Well that will teach me to leave a minute early, won’t it?
We must take a lot of positives out of this game, but must also bear in mind the negatives. It was devastating to lose Ilunga and Cole so early and we did well to regroup and recover, especially as we seemed to be playing the referee too.
We hit the ground running and played some sublime one touch quick passing football in the first five minutes. The rest of the first half was fairly even but we always looked dangerous going forward. Cole was having a stormer before he had to go off with a strain. The watching Fabio Capello must have been far more impressed than he would have been by the lump that calls itself Emile Heskey.
We should admit we were lucky with the penalty. I thought Hines was offside when he got the ball. But we’ll take any bit of luck that comes our way. I didn’t fancy Noble to do the business, even though he was having a good game. But do the business he most certainly did! A brilliant penalty, high into the roof of the net. Villa were unlucky not to equalise with a storming hald volley which Green saw very late but somehow managed to deflect over the crossbar. A storming save.
I thought we went in at half time a little lucky to be one up, but playing relatively well. Five minutes into the second half Villa were awarded a penalty for, well, I haven’t got a clue. Was it because Da Costa climbed onto one of their player’s backs? Buggered if I knew, and no one around me did either. But Green saved yet another penalty and we lived to survive a little longer. But only a few minutes later Ashley Young (by far their best player) hit what I assume was a Konchesky like hopeful cross, and it sailed in over Green’s head. There was nothing he could do about it.
At that stage I thought we were done for, but not a bit of it. We raised our game and battled hard. Everyone contributed, and even those players who were having an average game lifted themselves. Villa never really got into it. I couldn’t understand why Diamanti wasn’t brought on later in the game, but a few minutes before the end Jimenez replaced the increasingly impressive Franco. I can’t tell you anything about the Hines goal because I didn’t see it! But he played very well, causing constant problems. He won the penalty and had three shots which went close.
The central defenders put in a strong performance. Upson and Da Costa looked good together. Indeed, I thought Da Costa had an absolutely superb game. His tackling and heading were excellent, and hsi distribution wasn’t bad, either. On this form he will give James Tomkins a run for his money. I thought it was odd that Tomkins had been dropped, but on this form I can see why Da Costa was given a chance. Faubert was a but like the curate’s egg. Good in parts. His crossing in the first half was woeful, but much better in the second half. He coped as well as anyone could with Ashley Young. There was one brilliant tackle right on the edge of the area. Jonathan Spector replaced Herita Ilunga and did OK, but always looks out of his depth going forward.
In midfield, Scott Parker took control of the game midway through the second half. He had a couple of hopeful long range shots, but also picked up yet another unnecessary booking. Mark Noble had his best game for some time, but his corners were still lacking any pace and any danger. But he ran his socks off and played some great balls through midfield. Behrami was perhaps a bit quieter than usual, but still put in a battling performance. I thought Jack Collison was also slightly off his game, even though he did some great things from time to time.
Up front Carlton Cole was brilliant until he had to go off after about 20 minutes. Guillermo Franco had his best game so far and is fantastic at holding the ball up and playing some very dangerous through balls. He combines well with Cole and I thought he played excellently. Zavon Hines is an excellent prospect. He’s quick, dangerous and a constant threat. Defenders don’t know what to do with him.
All in all, a brilliant night and hopefully the start of our season proper. This victory shoots us up to 16th and we are now unbeaten in three! If we win on Sunday we could go 12th. Heady heights indeed. So, my scores…
Green 7
Faubert 6
Spector 6
Da Costa 8
Upson 7
Noble 7
Parker 7
Collison 6
Behrami 6
Franco 7
Cole 8
Hines 9
We sang we sang and we sang!
Incredible night the place erupted at the end.
10 for everyone.
Parker was just immense no way 7, 10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
just got back, drunk and I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So you stilll want Zola sacked???
I Can't believe you've asked that already matt that's vile.
Lol are you joking?
How is it vile? You posted 23 million posts last week about wanting Zola sacked becasue we kept losing, now we have won, I just wondered if you still wanted him gone??
