As promised to Liam, Yes I indeed am carrying Yossi Benayoun’s children after his goal line clearance in extra time (and his two goals) but even the joy of carrying children was very short lived as West Ham conceded a killer third goal to Fulham, which left the game at 3-3. A lot has been said and now here is my post-mortem of the game.

We cannot defend set plays and crosses (dur!). It is a problem West Ham have had for as long as I can remember but in three of the last four premiership games, we have conceded from crosses or balls into the area which are defendable. Gabbidon was not in line with the rest of his defence, giving more space for Fulham on the wing to get the ball in and score their second. Non-existent marking got Fulham their first and this is a massive problem for us. Alan Curbishley has had enough time to watch his players in training and match situations and he has to see that the current crop of defenders are in part low in confidence and for others not good enough. Collins injury to me is most likely the same one he carried into the game, just that it flared up. Gabbidon during the match was a blow but with Anton back, it looks like Dailly will partner him. No offence to football genius but he is not good enough. The lack of quality (second point to be made) among the squad is shocking and all of last seasons success now looks more and more like players riding the crest of a wave, hiding the real problem. What now? A commanding defender who is proven in top-flight football. A leader? Not the most essential quality because the quality of the player in doing the basics of defending is more important to me. Lucas Neil? Apart from his Mi**wall connection, yes please (depends on him though). No one really knows who else is available cause of managers contact each other obviously not the general public so it’s a case of wait and see but extra and particular focus has to be put on defending set pieces before we travel to Newcastle.

Second point, squad quality. I mentioned Dailly before and credit to him, he tries his hardest and gives his all but his all is not good enough to stay up. Shawn Newton (that’s another point there) is not good enough, Harewood? Down on confidence and whilst capable of providing a moment of quality (FA Cup Semi Final) it doesn’t look like he is up for it unless it’s a big four team. Konchesky? Nothing at all like he was at last year, absolutely shocking at times. When Curbishley came in to me it looked obvious that he was gone as the rumours of not getting along resurfaced and you have to ask yourself while Curbishley when at Charlton sold Konchesky to West Ham. This is not just a blanket slagging off of the side but either a massive shake up is needed or a large kick up the arse. The kick up the arse came at Reading and with the defending on Saturday, it has not worked.

Third point, the substitution of Gabbidon. Subbing him wasn’t the problem as he was injured and needed to come off, the thing that got me was Shawn Newton came on. Now Gabbidon was limping for a long time and Curbishley could easily see that was the case and had Shawn Newton on the side stripped and ready to come on. He had more then enough time to change his mind and bring on Hayden Mullins. Shawn Newton is short, as short as my mum is. Now slotting him in at right back and asking him to do what? Bomb down the wing? Fair enough when we are attacking but what about defending crosses, our achilles heel at the moment? No use at all. Guess what Fulham did? Put balls into the area.

Forth and final as I think I am beginning to sound a bit pretentious, it was an entertaining game but not one you can watch at the time and know which was it was to go. West Ham always play an open game which allows the other side to play but I felt we allowed Fulham at times too much time on the ball and too much space. I am losing the will to continue typing so I wont go further into that or type about Mr Poll.