2012 – Championship

Valentines day. A day for lovers and couples to enjoy each others company, safe in the knowledge that they have their entire lives ahead of them, in cojoined bliss.

Or a day to watch the top two gladiators in the championship, battle out for league title honours.

Thanks to Mrs mrben, i “chose” the latter, and expected a game worthy of the premiership, where both teams should be plying their trade next season. What i got was a premiership ref, who didn’t know his backside from his elbow and nearly ruined what should of been the star advert for the second tier of English football.

The now obligatory weather report was that although slightly warmer, things were still chilly in the upper Bobby. However out on the pitch things were heating up nicely, with Vaz Te nearly getting on the scoresheet after 1 minute.

Matt Taylor was brought in to replace the suspended Nolan, and looked quite effective on the wing. Taking aside the fact that Southampton seem to enjoy time wasting by holding the ball with the keeper only to short pass to a defender, we were easily on top.

After 22 mins or thereabouts, the stand in captain, Mark Noble, turned in the box and was tripped for a stonewall pen. In some minor kurfuffle post the penalty award, a Southampton player hit the deck in theatrical style, which ended up with Matt Taylor being red carded. Now, i didn’t see this fully (Mr Wenger !), and if he hit them then fair do’s, BUT, the linesman flagged the pen and overruled the ref, who was unsighted. The same linesman had this “assault” unfold in front of him, and did nothing, and the ref was still some distance (with several people in the way) away. The ref did not consider speaking the the lino, and the lino said nothing either. You either assist or don’t, you cant just dip in when you feel like it !

The ref then preceded to call every West Ham tackle a foul, and even blew for a foul throw (think of the last time you saw a ref blow for one of these in a TV game…………….exactly !). This culminated in the ref waving away, what i can only call an assault on CC, from the goalkeeper. He came out, got nowhere near the ball, jumped into CC, and laid him out (all 6.4 and 15 stone of him) flat. Not even a free kick, let alone a red card. Disgrace.

Green made a point blank save (after a mishandle) from Billy Sharp just before half time to keep it one nil Hammers going into the break.

The second half was all Southampton, as WHU defended deeper and deeper. Same as the wall game. The inevitable came with 15 to go, as Southampton scrambled an equalizer with an outstretched leg poking home the goal.

Nicky Maynard came on for a knackered CC, and nearly got the winner from an acute angle and looks a useful addition to the squad.

All in all, a good result bearing in mind the numbers game on the pitch. 2 players stood out again, Noble and Reid. Reid was extra solid, as his usual sparring partner Tompkins was playing in the midfield, and Noble ran himself into the ground again.

MOTM Winston Reid.

WHUFC vs Millwall 4th Feb 2012. Championship.

Apparently, there was some premier league action happening on the same day, but as usual the press and radio have been building up this game into something else.

In what is becoming a more regular fixture these days, WHU entertained our near neighbours Millwall, in a match that could determine both their seasons.

First off it was my first visit to UP this year, due to work and holidays, so it was long overdue. Also it was an early kick off, which although irritating, sets the rest of the day up well, as long as we get the result. As per usual, it was bloody freezing, but once in the ground the pervading atmosphere warmed things up nicely. As both sets of fans don’t play too well together, Millwall were put into the top tier of the Centinary, with the bottom left empty. I’m sure they didn’t mind as they are well used to half empty stands.

The game started at a real local derby pace, with a keen enthusiasm. Too much , in fact, as Kevin Nolan found out after getting a straight red, after 8 mins. To say this put a downer on precedings is an understatment, but in these days of increased analysIs on the two footed tackle, He had to walk.

The game then dropped into what is rearly was, a standard issue championship game with one or two highlights. One of these was Mark Noble, who was actually superb throughout. Hopefully the lad is turning the corner that he has been looking at for about 3 years now.

About 20 mins in, some 2-300 ticketless Millwall “fans” we’re being escorted up Priory Road, and the usual exchange of “banter” was given and taken. These gimps were then kettled to the park, where hopefully they were kept until at least midnight.

CC was getting more and more isolated as you would being up front on your own, and a man down, but battled away trying to get Faubert involved. We started to get on top with about 10 to go in the first half, and a looping header from inside the box from CC made it one nil on the stroke of half time.

