I'm Forever…

Where to start?. League Cup quarter final, against the cup holders, with only 2 wins in the league all season it didn’t look great, even more doubt was added when the line ups where announced. “Jonathan Spector and Radoslav Kovac in centre Midfield”, not usually what you want to hear when you’re about to face “the best in the country” (or so they say), I was so confident of disappointment I said to a friend before kick off, “if Spector find’s the net, I’m getting him on my shirt this season” (oh, how my antics have come back to haunt me….).

Despite the line up, I was quietly confident that we wouldn’t repeat the performance we gave at Liverpool and just roll over, but no one could of predicted the 90 minutes-[sorry, 95*..it was Manchester United after all]- of football that was to follow. I think it’s fair to say that everyone pulled their weight, after a little bit of pressure in the opening moments the team reacted well, and answered with a goal, even if it was ruled offside, Obinna was able to get a shot away far too easily, and I think the players picked up on that, they knew if they put the pressure on, pressed for possession and moved the ball around they could get something from the game, the surprise element, secret weapon if you will, was undoubtedly Jonathan Spector, no one, and I mean NO ONE, could of predicted the performance he was going to give, this is a player who is notoriously bad in defence, playing in midfield, on paper, I would of been a better option, but according to Avram Grant, Spector has been playing in midfield during training sessions for about a month now, so I can only give credit to the manager for giving him a chance to play ‘out of position’ in training and spotting something the previous 3 managers missed, and also to the player for actually asking the manager to have a crack at midfield, then stepping up and working hard to get the chance. Not only did he take he’s opportunity, he took it with style, he was a different player to the one we all know, he revealed a side of himself that no one had seen before, not at this level any way, he was all over the place, in a good way! and spent most of the first half skipping past United players like they wasn’t there, on top of a tireless performance, he found the net twice! (the shirt has been ordered….). BoaMorte also had he’s best game in a Claret and Blue shirt, he got in the face of the opposition and caused them some problems, he still had moments where he looked sluggish off of the ball, but I put that down to both, he’s age and the weather. Another player finding the net twice was Carlton Cole, who, by all means hasn’t had the best season so far and has been kept on the bench by Freddie Piquionne for most of the year, he took a little while to get settled, but once he did he always looked like a threat, he made a few clever runs into the box, one of which was rewarded with a headed goal, he’s second goal was something we all want to see more off, held off the defender, skilful little turn and a sweet finish, Cole is very much a ‘confidence’ type of player, and scoring 2 good goals against Manchester United will do wonders for him, hopefully he can carry on like that in the league. Every player was tireless until the end, Tomkins impressed and put in an almost flawless performance, it’s always nice to see an academy player break through and look like a solid player for the future, one player who caught the eyes of many was Nigerian forward Victor Obinna, he added the extra dimension we needed, he got himself, a tidy, 4 assists! and would of gotten himself on the score sheet had he’s goal not taken a deflection off of an offside Jonathan Spector, almost every attacking move heavily involved him, he made United’s back 4 look like a bunch of school kids.

Now, most United fans will argue they had a reserves outfit on the pitch, all I can say to that is…”and we didn’t?”, we has one of our worst defenders playing centre midfield and he managed to score twice!, United’s team included plenty of talent, definitely a side that could finish mid table in the premier league (Giggs, Anderson, Hernandez, Fletcher, to name a few), so there it no excuses, the better team won, it just goes to show what can be achieved when a team pulls together and works hard, I’m proud of every single one of them, that’s the sort of game us fans have been waiting to see all season, no, all year, no, all decade!.

Player Ratings.

Robert Green(GK): 9/10, made some fantastic saves, kept a clean sheet, only thing stopping him getting 10/10 is the dangerous clearance he made that hit Macheda, apart from that, faultless.

Tal Ben-Haim(LB): 7/10, put in a solid shift at left back, made a few mistakes and let some easy crosses come in, but worked hard to close the opposition out.

Matthew Upson (CB): 7/10, again, another solid shift and worked hard keep the clean sheet.

