West Ham Fans Born to be Claret and Blue

West Ham Utd 0 v 1 Palermo 1st Leg Uefa Cup Qualifier Like a teenager wearing a brand new i-pod to a party, the fans gathered to witness West Ham play their first European game for nearly seven years at the Boleyn, were blissfully unaware that their joy at seeing the two new Argentine Internationals start for the club would be short lived, the packed house and global TV audience instead saw a mugging worthy of any crime stoppers show. The warning signs were there from the start, despite the feeling of happiness that greeted the announcement of the line up, the formation had clearly been changed, and onlookers began to have 'that Watford feeling', unfortunately Hammers were playing Palermo and not Adie Boothroyd's outfit. Although clearly not match fit, Carlo Tevez, sporting a ludicrous 'antonesque' hair style, started in place of Marlon Harewood, with Bobby Zamora leading the line as the sole out and out striker! Wrong move, no one can doubt the Z man's commitment to the Claret & Blue, but his first touch was appalling, Alan Pardew was between a rock and a hard place with his striker selection, because he couldn't drop Zamora, the Premiership's top scorer, whereas in fact, Harewood's style of play is far better suited to the lone role up front. Playing a convoluted 4-5-1 Hammers started brightly, with Tevez patrolling the flanks and earning a host of free kicks with his twisting and turning forceful runs. Paul Konchesky played the first half as if his mother had been kidnapped and held ransom by 'johnny foreigner', someone must have paid up, because he was as good in the second half as he was bad in the first! There was precious little to show for all the home sides huffing and puffing, a lot of things nearly happened but didn't. Starved of decent service, Zamora began coming deeper and wider for the ball, culminating with him firing a perfect cross into the path of the advancing Tevez, who struck the ball perfectly only for Fontana to make a superb reaction save from close up.Less than two minutes later, while Hammers defenders were still questioning whether Palermo should have been awarded a throw in, Aimo Diana threaded the ball through for Andrea Caracciolo to nip in front of Anton Ferdinand and whip the ball past a stranded Roy Carroll from six yards out. Sucker punch, killer blow, severe mugging, call it what you will, the fact remains Hammers were naive in the build up to the goal, and the experience and craftiness of Palermo paid off. The referee did no favours to West Ham, letting some terrible tackles go, that on an average Saturday would have seen cards brandished all over the place. After 15 minutes of the re-start, Alan Pardew had obviously had enough, he took off the hard working Bowyer, who had fallen heavily on his shoulder, and introduced Matty Etherington to give the team more natural width. A further ten minutes went by before Tevez and Zamora were replaced by Harewood and Cole to almost immediate effect. Harewood's volley crashed off the post with the rebound just missing Nigel Reo-Coker. Despite the best efforts of the crowd, and to be fair the team, it was not meant to be for West Ham, at least there is the return leg with which to restore some pride. There were plus points from the match, Mascherano in particular, looked the dogs. - Ed West Ham 01 R Carroll 02 T Mears 04 D Gabbidon 05 A Ferdinand 03 P Konchesky 15 Y Benayoun 20 N Reo-Coker 16 J Mascherano 29 L Bowyer (59 M Etherington ) 25 B Zamora (78 C Cole ) 32 C Tevez (78 M Harewood ) Substitutes 21 R Green, 08 T Sheringham, 10 M Harewood, 11 M Etherington, 12 C Cole, 17 H Mullins, 19 J Collins Palermo 12 A Fontana 16 M Cassani 02 C Zaccardo 43 A Barzagli 26 M Pisano 08 A Diana 18 F Parravicini (54 R Guana ) 30 F Simplicio 17 D Di Michele (80 C Capuano ) 10 A Caracciolo 23 M Bresciano (90 G Biava ) Substitutes 01 F Agliardi, 04 G Tedesco, 14 R Guana, 15 P Dellafiore, 21 G Biava, 32 C Capuano, 90 F Brienza Ref: Stefan Johannesson Att: 32222