The Villa result at Upton Park midweek was massive. We worked hard for that result and general consensus is that we got what we deserved (just). What it meant to the fans to the players and to Zola/Clarke(/even Kevin Keen) was clear for all to see.
So optimism and expectation was high going into the Everton game. Morale was up, confidence was good. That, it would seem, is often a problem for West Ham – perhaps we just get carried away too quickly?
It’s fair to say that we had the best of the game last night – the players were hungry (particularly Parker and Behrami), we were creating chances and I felt were up for it. And then, out of nothing, Saha just decides that it was about time he put the ball in the back of the net…so he did.
Strikers and chances
Was that the difference between the two sides? The ability to put chances away…we certainly had the lion’s share of chances (I think 18 attempts on goal compared to their 9), yet we only manage a poor 4 on target (compared to their 5). How we were not 1 or even 2 up at half time, I don’t know.
It was becoming frustrating at times – my mentality was becoming, “well even if we are in a good position, I just can’t see us scoring”. That’s never a good sign.
Tactics
However…was the difference more to do with tactics? From where I was standing, and this is not a criticism of Parker or any other midfielder, but I felt the decision to start with Jiminez in a forward position (think it may even have been a 4-3-3 setup from the outset) was a wrong one. Fellani was having a lovely time in the middle of the park and he, to me, was running the show. Every instance the ball was at his feet, he seemed to have time to do something with it. That should never have been the case. I really felt we were crying out for an extra man in the middle – and although he’s had some criticism this year, that man needed to be Noble.
The only good thing to come out of playing against Fellani yesterday was the song that originated from the back of the STB lower…
“He’s got an old bird’s muff, on his head”
The ‘Ref’
Or perhaps, and finally, we were subject again to a poor refereeing performance. Running the risk of sounding sounding like Steve Bruce here, but are the refs getting worse and worse every week? I don’t think it’s an excuse for all those chances we spurned, and equally he was bad for both sides, but was Franco not onside when he put the ball in the back of the net in the closing minutes? Did he not warn Fellani over and over again for a) some of his challenges and b) for arguing back- yet fail to book him until late in the game?
I’m sure Everton fans could probably chip in with some bookable offences that he missed for them them too – so it’s not a complaint of bias here, more a complaint (again) of inconsistency.
When and Everton player went down in the second half, the ref felt it correct to stop the game for him – despite the fact he was standing up. And then not ask him to leave the pitch for treatment – they’re just small things, but refs need to be consistent in these decisions. If he was injusred, yet still standing, make him leave the field for treatment. Is that not how it should work?
Some positives…
- Scott Parker, to me was immense…and I am left scratching my head a little as to why Jenas and co get picked for the England side over him (well, Parker at his best anyway)
- Da Costa seems to me to be brilliant in the air – although not 100% convinced, my opinion of him is growing by the game
- I don’t think we’re far from clicking as a team – and when that happens, I’m confident we’ll make ground on Liverpool
COYI
Sam
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Real-time chat & banter about this post:
I beleive everyone at the club is pulling together and working really hard and I would make three comments – 1) We are suffering from not having invested in a (recognised) prem striker for a long time / Missing Deano and this has been our biggest problem 2) surly Diamanti needed to start in place of Jimmy (& even Nobes if nessesary)as playmaker/goal scorer/dead ball specialist etc he just needs a run of starts to find his best form 3) Why not accomodate Nobes & Diananti, Parker & Collison with Behrami playing right back and lose Faux-pas (to be fair he has improved a little recently)?
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.. forgot to mention what a great find Da Costa is…
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We are creating good chances and were the only team who wanted to play football. It should have been 5-2. At leat we are playing more as a team. Some players let us down a bit(Jiminez).If Cole had been fit and Diamanti had started we would have won easily. I dont subscribe to Zola’s policy of using Diamanti as an impact player surely at the moment we need that right through the game.
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What are people’s thoughts on Jiminez btw? I can see why Zola likes(ed) him, but he hasn’t adapted quickly enough in my opinion to the English game…still seems to think he will have a lot of time on the ball – maybe?
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It is good to see at least that we can play well and they are turning it around which is a good sign b/c there would be nothing worse than seeing us at the bottom and not even able to put in a performance. Don’t worry about the “R” word we can still go top 10 at least this year. I agree with points of needing an out and out striker, the ones we have can be quality but we need to find that drogba type who can just latch on to that one pass in behind and slot it a bit like dare i say “Mr Craig Bellamy” could do. It just gets a bit frustrating cos if we put teams away early we can have some fun with them just like arsenal and show them the west ham way how to play football…..exciting, fast and slick
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