andym

warnock makes up for his mistake for the first goal

about **** time

absolutely **** disgusting weve played right into blackburns hand, hoof ball which comes straight back. defence looks shocking, created absolutely nothing upfront. as usual cannot break down teams who sit back complete bunch of bottlers

yep, the last 20 minutes or so was the most frustrating. we had started the 2nd half well, carew had had his goal disallowed, we had loads of possesion, corners, set piece etc but then we visibly tired after 70 mins, especially milner who was dead on his feet. it was crying out for fresh players to come on and keep up the pressure, provide a different threat and really push for the winner. MON did nothing, we lost the initiative and west ham were able to see out the game then after the game he said that the players were tired? i wasnt pleased to here him come out with that

I agree, its pretty shocking we don`t have another way of scoring seen as we have had this problem for the last 2 years at least. It will keep happening too untill we mix our play a bit and sign someone who will score when those chances come. yep, and the sad thing is on the few occassions we do get it down, pass it around and look to play through the middle we look miles better and create chances. why we keep reverting back to hoofball and crossing i dont know. heskey is better with ball into feet, as are gabby and carew. gabby is also wasted chasing down aimless punts down the line. none of them are that good at winning headers from long balls, and in any case with 2 wide players we never have anybody to collect knockdowns. young and downing dont seem to be that good at crossing, but they are better at moving inside and finding space that way, and with milner getting involved and them all swapping around it creates chances. 1st half thursday we did this and looked great. the second half and for a lot of today we went back to direct style and looked poor. it makes no sense

gabbys hold up play was excellent today, he made 2 of his 3 chances today himself using his strength. his finishing is way off at the moment though, i think he would have score them at the start of the season. he always seems to go through this over the winter period, dont know why. we now havent scored in 3 consecutive league games, which is awful. and its not as though we are dominating and just not having much luck in front of goal. we are not creating nearly enough. we need someone creative to come in and give us a spark. cant see MON doing it though

pathetic, same problems as always -no plan B and a lack of creativity to break down teams who sit back. we spent the whole game getting it wide and putting in shit crosses that didnt beat the first man or were far too deep. it clearly wasnt working yet that is all we did. how many corners did we waste gabby is going through his usual winter slump- needs to be taken out the firing line for a while. we also looked very tired the last 15-20 minutes. when we needed to be really pushing for it west ham could control the ball. milner was dead on his feet (not surprising really) yet MON made no changes. and this same team is now going to have to play again wednesday against a physical blackburn side. if we do not sign a striker, or someone who can play off the striker and create, we have absolutely no chance of top 4.

**** sake gabby you have to score that

**** sake another pathetic delivery in a great position

another set piece wasted. how many corners have we had today?

this is wank, we have nothing apart from get it wide and lump in a poor cross

the players will only have themselves to blame if we dont win. woeful crossing when in good positions and poor finishing. how many corners and freekicks around the box have we had and yet we havent got a chance on target from any of them

FFs gabby youve got to score that!!

the standard of crossing is holding us back here. we have had the ball in loads of good positions, lots or corners and several free kicks around the box. yet we haven't had 1 decent ball in yet our best chance came from gabby making something out of nothing- it was a rubbish looping ball in by downing but gabby fashioned the chance. if we can get a decent ball in- ie not at green then we will score- heskey and gabby are both getting infront of their markers

we really need to sort out the crossing, getting in loads of good positions but the final ball is crap

starting to move it around a bit better now, though we need to keep it going

wow great play by gabby unlucky

good play by gabby there

this is crap so far allowing west ham too much time on the ball and giving it away cheaply when we have it

stan has started well, but the rest of the midfield need to get involved

guzan was shakey at first, but seemed ok after that. made a couple of good saves, that one he made off kalinic was superb, even though it wouldnt have counted anyway it didnt help we kept giving him stupid backpasses to deal with on what was quite a bobbly pitch, and on setpieces he had loads of players charging in to him. remember, hes still only a young keeper, theres bound to be games where he looks a bit nervy. and even though he wasnt at his best he didnt cause any goals with mistakes.

clattenberg really was awful wasnt he? missed 2 pens, kalinic elbowed collins in the head (and knew what he was doing) and mccarthy kicked downing in the leg when the ball had long gone- not attempt at a tackle, just lashing out which should be a red. and to be honest salgado was lucky he didnt connect with petrov in the first half- he stamped down at stans foot but luckily for us missed.

1st half great. some lovely movement and passing and a great goal. 2nd half we started well, heskey missed 2 great chances and then we seemed to fall apart. everytime we got it we couldnt wait to get rid of it, such a difference to the first half. MON really needs to get us playing well over 90 mins, because we let ourselves get into trouble sometimes. guzan seemed to struggle on corners at first viewing, but then they showed the replay and he had 2 blackburn players fouling him everytime- just one of the things clattenberg messed up. cuellar, dunne and warnock were excellent as usual. i was quite disappointed in collins though- looked way off the pace and got beaten in the air and turned too easily by kalinic. also lost his man a few times on set pieces which nearly resulted in goals. still he has been out a while so il put it down to lack of match sharpness midfield was great first half, good in patches in the second. jimmy was the standout player and downing put in some nice balls. ash was brilliant in everything but final ball- messed up a few attacks with wrong decision, poor crosses and should have scored when gabby flicked it on for him. however, he looks back to best in terms of taking on players which is good- the goals and assists will come. petrov needs to calm us down when we start hoofing and get us passing it heskey linked the play well but missed 2 real good chances- you have to take those. gabby didnt really provide much of a threat scoring wise, though also held it up well and was unlucky near the end when robinson made an excellent save. worked hard in the second half with all the shitty aimless hoofs to him a good win, though it probably should have been more but for some poor finishing and refereeing. cant get complacent next week though, blackburn are gonna come out fighting and we have to match them

unlucky not to have had 2 pens, if gabby would have fell over normally instead of throwing himself on the floor i think we might have got the first. there was contact but it did look like a dive in real time 2nd one obvious handball need to capitalize on this now. when we play it on the floor we look good. makes you wonder why we seem to want to give it to carlos all the time and punt from the back so much. i reckon we can get down the left hand side easier and should attack down that side more

big john scores it..well done boys through to the next round