We started the second half in control, but then started to panic. Instead of clearing lines effectively we were underhitting almost everything. This culminated in Faye making a poor clearance while under pressure from Henderson and gifting Trotter a shot which he put away.

This then looked a lock for the draw, except that 2 mins later, the Millwall keeper made a shocking error in punching when he should of been catching, and hit it straight to Reid, who powered a shot into the waiting unoccupied goal. Cheers !

So today, our 2 best playerswhere Noble and Reid. Strange days indeed. To be fair to the whole team, they did put a shift in, being down to 10 men for most of the game.

On leaving the ground I had commented to John howwell the Met had done policing the game (still not sure if everyone needs to be in riot gear) when their their usual shorsightedness came to the fore.

If I’m walking up Green St, and want to carry on North, I don’t expect to be forced to join the tube station queue, and the when at the entrance to the tube station, shown a gap in the railing about 8 inches wide to go through. I thought crowd management was to stop bottlenecks, not create them.

In short we got the hiding from Ipswitch out of the way, and gave our local rivals a loss, which with other results, put us 4 points clear.

MOTM. Mark Noble

WHUFC vs Barnsley 17\12\2011 Championship

After last weeks capitulation against Reading and the previous weeks throw away against Burnley, WHU needed 3 points here to get back in the swing of things. Lucky for us, no one else had got a shift on in the league , and we started the day still in second.

I was really suffering with a cold, so it was a quick train up, no beer, and straight home. London was colder than Kent for a change so that didn’t help matters.

BFS had to change things, some enforced and some just had to happen, so we started with Carew, Cole and Piq on the pitch and then tried and trusted back 4 of , Flaubert, Tompkins, McCartney and Potts. Not a returning Steve Potts rolling back the years at 44 years of age, but his son Dan making his first team debut. Having seen nearly all of his dads career, that did make me feel very old.

The game got underway with the Hammers in charge, and it became clear that we were, size wise, way bigger than them. On top of the front line we also had Diop and Nolan in the middle.
I mentioned this to John, just as we got a corner, and guess what. DIOP header, one nil. That was about it for the half. We plodded on and they defended. Cole had a couple of chances, and maybe could of done better.
The second half started in the dark and even colder, both on the pitch and in the stands. Not a lot happened until a stray cat got onto the pitch, and provided the best entertainment of the day.
As the game wore on, Faubert , who was terrorising their no 18, got subbed, I assume for an injury, but was replaced by Landsbury. Then Carew, came off for the introduction of Sears. Both Fred’s on the pitch, set my spider sense off, but to be fair big Fred put a shift in. Actually, everyone did, and that was the difference today . We actually fought and got involved and got the benefits, eg a win when maybe a draw was a fair result (0 0).
In fact Sam fought too much when he got sent to the stands after he lost it at the fourth official regarding an incident in which he thought Sears was brought down in their box. As I was right on top of the incident, I have to say Sears fell because he had a small nudge after running 3/4 of the pitch with the ball.
We are level with Southampton, but Boro beat Cardiff to be only 2 point adrift. We must win the next 3 games to get back the gap we had 2 weeks ago.
Sam has done a good job with juggling the squad, and maybe having the big lads in will be enough for this season. However, Cole still doesn’t look fit, and Nolan was just about playing yesterday.

On a positive note, Potts got into his stride in the second half, and showed some good touches and distribution. But he needs to be tested, so we can seen what’s he is really made of. But he did enough for me to be the Mrben Man of the Match.

WHUFC vs Burnley 03/12/2011. Championship

After missing last week’s comeback against Derby, i arrived at Upton Park hoping for a another impressive hammers display. This season i have missed the great home wins against Pompey, Derby, and Blackpool, but have witnessed the games against Leeds, Cardiff and Bristol City. This is starting to form a pattern, and one that i would of liked to rid myself of yesterday.

May i add that yesterday the Upper Bobby was exceptionally cold and windy, or maybe i’m just getting to that age !

After the now obligitory 1 minute for Gary Speed (let us not forget one of the greatest midfielders of all time – Socrates, passed away this weekend. RIP), the game got under way and WHU came out of the blocks, winning plenty of possession and corners.

