West Ham Fans

I haven't heard any news on Matty Upson. Does anyone know what is happening with him? I thought he was fit again. Personally, I don't think our back four are the same without him, we don't look anywhere near as solid or coordinated. Also, Upson has a presence that the others lack. If we are to have any chance of keeping a clean sheet we need him to be fit and playing. Villa have been scoring for fun until very recently, they will fancy their chances of bagging a few goals against us and finishing on a high. As much as I hate to admit it, I think we could struggle to stop them too.

COYI!!!

West Ham Till I Die

my team to play villa: green,neill,upson,tomkins,mac,pants(right wing),noble,parker,boamorte,sears,cole. im assumin ashtons injured.think it wud b harsh to drop tomkins and i feel jonny pants cud do a job in a more offensive role.also curbs rarely plays cole alongside a pacy striker.think him and sears cud work well. sayin dat,when does curbs ever field the expected 11?

Completely Agree BMS. I agree with both halves of your post. The first half, about starting the youngsters, is spot on. Why not Collison instead of Mullins for example? Why not pair Sears with Ashton instead of Zamora, if only to try out the combination of strong, holding striker with quick, deft goal-poacher. Isn't that the combination we were looking for with Ashton and Bellamy? Why not get the moves sorted out and the team habituated to them? Instead we've got Zamora all over the place -- that's certainly not any attempt at getting the team used to a style of play! I just don't understand it, for the same reasons you give. And I agree with the second half of your post, too. The manager has to show leadership and inspiration, otherwise the team will have no morale. He doesn't have to do this emotionally and energetically, jumping and shouting, but he does have to have a plan. I thought we saw that plan (finally!) in the first 40 against Newcastle. Why he didn't push for the same sort of thing at Old Trafford is beyond me, unless he was playing it safe. I think we're seeing, though, that safe won't be good enough to fight it out with the top half of the EPL. Let's see what happens next year, eh? But by all means, GO FOR IT against VILLA. This time there IS something at stake!

I was so uptight after the game on Saturday, I have left it a few days before posting any comment so that I can be rational. I have backed Curbs all season, I have never claimed he is a great manager but, as a Hammer, he has had my support. However, after Saturday I am wondering just how long he has left at this club. I really could not understand some of his decisions at Old Trafford. We knew we were unlikely to win and we have three youngsters coming through the ranks with Tomkins, Sears and Collison. Why not start with all three? You might think that is reckless but, they would all have been motivated to try and get a win, and motivated to impress the manager and the fans. More importantly, there is nothing so valuable to a player as experience. These three could and would have benefited from the experience of that game that no amount of training could teach them. Next season, when it could (and probably will) count for something, they would have had that experience to draw on and known what to expect, had more idea what they could and could not get away with . Surely, it's better to learn and make your mistakes when there is nothing at stake. Win or lose, we would have taken something of value from the game. The youngsters gain experience and Curbs gets to see how they adapt playing together in the first team, it's a win win situation. Anyway, there was just so much wrong with West Ham on Saturday, the players who were picked, the positions they played in and the substitutions. Why he didn't go for it after Nani was sent off is really beyond me. What was he trying to defend? This isn't the first time either, Curbs has baffled many of us for most of the season with his choices. OK he hasn't been wrong every time, Carlton Cole comes to mind but, if this club is going to go in the right direction, we need more than just a manager who can get the best out of poor players. We need unity in the ranks, not just amongst the players, the supporters and the board all need to be behind the manager and the team before we are likely to get the best out of them. I know Curbs will have to make decisions that will be unpopular from time to time, but that is a managers lot and what he is paid for. If we perform next season to the same standard we have done this season. We will not see the top half of the table after the first couple of games. There is no point in the team improving if the manager is not contributing and improving with them. There are some big changes needed in respect of progress and if Curbs has reached a limit to his ability then he should move on before he embarrasses both, himself and the club. Personally, I still think he has something to offer and can take us a step further but, he needs to learn from this season, assess his management style and tactics then ask himself how and where HE can improve. Then he can think about improving the team and the performances. If the manager ups his game, the team will notice and respond, the fans will notice and respond and as a consequence the atmosphere and results will improve also.

COYI!!!