James Tomkins (CB): 8.5/10, cool, composed and mature. Smart defending and fast reactions will be he’s trademark if he plays every game like this, very promising signs from the academy graduate.

Julien Faubert (RB): 6.5/10, it’s been a while since he’s had a proper run out in a game of any importance, he played some bad passes and took too long on the ball at times, but also put in a good effort, I’ve seen him play worse.

Pablo Barrera (RM/RW): 6/10, I still have a lot of faith in him, but he’s going to have to start turning he’s promise into product if he wants to keep me on he’s side for much longer, lots of running, but not much else, still failed to make an impact in he’s time at the club so far.

Radoslav Kovac (CM): 6/10, he was put into the squad to do a job and cover a position that we are stretched in due to injuries, and that’s what he done, put in a good effort and stuck to the task in hand, but still failed to impress.

Jonathan Spector (CM): 10/10. There’s a first time for everything. I think it’s pretty safe to say he’s found he’s new permanent position. 100% work rate from the USA international, scored twice, and was heavily involved in creating he’s 2nd goal. Ran at the united back 4 all night and was rewarded with for he’s perseverance and hard work.

Luis Boa Morte (LM/LW): 7.9/10, played he’s best game in claret and blue since arriving way back in 2007, got into the other teams face, caused them problems and got physical when it was needed, had times where he was looking a little sluggish, but lets not forget he is ancient (33) going by footballing standards and it was absolutely freezing so I didn’t exactly expect him to keep up with the youngsters for a solid 90 mins, but he stuck at it and showed a bit of passion.

Victor Obinna (LF/ST): 10/10, he’s always looked a threat since he arrived, he was so comfortable in this game he was turning on the skills, little step overs and cheeky little chips into the box, and absolute joy to watch. He showed great physical strength as well, fought hard to keep the ball when passes to him where over hit and used the ball effectively when he had it, a few dangerous shots on target too, just a shame he wasn’t rewarded for he’s efforts with a goal or 2, but he did get himself 4 assists, which is impressive on it’s own, so the fact he was able to provide 4 assists against Manchester United made it that bit more impressive.

Carlton Cole (ST): 9/10, took a little while to settle and get into the game but when he did he was running riot, you could really tell he was enjoying it, with every ball played into him he’s confidence grew, making intelligent runs into the box, utilising he’s strength to hold off defenders and buy he’s team mates a bit of time to get forward, just the display we all wanted to see from him, it’s been a long time coming this season, I sincerely hope he can carry it on in the league and help us creep up the table and into safety.

So, we’ve ended Manchester United’s longest unbeaten run in 11 years, and it wasn’t a lucky 1-0, oh no, it was a good old fashioned thrashing 4-0 to the cockney boys. Was sacking Zeljko Petrovic and hiring Wally Downes a stroke of genius by the board?, it’s beginning to look that way, but only time will tell, something tells me that Petrovic was the main factor in our bad start, there’s been a few reports of players saying he was “arrogant” and causing some unrest in training sessions with the way he was treating the players, and that’s never good to have someone in the camp causing rifts, be it a player, manager, assistant manager…whoever, the air seems to have been cleared now and spirits are starting to be lifted with 2 back to back victories, both with plenty of goals. Will we start to see the true ‘Manager’ Avram Grant in the weeks building up to Christmas now Petrovic is gone?, maybe, we will just have to wait and see, from what I’m seeing though, I’m a lot more confident about premiership football next season than I was 2-3 weeks ago.

Where to start?

Last weekend’s embarrassment would probably be a good place to kick things off, it’s been a long long times since I last saw any West Ham team roll over and take a beating like that before, we was so bad Liverpool lost interest in the second half  but apparently that was just us being “hard to break down”.  Something has to change doesn’t it?, I’ve defended Grant for far too long now, I’m a big believer that Managers should be given time, no one can work a miracle over night, it takes time to form a bond with the players and to find a system, but having said that, Avram has been in charge since the beginning of the summer so he’s had plenty to time to get a system together at the very least, he’s even made a few signings, so it’s not as if he’s working with a squad he hasn’t picked, so in terms of results he really has no excuses, but week in week out that’s all we seem to get, excuses, granted we’ve had a few big decisions go against us this season, but we shouldn’t be relying on penalties to win games, we should be good enough to compensate for poor refs, after all you can’t blame referees for making the team play like wet weekends and surrendering 2 goal leads can you?.