Although industrious, i have mentioned in the blog previously that CC, cannot play on his own up top, and this was once again proved. Although, the midfield were supporting quicker than usual, especially Collinson, who overall had one of his best games this season (and was actually played in position – coincedence ?).

Nolan missed an open goal ,after some great work from CC to get the ball across the box. Maybe the ball could of been slightly better, but Kev should of buried it.

So, half time finds us at 0 0, but the Hammers were more than in control.

Early in the second half, CC flicked on a ball, that Nolan read perfectly, and then lobbed the keeper from distance to open the scoring. From then on it looked a formality. Until someone on the Burnley bench pointed out that we dont defend corners or crosses very well. Within 5 mins McCann had equalised heading in a cross, and then on the 75th minute, substitute Vokes took his chance, and headed in the winner from a corner.

Burnley's winning goal — How we threw it all away.

In all, it was a bad day at the office, and thats all. We should of won, with Jack and CC both hitting the post. Another day we could of had a rout, but all credit to Burnley for their attitude and not giving up. I assumed that without Eagles they wouldn’t move it around as well, but i was wrong.

Some final comments. Jack played really well and i hope BFS keeps him in a position that suits him rather than suits the side. Nolan looked lively for a change, and with this being the 3rd game in seven days, maybe is approaching some level of fitness. CC needs help up front, and this is easily sorted while Baldock is out, by using either Nolan or Collinson in a real no. 10 position.

Now defending. Faye and Tompkins look fantastic in one to one situations (Faye to me looks as good as Bilic and Martin, from back in the day), but there is some misorganisation in the way they defend crosses and corners. BFS, who is a diligent student of tactics, needs to sort this out, as that is one of the reasons we went down last year.

Lets get the show back on the road next week, against Reading. I’ll take a well defended one nil.

On a slightly different note, I happen to mention to my wife that all the cool kids are going for romantic breaks to the Ukraine this summer. I don’t think she believes me !

WHUFC vs Bristol City 01-11-2011

Due to laziness, i;m post up my comments from elsewhere.

Still not blogged as I am fuming. Not because of the result, because we didn’t play to bad, just didn’t get the luck in front of goal. But as mentioned above, big and little Fred starting, just pissed me off massively. Collinson was not too clever on Saturday, but Sears, do me a lemon.

I think Baldock got subbed because he didnt look the same after he took a nasty bang on the head near the end of the first half. Noble did play well (there I’ve said it), but Nolan, he was useless. Can’t handle 2 games in 4 days?,then leave mate, this is the Championship, not the Champions League. He had a sitter early in the second and hit it straight at James, who also made 2 good saves in the first half. Nolan spent most of the game out of position and blowing out of his arse.

Not the worst game ever as reported by Talk Sport the morning after.

In other news, by using the new DLR extension and the HS1 I got home to Kent, from UP in 40 mins. Quicker then driving and I get a beer.

UPDATE: Nice win against a Hull team who themselves were unbeaten in 9 Games. A goal each for Baldock and Collinson in the second half and another clean sheet for West Ham . Sears and Piq were non starters. Long may it reign.

WHUFC vs Leicester City 29/10/2011

A month spent across the pond for me has found the Hammers moving into second in the championship, behind the force of nature that seems to be Southampton at the moment.

An unnaturally warm end to October brings the managerless and big spending foxes up UP. Bearing in mind our pretty poor home record this season (and most others recently !), and the fact how teams raise their game when the chips are down, I had a draw in my head.
The noisy foxes were silenced after 17 mins, when Sam Baldock belied his height to get up at the back stick, and onto the end of a Carew cross for our first. This was quickly followed by Julien Faubert hitting a good 20 harder into Schmeichel the youngest bottom corner for our second.

Faubert seems to be enjoying his new position and seems to be doing well at it, long may this continue. We reach half time comfortably in the lead. Happy days, its beer time.

We then enter the usual WHU trait on failing to protect or build on a lead, and let Leicester back in via Andy King. Carew is then subbed for big Fred and the draw looms as the most likely outcome.

To be fair on a rare attack at this stage, a route one play finds Fred flicking on for Sam to put away a calm finish, to go 3-1 up, and surely get the 3 points.

