Who's afraid of the big, bad Wolves?

OLAS482 March 27th 2010

I can’t believe that I hadn’t seen it coming. All the warning signs were there in our feeble performances against the big three. And if I still hadn’t cottoned on to how low morale and expectations had fallen, and how low were the levels of interest among the players of playing for anything other than their wages, then the Bolton defeat spelt it out in huge capital letters.

I’m sure many of us expected a performance of passion, pride and determination against Wolves, similar to that against the other, and relatively high flying Midland team, Birmingham, just a few weeks back. Of course I knew that Wolves would fight for their lives but nevertheless I anticipated we would gain a narrow victory as anything less was cause for serious concern that we could well fill one of those hotly disputed three relegation places.

Any pride, determination and passion we saw on Tuesday were solely in the bellies of Wolves. They made sure that from the off they were first to every contested ball, that they won practically every aerial contest, and when they were offered or made chances to shoot they showed a clinical efficiency that belied their lowly position.

There are sometimes defeats that leave you feeling hard done by, where the efforts and skill the players have shown have failed to gain the reward they deserve, for example our performance at home to Liverpool back in September, or even at home to Chelsea in December where three points would not have flattered us. But I can’t take anything away from Wolves. They got what they entirely deserved. They were incredibly well organised, maintained their fighting spirit for 90 minutes, and though the stats will show they gave away a lot of free kicks, they did not resort to dirty tactics or niggling time-wasting games. They just set out to do the job in hand and they won it by showing desire and self-belief and a sense of the occasion.

Instead of laying siege to Wolves from the start we were dangerous only for two brief periods. First, there were the couple of minutes just before half-time when Scott Parker, perhaps the only Hammer who can look back with any self-respect on is performance, was desperately unlucky to see a well worked opportunity bounce back of the post and see his follow up effort held on the line. Second, we looked threatening for a few minutes just after Wolves go their third and were taking a well earned mental breather. In that period Diamanti came close on a couple of occasion. That neither Cole or McCarthy were to be found among our more threatening moments spoke volumes for their anonymity and also reflected the poor service they received from a midfield where Parker alone stood out, while the rest were below par and when they did move the ball around were so pedestrian, predictable and ineffective.

At least I won’t be foolish enough to have the same level of expectations today.

So how did we get so deeply in the brown stuff this year, after such a promising campaign last year? Well, back in October I wrote about our rueful wasted opportunity that presented itself in the game against Fulham at home, when we were a goal to the good and they were down to 10 men for the second half, but we only managed to scrape a last gasp draw:
“I would love to be wrong but I have a sneaking feeling that we will look back on that game at the end of the season as one we should have secured maximum points from to save us.”

Pretty much the same script could be applied to our visits to Hull and Sunderland where we threw away two goal and extra player advantages.

But if there was one moment that influenced our season more than any other, and which could not have been underlined more clearly than through Wolves’ crucial first gifted goal the other night, it was back in August when we inexplicably sold our best defender, James Collins, to a team challenging for the Champions League. As well as depriving ourselves of a dogged, reliable and skilful player we only took 5 mil for him. Peanuts. Although even if we sold him for 15 million it still wouldn’t have made up for the hole it left in our defence and the over-reliance it implied we would have to make on a talented but very young and inexperienced James Tomkins.

I won’t continue down this road because when you start to think of the talent we have let out of the gates of Upton Park it can only make you weep. But watching the teams that are fighting at the moment and making enough goal-scoring chances to pick up valuable points did set me thinking about how much we miss a player called Trevor. Of course if you mention Trevor then it is automatically assumed you mean the maestro Brooking, and it is unlikely you mean “ooh-Trevor Morley” but there was another clever Trevor plying his trade here a few years ago. We bought him for 1.5 million and he was one of my all-time favourite Hammers – Trevor Sinclair.

He was an exciting player, who had a telepathic understanding with Di Canio and Joe Cole. He was willing to try the unconventional, such as overhead kicks – but could pull it off, he was a great crosser of the ball, had a good shot, was clever with both feet, and not only carved out so many goal scoring opportunities for others but would do it himself. There are moments when I watch Junior Stan and I see a Trevor Sinclair Mark 2 – I’d love that to come true, because that is precisely the player and style of play we need in the final seven games. Though after he came on Tuesday, he hardly touched the ball.

A few weeks ago there were perhaps 8 teams with a realistic chance of being relegated. Most pundits now reckon that apart from Portsmouth, who are effectively gone it will be any two from Hull, Burnley, wolves and us. Bolton and Sunderland have pulled together enough decent results lately to apparently lift themselves away from danger, and some might believe the same about Wigan. I happen to believe that Bolton are not out of the woods yet and Wigan certainly aren’t despite their recent successive home wins. They have a terrible goal difference and if we can keep within three points of them we have the opportunity to turn the position to our advantage when we entertain them here on April 24th.

So today it is Stoke who stand in the way of us breathing more easily. They have to be one of the least lovable teams in the league. Their manager looks and sounds like a thug and he transmits that “philosophy” to his team. We can never put out our best team because they are always injured (or in “dyer straits” as it is colloquially known). Stoke can never put out their best team because there is always someone suspended. They get players sent off more regularly than I go to the toilet. Their manager/thug thinks it is a case of poor refereeing (by every ref every week). Now I’m the last person to defend the men in black who are clearly sponsored by Specsavers, but most of their decisions against Stoke players have been spot on and there are a few more who have got off lightly despite their brutal tactics. Tony Pulis’s puerile moans on this are a bit like joy-riders complaining that pedestrians really ought to be a bit more careful of passing traffic. Bollocks.

The last cultured player I can remember playing for Stoke was George Eastham (not to be confused with my mate George from East Ham who couldn’t hit a cow’s arse with a banjo – no that he would want to mind you, he’s rather fussy about his banjo)

Meanwhile the pressure has been growing on our manager. After defeats at Chelsea and Arsenal the clamour on “West Ham fan’s” websites was reaching fever pitch with the demand to dump Zola. And by the time I write this he may well have been dumped by the new bosses or given up the ghost himself.

I’ve been disappointed by some of his team selections – to persist in putting Kovac in the team when you have most of your best players available is pretty unforgivable, but it would be disastrous to change the management at this late stage. Our fate will not be decided by who is in charge for these games but effectively by what results Hull, Burnley, Wigan and Wolves manage over the next few weeks. It is partly in our own hands but also in theirs. Quite soon Hull and Burnley have to play each other, and while we pray they will cancel each other out, the odds have to be on one of them getting a three points boost to lift themselves closer to us if they haven’t caught us already.

Should he survive to the end of the campaign I don’t suppose Gilbert and Sullivan will show Zola much sympathy at the end of this gruelling season and it will be our loss if he is forced out or made to feel he should quit.

Clearly Zola is still learning the ropes but in the long run, given proper support, he can deliver us not only the football we want to see but also the achievement it will merit. If ever there is a manager who will want to learn from his mistakes and make next season a much happier and more successful one all round it will be our little Italian job.

A final word to say thanks and goodbye to another of my Hammers heroes – Ludo Miklosko. What a brilliant servant of our club. I hope he wasn’t under pressure to go but made his own choice. Most of all I will remember the day he almost single handily prevented Man U from winning at Upton Park the day that Blackburn snatched the league title. You were a big man with even bigger hands. Good luck for the future, Ludo

Well today I’m going for 2-0 but don’t know if that is goals scored by the Hammers or red cards handed to Stoke! COYI!!!!