I'm not sure I'm in any mood to write a match report to be honest. I feel sick with depression. At half time we were in complete control. Then on came Zigic and we had no answers. How weak was Upson when Johnson scored to bring Birmingham level? How pathetic was Dyer when Carr ran through him to set up the winner, and how dozy was Hines when Bowyer was left unmarked in the box to score the first? Bowyer, of all people! For Christ's sake, you superglue somebody on Bowyer in the box! But not West Ham! No, he is a complete surprise package when he pops up in the box apparently! Well done Wally!
To be fair, Birmingham deserved the victory. They hit the post twice and Green pulled off a couple of superb stops. Apart from Cole's wonder goal, for all our possession, we didn't create many clear cut opportunities. Noble played the pass of the match but Hines was at a difficult angle to score and didn't have the presence of mind to check back or look for a cross. Cole was played in too but he was at a tight angle and under pressure. There was the Cole cross too, after another lovely piece of play by Noble, but nobody gambled. And the Hines cross that found Boa completely flat footed and dreaming. Birmingham had cleared the ball before Boa reacted. Had that been Bowyer, it would have been a goal. And the acrobatic effort from Hines but did he mean it? All those were in the first half.
Second half, we were truly inept. Once again there were no captains out on the pitch and no leadership from the sidelines. We retreated deeper and deeper and it was always just a matter of time before Birmingham scored. We desperately needed a second but we saw the same old nonsense of long aimless balls or players running, running, running until they lost possession. Noble tried to link play but looked out on his feet second half. Cole did his best to bring others into the game. Bridge worked the left flank well. But Boa, Parker, Hines, Dyer and Spector forgot that there were team mates on the pitch who you could pass to. The game was crying out for somebody to put his foot on the ball and tell everybody to calm the fcuk down, but it didn't happen. It never does with this bunch.
Did Tomkins deflect that third goal or did it dip viciously? I'm not sure. Ferguson should have been sent off for that kick at Dyer, it was every bit as bad or worse than Obinna's in the first leg. I mean Dyer is fragile so kicking him deliberately on the shin after the ball had gone was dangerous in the extreme! Shame he didn't kick him harder, the forced withdrawal of KD might just have won us the game!
Did anybody come out of the game with credit? Tomkins put in a stirling performance, except for that dreadful moment where he didn't know where the ball was. Green was impressive but I felt it could have kept the third goal out - it seemed to be eminently deflectable unless it had taken a deflection off Tomkins. Cole also ran his heart out and did score that sensational goal. Bridge was good going forward but Zigic kept pulling onto his shoulder and gave him a torrid time in the air. Faubert tried but his crossing was woeful. O'Neil? Not sure. Again his final ball wasn't great.
Let's face it, Arsenal would have stuffed us in the final so it's probably best that we focus on the Prem . The trouble is, we don't seem to be trying to sign any defenders and this team cannot defend corners or crosses into the box. And it struggles as soon as a team goes route one.
And Grant? How hopeless was he before extra time started? Why wasn't Sears used for God's sake?
Player ratings: Green 7; Faubert 6, Tomkins 7, Upson 5, Bridge 6; Hines 5, Parker 5, Noble 5, Spector 5, Boa 6; Cole 7 Subs: Dyer 1, O'Neil 5, McCarthy 1
Grant is always hopeless at half time,a f**king prawn could out think him.
ReplyDeleteHe has the personality & tactical nous of a corpse.
I want passion from my manager & the common sense to respond to the other manager's half time bollocking,not just stand there like a F*CKING TOAD!
also to be fair howard webb is not mentally stable t oref a cup semi final after that world cup and honestly i disagree about dyer and carr watch it again Carr completly barges in to the back of dyer and webb did have an awful game our players were getting booked for absolute no reason and then all b'hams players did something worse and there first game also came from a webb descion whic hwas a blatant foul on boa morte but he didnt blow his whistle gree ndeserves an 8 as he did nithing wrong and made 6 superb saves and could not do anything about the 3rd goal look at it again it takes a sudden dip at the last second otherwise green had it saved dyers shot was woeful and are there any 6 ft 7 center backs we could buy to partnerup with tomkins as upso nwas absolute shocking today and on westhamtillidie there are two people who keep saying noble is to blame for the lass and that hes a fizzy pop league player at best and his legs are gone then they say parker is our best player and he was our best player today people hold grudges over players over 1 bad season really shouldnt support west ham and especially people who want west ham to lose just to be proved right about grant and there was another red in the last seconds of the game should have bee ngiven look at jerome he should have been booked twice anyway but then he stamped on tomkins because he couldnt get the better of him webbs should be sacked after that performance
ReplyDeleteToon fan here. I can't believe how harsh you are being about your side. I thought it was a great game with West Ham playing their part. Obviously Birmingham would come back strong after half time with the crowd right behind them. Their home record isn't impressive for nothing. The one person I will criticise is Avram Grant. His tactics were clearly to sit deep, soak up pressure and break on the counter after half time. However, when he saw Zigic coming on he should have changed his tactics. Playing deep against a player like Zigic is asking for problems. What can he do against a high or average defensive line?...Yep, you got it, nothing! Silly Grant. Well done anyway. A semi final is nothing to sneeze at.
