The good news, of course, is that we stepped up to the plate and almost did what we needed to do against Hull. To score three, four or five was unlikely but we won and winning is important when you are going in to the play offs. The Upton Park hoodoo has been laid to rest and with our fantastic away form, we go into Purgatory in good shape. The 86 points we have secured would have earned automatic promotion in four of the last five seasons so, for all my criticism of Allardyce, we have been unlucky to a certain extent. The Reading run has been bloody crazy and in Lallana and Lambert, and belatedly Sharp, Southampton have had a super armoury by the standards of the division.
Mind you, the goal we conceded doesn't bode well. Green jumped early and made a hash of what should have been a simple punch, whilst Demel's attempt at a headed clearance was straight out of the Faubert text book of defending. He made amends later stepping up at the vital moment to catch former Hammer Garcia offside. It was a fabulous finish but thank God it was struck off or the spirits would have been horribly dampened. Cole's goals were great news and he took the second wonderfully. Will he be the playoff hero, taking over the baton from Vaz Te? It was a lovely pass from Lansbury too. Hopefully Allardyce will now give him his head too.
Noble talked at the end of the game of how our prayers hadn't worked, but God isn't going to listen to your pleas with Allardyce at the helm is he? Cardiff over two legs? If you can't get through that you stand no chance in the Premiership. They are a good Cup team and have a taste for Wembley but class should out. Let's get behind the boys and stay positive right the way through to the glorious end, remembering the Shawaddywaddy classic, "There are three steps to Heaven"!
18 comments:
Kevin in Manchester writes..
Yep well done Southampton for consistency and style and if you put a freaky run like Reading at the business end of the season you deserve what you get. As for west ham the depth of disappointment depends on the level of expectation. History is against teams bouncing back at the first attempt and I always thought it would be nip and tuck. For all the criticism of Alladyce without him I doubt we would have done as well.The problem was up front where our forwards failed to convert chances.. I don't know how accurate such stats are but the Daily Mirror reckoned we' d led the league with pots at goal,-499 before today's game - and 40 more than Southampton. For me the biggest disappointment has been Carlton Cole, for a capped forward a dozen goals in the
championship just isn't good enough.
Kevin, I would like to hear your prediction on the playoffs. You are generally level headed. I generally am not and I fear the worst.
The play-offs are a lottery. Anything can happen. We are the better team on paper but that may not count for much. All will be desperate to exploit that second bite of the premiership cherry.
If we draw our first game at Cardiff I'll be really interested to see what formation he puts out at Upton Park.
However, like any self respecting west ham fan, I'm not holding out too much hope for success. That said, I will be behind them all the way.
COYI!
think Cole gets unfair reviews, he has been on mostly as subs, had along absence and plays much better with 442 with deliveries from crosses - he been used wrongly - when we use him in 442 with good delivery he will score goals and more then 12. Here hoping he and the team play blinders in next 2 games!
blinders in the next3 games hopefully
There should be an inquiry into what went wrong. Finishing 3rd is absolutely disgraceful.
Just look at the relative positions of us and Reading even as recently as the beginning of March. DISGRACE
Completely agree 18:37
Kevin in manchester writes...
USA Dave, in the play offs form is out of the window. I think we may win by two away from home at Cardiff and then it'll be a nail biter at home. The issue is that we are fragile psychologically and if it doesn't go our way in the first twenty minutes or so then we struggle,then the crowd get on the team's back and it goes from bad to worse. If we get to Wembley, i think the support will be up for it whatever and i expect us to win, although i'd prefer Blackpool to Birmingham as we do better against teams that attack us.
Anonymous: I don't doubt Carlton did sterling work holding the ball up but he's paid to put away chances and he missed half a dozen open goals that I can recall and in the championship, blessed with two good feet and a reasonable head, that's unforgivable.
Thanks, Kevin. Normally when talking about a team you support you say that your heart says it will go well but your mind has doubts. In this case my mind says we are better than the other three but my heart fully expects it to go terribly wrong.
Next three games surely Stani!
I'll be supporting HF, and I'll be there Town Hall, Barking Road, Green Street for our parade like last time, but I will not allow it to paper of the stuttering season we've just had.
I think Di Canio's had enough experience. Time to get him in. Just look at the left footed lad that takes corners for Swindon. Puts our lot to shame. And the quality of their finishes. Yes, I know it's League 2 but you can tell from the in-game choices players make about their footballing intelligence. They're clearly showing signs of being coached by someone of high footballing intelligence and class, that has the ability to pass it on. The little chips, the dummies etc etc Just look at their goals against Port Vale yesterday.
Anony-mouse says,
Good level headed post Hf- if you don'r mind me saying.
Readings run has been one of those things, reminiscent of Bolton in the run in against us in 2003 or dare I say Liverpool in the title run n in 86- sometimes a team is on an absolute mission and things seem to be written in the stars- like you say HF, most years what we've got would have taken us up.
We go into the play-offs in good shape.
Kevin in Manchester- you talk a lot of sense but I disagree with you in one or two respects tonight. Firstly. the home support will not turn on the team unless the play off tie is dead. I've seen it before and I'm seeing it now that our fans are focussed, realistic and supportive when it really matters. If we go into the second leg level or behind West Ham will be backed passionately and vociferously at UP. Our crowd gets it right when it has to and fair play to you HF- you're doing the same these last couple of days.
Secondly, regarding Carlton Cole. All strikers miss chances. We saw today just how pivotal he is to this team. Two good goals sure, but he is so much more to this team than just that. Once Allardyce astutely took him off to preserve him for the play-offs we looked powder-puff up front. Baldock did well. Maynard sadly didn't, and we never had the threat and presence on the field with those two strikers as we had when just Carlton lead the line. Vaz Te's sensible substitution played a part to contributing to our lack of threat but Carlton coming off was the thing that allowed Hull to venture forward in more numbers. A fit Carlton Cole is essential in the play offs.
It's an interesting thought Stani. I still fear he will implode. He talked last week about how he nearly walked out 45 days ago. Why? The pressure hasn't really been on this season. How would he cope if the team was losing week after week?
Hope you enjoyed your day regardless Anony-mouse. Great Cole goal, one for the scrap book!
Paolo is just passionate a Clough like boss (and I don't mean Nigel)
Fair point, but I doubt he'd react like that at his beloved West Ham HF. Plus, players would be a bit more professional at our level. I think in this instance, he was angry at the behavior of the players recently. How badly do we need some of that straight talking passion though?
How would professional players react to his unprofessionalism though Stani? I'm all for managers speaking their mind and giving players what for, but in his interview last week Di Canio over stepped the mark in my opinion. Everything good was down to him and everything bad was down to the players. You can only do that when you are in a position of strength; if the team starts to struggle, they will start to resent the manager and take the attitude, "Well he is such a genius he can win the game from the touchline."
proof of the pudding really and I think you'll find that in his first season as a manager he has managed a team that are champions of their division and you can only beat the opposition put in front of you
Time to give the ol' facist some credit
He is simply the best
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