Look at the goal! What the hell did Noble think he was doing? How exactly were Birmingham going to score from that position without the free kick being awarded? What did Noble have to do? Simple, hold his position, screen the player, don't allow him to get in a cross. But he was never going to get in a cross. He was tight to the touchline with his back to the goal. Why the fcuk would you foul him and concede a free kick? Larssen was on the pitch and we know he has a wicked delivery from a set piece. Zigic was on the pitch, and so were Johnson and Ridgewell. Sooner or later one of them was going to get a good header on a set piece.
What should have been drilled into every player before kick off? UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES CONCEDE FREE KICKS IN OUR FINAL THIRD. How hard is that to understand ? Too hard for Noble obviously. The foul was crass, stupid, idiotic, crazy, moronic, absurd, inexplicable - you take your pick, but the whole lot together don't come close to capturing how utterly mindless that challenge was!
But still, you can defend free kicks if you use your brains. Brains? Our lot? Who had ultimate responsibility for marking Zigic? Bridge. Not Da Costa, but Bridge. Explain that somebody. Explain why we allowed Zigic to choose who he was marked by, simply by virtue of the position he took in our box. Zonal marking, at a set piece? Dear God, it's not as if Zigic is difficult to spot!
But still, you are defending a free kick and you have your wrong player marking a six foot seven striker INSIDE your six yard box but there is still a fairly straight forward way of stopping him from scoring isn't there? Can anybody now explain why Green remained ROOTED to his line? When Zigic connected, he was INSIDE THE SIX YARD BOX. That area belongs to a keeper. Well it should. But not Green because Green is shit under crosses. Always has been, always will be it seems. No matter who we play at centre back, we concede from headers. When are the Green fans going to accept that the keeper is culpable? How was he ever going to prevent a goal if Zigic connected? So he had to attack the ball. He had to. But no, he stood still as if his feet were super glued to the goal line. Pathetic!
The penny has dropped with Capello and he has given up on Green. Now he needs to wake up to the weaknesses of another so called England player in our ranks, a certain Scotty Parker. Want to know why he shouldn't play for England? I will give you two perfect examples. First half, he closed a Birmingham defender brilliantly (although I'm not sure that was his job because if he hadn't blocked the attempted clearance, we might have been in trouble) but what happened from there? He was in the box, he had options, but he panicked and took the wrong one. A great chance wasted.
Then second half, Birmingham lost possession, we had a numerical advantage, Parker was on the ball, Carr had pulled inside to cover the centre of the defence, Obinna was free on the left on the shoulder of the last defender, and what did Parker do? He tried to slide a pass through a gap that did not exist and lost possession. The score was 0-0 at that stage. Birmingham scored within a couple of minutes. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Parker has a narrow field of vision, always has had, always will have. Unlike class players, he doesn't see the whole pitch, he doesn't see the movement of others, he doesn't read the game; he reacts. He isn't international class as a result and isn't good enough to be our midfield general. As I said earlier today, he is part of the problem. It's no good having forwards who can score if you don't have players with the vision to create chances!
We were crap today. Obinna ran around a lot but was back to his infuriating self, making wrong decisions time and time again. Keane, two touches apart had a mare. Noble and Parker were poor. O'Neil looks to me like a Championship player. At the back, we did well, that goal apart. In fact, with the score at 0-1, the shots on target stat read West Ham 2, Birmingham 1. One attempt on target, goal. But if you let Birmingham have free kicks and corners, they are going to score eventually!
But what did we offer going forward? Piquionne looked disinterested. Cole was brilliant for a minute after coming on but crap thereafter. Ba hit the post but if Foster had let it in at his near post he would have been crucified. O'Neil had opportunities to cross but his execution was awful. In fact, our best player in the final third was da Costa, which says it all!
Should we have had two penalties in the first half? No, it was ball to arm. Should Keane have been awarded a pen? No, he had lost control of a speculative pass by Bridge and was trying it on. Did we deserve a point? Yes. Did we ever look like winning. No.
