Monday, October 30, 2006

 

In Pards We Trust!

West Ham 2 - 1 Blackburn

Firstly we're fans - we pay good money to be fickle. Secondly I'm so pleased for Alan Pardew right now, the writing would have surely been on the wall for him if we had not secured 3 points this morning.

Pardew proved a few of us wrong who groaned as we saw Sheringham had been drafted in to replace midweek goalscorer Marlon Harewood. Yet the evergreen Sheringham played one of the best performances I've seen from him in a Claret n Blue shirt. He obviously lacks pace but everytime he was about to lose the ball because of it he managed to get some kind of touch to push it to someone in a West Ham shirt - and some of those were sublime balls creating some fantastic link up play which we have been starved of this season. And what a goal! Great chipped ball from the right by Yossi and a towering header into the top corner ending West Ham's Premier League goal drought which goes back to September 9th when Zamora scored against Villa.

Sheringham for me ever so slightly overshaddowed Hayden Mullins for man of the match. Hayden was a rock in midfield and to be fair has been one of the better performers of the season so far. And he deserved his goal for his endeavours. I can't see Mascherano dislodging Hadyen - it sounds silly but I don't think he has anything that our Mullins doesn't! But it's going to be good to have two options for defensive midfield once we find form and players can be rotated into a confident unit - note I said once we find form - I do beleive we can pull this together! This was absolutely vital the 3 points we gained this morning as our next 3 fixtures pit us against Arsenal & Chelsea sandwiching a tricky tie at the Riverside.

Congratulations Alan and the boys - Our season starts here!

 

Three points at last!

Well, they've broken the duck, and done it quite well I thought. I hadn't seen the Irons play since the second Palermo game, but my impression against Blackburn was that they played quite well as a team generally. There were some defensive issues, but there were a lot of positives.

For a start, West Ham played with some conviction, like they really wanted to win it. Both fullbacks, but particularly McCartney, got forward on many occasions - in fact I think each put in more crosses than the winger in front of them (or behind them, I suppose).

As dubious as I was having seen NRC line up as captain, he acquitted himself fairly well with an active display. Both centre halves played well, particularly Ferdinand who I thought had an excellent game. The goalkeeper situation is looking better with Green between the sticks, and Teddy Sheringham did a fine job even without counting the goal.

Most importantly they (and Pardew) seem to have the strength of character to pull themselves out of the slump, and they are sticking together and working well as a unit. There is a lot of work to be done yet but I'm quite encouraged by this game.

Player ratings
Green 7 - looked comfortable. The commentators were critical of him for their goal but I think he was caught out by the swerve and was a bit unlucky for the followup.
McCartney 6 - probably a 5 defensively and a 7 going forward, so average of 6, although he does need to remember his first job is as a defender.
Ferdinand 7 - very good, read the game well.
Gabbidon 6 - had some off moments but otherwise looked better than the last couple of times I'd seen him.
Spector 7 - looks the goods to me, although I'd like to see Paintsil back.
Etherington 6 - fairly good with the ball at his feet, and good links with Spector, but crossing and some passing was poor.
NRC 7 - starting to graft a bit better.
Mullins 6 - seemed caught behind the game sometimes, but got a goal.
Yossi 6 - great dinked pass onto Teddy's head for our first, otherwise was anonymous at times.
Zamora 6 - tried hard and did do some really good work, but should have scored (or got an assist) with a glorious opportunity.
Sheringham 7 - great link play early on capped by a wizard goal. Got tired.

Subs - all get 6.

Sunday, October 29, 2006

 

Interesting Harewood Statistic!

Everybody has something to say about Harewood's form but I've just noticed that he has not completed 90 minutes for us since the start of the season - the right hand column is the minutes played.

