Please use this thread to discuss the match as it progresses and the immediate aftermath. I’ll be listening to the game as I drive home to Kent from Bracknell. Just thought you’d like to know.

Even if he didn’t want to, Gianfranco Zola will be forced to ring the changes for tonight’s Carling Cup tie at Bolton. Danny Gabbidon tweeted earlier that he thinks Manuel Da Costa will make his debut alongside James Tomkins. Gabbidon himself has a knock so won’t feature.

I’d have thought Faubert might be rested and replaced by Jonathan Spector, or maybe Daprela will get a runout at left back if Ilunga isn’t up to playing two matches in three days.

In midfield Behrami is unlikely to feature and I doubt whether Collison is fit, so Kovac is likely to continue unless Dyer or Stanislas are preferred as a better attacking option. I’d play 4-4-2 and play a midfield of Noble, Parker, Kovac, Stanislas.

However, I suspect Zola will stick with 4-3-2-1, with Cole, Diamanti and Hines filling the front three spots.

Bolton is not often a happy hunting ground for us and we can expect a very physical game. Bolton have not had a good start and their fans cannot stand Gary Megson. They are certainly not alone in that!

Prediction: We lose narrowly.

Well done to Xavon Hines. Player of the match by some margin.

No, of course not! 

It should be a two way street in which ideally it is given, received and returned in kind.  Moreover,  respect also has to be earned and given freely, if you are moved to demand it from others then you are plainly fighting a lost cause!   

On Saturday we had yet another ex-player allegedly demanding respect from us fans.  This time it was Yossi Benayoun reported as stating that we should all be in awe of the contribution he made to the club before his departure to Liverpool.  It’s been a reoccurring theme in recent years with controversial ex-players making similar demands for our respect as their right!

Yet the fact is that West Ham fans, contrary to their media reputation, are amongst some of the most respectful in the PL league.   Bobby Charlton praised us for our positive response to the minutes applause for Georgie Best at Upton Park and Sir Alex was similarly full of praise for our standing ovation for Tevez on his Man Utd return to Upton Park.  Ex-players  like Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Micheal Carrick and Joe Cole have always been well received on their return.  This exposes the lie constantly peddled by the tabloids that Hammers fans barrack ex-players out of hubris merely because they left us for other clubs. 

The truth is that problems have occurred not because they left the club, but rather the circumstances in which they left and (in some cases) their subsequent comments.  Hammers fan are not fools and they do not easily forgive insults to their club!  They don’t appreciate players posing in opposition shirts whilst still registered with the club; selfishly handing in transfer requests the day after the club’s relegation;  publishing books and making media statements that display spite towards the club that nurtured them; sulking on the pitch and not giving 100% because they want to engineer a move away; nor players agreeing new contract terms with the club, stalling  on signing the contract and then reneging when their agent secures a better deal elsewhere. 

Respect was what greats like Moore, Hurst, Bonds and Brooking received from the fans.  They got it freely because of their skill. commitment and dedication to the Hammers cause.  Could you imagine Bonds ever having to come out and demand that the fans gave him respect!!   A man like Bobby Moore knew that he was in a privileged position as a professional footballer and that with those privileges came great personal responsibility and the need to set an example both on and off the pitch. 

Obviously standards across the board have declined markedly since Moore’s day and the modern footballer is just one high profile example of  ‘possessive individualism’ in the contemporary me, me, me  society.  We lost something precious in the 1980s, when greed and selfishness were promoted, over personal responsibility and duty to others, to become the depressing anti-social norm.  Football was not exempt from these wider societal changes and assimilated them in the form of ever growing player power over football clubs and the game’s lifeblood, the fans.

And in a nut shell that is what I think the average modern player either does not understand or care about.  The fact that with his privileged lifestyle, wealth and celebrity comes a personal responsibility to conduct himself with dignity, treats fans with respect and set an example.   There’s a novel idea,  perhaps if players showed more respect towards fans then they might in turn be more likely to give it back! How many of these crowd vendettas could have been avoided for the want of a bit of humility, generousity and self-discipline on the part of ex-players?   

The press have regularly vilified Hammers supporters for their barracking of certain ex-players, whilst failing to acknowledge the role and responsibility of the players themselves.  That is far too easy and too convenient.  It needed to change and the signs are that it is about to happen.  With the recent Adebayor incident the papers are starting to question the actions of players and discuss issues of  personal responsibility.   Similarly, this weekend’s incidents involving Diouf  and Bellamy have further highlighted the alleged poor behaviour of players and its implications.  

The spotlight is at long last moving to the player and hopefully there will be greater emphasize upon them to maintain acceptable minimum standards of conduct both on and off the pitch.  Perhaps then this modern phenomenon of player-supporter angst will abate and respect in the game will once again start to become what it was in Bobby Moore’s day, a two way street!

SJ Chandos

Please vote HERE and rate the players who played this evening against Liverpool. mark them from 1 to 10. Only give marks to those who played for at least 15 minutes.