Good to see you enjoyed the result Chris! Now lets hope for more of the same against Everton. They are well overdue a defeat at Upton Park.
i can finally go sleep happy, Cm’on u Irons!
just got home from the game, throat extremely sore!!
thought we put in a great performance today, and a nice touch to win against 10 men for a change!! not draw!!
thought Da Costa marked Carew out the game, very impressive at the back alongside Upson who also played well
Green, i thought was a bit nervous to start, with a lot of corners coming in, and him not coming out to claim but his confidence came straight back with a great save from Petrov and a good save from Agbonglahor and the penalty save was brilliant, low down to his left
Faubert and Spector were both very average but Faubert i feel is vital to getting forward, he looks so much better in their half than ours
Zavon Hines and Jack Collison ran their socks off, all over the pitch, Hines looks so good going into the box from the wings, two penalties he's won us in similar circumstances
Scotty Parker in the middle was good as well as Noble, great penalty and Behrami ran around like normal winning the ball and starting attacks very well
Guille Franco holds the ball up very well and him and Cole looked to have clicked with some good moves involving Collison and Behrami
lets hope the news for Cole and Illunga isnt as bad as some hamstring injuries
Great Match, not gonna have a voice in the morning i can tell, great for my job!!
A great night- for the second time in a row we left buzzing like the cup final.
Hines deserved his effort for sheer effort; looks a real prospect. I was beginning to think we could only score from a dead ball.
It was pretty tense throughout though, magnifying the ecstasy at the end. We needed three dirty points tonight any old how so I was just jumping for joy.
ust finished watching the game (recorded) and have to say, even though it was an amazing goal, Mr Hines' goal sent chills down my spine : )
[youtube mENa0AC-YuU&feature=fvhr http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mENa0AC-YuU&fe... youtube]
This is CLASS! Made me crack up!
Enjoy!
Very funny mate. Nice one!
Great piece of film making__give it a Bafta
Enjoyed that, Matt. Cheers.
No prob! I just HAD to post it! Would be a crime not to! lol
The Phil Brown and Redknapp parts were brilliant!
Good video, looked on the talksport magazine youtube page and found a Jack Collison interview. Worth a watch.
http://www.youtube.com/user/talkSPORTmagazine#p/a...
Well pleased . We had a real go second half and that’s all you can ask for. Effort over quality but tonight that will do me fine. Dont care about the low crowd turnout , iffy referee decisions or our continuing deficiencies a win is a win however we get it. Well done to the boys and Zola. Enjoyed watching the subs celebrate as well … Clearly the team spirit Is strong which will hold us in good stead. Next three out of four games at home so we have a chance now to push on. The only question for me was the substitution of Franco for jimmy ? Why did we take off a forward and bring on a midfielder and why if it was technicaly mysterious tactical change that I don’t understand was jimmy in front of diamanti ?
i thought Villa looked the more dangerous but great to get "more" points than we possibly deserved rather than less as per numerous other games this year.
through the pitch the 3 outstanding players for me were Da Costa who was immensely impressive, Parker who owned the midfield and Hines the spark. Intrigued by the choice of Jimenez rather than Diamanti as the late sub but cant argue with the outcome. COYI
Think you must have been watching a different game mate! We totally deserved that win! The second half we were by far the better team, we had more overall possession(56%) and more shots on target!
I think maybe Zola was reying to keep Diamant fresh and injury free for Sundays game against Everton.
fair enough re the possession, but as you know with us having the ball means squat, we often dominate the middle 3rd but dont even look like scoring, our opening was bright but from the time ilunga went off we were non existent in the first half, goal was very luch against the run of play. 2nd half they were sharp to start with but we got better as the game went on and Parker took control. Mate im as stoked as you that we won and have far greater optimism for the rest of the season (pending CC's fitness) just not getting too carried away by a last gasp win
absolutely spot on kiwi. we were played off the park and chasing shadows for long periods in the first half and incredibly lucky to go in a goal to the good at half time.
the second half was exactly as you describe it, tho like Iain I am amazed that Villa didn't continue to go on after their goal. when young scored there looked to be only 1 outcome.
it is to our absolute credit that we kept on going and eventually wore them down. we've played better and lost this year and this win on that basis alone was well deserved.
optimistic, yes. carried away, never – this is west 'am for christ's sake!
cheers Headmaster, must admit i was quite surprised by "MattRyans" comment that i must have been watching a different game. Did have a chuckle just now though as i see in another one of his posts it looks like someone has had a crack at him and hes not pleased about…….old saying "what goes around comes around". Anyhow, all good fun and we all want the same thing…..no live tv coverage here in NZ of the Everton game which is a shame, would have been the Scum/Chelski game starts only an hour later so not surprisingly they showing that…..i HATE not being able to see the game
It was obvious over the matches so far this season that we have the ability to be top 10. The team have been performing well without getting their just deserts. That was bound to change sooner or later.
