so uncomforting not being able to see light at the end of this tunnel.
Talk all you like about solutions, they wont be done. By all right it should've been too late to sack Zola last season and they're certainly going to leave it too late this. Nobody learnt any lessons from last season and so we deserve everything we get. Absoloutely disgusted. Grant OUT and he can take fucking Boa Morte and Ilunga with him. Get some English players who may even give a toss when we lose.

Hammersfan said...

Chin up TIS mate. Last season we performed exactly the same at Anfield and next game we...beat Wigan!

Redshadow said...

Agree with some, disagree with other parts of that - But then I would being a 'Pool fan wouldn't I?

Anyway - I happen to agree with the general tone of your piece and the (unspoken) implication that IF you don't beat Wigan next week? You're stuffed - If you're not already that is - I also think that you FAILING to beat Blackpool in a match you had the better of and Birmingham a few weeks back in a game you utterly dominated WILL come back to haunt you at season's end with regard to relegation worries.

It actually reminds me of when all those f*cking draws against you lot, Stoke, Hull and Fulham a few years back cost us our 19th League Title - With a side that IF we still had it? Would be at LEAST 12 points clear and cruising by now such has been the dramatic decline in PL quality between then and now.

Which brings me rather neatly to where I DON'T agree with you - No I DON'T think this season's Liverpool are an especially Bad team - Just a badly LED one by a manager who if not clueless, cowardly away from home and with NO idea how to manage a club our size? Is doing a damn good impression of being all three.

We may no longer have the likes of Alonso, Mascherano and Benayoun around but then what of the rest of the league? Ronaldo has gone, Mascherano and Alonso with him and any Number of players have left Chelsea in recent years - In fact I'd go so far as to say we're not THE number 1 league in Europe anymore - Being FAR inferior to Spain's in terms of touch, technique AND now the best players as well. The edge we once so clearly held in THAT department in English Football? Has now utterly vanished and whilst there IS one standout League in World Football? It isn't here any more - Not by a Long way..............

Redshadow said...

Anyway, Whilst yes, Liverpool aren't great no (far from it in fact – which only makes 08/09 all the More galling – we had 33 points by this stage of That season which is more than ANY side now – We’ d have stormed THIS title race with THAT team, sigh) But despite how bad we now are? Can you honestly say Liverpool are really ANY worse than an Arsenal side that's now lost MORE games at Home to lower sides than in nearly 3 decades? Are they any worse than a previously invincible Team of Champions who now don't know when or how their next win is coming having pushed down Hard on the self-destruct button in recent weeks or a Spurs side that have lost nearly as many games THIS year as they did in the whole of the last campaign? What of a United side who are the new draw specialists particularly re two goal leads? Or a dull as ditchwater City side that's had MORE spent on it than Mourinho's Double Champion?

No I think the qualities gone down in this league overall and it's reflected by EVERYBODY beating everybody else (or drawing in Man U's case). I'll agree that in LFC's case - SOME of our performances (e.g. last week at Stoke and at Everton) have been utterly disgraceful but others? Like at Bolton, against United for 30 minutes, against Chelsea for 90 and against you lot (for something like the Ten Thousandth season in a row at Anfield) have been full of desire, fight and determination to get the points. That we STILL have enough quality to beat you if determined to and that you ran into us on one such 'committed' night was just your bad luck - We STILL have the likes of one of THE best strikers on the planet, a midfielder who dominated the World Champions (including Alonso whom he utterly eclipsed) in a 4 - 0 thrashing a few days back, another who whilst not a patch on Mascherano is still an international holding midfielder and a winger who scored THE goal of World Cup 2006 and still has his 'moments' as well as the England right back who was in VERY determined mood and was better than anything you had on either flank in our line-up.

