Thankfully I miss
the first twenty minutes of the game before making it to the Bank of
Friendship. Weimann has already blown the chance of the season, shooting wide
after Jussi parries the ball straight to him. The first half is terrible, poor
passing, scrappy play and one low cross from Demel that is well intercepted by
Clark is about all that happens. Matt texts “We just can’t pass the ball.
Carroll poor so far. Hard to see how we can score. This is so bad I suspect
they will switch to the rugby here.”
Allardyce’s
formation is very negative, with Carroll labouring alone up front, three centre
backs in Reid, Tomkins and Pogatetz and no Jarvis or Vaz Te selected. Wouldn’t
it be nice just for once to attack a team that is in the bottom three, low on
confidence and can’t keep leads?
West Ham start the
second half with greater momentum and force a series of corners. Joe Cole plays
in some decent crosses and Carroll has one cleared off the line by Bent. Though
generally we make Villa’s centre backs appear superhuman in the air. Allardyce
decides to bring on a flair player in Vaz Te far too late after 67 minutes. And
why no £9 million Matt Jarvis?
The game turns on
a clumsy challenge in the box by Noble on N’Zogbia after 74 minutes. Benteke
coolly slots home the inevitable penalty. Four minutes later Tomkins gives a
free kick away on the edge of the box and N’Zogbia, who hasn’t scored all
season, curls a brilliant effort over the wall and into the net. Another player
whose season we’ve kick-started.
We go for it — too
late — after that. Vaz Te has a header and shot wide and a series of high balls drift into the box. Carlton Cole comes on for
Noble, but you somehow know that Vila will never blow another two-goal lead against us. Joe Cole curls in a good ball that Westwood backheads into his own net to give the Hammers some hope.
At the end of the
four minutes of added time Guzan has to make good saves from Nolan and Carlton Cole,
but it’s too little too late.
Five away defeats
in a row isn’t good enough, 4-5-1 isn’t working and nor is the plan of playing
for a draw against clubs in the bottom three. The football’s pretty terrible to
watch too. The only good news is that I’ve made one pint of London Pride last
all game, reducing the cost of this lunchtime torment. We desperately need to
improve against Tottenham.
3 comments:
Big Joe writes:
Result aside Pete and admittedly can't say I was thrilled about parting with the best part of £150.00 for five tickets, freezing my goolies off, getting a parking ticket and watching us lose I didn't think we were as bad as recent away games - i.e. The Arse, Sunderland and Fulham - On a pudding of a pitch we had most of the possession, and a lot more corners whilst if we hadn't made two stupid tackles, after the first 90 seconds they never looked like scoring.
You're not wrong about our tactics though - Jaaskelainen is becoming as dodgy as Alan McKnightmare and once again couldn't be arsed to dive as N'Zogbia chipped the ball over his head for their second goal - Along with Probert, Foy and Marriner, Clattenberg is one of the worst refs in the league - Not only was it obvious Carroll got bundled to the ground on TV by Vlaar but what they never picked up on was Benteke getting Carlton Cole in a stranglehold before holding on to each ear and trying to decapitate him in their penalty area in full vision of the linesman on the far side. A game we definitely should have got something from though.
Consulting the tea leaves I can't see Tottenham being over generous, if we choke against Stoke at the beginning of March the following two games are against Man Utd and Chelsea - which potentially makes WBA interesting
Did you listen to the 5 live special podcast A Tribute To Bobby Moore? West Ham didn't come out of it very well at all. Why did West Ham treat him so badly after his playing days? I'd be interested if anyone can shed any light on it?
Yes, he was treated shabbily by both West Ham and England after he retired. I'll see if I can get Radio 5 doc online...
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