19 Aug 1 CA(H) 3-1 90
22 Aug 2 WA(A) 1-1 65
26 Aug 3 LI(A) 1-2 72
10 Sep 4 AV(H) 1-1 60
17 Sep 5 NU(H) 0-2 45
23 Sep 6 MC(A) 0-2 64
1 Oct 7 RE(H) 0-1 6
14 Oct 8 PO(A) 0-2 21
22 Oct 9 TH(A) 0-1 81

I'm thinking another contributing factor to our decline this season is the fact that we don't have a settled side. How is Harewood meant to find form and hit the back of the net if he's not being given the playing time?? Last season it took him something like 5 games before he hit the back of the net (then he got 5 in 2 games). But the difference was he played 90 minutes in the games that lead up to it and had the time to find his feet so to speak. Also now there is extra pressure on him because nobody else is scoring either.

I really hope he scores tonight!

Friday, October 27, 2006

 

Match Prediction: Blackburn

This is it now - do or die time for Alan Pardew. I really want the team to win Sunday and Alan to keep his job as I think last season's acheivements were fantastic and it has been a combination of bad luck and lack of confidence that has seen West Ham have the worst run in the clubs history. Pardew still has to select the right team at the weekend though and just lately I'm not convinced he's been doing so.

I'm going to stick my neck out and say we will win this one. I keep waiting for us to turn a corner but it doesn't happen. It saddens me and I feel for Alan Pardew who must be going through hell right now. A few players have really let him down of late and they need to stand up and be counted. We need to go out all guns blazing, get the first goal, and just keep at them rather than sit back and hope like we did in the cup midweek.

Keep the faith - Come on You IRONS!!!

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

 

Blackburn Game on Fox

The official site says KO is at 4pm on Sunday the 29th London time

Foxtel online program guide says its live @ 3am on Monday morning (30th Oct).

Daylight savings starts at 2am this Sun 29th.

So I think that means it will be televised at :-

12.00am in WA
1.30am in NT
2.00am in QLD
2.30am in SA
3.00am in NSW,VIC,ACT,TAS

PS I'm in denial world. Its a happy place where nobody talks about football and the fountains are all full of ice cold beer and there are no ugly chicks (maybe the fountain has something to do with that)

 

Pardew Out!

You're only as good as your last game - or in Alan's case your last 8!! I don't ever remember West Ham losing 8 games in a row - this is an absolute sham.

I like Pardew and I really wanted it all to work out well for him and with a bit of luck here and there things may have been different. But I think if we are to stand any chance of staying up then we must make changes and we must make them now before it's too late. I think the club are in deep shit and I think we are going down.

Watch the proposed take over fall over this week, then watch the board fuck around whilst Pardew continues to praise his troops effort (which was piss poor today) and making feeble excuses for why we are playing like a pile of w**k!

Let's be under no illusions here - Chesterfield were not good today - West Ham were utter crap!

I think I need some time out.

 

Duck Broken - Thankyou Marlon!

It's only taken 672 minutes but finally West Ham have scored a competitive goal thanks to a 4th minute long range effort from Marlon Harewood.

The half time score is delicately poised at 1-0 but I think the corner count says it all Chesterfield 6 West Ham 0. This could still go tits up for us. We have one thing going our way though - Chesterfield are shit! ;-)

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

 

It's the Carling Cup!


Well so far Me & Norven have had a shitty run of luck with our West Ham bets and this is last chance saloon - I think we had 30 bucks each on West Ham to win the Carling Cup @ $26 or something to that effect. Our 100 on the Uefa is dead and buried along with other random match bets.

So to the match!

I fully expect on current form for the shit to hit the fan against Chesterfield tomorrow morning. Away from home against lower opposition is not an ideal fixture when you haven't scored a goal for 7 games. I've seen this many a time when things are going bad and then to add insult to injury some two bit piece of crap side comes along and dumps you out of the cup.

So Mr Pardew brace yourself because if this happens you are gone. I can not see any other scenario for AP if the worst were to happen. I think he'll be ousted for Curbishley by the end of the week if we do not get through the game unscathed tomorrow.