As for the signings Grant made in the summer….lets have a look at them shall we? Pablo Barrera (roughly 4Mil paid) I’m personally a fan of Barrera, I’ve seen him play for he’s old club UNAM a few times and he always looked sharp, running at players and causing problems, however, this was in the Mexican Primera División, I think the step up to top flight English Football might be too much, he has plenty of promise, and maybe just needs time to settle (as most south American players do) but hopefully he finds he’s feet, gets played regularly and starts to cause teams problems.

Frédéric Piquionne (around 1Mil paid) so far, in my opinion has been the best of the new arrivals, he may be 31 but he’s got plenty of life left in him, admittedly I was hoping we would of aimed a bit higher and gone for an out and out goal scorer to secure premiership football this season,  the major draw back with this player is, one game he will look like a world beater, cover every blade of grass and find the net, then the next game he will disappear and struggle to get involved. Inconsistent.

Winston Reid ( reported 4Mil paid) 4 Million English pounds for a player, who, by all means is virtually unproven, OK you can argue he had a good world cup, but look at the bigger picture, that was 3 games…., so far all he’s managed is 2 games, an injury, and a spell with the reserves, we paid well over the odds for this player, silly spending when that could of been 4 Million towards a striker, or even a Proven defender.

Thomas Hitzlsperger (signed on a free from Lazio) the first signing of Avram Grant, when it was revealed that we signed him, I thought, “wow, has change really come?” (of course all of that optimism was washed away with the string of mediocre signings that followed, but..I digress), Hitzlsperger on a free was an absolute steal in my opinion, a great player with a wealth of experience, he was involved in almost every goal during pre-season, but just before the season kicks off, he’s picks up a knock on international duty with Germany…the date he’s expected back keeps getting further and further away, thats down to nothing more than bad luck, the sooner he returns to fitness the better.

Ruud Boffin (undisclosed), in Holland he’s seen as a bit of a joke….not much more to say about him…I think that says it all.

Lars Jacobsen (Free from Blackburn) 31 years old, plenty of experience, bought in at the last minute to fill that much needed RB gap, for a free I can’t complain, we needed to improve at RB and have a consistent player for the position, he does all of that, and OK signing, but nothing to get excited about.

Tal Ben-Haim (on Loan from Portsmouth until January) after failing a first medical test, you’d think anyone with a bit of common sense would steer well clear?, not our Avram, he insisted on chasing the unfit, overweight, newly relegated defender, and after only 2 apps for West Ham, with January rapidly approaching, I fail to see why?, maybe Avram just wanted he’s mate to be on premiership wages for just that bit longer?, another pointless signing by all accounts, I think Grant was still going through he’s “getting over the relationship” period with Pompey when he signed him, if he had he’s own way we would of had more Rejects from the rock bottom relegation disasters arriving at West Ham (O’Hara and Brown where both linked with us throughout the summer).

Victor Obinna ( on Loan from Inter-Milan) the last time we loaned a player in from Inter it was a bit of a disaster (Jiménez), so obviously I was a bit sceptical about the arrival of Obinna, he spent last season with LaLiga strugglers Málaga finding the net only 4 times in 22 apps(probably had over 200 shots on goal though…per match that is…), so far for us he’s looked strong on the ball and hungry to get involved, but he’s too quick to pull the trigger at times, if players had a tag line, he’s would be “Victor Obinna: More shots than a Western, and still no Goals”, but still, I’ve got plenty of time for him all the time he’s putting in a shift and trying to make things happen, for a loan signing he’s not bad at all, apparently both him and Avram are keen to make the move permanent, but I’m guessing if we’re still bottom of the league come the time he’s due to go back to Inter, he’s keenness to make the move long term won’t be as profound.

