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Stoke Player Performance Results
Behrami's performance against Stoke was arguably the best by any West Ham player this season.
It's hard to criticise CC who has singularly spearheaded our forward line this season, but his negative body language is beginning to worry me. I know it's a thankless task leading the line on your own, but his looks of despair, huffs and puffs and taking 30 seconds to get back on his feet after every small slip drives me potty.
Yet again at Stoke, his exit from the pitch was almost comical. Head down, walking at a snail's pace looking like a wounded soldier. I have two fine English pounds that says he is last man down the tunnel if we lose against the Gooners.
Yeah he roasted stoke's left back all afternoon,the crosses were endless,I lost count at 50.
our best 6 players at the top as for the rest, were you would expect them to be, the quality throughout is just not there.
I have a £50 Specsavers voucher available to the people who gave Robert Green a higher rating than Five.
He will never have a quieter afternoon than last Saturday and was called upon only once to keep Stoke at bay. That he failed miserably and allowed Beattie a second goal is now a matter of record, so I fail so see how he merited more than a score of 4.
He owes us a performance after back-to-back shockers against Fulham and Stoke.
I agree with his score being too high! He warranted no more than a 3 in my book! Butthen again I only saw highlights!
But…how can he have only been called upon once to keep Seoke at bay, they scored twice! He shoudl have been called upon at least twice! lol
I wonder if the donuts who own the club will sell Valon to Juventus in January just to keep the tradition going of being a selling yo-yo club if so West Ham under their tenure will be in deep trouble.
Faubert's star is looking like its on the wane, let's hope he can get back on track and continue he's progress soon.
Based on the highlights I saw and reports read I am surprised that Upson (and Green) were rated as highly as this, perhaps Upson got some sympathy votes?
On a positive note, great to see Valon & Jack at the top of the list. These two must stay fit to enable us to push onwards and upwards.
Finally, why bother marking Franco at all, he only got 5 minutes on the pitch?
No player on for less than 15 minutes should be marked. It's quite clearly stated but obviously beyond some of the bright minds on here. Kovac got a mark last week without actually playing!
Has he had an outstanding performance all season? Can't remember one.
Hopefully the prospect of being in Capello's 23 will keep him focused this season. So far he is playing himself out of the starting X1 and will be lucky to get on the plane to South Africa unless he bucks up.
ChrisChris: Not to devalue your comments in any way, but I would imagine your counting would have been improved had you actually been at the game.
couldn't make it,but saw it.
I hope Zola can get Maurouanne Chamakh from Bordeaux he was just the all round striker against Bayern tonight imagine what he would do against Dull I mean Hull wow!
Took too long to post this one for me, fellas.
Stoke game is now ancient histpry as far as I'm concerned – especially since we lost it and I do try to bounce back by the middle of the week and look forward rather than back.
Ah the old "bouncebackability" how much we need that right now!
Given the obvious disappointment about the result, it's not surprising the scores are low. Just wonder if you could get an average score for each player after the next two games to see how we fair at the quarter stage of the season, then compare it going forward at each 10 game stage to see if their is an improvement in play. Sorry, just being a boring stato
Probably a silly question but does anyone think we will be playing in the champion,s league within the next 10 years or is that wishful thinking?
ha ha! don't forget "fortune's always hiding!"
I'm an optimist Aussie, but even that is a bit to optimistic for me to think about at the moment
Dreams are today's answers to tomorrow's questions.
Methinks the CL will not exist in ten years time, not in its current fomat anyway. I think we will finally see the birth of the European Super League, as the wealthy clubs try to corner even more of what I believe will be a diminishing pot of cash. Unfortunately I don't think we will ever be part of that elite and, to be honest, not sure that I would want us to be.
next 20 years Bob?
Thumbs up for persistence!
Aussie, I would love to see us playing European football again, as some of my greatest memories are of trips abroad and great European nights at UP, but I have a feeling that the European Super League will become a reality in the next ten years and I can't see us gaining entry to the elite. But who knows, stranger things have happened.
I think the results are about right. Although I agree that Green is probably scored too high on his performance. Green's recent dip in form is really worrying. I wonder if he is getting fed up with the situation at West Ham and it is reflected in his performance?
On the other hand he has played so well for so long – he is probably due a dip in form. If it is a attitude thing he should know better – he is pro and is paid well to perform – he should do it!
Sometimes players when they start playing for their nation think they then become a cut above the rest and it goes to their heads and the mentality matches I should be playing week in week out for a champion side so to green upson and cole dont forget how you reached the top the fall on the way down hurts far more!
I see Behrami was our best player (voted for) on Sat and now, I know it's only paper talk but a few os them are reporting that he is a realistic Jan target for Juventus!
Typical eh! Here come the Vulchers!
Where's Redknapp????
Jamie or Harry?!
I'm surprised not more has been made about the way we lose games in the 2nd half. If you look at first-half results only we would be top half of the table.
What's that down to? Lack of fitness, Zola's half time talk?
I see the media are finally starting to turn on the Scousers after their loss. I would like to say that I dont enjoy seeing any football club get the kind of attention from the press that we have been getting but given how much other fans seemed to enjoy watching us get smeared and slandered on a daily basis I think I am going to like this.