I'm gonna close my eyes and hope for the best!

 

Do We Really Need Anymore Reason To Hate This ****???


C&P The Guardian
Jermain Defoe will escape further punishment for allegedly biting Javier Mascherano during Tottenham Hotspur's 1-0 victory over West Ham United on Sunday but the ensuing altercation between both sets of players will be subject to a fresh disciplinary investigation.

The Football Association last night confirmed that Fifa regulations prohibit it from taking subsequent action over an incident that was dealt with by a referee. Only if the incident constitutes an "exceptional case", such as Ben Thatcher's forearm smash on Portsmouth's Pedro Mendes, will it be reviewed. In that case the FA banned the Manchester City defender for eight games.

The FA broke these regulations in August last year when a disciplinary commission agreed to downgrade Jermaine Jenas' sending off - then as a Newcastle United player - against Arsenal to a yellow card. On that occasion the world governing body warned the FA that any future transgression would be unacceptable and, as Steve Bennett cautioned Defoe at the time of his clash with the Argentinian midfielder, a retrospective red card is beyond its power.

"There won't be any further action taken against Jermain Defoe because we are not able to take any," an FA spokesman said after Soho Square took an entire day to conclude its deliberations. "If a referee deals with an incident, which he did, we are not allowed to retrospectively take disciplinary action in terms of upgrading or downgrading cards.
"The only exception to that is in terms of a very serious case, such as that of Ben Thatcher, where if the offence is deemed to be such that even if he had been sent off it would have warranted a further charge. In such a situation we can then bring that further charge. I don't think anyone is suggesting that that is the case here."

It emerged last night that Bennett reported both Spurs and West Ham for their players' response to the Defoe-Mascherano incident, when all 20 outfield players converged on the referee. The FA will write to both clubs for explanations.

Television footage will be studied to see whether the clubs should face charges of failing to control their players, which carries a fine of up to £250,000.

Defoe was quick to defend himself but admitted his reaction was not out of character. "This has been blown out of all proportion. When the West Ham player fouled me I reacted in a bit of a mischievous way, my character is a little like that at times," he said before retracting the latter part of the statement.

"The referee was standing right over me and if he felt I had done anything bad he would have sent me off. The incident doesn't look great on TV and I accept that as a role model to kids I have a responsibility to conduct myself in the right way."

Despite initially insisting that a sending-off would have changed the game, the West Ham manager Alan Pardew confirmed that the club will not be lodging a complaint with the FA: "We've got nothing to say about it, Javier is fine, he bears no grudges and our focus is on the next match," he said.

Mascherano said receiving a bite was the worse thing that has happened to him since he came to England and he was surprised the referee did not send off Defoe. "Things were not going well for me but this was outrageous and unexpected. The strangest thing was the referee didn't send him off. He was beside me and yet he didn't take out the red card."

Monday, October 23, 2006

 

Another game, another loss

ffs. 0-1 Mido in the 45th min. Green made his debut. At one stage we had Bobby, Marlon, Tevez & Cole on at once and still couldn't score.

If we lose against Chesterfield on Tuesday I think that might be all she wrote for Pardew....Konch won't play cause of accumulated cards I think.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

 

Match Prediction: Spurs Away

Just looking at the fixture list makes me think we are in a whole load of trouble right now. We need to win tonight IMO to even think about staying up with the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal on the horizon for November. What we need is a bit of luck and get the first goal. Last week at Portsmouth we had 59% of the play yet failed to score yet again. From the games I've watched (most of them) we don't seem to be creating an awful lot either.

Anyway with the negatives out of the way I actually think we are going to take this tonight. Don't ask me why, maybe it is becasue we are so deep in it that the players will take a good look at themselves and think 'we have to do something here'. It doesn't read pretty just one point above bottom of the league and Pardew will be letting his players know that it is just not acceptable.