So, Where do we go from here?, we’ve played 14 games, with only 9 points and a GD of -14 to show for it. There’s lots of talk about sacking Grant, but the board seem adamant he’s staying put, part of me thinks that’s because they chose him, and to change to quickly would make them look as clueless as Avram, but I think when the clubs safety is at risk, you have to swallow your pride and allow your egos to take a bruising once in a while, am I saying “sack Grant”? …no, not unless there’s an improved replacement on standby?, reports today have been saying that the club are ready to send Željko Petrović packing, apparently he has a job waiting for him in Japan with J-league team ‘Urawa Red Diamonds’, if that’s the case I really don’t see what we are going to achieve by ditching Petrović, unless of course, the door is being opened for Paolo Di Canio to step in as assistant manager?…only time will tell on that one.

On another note, the consistent wave of E-mails I’m receiving from the club, advertising game tickets for a knocked down price are really starting to get on my nerves, not only because it’s verging on spam, but because it’s basically a kick in the nuts to loyal season ticket holders, clearly season ticket fans don’t mean a thing to Stalinvan and Goldbels, they’ve got your money, you’ve got your ticket, that’s you sorted as far as their concerned, their main target now is to attract one off ticket buyers, with adverts like “See Wigan For £20″ (I like the fact we are so bad at the moment they have to advertise to see the other team!). Of course they will use “offers” like this whenever they argue that they’re “taking football back too the public” ( a popular line used by them every time they try to butter us up for the Olympic move), I fear they are trying to turn the club into a franchise, a brand, a money making machine, before securing results and pushing up the table, I’m not a business expert but even I know all of those things come naturally with success, so surely that should be their main priority, I think its just a case of running before we can walk, and we all know that leads to grazed knees.

After a poor display on the weekend, gifting Newcastle 3 points, The Hammers really needed to respond by progressing in the League Cup, but within the first 10 minutes or so the visitors took the lead, and we was lucky it was only 1 goal between us at half time, after the break things started to pick up…slowly but surely, still with moments of suspect defending from West Ham, who are clearly missing the presence of Upson at the back (out through injury). In the dying stages of the game, afters a few well worked attacks from the Irons, something finally found the back of the net, Super Scotty Parker no less, bringing the home side level with he’s head, you could tell how much it meant to the West Ham Skipper (taking the armband through the absence of Upson)  as Upton Park erupted, the expression on he’s face was a mixture of relief and joy. The introduction of some fresh legs  by Manager Avram Grant really saw the game start to sway towards the home side, in the first half of extra time West Ham heaped on the pressure, and an intelligent piece of play from local lad Mark Noble set up Defender Manuel DaCosta who fired the East Enders in front, after the second goal the game was for the taking, another fantastic pass from Noble found the Nigerian International Victor Obinna who worked well to hold off the defender and find the net with ease, he’s celebration was just as good as he’s goal!, back flips that would put to shame Manchester United’s Nani’s aerobatics.  After a pretty poor display for most of the match from the home team, Stoke failed to take advantage and put the game to be early on, and a spirited come back now sees the Hammers through to the Quarter Finals of the league cup, we all know Grant likes a cup run, but is it too early to be thinking of Wembley ?.

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Stand Out Players.

Mark Noble, as soon as he came on, the game began to turn in favour of West Ham, now he’s being played in he’s rightful position, alongside Scott Parker in the centre, he really looks like he’s enjoying he’s football, skilful, intelligent, positive and able to pick a good pass 9 times out of 10. Scott Parker every game he gives 110%, after we went behind, he had moments where he looked like the pressure was getting to him, but Credit due he stuck at it non stop and had a few good efforts on goal from outside the box, eventually it was him who drew us level (who else would!?), at the moment there seems to be nothing he can do wrong, definitely deserves an England call up, simply the best English midfielder at the moment, no two ways about it. Also I feel I need to give some credit to Pablo Barrera, who was involved in almost every single West Ham attack, he lasted the full 120 minutes, the same credit is deserved to Julien Faubert who’s been out of favour at West Ham since the arrival of Lars Jacobsen, but he lasted the full 120 minutes as well even though he should of been taken off in the dying moments when the game was secure and he seemed to have picked up either a knock or cramp or just general fatigue (as did Pablo Barrera), they both stuck at it and worked hard to secure the victory.

