[Archived] West Ham Versus Blackburn Rovers

[Dan]

Playing well (apparently) and losing ; drawing at home and losing away to 2 of the Prem's weaker teams.

Relegation form.

We didn't play well at all though Jim! Jason Roberts makes Blake look like Drogba! I think we're doomed! Once you start shopping at Netto for stuff, you end up living a Netto life or something to that effect.

[The1mattjansen]

We obviously didn't deserve to lose 4-1, I think 2-2 would have been a fair scoreline. We always lose against West Ham anyway, so I'm not really that gutted that we lost, however I'm dissapointed with our general performance. Key points to take from this game:

- Never use Reid again.

- Ooijer is too slow to be a decent right back. Use Simpson or Emerton instead.

- Our right hand side was horrible. Get a specialist right winger in, and use Simpson or Emerton as right back, as stated above.

- Our left hand side looked far more potent when Treacy came on.

- It speaks volumes when Andrews looks like a world beater compared to our other midfielders. If he continues like this, I believe our central midfield pairing should be Grella-Andrews.

- Never let Roberts take another penalty again.

Spot on with every point. I have complete faith in Ince.

Andrews looked very lively when he came on and will prove to be a bargain.

A little strange with what happened with Grella, it looked like Ince was having a go at him when he came off at half time, and to then get subbed??

[TugaysMarlboro]

bad bad performance. West ham will be struggling along with ourselves- very lucky

Samba - the worst performance from a rovers CB in some years truly awful.

Overall,appoint a sub-standard manager/ buy sub-standard palyers= get sub-standard perfomances

Robinson is ######. Roberts is ######. Andrews is most likely ######. Why the (Please don't use that word again) have we laid our trust in a lower league manager that knows (Please don't use that word again) all?!! very very very ###### off

13 years at West Ham + new manager = no guaranteed away win, infact its probably more likely that anne boleyn would ressurect from the dead.

Andrews most likely what sorry?! I watched the game and he seemed composed and decent on the ball and didn't seem to panic. - i'm sorry it seems its some ammunition to blame Ince with, even though like I said, he did a pretty good job.

Some of this drivel is pathetic, paul ince KNOWS FOOTBALL! so how you can claime hes knows nothing is beyond me it really is. Its West Ham for christ sakes! We never win - no-one was going on like this when Sparky was in charge and we lost down in East London!

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

It was unjust, but I can't say I expected anything else at West Ham.

Roberts shouldn't take penalties, it should be someone who can, and has, scored them in the past, ie Andrews, Emerton or Pedersen.

Treacy looks like he has grown into a useful squad player.

Robinson has a dodgy defence in front of him, Samba and Nelsen were playing silly buggers in front of him and despite making two world class saves, he couldn't stop the other 4.

If we get a right winger, tighten up the defence, get Carlos in and playing, I don't think we'll do too badly.

Lets be honest, it was West Ham and Mike Riley, a draw was probably too much to ask.

[novella]

im glad we are scoring a fair few, but to concede 7 in 3 games is absolutely shocking. front line is sorted. central midfield needs some tweaking. defence is a joke. samba needs to be dropped to give him a reality check. sign a right winger, drop emerton into right back and ooijer into sambas place.

[67splitscreen]

I can accept 2-1, but the last ten minutes we had nothing left.

After Bellamy's goal what was all that about,pussy footing around 18yds out (row z). Only Emerton tried to chase the ball down, while Warnock, Nelson and Reid just stood around watching.

A score line of 4-1 does nobody's confidence any good.

Where is that RW we need him badly. To predictable.

[The1mattjansen]

We are not going down. Not a chance in hell.

[Biddy]

The officials, although not good, were nothing to do with us losing today (ok disallowed goal but we should have scored a penalty or emertons header). Our defense was plain and straight forward awful. Robinson had another shocker with only 2 decent saves in the 2nd half. Samba, Oojier and Nelsen looked like they had forgotten how to talk to each other and none of them had confidence in the keeper. Warnock was no better to be honest.