I think Marlon is going to get off the mark today and we will either get a draw or nick a win. We must get some luck and score first though because going behind is not doing us any favours.

Friday, October 20, 2006

 

Pardew Nominated for Award!

For worst losing run ever by a football team??? No apparently for London Manager of the Year. He has been nominated alongside Watford Manager Aidy Boothroyd and Leyton Orient's boss whose name escapes me (you know that household name fella). It's amazing how quickly the tide can turn in football cos right now it seems silly Pardew getting an award considering his team have not scored in over 6 games. Let's hope the tide changes again soon and we can get this show on the road.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

 

2 Games in 2 Months Leaves Me Pondering.....

What's the fucking point me pissing my 100 bucks per month into Rupert Murdoch's pockets???? Isn't it time Fox started showing simultaneous matches on at least 2 channels considering there's 3 sport channels now? Or does Australia demand the viewing of other sports at shit O'clock in the morning???

Wake up Rupert!

What fox are doing now is the foxsports news channel is flicking over to Skysports news in the UK from 12am to 6am on a Saturday night/Sunday morning and giving regular updates on the other games. Not quite extra games though is it. It wouldn't hurt to dedicate at least 2 Sports channels to live football - it's not as though anything else is more important at that time of night.

 

Marlon Hits 2 for Reserves at Upton Park

West Ham named an strong team for their reserve clash at Upton Park vs Aston Villa. Marlon Harewood scored a spectacular goal from 25 yards after just 4 minutes before doubling our lead later in the half. Unfortunaely Villa came back and won the game 3-2 but it is encouraging that Marlon has got off the mark and it should do his confidence the world of good going in to our match vs Spurs at the weekend. Lets hope he can hit form and crush the yids at Shite Fart Lane this weekend. Tyronne Mears and John Paintsil also came through the game.

 

The Ice Age Cometh?

C+P TEAMTalk

Magnusson close to Irons takeover

West Ham are expected to make an announcement on Thursday regarding Eggert Magnusson's proposed £75million takeover of the club.

The Icelandic businessman, who is head of the Football Association in his own country, has reportedly met Hammers chairman Terry Brown this week for discussions.

His initial bid was turned down last week but he returned with an improved offer.

It is understood that an announcement on the matter, either through the Stock Exchange or the club, will be made on Thursday.

The funding for the deal is expected to be provided by a respected Icelandic financial institution - although not the investment bank Straumur-Burdaras of which Magnusson is vice-chairman.

The Hammers have also been linked with a takeover by a consortium headed by entrepreneur Kia Joorabchian, who orchestrated the transfer of Argentina internationals Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano to Upton Park.

Alan Pardew's men, however, have not won since the arrival of the pair and have lost their last six matches in all competitions, including a defeat to Italian side Palermo which knocked them out of the UEFA Cup.

Foreign investors have been attracted to English clubs by the lure of the next Premier League broadcasting deal, which will see income from television rise by an average of 67% for clubs in the top flight, as well as the prestige of owning a global brand.

Monday, October 16, 2006

 

Grant Leaves - Pardew Next??

Alan Pardew has stated that he fears the axe as he has just taken the club through it's worst run of defeats in its history and longest period without finding the net. Personally I think think this is just an attempt to gee up his players but how long does he have in the role to get it right???

"I think any manager who has lost six games has to have a certain amount of fear about his job - otherwise he would be silly," said Pardew.

"The media attention will be very strong I'm sure leading up to our next game against Spurs. But you have to be big enough and strong enough to take it.

"I am, and I hope the players are. I try to be consistent whatever the results but six defeats in a row must be the worst run I've ever had and it is not acceptable.

"I've always thought of our players as strong characters and now it is up to them to go out and prove it."

