Every time Grant opens his mouth, out comes bull; the whole team play like Puff; and as for the wagon, wheels are coming off as every game goes by. Not so long ago we thumped Liverpool and hope coursed through the veins; then Grant started to bugger with the team. First time, for Stoke, it made perfect sense; so much so that I acclaimed his tactical nounce. But since then he has come over all Ranieri, buggering around with the team and tactics unnecessarily and leaving the team utterly bemused and disheartened.
Now Gabbidon has cracked, firing off a volley at West Ham fans and resigning from Twitter. It's no great loss, he hasn't ever written anything interesting, but it speaks volumes for the psychological cracks appearing. Yesterday, Cole wore a face of resignation all afternoon, smiling in disbelief every time a pass went astray. The team looked like a ship without a captain, without sails, without a boson, without an engine and, most serious of all, without any charts. In short, the "performance" was farcical. Look at today. Bolton thumped us 3-0 last week and looked superb; today they were hammered 5-0 by Stoke. That says it all!
The players have no confidence in Grant and no love for him either. We are going down if he stays in charge. Can anybody replace him for three games? Allardyce might give it a go for a hefty "Keep us up" bonus. I'd tolerate him for three matches and would back him to get us out of the Championship should we still go down. It is now time to shunt principles into a siding and back pragmatism.
The manager definitely won't be changed before the end of the season. Although things are as bad as they can get we have to accept it's far too late for a change. All we can hope is that tactics and selection improve. I would be against Allardyce in anycase. He is an enemy of football and even tho survival is important appointing Allardyce would be a betrayal of our history.
ReplyDeleteI think your right HF ,there is definitely signs of cracks appearing in the setup at WESTHAM.Like you ,I thought GRANT had turned the corner with this team following the few good results after the transfer window.But as per usual it's all gone pear shaped again and the signs are not good from the vibes of some of the players.I think, like you say ,GRANT has sodded about with the formation and tactics so often the players can't get into a set style of play.I honestly believe it is frustrating the players and thats reflected in their game.To me it proves GRANT does not know his strongest side or formation,even after all this time,and that is a clear sign of his limitations as a manager.His tactical reading of the game is not the best ,and how often have we see him coming off second best to the opposition manager in the second half of a game.I think while there is still time a new manager with EXPERIENCE like ALLADYCE could save the day,but can you see SULLIVAN and GOLD acting this late in the day?.....I can't
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree. Get Allardyce !!!
ReplyDeleteI agree Lexicon, which is why it would be a £5million to keep us up and bugger off offer!
ReplyDeleteBut if we went down, I can't think of anybody better to get us back up. Well, except for Neill Warnock of course!
slaven bilic and di canio as number 2 then passion for the game wont be an issue come on you irons! beat the drop boys
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, talking about making a change now will only raise false hopes among us. They won't do it. I theorized in another post that there is likely a clause in Grants deal in which he can be sacked if we go down without compensation.
ReplyDeleteObviously going down will cost us a lot more, so I can't see why they don't try something. Particularly because they wanted to replace him in January.
I'm at a loss. We are looking for rational thinking from people who for some reason don't think rationally. I wish they would say SOMETHING! ANYTHING!
Allardyce is a disgrace to football, i'd rather a camel took over.
ReplyDeleteOK, so the Davids should swap Brady for one and have done with it!
ReplyDeleteI can't say I disagree with the sentiments expressed here about Allardyce. I know we may need him (or someone like him perhaps) to save the year for us but I have two issues with this:
ReplyDelete1. I don't think this change of mentality can be instant (it will take longer than they time we have to save ourselvers) and
2. If I were an admirer of Sam Allardyce I would not be a supporter of West Ham!
No chance of the D's getting rid before the end of the season. They clearly formulated a plan B back in November/December and will just revert back to that if the worst happens. Besides, now we have the backing of the OPLC there is now no chance that relegation will hurt the stadium bid. As we all know, the OS was their end game from the start.
ReplyDeleteStaying up would be a bonus, but i dont think relegation would be a huge disaster for us long term if we could get back up within 2 years. At least it would give us the opportunity to lose the management, lose the dead wood (while getting the wage bill under control at the same time), blood the youngsters and install a positive, winnning mentality back into the team. I think we would come back looking stronger as we did in 2005 under Pardew.
Allardice gets the best out of his players. Estalblish a mid table position and then worry about pretty football. There is nothing worse than seeing eleven players who couldn't care a damn, and we are not playing pretty football we are not even playing.
ReplyDeletebeen advocating the realist approach for a while now. West Ham fans who want to play the 'West ham' way are kidding themselves if they think Noble,CC,Upson and co. have the ability to do that. We've got to get ugly but alas it is too late for that.Nobes and co. have been mascquerading as premiership players for too long, they are very good chumpionship but bad premiereship players. For nigh on 3 seasons we have been struggling and it's time to put the lame beast out of it's misery.
ReplyDeleteThe Allardyceway, Pulisway,Warnockway..anyway but the bloody WestHamWay with the useless spares at our disposal.
After Saturday I conceding the fight as well. I started thinking on a positive note. Maybe going down will help get rid of the excess fat that has been weighing us down like grant, green, upson. Sadly we will lose Parker and most likely Cole. We do have some young talent. One guy who hasn't been talked about so much could be a coach like Chris Houghton. He's got the history in bringing up a team and he's a motivator. Players and fans love him.
ReplyDeleteAt we didn't rate him from the start - unlike some, eh hf?
ReplyDelete20:53 - spot on! Chris Houghton for me if we go down... plus he's played for us.
ReplyDeleteSam Allardyce? I'd rather go down to watch West Ham play at Hackney Marshes and I don't know how many relegations that would take but it's a better alternative than Big Sam
ReplyDeleteIn Allardyce's defence, we'd have to ask if he is a manager that plays this unattractive style of football through choice or if he was simply applying logic to what he had at clubs and getting the best out of them i.e making the best use of what he had?
ReplyDeleteI personally believe Allardyce has the managerial qualities to play football a different way if he has these types of players. In which case, surely he'll eventually be good for us?
But regardless, I'm 100% sure that if we got him he'll do better in the last 5 games than Grant will.
As a permanent choice though...for next season, my number one would be Paul Lambert at the moment
ReplyDeleteCan anyone tell me who teaches ball control and dribbling skills for us? Noble AND Parker can't keep the ball under them if their lives depended on it.
ReplyDelete22:35 you're missing a word lad.
ReplyDeleteAt LEAST we didn't rate him from the start - unlike some, eh hf?