[Archived] 2010/11 Match Report: West Ham v Rovers

[A cup of beans]

Nothing to do with it. He was playing well for us till kean stopped picking him and that's all I care about. Good crosser of a ball too, Emerton is usually held up as poor in that regard on this Board. In any case Emerton was playing right-back!

the guy cant even get in glasgow rangers team. says it all IMO

[Kelbo]

the guy cant even get in glasgow rangers team. says it all IMO

Neither could Tugay!! Funny lot the scotsmen, bit like our manager!

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

EHD was fine until Kean decided to take Neil Warnock's position and criticise him in public Hughesy. Apart from that, it was 100% the managers decision to ship him out to another club until the end of the season. Kean didn't have to do that, but I don't think he gave it enough thought. Just as he didn't give it enough thought when he decided to inform the media that Samba had been previously unsettled.

On the whole Kean seems to have defended the players fairly well and protected where possible from the pressures of the relegation battle - but I have to admit I was very disappointed with Kean and his handling of the EHD/Warnock media frenzy. IMO he put EHD at the mercy of the media - rather than protecting him.

However - I didn't think that EHD had maintained his early season form - whether he would have regained it we will never know. At the end of the day there may have been an element of balancing the wage bill - and Kean obviously made the decision that EHD was expendable.

[allanncd]

Hoilett showed that whilst he has loads of ability he lacks strength on the ball and has a great deal to learn before he can be consistently effective at this level. He would not be a regular at any of the big clubs and is deluding himself if he thinks otherwise. I lost count of the number of times he lost possession needlessly or took the wrong option in shooting or passing.

[RevidgeBlue]

Listen. For a club of our size to continue being a Premier League club, we need to have everything going for us. The manager has to be right, the owners have to be right, the Chief Exec has to be right and the playing staff has to be right. Since 1992 we have pretty well done that under the stewardship of John Williams - and that's what has kept us where we are. now.

John Williams has certainly not been at the Club since 1992, he only joined us c1996 or 1997. I don't want to be seen as knocking JW but if you are being pedantic you could argue we fared far better whilst his predecessor Terry Ibbotson was at the helm.

For what it's worth I don't actually think it matters a jot who your Chief Executive is as long as they are competent, they're only administrators at the end of the day. In my view you're only as good as your manager at any particular time.

Hence we struggled under Hodgson, got relegated under Kidd, did both well and struggled under Souness, flourished under Hughes, bombed under Ince, and improved but struggled at times under Sam.

All under JW's excellent stewardship. So the variable factor must presumably be the manager. We're struggling now because Kean hasn't proved quite up to the task, and the Walkers left us with a threadbare squad not because JW left.

As for EHD he's another player who like Kalinic and MGP has magically morphed into a world beater because Kean has left him out. EHD started the season off very well but his form had dipped markedly to its usual level well before January.

[m1st]

I'm just back from a weekend visiting friends in East London whom I almost never see apart from coincidental visits to the Boleyn Grahnd. I don't go to as many away games as I used to [getting older!]; but I was proud to join in some of the chants. Loved the "How sh1t must you be; we're winning away", which ran from the 12th -78th minutes!

I was right down on the front row so didn't have the best overview of the game; had to keep turning round to look at the big screens to see what was going on when the ball was at the far end!!

I came away from the game reasonably satisfied with the result - the WHam fans I was talking to while waiting for the bus back to my friends' house more or less have accepted that they're going down, which leaves only two places to fight against being in. However; the results from Tottenham and, especially, Wolves have got me worried; even with the help of our goal difference, I can see it all going down to the last game. I can't see Fergie giving us an easy ride on Saturday, which could leave us dependent on at least one point from Molyneux to be absolutely sure.

What was I thinking of when I volunteered to do the Wolves preview?!?!

[tonyoz]

I didn't see anything of the match today and it doesn't sound very pretty but that is one big fat point. It was absolutely crucial not to get beaten and we didn't. Not out of the woods yet.

Oh that's a pity. In the second half we decided to pull back and defend a 1-0 lead - hoofing the ball back to WHU to have another go! Even brought on Keith for an attacking midfielder. You would have thought Sam was still here!

[den]

John Williams has certainly not been at the Club since 1992, he only joined us c1996 or 1997. I don't want to be seen as knocking JW but if you are being pedantic you could argue we fared far better whilst his predecessor Terry Ibbotson was at the helm.

For what it's worth I don't actually think it matters a jot who your Chief Executive is as long as they are competent, they're only administrators at the end of the day. In my view you're only as good as your manager at any particular time.

Hence we struggled under Hodgson, got relegated under Kidd, did both well and struggled under Souness, flourished under Hughes, bombed under Ince, and improved but struggled at times under Sam.

All under JW's excellent stewardship. So the variable factor must presumably be the manager. We're struggling now because Kean hasn't proved quite up to the task, and the Walkers left us with a threadbare squad not because JW left.

As for EHD he's another player who like Kalinic and MGP has magically morphed into a world beater because Kean has left him out. EHD started the season off very well but his form had dipped markedly to its usual level well before January.

What's all that about Rev? I'm making the point that for a small club with no cash, we need everyone at the club pulling in the same direction. It's quite simple. From your postings, the chief executive doesn't matter, the owners are fine, Jerome Anderson picking the manager and his assistant while bringing in players for Kean isn't a problem and sacking Allardyce is no loss. Shipping EHD out and going to the press saying that Samba wants out aren't problems either.

Wonder why we're so close to going out of this division? Bad luck maybe.

