"Okay, the game is ours, go out and wipe the floor with them"? Or, "Keep it tight for the first 15 minutes, then the game is ours"? Or, "Let's keep what we have!"? Any one of the three would have been valid.
McLeish? Well there was only one script, "You've played like a bunch of useless tossers and are going out of the Cup unless you get stuck in. Now get out there, get the ball forward as often as possible, win set pieces, attack every ball in the air and find me two goals!"
Clearly Grant was to blame. It's impossible to lose a two goal lead in 45 minutes. It's impossible to then concede a winner in extra time. Only the most incompetent manager in the world could do that. And the manager of the other side would have to be a motivational and tactical genius to pull that off.
2005. Champions League Final. Half Time. A C Milan 3 Liverpool 0. The managers? That useless tosser Carlo Ancelotti and that motivational and tactical genius Rafa Benitez.
But that's an unfair comparison - just look at the terrible players Ancelotti had at his disposal! Dida, Cafu, Stam, Nesta, Maldini, Pirlo, Gattuso, Seedorf, Kaka, Shevchenko and Crespo. And on the bench they only had players like Costacurta, Serghino, Klaldze and Rui Costa. Now, if Ancelloti had had the likes of Dyer and McCarthy to call off the bench, well I'm sure it would have been a completely different story!
I personally feel that it was upsons fault. He was shite. No leadership vocally or by his actions. He made one good tackle where he laid on the ball but even that was fairly lucky.
ReplyDeleteHe was at fault for the headed goal. If tomkins was marking him im pretty sure we would be through right now.
Tomkins had an amazing game. He out shone upson our so called captain. Strip the captaincy from him and get him out of the club. Dont bother offering him a new contract. Hes been useless all season and yesterday was a casing point for that. Tosser!
The BBC interviewed Avram Grant and he stated "I didn't know what to say at half time...." !! No doubt he just smiled enigmatically and kept "dignified"...
ReplyDeleteIts not impossible, it happened! Hahahaha!
ReplyDeleteHF,
ReplyDeleteGrant has done the same thing all season for us. This is why I've said in the past that he doesn't have a clue... I didn't want us to score first last night, I knew what would happen if we did and it was exactly what DID happen. I knew full well that McLeish would bring on Zigic, his target man. After that it was going to be a case of peppering the box as often as they could and we'd start crapping ourselves. We totally lost our shape, the midfield (again) went everywhere except where they were supposed to be. Brum had acres of space in the end and this is where it all went wrong. Grant didn't bark out to people to tell them where they were supposed to be, he just sat/stood there looking like a babboon looking at a mobile phone...
He just doesn't seem to be bothered. What would a normal manager do if he saw his side capitulate (again). He'd be going crazy on the sideline, but not our Grant...
How easy is it to compare one game to another? how difficult is it to compare one game to the many occasions this season where Grant has been found wanting either by tactical ineptitude or failure to react to his couterpart's change of tactics & substitutions? how many more games are we going to play 1 half of decent football & 1 half of dross? You're obviously the expert,you tell us.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many problems with our team, and it's not entirely fair to pin all the blame on just one man, but I think you're right - at the heart of a most of these problems is a complete lack of leadership, creativity and passion.
ReplyDeleteAnd I can say in all honesty Grant is the most dispassionate, uninvolved coach I have ever seen at any club, at any match. Can someone please tell me what the point is of a manager being on the sidelines at every match, contributing absolutely nothing, looking to the world like some bored husband being dragged round IKEA on a miserable Sunday afternoon?
Anyone?
Can't believe that you're still defending Grant.
ReplyDeleteNobody from WH came out of last night's game with any credit, neither the manager or most of the players. They failed as a team unit, pretty much how they have been for the majority off the season so far.
Change is needed, with both the management and the players. If we carry on using the same tactics and the same players then it doesn't take a rocket scientist to surmise that we'll more than likely get the same outcome...
Losses, lot's of them.
Everyone out I say! Gold, Sullivan, Brady, Grant and half the playing squad. Utter shambles, the lot of them.
You cant really compare the two games HF. The difference is that Liverpool took control of that CL final. Even then, that was seen as extraordinary. We, in contrast, handed the game to Birmingham on a plate. Liverpool forced their way forward in that game. We sat back and invited them to come forward.
ReplyDeleteI know you have to defend your position on Grant but he has to take responsibility for being unable to see a match through to 90 mins with a 2 goal lead and total control of the game.
Absurd argument trying to defend Grant based on a past analogy. I ... well...youve been pushing this stance all year and I dont think theres any point.
ReplyDeleteI'm not really sure what your point is HF (sorry). I will, however, draw your attention to the following quote on the BBC website...
ReplyDelete"Everything was going well. We were playing well and scored a goal," said Israeli Grant, who position has been under scrutiny in the past two months.
