I said before the Newcastle game that it was a game we had to win. Others disagreed. We had some easier fixtures coming up, it was argued.
For 15 minutes away to Birmingham, our season was on the point of redemption. For fifteen minutes against West Brom we saw an escape route. Even with a victory yesterday, there was the possibility of turning things around. But we blew it. Not once, not twice, but three times in a row.
Stupidly, whilst ahead against West Brom, I dared to work out our probable league position on the back of two home wins in a row. Relegation? No problem! What an idiot! This is a team that includes Ilunga and Boa. This is a team that can't defend and attack in the same game. This is a team without balance. And this is a team without a brain, a heart and without courage. And Grant aint the Wizard of Oz!
Look at the table now and it is scary. We are 5 points adrift of safety already and with the joint worst goal difference in the division.
Whilst we were surrendering a lead against West Brom, Wigan were fighting back to snatch a draw against Liverpool. Can you see our spineless bunch coming from behind against Liverpool?
Whilst we drew 0-0 at home to Blackpool, Birmingham, in a relegation place as we speak, forced a 0-0 draw away to Man City. Can you see our gutless bunch getting a result at Maine Road?
Whilst we surrendered a two goal lead at Birmingham, Newcastle battled their way to a win at the Emirates.
And whilst Grant was saying that he was "happy" with our performance in a 0-0 draw at home to Blackpool, Stoke City were rolling up their collective sleeves and flooring Liverpool as decisively as Hay did Harrison.
Tell me, who is going down this season if not us? Stoke? No chance! Wolves? Probably now, though they look a half decent team. Bolton? Not a chance in hell! Wigan? Maybe, but they are not the certainties I expected. West Brom? I very much doubt it - they are SEVEN points ahead of us. Blackpool? Odds on in my book but we have given them a six point start. Birmingham? Possibly but they can fight in adversity, unlike us! Blackburn? Maybe but only if Big Spam leaves. Fulham? They got a 0-0 result at Newcastle yesterday. Newcastle? They have twice as many points as us!
We have dug our own grave and it will take a miracle for us to get out of it. To escape relegation, we will need at least 40 points this season. Where the hell are we going to get 31 points from? There are only 25 games left. We can't win away. No hang on, we can't win at home either! Our defenders can't defend, our forwards can't score, our midfielders are easily bypassed and our keeper can't move his feet to take a cross.
Can anything save us? Show me a Tevez on our books! There aint one! We are going down unless Pardew breezes in after the inevitable defeat at Liverpool and announces that he is shagging the wife of any player who doesn't record a rating of 10 in any game between now and the end of the season!
I have to say that I have reached the exact same conclusions as HF. I have even wondered where is the Tevez this year to perhaps spearhead a miracle escape. Because we are almost to that point where we need a miracle to stay up.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were losing to Chelsea MU and Arsenal people were saying it was unfair to judge the team on these resutls. Well, we are not anymore. We have played the teams just above us (most of the them on our home ground) and haven't managed not even one win! IT IS TIME TO PANIC!
If G&S don't want to accept this reality and risk everything (including their bid for the Olympic Stadium) on a blind faith toward Grant then they should at least know that it is all their doing. They could have done something about it and didn't! There may just be enough time, if we get someone like O'Neil in by next week. Leaving things as they are is simply not an option anymore!
i see we have been linked to neil warnock today. i think his what we need to be honest because he always gets the best out of his players. theirs only one way we are going with grant and thats DOWN.
ReplyDeleteKevin in manchester writes..
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain HF. Reading your post match report yesterday sparked a similar impotent rage -however- Moyes said something interesting in today's S.Times- that never have the twenty squads been more balanced( sure some are better than others but the gulf has never been more narrow) and the difference was in how managers deployed their tactics game to game , even half to half.
Being up here I haven't had the chance to watch live this season but how about this. Grant's tactics are not to blame; in our last three games we have created several clear goal scoring opportunities - eight against Birmingham - eight good ones - scored two - a couple of brilliant saves and, here's the point, four clear cut chances that Harry's Mum would have put away. From what i read it was ditto with knobs on yesterday and it has been true in all but a couple of games this season.
if a team is set up by its manager to create chances - and they are should we blame the manager?
I'm tending to the view that Grant is being undone by monumental incompetence on the part of the forwards. On balance I agree with you I can't see where two good wins on the bounce are going to come from but more seriously it will take some clever jiggery pokery- not to mention money we haven't got, to buy someone who can put away the chances we are creating.
However forwards, all forwards have lean and then plenty periods, more worrying is the back which is where the real jitters that undermine the team begin and here I am at a loss.