Green was immense tonight, three quality saves from open play and a penalty save. You know people speculate about his attitude, but it could just be that Green had a little dip in form. The same with Upson. You know these players have been so consistent for such a long time, it is all the more noticable when their standards drop slightly, but it does happen, even to the very best players.
Da Costa did well, I remember someone on here criticising my comment that we should keep faith with him while he acclimatised to the PL. Unfortunately, some people just see things in black or white, not different shades of gray! I said recently that I was looking for concrete evidence that Da Costa was ready to cope with the PL. Tonight he coped well and showed promise.
That other favorite ‘aunt sally,’ Mark Noble also played well tonight. I came to accept that his indifferent form was becoming an issue and agreed he needed to sort it out, but any talk of selling him is just madness.
Faubert showed a good attitude, I said I was looking for a response when he came back and he showed some of the right stuff against Villa. However, strangely one of the areas of his game that appears to need urgent work is his crosses in to the box. Too often they go astray, really he just needs to ensure that they are put in to the danger area of the penalty box to pressurise the opposition keeper and centre backs.
Hines turned this match, no question about that. His pace produced the equaliser and really troubled their defenders (yes, including St James Collins!). For the winner he showed that he is, indeed, a goal poacher. The way in which he dug that ball out and floated it over Friedel confirmed that he is potentially the clinical ‘finisher’ that we need. Hopefully, this first PL goal will boost his confidence no end and contribute to him realising his potential.
Cole looked immense again before he went off. Those surging runs of his were almost Torres like! And I really never thought I would ever say that – high praise indeed, but well deserved. Lets hope his injury is not serious? Similarly, lets hope that Illunga is ok as well. People seem to have lost faith in him very quickly, but like Green and Upson he has set such high standards that any dip in form is noticable. But calling him a ‘one season wonder’ is a premature and very harsh judgement.
Well done to the rest of the lads as well, especially the much criticised Jon Spector. He is far from being the best player in the squad, but he did a job again tonight. Franco looks a asset and Parker, Collison & Berhami all played well. I am also a fan of Diamanti and firmly believe that he has a big role to play for us this season. As does Jimenez when he gets more used to the additional physical demands of the PL.
Finally, now the 3 points from Villa are in the bag, its vital that we follow it up with a result against Everton. Which will then set us up very nicely for Hull City away. Another 4-6 points from those games and we are moving in the right direction at long last!
Oh and a few words of praise for Ashley Young’s goal for Villa. The moment he cut in and unleashed that drive, you just knew it was in! It was totally meant and truly unstoppable.
Fairs, Fair a great goal by an top class young player. That’s why Eggy was prepared to pay £9m plus for him when he was with Watford. I never shread any tears about the likes of SWP turning us down, during that period, but I think Young would have been immense for us.
Still, we do have Junior Stanislas, who, given time, can develop in to a top player for us. At the end of the day it is far more satisfying to produce our own young players than import them from other clubs like Villa and Spurs!
We are 9 points off of the top 4 perhaps its not all over till it truly is 27 more games!
Just watched post match interviews of both managers how easy is it when your a winner!The referreeing standards are poor in the world at the moment with so many wrongly given professional refs perhaps?
I thought this made for good reading on the Sky Sports site
West Ham UnitedTeam StatisticsAston Villa
2Goals1
11st Half Goals0
7Shots on Target8
8Shots off Target4
5Blocked Shots7
6Corners14
12Fouls16
2Offsides3
2Yellow Cards3
0Red Cards1
75.1Passing Success73.3
19Tackles18
84.2Tackles Success77.8
56.3Possession43.7
50Territorial Advantage50
I didn't see the game ( not for the lack of trying) but what seems encouraging to me is that they had 14 corners which we had to defend against, in the past I have thought we had looked vunerable against set pieces. It would seem that Tompkins place may be under serious threat.
Rik – don't want to piss on anyone's chips here but I can tell you that, from my view in the BMU we were absolutely crucified by the corners repeatedly, with Green continually failing to command his 6 yard area. It is truly one of the anomalies of the game last night that we got away with some pretty keystone cops moments, particularly facing corners in the 1st half. thought that needed saying.
You're way off with Collison, Iain. Rarely concedes possession and made some gut bursting forward runs, not to mention his through balls.
All in all, though, a very good night, with some commendable performances.
Where are the mug Franco knockers now?
