Well I have defended Grant and I have defended Noble but there can be no defence now. Today we were abject. Totally and utterly abject. Yes we took the lead but we never looked like holding on to it did we? And once Villa were level, courtesy of crass stupidity from Noble as he did a Parker turn on the edge of his own box and lost the ball, there was only ever going to be one winner.
What did we create second half? There was a free kick won for a Collins push on Cole; and Ba passed it to the keeper. And there was a Green hoof down field which Cole got on the end of, but he was never going to score was he, arms and legs and head flailing like somebody pushed from an aeroplane? Apart from that, nothing.
But is there any surprise about that when Grant chose to play with only two in midfield? What the fcuk was he doing, sending on Hines for Obinna and Ba for O'Neil? Hines? The kid is Championship at best and had no right to be out on the pitch in such a crucial game. And having sent him on ahead of Ba, why in God's name did Grant then replace the injured O'Neil with yet another forward? How did he think we were going to create opportunities and how on earth did he think we were going to stop the supply down the flanks for Villa? Grant was out thought by Houllier for Christ's sake, that's like being outpunched by Audley Harrison!
I despair. Zola was stupid at times but I don't think even he was THIS stupid. Grant effectively said to Villa, come and score a second. Green made a fabulous save to keep out Young and another just before the goal, but when the cross was returned from out on our left, with nobody closing inevitibly, I'vebonkedawhore was between Gabbidon and Jacobsen and allowed to head home unchallenged. Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.
What is there to say about the game? Villa deserved to win by a wider margin. Cole forced a goodish save first half and Keane was clever when netting our opener but, that apart, we were hopeless. Truly hopeless.
Tell me, why are we incapable of closing out crosses and defending a high ball into our box? Lee scored with a header last week; Bent and Ivebonkedawhore this week; dear God, last game of last season, Wright-Phillips headed a goal. It happens wek after week after week and still it isn't sorted on the training field. Unbelievable as Hansen will no doubt say on MOTD tonight.
So now those three wins have to come against Sunderland, Blackburn and Wigan away, and even then we might go down. But, to be honest, we deserve to. The club has been appallingly run, appallingly managed and appallingly represented for far too long now. We were lucky to stay up last year and our luck is running out this. God help us if we go down because I can't see who would be stupid enough to take this load of shit off our wage bill. Leeds United springs to mind!
And one last thing, if Grant blames individual mistakes, the interviewer MUST ask, "What about your mistake with the substitutions and team selection? Surely that's where the buck stops?"
Player ratings:
Green 7, Jacobsen 4, da Costa 6, Upson 5, Bridge 5; O'Neil 6, Hitz 5, Noble 0, Obinna 3; Cole 5, Keane 6 Subs: Gabbidon 5, Hines 3, Ba 4
24 comments:
just a quickie - how is your grantzola index doing? was Zola better or worse than this? Did Zola keep us up and will Grant send us down?
I wasn't in a position to watch the match today, thank God. the blood pressure wouldn't have stood up to it.
Were there any banners out stating 'Grant must go' if not, why not? Why are the supporters so lenient with him? surely they don't believe his after match garbage.
If I was the D's I would sack him now so the new manager has maximum time to prepare for the Championship.
I don't think we will pull a Leeds, but that could be useless optimism. At least SuGo have done this before with Brum. And with the OS still likely despite the legal stuff they will have all the reason to keep spending their own money to get back up. It will be a good investment.
One question does need pondering. If Grant gets sacked in the summer, why not just do it now and see if magic happens? Who actually cares who it is? It's irrelevant. DiCanio? Big Sam? It doesnt really matter. Caretaker stuff.
And I'm surprisingly OK with today because we DESERVE to go down. It's fair based on how we play and are managed.
Feel sorry for ya as supporters you can play decent footy, but where your board is concerned, I hope Brady and the dildo salesmen get whats coming Im afraid!
Nicely summed up.
Will you be pleased to be proved right 1738? Very sad. For your info, 4 points will see Grant better Zola. Bet you don't want us to get them! Call yourself a supporter?
He's back, the real HF. This is why I first came to this blog.
I would even let Kevin Keen take over until the end of season. There is absolutely no point keeping this guy around.
18:04 of course I don't want us to go down.... just highlighting what a fool you are. Zola should have been allowed to stay for longer as he had more potential than this idiot who if you remember, you championed from the beginning up until a few weeks ago.
I don't take any pleasure from being right. AG is probably one of the very few managers around who could do a worse job than Zola. At least the latter had the excuse of inexperience.
Avram Grant has completely lost the plot. He is the most incompetent loser of a manager in history. They had a chance to get rid of him and save the club but they blew it.
I agree with Dave. Sack him now. It's the only thing that give us some hope of a miracle recovery. If we go down (which seems very likely now) the owners will only have themselvers (and HF...) to blame.
I applaud you HF for having the courage to admit you were wrong about AG and Mark Noble. Noble has some good qualities but I rather have Boa Morte or anyone in the midfield really. His defending and huge costly mistakes are taking us down.
AG however is unbelievable. He messed up completely today. Any other Premier League team would have sacked him today. But not West Ham!
HF it's time that you were installed on to Supporter’s Advisory Board. Apparently there haven't been many takers as they've extended the apply by date. It's time for you to come out of the woodwork - so we can put your name forward.
