Monday, April 10, 2006
What a load of *&%$!
I've had this feeling far too many times in my long suffering battle of supporting West Ham. Anybody feel comfortable when we were 1-0 up and Chelsea had a man sent off?? I very nearly fell for it - but not quite. For I was at that fateful game when we were cruising against a poor Wimbledon side 3-0 as Ian Wright and Super Johnny Hartson scored the goals inside the first half an hour which would surely seal a well deserved 3 points. Cue Hammers capitulation! As Wimbledon turned us around to go away 4-3 victors 7 years ago, this evening Chelsea made us look even more stupid. I have seen many leads surrendered by the claret and blue in my time but never have I seen us torn apart in such a manner by a team reduced to 10 men.
Shameful - a word which would not underestimate the lack of will and passion shown at Stamford Bridge this afternoon by a team that has shown much promise over the course of this season.
We'd better pull our fingers out at the weekend - for I shall be gracing Upton Park with my presence for the first time in 2 years. Expect a full match report here from myself Sunday for the Man City game and also the Middlesboro away game Monday as I'll be making the trip up to monkey land. If I play my cards right I may even get into the semi final at Villa Park :-).
Shameful - a word which would not underestimate the lack of will and passion shown at Stamford Bridge this afternoon by a team that has shown much promise over the course of this season.
We'd better pull our fingers out at the weekend - for I shall be gracing Upton Park with my presence for the first time in 2 years. Expect a full match report here from myself Sunday for the Man City game and also the Middlesboro away game Monday as I'll be making the trip up to monkey land. If I play my cards right I may even get into the semi final at Villa Park :-).
Posted by Dave at 1:28 am
beggers said...
Spot on Dave, we were appauling. Chelski were up for this game and I suspect they thought we would be too.I'd imagine they thought if we don't play well WH are good enough to nick this game, the fools! So they played with passion and enthusiam and we looked like a side who were happy with our position in the table so who cares. Well wakie wakie, we care! Here we are playing one of our closest rivals, one of the best teams in the leaguge, with an opportunity to stick it too them, to see how good we really are and we utterly blew it. We are being laughed at today and rightly so.
You'd have never guessed we had a extra man, they ran rings around our mid field, mind you we gave them an extraordinary time on the ball, Drogba was all over Collins, Ashton walked round the paddock enjoying the scenery.......!!!!!
Embarrassing!!!
PS Thanks for reminding me of that Wimbledon game, only just got out of therapy over that one!
said...
Their f**ckin' minds were still on the beaches in Dubai. Absolutlely ludicrous to go "holidaying" 1/2 way across the world mid-season.
Dave - have you taken Jac to the night markets yet? Hope WHU put on a much better display for your visit to Boro. We'll be listening out for your foghorn voice "Irons, Irons, Irons". 8-)
said...
That was Chelsea's status and experience working for them. They played the first leg against Barca with ten men and pretty much held their own. With people talking about Man United’s title chances, they had to stamp their authority on the league and unfortunately on us. The level that was required from us today is still something we aspire to and clearly we are not there yet. How we respond that result now is what we should be judged on in the closing weeks of the season. For all the progress we’ve made, that type of result was still on the cards, but so are victories against City and Boro – two teams below us.
whubris said...
I disagree Anon - I'm with the others. We were capable of much more than what we displayed. It was crap. I'd had a text message that suggested we'd won or drawn - having watched this on tape the day after, I was let down in a huge way. Chelsea played quite well (particularly Dogbreath, who I hate with a passion, but admit he had a cracking game), but WH weren't even at the races. Not a lack of talent but a complete lack of spirit.
I'd said to my missus, if we lost 37 games this season and won only 1 in the league, we would have wanted it to be Chelsea who we beat. So why weren't the team up for it?
Player ratings
Shaka 5 - not settled. Out of position many times.
Konchy 5 - too busy getting forward to remember what his #1 job should be. Also out of position a lot.
Gabbers 6 - Saved our bacon once and showed good positioning but was unlucky not to clear for their equaliser.
Collins 5 - Shame the rest of his performance outweighed that beautiful goal. Given the runaround by Dogbreath. Not at fault for their first, though, IMO.
Scaloni 3 - Gawd. Did nothing right - fell over trying a cross, and always either got skinned or gave away a foul. Totally at fault for their second - if I'd done that at age 10 I'd have hung my head in shame. Surely there's room for Anton in this squad!!
Etherington 6 - Tried when he could, which wasn't often. Covered for Konchesky too much.
Mullins 5 - Awful. At fault for one of their goals IMO - can't remember which.
NRC 5 - along with Muggers did nothing in midfield. We were overran.
Yossi 5 - Good in the first 10 minutes. No ball after that. Ugh.
Marlon 6 - Ran around a lot and put a cross or two in.
Ashton 4 - Couldn't be arsed. His mind was totally elsewhere.
I didn't rate anyone else because I fast forwarded through the last 20 minutes.
said...