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Keep them on the bench!.

Benni McCarthy showed why he’s in the reserves week in week out (not only because he’s struggling to find match fitness), he done very little all the time he was on the pitch, he was on to provide support for Cole, but Carlton looked like a lone striker as big Benni was no where to be seen at times, a poor performance from the South African, I know he’s been getting a lot of  attention for the wrong reasons lately, with all that business about losing weight, but a player doesn’t get that bad over night, I get the feeling he’s never really settled since he arrived and the way the owners constantly make a mockery of him in the media can’t be great for he’s confidence, having said that, he is in he’s twilight years now (32) and he doesn’t seem too bothered weather he gets first team football or not, he’s playing regularly with the reserves, and getting paid premiership wages, if he really wanted to prove himself and get out in front of the big crowds you would think he’d work he’s socks off to get back into the team on a weekly basis?.

The Hammers travelled to Sunderland without winning an away game for over a year, so with such a poor record on the road and Sunderland being such a difficult place to get anything from naturally I was optimistic, because if there’s anything I’ve learned from being a Hammers fan for all these years, it’s that you can never write us off!.

Recently the new Manager has come under some pretty unfair criticisms, OK we haven’t had the best of starts but lets not forget where we was last season, you don’t become a winning team over night, things take time in football, unfortunately these days ‘time’ is more of a luxury than a given for most managers, but things look like they’re finally clicking for Avram, with an encouraging point away at stoke on the weekend followed by a convincing victory over Sunderland on their own turf in the Carling Cup.

THE LINE UP
When I first saw the line up for last night’s clash, my first thoughts where, we’re obviously not going to defend and hope for a goal on the break, with a fairly balanced team and plenty of attacking venom up front. My only concern was the defence, I wasn’t totally confident it would work, but in fairness they held their own against some dangerous opposition (Bent, Gyan, Welbeck), after a few suspect performances in previous games Tomkins looked to have recovered, he stepped up he’s game and gave a solid, mature display.

SPOTLIGHT
A few players that really stood out for me on the night:-young up and coming keeper Marek Stech, at only 20 years old he showed a wealth of maturity, took charge of he’s defenders and dominated he’s area most of the time, claiming balls from the air and dealing with the very little he did have to do very convincingly. Victor Obinna and Frédéric Piquionne looked like a partnership in the making, after a slight misunderstanding in the opening stages, the two really linked up well, both players read each other well and they looked like they was on the same wave length, definitely an encouraging sign as both of them also managed to find the back of the net (the question is will Grant dare to drop Cole for Spurs on the weekend and play the same strike force?-that clearly worked-). Scott Parker it goes without saying, another solid performance from “Mr.West Ham”, Scott will be key for us this season, very excited for the return of Thomas Hitzlsperger who will only add to our ability to keep possession and dominance in the midfield (virtually another Parker type player). Pablo Barrera although the new boy was a little off on he’s finishing, he caused plenty of problems for the Black Cats and looked very lively, also lasted the 90mins after being replaced by Noble who played out the last few minutes of added time.

OK, so as we are all aware, Avram Grant and Tal Ben-Haim will be missing from Saturday’s vital clash with Stoke, due to the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur and as you would expect there is plenty of fans up in arms about it all, at first I was neutral, taking an ‘I’ll sit on the fence’ stance and just not get involved in the situation, but seeing as so many people are jumping to attack Grant over he’s absence, I thought I would take it upon myself to-not jump to he’s defence, but rather add my opinion-.

A line that is becoming common amongst a lot of the ‘fans’ (so I have found any way), is “I would work for West Ham on Christmas if I was the manager, Grant need’s to get he’s priorities right”, now I would imagine a high percentage of the the people saying that aren’t even Christians let alone step a foot inside a Church, so working on Christmas wouldn’t exactly be comparable to working on Yom Kippur if you was a practising Jew. Another point I would make to people using this as an argument would be that West Ham prides it’s self on being a hugely diverse club, weather you’re on the pitch, on the bench, in the dug-out or in the crowd, there is no divisions, we’re all Claret and Blue, so rather than moaning about OUR Manager taking time off to observe a religious day, why not try getting behind him, showing that you’re understanding of someone else’s culture and religion and most importantly showing a United front to all the doubters?, I’m sure there will be plenty of criticism from the media without our own fans turning against him.