This was a must win game and we lost it. This team is stupid. There are no leaders on the pitch and their combined IQ wouldn't reach 100. People are calling for Parker to be captain. Tell me, what leadership qualities did he show today? At what point did he look like a general in charge of his troops? He resembled a headless chicken at least twice and do headless chickens lead you to success or into the jaws of disaster?
Want proof that these guys are stupid? Three minutes of injury time and a goal down, what do we do? Concede two unnecessary free kicks (Obinna and da Costa) in Birmingham's final third. Had the clearances been allowed, the ball would have gone straight to a West Ham player, but instead we made stupid late challenges, giving Birmingham the opportunity to kill the game and waste time rolling around in agony. And did Captain Parker say anything? How could he? He does the same thing every bloody game!
Player Ratings: Green 1 (No save of note and at fault for the goal that will probably send us down); Jacobsen 6, Reid 6, Upson 6, Bridge 6; O'Neil 3, Parker 5, Noble 3, Obinna 6; Piquionne 1, Keane 4 Subs: da Costa 7, Ba 6, Cole 4
16 comments:
Ive been saying it for awhile now, we should have sold parker because he is so overrated. He tackles well, but cant pass for tits. He doesnt have vision like midfielders should. he plays with his head down which leaves him blind to teammates... We should have sold him when he was high!
Just got home really fed up - that is a 101% accurate report - I was going mad at Noble for the challenge - Birmingham are a truly awful team - and they beat us again -I can't see us staying up -
It is not often I almost totally agree with you, but I do. I agree with everything you write. You are 100% right in your assessment of each player and the comments you make about the team. There is however, one little thing you left out. I will give you a hint what this is by asking, "do you think we would have lost the game if the two managers switched sides?". I certainly don't think so. In fact, I am pretty sure we would be in a final with Alex McLeish managing West Ham.
There are no more excuses for Avram Grant. He's got the personnel he wanted despite not deserving to be in charge of the team beyond Christmas. He just can't organise or motivate a winning team. Moreover, he learned nothing from playing three times against Alex McLeish's team this year. This is the real reason we are going down!
The trouble is Sav, the brilliant McLeish has failed to start Zigic three times out of four, even though it is obvious he is the way to beat us and today he left out Larssen. How crap were their set pieces before he came on? If that was Grant making those stupid decisions, you would be going mad!
HF,
Completely agree about Parker. Things is why is he being told to play the advancing/attacking midfielder's role? He clearly does not have the qualities. When he first came to us, I am certain he was playing the holding defensive midfield role and he would be much more suited to that.
Why is Piquionne so bloody greedy? He did it in the last game and he done it again today. Rare, very good openings/chances are being wasted because of this selfish play. For a team that hardly creates, it's criminal to be greedy. Cole or Ba need to start with Keane.
We were conned today by the much cleverer Brum players. Going down for fouls, wasting time and following their manager's instructions to the word. Our lot, only God knows what they are told.
I noticed Bridge having to mark Zigic in the first half. At first I couldnt believe it and thought it may have just been only in that particular situation. But no, it wasnt.
DaCosta was our man of the match and should have started.
Green continues his record of at least one major error per game.
I rather not say anything about Noble.
Footballers are not very bright; we know that. But it is the job of the manager to marshall their undoubted physical capabilities and instill in them the belief that they can produce under pressure.
Tiredness in the final thirty minutes and failure to hold back rather than jumping in like a headless chicken are symptoms of the failure of management to instill a sense of perspective and proportion in the players. I hold Grant responsible for this.
Team selection is also his department. I said before the match that Cole should play not least because of his defensive abilities. At set pieces he has been one of our assets and if he had been marking Zigic rather than Bridge we may at least have come way with a draw. And in attack he could have been no less effective than Piquionne.
All the members of our team with the exception of Reid and possibly O'Neill and Jacobsen would find a place in another premiership team. The failure here is at management level as it often is in all departments of this country. Grant is not a premiership manager plain and simple and next year one way or another, he won't be one.
