Monday, September 12, 2005
NRC: Have Faith in Marlon and Bobby
In an interview yesterday, Nigel Reo-Coker spoke about the recent criticism levelled at West Ham's strikers.
"Marlon Harewood and Bobby Zamora have come in for some criticism from certain people who don't think they can score goals in the Premiership, but I don't agree with that at all. I think they've had extremely unfair criticism.
"I believe in Marlon and Bobby, the rest of the players believe in them, and so does the manager. I also know that they believe in themselves and their own ability. I think they should be given a chance before people start jumping on their backs. Both of them have scored plenty of goals in the past and they will carry that on at this level too, I'm sure. They just need a bit of luck to get them going.
"It amazes me the way strikers get built up, only to get knocked down again at the first opportunity. Bobby and Marlon's goals helped take the club back into the Premiership and they were our heroes, so I think it's wrong for those same people to get on their backs now."
The West Ham midfielder also spoke about the club's failed attempt to sign Benni McCarthy. "It was a shame the club's attempts to buy Benni McCarthy from Porto fell apart at the last minute before the transfer window closed," he said. "He would have been a fantastic signing, but I don't think it's the end of the world by any means. It was a pity we didn't sign him but I have every faith that the strikers we have at the club will do a valuable job. If one or two forwards pick up injuries we may be short on numbers, but if that doesn't happen we'll be fine."
For now, Nigel is looking forward to tomorrow's match. "It seems like ages since we had a Premiership match so I'm really looking forward to Monday night's game at home to Aston Villa. The game is going to be shown live on Sky and I think they've made a good choice in screening this one because I have a feeling it will be a really exciting encounter. I don't know why I feel it; perhaps it's because night games at Upton Park tend to have a very special atmosphere. And when the West Ham fans get behind us under the lights it always seems to inspire us on the pitch.
"Our confidence is still pretty high despite defeat to Bolton in our last game. We know we're playing well and that we are coping very well with the step up to this level. Four points from three games is a decent start and everyone is now extra focused on building on that platform."
norven munky said...It is not just the normal boo boys either..I got a txt from Dave Rhodes who is normally a big Marlon fan, *during* the Villa game telling me Marlon was shit and to get him off...and as we know he ends up with a hat trick...
Dave said...Hmmm think you missed the irony! He already had the hatrick when I texted :-) I'm sure you are well aware of that though spunky munky ;-)
