But, that apart, I have backed Avram. Despite the results, the team have played better this season and, until yesterday, we have not looked easy to beat in recent weeks. But yesterday was very worrying.
To begin the tactics were wrong. 4-3-3 at Anfield? 4-3-3 with the players we had at our disposal? 4-3-3 when you have to stop Johnson getting up the right flank? It didn't make sense from the start.
But after 5 minutes, it so obviously wasn't working that Grant stood up. He didn't do anything about it. But he stood up. And he didn't sit down either. He stayed standing up, blocking Woy's view and forcing the Liverpool man to get to his feet so he could see the Liverpool goals go in. Woy thought he had the best seat in the house until Grant took root on the astroturf at the side of the pitch.
Why didn't he change things? Why didn't he revert to 4-4-2? Was it sheer bloody mindedness? Had Grant fallen asleep on his feet? Had he suffered a stroke? Had his mind wandered to massage parlours? Had he placed a bet on us to lose?
And what was happening out on the pitch? It seemed to me that the players were on strike. I had the impression that they had no faith in the system from the start, and were making the point by not trying. This looked like a group of players trying to get the manager the sack to me.
What was going through the heads of Sullivan and Gold, I wonder. They must have seen the disorganisation and lack of effort. The performance against Wolves provoked the Sullivan email last year and this performance was every bit as bad. And being on TV, the club was being exposed to national ridicule.
Karren Brady gave a half hearted vote of confidence to Grant last week. A few weeks back, a target of seven points from the "next four games" was given. We collected three. Along with Wolves, we are now adrift from safety and sinking fast in the quicksand of relegation. Pardew, Curbishley and O'Neill are all out of work.
Would anybody be surprised if Grant was replaced on Monday?
"This looked like a group of players trying to get the manager the sack"....
ReplyDelete....is one of THE most ludicrous pieces you've EVER posted HF!
To accuse 11 professional players of doing that is, quite frankly, mindblowing in the extreme!
Based on THAT cosmic piece of football folly there's absolutely no point in your scathing match analysis of who didn't do what and who didn't mark who and who's crap and who isn't, because what you're effectively saying is that those players have cheated and knowingly played in such a fashion as to affect the result of the game! Astonishing!
Curbs is the only available manager proven that he can keep a crap team in the premiership.
ReplyDeleteSack Grant now, get Curbs in tomorrow and lets get five seasons of mid-table obscurity and then, and only then start worrying about the quality of football and if Curbs is the man to push as forward.
All this talk of olympic stadium when at this rate the only stadium we're be playing in is the mile end stadium and that will still have too much space!
Why is that astonishing Shaun? Are you suggesting that workers don't down tools when they are unhappy with their managers? Are you telling me that the Hull players were playing for Brown? Are you telling me that the Labour Party were playing for the other Brown?
ReplyDeleteDo you think Grant told the players not to press Liverpool when they were in possession? Do you think he told Piquionne to play the game at walking pace? Do you think he told the centre backs not to mark? Do you think he told Ilunga not to run? Do you think he told Cole to look disinterested? Do you think he told Obinna to sit on his arse whilst Liverpool engineered the third goal?
I asked the question, "Was THAT a team playing for their manager?". If it was, then God help us! They looked like a bunch of players who weren't trying to me, and to a hell of a lot of others who watched the game, including Chris Waddle who repeatedly accused the players of coasting.
We have all heard of the "power of the dressing room" perhaps we are now "seeing it" If not, then stop worrying lads, just accept relegation, and have done with it.
ReplyDeleteWhy exactly did you support him though hammersfan? Honest question. Could you not see, like many others, that he was just not qualified or deserving of the appointment?
ReplyDeleteIs Grant getting the best out of these players? No
In a similar position, the players wanted to play for the manager under Zola. Will they do this for Grant? No
We cannot move forward until he is removed.
Big mistake sacking Zola. Big mistake replacing him with Grant. However bad Zola was, having come through last season he certainly would not have been in Grant's position now.
Well done aycliffe hammer, it's about time someone told that stuck up his own arse delmonte a few home truths. What say you fanno as I know you didn't have much time for either of them?
ReplyDeleteHF, quite what Grant tells the players to do or attempts to coach into them or even coach out of them is irrelevant!
ReplyDeleteThere is a chasm of a difference between getting stuffed because you're simply not good enough, even against mediocre opposition, and match-fixing, which is basically what you implied!
Oh look Tevez is having yet another stormer.
ReplyDeleteI know its been 4 years but it certainly is terrible we let him go.
There is a world of difference between not trying and match fixing Shaun. I accept not trying guarantees a resullt, but match fixing implies financial motives. I am suggesting that individually or collectively, the team went out with a sense of having already lost because they did not agree with the tactics. As a result, they did not play to a gameplan that they had no faith in.
ReplyDelete1447, I disagree with you. I bbelieve the problems set in under Zola and that things would be no better had he remained. He was out of his depth. Remember, we signed Kovac under Zola after he had had the opportunity to see how hopeless the guy was! It was Zola who wanted McCarthy too! And Zola who failed to play Diamanti in the right position for a whole season. It was Zola too who stood by and allowed Bellamy, Etherington, Bowyer and Collins to be sold.
ReplyDeleteThis is a circular argument. Why did I back Grant? Because he looked as if he knew hw to organise a team. The trouble is, the spirit of this team was destroyed under Zola. Can Grant rescue us? I doubt it. Can anybody rescue us? I doubt it. But don't blame Sullivan, Gold and Grant, blame Eggert, Duxbury and Zola for the mess we find ourselves in. I had no time for Turds, but at least he had balls and told the club where to stuff Nani and their asset stripping tactics. Zola went along with it and sold the fans down the river in the process!