The owners also need to take a good look at themselves. They sanctioned the purchase of offensive players whilst ignoring the real problem...defense. I said that if Tomkins got injured we were doomed, I take no pleasure in seeing my prediction take it's first steps to fulfillment.
As usual you are overly harsh on Green but in general I agree with most of your assessment.
BIRMINGHAM played to their strengths today relying on the great deliveries of LARSSON and the heading abilities of ZIGIC...that is it in a nutshell. Because WESTHAM lack tall quality centre backs we will always fall fail to those tactics.Its true GREEN doesn't inspire confidence in his defenders as far as dealing with crosses and freekicks is concerned,but no matter who we play in the centre back roles this weakness will still be exploited.GRANT needs to bring in a couple of TALL quality centre halves .For all their strengths UPSON,DA COSTA and TOMPKINS do not have the height to deal with someone like ZIGIC.When was the last time we had 6' 4"+ defenders in the team? COLLINS, DAVENPORT was our last, then probably TAHINNEN before him.,and when we had those players in defence this aerial threat was no where near a big a problem.Why we got rid of COLLINS I just do not understand,the defence has been struggling ever since.GRANT'S first activity in the summer transfer season is to secure the services of two tall quality centre backs.
None of our players appeared to have vision. Time and time again there were players in good positions ready to receive a pass and what happens, they either kept the ball and got in a mess, or passed into a ruck of marked players. Stupid, stupid, stupid especially Parker.
I don't think Alex McLeish is a great manager. In fact, I hate his tactics and his methods. But despite that, whatever Alex McLeish did or did not do, he was effective in winning the tactical game against us. Not once, not twice but three times in a row (because I believe that despite Carlton Cole getting lucky and scoring in the cup at home we were totally lost in the second half of that game).
This is not about how good a manager Alex McLeish is (don't carry the argument elsewhere again). It is all about how much even worse than Alex McLeish is Avram Grant as a manager. If you don't see that, then just take a look at the table tonight. And for that matter any table of a team managed by AG in the last two years!
What is really unbelievable about your article is that you rightly criticized every player in the team but had nothing to say about the manager. Amazing!
Did you buy the picture from the early Sullivan portfolio of "women with animals"? Mind you, I'm not entirely convinced that she qualifies as prey; there's hardly enough meat on her to interest Lady Gaga's pussy let alone a full grown lion!
BUT! Grant said we had turned the corner? *note to myself. Everytime Grant says we have turned the corner always place 10 quid on the other team to win*
When is Avram Grant going?
A manager who cannot get his team to run around, block tackles and just stop the opposition playing is never going to get them to play enough football to keep us out of the Championship this year.
Did you see the difference in Liverpool, with virtually the same squad but different manager?
West Ham need a new manager before the weekend or after losing to West Brom, which we surely will, we will be well on our way down.
How about Chris Hughton? I never could see why Newcastle sacked him and he always seemed to get his team to play with passion and spirit which I have yet to see West Ham do once this season.
aniother game where we do to be fair look half decent in the first half. In the first half if a team was going to score it would be us. Second half and another team comes out. This is all down to the manager. 1st half they cant wait to get out and play, half time that bloke sends them to sleep. We have the players and firepower to stay up, get a new manager in who will shove a rocket up their arse. Grant every game comes out and says yh we did well. I swear most games he watches a different game!!! GEt him out, and get in someone with a bit of passion.
anyone else notice AG put a scarf on at the start of the second half each time is the scarf some sort of signal to the players to surrender I'm still convinced that Gollivan like Brown before want us to go down so they can get rid of the players that want good money and replace them with players that will do the business for less it worked in 2003 TB pocketed 83million quid on top of his astronomical wage (highest in the premiership at the time)and I reckon the David's are after the same and they get the Boleyn ground thrown in this time so the big money investor gets the rented ground We'll just have to hope it's an oil sheik altho with our luck they'll find an alternative fuel 3 months later
LOL Good to have you back Deane. Why were you disconnected for 3 months?
Moving home and the wait for my free Sky connection quicker options were available but they all wanted me to pay and as I'm an immigrant I'm not paying for anything
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