ReplyDeleteToon fan, I'm bloody sure he didn't tell them to do that. They did it last season before Grant arrived. They are a brainless bunch and there isn't a leader out on the pitch.
ReplyDeleteYou have my admiration HF for being able to write any sort of account of the match, let alone one that reads so accurately. Us mere mortals are going back to our lonely, abject and miserable solitude.
ReplyDeleteHow much longer are you going to support Grant Fanno?
ReplyDeleteEven the Barnsley manager out-thought him at half time!
We nearly screwed that game up as well.
Dyer is just awful, i too hate him. Its a shame that we couldn't dump him off for free somewhere. I dont' understand why Dyer or McCarthy are ever called onto the field... in any game.
ReplyDeleteWe always look impressive when playing open attacking football, so why do we defend in depth where we look vulnerable and likely to give a goal away any minute.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't the players, manager and coaching staff learn? it happens week after week are they all completely dozy or what?
Why on earth did Grant bring Dyer on! we have not heard anything about him for weeks, he can't and never will be match fit, it was obvious he would just get brushed aside by the Birmingham crunchers. Surely Sears running at them would have offered added impetus up front and taken the pressure off at the back a bit.
Blackpool can't defend so play attacking open football for 90 minutes and have not done badly using that system. Why don't we do the same.
Shocking stuff! Yet another epic 2nd half surrender. We looked great in the first half, albeit without too many shots. It seems that Grants monotone half time team drivle actually demotivates the team and he certainly didnt help that team with some piss poor subs in the 2nd half.
ReplyDeleteI dont disagree with the players who came off. Hines seemed to forget where he was supposed to be playing the whole night and constantly abandoned his RW role to seek some glory up front. This left Faubert alone on the right!
Boa was pretty woeful aside from a couple of meaty tackles. I dont think i saw him look up once and consistantly lost the ball and misplaced his passes.
One positive did come out of this game however. Did anyone else notice Green trying to command his defense? True, it was ineffective but it was nice to see him shouting at the back 4 when the ball came through to him. This is not something we would have seen from him a few months ago.
Half time onwards revealed us to be a team with no leadership on the pitch, and total ineptitude in the dugout. GS&B's fault for cocking up the MON deal in my opinion.
I think it's a bit unfair to blame Dyer for the loss. The whole team were shit 2nd half. They were all running round like headless chickens!!! We should never have allowed Brum to start peppering our box with high balls. We should have known that is what was going to happen, it's exactly what they always do when they are losing. It's McLeishs only answer... Yes Dyer could have won it for us, yes his control should have been better. At the end of it, we did what we've done all season long, sat back and looked like rabbits staring at headlights...
ReplyDeleteLooking at the game Brum were lucky not to go down to 10 men, Ferguson blatantly kicked out at Dyer, which I know he reacted back. But Ferguson should have seen a straight red for that. Let's not forget everyone is going on about 'the letter of the law' and thats how Piquionne got sent off. Well why wasn't the letter of the law followed last night then...
Truth is though, the 2nd half we stunk and deserved to lose. Well, that kind of showing makes me think they've also already accepted we are to be relegated as well...
I think Dyer was fouled in the lead up to their goal. As for his chance; Dyer was running and positioning himself for the original path of the cross. If you have a look, the ball takes a deflection and he thus finds himself slightly ahead of where he needs to be. If you try to volley the ball in that cramped position then it will always be difficult to keep it down. Anyone who has played football should know this. It was still a good chance though, but there is a reason why it was missed. I'm not sure how you can justify them two things costing us the game though when there were far worse things.
ReplyDeleteThere were two players more culpable for us conceding the winning goal you blame Dyer for. You remember I talked of Upson's blocking in the past? Well have a look at this Gardner goal and Mr Pee-Wee Upson and his pathetic attempt at a block. In fact, one of the replay angles shows that he hardly gets himself in between ball and goal so I'm not sure what he was defending. Terrified of a ball, he almost moves out the way as if to direct the shooter rather than block his shot. Compare that to Tomkins' brilliant block at the beginning of the game....Brum's first attack I think it was....
