Manchester City 3 – 0 West Ham
24/08/08
I read in the Daily Mail before the season started that we are the least exciting team to watch in the whole league. I bluntly refuted this rude and unjustified judgment of our underlying quality and entertainment. (Obviously blinded by my pre-season optimism)
My reasoning however, and in all honesty, was born purely out of an innate and mutual understanding that teams like Wigan and Bolton were clearly more boring to watch than the mighty West Ham. Surely that was obvious to everyone.
It seems I was wrong.
The team that Curbishley has masterfully engineered out of a deep and thorough understanding of West Ham United footballing traditions, turns out to be a group of spineless, underperforming individuals who have left me entering a new week (once again) feeling overwhelmingly embarrassed.
People might question why I can feel so strongly about this after just two games of the season. I guess in response I would say that the fact it is only two games in, gives me reason enough to feel so strongly. The players should be fit. They should be strong. They should be fighting for their places. They should be aspiring for a successful season. They shouldn’t be putting in disgraceful, lackluster performances or looking like a team who haven’t once played together all summer. Who haven’t worked on tactics or indeed, fitness.
Man City looked sharper, looked more innovative, looked faster and generally looked better. And so did Wigan.
There was no difference whatsoever from the team that we willingly endured last season. Not even a new kit.
Contrary to popular belief however, there are some positives we can take away from the game…..the fans. I am standing up and applauding (in between posting) while I write this. Last time I checked, it’s not free to buy a ticket for a football match, and neither is it free to travel to one. Particularly one half way up the country. The fans who traveled were in full voice throughout and were the only people associated with West Ham who could walk away from Eastlands today with their heads held high.
If you didn’t see the game or don’t know the result, we lost 3-0, Mark Noble was sent off in the first half for two (stupid) bookable offences and we didn’t have a single shot until well over and hour of the game was played. (On the sending off note, we had the same amount of players as City until Noble was sent off, and for the last ten minutes of play because they had to take a player off injured)
Not a single shot. Not one. Nada. No shooting at all. No kicking of the ball towards the goal. “That’s it son, kick it as hard as you can…well done! Take a run-up and have another go, you’re doing really well”
We finally have a result that our performance deserves. There is not hiding behind injuries or lady luck after this one Curbs. No more false league positions and no more, “Look, we nearly got relegated last year. 10th is a big improvement on that…so you fans, stop being so fickle”
No passion, not organised, spineless.
Couldn’t agree more! We were totally bereft of ideas. We had no flare, no commitment.
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Here here.
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Look on the bright side – there’s always a bright side, allegedly! – at least we’re not playing in the Danish league; the mighty Midtjylland would have mullered us! Then again, on this evidence, Macclesfield must be favourites on Wednesday, and beware the P.Incer movement on Saturday; Iscariot’s on fire, figuratively speaking, sadly!
“…just like my dreams they fade and die…”
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This was a shambles from start to finish. The inabilty of the midfield to put two or three passes together was evident almost from kick-off. If there was a game plan it was invisible, and became redundant after the loss of the unfortunate Cole and simply stupid performance of Noble.
As a poor City took hold all over the pitch West ham looked clueless. Thw woodwork saved us twice in the first half and for once Green’s positioning looked suspect. Neil was embarassingly off the pace and lacking at left back, hurry back George!!
We did not muster a single shot on the City goal in the first half and that pattern continued in the second. By this tiime the effects of trying to stop the waves of City attacks was beinning to tell and Upson Neil and Faubert all contibuted significant lapses of concentration and poor play.
Ashton ran his socks off but the service to him was virtually non-existent. The only players to come out with any credit were the hardworking Parker and Behrami. Those who need to take a very close look at themselves and their embarassingly poor performances are: Etherington who gave the ball away too easily and often put colleagues under pressure with hurried passes;
Neil who gave away possession too much was out of position far too often and was at fault for 2 of the goals;
Noble who was ineffective and then just plain stupid;
Faubert who overcomplicated hios play dribbled too much near his own box and got into trouble. he needs to use his obvious speed to be more creative in the attacking half.
For the rest Upson, Davenport Green and Mullins just about kept their heads above water but it was one of the worst performances for a long time.
A spineless performance like this must create doubt on the commitment of the players and the management team of Curbishley and Day. If they could not motivate the players at this early stage against injury ravaged opponents who had had a demoralising start to their season we must ask serious questions about their roles and abilty. As for the players once on the pitch there is enough quality and leadership there to sort it out and pull their weight rather than hide away or just go through the motions as too many did yesterday
There is time to sort all this out but it needs leadership, courage and belief all of which were in short supply yesterday at Eastlands.