4-1 was overly flattering. A draw would have been a fair result in my opinion but West Ham actually decided to play to the final whistle unlike us.

Roberts had a good game, nicely taken goal but what was he thinking for his penalty? He arched his body, to the right and tapped it. Yes tapped it. He might as well have yelled "I'm going to tap it to the right" to the goal keeper as I reckon even I could have saved it. Also yet again his big mouth gets him in the book for absolutely no reason. In fact we got lots of stupid yellow cards in this game. Lots of mouthing off and reckless late sliding tackles.

Andrews had a couple of good touches when he came on, found his man well. Not enough of a run out to make a full opinion though.

[yellowsubmarine]

The honeymoon's over.

I will accept a 2-1 defeat since we always lose to them.

But a 4-1 defeat is a hard pill to take.

[imy9]

No what is being said that after ONE defeat people are on the managers back and questioning everything.

We lost 3-0 to West Ham with Hughes in charge, we lost 6-2 Arsenal with Hughes in charge, we lost 4-0 Chelsea with Hughes in charge.

Did you see the game?

It should have been 2-2, ref was poor.

So far Inces record:

Played 4

Won 2

Draw 1

lost 1

I agree we should sack the manager and sell everyone... get a grip

PLEASE DONT USE FOUL LANGUAGE

[PLZ Blue]

Who never saw that coming? Of course PI would put on his love child (Andrews)... what with his pedigree of... wellll... ahem... he was a great league 2 footballer.

That Chilean footballer of the year bloke must really be crap.

[Bobby G]

We woke up in the second half, but the penalty miss on top of the "disallowed" goal basically had the defeat confirmed for us. Defensively rubbish all day long. Ooijer run ragged on the right side all day and even Warnock was being overlapped by their wingers. Yes we kept on pushing but imagination wasnt there, even though their defence had difficulties trying to deal with our crossing especially when Treacy came on.

POINTS TO MAKE ->

Robinson - I havent been impressed by him this season yet. He made a couple of good saves today and I wouldnt blame him for the goals, but sometimes when you have a top quality keeper and he is one, then you expect him to stop more goals going in, especially looking at his saves/goals ratio this season.

Grella - I think he had a decent first half but it might have been his yellow card which meant Ince took him off, although at the whistle he was in "discussion" with Ince, and it seemed quite heated.

Reid - Very poor. Passes astray, corners were poor, and is a shadow of his former self.

Roberts - I thought he did well other than his penalty miss. If he was more clinical he might have scored at least another, but we know what we have with him.

Derbyshire - Wasnt too involved except when he came on and then during the last few minutes. Unlucky his goal was chalked off.

And onto the best bit of the day in my eyes...

Keith Andrews...He looked comfortable on the ball. Didnt try too much but wasnt rushed when he had it and always made a pass forward. His touch was good and he was always running. I was pleasantly surprised by him and I can see him playing a role for us this season.

Disappointed Carlos didnt come on, but overall it was a rubbish afternoon and its better that its come early on.

[Presty On Tour]

shocking result, any news on the santa cruz injury?

[tchocky]

Not overreacting then Dan. That scoreline is not a true reflection of the game. Bellamy was bound to score when he came on, but we had some good chances ourselves that could easily have gone in. Derbyshires goal should have stood IMO. And gutted neither Cruz or Dunn were on the pitch when we got the penalty, because that effort from Roberts was woeful.

[Dan]

Just a wonder, did anyone else expect Jason Donkey to Score from that Pen? I was cheering when we'd been awarded it, once I saw Roberts was taking it I knew he'd miss 100%.

[emglch]

seems like the team is trying to attack without any proper defence. it's ok if our players are all world class finishers and take their chances well. the fact is that we aren't. so PI pls sort out your defence before we look to play 'entertaining' football every game. can't take it when we concede 2 in the dying minutes. inconsistency is creeping back in only our 3rd premier league match.