I said after his first game that he looked promising, probably just needed a little time to get up to the fitness level required for the prem. He's looking better and better with every match, let's hope he strikes up an understanding with Cole, they're both big strong players that could form a pretty formidable partnership to intimidate defences.
Also, the Zola knockers seem pretty quiet lately too!
Collison was much better than Behrami last night. If Noble takes that ball from him onto his left foot maybe it's 2-nil in the 1st half!
Franco had an adequate game for me. Nothing more, nothing less. Don't know whether that makes me a mug, Devo. lol
An excellent game last night, and a deserved win. Lets hope the injuries to CC and Herita Ilunga arn't long term. We must now consolidate by winning the next few starting with the Toffeemen sunday. We need points on the board before we meet the likes of Manure & Chelski.
Great spirit shown by the all the team in an exciting game, to win in extra time was a bonus that gives us and the players much needed confidence and belief for the future. I hope to God that Carlton and Herita make a speedy recovery. Feels good to have bagged 3 points against a very good team. COYI
wow what a game,and my 2-1 prediction came in for once !!!! tomkins wasnt missed at all and i think he has to be left out for a while at least,shame but he hasnt handled the pressure very well.as for the rest what a performance,not one cart horse out there.as for the ref well how on earth was that a pen? complete joke and no idea but who cares for once !!!!!
I thought Scott Parker was fantastic, must have run double the yardage of any other player on the pitch. The man makes a massive difference to our team, so he passes the ball backwards a lot. We are a lot better team when he plays
daCosta 8? What the hell?
Parker 9 at least
What really pleased me is that they all looked liked they wanted it, I was getting the impression over the last month that they couldnt get out of second gear and it looks like the arse kicked us into drive.
With regard to Cole, it was good to see that things will be ok without him, as you can be sure there will be times, Hines was impressive and needed a goal against a decent team to tell himself he can do it, and with Cole Franco and 57 to put up top i think there is cause for hope.
Noble answered a few questions , now he needs to keep it up whilst Parker is top drawer and although a bit reckless occasionally, you would always put his name on the sheet first.
The centre halfs cause me a bit of concern, Upson is a pretty good defender but he needs someone commanding with him. We look pretty tame a corners from what i saw.
Anyway, Top marks chaps and keep it going!!
I've been one to worry of Zola's ability to manage in the premiership and I thought he had a good game. Surprised, like many, he didn't bring Diamanti on in the last ten minutes and if we had drawn people would have been criticizing him for it.
But I was very impressed with Costa and I think it's good Zola is using the squad a little more. It keeps players on their toes, Faubert worked harder last night than he had been the last few matches he played and it's wise to give Tomkins a break from time to time. Would like to see Stanislas have same game time on Sunday.
One other point – did anyone else notice how much we missed Kovac?
Devo, you cannot knock the Zola doubters after one "lucky win (any winning goal that late must be regarded as lucky) after the run of form we have been in.
Sure the signs look better, but we need a short blast of good results to bounce us up the table, then we can all relax, if not even you will be knocking Zola come Christmas.
Whos said I was knocking the Zola knockers – I am one of them!
Sorry mate, I thought when you said Franco knockers. Put it down to being out at 5 this morning in Brighton by 6.30 and back to Biggin Hill for a days work by 8.
Cheers
Actually it was me, when answering Devo with tongue firmly in cheek :p
Blame this site layout, I can't keep up with it, bring back the old one.
Biggin Hill, eh, Roshi. Interesting!
Is that Biggin Hill interesting, Biggin Hill ah! what a fun place, or Biggin Hill thats where I work / live.
For those who can't see why Da Costa was rated so highly by some of us last night, the game is repeated again on SS2 at 1pm.
If Parker didn't play to many errant passes he would walk into Capello's team. That is his achilles heel and gets punished at international level.
Maybe the guy who wrote the match report for the sun might watch the game again seeing as he gave DaCosta a 6!
Devo I'm still not to sure about Franco,he's ok, got a good touch but he does not look much of a threat on to me,I hope I'm wrong, guess we've got to give him more time,Hines on the other hand is electric!!! wonder if he would be this good starting a game.
with Cole out it seems we will find out. Hopefully Terry Dixon is fit enough to be considered for the first team as he has the same type of strength and ability to hold the ball up that we will be missing now Carlton is out.
I agree Chris, there were a number of occasions when he had the ball and the goals ahead of him and instead looked to square it. Perhaps that will come with some confidence, but his positional play is pretty good and he does control the ball well. Better than Tristan! Not saying much though..
