West Ham 1 Middlesbrough 1 - Now there's a Surprise!

(For full match report follow this link http://thegamesgonecrazy.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/west-ham-1-middlesbrough-1-allardyce.html )

So that had to be the safest bet of the season. Absolutely nailed on. Another 45 minutes without a goal and, to be honest, without much sign of a goal apart from what looked to be a pretty good penalty claim from where I'm sitting. Did Master Bates intercept Tomkins' goal bound effort with his arm or chest? If it made any contact with his arm then it should have been a pen AND a red card!

We have dominated possession but the delivery into the box is still woeful. How many long, straight balls have just been stood up for Cole and Maynard to try to take? It's won a few free kicks close-ish to the Boro box, but apart from that, nothing has been achieved. But then free kicks are probably the object as Allardyce goes for second phase ball. Mind you, there's not much point in winning free kicks in dangerous areas if you let Noble take them! We have Taylor and Maynard in the team for fcuk's sake! I can remember Noble scoring from one free kick a couple of seasons back but I can remember him failing from a hell of a lot more!

The long ball lump and second phase ball option apart, we have seen a succession of high crosses into the box aimed at nobody in particular but satisfying Allardyce's statistical demands to "get it into the box as often as possible", playing the law of averages that sooner or later it will fall to a West Ham player. The trouble is, the delivery is awful and there's hardly any players in the box to find in any case. O'Brien did well from the right but his cross was too close to the keeper but Taylor's and McCartney's crosses have been poor - and 85% of our attacks are going down the left.

McCartney has had a grubber of a shot from outside the box and Cole and Noble have both cleared the crossbar, Cole after turning inside the defender well. And Maynard let fly from outside the box, hitting the target but straight down the throat of the keeper. But Steele hasn't been seriously tested yet has he?

We are basically playing like a desperate team, needing to score in the last ten minutes of the final game of the season. There's commitment in spade loads, but no guile, no composure, no control. And when Boro break, we look stretched. This could be 0-1!