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I am glad I never renewed my season ticket, on the pre season form, and the first two game we are going to struggle … Stoke and Hull look better, have signed better and the likes of the Spuds, Newcastle, Boro, the Mackems and Bolton all have signed good players and appear much stronger than we are … all Pardew’s hard work has simply been dismantled and we are in disaray from the boardroom to the dressing room.
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a complete shambles.
but I suppose they get a day off today…and probably tomorrow too.
you based on Lucas Neill working a 40hour week (like the rest of us), and his salary being approximately 75,000 a week (which i thiought it was, correct me if i’m wrong), for that performance yesterday he earned £2812.5
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
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curbs can,t buy can,t sell .We were rubbish against man city.
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To the Directors of West Ham United Foot, dare I say it Ball Club.
What are you going to do about that disgraceful show at Manchester yesterday?.
No excuses sick, tired ,injuries, unlucky,that show yesterday was the last straw, who is in charge of the Westham Dressing room /,how do you pay thousands of pounds to these players? this is not the 1st 2nd or third time to perform like this,its a continuation of last season.
A Mr A Ferguson would have either thrown a boot at them or put them all on the transfer list apart from Freddie Spears who was brought on as subsitute and then taken off again, poor young chap, he must be wondering what is going on at the Club.
This SITUATION MUST BE SORTED OUT NOW! The loyal support that has been built up over the last 50 years I have been a supporter is being slowly eroded away,if you think this standard of performance will be tolerated any longer you are sorely mistaken.
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OK, Same problem as at the end of last Season. Everyone is saying Curbs is favourite to be the first Manager sacked, but is there anyone out there capable of putting West Ham into Europe this season, and if so WHO ???
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i can’t take it any more
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as a west ham fan for over 30 years this was one of the worst performances i have watched !!no passion and where is the flowing football,never been a lover of curbs football sides, we are never going to progress under him and if that is the sign of things to come this season i am very worried indeed!!!
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do i look so silly now when asking for that poll on whether curbs should be sacked!I think not, and if anyone wondered i was firmly in favour of that joke being shown the door!I think if the board want to show us fans that their ambition is still alive, they will sack him, bring in a very good manager and build from there!curbs is devoid of passion, spirit and flair, so is it a surprise that his team is any different.
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Yes yes yes
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sam what is that yes yes yes in response to?
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Dan C – Who would replace curbs??
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You Dan, I agree with you! (the fact that he is devoid of passion, spirit and flair!)
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everything about sundays performance left me feeling embarrassed.
but i hope the players themselves feel that too. im sure they wont, which is probably the problem.
i think 15th (as we currently stand) would be my aim for the rest of the season now.
which just makes me more depressed.
i didn’t speak or move after watching the match yesterday, i hope the players know how much they can affect the fan’s happiness sometimes.
my best mates a millwall fan (yes i kno, shocking) but even he didn’t lay into me as normal. all he could muster about the performance was “i know how you feel.”
thats right, understanding from a millwall fan?
thats how bad things are right now
-rob
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O.K. Its time to call a stop at picking holes in Curbishleys Tic-tacs and our players lack of balls and brains. What about Mark Hughes and his decision to substitute Micah Richards! Specificly after the paramedics advised him that, after applying the neck brace and strapping him to a stretcher, the safest place to avoid any further movement was not actually the specialast unit at Manchester General Hospital but in fact to lie him between the goalposts which we were (supposedly) attacking!! This would have also freed up Joe Hart to join in with the West Ham Conga and ease the ever danger of ‘rigor mortis’ setting in !
To the travelling Irons support – i salute you
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thanks sam i am glad you agree!And to Bristol Iron, i would have Billic, or (bold shout) but robert mancini!he is mates with Nani, and before everyone says “oh he wouldnt want to come to west ham”, im sure he would if the frugal icelanders said he would be backed by money in the trasnfer market!We are a well supported club, with the potential to be big, it just takes some investment!and as I have said on here before its not all curbs fault, the board are not living it up to their promises, but curbs is still clearly not the manager for us!we need to make our feeling clear to the board, so instead of getting on curbs back, maybe its time for chants of “iceland out, iceland out, iceland out” or “sack the board, sack the manager”. I have never been so dispondent about West Ham, but I really am struggiling to see any positives!
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[...] Fixtures Latest Comments About Polls Help Us Build Facebook « Spineless [...]
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[...] the 24th August this year, I wrote about our spineless performance against Manchester City. I don’t know how well people remember that game, but it was ugly to the eye, we looked [...]
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