I don't want to see the back of him because I think this is a case of everything going wrong, bad luck and loss of confidence. However there could be a ready made replacement with Curbishley looking for work so maybe now is the right time - before its too late and Curbishley finds other employers.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

 

Goaless Record

Its official, we have now gone the longest time in our history without scoring a goal. Over 900 mins

Random thoughts...

- AP had two weeks to think things out and came up with Teddy to start up front?
- he must start Green next game
- Yossi contributed less than me and I wasn't on the pitch..he is surely carrying an injury
- amazing how both strikers always hit the wall at exactly the same instant
- why on earth bring on Mascherano with 5 mins to go?


Now 6 losses on the spin. Frustrating doesn't begin to describe this season...

A good job we have put off the next UK trip from April till Dec 07, by that stage we will be banging in the goals again (...in the Championship)

Saturday, October 14, 2006

 

Peter Grant Takes Norwich Post

Peter Grant will leave West Ham as Alan Pardew's assistant manager this weekend to take the Norwich City Manager's position left vacant by the sacking of Nigel Worthington.

I wish Peter well in his new position and it seems he will be sorely missed by Pards and the squad at West Ham. This is a good opportunity for him to prove his managerial talents and one he could not turn down. Good luck Peter!

Friday, October 13, 2006

 

To quote the munky:

Defensively things are looking up tho,

"Anton Ferdinand, John Pantsil, Tyrone Mears and James Collins are all expected to be available for the trip to Fratton Park"



* Hmmm - Anton Ferdinand has been arrested for an altercation outside Faces night club in East London!

** John Paintsil has been refused entry into the UK for visa reasons and will not be able to face Pompey!

*** Danny Gabbidon is doubtful with an injury as is Carlos Tevez!

Things are looking up defensively?? Bugger - this season has not been too lucky for us so far :-(

 

Deano: It's a temporary blip

Dean Ashton has said on his diary at icons.com that West Ham's dip in form is all about confidence. "It has been said in some papers and in a couple of e-mails that I have received, that maybe things would different if I was back in the side," he said. "I think that as well, of course I do. As a player you always believe that you can do, or add something to the team, but the players that are there are more than capable of getting good results. It's not down to the fact that I'm not there, it's just down to a little dip in confidence, that’s all. I think to get back on track West Ham just need something to go their way, it could be a freak goal for instance. As soon as that confidence is back everything will change. Some people think the atmosphere must have changed at West Ham, because it hasn’t been the greatest start to the season. But I can confirm it really doesn’t seem to have changed at all! Everyone knows that we have got to start picking up results again, but the team is confident. We know we just need one result to get us back on track, then we will be fine. It’s a very tight unit at West Ham and it has been for a while, long before I joined, so no-one is panicking. There has been a lot of criticism directed at Tevez and Mascherano since they joined, which I think is very unfair. They just need a bit of time to find their feet. When you are billed as a couple of the world's greatest players, there is massive expectation heaped upon you, but they have got to have time to adjust. There is a language barrier and all sorts of other things for them to get used to. I'm sure if English players went abroad it would take them time to adjust as well! They will be a huge asset to this club."

Deano also made a mention of his old gaffer. "I wasn’t particularly surprised to hear that my old boss Nigel Worthington got sacked at Norwich. The results were not going their way and a club like Norwich needs to be in the Premiership. If the results aren’t there, unfortunately the manager takes the brunt of the criticism. I was very sad to see him go because he gave me my chance in the Premiership, which I'll never forget. I think the other lads will be sad to see him go too, because not only was he a decent manager but he was a nice guy. But you have to move on, that's what happens in football. Nigel will definitely stay in management, definitely, you have to bounce back from these things."

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

 

Icecapades...

The Times is reporting a new takeover bid from Iceland.

Eggert Magnusson, president of the Iceland FA and a member of the Uefa
executive committee, confirmed last night that he had made a formal approach to
buy the Barclays Premiership club. It is understood that the English-speaking
businessman, 59, is prepared to put in £40 million of his own money in a bid
that values West Ham at about £75 million.

