Wednesday 1 December 2010

It's Birmingham. Bring them on!

It could have been better, it could have been Ipswich, with memories of those epic play off semi finals, but instead it is the second weakest team left in the competition, Birmingham Won Nothing Except The League Cup Before It Counted City.

This is a golden opportunity for a return to the days of glory, a golden opportunity to return to Wembley, a golden opportunity to put behind us all those years of hurt. And a Golden opportunity for the Davids' revenge!

Arsenal in the final? Well, we've beaten them at Wembley before, and we were in the Second Division at the time. The prospect of a Wembley final might actually persuade Upson and Cole that they should hang around at West Ham and may just provoke them into playing for their places! Who knows, Hitzlespurger and Dyer may climb off their death beds with this as an incentive!

Relegation still haunts us but Grant has revived the great West Ham Cup tradition, a tradition that Zola betrayed with his sub standard team selections which saw us crash out of the League Cup at Watford and Bolton in successive seasons, and out of the FA Cup to relegation destined Middlesboro and an understrength Arsenal side.

We may be bottom but we have reason to feel proud again and cause for hope. Bring on Birmingham!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

We smashed them for 75 minutes at their place a few months ago, we can turn them over, they looked second best tonight despite winning.

Hammersfan said...

A few months ago? I know this season has seemed like Hell so far but it hasn't really lasted an eternity mate. We played Birmingham on November 6, less than one month ago!

Anonymous said...

We haved a great chance to get to wembley. COYI

Kareem said...

LOL (23:01)

Frankly (no pun intended), I think we can beat Birmingham if we defend the way we did against Man U. We barely let them pass or cross the ball into the penalty area. If our wingbacks play like they did and our center midfield stays solid, Birmingham will be in a bit of a rut, because Zigic won't be able to get those long balls, Jerome will be marked, and Bowyer will have a hard time hobbling forward.

I really think having a good cup run is a good morale boost for the season, a good way of discovering young talent (like Noble lol) and most importantly..we get some money to afford players :P

Anonymous said...

Felt like a few months ago the way this season has gone!

Anonymous said...

kevin in Manchester writes

Good Omen.. not that I believe in such things.. but we beat Birmingham in the semi's on the way to our cup triumph against Fulham in 1975

Stani Army said...

Two legs means for me, we may not have enough. Brum are much more consistent.

But I'm not really bothered about the cup run. The most important thing about Tuesday was we played well and won. Honestly, progressing in the cup didn't even come to mind. I was just happy we did what mattered. Now we gotta do what matters where it matters, in the league.

So, the best thing to come out of Tuesday wasn't that we're in the semis, but that we will go into the league with confidence and belief.

...and that there was a Kaka inside Spector waiting to come out! I just watched it again...some of his runs! Brilliant.

Hammersfan said...

Cobblers Stani. Firstly, some of us do not buy into the Premiership is Everything bollocks. I would take a season in the Championship and a Cup win over finishing fourth from bottom and winning nowt personally. Football should be about winning trophies, not surviving, especially if you are a true West Ham fan and understand what this club represents.

As for Birmingham being stronger, we outplayed them at St Andrews and were robbed of victory by the failure of the Ref to award a penalty. Even Zola's team came out on top over two legs last season, 2-1, despite having Noble sent off unfairly! We are stronger now and Birmingham aren't.

Stani Army said...

Hahahaha, you do make me laugh HF.

I don't accept you believe that, but anyway. Beating relegation is winning something too. How did you feel when Tevez scored that winner at Old Trafford?

Yes cups are important but we have to look at our situation.

As for Noble; I know we don't need him! :)

Hammersfan said...

I do mean it. I felt great when we avoided the drop obviously, but I felt better when we won the Cup in 75 and 80!

Stani Army said...

A nostalgic look back feels great now because you were 35 odd years younger then HF!

Hammersfan said...

If you like mate. I can remember when Pakistan had a great cricket team that, apart from ball tampering and umpires who never gave Javed Miandad out unless he was clean bowled, were respected around the world. Times change eh?

I don't think it has anything to do with nostalgia. You will look back with good reason on great days for Pakistan in cricket, and none of them were about scraping off the bottom of the ICC World rankings! Winning trophies is what the game, be it football or cricket, is about. 75 was spolilt for me by Moore being in the Fulham team, but beating Arsenal bettered that Tevez goal. And we were all happy to stay an extra season in the Second Division in return for that brilliant Cup win!

Stani Army said...

Bloody hell, how old do you think I am?!?!

I think West Ham and the Pakistan cricket team have lots in common. It's why I'm such a tortured soul :) Exciting, play the game the right style and produce brilliant natural talent but win hardly anything. I love watching both. Not all my sporting heroes follow this rule though i.e good to watch but win nothing. I mean, the only reason I watch tennis is Federer and the only reason I watch snooker is Ronnie. Now those two are very successful. But my point is that supporting a team is about much more than winning silverware.

I guess the one common feature in all the above I've mentioned is that they play the sport in the right style. Maybe that is what I like more than winning.

But anyhow, we're sidetracking. The point is HF, considering our league difficulties, I think the position I have taken over the win we got in the cup is perfectly sensible. Don't get me wrong, if we were mid-table now, I'd be well up for the cup.