So that's it then, Carroll has sustained another injury and is beginning to bear all the hallmarks of another Dean Ashton or Keiron Dyer. But at least when those two inaction men booked in to their favourite treatment suite, the club had somebody to fill their shirts. Not so this time.
Amazingly, or should I say typically, West Ham fans have been slow to condemn the brinkmanship which saw us look around dazed and confused until the final hours of the transfer window, before making a belated bid to sign three, by that stage, unlikely targets. Perhaps it took the Stoke game to wake the Board up. And perhaps the very real prospect of a relegation battle alerted them to the fact that a vague threat of a points deduction was as of nothing, compared to a second dose of financial Armageddon in the Championship; but somehow the Financial Fair Play rules became, at the very last moment, less of an insurmountable obstacle.
Why, oh, why, oh why did we buy Downing rather than prioritizing a striker? What folly! Why, oh why, oh why did we let Norwich and Sunderland and Tottenham build new teams whilst we muttered on about new rules which are not tested for the first time until May 2015? What folly!
West Ham fans scoffed over the weekend and last week when I suggested we were now in danger of relegation, but tell me, how are we going to win games if we can't score goals? I can only see one option at the moment, and that is to move Captain Kev up top because Maiga is shit.
The latest rumour is that we are bringing in Petric. Well he hasn't got a club and we seem to be hoovering up any scraps on offer. A great signing methinks, he didn't net a single goal for Fulham post Christmas and from Easter on, Fulham showed relegation form.
But we won a friendly in Spain! Yep, with a Noble penalty.
It's threatening to be one nightmare of a season!
18 comments:
What a shame eh, what goes around comes around spam dangler! You have incited people Long enough now and sooner or later you will eat your words and the mighty spam danglers will plummet!
I see you couldnt resist a read of that other blog which is a fascinating read about a certain 5-1 scoreline!
Are all west ham fans horrible people like yourself?
Nightmare season, I agree. Joe Cole is injured and so is Stewart Downing. Cole, of course, is injury prone, but at least when he is fit he adds an element of creativity and skill. Downing was our other high-priority signing, after Carroll, so you could say that West Ham did not strengthen, and with other injuries and cuts have actually weakened. Diarra is out for the season, too, and we may need depth at midfield. I don't fancy us to win many matches like this. Suppose we get 6 more wins, and 11 more draws -- 33 points all up, that is relegation for sure. But I can't see us doing much better than that.
Negative tosser
. Go away you are an embarresment to our club.
Nolan up front is a terrible idea, he should be dropped. Maiga isn't shit, he's shit at the outdated tactics fatty wants to play. With the personnel we have 4-4-2 is the only option. Jarvis and Downing are wingers, and should be used as such. Vaz Te and Maiga can both play up front but can also pull out to the wing. This gives us more options than the big lad up front and hope Nolan is about. I'd also play Diame and Noble central with Morrison as backup. If BFS plays his awfully immobile 4-5-1 we are fucked.
Oh shut up you old woman.
Totally agree. A shambles from start to finish
I can't help but remember 2003 under Glenn Roeder.....
How does a team that had a front line of Di Canio, Freddie Kanoute and Jermaine Defoe (With Carrick, Joe Cole behind) get relegated...??
Let injuries kick in and play a centre back as a centre forward.....
Oh the pain!!!!
HF you must be over the moon, like a 5 year old at play time "I told you so, I told you so, I told you so"
In the fifty plus years I have supported the Irons I cannot remember going so quickly from optimism to pessimism at the start of a season. We have spent £30,000,000 plus on players that are potential crocks like Carroll and Downing or underachievers like Jarvis, instead of investing in half a dozen young players with something to prove. The nightmare scenario of relegation whilst still having to pay high wages looms and playing Orient in an empty Olympic stadium doesn't seem enticing.
Poor management at board and player level seems to be the norm for us these days.
Can’t disagree with most of the content and I can only offer one glimmer of hope amongst the gloom of your blog, and that is I think that (or should I say like to believe) there are worse teams in the Prem than West Ham. But I am also very aware of past comments of West Ham of “too good to go down”! one thing for sure, it’s going to be another dog fight for survival.
As a West Ham fan I have been a lifelong sufferer, constantly frustrated and disappointed and yes all my dreams really do fade and die. But of late my emotion is one of infuriation. I actually believed the hype of the summer where we were spoon fed how we were going to push on and improve upon last season’s mid table position, there was even talk about Europe!
Then every effort was channelled into signing Carroll, who if you recall did not seem over excited about donning the claret and blue. But the penny should have dropped as when Carroll was up for grabs, unsurprisingly no other teams in the Prem were interested in picking him up the injury prone striker at such an inflated price. In late August, the West Ham faithful were began the mutterings of concern. We had no strike force to start the season with, but hey, what does the ordinary fan really know about the intricacies of football management? How does our knowledge and experience compare to the combined ingenious minds of Sullivan, Gold and Allardyce. I for one was sucked in, I believed that that there must be some master plan, some stroke of genius, as spent what little cash we had on Downing, as we let deals for Zapata, Ba, Lukaku, Kalou, and a handful of other suitors slip through our fingers, I was waiting for the gifted striker to come in, who could it be I thought….well you know the rest.
Total ineptitude, I don’t care what spin the West Ham hierarchy put on it there is no other word for it, total ineptitude in the highest degree. If Gold and Sullivan really are true West Ham fans, then move aside, sell the club to someone who really will take the club forward. After all, there is little point in playing to a half full Oympic stadium in the Championship.
Gary
What's done is done.
Lets learn and move on. It'll be a good test for BFS! Get behind the lads. Come on you Irons!
Kevin in Manchester writes...
I like the idea of a manger who knows what he wants and lays out his cards on the table;it makes for a functional club.
Only Redknapp in recent history did the same and all successful clubs are ones with a stable squad where you know without doubt what the first eleven is.
BUT you are right bakcing yourself into a corner, where every other prospective striker knows that for significant game time it'll take an injury to the main man, is no sales pitch if you are hoping to attract competent forwards as back up. Having no insurance is risky ; and so it has proved.
I see the danger but I am not as pessimitic as to assume that right now we are in the frame for relegation. Sam is a pragmatist, I bore myself saying that, but he is and with our defence being better than it was in the last two relegation seasons; I am worried but not in despair - time will tell.
unfortunately I think yr right m8 we were crying out for a goal getter since last season Rhodes Charlie Austin hooper would do a job but know stick with maiga and yeah hes way past shit well done sam we are fucked
I would lay the blame more at Sam's door. He knew his budget and was questioned by the board before they sanctioned the Downing signing.
It's sad that we resort to free agents with no real track record when we have young talent like Elliot Lee and Kieran Sadler. Cottee was 19 when we brought him in: what's changed?
09:51 SPOKEN LIKE A REAL MAN!!!! #COYI
Early days yet and I for one will not start pegging us for relegation just yet.
It will be interesting to see how Morrison develops through the season.
C&B forever COYI
18:24 Good on you too!
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