Think of me living it up at the Grosvenor House Hotel, while you’re watching a famous West Ham victory. I am devastated I cannot get to the game, but sometimes needs must.

Please use this thread for a conversation before and during the game.

Iain

It looks as though Zola will, for the first time in his managerial reign, be able to put out a full strength side against Liverpool tomorrow (with the exception of Dean Ashton).

Ilunga will return at left back, while Behrami will return to the midfield with Diamanti slotting in to a front three. There is still a doubt over the fitness of Jimenez, mind you. If he can’t play, presumably the ever improving Xavon Hines will keep his place.

Yet again, I can’t get to the game as I have to attend a birthday bash in central London, and I’ll also miss the Fulham game as I will be in Manchester at the Tory Party Conference. I’m like a drug addict who can’t get his fix.

I don’t know about you, but I think a front three of Cole, Diamanti and Jimenez could be quite tasty, although I still think a 4-4-2 formation brings more out of Cole.

Another interesting question is who will make up the midfield three. Noble, Parker, Stanislas, Behrami and Collison will be competing for three slots. It’s a nice problem for Zola to have. My guess is that Noble, Parker and Behrami will win the day, but that means that we are worryingly short or width.

So, this is the team I expect to line up tomorrow. It should at least be more accurate than the team I predicted last week against Wigan!

Green, Faubert, Tomkins, Upson, Ilunga, Noble, Parker, Behrami, Jimenez, Cole, Diamanti.

A cynic might well think so!

Personally I intend to suspend my reservations about signing Franco until the player has been given an ample opportunity to prove what he can do.  His club record is not great with Villarreal, 14 goals in 81 matches, but his international goal to game ratio is better and he is currently in a rich vein of goal scoring form for Mexico in the World Cup qualifiers. 

As in the case of Diamanti, he also actually wants to play for West Ham, having turned down offers from La Liga and the Argentinian league to join us.  That must count for something?  And he has the added incentive of the forthcoming World Cup finals to spur him on to impress.

I certainly think Franco probably has more left in the tank than Tristan did when he signed last season.  Hopefully there will be no problem with raising his fitness levels, as was the case with Tristan!  The biggest question for me is how he copes with the more physical nature of the PL?  On the other hand, he certainly looks useful in the air and could profit from dangerous deliveries in to the box from Diamanti and Faubert?

I would far prefer to take a gamble on Franco than continue without signing a more experienced striker as cover for Cole. If he disappoints then there is (hopefully?) still the c.£8m from the Nesreko and Collins sales to spend in the January window!

It’s a case of lets wait and see I think!   Who knows we may all well be pleasantly surprised? 

SJ Chandos

I have spoken previously about the need to test Zavron Hines’ PL potential this season.  At 20/21 years of age, we need to ascertain whether he is made of the right stuff.   I know that you need to coax along young talent to a certain degree, but I think Hines is ready for the big challenge this season.  And we have the perfect opportunity, with the failure to sign Chamakh et al, to give him some serious first team action before January.

He certainly looks the part and a possible source of the goals that have hitherto been lacking this season.  Tony Cottee certainly agrees, in a recent interview he has praised Hines goal scoring prowess and likened him to Defoe as a natural born goal scorer.   Although Cottee does not take the Defoe comparison too far, he marvelled at the Geoff Hurst type variety of his hatrick against Birmingham City reserves; one with his head, one with his left foot and another with his right!  A sure sign of a good striker.

Hines needs to start matches or at least play a substantial part from the substitutes bench.  Of course a lot depends on tactical considerations.  If we play a 4-3-2-1, with Diamanti and Jimenez occupying the space between the midfield and Cole, it is not possible to start with him.   However, he is an ideal player to have on the bench to revert to a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 formation.   And obviously he can actually start if we kick off with one of the latter two formations.

I think that the likes of Diamanti and Jimenez will benefit from having a mobile, pacy striker like Hines operating in the final third.  It is also a big ask to expect Cole to labour as a lone striker all season, it must take a real physical toll after a while.  Cole would probably benefit as well from having Hines play regularly along side him.  

So come on then Zola lets see if goalz really do meanz Hinez! 

SJ Chandos

It has been reported that Everton are in negotiations with Lucas Neill about a potential c.£40,000 a week Bosman move .  Everton have a need for emergency cover after suffering some  injuries to key defenders.  The former Hammers captain is the chosen out of contract option to solve their post-window crisis.

Good luck to him.  Neill will offer experience, strong leadership and versatility.  Moyes should look to play him at centre back as it’s probably his best position now.  Although he can still fill in at full-back as and when needed.

The thing that puzzles me is that this deal, if reported accurately, is much the same as that offered by the Hammers in June.  In the meantime, as Iain has recently pointed out, he has allegedly lost an estimated £350,000 in wages!!!!   I am also a bit surprised that he is staying in the PL, after all the talk of a Spanish, Turkish or Greek deal.  I had assumed that was what he was angling for?

Am I bothered that we have missed out on his services?  I don’t think so – at least not at his stage of the season!

SJ Chandos