Eastern End Philosophy

OLAS 419 AUGUST 25TH 2007

The ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said, “If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.” It’s the kind of advice I could have done with when I took my first driving test and the examiner asked me to do a three-point-turn.

Somehow, with just nine games to go last season, West Ham changed direction and saved themselves. But who was it that changed it? When the whistle blew at Old Trafford last May, Carlos Tevez’s outstanding role in that run-in was rightly celebrated, but he was just one player in a whole team that had transformed itself. How did that urgency, flair, stamina, determination and willingness to play for each other return? For many commentators the answer was the manager. They credited Alan Curbishley with masterminding the transformation.

I had been one of his fiercest critics but with each result in those dramatic weeks I began to wonder if they were right. Throughout his Charlton days, Curbs had always struck me as an irredeemably dull geezer, limited in ambition, imagination and inspiration, who has been on the long-term waiting list at his local hospital for a personality transplant – and he’s still waiting.

Alan Pardew, in comparison had grown on me. Despite a string of poor results, and a completely unforgivable set of appalling ties in his wardrobe, I still saw him as a forward-looking, progressive, modern manager. I was convinced that he had the character and nous to get us out of the doggy-dirt and survive. And emerging stronger from that experience, he would start to build a bright future at Upton Park based around a young team playing pacy and intelligent attacking football.

When Curbs took over, the honeymoon period was remarkably short. A seemingly impossible victory over Man U was all but erased on January 1st with the 6-0 drubbing by newly promoted Reading, and several more defeats that took us to the bottom of the table.

So did that recovery take place because of Curbs, or in spite of him? Were the team playing the “Curbs Way” or had they simply ignored him and played another, more natural way through which they scored some fantastic goals and got the results?

On the evidence of our first game this season I suspect it was in spite of Curbs. A more gutless, spineless, performance by a team totally lacking in energy and ideas, could not have been imagined. Every fan was totally revved up for the new season, full of expectation that things can only get better. The players would have realized that the week before when we cheered Deano’s winner in the friendly against Roma. Yet, against Citeh, before anyone had a point chalked up, and with a whole season of opportunity at their feet, they gave absolutely nothing. They simply surrendered to a team that hardly knew each other.

None of the flair, creativity, quick-thinking football – the “West Ham way” – that they showed towards the end of last season, was present at all. Of course the main creative forces – Yossi and Carlos – are now elsewhere, though we’ve got players like Noble and Zamora, and recent acquisitions like Ljungberg and Bellamy, who can play that way, if they are encouraged to. But who is going to encourage them if not the manager?

Curbs’ bizarre team selection against Citeh had set the tone. Bowyer, who was replaced at half-time should not have been on the pitch at all and needs to be farmed out to a donkey sanctuary as soon as possible. Spector, who has been consistently inept since we bought him, was chosen at right back instead of John Paintsil who had looked really sharp against Roma. And if Deano can’t do 90 minutes yet, then at least start with him, to use his power, drive and determination for the first 45. Keeping him on the bench was a sign of weakness, of playing safe, of lack of confidence. By putting him out there at the start Curbs would have made a bold declaration of intent and would have generated a buzz for the fans every time Deano got the ball. As it was it took us more than 35 minutes to have a feeble attempt on goal.

To return to my Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu also said: “An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox.” In Craig Bellamy we had the ant on the move. Unfortunately he had half a dozen oxen dozing around him and for all his running he could barely get into the game.

“Depressed” hardly captures how most Hammers fans must have felt at the final whistle. Small wonder that within 24 hours West Ham forums were full of “Curbs Out!” posts. Now, however angry we feel, that is a road we don’t want to go down. We need a year of stability where one manager – our current manager, with or without his personality transplant – has the opportunity to show what he can achieve through a whole season with players he has chosen.

But that first game really hurt and I’ve been displaying evidence of serious psychological damage. Saturday night I was really agitated. On the Sunday night I slept soundly but had a dream in which I was out there on the pitch scoring a goal – admittedly it was only a tap-in at the third attempt, but here’s where it gets spooky: I was wearing a Spurs shirt, for god’s sake! Sigmund Freud reckoned that dreams express our unconscious fears or desires. I’ll put that one down to fears. But what was it about that first performance that made me so fearful?

More than anything I fear that Curbs is going to strip us of our natural creative urges and turn us into a bunch of plodders who use stamina and strength to impose ourselves. Now that may make us hard to beat, but it may not help us win many games either and it will surely be a recipe for turning us into a thoroughly boring team to watch. The fans have got to communicate to Curbs that how we play is just as important as the results we achieve. And we need to communicate to the players that that we want them to be creative and inventive, unpredictable, to take risks, to be bold.

Put simply I’d rather we picked up every six points by winning two and losing two than by winning one and drawing three. I would rather win games by 3-2 than 1-0.

Having said that, I’m really pleased at winning 1-0 at the Crossroads Motel and glad that Mark Noble who had a rare mare against Citeh came back strongly against Brum and scored the winner. That result sets us up nicely for what will be a highly charged game against the pie-men. We can’t forget the abject performance on Day One, but we can push it a little further back in our memory. We are on our way. And as Lao Tzu would assure us: “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step”.

Come on you Irons!!!