[Lurid Coat]

Of course PI would put on his love child (Andrews)... what with his pedigree of... wellll... ahem... he was a great league 2 footballer.

That Chilean footballer of the year bloke must really be crap.

No, but as stated several times, Villanueva isn't ready for the frantic action of the PL just yet, having been out with the chickenpox for quite some time.

Andrews was possibly our best midfielder today.

Let the knee jerking continue!

[The1mattjansen]

Who never saw that coming? Of course PI would put on his love child (Andrews)... what with his pedigree of... wellll... ahem... he was a great league 2 footballer.

That Chilean footballer of the year bloke must really be crap.

Did you watch the game? And if so, were did you 'gain' your understanding of football?

[imy9]

I think I will post again a little later once the kids have stopped chucking their dolls out the pram.

[Elegia]

Nowt to do with the referee, we were awful.

Yes certain players were awful particularly the defence but the ref did not have a good game.

And the ref is not entirely to blame, merely stating he was bad.

I am not too gutted at losing to West Ham, was expecting it to be honest, they have been a bogey team for a long time now.

But on the balance of play it should have been a draw.

[rover6]

My assessment of second half:

The Bad:

- West Ham's final goal was a result of absolutely unprofessional conduct by Rovers players. Hammers were playing keep-ball and Rovers were standing off as if they had given up. Whilst they didn't fall for the old trap of flying into a stupid challenge - Rovers player (Nelsen or warnock) got fed up and decided that he'd try to languidly outskill a player in his own box. Lost the ball - goal. Crowd's oles got to him.

- Rovers central midfield didn't seem to know what it was doing. Individually, Andrews and Emerton looked okay. However, they kept alarmingly disappearing. And no-one was taking the fight to West Ham in the centre. Noble and Parker knew what they were doing.

- Rovers wing-play was non-existent until Treacy came on. Gamst did very little and Reid was quite poor. West Ham, however, had a good outlet in Etherington.

- Matt Derbyshire was disappoining. Admittedly, he and Roberts fed of scraps, but he didn't impose himself enough in trying to create chances. (He did have some useful attempts to get onto crosses).

- Andre Ooijer showed no inclination to get forward and seemed terrified of Etherington.

- Samba and Nelsen looked distinctly jittery. There's something comedic about the way they do a couple of things brilliant and then go and trip over their own feet.

The Good

- Treacy came on and threatened Spam with good runs and testing crosses. It's a shame that his teammates didn't try to create space for him more, he had the beating of Neill.

- Jason Roberts put in a Emile Heskey-esque performance. Arms, elbows, knees, legs flailing, going for the juggling octopus look. Despite his evident lack of technique he was giving the centre backs hell and was creating a decent platform up front. Unlike Derbs.

- Andrews looked capable of playing in the Prem. His partnership with Emo wasn't great but there were no signs of League 2 holes in his passing or technique.

- Warnock was his usual gung-ho, terrier self. Except for the last goal when I think he (or maybe Nelsen) succumbed to trying to do a Ronaldinho move in his own box.

- Robinson made an astonishing save from Cole.

[Mr. E]

I don't know what happened to the Chilean, but other than that this was not Ince's fault. There are a million factors that caused todays defeat, few of which I could have conceived of to be as grating and as frustrating as those that happened, but I wouldn't put Ince near the top.

[Paul Mellelieu]

My assessment of second half:

The Bad:

- West Ham's final goal was a result of absolutely unprofessional conduct by Rovers players. Hammers were playing keep-ball and Rovers were standing off as if they had given up. Whilst they didn't fall for the old trap of flying into a stupid challenge - Rovers player (Nelsen or warnock) got fed up and decided that he'd try to languidly outskill a player in his own box. Lost the ball - goal. Crowd's oles got to him.