Devo, that's exactly my thoughts on Parker too. Obviously Capello was there watching and Parker's ability to break down play and hihs courage would compliment Gerrard etc so well but I grimaced on more than one occasion when he sprayed a pass straight to the opposition and as you say at international level and in a World Cup you just can't do that. I'd still take him though!
Parker is nowhere very close to the national team I would say, although a squad place is an outside bet but depends upon injuries to far higher profile midfielders.
Good game. Everyone contributed and i wouldn't single anyone out as the overall team effort and willingness to keep playing was first class.
This result has been coming for a few games and the confidence we will take from a win will get us another 10% out of everyone.
Up to us in the stands on Sunday to continue to play our part. COYI
I have the game recorded and as far as I can see, the ref (who had a shocker) gave the second penalty to even things up! He didn't blow with any conviction, it was a little squeak rather than a blow! ALL of the players on the field were shocked!
BUT…..looking at it, how the hell did DaCosta jump that high??? LOL! His shins were level with Collins' head! Hahahahaha
Actually thought DaCosta had a good game!
DaCosta was excellent. He did nothing wrong on the penalty. As I have been saying the last few weeks (as "David the Yank") Tomkins is not (yet) premier league quality. Kudos to Zola for realizing he had to make that change. Yes, DaCosta made a couple of errors (I do not include the make-up 'penalty' as a DaCosta error, though I understand why Bennett gave the penalty as he probably saw in the halftime video that Hines was clearly offside.)
Guy and Gals,
Can I just please say something.
When reading ir replying to posts, can we all please remember that the post in question might not be written as you have read it! I, myself have been victim to this. I have read posts that seem very rude and ignorant but such is the medium of the written word on blogs, forums and chat rooms etc… it is very difficult to write a message without it being construed in many different ways.
For instance someone might write "You make me laugh" which could be taken in a few different ways but 9 times out of 10 people will take it in the most offdensive way and make a snotty reply! (me included).
All I am saying is, we are pretty much a decent lot on here and before we reply reply to someone's post, just take a second to think about what they have written, does it REALLY warrant a snotty reply?
Thank you for reading!
Matt
Matt, Well Said mate
As to the login register business my answersw are on the previous thread
Lol!
Yeah I got them mate! Are you still having problems?
<DIV>No Problem since registering and login as CW</DIV> <DIV>Fishy appears to have swum away to the seas and freedom</DIV> <DIV>Lol!
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<DIV>No Problem since registering and login as CW</DIV> <DIV>Fishy appears to have swum away to the seas and freedom</DIV> <DIV>Lol!
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Matt,,,We have just won a flippin game I'm still buzzing from last night,I don't really want to go down this road just yet but if you really want an answer ,no I don't rate Zola,I don't want to bark on about 4 4 2 but come on since we have swapped back we have not lost a game,is Zola running the show or clarke at the moment?
Christopher!!!! (I assume that is your name lol)
Chill
I only asked if you still didn't like him! lol! It's all good 
You mention you don't like him because of his tactics and formation, but lately he has changed his tactics for the better and changed his formation (sort of) and just thought that maybe, you would appreciate that!
Zola is def running the show but Clarke is his rock, he is experienced and is no doubt giving GF all the support and advice he needs!
From small acorns……
Strangely i don't think last night's performance was that much better than recent games (1st half Sunderland, 1st half Liverpool, 2nd half Arsenal, 1st half Fulham) – it's just that we finally played for the full 94 minutes and got a bit of luck that seemed to have deserted us of late.
As for individuals – Greenie produced the save of the season for me but STILL looks a bit edgy dealing with corners.
Upson was better maybe because he had more faith in Da Costa who looks made for the Prem but does need to get a bit tighter on the fromt man he's marking.
Faubert gets better and better, Noble FINALLY put in a perfomance, Franco looks an inspired signing, Parker is a captain in all but name and, as i've mentioned before, Zavon could be the find of the season.
Bring on Everton and maybe, hopefully another 3 points.
From small acorns…..
Jolly – you are right about that Green save but, let's remember, if he'd come for the corner in the first place as he should have, he'd never have needed the save. I reckon he's only saving that shot 3/10 times. Makes you think, eh?
Well just read Alan Hansens blog on Sundays game against Everton__as usual he is undecided and sitting on the fence predicting a draw__I say another 2-1 win__With everton playing tonight and their injuries we have a good impetus and confidence on last nights game to win on Sunday and take another 3points.!Lol!
Everton is going to be a tough one guys!