Andy King then scores a screamer to make it 3-2 and then we press the ? button and bring on little Freddie Sears. Now, maybe I’m wrong but I just don’t get it. He wasn’t good enough under Zola playing football, and definitely ain’t good enough under big Sam’s longer ball regime, so why does he persist, when Nouble is playing well for the gills and is more built for the job. Sorry Fred, I know you are WHU through and through but you just don’t cut it kid.

Anyway we crack on and ground out a hard won win from what should of been an easy job at half time.

We are now pulling away from the play off places and another 3 points on Tuesday against Bristol City should compound this position.

I am hoping to see Carlton Cole at least on the bench. He is our top scorer this season along with Sam Baldock and the two of them need more time together to get a long lasting partnership going.

WHUFC vs Ipswich Town 27/09/2011

Another “famous” night under the lights at West Ham. Our last meeting at home to the Tractor Boys was the 2005 play off final semi final which saw a rabid full house, brass bands on the pitch and a comfy win for the Hammers that ultimately led to our last promotion back to the big boys league.

Tuesday night, was a far duller concern, and needed to shake off the hangover of the previous Saturday. However the score stayed the same but with the result in the opposition. so what went wrong ?

Simply, nothing changed from Saturday, with the midfield being devoid of ideas and tackles. Bullard and Bowyer played us off the pitch, and they were quicker in every department.

Beware false prophets !. Mr Nolan was brought in as the free scoring replacement for Scott Parker, and started well; until Parker left. Now he looks lost but worse still, off the pace. Noble is no better, as both are trying to fill the same void.

Sam Baldock played and looked lively, and unlikely to be muscled out, unlike Sears, but didn;t get any service from our midfield. CC again tried his best but needs more ball to feet rather than eight foot in the air.

Faye was superb again and looks a quality buy.

In short the Tractors Boys deserved the win, but had to work for it, and surprise surprise, east end old boy Bowyer popped up in the dying minutes to secure the win.

BFS has some big work to do this week, before the Palace game, and to be fair, it’s what he is paid to do.

We have been very lucky that other results have gone for us this week, but we cannot afford to lose out again this week, albeit to an inform Palace team.

COYI

WHU vs Peterborough . 23/09/2011

I won’t be very descriptive about this game as after sitting their for 90 minutes i’m not sure if it actually happened. I cannot remember the last time i watched a game with so little happening. I’m sure both teams were trying, but i just didn’t notice it.

Our midfield, especially our scorer, Mr Noble, were useless in the extreme, the missed pass / tackle count must of gone through the roof on BSF’s statometers.

This needs to be sorted quickly, else Ipswich will tear us apart tomorrow.

Can someone tell me why CC gets slagged off all the time when it is blatantly not his fault. This 4-5-1 doesn’t suit him, but it does seem to suit Carew, who is only getting the last 10 to close games out.

One ray of sunshine was Abdoulaye Faye who seemed to be very tidy and assured at the back. This was the first time I’ve seen him play, and he looks adequate back up while Tompkins is out, and possibly should be in, in front of Reid.

Nottingham Forest vs WHUFC 28/08/2011

On the weekend that The East End diety Lord Scott Parker probably left the club, the area was smited with rain. However, in the shires of Nottingham where SP was thought as a Chelsea failure and Newcastle journey man, the sun shone and WHU were found not to have befallen the same fate as the Tower of London when the raven’s leave.
Collison came into the middle to replace Parker and Faubert moved to the right hand side of midfield, somewhere he had found success two years ago. There was also the return of the former Hammer George McCartney in the left back berth.
With two wins on the road and no goals conceded, interspersed with some shoddy form at home, great things were expected today, and West Ham didn’t disappoint early on. They weathered some early tricky tree domination, with Rob Green being on terrific form again. Then, as seems to be the norm nowadays, Forest conceded an own goal, after a relatively weak cross to break the deadlock in the Hammer favour. Not long after that Tonka was heading back in a corner for Nolan to get on the end of our second. A similar result awaited Carlton Cole not long after that. 3-0 to West Ham at half time , great job, although probably not an accurate reflection of the game. I would love to know what was said to Nolan just before he scored as he lost the plot with someone in the Forest team after it went in.