USA Dave, I am aware that managers can be sacked with limited pay off ir relegated(performance related contracts) therefore they will still have to pay him at least 5M if they sack him now, otherwise just the contract notice period maoney in a few weeks which i guess would be minimal. Fanny, why did you get banned again? Wrighty
spot on mate. A truly clueless and woefull show- the players dont know what the formation is or what they are supposed to be doing, they looked wrecked mentally and physically- we are ***ed!
I'm not aware of a reason Wrighty. Upset Auntie Del? Uncle Nev doesn't like me? Who knows? Who cares?
im just saying sav but HF isnt saying nobles a bad player buts hes saying latley he has made a couple of mistakes which today was costly. im sick of grant now to be fair at the beginning of the season and for abit in the middle of the season we were losing games why actually playing well but now we are awful heres a few points aswell which make grant such a bad manager.
1. he shows to much loyalty to players i.e carlton cole (im sorry but he works hard but he cannot hit a barndoor and should be dropped) which i have to admit zola did the same but with a much smaller squad.
2. continuously mucks around with an in form line up e.g liverpool perfectly balanced line up everfybody knew what they were doing for him to then change the line up 2 games week in week out which got us 4 points but now is getting us none another e.g tomkins was our best defender and gets dropped for da costa who has potential but makes alot of stupid mistakes.
3. He is called a tactiction for osme reason yet he never changes formations or change the style of play to help are chances of winning more matches.
4. He wants to play 4-3-3 yet doesnt play people in the correct positions which leads to loss of shape and then gives midefield and defence more to do and they therefore make more mistakes.
If we go down i hope we bring in chris hughton i think he would be perfect for the job as he is a good tactition and hes a motivator. and hes english which means none of these stupid foriegn ideas (4-3-3 with wingers first started in italy)we keep trying to play.
And for the record, when I say I'm OK with what happened it's isn't that I dont care. I really do. I had season tickets to the New York Rangers in the NHL for 24 years, the New York Mets in baseball for 7 years, but I've never felt so close to a team like I do WHUFC. It's just that the reality has finally set in that we've dodged the bullet so many times I figure we deserve to get hit. And when summer comes and I have no EPL games to even care about maybe I will get angry, despondent, whatever. But I'm just over it.
Sav, it's s till Saturday night. They may actually do it. I doubt it, but who knows.
Whilst I agree with the sentiment of your article I simply cannot agree with your marks for Jacobsen. He got next to NO help from O'Neil when trying to deal with that grass-muncher Ashley Young. Jacobsen was exposed all game yet won headers and got vital blocks in time after time. He was arguably our best player yesterday. Yes he lost out in the air to Darren Bent and then Agbonlahor but he should not have been left to mark them in the first place. Where was Captain Fantastic - AGAIN?? Conspicuous by his absence
Jacobsen was one of few shining lights yesterday. In my opinion of course
0805, I am not that sure about the Jacobsen mark myself tbh. There were a couple of times when he did well against Young but there were other moments when he struggled. I settled on the raing because on three occassions he allowed young to cut inside onto his stronger foot. I accept that he was trying to show him the outside, but his body positioning was so poor that, once Young opted for inside, Jacobsen was floundering. It was as if he thought Young preferred to use his left! There was also that terrible clearance that led to the disallowed goal - and Bent outjumped him, coming from behind him (making him Jacobsen's man unquestionably) and he could see Ivebonkedawhore's position for the second goal (he was behind Gabbidon) but made no attempt to close and challenge. That's my logic, but I accept it is debateable.
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Fred,
You're still making excuses for him mate? Can you name me a player that has single handedly and directly cost us more points than Noble? Just off the top of my head I can remember two freekicks he gave for stupid challenges that led to goals. Add that to yesterday's shocker and not only would we be out of the relegation places but safe already! One man! You have to decide who you support mate, West Ham United or Mark Noble United.
HF,
I think you've marked Gabbidon a bit low too mate. I imagine it may have been because of the goal but look closely and that S.O.B fouls him. Coming on cold for DaCosta, I think he was amongst our better players.
It is time West Ham had a manager who can boss the players, get them as mentally and physically fit if not fitter than the rest and motivate them to accept nothing less than a win.
How many times do we read quotes from our players saying 'hopefully we can get something out of it' What an unbelievable and unacceptable attitude.
I would choose big Sam and his staff until at least we are a steady mid-table side. What is so marvelous about the way we play at the moment? pass sideways, backwards until we eventually goes to the opposition. He would certainly give the whole set up the massive shake up it requires.
actually stani where did i make excuses for him all i said is he isnt a bad player and if your going by stupid free kicks given away parker commits them every game
To be fair Stani I think Noble's best quality is his forward passing and ability to pick out a runner. This being the case he can only show any class when the rest of the team plays well and makes those runs.
I am not defending him since his mistakes are overly apparent recently but i think we would see more from him if the players around him were performing.
Perhaps Noble and a few others would benefit from a year in the championship. It wouldnt be a disaster if we could get back up within a couple of years and would perhaps end this mediocre cycle we are stuck in. Every cloud and all that!
Chunky,
This confirms my original argument mate. I've always said when we play noble, it's like having 10 men. Everyone has to cover for him...but why should they? Or why should everyone have to always play well for him to be useful?
As for his forward passing; he only does it when he has all the time in the world which is why it is so few and far between. Why? because he is slow..slow in thought and slow in movement, as his defensive blunder showed.
I think some of our fans like Fred, are in still in a bit of shock and denial regarding Noble. That's fine though, I'm 100% sure Noble will end the argument.
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