They have good defence! lol
Seriously though, it's a tough one!
Ashley Young has made me laugh!
He has been qupted and saying he is "heartbroken" about losing last night! Hahahahaha
Drama queen or what!
Jolly, quote of the day……..STILL looks a bit edgy dealing with corners….. As good as Green is, he couldn't deal with a bag of spuds (potato kind) coming in from the flanks.
My views on player performances:
Scottie clearly the man of the match. He & Ashley were the best two players on the pitch by far.
DaCosta did extremely well. I thought he was far better than Tomkins.
Spector, who still makes me cringe at left back because he only uses his right foot, also did well. We all thought they might burn him for speed, but he is actually a modern back who gets forward, and he was involved numerous times in link-up play that created chances. He defended just fine too.
Noble still had some very poor free kicks/corners (though Jiminez took the worst corner of the season; very very low football IQ for Jiminez; not just on the corner, but why wasn't he filling the space on the left wing on the deep right cross late before Hines scored?), tackled well, and took his penalty nicely. Still prefer Diamanti in all of those roles save tackling.
Franco couldn't finish but played well.
I thought Behrami's touch was off. Collison did better. He turns and goes forward, whereas so many Hammers' instincts are to play safe and push the ball backward.
I have not been a Noble fan all season but how refreshing not to have Kovac on the pitch!
Hines is improving and needs more time on the pitch. I think he is clearly ahead of Jiminez for playing time and deservedly so.
Repeat everyone else's views on Green: nice penalty save, and excellent reaction save on Petrov's blast, but I am never confident on corners and he does not exude confidence in his box on any cross, including Young's likely cross for goal.
Better, but need 6 pts from Burnley/Hull coming up!
Still shocked at how well Da Costa performed. Franco appears to be an intelligent footballer who is rapidly picking up the pace and demands of EPL football. All good signs.
I rate our second half performance as the best of the season. We rode our luck in the first 45 but whatever Zola said or put in their tea at half time, let's hope he serves it up again on Sunday.
Franco was pretty cute too throwing his shirt to a fan in the Bobby lower at the final whistle.. Never hurts to kiss the badge and milk the applause after a win like that.
Obviously been watching a few DiCanio videos on his day off. Top man.
Franco seems to have settled in really well. I thought it was great that he sprinted off when substituted knowing every second counted.
The celebrations by the bench and those warming up showed that the players are all together which is so important when the chips are down.
An interesting stat i've seen on Sky Sports is that if the score after the first half was the result at the end of the game we would be 8th in the league. ps well done Robert Green, he got me 12 points this week on fantasy football.
Plus that fan your talking about Lofty…. sits behind me, I need to grow that extra couple of inches before everton.
Eat your greens, Lewisham. The next one could be yours.
Everton will present a very different sort of challenge. The dont tend to play at the same tempo as villa but are very hard to break down. That said with Hines pace running at Lucas maybe we can exploit the weaknesses he had when he played for us. They have a European game so fingers crossed for a few injuries tonight.
If Ilunga is out this sunday, I would start Gabbs at fullback, Spector did a lot better than I expected last night but he is cleary right footed. At least Gabbs is naturally left sided.
What about Fabio Daprela at left back?? Has anyone seen much of him in the reserves, I though he was highly rated when he signed.
He played centre half for the reserves on Tursday night and had a very decent game when up against two full international strikers. I would like to see the guy given a chance but I doubt Zola will have two players with a couple of appearances between them in the back 4. Gabbs would provide a more experienced option.
iain,
please explain to me how any fan can leave a knife-edge game early?
absolutely, sir. I saw one guy leave from the row in front of me with 10 minutes to go! Poised at 1:1 with us in the ascendency I just don't get it, at all!
Just read this below on the Mirror site. Well worth a read, most encouraging and journo talks good sence !! Very unusual.
You can normally spot teams with less than total belief in their manager from a mile away.
Chelsea under Guus Hiddink last season were light years ahead of the performances under Luis Felipe Scolari.
The Hull players' commitment to Phil Brown looks to be less than 100percent at the moment.
And Tottenham's players went through the motions in the last days of Juande Ramos last season before the Spaniard was eventually eased out and Harry Redknapp took over.
Now take a look at the highlights of West Ham's dramatic victory over Aston Villa.
Every one of the Hammers players oozed passion, hunger, desire and a determination to dig the club out of the dire straits they currently find themselves.
Match-winner Zavon Hines looks to have every chance of becoming a player if he keeps his feet on the ground and does not allow the hype around him to go to his head.