West Ham Till I Die

am i the only one that's worried deano will leave in the summer?? few factors suggesting this.. 1)he has never seen eye to eye with curbs ( ie curbs opting for cole up front when playin 4-5-1 on numerous occasions this year) 2) he has been linked with united recently and fergie mentioned him after the game. 3) he's a united fan. 4) he didn't celebrate last weekend. i'd be devastated if he leaves. ok ok his weight has been an issue since coming back from injury but the guy's a class player. he's got the football brain like teddy sher,shot like hasselbaink in his day and the awareness of rooney u might say. we have to offer him a contract but i feel if fergie comes lookin...the lure of old trafford wud be too much to turn down. thoughts??

i am not a curb basher but even i could,n understand why curbs did,n bring on sears as soon as nanny was sent of instead of effectively playin 1 up front and 5 in the middle . crazy

I think that really we all new what the outcome was going to be Saturday, and I don't agree that we didn't trouble them, we had a lot pushing forward until Ashton came off and thats when we lost sight of the important second goal. Again there are positives to take from the game, again I think Pantsil was superb down the right and held Ronaldo and Nani off quite easily, also Parker was again excellent, until landing on his arse and injuring himself Deano was still looking sharp and strong, Bobby showed the versitility he has playing in 3 positions during the match. Dissapointed with Noble though he just didn't seem to get involved and when he did there was nothing there, seemed like he was playing with his head down, which is understandable for someone with so much passion for the club, but not understandable for a premiership footballer. I have praised and defended McCartney all season on here but the first goal was his fault, he should not have backed off that far and covered Green's view. But one game left lets get behing them and finish above the slime slimebags COYI

Very dissappointed today...United had 10 men and we never troubled them....what the *** was curbs and that muppet day thinking....mullins up front with ashton ? zamora left midfield ? Curbs has lost my faith after saturday bigtime....mullins shud have been off and replaces by anybody..i mean anybody...the man is a championship player at best along with zamora,cole,neil,paintsil,macca...sorry for the rant but lets be honest here we have a squad of average players and a few good ones.....*** the bad ones off...*** curbs off if he doesnt get it right by october..get some quality in and get some pride back in the jersey coz the quality/workrate just was not up to premiership standard...even park played well for the manure and by god is he a shite player..seriously pissed off today...

This makes interesting reading - I'm finding it hard not to agree! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_ar...

i would love to see paolo as the gaffer

Another thought I've had after trawling the papers websites. Roy Keane has come out and said he will pay players to leave after their performances during the year, yet we fall back on injuries as an excuse and I have certainly done so over the past few months. To me the display against 10 man Man U was not up to PL standard and the players lack of application, skill and effort was not good enough and not worthy of WHU. I think they should be made to explain why they should be worth a start next season or show them the door. I follow the Canberra Raiders in rugby league in Australia and our coach has come out and said after a dreadful performance last weekend in a game that could have been won but for mistake after mistake that it was not up to first grade standard. Why doesn't Curbs lay into his players like that? Don't worry about ther wages bill, get rid of them because they can't pass, tackle or score.

after saturday it was a dissapointing display. we let manu play even when they had 10 men. How do we have so many injuries it just doesnt make sence. The players i want out are bellamy, dyer, ljunberg, boa morte,neil, bowyer, davenport, quashie,. I wud keep anton cos he has a lot of experience more thn what plays in our defence. Has anybdy noticed that curbishley is playing the same team as pardews. So what difference has he made. He has turned our club into a joke

What was Fergie saying to Neill after the match? Did anyone see that? Was he having a word about the Nani incident, or was he suggesting there's a place at Manchester United for the Aussie international? Would anyone be surprised if Neill left for greener pastures? Would anyone want him back at West Ham (apart from Mrs. Lucas Neill of course)? What are your opinions?

I am not a fan of Curbs, like a growing majority of us. I think he's pessimistic, moans too much, comes across as very dull and tactically he is without a doubt extremely cagey (as could be seen at Old Trafford the other day when most other teams would've attacked United when they went down to ten-men). HOWEVER, I'm going to give him more time. He's achieved his goal for this year... Stability. I think he's well aware of the fact that the fans want to see attacking football next year. And I also think he's well aware that we expect changes to be made in the summer (getting rid of the "Average Joe's" like Spector, Pantsil etc) and bring in some quality (non injury-prone) players to push us forward. Let's just wait and see what he does next year...