Only Jacbonsen and Da Costa are worth the wages. On the up side, despite our appalling run we haven't lost that many games and we are yet to be cut adrift with no hope.
Frankly with all that's gone on in the last three years it's a miracle we are still a top flight outfit and this season may prove to be the one where the divine grace finally runs out- come back Thomas, Jack and Zavon -your club needs you!
To be honest ive already given up on staying up. im just hoping we can get 3 more points this season so that we can beat derbys record low of 11 points so that we dont be remembered as the worst team in premiership history.
ReplyDeleteagree with most but the real sad thing was how yesterday people still continue to boo boa morte but yet give cole a heros welcome as he comes on who has been by far 1 of our worst players in the last few games im not boa's biggest fan but at least there a little bit of fight unlike carlton cole i think id rather have carlton banks
ReplyDeletehang on hang on - let's try and go back a little further of what you said.
ReplyDeletehttp://thegamesgonecrazy.blogspot.com/2010/07/forget-capello-index-follow-grantazola.html
Agree with you Kevin, I don't think it is Grant's fault, He has inherited a shambles. The trouble is, I fear the players are losing faith in the manager. He has replaced a popular guy and does not have the charisma to endear himself to the players and fans alike. They can blame him and will blame him.
ReplyDeleteI still maintain that the problem is one of balance. We can set up to defend, as at Arsenal, or we can set up to attack, but we can't do both. We didn't score yesterday but we were much stronger with the ball than without it. One poster claimed we played well but in the same breath said we could have shipped six goals - at home to a pub team! What a joke!
It will sound odd but we should have sold Parker and used the money to buy players we needed. Noble can do Parker's job in midfield. We needed a goal scorer and a left back desperately. Parker can run around all he likes but, unless he scores himself - and I bet he scores no more than 3 over the rest of the season - what good does it do? How we needed Diamanti yesterday!
We can still get out of this mess. Should have stuck with Zola. Couldn't be much worse could it.
ReplyDeleteWell it could be worse Greg, we could have zero points at the moment!
ReplyDelete"I don't think it is Grant's fault, He has inherited a shambles."
ReplyDeleteAstonishing double standards! It was Zola's fault when he had a WORSE squad, but now Grant is in, it's not Grant's fault?
How many players did Grant bring in? 8-9? The guy has no tactical awareness and is as inspirational as a corpse but still you find excuses for him. Don't you feel embarrassed?
Disgusting
I think you will find that Zola inherited a squad that finished tenth the season before he arrived and was in the top 5 when he arrived, whereas Grant inherited a squad that finished fourth from bottom with the lowest points total ever achieved by a West Ham team in the Premiership. Double standards? Look in the mirror!
ReplyDeleteIt's a collection of things:
ReplyDelete1. No Luck
2. Shit manager
3. No money
4. Shit players
5. No tactics
6. No fight
7. Debt
8. Players not wanting to play for us anymore
9. A stronger league then last season
10. We sold Diamanti, Deprella and replaced them with ......erm......replaced them with......
More rubbish.
ReplyDeleteZola inherited a large squad, many of whom were on sky high wages. He had to reduce the wage bill or we would have been crippled thanks to curbishley. That was the reason they appointed Zola. Our better players were sold.
All he got to work with were freebies and 2nd rate trash brought in by a director of football who was more concerned with getting his cut.
Grant inherited a squad that zola kept up. Grant speant money and added 9 players to Zola's squad and has been supported by the chairmen BUT he will still take us down.
You lose.
0236, this really isn't about you or me winning, this is about the club I support and you CLAIM to support. I am desperate for Grant to succeed. I was desperate for Zola to succeed. I was desperate for Curbishley to respect the traditions of our club and play football, not lump and chase ball in the style of Charlton.
ReplyDeleteYou do, however, talk crap. Who do we sell under Zola? McCartney and Ferdinand both went under Curbishley but, honestly, don't you think both represented great business for the club? We got a combined figure of £14m for them! In return, we signed Ilunga and Di Michelle on season long loans and ZOLA chose to sign Ilunga permanently.
During Zola's time as manager, we sold Bellamy - who wanted to leave - Bowyer, who Zola didn't play and didn't want, Mullins, who again Zola wasn't playing and didn't want, Reid, who can't even get a place in a Championship team, Savio, who was a disaster but who was signed whilst Zola was at the club and who he did noot pick, Tristan, who Zola signed and did not pick, Davenport, who Zola sent to Coventry for criticising him, Quashie, who was useless and didn't get a sniff of first team football, Etherington, who Zola played out of position and then dropped when he couldn't fit the team shape that Zola had decided upon, Neill, who Zola did not speak to through the whole summer after his contract expired and Collins, who was sold to fund the Diamanti signing.
