[Archived] West Ham Versus Blackburn Rovers

[tony gale's mic]

To all the people that have had a go at us for criticising the signing of Robinson and saying how he's an "England international" - this is exactly what we were on about. He's looked very shaky so far for us.

[Mr. E]

To all the people that have had a go at us for criticising the signing of Robinson and saying how he's an "England international" - this is exactly what we were on about. He's looked very shaky so far for us.

yep. This is the same exact stuff that made him a laughing stock for England and the premiership last season. Not even a schoolboy who somewhat pays attention would do that for the first goal. When a cross comes in, you make a decision and carry it through to the best of your ability - you either go for the ball or trust your defenders. You don't jump for it, stop in the middle and then flap like a fish as it sails into your net. He's a good shot-stopper but he lacks a lot of the fundamental skills of goalkeeping.

[jw_]

Here's my "two bobs worth" on the game.

Roberts, started the match on fire (sorry about the pun) but should never take any more penalties and I wish he'd stop mouthing off all the time, it's pointless and takes his concentration away from the game.Scored a good goal and seems to be improving all the time.

Robinson, scares the hell out of me whenever there's a corner or a cross into the box, needs some strong coaching in that area but did pull off a couple of fine saves, not enough though.

Grella, well having seen him play before I was hoping he'd be different but no just more of the same, this guy will have a pack of cards by the end of the season but if he could control his "vigour" maybe he could fit in.

Andrews, first time I've seen him play and thought he did ok,maybe Ince does know something.

Samba, another one who gives me the jitters when he's in his own penalty area.

Not much to say about the others some weak performances and some just ok but Treacey stood out when he came on and deserves to be in the starting 11, and I was hoping to see Carlos play seems strange he did'nt after midweeks game.

Food for thought, we grabbed a last second winner aginst Everton and only managed a draw aginst Hull, then Everton get beat 3-0 and Hull 5-0 , makes you wonder...

[Paul]

Ince "I'm Ready for the Hate Mob"

..... says the LET headline on the hoardings outside our newsagent. I had thought this referred to the West Ham United fans but it seems more likely he's talking about a section of the Blackburn Rovers support - I'll buy a paper and find out.

Perhaps if Ince spent less time allowing Andrews to suck him off he might have spent a bit more time on team selection.

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

F-ck Off Rovers!!!!

We are pathetic

###### ###### today, Andrews?!!! we're in deep ######

I'm not a Paul Ince fan - yet - but I'm prepared to sit and wait before deciding if he's right for us. When I read the level of abuse aimed at him AND the club by so called Rovers fans I find myself moving more and more towards supporting the manager, regardless of the results we get.

Last season we drew at Goodison and lost at Upton Park. Now my maths shows we have gained two more points from those fixtures than last season. I haven't seen the game but listened to Five Live, I did turn off at 3-1, it seems we dominated much of the second half and with better refereeing and a penalty taker we could easily have been 3-2 ahead. Losing two goals in the last two minutes? It happens. we've all seen what Bellamy can do in that situation and i haven't seen the fourth.

If we look at the season to date:

Everton - good, unexpected win

Hull - disappointing home draw (sounds like life under Hughes)

Grimsby - nice little 4-1 win, nothing to get too excited about (some people have) but what we should expect from the team

WHU - we always get beat there

socngill just so you know the reasons why Carlos didn't play are obvious, especially to those who saw him on Wednesday (ignore the hysterical over-reaction from some quarters) are:

He's probably still recovering from his chicken pox

On Wednesday we saw he has plenty of skill, vision and can shoot

We also saw on Wednesday he is small, slow and lacks an understanding of where to position himself when the opposition have the ball

Hopefully Ince will be able to put this right and we'll have a gem on our hands. On Wednesday's showing Villanueva would have got knocked all over the place at WHU, he isn't ready for the PL. Yet.

