Conceding those three dodgy second half goals was hardly the professionalism that I was looking for prior to the match. Some might say that we switched off after our fifth goal, but personally I think that we suffered from both Cole and then Franco going off. With their exit we lost our ability to hold up the ball and retain possession in Burnley’s half. Consequently, the ball kept going right back down our end, putting increased pressure on our make shift defence.
We also started defending too deep and the midfield did not provide the back four with sufficient cover. Burnley’s three goals were almost identical, with two from wide left and the other one coming from wide right positions. For the first, Eagles was given far too much time and space on the ball by Spector and Gabbidon. Why did they not push him wide or, better still, one make the challenge while the other doubled up on him? The truth is that Eagles should never have got the cross into the box in the first place and once he did either Da Costa or Illunga should have cleared it.
For the second, Spector again failed to stop the cross and Da Costa should probably have intercepted the subsequent ball in to the box. For the third, they clinically carved open our defence on the right side and there was a total failure to pick up Eagles on the edge of the box. Zola is quite right to state that we must defend higher up the pitch and the midfield must provide better cover for the back four. For example, it would be an interesting exercise to plot Kovac’s covering position for all three goals? I think that itis fair to state that, at the moment, we are falling down on the basic abc of defending, rather than the the xyz!
But enough of the down side of life at planet Upton Park! What about the positives from the Burnley match?
For a start, I was far more impressed with the quality of our finishing. The first goal was superb, Parker’s quick free kick reminded one of Bobby Moore’s quick thinking to find Geoff Hurst for the equaliser in the 1966 World Cup Final. Equally impressive was Collison’s well timed run and finish. Stanislas buried his chance with skill from an acute angle. And if Parker bought Moore to mind in creating the first, then there was shades of Hurst about Franco’s near post run and header. That was a classic West Ham move in the Greenwood era and Hurst was its greatest exponent. I have often wondered why the near post run is not used more often in the contemporary game. Because when it is done right it is very difficult to defend! With his recent near post goals against Sunderland and Burnley, we obvious have a brand new exponent of this particular attacking move in the form of Guillermo Franco.
Apart from his goal, Franco’s all-round play was excellent, particulary his retention of the ball, vision and passing. Parker’s performance in midfield was Herculean in its magnitude. High praise indeed, but no over-estimation. He was everywhere during the game, breaking up attacks one minute and surging forward the next. He must surely be playing the best football of his career at the moment.
Stanislas’ development is also worthy of note. Whilst admittedly, he could improve on the defensive side of his game, offensively he is shaping up very well. That was Junior’s fourth league and cup goal of the season and that ability to finish, as well as his pace and skill on the ball, promise much for the future.
In fact, the West Ham goal scoring statistics for the season, as a whole, illustrate that goals are starting to come from a variety of positions across the pitch. So far this season, the following players have scored the specified number of league and cup goals:
Cole (7), Stanislas (4), Franco (3), Diamanti (2), Collison (2), Upson (2), Noble (2), Hines (2), Illunga (1) Jimenez (1) Da Costa (1)
That’s 11 different scorers, with three strikers, five midfielders and three defenders adding to our tally. That’s 27 goals in total for the season and in, terms of the league, we have a very respectable goal difference considering that we are currently 17th in the PL and leaking goals at a worrying rate. Imagine how much better it would have been if we had we managed to retain last season’s superior defensive standards!
These are all positives, even if there are injury related, dark clouds threatening to rain on our parade . Lets hope that the news on Upson, Cole, Behrami and Diamanti is positive and they are back sooner rather than later. The absence of an experienced target man to lead the line is a particular worry if Cole is out for any length of time. Lets also hope that the recent stories on the sale of Green and Upson prove to be the same empty speculation as the similar stories that circulated during last year’s winter transfer window.
Next up, a real test! Man Utd at Upton Park, one of our favourite fixtures of the season. Zola and Clarke will need to sort out the defensive lapses in order for us to get a result on the day . . . . but history tells us not to bet against it!
SJ Chandos.
The tough part is the balance.Everyone in the current side is attack minded and capable of scoring that is a fact but Upson looks like the only true defensive minded player.Da Costa is a reject that can improve Ilunga is playing his way to full fitness andSpector/Faubert not sure of their ideal positions.