At least when they talk about Liverpool being a crisis club they wont be lying like they were with us!
or as they are better known, the monkey and the organ grinder!
i think that Green has less confidence in the players in front of him than last season and thus some of his decisions are compromised. Whether to race out for the ball, or stay on the line, whether to try and come for crosses or not. If you think about Stokes second goal as an example, Upson dives in on the halfway line and misses the ball, leaving Fuller to run clear. Tomkins compounds Upson's mistake by not pushing Fuller towards the corner flag and holding him up while other players run back. He allows Fuller to get by along the byline. Green is then forced to cover his near post and rely on his other two defenders to cover Beattie and anyone arriving late, which sadly Faubert did not do well enough. I don't really think it is fair to blame Green for the goal when he did was was expected of him (keep Fuller's attempt out). I think he was the only Hammers player to touch the ball in our half!
Cont…
Yes, on another day he might have pushed the ball somewhere else, but them's the breaks when you are down there. What I'm saying is compare our defense now with last years, and you might see a correlation with Green's performances.
When I was growing up Grobellaar was in goal for Liverpool. The fact he was only an average keeper was disguised to a large extent by the quality of the defence in front of him. Opposing teams got very few opportunities and this made Grobs look better than he was.
But which one's which??? lol
I can't stomach any of them!
Celtic, West Ham seemed at one point to be everyone's second favourite team. The Tevez affair changed that. Now we're the villain, victim of the Sheff U 'we woz robbed' brigade. I still think we're a great club, whose character has not changed significantly in my view over the past 30 years – and will continue to be great as long as we keep the carpet baggers out. Agree that it's nice to see someone else get it, though.
Off topic so I expect to have a thumbs down! But just saw this on bbc site regarding Southgate's sacking and who some of the supporters want to replace him with;
"I think his biggest downfall has been his signings. We cannot forget the catastrophic buys such as Alves, Digard, Dong-Gook, Mido, etc etc. A LOT of money. Wouldn't see the likes of Curbishley waste money like that."
Couldn't believe it when I read it! Quite a few are calling for Curbs to be their saviour and win them promotion. But I doubt he'll go anywhere until he grabs some money out of West Ham first. Maybe he'd buy Dyer and Quashie to start with!
Curbishley would do a good job up there – it is his level. Can't see them getting any decent football to watch if they did, mind!
MikeF there is no argument that Green is an excellent keeper and probably has to deal with a lot more than anyone of the top 4 or even top 6 side's keepers but his form does seem to have dropped markedly this season. I do think that is due in part to not having Lucas there to organise the defence. All of those who couldnt wait to show him the door and slag him off must surely realise by now that we havnt replaced him as a captain or and organiser.
Moving on from Stoke and looking to Arsenal.. for what it's worth this is the team I'd like to see start:
Faubert, Tomkins, Upson, Ilunga
Behrami, Parker, Noble, Collison
Cole, Hines
Subs: Jiminez, Diamante, Kovac, Franco, Stanislas, Gabbidon, Kurucz
Playing a diamond in midfield with Noble at the point. We've tried Jimenez and Diamante there but I feel this coud be Noble's best position and is worth a try (give him a licence to shoot). A hard working, tackling midfield to make it difficult for Arsenal. Quick balls forward for Cole and Hines on the break. Diamante, Stanislas, Franco to come on with fresh legs. Parker dropping back to help defence and we may have a chance of nicking some sort of result. If we approach the game with the same set up as we have done lately I see us getting carved up…
I still favour Diamanti at the point of the diamond behind Cole & Hines, but I believe this could be a position for Stanislas who is no winger. Noble would be on the bench.
Arsenal will tear our midfield & defence to ribbons, as they do most teams and our only chance is to get at them and for Green and the defenders to have blinders.
Both Hines and Diamante are small and easily pushed off the ball. Diamante though is due to produce a goal and I think may be most effective coming off the bench and given the chance to run amuck for half an hour.
I agree though Devo, we'll be hard pressed to have enough of the ball to make any way in the game. For me it's about the midfield getting hold of it and not coughing it up too easily. Also we have to get nasty and give them no time to play. Faubert is a big weakness down the right and watch them target him from the off.
I hold my hands up and admit I was one of those who, initially, was not sorry to see the back of Neill, but I regret it now. We are missing his character, that's for sure.
I hope your both right in the sense that GZ starts with CC & Hines up front, but I have this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that it's just going to be CC up front again. I think the only way we will trouble Arsenal is my getting at them from the word go, in my mind no other approach is going to work.
I'm tired of watching the predictable midfield pass lobbed up to cole who is facing his own net and the ball usually goes over his head anyway. Never works. And opposing teams can surely see this coming.
So let's change it up this weekend boys. Creativity.
The concern for Sunday is that Zola will feel he needs to get something out of the game and will probably favour a more defensive approach and look to get a point, With Pompey playing Hull this weekend a loss could see us rock bottom and we all know how much more fuel that will give the Zola out muppets. Ideally the Pompey Hull game ends in a draw but with our luck Pompey will find their shooting boots.
Personally I will take any formation and any tactics that will get us a point and look for sexy football against lesser opposition.
Here's a thought.
Arsenal don't play with any width – especially with Walcott injured so let's sacrifice a back and flood the middle:
Green
Tomkins
Upson
Ilunga
Behrami
Parker
Noble
Collison
Stanislas
Cole
Hines
It's an option Devo but what are their fullbacks like?
Both Sagna & Clichy like to get forward but we would have Parker holding and Behrami/Collison/Stanislas tracking back.
Their danger will be through the middle and Van persie up front. If we can starve that area of freedom, it might give us a squeak.
At the end of the day we will probably lose, so why not try and surprise them?