[James No. 7]

STFU and GTFO

Wonderful response. Superb insight.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

Robinson, scares the hell out of me whenever there's a corner or a cross into the box, needs some strong coaching in that area but did pull off a couple of fine saves, not enough though.

Just remember.........Bobby Mimms was not the best at crosses!

[Beta Ray Bill]

PhillipL's assessment a couple of page back was pretty much spot on. We did play well for the majority of the game but it's just a shame we gave them a two goal start.

As others have commented, we could (should?) have been 3-2 up early in the second half, and with West Ham's worries showing through we'd have gone on to win. However, thanks to a linesman who had to shield his eyes for large parts of the match - why don't they wear caps if the sun is that much of a problem? - and a woeful penalty, we were still chasing the game until Bellamy finished it.

However, I'm not too worried. I expected 4 points at this stage of the season (although I thought we'd beat Hull and draw at Everton) and we have been playing some good stuff.

That said, we need Bert mk 2 back as Ooijer is not mobile enough to be effective RB against much opposition. Reid needs to left out as he doesn't offer much at all in any of the variety of positions he's been tried in this season to date. Andrews looked surprisingly good. Grella lappared too anxious and trying to prove a point, I think he'll settle down.

What did nark me more than anything was a Rovers fan after the game talking to a Hammer and saying with no disguised amount of glee "he'll be sacked by Christmas" and "good riddance" about Ince. Why hope for this and do a verbal dance of joy if Rovers are in so much of the mire they have to lose their manager? What is there to be gained from hoping we're at the foot of the table just so a manager you don't particularly like is fired? Nose-face-wave-goodbye.

[thenodrog]

reading some the posts here, I have question: Why exactly are we playing football this season if we're not aiming for the champions league spot? How are we possibly going to progress unless we win games against Hull and West Ham?

Champions League your having a laugh. I'll have a pint of whatever you're drinking Mr E.

[philipl]

A neutral opinion that Samba's og should have been struck off as Ashton was offside and interfering with play and that the Derbyshire goal should have stood.

[Mr Creosote]

"What did nark me more than anything was a Rovers fan after the game talking to a Hammer and saying with no disguised amount of glee "he'll be sacked by Christmas" and "good riddance" about Ince. Why hope for this and do a verbal dance of joy if Rovers are in so much of the mire they have to lose their manager? What is there to be gained from hoping we're at the foot of the table just so a manager you don't particularly like is fired? Nose-face-wave-goodbye."

I thought Thenodrog had given up Rovers for golf?

[thenodrog]

Right- from my West Ham perspective:

Bentley was probably the best player I saw at Upton Park last year. I think you miss him a lot.

You can't say that Rathbone! You must be mistaken! We've been subjected to masses of group therapy on here since Bentley went. Suggestions that £5m was worth snapping somebody's hand off for were even bandied about by some, that he was nothing but a big headed playboy by others. So much so that now an increasing number of members have managed to convince themselves that Bentley was crap all the time and that Pennant or Lennon would have far more to offer!

....... and then you go and spoil all that hard work!

TBH Rathbone, all we can offer with the players available at the moment is a team of grafters. We have no pace, no creativity and no width. Robinson still clearly lacks confidence and our defence couldn't keep clean sheets last season - an area which hasn't been addressed. Unless Ince performs a miracle in the transfer market in the next 48 hours (something he hasn't managed in 6 weeks) we will have a long, dour season. Don't think we'll go down - but bottom 6 looms.

bottom 6 looms my arse! way to over react.

I've a good mind to save these two posts. Or have you already done so WWWM?

[Mr Creosote]

Not much the club can do to keep the drunken bum when he pops up on SSN sozzled and saying he wants away.

........or is that Ince's fault as well?

[thenodrog]

Grella looked OK but a bit aggressive and late in the challenge but very early days.

Too soon to judge Grella. He got himself booked very early by the Big Nosed Clown from Yorkshire (no disrespect intended of course;) ) and from then on was walking on eggshells.