I am confident of top 6 because it is a tight table where 2 teams are above the rest and the rest well anyone can upset everyone.
If we can have a strong run 3 wins at the moment put you right in the mix and with red cards thrown around at a fast rate luck will help.
Forget the press speculation it is guesswork and only those in the know will keep their cards close to their chest why would they not?
Surely we did not pay Kovac,s agent a fee more likely he paid us!
SJ a good, honest and balanced assessment of our current form and situation. Checking out the recent form guide puts us about mid table, which is not too bad and shows the gradual improvement in our stats – scoring goals every game, but as we all know we are also giving away far too many 'soft' goals too! I am not worried about relegation, but I am worried about keeping our best players in January if we do not receive any investment. When we have all our first 11 fully fit we have a decent side that can play well against any team in the league, but as the injuries are showing, we do not have sufficient quality in cover when the injuries begin to pile up. Surely that is down to a lack of money and whilst it is nice to see entertaining football, without investment in the team we will always be in the lower half of the table. Plus, I believe we will always sell our best players. Project football is just a title and means nothing without the cash to make it work.
Things do seem precarious at the moment regards to team balance. We're obviously leaking too many goals.
I don't think relegation is currently an issue as we're likely to finish mid table or bottom half at present rate, but I do think selling Upson (and possibly Green) in January would present a huge risk of relegation. Even replacing them with experienced quality players still presents a risk as new players will need time to settle in.
It's reported Cole is most likely out 4-6 weeks but no official word as yet. Behrami out for 3-4 weeks.
I hope Noble is fit, and if so, think he should come into the team on the weekend. He will not fear ManU and will be keen to get involved after his rest.
All the problems we continually discuss can be solved if we establish new long term investment. Time is ticking and though we hope the club are right in saying we are fine as we are, I do fear problems come Jan if we have no new owners. It has gone quiet on that front lately and that's the way I like it – hopefully things are being done rather than just spoken about!
If we lose Cole we will have a problem holding the up,although we still have Franco who's doing a good job.
Cole will always find himself injured,because he puts himself around alot, chasing lost causes, charging things down etc,but that's the player he is.
If in January we Sell Cole or Parker then it's certain relegation.
Dyer's played 2 game's funny that when there's a possible last pay day coming up.
I agree RH. If Cole's injury isn't too bad I don't think we need to do too much in Jan except perhaps trade the likes of Faubert/Spector for a secialised right back, maybe Luke Young. I feel the team are improving and if we can keep the likes of Upson and Green until we hopefully have new ownership, we might be able to offer them good terms to stay on, should we wish it.
As good as Parker has been going forward, for the good of team balance, do you think we should put him back at DM for the match against ManU? If he had been moved there after we were 4-5 nil up he would have tracked back and most likely stopped those crosses coming in – as he has on many other previous occasions playing in that role. Can we clone him I wonder?!
broganq – Parker did indeed attempt to cut out the cross for the 3rd goal. Kovac was ambling on the edge of the box.
29 December 2007: the day I will never forget
I am still fuming about Carlton Cole's injury on Saturday.
Not so much that he was hurt, or that he will probably be out of action for a month or so.
What I still can't believe is that he wasn't removed from the game straight away.
And to compound the lunacy of the situation, he was allowed to take a penalty with an injured right leg that was clearly giving him grief.
For Christ sake, he even limped up to the penalty spot to place the ball.
I can't believe that there is any other EPL club who would have allowed that to happen.
I know the pitch physio can only tell so much from his quick assessment, but where were Cole's brains? Surely he could tell all was not right.
And then to put himself up for the pen…well never has my flabber been so gasted.
It was the most selfish, idiotic act from a player I have seen in a long time, and that's saying something considering the competition.
Could not agree with you more.
Full of trepidation however looking forward to watching the match.
Still waiting on news for Cole , anyone got solid info?
ok december has arrived,now where are the new owners? its time to step up and do what your all talking about !!! buy buy buy ! or is it bye bye bye? the next 4 weeks could be the biggest this season.or dare i say it the clubs history hangs in the balance? we must get new investment and the right owners this time round.far to many useless promises from previous owners have got us to where we are today so hang on,tin hats on and prepare for a rough 4 weeks.oh and manure and cheski dont help !!!!