“We are at the very beginning,” Magnusson said of the proposed takeover.
“We have shown an interest but there is some way to go. West Ham are a great
club with a great history and good reputation. They have a very good manager and
great players and are backed by fantastic support.”

In other news the Club has announced a 6 million pound profit for 2005/6 up sharply on the 5.1 million pound loss of 2004/5. The turnaround can be attributed almost entirely to TV revenue from playing in the Premier League and the FA Cup run.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

 

West Ham 2006 compared to Spurs 1978

Spurs 1978 after signing Ardiles & Villa

5 games in 22 days (19 Aug - 9 Sept 1978)

Drew 1-1 Away to Nottingham Forest
Lost 4-1 Home to Aston Villa
Drew 2-2 Home to Chelsea
Lost 7-0 Away to Liverpool
Won 1-0 Home to Bristol City

5 points (in todays 3pts for a win terms)
Goals For 4 Against 14

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
West Ham 2006 after signing Tevez & Mascherano

6 games in 22 days (10 Sep - 1 Oct 2006)

Drew 1-1 Home Aston Villa
Lost 1-0 Home Palermo
Lost 2-0 Home Newcastle
Lost 2-0 Away Man City
Lost 3-0 Away Palermo
Lost 1-0 Home Reading

1 point
Goals For 1 Against 10

--------------------------------------------------------------------
And Spurs didn't have a tricky UEFA away tie in the midst of it.

Spurs summary with OA & RV
78/79 11th in Div 1
79/80 14th in Div 1
80/81 10th in Div 1, FA Cup Winners
81/82 4th in Div 1, FA Cup Winners, League Cup Finalists, UEFA CWC Semis lost to Barca 2-1 on agg

Not sure what it all means but I'm sure you guys will draw some conclusions in the comments ;-)

Sunday, October 08, 2006

 

News Update!

* We have a new banner! Had to get rid of that UEFA cup shit - it was making me tearful.

** Bobby Zamora has signed a new contract that will keep him at the club until 2011. Bobby has come out and said all he has ever wanted to do is wear the claret n blue shirt and he is delighted to be spending the best part of his career with the club. He also is backing the Argentine pair to come good stating that they fit in well during training and are enjoying life at Upton Park despite recent results.

*** A Hammers legend has signed our guestbook! Steve Bacon was the club photographer for many years and I have fond memories of him walking the perimeter of the pitch with his camera snapping away whilst I stood as a kid on the North Bank. Steve if you are reading this - good luck with your return to photography mate - its an honour to have you grace these pages - your warm comments with regards to this site are greatly appreciated.

http://whu-au.blogspot.com/2005/05/guestbook.html#comments

International Wrap

* Some of the Brisbane Hammers were present at the Suncorp Stadium last night for the dissapointing 1-1 draw between Australia and Paraguay. We had to wait until the 88th minute to see a goal and the Aussie fans must've felt victory was on the horizon before a calamitous own goal in the dying seconds snatched a draw from the jaws of victory for the Socceroos. The game gave us a chance to see former Hammer Stan Lazaridis make his final appearance in the Green and Gold.

** On the subject of dissapointing internationals, England could only muster up a 0-0 at home to Macedonia last night. Republic of Ireland proved equally inept with a 5-2 loss to.... wait for it.... Cyprus LOL! Wales got thumped 5-1 at home to Slovakia whilst Scotland bucked the British nations' dissapointing weekend causing the biggest upset of the night with 1-0 victory against Les Bleus! The victory vs France puts them top of the group which also contains Italy and Ukraine on a maximum 9 points from 3 games .

Thursday, October 05, 2006

 

Sicilian Beat Up

Sam Delaney is a West Ham fan who went to the 2nd leg in Palermo and his article in the online mag "The First Post" suggests the media reports of drunken English hooligans is not how it happened...