Not much the club can do to keep the drunken bum when he pops up on SSN sozzled and saying he wants away.

........or is that Ince's fault as well?

Irrelevent. Like it or not Bentley is a very very good player.

[thenodrog]

Just remember.........Bobby Mimms was not the best at crosses!

Bobby Mimms! Is this a case of time dimming the memory? Booby Mimms was not a keeper that I would want back in the team.

"What did nark me more than anything was a Rovers fan after the game talking to a Hammer and saying with no disguised amount of glee "he'll be sacked by Christmas" and "good riddance" about Ince. Why hope for this and do a verbal dance of joy if Rovers are in so much of the mire they have to lose their manager? What is there to be gained from hoping we're at the foot of the table just so a manager you don't particularly like is fired? Nose-face-wave-goodbye."

I thought Thenodrog had given up Rovers for golf?

Wasn't me Creosote ..... I have him down to be booted out before the clocks go back!

[dingles staying down 4ever]

Bobby Mimms! Is this a case of time dimming the memory? Booby Mimms was not a keeper that I would want back in the team.

As goalkeeping coach, he really is going to improve Robinson on dealing with crosses. Somehow I doubt it!

[Sysagent]

Just re-watched the match on the MOTD...

1st goal - What on Earth was Robinson doing?

2nd goal - Ashton is onside (just), should not have been allowed to be in that position in 1st place, defence at fault

3rd goal - Well taken by Roberts, (unlike his penalty effort which was woeful)

4th goal (disallowed) - Derbs was onside when the pass was played to him (just)

5th goal - We caught playing up the field, but Bellamy struck it superbly

6th goal - Game was done n dusted and our heads were down by then

Also we take Robinson to task with his goalkeeping during crosses, but his distribution of the ball is superb, that kick to Santa in the 1st half was sublime, if more work is carried out by drilling into him to stop on his line during crosses I think it might turn out for the good having Robinson in goal.

Also I think he was exposed a hell of a lot by the lack of communication with his back four, it's like they are all from differening nationalities or something...

[donis1410]

I have just got access to a computer since getting back from the game last night.

Firstly I thought we were damned unlucky yesterday and that Mike Reilly had an awful game not just in da fact he booked roberts for just saying dat he didn't fould the bloke. But also with the fact that every time the ball came into our strikers callum davenport had his arms all over them and nothing wsa done but as soon as roberts turned away from davenport and he went down the ref blew for a free kick, very inconsistant refereeing from my point of view. The derbo goal can't beleive that was disallowed, plus it made me look like an idiot on MOTD as you could see me on the front row goin mental that we had equalised

I felt that yes Grella still needs time to settle and that we lacked that overall width from the right as we were getting caught on the counter due to lack of pace in Ooijer, so emerton didn't get the support that pedersen was getting with warnock. I would also like to say that Andrews (although it pains me to say this) played reasonably well when he came on and didn't put a foot wrong, his touch was solid and his distribution was impressive, plus he was running and running all game. Shame we didn't get to see either Simpson or Carlos get a run out but I suppose RSC injury played a part in that and both Derbo and Roberts (especially Roberts apart from his pen) played well although towards the end of the second half when Treacey was whipping in some awesome crosses and Robbo was getting the flick on no one was making the gamble at the far post!!!!

To finish this off I have got to say that Paul Robinson impressed me today (maybe not his positioning on the corner for the first goal but that was also down to poor marking from the defence) not only in his performance, saves and distribution of the ball but through his humanity as well, at the end of the game all the players walked off sulking that they had thrown a good opportunity away and Robbo looked really really dispointed in himself, as if he was blaming himself for all the goals, which he didn't need to. He came over to the fans clapped them for their support which at times kept WHU quiet and then went mental at all the other players for not coming over. This guy is to become a fans favourite over time I can see that he really wants to put his all in for the team.

Over and out......