According to the Guardian, we have delayed publishing our accounts by using a loophole in the law that gives us three months' grace.
Apparently it is the third time we have used this device.
Doesn't give the impression that a buyer is standing outside with a shed load of money for new players in January.
Here's the link.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/dec/01/west-…
Any serious potential buyer will have full access to our books anyway so publication of the accounts isn't too much of an issue. The delay is probably due to awaiting settlement figures for curbishley and other provisions if necessary.
Fair enough article, but I think it is still clear that we are missing an aggressive centre half. I think Da Costa needs time to learn how to defend his six yard area. He is good in the air, reads the game well and is comfortable on the ball, but not up to speed (watched Villa v Spurs afterwards and Richard Dunne was excellent at defending this area).
In short, we have very similar centre halves, so my suggestion is to give Kovac a go in that position. He has played it at international level and I don't think you can question his aggression. It may not work, but it's worth a try as his midfield work is a bit haphazard, but not as bad as some make out.
As for top 6, admire your confidence, but realistically we are planting seeds that will bear fruit next season, although I think we'll finish mid-table obscurity this season à la Curbishley.
great,sky just swapped our agent figures round with wigans and were now spending 5.5 mill !!! muppets
jon, those figures are correct if you look on the official site details are confirmed there of £5.5m
so someone swapped them around on here then!!!
I mentioned this on the previous thread but the official site stated that the figure included payments made to agents on the players behalf. I have not seen other clubs make the same statement. This coulld mean that the figure includes bonuses, salary cuts, endorsement percentages that players regularly pay their agents with the club simply deducting them at source to save the players the hassle
You'd think that was probably right as our total is very high considering the limited trading we have been doing. Imagine Man City's total if they included all of these other fees?
CH, of the different murmurings regarding new ownership, which do you think has the most chance of succeeding. Or do you think we may just continue on as we are for another year? And, here's one for you; seeing as you are in the finance game to some degree, what do you think is a fair price, giving that we need our debt paid off and money to fund new players.
forget jimmy bullard, we would have been top 8 if we'd hung on to collins. with a decent defence we would be laughing this year. he need another top class centre back to partner upson. this would allow da costa and tomkins to develop as replacements/reserves. Campbell wouldnt be a bad shout in my opinion… AND IT WOULD PISS OFF THE SPUDS!
Not for the first time is it LoftyPerch? I remember several games that CC has limped through several minutes of. I wonder if Zola is being advised to keep him on the pitch by the medical people or if he's making that decision himself?
That's a good point ClaretBobby. I'm not surprised about the delay in our present situation.
Thanks, but no thanks. Kovac over Tomkins? Naaaaaaah.
Brogan will answer this on the next thread as its just popped up and is appropriate.
If If If.
If we had kept Bellamy last season we would have finished top 6. If we had brought Franco in and not Tristan, we would have finished top 7.
If we can score 5 every week, we are fine with the defence we have got.
SJ that seemed to be quite a good anaylsis from saturdays game. On the third goal Illunga was beaten, and his man had two options inside the six yard box. As a coach, im not sure what zola/clarke were thinking up 5-0. In hindsight you would of thought you would of dropped your midfielders back to clog up our half of the field. But their were too many times when we were out numbered by Burnley on their attack. If they finished better, they could of tied us up.
The point I'm making is that we need a different style centre half. Tomkins is too similar to Upson. Obviously he is a better centre half than Kovac, but it is about the unit (not ability) and Kovac has played CB for Czech Republic and is worth trying as we are pretty fragile no matter what pairing we've used so far.
I am not a Kovac fan, as I think his decision making and positioning in midfield is not the best, but he doesn't shirk a tackle and he must have something if CR play him (they're not too shoddy).
Haha I love that last line!
Fair call Devo. I was actually thinking more of the first two where Eagles had plenty of time to get his crosses in. What I don't get is that Kovac is so experienced, if he was a kid you might be able to excuse some of his mistakes and inconsistency.
17th in the league and it does not lie. We are in trouble and will be fightjng relegation all season. Our defence is shockingly bad and now Cole is injured… Sorry folks, just trying to be truthfull.
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