Carlton Cole is one of the most improved players in the Premier League. Scotty Parker never stops running in midfield, and when Matty Upson takes a break from trying to engineer a move away from Upton Park to a top four club, he actually does quite well for the Hammers.
At the back, even before his penalty save from Ashley Young in front of Fabio Capello, keeper Robert Green pulled off some stunning stops, most notably from Stilian Petrov.
Indeed Green remains one of the Hammers most consistent performers and is an excellent last line of defence.
And rookie manager though he may be, Zola is a man who – given the time – could lead the east Londoners into Europe.
Yes, the fiscal problems remain with Alan Curbishley's tribunal victory another threat to their already fragile finances.
But the time to worry is when the players are not doing the business and there is no chance of that at the moment.
In fact, West Ham's biggest problem is the lack of time that exists in football right now.
Arsenal fans are purring at the moment with the club in title contention and into the knockout stages of the Champions League with two games to spare.
But before the season kicked off there were more than a few grumbles about Arsene Wenger's insistence that he would place even more faith in his youngsters instead of splashing out big money for the quick fix.
Up in Merseyside a fascinating scenario is being played out with Liverpool lurching from crisis to crisis.
At any other club, with the team's form too patchy to launch a title challenge, already out of the Carling Cup and clinging to the Champions League by their fingertips, the fans would be burning effigies of Rafa Benitez outside the ground.
And if they were doing that at Anfield, the Spaniard would indeed be finished.
Instead, however, the Reds faithful remain adamant that the way to take the club forward is not to abandon their boss at the first sign of trouble but to stick by him.
Its a fascinating situation given the unanimous view outside of Liverpool that Benitez's teams are too negative, his buying policy poor and that for all the players he has bought he still relies hugely on Gerrard and Torres.
Yet you wonder whether it is the Anfield fans who are right and the rest of us who are wrong.
How can we preach about managers needing time one minute then demand a man who has won an FA Cup, a Champions League, reached another Final and also claimed a semi-Final spot be sacked?
Zola has a vision for West Ham that, with patience and an understanding of the fact that he is having to nurture youngsters and integrate new signings, could pay dividends.
Like anyone else, he makes mistakes – Savio for £9million definitely being one of them. But he is the kind of gamble you have to take when some of the quality targets the club have been in for, such as Eidur Gudjohnsen, don't want to come to the club.
Others, such as Inter Milan's Mario Balotelli, Lazio's Goran Pandev and Bordeaux's Marouane Chamakh are so highly thought of that either their clubs don't want to let them go or other, bigger clubs are for them – such as Arsenal in Chamakh's case.
The result? Zola has to work with what he has. Big Carlton has come on a bundle under him, Hines looks to be going in the right direction.
Behind them Jack Collison and James Tomkins are improving for their regular first team football and while there have been ups and downs for Mark Noble his goal celebration on Wednesday night showed his commitment to the cause.
Prior to the Villa win, Zola's assistant Steve Clarke told us journalists that the problem was not with the players' application. It was with their confidence as the team had not won since the opening day of the season. That confidence should be back now.
And it goes without saying that West Ham will not be relegated. Rather, I see them going from strength to strength with a manager and his assistant whose careers are on a similar trajectory.
West Ham are no longer a club in crisis – it's official!
1 loss in last 5 games.
Seriously, I said before the game that our success last season was based on hard work – something that, with a few exceptions, has been lacking this season, particularly in the 2nd half against Sunderland. Well, last night the players got back to doing the basics and whilst Villa had their moments, so did we.
Isn't it strange that since Zola reverted to 4-4-2 we actually look like scoring again!
btw – for the first time in years I think Everton are there for the taking on Sunday. I just hope that the players don't think they have cracked it again and take their foot off the gas.
Devo you asked me in a previous thread what impact the failure to qualify for the knockout stages of the champions league would have for Liverpool. I only noticed it a good while after your initial post so I thought I would repost it here for you.
As of August Liverpools accountants told the owners that they could not fund the running of the club and meet their debt obligations for the season and that was with them factoring in the money they expected to get by qualifying for the latter stages of the Chapions League.
Now that Hicks and Gillette have actively gone hunting for investment it seems that those parties have cooled their interest. If they fail to qualify for next seasons competition through the league then I genuinely reckon their bankers will finally lose patients with the club.