Thought I'd put my ten cents worth in from another late night in Melbourne. Thinking back over the season there have been a few games where WHU were totally outclassed and this was one of them. All the top 4 clubs have played all over us even if the scores haven't always reflected that so we clearly have some way to go. Then we have failed to play hard against teams we should have beaten easily. I can't see even with a fully fit best 11 it would have been too much different and that says there is something wrong in the motivation out there. For me the class player in our team is Scott Parker followed by Dean Ashton who is starting to play like he expects to score a goal each game, and Green although recent games have left him looking less than the brilliant keeper he is. I also thought James Tomkins has done well even though he has made mistakes in every game he has played, they just show up more in our defence. Otherwise ...hmmm...pretty poor and if they were all replaced over the summer I doubt we would be worse off. Crowd were great at Man U, I could hear you 12000 miles away. Lets hope for an inspired effort against Villa and that ReoCoker and Harewood don't do what most ex WHU players seem to do and lift against us.

the atmosphere from the west ham fans yesterday was unbelievable, we completely outsung united. not only that but to clap an opposition player when we were 3-0 down was amazing. however it does annoy me when people say that west ham had no fight and actually expected them to give united a close game. we had 6 central defenders out injured - WHAT DID PEOPLE EXPECT? apparently andy gray was having a go on sky sports.

Did anyone notice the Match of the day bias continued last night. Yes MU tonked us, but there was not one mention of Ashton Goal. F*£K me what do we have to do to shine in the eyes of the BBC?

Manchester United is a great team, arguably one of their best ever teams when all of their players are available. But no team (or manager) is infallible. While we have all come to accept that the Premier League is fundamentally about financial capacity and that there are four or five very wealthy clubs most likely to dominate this competition year after year, it is a sad day when clubs like West Ham United appear to go to the Stadium of Dreams with an assumption that they will lose and a predisposition to damage control. Given that our club was positioned well away from relegation and without aspirations for European travel in season 08-09, we should have been turning up in a buoyant,audacious mood as West Ham United philosophy and deep tradition would dictate. And for the first 3 or 4 minutes prior to Ronaldo skipping around some inelegant defending to open their account it appeared to be so (the inclusioin of Mullins and the exclusion of Sears notwithstanding). Following those uplifting moments from just a week ago, this was largely another regrettable piece of the 07-08 puzzle. It once again drew attention to our tactical shortcomings (I don't think there were any tactics apart from keeping the score to a reasonable level). It spotlighted the lack of class in several West Ham players, notably Mullins, Zamora and McCartney. The overpaid and underachieving Neill was poor, Ashton inconsistent (his wonderful goal emphasising the difference between the highs and lows in his game), Green was green, Boa Morte, for all of his hustling and bustling, ineffective as an attacking player,and Noble not at his best but, like Parker, feeling the weight of trying to kick start the team without support. I am left wondering to what extent that mediocre performance had to do with the game plan (or lack of one) and our obvious lack of ambition. If the club is genuinely aspiring to greater achievements, does it have plans to unload the mediocre personnel and bring in players of genuine quality or potential to achieve quality at this level? If we are to see well respected technical advisors arrive at the club, will we also see that ambition reflected in the recruitment, management and deployment of playing staff and the development of tactical capacity at the club?

IMO we were beaten today by 3 acts of poor defending, some strange (to say the least) offensive tactics and blinding world class goal courtesy of Carlitos, not to mention a stone wall penalty not being given. The first goal was due to Neill's impression of Greg Rusedski in Dancing on Ice followed by Macca backing off Ronaldo; the second was down to Tomkins inexperience and Pantsil forgetting he was supposed to mark the man behind him - maybe we should have gone into Panto season early with shouts of "he's behind you!!" The 3rd goal was just sublime - i don't think i have ever seen away supporters applaud a goal scored by a home team player before, especially at Old Trafford - it shows a) how much we love Carlos and b) that we truly do have some of the best fans in the world if not THE best. The fourth goal was again down to backing off and letting them get within range of goal - poor defending by anybody's standards. The tactics once Ashton had scored his blinder bemused me completely - it looked to me as though MAnure were rattled and why we didn't take it to them at that point eludes me completely - did Curbs think that losing 3-1 was better than getting something from the game? The positives in all of this are that Pantsil, other than his defending for the 2nd goal, looked really positive going forward; Tomkins is still inexperienced and making mistakes but clearly is one for the future; Parker, tried getting hold of things in midfield but to me wasn't really assisted by Noble and Mullins; Ashton, getting back to his best most definitely however still looked a little lazy at times; finally, Boa Morte - gave everything today but still lacks that final product in the last 3rd of the pitch...lets's face it, we have more injuries than Saving Private Ryan and today we were beaten by a team that is challenging, and i believe about to win, two of the biggest prizes in European Football...this season is over and has been since we hit 40 points...roll on next season...

Remember last year when Fergie played the reserves against us on the last game of the season? How much did we need that at the time? Neil Warnock wasn't too happy. Man Utd needed a win today and we played a few kids. Fergie and Curbs are mates. It's not rigged, and I'm not saying the 11 out there weren't trying but you'd have seen a different West Ham if we were fighting for relegation. It does influence it.

defensively incompetent tactically incompetent curbs has no idea - who trains these players to defend - so many basic errors why did we play 1 upfront for 2/3rds of the second half against 10 men ?