Now, of that lot, only four would get anywhere near our first team - Bellamy (who is now in the Championship and had a terrible injury record at the club under Curbishley), Etherington, Neill and Collins. Remember, it was Zola who said he wanted to work with a smaller squad!
In return, we signed Savio, Da Costa, Tristan, Franco, Kovac, Diamanti, Daprela, Jimenez, Ilan, McCarthy, Nouble and Mido. I make that NINE players SOLD from the squad that Zola inherited and TWELVE players signed! True, the players signed were crap, but Zola bought into the Nani nonsense so more fool him.
So, TWELVE players signed - an entire team if handled sensibly. Trouble is, that did not include a single right back and included SEVEN forwards, none of whom could score apart from Ilan, who Zola was extremely reluctant to pick! Now, explain the logic of that!
I accept that I have not included Ashton, but he was not sold. Zola handled that situation terribly. He supported the Board's deceit, or genuinely did not know what was happening. Either way, he looks a fool!
0236, this really isn't about you or me winning, this is about the club I support and you CLAIM to support. I am desperate for Grant to succeed. I was desperate for Zola to succeed. I was desperate for Curbishley to respect the traditions of our club and play football, not lump and chase ball in the style of Charlton.
ReplyDeleteYou do, however, talk crap. Who do we sell under Zola? McCartney and Ferdinand both went under Curbishley but, honestly, don't you think both represented great business for the club? We got a combined figure of £14m for them! In return, we signed Ilunga and Di Michelle on season long loans and ZOLA chose to sign Ilunga permanently.
During Zola's time as manager, we sold Bellamy - who wanted to leave - Bowyer, who Zola didn't play and didn't want, Mullins, who again Zola wasn't playing and didn't want, Reid, who can't even get a place in a Championship team, Savio, who was a disaster but who was signed whilst Zola was at the club and who he did noot pick, Tristan, who Zola signed and did not pick, Davenport, who Zola sent to Coventry for criticising him, Quashie, who was useless and didn't get a sniff of first team football, Etherington, who Zola played out of position and then dropped when he couldn't fit the team shape that Zola had decided upon, Neill, who Zola did not speak to through the whole summer after his contract expired and Collins, who was sold to fund the Diamanti signing.
Now, of that lot, only four would get anywhere near our first team - Bellamy (who is now in the Championship and had a terrible injury record at the club under Curbishley), Etherington, Neill and Collins. Remember, it was Zola who said he wanted to work with a smaller squad!
In return, we signed Savio, Da Costa, Tristan, Franco, Kovac, Diamanti, Daprela, Jimenez, Ilan, McCarthy, Nouble and Mido. I make that NINE players SOLD from the squad that Zola inherited and TWELVE players signed! True, the players signed were crap, but Zola bought into the Nani nonsense so more fool him.
So, TWELVE players signed - an entire team if handled sensibly. Trouble is, that did not include a single right back and included SEVEN forwards, none of whom could score apart from Ilan, who Zola was extremely reluctant to pick! Now, explain the logic of that!
I accept that I have not included Ashton, but he was not sold. Zola handled that situation terribly. He supported the Board's deceit, or genuinely did not know what was happening. Either way, he looks a fool!
02:36, Zola hardly kept us up last season, the shiteness of Hull, Burnley and Pompey kept us up, Zola and his squad would not be on more than 9 points right now, probably closer to 0.
ReplyDeleteI do feel abit sorry for Grant, he has come into a club essentially on its knees with a playing squad devoid of talent in many positions, his most promising signing copped an injury in an international friendly days before the start of the season, his keeper came back from the world cup devoid of any confidence, he has inherited a squad containing many overpaid, spoiled players who got an easy ride from the previous manager and the fans have been on his back from very early on and some of the refereeing decisions that have gone against his team have been shocking. Yeh, it looks likely that we're going down however I doubt anyone short of Mourihno would have the ability to turn this current crop of players into world beaters overnight.
Yes he has made tactical mistakes however the problems at this club manifested themselves well before the current manager was given the job. He might have failed to keep Pompey up but from what I saw of them, he did galvanise them into a squad that fought for him every single week. Perhaps the players here unlike those at Pompey don't give a fuck and are just here for their pay packet?
Neil Warnock hates our club and most of us hate him back with a passion and wouldn't want him here.