If Nobes had put that penalty away first game of the season. If Nolan’s fringe hadn’t been a millimetre offside at Old Trafford. If the linesman had spotted that 6 ft 3’ lump in the blue who was 4 yards ahead of everyone else at Goodison last Saturday…if all those situations had gone our way imagine where we might be now! If, if, if!!! Yes I know “if ifs and buts were candy and nuts we’d all have a Merry Christmas!” but I’m starting to feel a little festive…despite the Everton defeat.
I think what I’m trying to say here is that, even though we haven’t won in three whole games now (aaaah horror of all horrors the dreaded slippery slope is upon us!!!) there’s no need to revert to typical West Ham fan mentality. Well I’m not anyway. It’s not all about to go horribly wrong. We’re still right on track. But for a few chance events that went against us this season we could have even been right up Chelsea’s….oh you know, that place where we kindly invite their fans to stick the blue flag.
So doom & gloom-mongers be damned! Some of you are sensing another false dawn. Keep the faith!
Overall I was happy with our performance at Goodison. As they’re our bogey team I wasn’t expecting too much in the first place and a point would have been an early Christmas pressie. When I saw the state of the injury list I was even less confident of a result. Yet our ‘B’ team did ok. Apart from the first 20 minutes when Everton dominated the possession we were never really out of the game. In fact the full time stats suggest we were right in it. It could have gone either way and but for a few ifs, we could have nicked something.
A few minor gripes…perhaps starting with Zarate would have been preferable. He certainly made a difference with his energy and enthusiasm running at defenders and causing problems. Maybe, in hindsight, Carlton Cole wasn’t the man to go with. I’m not having a go at him here by the way, he has been an important and treasured player for us in the past and indeed this season he’s popped up with a couple of goals. I just think he is too similar to Carroll in his hold up play and we needed someone up top with AC with a bit more pace who could feed off those second balls and get in behind. But hey ho.
As for Tomkins, he’s probably got enough stick about his play-acting from his team mates by now so I’m not going to rattle that cage too much. I can imagine the dressing room ‘bantz’ (sorry I hate that word but it’s regrettably appropriate here) was pretty relentless afterwards. They’ll have ripped him a new one…in the nicest possible way of course! In his defence, as you know he’s not usually that type of player, he’s an honest guy who perhaps got carried away in the heat of the moment, was aggravated by a few decisions that didn’t go our way, was probably annoyed with the fact that Amalfitano was being kicked from pillar to post and, maybe, saw Ross Barkley’s ever-so-graceful swan dive and thought to himself “I’ll have a piece of that action!” No there’s no excuse, but after the heat he got from all media outlets over the weekend I’m sure that won’t happen again in a hurry. On the other hand, I do feel he could have been a bit stronger against Naysmith and stayed on his feet instead of looking for a foul, which subsequently allowed Lukaku in the back door to find Eto’o, then Osman for the winner. But again, minor gripe, it was good play from them and that bit of quality on the day left us empty-handed at Everton. Again!
Looking forward, I still feel we have lots to be happy about. Speaking to Carl Jenkinson last week he made the point that the players are buzzing right now. I know all players bang on about team spirit and togetherness in interviews but I really feel that at West Ham it’s not just a line that’s trotted out for the cameras. Whenever I’m over at Chadwell Heath I sense that there’s an incredibly positive atmosphere around the training ground. And I’ve been there when that has definitely not been the case. I’ve said before that they genuinely like each other and the manager and that shows on and off the pitch. It also helps when you’ve got quality in the squad. New faces, guys from other countries, different cultures and languages don’t always translate into team unity. But when those players have the talent, hunger and the drive to succeed and transfer that into success on the pitch, let’s just say it helps in the bonding process.
Jenks is from Buckhurst Hill, has a few mates who are Hammers fans, and he told me that they are always telling him how different it feels to be a West Ham supporter this season. It’s been a pleasant surprise for us all! We may have dropped down to the lowly position of 6th in the table but the upcoming fixtures suggest we might be able to haul ourselves back up to the Champions League spots. The longer we stay up there the better. Finishing in a Europa League place is something the players are genuinely targeting. Although having said that, it can be somewhat of a poisoned chalice as Stoke City and Swansea found out to their detriment. Both had difficult domestic seasons because of their European football endeavours but, come on, wouldn’t it be amazing to go into our final season at the Boleyn with the chance of entertaining some quality European opponents! Looking at the fixture list you feel that, right up until Boxing Day, we’ve got every chance of taking something from each of those games and cementing a top 6 position. You just hope that the treatment room is a little less busy over the festive period.
And finally, I’m really looking forward to the Hammers hosting (and hopefully battering) Newcastle. I know they’re one of the in-form teams but they have to lose sometime and if we get a few key players back then why shouldn’t we be the ones to beat them! Earlier this year they had the likes of Cabaye and Remy to punish us, this time around it won’t be so one-sided.
This fixture always calls to mind for me my best ever outing at Upton Park. Monday 22nd April 1986. The infamous 8-1 game. I still have the newspapers from the day after. What a game, a total demolition job. Alvin Martin scoring a hat trick against three different feckless keepers (one being Peter Beardsley!) Stewart, Orr, an OG from the hapless Roeder, super sub Paul Goddard coming on to score with his first touch of the game and of course Frank McAvennie. It was a night I’ll never forget.
Now I’m not saying a win this Saturday would be quite as emphatic as that one (our biggest league victory since the 8-0 pounding of Sunderland in 1968), but our team has definitely been playing with that same spirit and flair as the boys of 86’ so IF they continue like that I’m more than hopeful of snatching all 3 points. IF, IF, IF…