Avram’s absence will not be as big of a problem as most think, after all he is picking an preparing the squad before the match and I haven’t exactly seen him “rallying the troops” during a game, Zeljko Petrovic will be in charge, with Kevin Keen and Paul Groves to offer support, that is a more than capable line up of senior staff, Petrovic has a wealth of experience, gaining promotion to the Eredivisie with RKC Waalwijk and then assisting Martin Jol to gaining European football with Hamburger SV.

All is not lost, if we play like we did against Chelsea (minus the mistakes), dominating possession, causing plenty of problems then Stoke are easily beatable, lets not forget these players are professionals, they are more than capable of remembering a few tactics over night.

West Ham-UNITED we stand….IRONS! !.

So, Avram grant has made he’s first Summer Signing with Thomas Hitzlsperger, Former Villa, Stuttgart, Lazio and Chesterfield, yes thats right … Chesterfield, Midfielder. It is understood that the hammers have him on a 3 year contract, for an undisclosed fee.

The 28 year old proved to be a Key player in helping he’s national side Germany qualify for the 2010 World Cup, only to be dropped by Joachim Löw when he picked the final squad for South Africa.

Thomas Hitzlsperger

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As a West Ham fan I am rather pleased with the new Signing, for once we are buying players that have proven themselves to be consistant at the top flight, could this be the dawning of a new era?, an era where we don’t blow millions on youngsters who get Home sick and leave us after half a season…(like Savio), an era where we don’t offer outlandish contracts to old has-beens so they can use our club as a retirement home…(like Ljumberg) ?, I can only hope so.

There is a part of me that can’t help thinking that Sullivan and Gold have only signed Hitzlseperger because of he’s nickname…”The Hammer”, after all it wouldn’t surprise me after reading week in week out we are being linked with players like Beckham and Henry, players that clearly would only serve one purpose…that purpose being they would sell shirts and lots of them, We all know the new owners are on a war path to make West Ham a franchise like Arsenal or the likes, by trying to move us into the Olympic Stadium.

I expect this summer to be a bit of a rollercoaster, lots of ups and downs, without a doubt there will be one of two Signings that leave us all scratching our heads, but in the end I trust Avram Grant knows what he is doing and im sure he will work something out with the Squad he has, I’m also confident that we will be able to build on last seasons shocker of a season and improve, onwards and upwards from here on out!….Surely?.

Avram Grant

So now we are staying up … (unless Hull go mental and score an unreal amount of goals but lets’ be honest that’s not going to happen is it?) we have another season of premier league football to look forward too… but before that I have a feeling we as West Ham fans are going to have a long, somewhat frustrating summer ahead of us, what with the owners hogging the media spotlight at every given chance like some old dried up queen that used to be in a mediocre west end musical back in the day and won’t let anyone forget it any time soon, causing nothing but disruption and rifts between them and the players/manager with statements like “every one bar parker is up for sale” – Fair enough he is the one player that has been consistent this season for us but what about other players that have been useful for us at times? .. how must they feel? … players like Faubert, Ilan, Behrami, and even more so younger players like DaCosta and Tomkins, and as for bringing in new blood, who would want to play for a Club who’s owners are constantly moaning about them in the papers? …it seems a bit of a “shooting yourself in the foot” situation at times. In another one of their media moments they promised we would be “Net-Spenders” this summer and they have said they have some “star signings” lined up, making the point that we MUST improve the squad for next season because if we don’t we will be in the same position this time next year, so why is it we have only been linked with a championship player, and players from a team that was relegated weeks before the season ended?  … doesn’t seem like much of an improvement too me?, of course there is plenty of time to go yet and my opinions may well change in the coming months and I hope we make some Quality signings, As for Zola… He has to be replaced in the summer for us to progress, he happened to still be there when they squad pulled their fingers out and got a few decent results to keep us up, It is obvious the players have a great deal of respect for the man and they move as a unit with him, you only have to look at some of the celebrations from the goals this season to realise that, but I personally think that’s more of a message to Sullivan and Gold, the players just saying “look stop talking bad about us in the press, If you insist on being divided then we are going to take the managers side, not yours”.