I have always had a lot of time for Aycliffe actually and am sad to see him part from the site in a slightly bitter way. Hopefully he will return.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, we are passionate about our club and Aycliffe is on a downer like the rest of us. Sadly, the Org is dying on its feet as I have been saying for some time. Aycliffe puts his finger on the pulse when he talks about Del's pomposity and selfishness. He and the Klan were happy to push out others who stepped on their toes, those who dared to sing from a different hymn sheet, and the site has never recovered. The Hotshots and Fannos are necessary to fire debate, and the regulars like OSP and Aycliffe and others departed when there was nothing to bounce their wit against. Fanno may have been hated by some but he was loved by others; Fanno was fun, he was a flint that sparked debate and bile in equal measure, and the banning order left a terrible vacuum that has never been filled. Fareham tried but was too verbose.
So, all that is left is Del's "Endorse below if you agree with me" and "I have edited this thread because people misunderstood me" pomposity. He tries to keep the site going, bless him, because it is a large part of his life, but the format is tired and the quality of debate and writing are crassly poor.
Perhaps Fanno should have returned when the olive branch was offered but the stay would have been short lived because the clique would have got upset and called on Neville Not There to ban him again. When even the site creator is bored with his monster, you know the end is nigh. It is sad. Very sad. But Del and davefking and Neville killed the golden goose and unless a new Fanno appears, somebody with wit as well as passion, then I cannot see it recovering.
Reverand Aycliffe, if you look in, all the best mate. I bet you drift back to the Org from time to time despite your "exit". I hope so anyway as I will miss your comments when I look in.
ReplyDeletewhy look in to a place you've been banned from?? odd.
ReplyDeleteCould you not see, like many others, that he was just not qualified or deserving of the appointment? so the answer is a resounding no then? your silence often speaks volumes.... it's amazing how many times you avoid direct questions
ReplyDeleteEven a draw against Wigan and I fear that Grant could be gone. It's a shame as he seesms like a decent enough sort of bloke (unlike most of the other bellends that are managers these days) and I wish it worked out with him but I can't see how it will. He seems steadfast on this 4-3-3 system when it doesn't work. Had he stuck with the 4-4-2 that seemed to work well we could have gotten a few wins by now.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame because at Pompey the players there did look like they were playing for Grant, here they don't. Perhaps the players are as much to blame as the manager?
2330, see the comment below.
ReplyDeleteI am not convinced that Grant is the problem. The problem is the mess he inherited from Zola. Is Abromovitch an idiot? He appointed Grant. Why does the guy keep getting jobs and why hasn't Zola found work?
I think the players need an excuse now for their ineptitude and lack of backbone. As I suggest, I fear we may be witnessing an engineered dismissal. I don't know. The performance was utterly lame, but then we saw exactly the same performance at Anfield BEFORE Grant was appointed so please explain why he is to blame.
Perhaps the explanation as to why the performance against Liverpool was so bad is a lot less complex than has been made out, in my opinion it is this, without Scott Parker this group of players would hardly beat League One sides.
ReplyDeletehe keeps getting jobs because he's jewish!! someone's already told you but you dont listen despite the overwhelming evidence.
ReplyDeleteabramovic is jewish, gaydamak is jewish, gold is jewish.
it just shows how well zola did. he kept us up with a worse squad than grant has. you can say what you like but it is that simple.
Zola created that squad!
ReplyDeletezola did not do the buying. this means zola did not 'create' that squad
ReplyDeletenevertheless, grant added 9, had the chance to improve it but made it worse!
Is that how Berkovic and Benayoun got their West Ham jobs aswell? Get over yourself and your lame Jewish conspiracy bullshit.
ReplyDeleteWe sure could use someone of Berkovic's talent right now.
Circular argument 2336, Zola was responsible because he allowed Nani the power to decide on who was bought and sold. He was an idiot to agree to that wasn't he?
ReplyDeleteGrant added nine! plain and simple - but obviously not simple enough for you to get it through that thick Neanderthal skull of yours.
ReplyDeleteA question for you, been to a game yet this season?
23:54
ReplyDeleteLook imbecile, I am merely stating the facts. I have nothing against the fact he is jewish. What I do have a problem with is that being jewish should not be what got him his job. It is obvious that it did.
Gold wasn't there when Berkovic and Benayoun were playing moron, and theyre players anyway, I was talking about this manager.
07:25
Use your bloody intelligence hammersfan. Allowed Nani to? Was Zola running the club? Did Zola implement the management structure? No. Here was a guy in his first job and he wasnt going to cause a stink was he? Zola just agreed to the technical director structure, something many Italian and non-Italian managers work under. If he had known what Nani would then do, you tell me if you think he would have agreed? Dont be naive.
What did Curbishley do? He walked away. What did Zola do? Clung to his job for dear life. Gutless and out of his depth. He LIED to the fans and let Duxbury shaft us. "I want to work with a smaller squad". Like fcuk! Read that as, "I am complicit in the Board selling this club down the river. But look, I nod and smile, so in Zolayoutrust!" He played you ALL for cnuts and buggered off back to Sardinia with his pockets full of dosh. And still you can't see it!
ReplyDeleteWe cant see?! You've been supporting Gold Sullivan and Grant! Aaaahahaha
ReplyDeleteI can understand why you're p*ssed off!