I see a lot of disappointment here and it is shared...at 1-0 up, against 10 we were looking a real chance but lets not ignore the fact Chelsea are a class act and we have a vastly young side that is quickly learning that you need to stay focused for 90 mins...2 mins with minds wandering cost us 2 goals and we remained shell shocked for the rest of game...Its disappointing that we didnt get the bodies back behind the ball like we did against Arsenal and kept pressing all game...too much room was given and Chelsea chewed us up in minutes. As hard as it may seem, this might help us in the long run. Re Ashton, he has been disappointing of late..still at a loss as to why we dont back ourselves along the deck to him more regularly as we look a class act when we do...we just cant seem to impose ourselves on other teams in the air...nonetheless, Deano will be in for a rude shock as a suspect that some of our other up front options may be coming into play very soon...cheers BrisBaldy
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beggers said...Spot on Dave, we were appauling. Chelski were up for this game and I suspect they thought we would be too.I'd imagine they thought if we don't play well WH are good enough to nick this game, the fools! So they played with passion and enthusiam and we looked like a side who were happy with our position in the table so who cares. Well wakie wakie, we care! Here we are playing one of our closest rivals, one of the best teams in the leaguge, with an opportunity to stick it too them, to see how good we really are and we utterly blew it. We are being laughed at today and rightly so.
You'd have never guessed we had a extra man, they ran rings around our mid field, mind you we gave them an extraordinary time on the ball, Drogba was all over Collins, Ashton walked round the paddock enjoying the scenery.......!!!!!
Embarrassing!!!
PS Thanks for reminding me of that Wimbledon game, only just got out of therapy over that one!
said...Their f**ckin' minds were still on the beaches in Dubai. Absolutlely ludicrous to go "holidaying" 1/2 way across the world mid-season.
Dave - have you taken Jac to the night markets yet? Hope WHU put on a much better display for your visit to Boro. We'll be listening out for your foghorn voice "Irons, Irons, Irons". 8-)
said...That was Chelsea's status and experience working for them. They played the first leg against Barca with ten men and pretty much held their own. With people talking about Man United’s title chances, they had to stamp their authority on the league and unfortunately on us. The level that was required from us today is still something we aspire to and clearly we are not there yet. How we respond that result now is what we should be judged on in the closing weeks of the season. For all the progress we’ve made, that type of result was still on the cards, but so are victories against City and Boro – two teams below us.
whubris said...I disagree Anon - I'm with the others. We were capable of much more than what we displayed. It was crap. I'd had a text message that suggested we'd won or drawn - having watched this on tape the day after, I was let down in a huge way. Chelsea played quite well (particularly Dogbreath, who I hate with a passion, but admit he had a cracking game), but WH weren't even at the races. Not a lack of talent but a complete lack of spirit.
I'd said to my missus, if we lost 37 games this season and won only 1 in the league, we would have wanted it to be Chelsea who we beat. So why weren't the team up for it?
Player ratings
Shaka 5 - not settled. Out of position many times.
Konchy 5 - too busy getting forward to remember what his #1 job should be. Also out of position a lot.
Gabbers 6 - Saved our bacon once and showed good positioning but was unlucky not to clear for their equaliser.
Collins 5 - Shame the rest of his performance outweighed that beautiful goal. Given the runaround by Dogbreath. Not at fault for their first, though, IMO.
Scaloni 3 - Gawd. Did nothing right - fell over trying a cross, and always either got skinned or gave away a foul. Totally at fault for their second - if I'd done that at age 10 I'd have hung my head in shame. Surely there's room for Anton in this squad!!
Etherington 6 - Tried when he could, which wasn't often. Covered for Konchesky too much.
Mullins 5 - Awful. At fault for one of their goals IMO - can't remember which.
NRC 5 - along with Muggers did nothing in midfield. We were overran.
Yossi 5 - Good in the first 10 minutes. No ball after that. Ugh.
Marlon 6 - Ran around a lot and put a cross or two in.
Ashton 4 - Couldn't be arsed. His mind was totally elsewhere.
I didn't rate anyone else because I fast forwarded through the last 20 minutes.
said...I see a lot of disappointment here and it is shared...at 1-0 up, against 10 we were looking a real chance but lets not ignore the fact Chelsea are a class act and we have a vastly young side that is quickly learning that you need to stay focused for 90 mins...2 mins with minds wandering cost us 2 goals and we remained shell shocked for the rest of game...Its disappointing that we didnt get the bodies back behind the ball like we did against Arsenal and kept pressing all game...too much room was given and Chelsea chewed us up in minutes. As hard as it may seem, this might help us in the long run. Re Ashton, he has been disappointing of late..still at a loss as to why we dont back ourselves along the deck to him more regularly as we look a class act when we do...we just cant seem to impose ourselves on other teams in the air...nonetheless, Deano will be in for a rude shock as a suspect that some of our other up front options may be coming into play very soon...cheers BrisBaldy