"I didn't know what to say to them at half-time. But then Birmingham put pressure on the team and we didn't deal well with the two corners that led to their first two goals.
"I didn't know what to say to them at half-time."
Erm?
HF,
ReplyDeleteIf there ever was a post to prove how blinded you have become because of this Avram love, then this is it. You are comparing something which will never happen again (Champions League final) to something that happens ever so often due to bad management (yesterday's semi).
What you have also failed to consider is that Birmingham are the 2nd lowest scorers in the league behind Wigan. Also, they are a team that has played more games than they have scored goals. And, they are a team that has scored less goals at home than they have away. Yet we threw away a two goal lead to them. We let this goal shy team score 3 goals in 35 minutes!!! A team that averages less than a goal a game!!!
Combine these facts with us having a two goal cushion; the manager having the chance at half time to do his bit, and us having to defend for just 12-15 minutes without conceding to win.
During a game, most of a manager's work is done at the beginning, during half time, and with the substitutions he makes. We came out in the second half like a different team.
But the most telling thing is this:
"I didn't even know what to say to the players at half time"
That was Grant in his BBC interview after the game. End of argument.
HF, I have emailed you a small article with the request to publish on the blog. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of things wrong at West Ham starting from the owners, Avram Grant and going down. The fans are surely not part of this. Except perhaps we could perhaps be a little more critical so as not take us for granted.
Where do I defend Grant in this article? Oh the irony!
ReplyDeleteAs for one offs, didn't Spurs score 3 goals against Inter in the second half this season, and Man Utd just two days ago at Birmingham? Didn't Arsenal allow West Brom to score three this season after taking the lead? How many teams leading 1-0 at half time have lost the game 2-1 or 3-1 come the end of the game? Quite a few I suspect! That's what happened last night. We were NOT 2 goals ahead in the game! Perspective is still needed.
People are comparing McLeish and Grant. Tell me, why the fcuk didn't Birmingham START with Zigic? THAT was a crass piece of management.
So are you saying Grant is a better manager than McCleish HF?
ReplyDeleteActually if you think about it HF, it was a decent piece of tactics in keeping Zigic back. He wanted to see if Jerome could do the job and to be fair he didn't play bad... But in order to win the game he had to change things (something Grant seems unable to do). Thus brought Zigic on and he made a massive difference. That one of the major differences between the two managers, one obviously had some tactical nouse, and Grant has a mopey face...
ReplyDeleteWhy not use him from the start? Why wait until you are two behind before employing your match winner?
ReplyDeleteI thought that was the whole idea about using tactics mate... You leave your opponent guessing. McLeish had a gameplan and it worked. It's what most managers do week in, week out, but ours seems to be bereft of it. McLeist obviously only uses Zigic when he's chasing a game. He did it in the first leg and he used it (to more effect) in the second. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. In most cases against us, using a target man works to perfection as there are more holes in our defence than a collender. Grants tactics are...... well does he have any???
ReplyDeleteOne has to remember that English is Grant's second language. At the BBC interview I would imagine he was implying the team had played so well in the first half he had nothing to criticise.
ReplyDeleteWhatever support HF offers for Avram is often well argued, although I personally regret that grant remains our manager after the latest Brady-gate episode.
ReplyDeletehowever, his after match comments about his half time words of wisdom really do reveal a total lack of ability in either the tactical or the motivational departments. You are a clever chap, HF but you'd need to be Derren Brown and Stephen Hawkins all rolled into one to convince me that Avram did all that he could yesterday!
At least the distraction that is a Carling Cup final is out of the way so we can now concentrate on the league, league games are what is important.
ReplyDeleteI quote from my match report, "And Grant? How hopeless was he before extra time started?" I am not absolving Grant of blame, I'm saying the reaction is, as usual, hysterical and focuses entirely on Grant. Is anybody saying Holloway is a bad manager after Man Utd's stunning comeback this week? Nope. Losing a one goal lead in a match, and eventually losing the game, happens quite regularly but you would think it was almost unique the way people are going on. Teams with home advantage in the second leg of a tie are known to have a massive advantage especially during extra time because of the crowd support which lifts tired players.
ReplyDeleteThing is HF, when have you ever seen Grant act like a hairdryer? Never as far as I can see. You look at all decent managers and if they see their team doing what ours did, they're up on the feet shouting till their face turns red. All I've ever seen Grant do is look mopey... As if to try and make the team feel sorry for him. That's not how a manager should act IMO. He is supposed to be where the buck stops. It doesn't help that we don't have a decent captain either barking out commands. I know we shouldn't need someone like that. But when the team is playing crap you need someone to kick you up the ass. We don't have anyone like that in the team nor on the managers bench. But there is nothing we can do now as it's too late to do anything regarding managerial changes and with the window shutting soon. I do wonder where these other 2-3 people are going to come in from...
ReplyDelete