The Guardian Newspaper in particular can fuck right off when it says stuff like this

"The Fiver's always had a soft spot for the way West Ham play, and we admire
what Alan Pardew has done at Upton Park too. But almost everything else about
the club leaves us colder than a brass monkey in the Siberian Streaking
Championships. There's chairman Terence Brown; the blingtastic players, many of
whom strut around giving it the big 'I am' despite having won nothing except a
Division One play-off; the seedy, slightly menacing atmosphere outside the
ground; and - worst of all - the club's fans.

When those supporters
aren't banging on about the Hammers winning the 1966 World Cup single-handedly,
they're usually shrieking away in ridiculous faux-Cockney accents, even though
most of them live in detached Mock Tudor houses in Essex. (In fact the Fiver
half-suspects that Hammers fans are to blame for Dick Van Dyke's disastrous
accent in Mary Poppins.) The club has always had an 'element' too - which
resurfaced again last night when 20 fans were arrested and another six injured
after "a huge battle" with Palermo fans and police last night.

Palermo
police spokesman Virgilio Alberelli said 500 people were involved in the riot,
17 of whom, including five police officers, were taken to hospital. According to
one eyewitness: "West Ham fans behaved like animals, roaming the streets,
bottles in hand searching for anyone to fight." After an hour, police finally
managed to calm the situation and Hammers fans were put on three buses and
driven away from the centre. "


The next day a letter to The Fiver countered "Your report of West Ham's fans in Palermo was a disgrace. I was in that square throughout and we were not at fault in any way. Trapped by those animals, we just defended ourselves and waited for the police to step in. Instead, they just watched while we were bombarded by anything that came to hand, and only attacked us when we were getting the upper hand" - Michael Davies.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

 

Socceroos in Brisbane

(c+p) note: blatant advertising dropped at Dave's request ;-)

The Qantas Socceroos World Cup squad members are back in Australia and are urging Queensland Sports Fans to get to Brisbane's Queen Street Mall at 1pm on Thursday 5 October so they can thank them for their support over the past year.

After capturing the hearts and minds of a nation, the Qantas Socceroos World Cup squad members are back in Australia and are urging Queensland Sports Fans to get to Brisbane's Queen Street Mall at lunchtime (starting 11:30, Socceroos on stage at 1pm) on Thursday 5 October so they can personally thank them for their support over the past year.

Joined by local heroes from the Hyundai A-League's Queensland Roar, this is a unique opportunity for fans to join the Qantas Socceroos and relive some of Australian football's incredible achievements over the past 12 months.

Let's celebrate with the Qantas Socceroos!

Monday, October 02, 2006

 

1-0 Loss to Reading

Another lively 1st half full of chances but no WHU goal, another piss poor 2nd half, another loss.

Rather than get suicidal, I would suggest that we're not a million miles from a result. In both of the last two games we have created a bunch of chances in the 1st half and gotten frustrated, and had to chase the game in the 2nd half and played real shite as a result of the self doubt and mounting pressure. With just an ounce of luck in either opening 45 I would contend that the games might have panned out entirely differently. Big call perhaps but I honestly don't think we would have degenerated into such utter crap if we had received some reward for the 1st half chances.

Tevez just oozes class but the rest of em often aren't on his wavelength.

My campaign for a new formation starts here :-

........Carroll...........
Spector..Collins..Gabbs..Konchy
Yossi....Mullins.....Matti
.........Tevez.........
.....Marlon...Bobby

Obviously Anton/Mears/Paintsil etc can come back into defence when available (though I have been impressed with Spector).

Tevez likes to play quite deep. He creates so much mayhem in that deep position and has an amazing ability to draw in defenders and lay off great balls into the resulting space. So why not go at teams and play 2 strikers in front of him?

If it isn't working and we are getting pasted in midfield, then Plan B is easy enough to revert to by subbing Bowyer (or NRC or even Mashie) into CMF and taking off one of the strikers.