The other day I was told to just watch football and enjoy it, rather then speak my mind. How can you enjoy a game of football if you saw last nights game? Anyway:

I’ve slept on this to make sure I don’t post some knee jerk reaction to last nights “performance” against Wigan. The last time we played Wigan it was one of the worse performances from West Ham in the modern era. Last night, in the second half it was just as bad. For the first 20 minutes Wigan played the better football but from the 20th minute till half time, West Ham came back into the game and started to play some good football. That bought about a few boo’s from the crowd, which I felt was harsh. 0-0 at halftime is not the end of the world and obviously there is plenty of time in the game to win.

That did not prove to be the case. In the first 5minutes Tevez had a shot that hit the bottom of the post. The shot was at the centenary end and for the life of me I thought I saw the net ripple. That got me starting to celebrate a goal when in fact it had gone back out into the field without passing the goal line. That’s when Wigan scored. Counter attack, good finish and our heads dropped. James Collins was beaten way to easily by Kevin Kilbane and the other defenders were sold a dummy way to easily for Dave Cotterill to get a good shot in. Previously some of our players had not played particularly well and had given the ball away easily or been poor in their crossing but after going a goal down it got even worse for Nigel Reo-Coker, Paul Konchesky and Jonathan Spector. Speaking of Spector he cannot be held totally at fault for the own goal but the shot was going wide in the first place. The second goal was a dagger to the heart as our body language was terrible. We never looked like getting back into the game with 30 minutes to go. Speaking of going, that’s what half the crowd did. Those who stayed (me included) were left wondering why. We were short in the tackle, punting the ball long (which drew a chant of “On the floor” from the angered Bobby Moore Lower) and being beaten to headers. Also Wigan “scored” a third goal, which was ruled out for a foul or offside, I do not know and don’t care really. I ended up reading my match day program for a couple of minutes, as our performance was so turgid. It was all perfectly summed up by a Sheringham free kick that nearly made it into the Centenary Upper. The 200 or so Wigan fans did support their team throughout but they were mostly silent. Poor following from them. The last 3 minutes of the game bought about a couple of interesting chants. “Do-do-do Fuck off Reo-Coker” and a chant for Mark Noble.

I have resisted the temptation up till now to seriously Reo-Coker’s place in the team but that isn’t the case anymore. He needs a spell on the sidelines, to show him that he is droppable and that poor form will not be tolerated. He is fast becoming the Frank Lampard of our team (undropable, no matter the turgid performances) and Alan Pardew has to make sure a message is sent. Who should replace him if dropped? Mark Noble. Noble always commits 100% and could provide the forward runs from midfield that have been lacking at times. Plus he can pass to one of our team in the final 3rd. Also Paul Konchesky. His place looks to be saved for the moment seeing as Anton Ferdinand limped out of the game but if Anton was fit for this Saturday’s game away to Bolton then I would have liked to have seen George McCartney start. Every time I have seen McCartney play he has been good in the tackle, assured on the ball and like Konchesky, not afraid to go forward. Anyone else for the chop? For Bolton I really do feel we need to play defensively and get a draw. That’s a really sad thing to be typing but because of the situation we are in we need points, be they 1 or 3. My team would be:


Green (at no fault for the Wigan defeat)

Jonathan Spector (Shaky at times and needs to improve)
James Collins (Needs to be more assured in the tackle)
George McCartney (Has played well any time he had to fill in)
Paul Konchesky (Because we do not have another left back)

John Paintsil (If he is fit)
Lee Bowyer (Was on the bench Wednesday, need to add grit to midfield)
Hayden Mullins (Let Wigan filter through the midfield too easy)
Mark Noble (I am bias I admit but you have to give him a chance)
Matthew Etherington (Who else is going to play on the left?)

Marlon Harewood (Better at leading the line then Zamora)

Subs:
Carroll, Tevez, Reo-Coker, Benayoun, Dailly.

Tevez played all right against Wigan but I have dropped him to the bench for tactical reasons. Bolton away is tough so we need all the help we can get to get something out of this one.

One piece of good news, Shawn Newton will be back from suspension for the Fulham away game on the 23rd. Hurrah.