- Rovers central midfield didn't seem to know what it was doing. Individually, Andrews and Emerton looked okay. However, they kept alarmingly disappearing. And no-one was taking the fight to West Ham in the centre. Noble and Parker knew what they were doing.

- Rovers wing-play was non-existent until Treacy came on. Gamst did very little and Reid was quite poor. West Ham, however, had a good outlet in Etherington.

- Matt Derbyshire and Jay Roberts is not a partnership.

- Andre Ooijer showed no inclination to get forward and seemed terrified of Etherington.

- Samba and Nelsen looked distinctly jittery. There's something comedic about the way they do a couple of things brilliant and then go and trip over their own feet.

The Good

- Treacy came on and threatened Spam with good runs and testing crosses. It's a shame that his teammates didn't try to create space for him more, he had the beating of Neill.

- Jason Roberts put in a Emile Heskey-esque performance. Arms, elbows, knees, legs flailing, going for the juggling octopus look. Despite his evident lack of technique he was giving the centre backs hell and was creating a decent platform up front. Unlike Derbs.

- Andrews looked capable of playing in the Prem. His partnership with Emo wasn't great but there were no signs of League 2 holes in his passing or technique.

- Warnock was his usual gung-ho, terrier self. Except for the last goal when I think he (or maybe Nelsen) succumbed to trying to do a Ronaldinho move in his own box.

- Robinson made an astonishing save from Cole.

About right.

[joey_big_nose]

The next weeke here is going to be fun....

Robinson - Responsible for the first goal. Pulled off a cracking save from Bellamy. 5/10

Warnock- Usual quality. 7/10

Nelsen - Thought he was back to his best after the first two games. Today he played as badly as he did against the Hammers last year! - 4/10

Samba - Atrocious. He has his ups and downs but today was the worst. 4/10

Ooijer - Lacked the pace to get up and down. Etherington utterly annihilated him on the counter. 5/10

Gella - didn't realise he was on the pitch for ages. Anonymous to the point of being substituted. 4/10

Reid - Still not up to it. Poor corners, poor control. Great shot from distace. Is a physical player but fialed to apply his physique to the midfield. 5/10

Pedersen - Okay. Not really much came from him but he was solid. Utterly outclassed by Treacy when subbed. 5/10

Emerton - Standard. Lots of running, solid defensviely, no creativity. 5/10

Roberts - Easily our best player in the first half, disappeared a bit in the second. Took his goal well. Awful penalty. 7/10

RSC - Never got going, got injured. We needed him in the second half. Not really fair to rate him.

The good stuff was the substitutes

Derbyshire - Lively, should have got a goal which was wrongly disallowed. Great crosses and ability when he ran the channels. 7/10

Treacy - Great outlet in the second half. Real threat. I could see him starting very soon for us. 8/10

Andrwes - all the talk was of him "lacking premiership qulaity". Actually looked a better technical player than quite a few out there. 7/10

Strange game really. West Ham were clearly the better side overall but then we had enough chances to at least draw the match. Green was outstanding for them, as was Etherington. When Bellamy came on he showed that he is a brilliant player. 4-1 is a ludicrously flatterng scoreline, especially in light of the chances we had.

We need Dunn back, we need quality on the right. We need to shift McCarthy and get in a different striking option. I hope to God RSC is not seriously injured.

I'm not distraught but the most worrying thing is the lack of composure at the back and that Grella who is supposed to tie up the midfield looked poor. We need him to come good.

[Hi Mack]

I don't know what happened to the Chilean, but other than that this was not Ince's fault. There are a million factors that caused todays defeat, few of which I could have conceived of to be as grating and as frustrating as those that happened, but I wouldn't put Ince near the top.

Just proves were not good enough!

We havent replaced Bentley, Were lost without Cruz!

Sambas been found out!Ooijer has to go centre back!

Striker and RW needed!..........Apply within!

Shocking!