[CrazyIvan]

Some of the so called fans on here should be utterly ashamed of themselves. It is a predictable reaction by idiots to a defeat. So we lost to West Ham? So have all the other managers who've managed Rovers since Kenny (and even then we lost at home to them that in 1994). I listened to the game and it sounded quite promising until Roque went off. A mistake by Robbo for one goal and some poor defending for the other. Chasing the game with Bellamy on the pitch, you know what the end result will be. We benefited a lot from that when he was with us...

Grella sounded a bit off the pace but that's not unusual in a player coming in from Italy, Andrews didn't and the commentator said he didn't look out of place which should say something for Ince's judgment. An unfortunate defeat but it isn't the end of the world and some people on here (like Dan) should get a grip and grow up!

[dingles staying down 4ever]

Sorry for not knowing but who were the unused subs?

[donis1410]

Villanueva, Brown, Simpson and Tugay I think?

[bubblerrovers]

Funny reading indeed, half the board are so blind to see we have serious problems, and the other half are well over the top. I'm in the middle but feel we have problems. We beat an Everton team who look awful, and got a last minute win, Everton are struggling as Nicko has suggested, then We draw at home to Hull, who got smashed by WIGAN, Then we lose away to West Ham, no big surprise. I watched the game yesterday and i honestly think Robinson is the no.1 problem, he looks so so bad, he's making our whole defence nervous when should be focusing on defending. Corners, Free kicks you name it, he's shoddy. Everyone on this board thought he was crap for Spurs and England so whats changed. I really think we'll lose so many goals down to him this season, 3 games in and he's been at fault for at least 3 goals, Tottenham couldn't get rid of him quick enough and we've been the mugs to sign him. My Mrs is Australian and speaking to her bro, Grella is a mistake, not making comment on yesterdays performance but we already have a better player for that position in Vogel. How many times have we heard Ince using excuses already, 'We came in late bla bla bla and are behind everyone else' is that going to be used all season. Everyone says teams like Villa Tottenham have overtaken us I'm not worried about them the real issue is WIGAN, SUNDERLAND, WEST HAM, are teams the have overtaken us. Rant over

[dingles staying down 4ever]

Villanueva, Brown, Simpson and Tugay I think?

Where were South Africa's answer to Batman and Robin?

[modes98]

1st goal - What on Earth was Robinson doing?

4th goal (disallowed) - Derbs was onside when the pass was played to him (just)

Also we take Robinson to task with his goalkeeping during crosses, but his distribution of the ball is superb, that kick to Santa in the 1st half was sublime, if more work is carried out by drilling into him to stop on his line during crosses I think it might turn out for the good having Robinson in goal.

Largely irrelevant. Samba let Davenport go, even with Robinson stood on the goal line it would have been a reaction save. Just a good header low onto the goal line.

That picture was taken after the pass, he was on by half a yard.

Most of the time Robinson makes the crosses, in the 3 games this season how many has he missed that have resulted in goals? None!

Robinson is a keeper that will come for crosses, he always has and always will, it has its plus points and negative points. Stil doing better than Brad this season.

[Paul]

Funny reading indeed, half the board are so blind to see we have serious problems, and the other half are well over the top. I'm in the middle but feel we have problems.

I think you're right on this. Fundamentaly the first team hasn't changed much yet, the first choice 11, other than Friedel and Bentley is the same as last year. Ince is having a look at his options, has brought in some players with Villanueva and Andrews looking the most exciting prospects. The problems we face are probably the same as last season when we frequently performed poorly but still managed a reasonable top ten finish. Provided Robinson doesn't turn out to be a total disaster and Villanueva and Andrews are reasonable signings I don't think we will be any better or worse than last year. That's not a very exciting prospect but it's about what you get in the PL these days. We will miss Bentley and it's how we overcome this loss that may determine our season.

[Sysagent]

That picture was taken after the pass, he was on by half a yard.

My "ALT P" skills aren't too hot on a Sunday morning...

;-)