The problem now is they are far from an attractive option for a buyer as things stand. The owners wnat way too much money for the club and the new owners would inherit over £350M in debt and a club that will post a very very big loss for this season, add to that a growing call for Rafa to get the boot and the £20m+ settlement he would get if sacked it means that in reality the buyers would be lookint at over £850M to buy the club and thats without the cost of the new stadium that they need. Throw that in and you are over the Billion pound mark.
Even by Arab oil money or Russian "entrepreneur" standards thats a hell of a lot of money!
lose 'patients' Celtic? tsk tsk – see me
Am a child of spell check I am afraid Headmaster! I can type 80words a minute (no doubt you all gathered that from my lengthy posts!) but I cant spell for toffee! Luckily I use a very good secretarial service to check, tidy up and format anything being sent to clients!
Just registered with intense debate,can i now post or do i need to use my password every time? sorry but not all that clued up with how it all works!it’s an age thing!
Great result last night though,in keeping with a lot of you i have a sore throat.COYI
Just want to agree with other poster's on parker,I hope Capello took notice of he's performance,what an engine and desire,I'd take scott any day over Frank Lampard ,for all lampards scoring efforts I would rather parker's work rate in my team,I'm not being bias this is really my opinion, He should start along side Gerrard,Yeah sure Barry's slick but he's a carthorse, Parker's fast over 5 ,6 yard's and fitter.
I know I'll get some stick for saying this, but I think lampard's recent performances for England have been excellent. It's suprising how often he covers Barry's aris.
My favourite moment from Parker last night was when he spotted the run from Warnock from deep and tracked him all the way to the byline before making a tackle as Greenie dithered.
Yeah you wouldn't see lampard track back that far,Devo I'm not saying Lampard's a bad player but I would pick Parker ahead of him and put Gerrard back in centermid.
Devo…Parker was excellent last night, but sadly he is a long way adrift of Lampard . I'm not sure why, maybe timing, but Scott collects too many fouls and yellow cards which is a big negative.
No-one can fault his commitment and energy, but his lack of goals and shots on target will always make him second choice behind our current established England players.
you have to be havin a bubble! Loathe BFF with a passion but pick Parker ahead of him in an England shirt, nah. Not a prayer.
With Naming Rights in the news (Newcastle) always be St James Park
and Today Chelsea getting on the bandwagon to incorporate Stamford Bridge into the naming rights
Has anyone got any idea for the new name for UP
We could incorporate the old Boleyn into the Boleyn Bowl or the
Boleyn Centre or the Upton Park Arena
The ICE Palace may also be appropriate at this time & the Straumur Sieve
to name a few
All suggestions welcome and please foward to the management for consideration
I hear that the Atheist Society wants to sponsor us as we are a non Prophet organisation.
Did I hear a groan?
In all seriousness, I'd like "The Bobby Moore Arena"
Also just want to agree with the comment's on Da'costa,great game , probably the highest leaper in the prem,he's already been given the name Salmon.
Chris for me Barry has always been overated. For some reason the tabloid press love the guy and a combination of that and his transfer fee has seen him get into the England team. Parker is by far a better defensive midfielder, as you say he is fitter, faster much stronger in the tackle and utterly selfless. With the amount of prima-donas in the England side it would be a great help to have someone who plays for the team first and themselves second.
Agreed.
Cheers, CH, it will be interesting to see how things develop. I read somewhere that the "big 4" budget based on them making the quarters, but I realise that is a drop in the ocean compared to the debt Liverpool has.
I think the club should approach a Tea company. At least Lipton Park looks similar.
What was so important of winning this game,was`nt a cup final.It was crucial,there had to be a start,statistics says if you`re at the bottom by Christmas you stay there only WBA managed to avoid the drop.There is so much to be done atWest Ham,end the new ownership saga,DESENT contracts for the up coming lads,the new(olimpic)stadium,we do need a bigger one.This is the start we so much needed this win,an other one on sunday will be just fine .Well done Hammers.COYI !!!!!.
Predictably, Ginge was given a great reception last night while Reo-Coker rightly got the treatment.
So…question is: Lucas Neill, thumbs up or thumbs down on Sunday?
I wasn't best pleased at his exit strategy, but don ;t think he rates the Ince/Reo-Coker/Lampard show.
I suppose we could all chuck fake fivers at him.
I don't like the way he left but I do like him! So thumbbs up for me!
I don't think he will engender much reaction either way to be honest. I shall certainly retain an apathetic indifference
i don't like the way he left either, but it bit him so no hard feelings. He'd get a reasonably warm response from me, not least because we know how to beat him.