As such and considering that in English football you always have to 'earn' the right to play; Is it any surprise that such a line-up, IF sent out to attack, press, harry and above all WIN a game of football? Would in the end overwhelm your lot? Not to me it wasn't - What happened tonight was always going to occur to our next opponents after last week's debacle at Stoke (Which itself came after THREE games in six days) - As I said, West Ham were just unlucky it was them tonight facing us at Anfield, that's all - Whoever we played would have been beaten but you A:) Don't seem to like our ground very much and B:) ALWAYS end up facing us when something's at stake/there to be won and/or we have BIG points to prove.

As to your club West Ham? I hope you get sorted out soon - I always enjoy us playing you and miss you when you're not around - IMO you NEED rid of Grant, he's not the man for the job - You need a manager whose an organiser with motivational skills as well - I believe there's a couple from your recent history who could do JUST such a job as is now required at West Ham to keep you up - I don't really need to give you their names now do I?

Anyway, If it were me as your owner? I'd act soon - Only one team has survived after being bottom at Christmas in the Premier League Era and not many more in ALL football - And the sides that HAVE done it? Had FAR more spirit than your current lightweights (bar the likes of Parker and Noble - One of whom didn't even play tonight). I believe Grant MUST go and not a moment to soon either - He hasn't got a clue and is probably a dead man walking after recent results now anyway. How he's stayed there this long is an impenetrable mystery - I doubt he has long at Upton Park though after this. Oh well, All the best bar the return match for the rest of the season anyway. Until next we joust.......

Essexhammer said...

I wouldn't count on it this time.I can see another draw on the cards.

Rabelais said...

T.I.S.
I share your despair. I have a 7 year old and a 4 year old running around the house this morning in their West Ham pyjamas who can't understand why Dad supports such a crap football team when there are clearly more attractive teams like Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City and United. In the circumstances, talk about a glorious footballing heritage, 66 and all that, cuts little ice, especially when all your mates support teams that are above yours in the league and when you're so young that you can't remember anything but abject performances each season.

Sack Grant? And replace with...? Someone else that we allow 6 months to impress and then throw out. I think West Ham's problems run deeper that the question over who manages the club. The truth is that we just can't compete at this level. We've been riding our luck for a number of seasons and next year I am steeling myself for relegation. It'll come almost as a relief.

I'll support West Ham whatever division they play in because I've supported them since I was six or seven. And old habits die hard. But I'm weary of being the Premiership's whipping boys. I'm weary of the endless relegation struggles. I just want something to cheer about once in a while. And I can't see that happening anytime soon.

Andy said...

We're going down and will vitally need to rebuild. Get Pardew back now, give him a couple of seasons to get a decent (and cheap) side together and also end this ridiculous Olympic Stadium nonsense that will only lump us with an additional £190m debt for an unpopular and half empty stadium.

Pete said...

The first half has to be one of the worst from a WH team.

If you look at the team then players like Kovac, Gabbidon, Spector, Boa-Morte, Illunga are simply not good enough at this level. That was clear to see last year! So no surprise we are bottom this year and everyone has to believe that we are there for a reason (not due to bad luck!).

If G&S have any ounce of sense, they have to replace the manager THIS week before we lose at home to Wigan next weekend. Then also the board to find £20m for the transfer window for at least 5 players and also get rid of the shit I mention above. Also we should sell Cole, he will never get the goals we need.

We can't afford to hang around. PDC should not be the manager, although he should be brought in some capacity.

There are two candidates for me: Martin O'Neill or Alan Curbishley again.

We need to stay up at any cost, if we go down that will be the end.

Hammersfan said...

Cheers Redshadow, good to have an intelligent and non partisan response from a rival fan. I disagree about Woy personally. I think he has been trying to find his right team and may have hit upon it now. Your early season position was obviously a false one, though it was great fun to see you down there for a while.

Regarding yesterday's game, I disagree. You were not that good, we WERE that bad. Just as we were at your place last season. The team was wrong. The tactics were wrong. And the side effectively went on strike. Nobody outside of Noble tried.

John said...

Let me say from the start I am not being racist here, but I have through out my long life found that Jewish people have an amazing allegiance to each other, and I am beginning to wonder if it is this that is keeping Grant in his job at the expense of our club.