Zola is looking as if he has had enough to me. At one point during the game yesterday, he turned to Clarke and said something, and Clarke ignored him. He didn't even turn his face in acknowledgement. So Zola got up, walked towards the touchline and then stopped and returned to the dug out. After the game, he sounded tired and fed up when asked about the sending off of Noble, unfairly criticising the referee who, that error apart, had a reasonable game in my opinion. Zola would have done better to criticise Noble for picking up the original booking for silly and persistent dissent.
Tactically, he seems devoid of ideas. He isn't thinking on his feet at all and is utterly inflexible. These are typical symptoms of stress and depression - developing a bunker mentality and hiding from the truth, even when it is staring you in the face and screaming at you. Yesterday, it was clear after 10 minutes how the game was going to unfold. Birmingham seized the initiative early doors and we were lucky not to be two down inside 15 minutes. Yes we clawed our way back into the game but we offered no threat to the Birmingham goal throughout the first half, apart from a few long range pot shots from Stanislas and Diamanti. Franco was playing as a foil to bring others into the game, but the others were so far detached from him that he was left looking more like the turkey than the foil for most of the match. By the end, the General looked as fed up as an 80s Argie on a Falkland Island.
Zola had two choices at half time. He could have pushed Stanislas up alongside Franco, moving Diamanti to the head of a diamond and replacing Kovac with Collison, moving to a 4-4-2 with Noble wide right, not ideal I know, Collison wide left, also not ideal, and Parker at the base of the midfield diamond. Or alternatively, he could have switched Stanislas and Diamanti, encouraging both to use the flanks rather than come inside into the congested centre of the pitch. He did neither, he simply left things as they were and waited for the inevitable to happen. True he used Dyer and Collison eventually but he didn't change the shape at all. By doing this, he put the blame squarely on the personnel and failed to acknowledge that his tactics were wrong in the first place.
The indecision over Spector and Faubert and who to play in midfield is also symptomatic of a man who is losing the plot. It is not so long ago that Zola told us how crucial Collison is to our midfield. It is also not so long ago that Collison scored from midfield. So what does Zola do? He drops him to the bench! Meanwhile, Spector and Faubert must feel utterly disenchanted as first one, then the other, carries the can for the general ineptitude of the team. We know both are crap but Zola seemed to think they were good enough when he prioritised buying yet another midfielder (Kovac) over signing a full back. He must now make a decision and stick with the guy he prefers, come rain or shine. All he is doing at the moment is destroying the confidence of both. I would go with Faubert actually, and I might even opt for Spector in the centre of defence ahead of Tomkins.
But I have wandered off the point. I have no time for Curbishley but at least he had the dignity to walk when he saw that he was no longer in charge. Zola is a puppet (as well as a tactical muppet) and the way he is being used to front the slow but certain annihilation of our club is utterly humiliating. I don't think he has the balls to do it, but Zola should now demand public assurances from the Board that money will be available to strengthen the team in January, or he will quit. The current squad is not good enough to survive. I knew this in August and Zola must have had a hunch too surely. He didn't do anything though. He let the Board sell Collins, revealing all Duxbury's promises about not selling first team players to be empty, and had Diamanti foisted upon him, a player who is utterly unsuited to play up front, the role he was supposedly recruited to fill.
If the Sullivan and Gold deal does not go through, asset stripping will commence in January so Zola must make a stand now or accept that he is overseeing the drawn out torture and execution of West Ham as a Premiership club. We are on the rack, we are screaming, and in January Bernhardt will publically disembowel us as the squad is asset stripped to reduce the debt. If Zola is any sort of man, he will quit now or demand those public assurances. The trouble is, when stressed and depressed, you don't feel up to a challenge, you just sink down inside yourself, hiding behind a false smile that you show to the outside world. I feel for Gianfranco, I understand what the guy is going through. I think he should get out quick before it destroys him.
Or maybe he should start a blog!
6 comments:
I just wanted to say I enjoy your blog and think most of the articles are thought provoking and well written. Sorry to see you cop so much crap sometimes but I certainly think 9/10 you have a valid point so keep up the good work. I think this is becoming one of the best WHUFC blogs out there.
Cheers Jay. The crap adds to the blog don't you think? If a blog doesn't entertain, provoke thought or trigger anger, what's it's purpose? Hope mine does a bit of each!
Yes, I agree Zola looks defeated, the team looks defeated.
Amazed that Zola seemed to be the only person that didn't realise Ashton was finished.
Think Zola would make a good player coach, but is a bad team manager.
Sadly both team and manager look lightweight and lacking in power and effort of opposition sides. Feel quite depressed this week end, and think if there is no takeover in January, no new manager, no new players (though can't imagine who woluld want to join us)we will be relegated.
What he's done with Cole and the style of football he's brought shows that he's an excellent coach. I do think he is a poor tactician though. Could this be worked on? I don't know.
Great article. I would only add my astonishment in the persistence of Zola to pick Tomkins ahead of Da Costa!
Zola really lost the plot! There are no two ways about it. He may be a nice guy, even a good motivator (Curbs was certainly not the latter), but that's where it ends! No tactics, poor assesment of capabilities and what each player can bring on the field and most importantly he can't put a winning team together. He fixes one thing and breaks two other that didn't need fixing in the first place. Sorry, but I agree totally. Zola should walk. At the very least he should stand up for what he believes, once he decides what that is and tell us about it!
Zola has been showing signs of wear since the loss to Tottenham. They have become more and more apparent, and I'm bracing for the day he chews somebody's head off in public, even though the reporters put their questions mildly. He came close lashing out at the referee for Noble's send off. You're absolutely right that Zola's way below par tactically (and in team selection, too). But on his side, he really is very inexperienced. He could conceivably turn into a good manager one day. The way he motivated Cole shows that he can get the best out of some players under some conditions. But odds are against him getting a decent chance to learn his game. You can feel the depression at the club, and there is absolutely no sign that anything positive is going to happen at the Reebok. Sorry but I can't see the Hammers avoiding the drop this season.
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