....The next error in that goal was obviously Green's. But for the game he had and the saves he made earlier, you can forgive him for that. Upson cannot be forgiven as he was also to blame for the Johnson header, where he got easily beat. The guy is just not bothered.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if Bridge had not been so far up then Noble, who was marking the eventual scorer Gardner, would not have needed to leave him to mark at left back, leaving Gardner free.
Though Hines did go to sleep for the Bowyer goal, have a look at Noble on the line as he crouches and let's the ball fly over him. Why is he trying to put effort into heading it out? All has to do is keep his head where it was and the shot is cleared. But he goes down to try head it away and the ball fizzes over him. He was also a liability most of the game. He did a good pass at the beginning and then that's it. So slow it was unbelievable. No legs, the guy plays like he's knackered. He was particularly poor in extra time, where he gave the ball away a number of times.
"And the acrobatic effort from Hines but did he mean it?" Hahahaa! Of course he meant it. What was he doing if he didnt mean it?
I agree Ferguson should have been off. Unfortunately our lot are too honest and dont make a meal of it like Larsson did. Ferguson is just a petulant egotist as his behaviour in Scottish football has shown.
stani once again you try make out noble has no legs and refer to his extra time performance you dont however tell about the fact noble started getting tired after about 68 mins because was up and down the pitch and even when he was tired he was still up and down the pitch and typically you dont take in to account bridge was so far up because we had no left mid and parker was at fault for there first goal aswell as he fails to mark his man and lets bowyer run in to the box. PARKER WAS ABSOLUTE SHITE LAST NIGHT HE DIDNT EVEN BOTHER. And you dont have to be fast to play at the top charlie adams is slow yet him and noble are very alike and it was not greens fault for the 3rd goal what so ever it took a mild deflection a really dodgy dip/curve sort of thing that took it away from his hand otherwise he saved it and the there firs tgoal should not of been a goal anyway as boa morte was clearly fouled as the ywent on and won a corner that the yscore from and the second was a foul on dyer as he was barged in the back by carr then did anybody else see in the last minute of extra time jerome stamped on tomkins stomack and shudve been red carded aswell and that was a disgraceful performance by howard webb
ReplyDeleteFred,
ReplyDeleteHahaha, 68 minutes? How many seconds?! It wasnt just his extra time performance Fred. Even HF said he was knackered. If we were watching this together, I would point it all out to you. With our new players, and Collison and Hitz back soon, I will be astonished if Noble still retains a regular starting place. Serious question; do you think he should be ahead of the likes of Collison, Parker, Hitz, O'Neil?
I wasn't blaming Bridge, just showing how the incident lead to the goal because Noble had to leave the midfield to cover for Bridge. I say it was a mistake from Green but I also say you can forgive him because he had a good game over-all. But most to blame for that goal was Upson and his lack of closing down. The highlights are on the BBC site. Check Upson's closing. There are a few replays. And there was no deflection Fred. It was expertly struck with the outer half of the boot, going from the bottom of the ball and across it. Hence the dip.
It's not about being fast Fred, it's about being mobile. Even if you dont have pace, you can be positionally clever in where you put yourself. Adam does this...and no, Noble and Adam are not alike otherwise Liverpool would be after Noble. Adam is much more gifted.
I did see the stamp. The thing is that Tomkins, and Dyer when Ferguson kicked him, did not roll around like Larsson as if they had been shot. They should have.
honestly stani i think noble should be ahead of parker and collison ahead of parker and honestly parker has bee nmade t olook better then he is noble is the only one who in my opinion has outclassed him and HF didnt say noble ws knackered after the first few seconds and oble is more of a holding midfielder nayway as his distribution is class and his tackling are class this way he wont get caught out as much as he does but then again half the time he seems like our only threat going forward. I think we have a better chance of staying up without parker our team relys on him to much when he is in the team and when he isnt our team play better as a team
ReplyDeleteI honestly dont know what you see in him Fred. The odd good thing Noble does maybe pleasing on the eye, which is why Parker's effectiveness goes unnoticed to you. I didnt say HF said Noble was knackered after the first few seconds. HF said Noble looked out on his feet in the 2nd half.
ReplyDeleteNo Fred, his tackling is not class. His distribution would be good if he was able to think quicker on the ball. I disagree we play better when Parker is not there. The stats overwhelmingly prove that we play better when Noble is not there.