Same old. Same old. No lessons learned!

I am not going to take the high ground here, I accept that others are just as aware as I am of why this team is so poor. The trouble is, 95% of the fans don't get it for some reason and the bloody owners seem to have no idea either.

Let's state it once again therefore and HOPE that somebody takes notice. This team has not been able to win games for two years now because:

1) Our full backs are crap and cannot block crosses into the box. Once again today, a BASIC error from a player in the left back berth cost us the game. We've had Spector, Ilunga, Ben Haim, Gabbidon and Bridge and, to be honest, they have all been shit. It's been no better at right back and, whilst O'Brien was impressive going forward today, he didn't look so hot when called upon defensively. We HAVE to sign a quality left back and a viable option for right back. It is absolute folly that we have not done so already. Three points flushed down the toilet. A depression settling upon Upton park already. And why? Because yet again we have prevaricated rather than doing our transfer business early.

2) Green is a liability. Add up on your own hands how many saves of note he made last season. Then borrow a few hands from your family and friends to add up the number of mistakes he made: poor clearances, dropped crosses, dreadful positioning, poor handling. The guy is ordinary at best and is certainly not the best keeper in this division as somebody claimed on the match report thread.  Today, he made two saves you would expect any keeper to make and was hopelessly at fault for the goal.

3) Parker is not as good as his admirers seem to think he is. He lacks vision, awareness of others, the ability to weight a pass and an end product. He is the classic "tunnel vision" player, seeing a narrow section of the pitch at any given time. There were loads of examples today but the worst was when we were breaking four on 4 and he carried the ball and carried the ball and carried the ball and then, looking straight ahead as usual, he tried to thread the ball through a gap that did not exist instead of moving the ball to the right. Look at that overhit pass to Noble! Look at that pass into touch! Look at the overhit pass to Nolan! Look at how he stood in an offside position out on the touchline! Time and again, Parker gave the ball away - he was truly dire.

4) We do not have a striker worthy of the name in the squad. Cole is a presence but can't score. Piquionne is a lazy arse. Sears, on that showing, is an embarrassment. Carew has to be better than Piquionne but he will not score 20 + goals over the season.

5) There is no pace and no flair in our midfield. It is so so rare to see a player break beyond the target man. Taylor and O'Brien showed what can be done if you attack down the flanks but how often do we get the ball wide? Hardly ever. When we do, the first thought is to come back inside rather than get down the outside and knock in a cross that players can attack. Is Barrera the answer? Or Stanislas on the right? Or Faubert? Somebody HAS to do it!

We are a million miles away from having a decent team. I warned before kick off that we could lose this and that if we did, the best we could hope for is the play offs. On that showing, we may struggle to finish in the top half of the table - we were THAT bad!

Yesterday I called this a "must win game" and people scoffed. Anybody betting on us to win the division now must be either blind, stupid, drunk or insanely optimistic.