Mike Riley is the most incompetent referee in the game. The only right decision was the red-card to Nani who deserved it 100%. paul Scholes got away with some of the worst tackles in the match. One example was the manner he booted Boa Morte from behind and in front of the idiot Riley and got away with it. Also, when Brown inexplcably handled the ball in his penalty area, this incompetent referee gave a foul against zamora who did not even put in a tackle. Then again very difficult for a coward like Riley to award a penalty against Man United at Old Trafford. Ironically everytime Zamora and Cole won the aerial battle, they got pulled up for nothing at all. Then Zamora gets a yellow card for chesting the ball and it may or may not have rolled off the top of his shoulder unintentionally - even the commentators were astounded by that card. Tevez was another player that got away with it after two intentional fouls on Parker and Parker again within a few seconds of one another. Otherwise, West Ham were a tad bit unlucky to concede the first goal due to Lucas slipping when trying to tackle Ronaldo and then McCartney backing away from him, and Mullins failing to put in that tackle that resulted in a a free shot at goal and Green being well beaten. The goal that followed was another slip up in defence due to Tomkins' inexperience and the rest of the defenders ball watching. Ronaldo did beat the off-side trap to notch an easy one past Green. The third by Tevez was a 25 yard stunner that beat Green rather too easily. I thought Green did have a below average afternoon and was unable to save anything. Even his clearances were poor at times and could have been costly at the very beginning. But at least Ashton scored the goal of the year with that sizzling somersault over-head kick that beat both Ferdinand and Vander Saar. This goal did lift the Hammers' game and Man United were really holding out for the half-time break. But what was particularly delightful was to watch the Hammers hold and move the ball round with beautifully laid out short passes and there could have been a couple of dozen of them befor Man United retrieved the ball only for a second or so, before the Hammers stole it back and continued to dazzle with their short passes and then that delightful cross to Ashton for the best goal that I have seen this season. I thought particularly that Boa Morte and Parker were really controlling the mid-field and I could not really understand why Boa Morte was substituted in favour of Solano. Really Mullins in my opinion was the player that seem to be struggling to keep up with the rest of the play. Upto this point West Ham seem to continue from where they left off in the first half and Boa Morte's pace always caused disarray in the ranks of the Man United defence. From then on Man United were gifted a new lease on the match and what more could be said then another ex-Hammer in Carrick scoring from a lucky deflection off Neill, thanks to Green committing himself too early. Prior to that Ashton was replaced as he seemed to move around uncormfortably. Cole was his replacement and West Ham were lucky not to concede more goals as Man United did have a control of the match after the two substitutions. Fletcher hit the post and timely tackles by McCartney, Neill and Pantsil only prevented the Hammers from suffering a bigger defeat against ten strong Man United. Among the Hammers, to me Boa Morte, Pantsil, and Parker were very impressive. Zamora and Ashton did well in the forward line and were unlucky not to score more goals in the first half. Noble did have a gutsy match along with the likes of Neill, MacCartney and Tomkins. I thought that Noble could have been more sharper. Green as I said earlier was well below par, but Mullins - well Curbs may explain why he made the line-up. Collison should have been selected ahead of him. Taking Boa Morte off was a bad tactical error on Curbs' part - unless off course he was injured. Sears and Cole were okay but neither looked likely to score. Solano was too slow although he did provide one or two good crosses. Best player for the Hammers - Ashton purely for that strike that brought applause even from the United supporters. Otherwise, Pantsil for his solid performance although he was also guilty of ball watching for United's second goal scored by that goal machine Ronaldo. PS: I would love Neville Nixon's to tell me what was a bigger mistake: Curbs' decision to have Boa Morte in the starting line-up or for him to be substituted in the second-half and thus throwing away the advantage for the Hammers wrt Boa Morte's pace?

you must of been pretty lost for a story today Nev to bring up the lets jump on LBM song again, I thought he had a reasonable game myself and we seemed to really go down the pan after curbs took him off

Very disappointing. Excellent first half, but just didn't show up for the second. Whenever one watches the top four I'm always impressed by their energy levels, whereas we just look unfit. Pick any Utd player and he was charging all over the pitch whereas we seemed to huff and puff at half speed. Same goes for the Chelsea and Liverpool players mid week - kept going for the full 120 mins. And it's no good saying we had nothing to play for. There is the 10th position bonus for a start and that's looking a bit shaky at the mo.