Half Time - West Ham 0 Coventry 0 New Year, Same Old Rubbish

First the good news. No sign of Freddie The Fly Tipper - maybe he is on his way to Wolverhampton after all. But that's it!

No prizes for guessing the team. New Year so Doctor Evil picks the same old rubbish. Potts is made SBOBET player of the month but that's not enough to get him a place on the bench even. Hall came on as a sub against Derby, but that's his lot it seems. Lansbury is on the bench but isn't trusted to start. Too young, too talented, too unpredictable.

So it is the same old, same old, producing the same old, same old rubbish. Faubert has got to the byline once and put his cross out for a goal kick. He's also delivered a free kick straight into the hands of Murphy. And had a shot - predictably wide. Nolan, despite his day off, is slow and lumbering - and is being used wide on the left of midfield. What do I keep saying about building a midfield unit? Cole is dropping deeper and deeper trying to get a sight of the ball. Green is kicking long at every opportunity.

When we win corners - and we have won lots - the delivery is awful, and when Coventry break, we look stretched. Now this is against a team that hasn't won away all season. For 15 minutes, we looked lively but for the next 30, we were dire.

Until we get wide midfielders with the ability to cross, we will struggle. Quote Dicks, "Nolan hasn't done anything, he hasn't done anything" and "coming up with the occasional goal isn't enough for your captain". Now far be it from me to quote Dicks as an authority on anything, but he has this pretty much spot on. But what does Allardyce expect with the "shape" of this team? He had the chance to build a squad and failed to do so. In fact, he let Stanislas go who at least offered some pace and a degree of unpredictability. But hang on, unpredictability is anathema for Allardyce.

So, predictions for the second half? We might win by default, but this is a poor team playing poorly as I have been warning since mid October.