What a difference a week/day/45 minutes (delete as appropriate ) make. Rollercoaster ride doesn’t get close to describing what it is like to be a Hammers fan at the moment.
Just over a week ago West Ham had their proverbial pants pulled down and Manchester City administered a humiliating bare backside thrashing. One of the most depressing displays many of us can remember, made all too worse by the fact it was beamed live around the world.
As an advert to entice other players and global supporters to join our merry band it couldn’t have gone more disastrously.
We would have made a more positive impression if we had sent the Chuckle Brothers round to take a dump on the carpet in front of the TV.
Then just as we thought it was safe to venture out in public again our ‘star player’decided he didn’t want to be our friend anymore and was going to refuse to have a kick about with us because he wanted to go and play with the bigger boys.
Wallop! We took that sucker punch right between the eyes. We’re on our knees having been globally shamed and someone decides to aim a half eaten, luke warm, covered in chilli sauce kebab at our head.
Oh the indignity of it all. We spent the whole summer fending off the jibes that ‘star player’ was too good for us and he’d go to a ‘proper club’ etc etc.
It’s ok he’s signed a new contract. He is one of us. He’s got his own song.
That’ll teach us.
So it had been a pretty bad week overall. We were lower than the morals of an ungrateful French alley cat.
We needed something, anything to cheer us up. After the first 45 minutes against Crystal Palace it didn’t look hopeful.
But then something magical happened. There is a God after all. We got a second half display to warm the most miserable of cockles.
Over Christmas I had spent an enjoyable couple of hours watching Escape to Victory. And this was ours. No we didn’t want to leg it at half time down the tunnel that the resistance had made for us. We wanted to go back out and win the game.
Come on lads, let’s stick it to Johnny foreigner from south of the river. Andy Carroll did his best Pele impression walloping the ball in to the back of the net with both feet as high as his head.
This is what we needed. A display of old. Lanzini, Carroll and Antonio reminding us that we had more than one ‘star player’.
Oh how good it was to be a West Ham fan again. All was not lost, good always defeats evil (sorry, slightly over dramatic).
I could watch those 3 goals over and over again. Not just for the quality but for the significance that after a week of absolute s###, all was not lost.
Everything was going to be alright. That stray dog on the street wasn’t going to the pound, little Timmy and his family were going to take him in and make it all better.
Well that’s where we are now. Let’s see what the next week brings ……….
COYI