Hopefully this summer won’t be as bleak and infuriating as predicted and we make some productive moves on the market.

COME ON YOU IRONS !.

So after six back to back defeats the mighty hammers ventured up to mersey side looking for a point or 3, and Zola going with the 4-4-2 we all know and love I thought we might just be in with a chance of grinding out a result.. then just moments before kick off we hear the news that Behrami is injured in the pre-match warm up, on hearing that news all my previous thoughts on getting anything from this game went out the window … not only because Behrami would of been a huge miss for us but because it just seemed like our usual luck was kicking in earlyer than we were used too, putting all that to one side I was pleased to see Stanislas getting a game, we all know what he is capable of – piercing runs down the wing, Skillful touches on the ball and good movement off of it. KICK OFF - We did’nt start too badly , But one small mistake from Spector and we was 1 down, Not long after Cole got taken down in Evertons Box giving us a penalty … as you can imagine I was over the moon … for a split second at least.. then I saw Shamu teeing up to take the spot-kick .. as I expected..SAVED ! .. going in at half time 1-0 down I thought we was all but finished, but we hung in there and put in a shift, 15 mins into the second half and a fighting header from DaCosta and we was level! from that moment a small peice of hope was restored, Scott Parker was fighting for every ball and steering  the ship from center park as usual (why the man isnt captain is beyond me!), we had a few chances of going in front , and a few moments where we was defending for out lives! then 5 mins before time Aiyegbeni Yakubu fired Everton in front.. usualy if your playing at Goodison park and the home team go infront on 85mins its very unlikely that you get anything from the game and with that going through my head I thought it was curtains and a 7th defeat in a row but no sooner had we kicked off again, we was breaking down the pitch towards Howard’s goal, Faubert Slotted in a wonderful cross that was met by a beautiful diving header from Ilan to draw us level with only minutes to go! squeezing a point out for us.. Finaly that fighting spirit that had been so evasive of recent weeks had reunited itself with us once again!.

Unfortunatly going into the next 2 matches we will be without Scott Parker after he picked up a 2 match ban for picking up a 10th yellow card, And on top of that Hull have a Game in hand still… So we are not out of the woods yet, but lets hope that the point we got from Everton can be a platform to build upon for the last few games of the season!.

COYI !

Gianfranco Zola

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Hammers Gaffer Gianfranco Zola has said he’s going to stay with the club, -see it out and keep on fighting- is he’s attitude it seems. Obviously after the last few un-inspiring displays I was amongst the many that wanted Zola to step down as manager, but having said that… I have backed Zola from the word go and now he is staying im going to have to carry on doing so, if you are still in an “Anti-Zola” mindset after hearing the news that he will be staying then forget our chances of staying up because if we are to have any hope of staying in the Premier League this season your going to have to drop the “Zola out” attitude, he is’nt going anywhere, it’s wasted breath, put your efforts and passion into backing him and the team for the last few games of the season and hope for the best!. I’v noticed theres a bit of division between some of the fans aswell, more or less split into two groups, the -”Get Zola Out Group”- and the -”Give Him Abit More Time Group”-, we need to stop all this and unite into one group, a group of FANS!. I’v always prided myself on being part of West Ham because I’v always been confident that we are among some of ..if not THE best fans in the land, so lets not ruin that reputation by bickering between eachother (theres enough of that as it is with the team, management and owners at the moment), lets prove we are the best, most passionate and loyal fans going and get behind the manager and the players…who knows it might just make all the difference between playing in the top flight next season and playing in the fizzy pop league…

Keep the Faith! , COME ON YOU IRONS !.