The second half started with all the play being with Forest, but to no avail. After 60 mins Mark Noble was very lucky not to get a yellow for a way over the top challenge.
With 30 to go Forest introduced Matt Derbyshire and an old WHU target Andy Reid to the fray, and therefore completed all 3 of their available subs.

This lead to more pressure on WHU and culminated with Findlay getting a goal after some great passing around the box by Forest, which was also the first goal WHU have conceded on the road this season.
There was some complaint about the build up involving a handball by Andy Reid which got Nolan a yellow.
By this time CC was off for big Fred. In the 74th Collison was subbed for Faye to add some steel to the back line. to be fair Collison looked like a passenger for most of the game.
Following a shoddy corner in the 75th Winston Reid got on the end of the second cross to score his first league goal for the club. 1-4 to the Hammers and they get 4 away for the second time this season. Game over.
The last 10 brought little apart from a yellow each for both Reid and Faubert after some off the ball handbags. Nolan nearly got a defection in on 94 and Tonka stopped one on the line in the 95th
The positives were another 3 points away from home and another great display by Tonka. Faubert also had a stormer today, making great runs to support the front line. Even Faye seemed on point in his cameo near the end. CC played well today as well and I hope he stays on past Wednesday.
The one worry for me was Collinson. I know he’s been out for nearly a season but he has had a full pre season and still looks like a lost boy in the midfield. Hopefully he can pull it round.

We now go into the international break with 10 points, and on a high. Hopefully we can break the hoodoo over home games with the visit of Portsmouth on the 10th. The day after I get back from Canada. Please don’t make the jet lag worse Hammers.

COYI

WHU vs Leeds Utd. 21/08/2011

A fantastic win for the Hammers earlier on in the week against Watford, tied in with Leeds beating local rivals Hull 4-1 on the same night, meant that this Sunday lunchtime game could of been a blinder.

Leeds filled their allocation, of 2/3 of the lower centinary, and were in fine voice before the start. However, they were silenced early on when CC got on the end of one of the many corners we appeared to be having. Once again, for the rest of the half, we seemed to have most of the possession and no end product. Also, and more worryingly for Big Sam, is our inability to defend corners. We seem to have the hangover panic from last season. But, when we we have the corners Tonka seems to be winning everything, and came close with a couple.

The best Leeds player, Max Gradel, had a bit of a shocker missing a penalty that could of took Leeds to a draw at half time. Maybe he needs to move to a bigger club to fulfill his potential. 🙂

So half time came and went, and we started out in similar form, but then Leeds started getting the upper hand. It was only a matter of time, and it came in the 59th minute with a good finish from Ross McCormack. As luck would have it though, Kisnorbo screamed a corker of an own goal, to put the Hammers back in front.

Then Reid and Parker came close to finishing the game off, but with no joy. Right at the death, Leeds secured a draw with Clayton getting on the end of a rebound in the 91st. Joy. Not.

The result was fair in the end. We really need to learn to finish games off.

In other news. BFS seems to not know his best midfield as he moved them around alot in the second half, when it needed to be the defence that needed sorting. Talking of which, Winston Reid. I said this last season and i still stand by it, he is just not good enough. He’s lucky Tonka is having a stormer so far this season. In fact, Tonka should of had the MOTM instead of Parker. Parker needs to make his mind up, because i think him being in the team, might be affecting the other members in the midfield. Both Noble and Nolan, looked a little out of shape today.

Now, the ref. Mr Oliver, you were dire today, truly dire. How you made some of those decisions is beyond me. I saw at least one penalty for each team today, which you didn’t and twice you awarded throw ins to the wrong team, despite the whole crowd seeing the ball go out off the other player. Back to the conference. Thanks.

I expect a weaken team against Aldershot this week, as we need to keep the away points coming against Forest, and then the next home game against Portmouth. The only downside to losing in the Carling Cup is the grief i’ll get from my best mate, Ian the Aldershot fan !

So I’ll leave with this, if Parker goes, then we need to recruit another centre back, as BFS obviously doesn’t rate Faye, which is strange. But no more midfielders please, we have 70 already !