[thenodrog]

John Williams has certainly not been at the Club since 1992, he only joined us c1996 or 1997. I don't want to be seen as knocking JW but if you are being pedantic you could argue we fared far better whilst his predecessor Terry Ibbotson was at the helm.

For what it's worth I don't actually think it matters a jot who your Chief Executive is as long as they are competent, they're only administrators at the end of the day. In my view you're only as good as your manager at any particular time.

Hence we struggled under Hodgson, got relegated under Kidd, did both well and struggled under Souness, flourished under Hughes, bombed under Ince, and improved but struggled at times under Sam.

All under JW's excellent stewardship. So the variable factor must presumably be the manager. We're struggling now because Kean hasn't proved quite up to the task, and the Walkers left us with a threadbare squad not because JW left.

As for EHD he's another player who like Kalinic and MGP has magically morphed into a world beater because Kean has left him out. EHD started the season off very well but his form had dipped markedly to its usual level well before January.

The Walkers left us with everything that Den noted Simon. You may argue that the playing staff were weak for the Prem league and probably your biggest supporter on that point would have been Sam Allardyce but Den did note that in his second sentence.

So very little blame can be levelled at the Walkers then. However we would not be in this godawful mess now without the abominable ownership decisions taken under the pig headed ownership of the Venkey's.

[thenodrog]

Oh that's a pity. In the second half we decided to pull back and defend a 1-0 lead - hoofing the ball back to WHU to have another go! Even brought on Keith for an attacking midfielder. You would have thought Sam was still here!

Just spoke to a mate who went (and who was anti allardyce too) and he said that in his opinion 'the manager cost us the win' and in a nutshell Kean's substitutions cost us the win by deflating the team and the supporters and basically handing the initiative back to West Ham. If that is the case than we can add that to the two points dropped at home in Keans awful first match in charge v the same opponents. Never mind the rest of the inept dross since Jan but imo Allardyce in charge for just these two matches would almost certainly have seen us safe and with 43 points on the board now.

[Gav]

EHD was fine until Kean decided to take Neil Warnock's position and criticise him in public Hughesy. Apart from that, it was 100% the managers decision to ship him out to another club until the end of the season. Kean didn't have to do that, but I don't think he gave it enough thought. Just as he didn't give it enough thought when he decided to inform the media that Samba had been previously unsettled.

If Kean had supported EHD after Warnock's outburst, then maybe, just maybe EHD might have given us enough posession and kept Wham at bay for longer than we did. Having the best player for retaining posession available in this one single game, never mind all the other games he's been at another club, could have been the difference between one point and three. It might just have been enough for us to be safe now.

No he wasn’t Den.

EHD wanted to the leave the club on the day Allardyce was sacked, and his decision had nothing to do with the QPR game, in which he was a disgrace to the shirt for his antics if true by the way.

[thenodrog]

No he wasn’t Den.

EHD wanted to the leave the club on the day Allardyce was sacked, and his decision had nothing to do with the QPR game, in which he was a disgrace to the shirt for his antics if true by the way.

If you weren't there at the match then pipe down.

[den]

No he wasn’t Den.

EHD wanted to the leave the club on the day Allardyce was sacked, and his decision had nothing to do with the QPR game, in which he was a disgrace to the shirt for his antics if true by the way.

Who's decision Gav? The only person capable of making any decisions on where EHD would play his football was Steve Kean - is that who you meant? Up until the QPR game EHD was playing well for the team, only after Kean took Warnock's viewpoint was there any problem.

My point is this, I'll try again. Most clubs in the PL can buy themselves out of sticky situations. Rovers can't do that. The reason why we've survived as long as we have is because the club, from Jack Walker onwards, had the right structures in place. Even with JW's finances, we would have won nothing without that. We replaced the odd bad manager by having a CE [who rev says is only an administrator] who had the right football nous, recognised that things needed changing and did so, with the support of the Trustees. He also knew when things didn't need changing. It was having the right people, in the right positions within the club that kept us in the top flight for as long as we have.

As for EHD, I stand by my point that if we had had him available against Wham, particularly in the second half, then because of his abilities to keep posession, we might just have ridden out that storm and taken three points. We needed posession and had a player on the books who would have helped enormously in that way. Unfortunately Kean thought we are better off with him at Rangers. In my opinion, it was a bad decision.

[chris]

Who's decision Gav? The only person capable of making any decisions on where EHD would play his football was Steve Kean - is that who you meant? Up until the QPR game EHD was playing well for the team, only after Kean took Warnock's viewpoint was there any problem.

My point is this, I'll try again. Most clubs in the PL can buy themselves out of sticky situations. Rovers can't do that. The reason why we've survived as long as we have is because the club, from Jack Walker onwards, had the right structures in place. Even with JW's finances, we would have won nothing without that. We replaced the odd bad manager by having a CE [who rev says is only an administrator] who had the right football nous, recognised that things needed changing and did so, with the support of the Trustees. He also knew when things didn't need changing. It was having the right people, in the right positions within the club that kept us in the top flight for as long as we have.

As for EHD, I stand by my point that if we had had him available against Wham, particularly in the second half, then because of his abilities to keep posession, we might just have ridden out that storm and taken three points. We needed posession and had a player on the books who would have helped enormously in that way. Unfortunately Kean thought we are better off with him at Rangers. In my opinion, it was a bad decision.

Isn't Diouf a bit catch 22, if he is not playing he is probably a nightmare to have around.

Kean probably doesn't have the experience to handle his personality and has already said he was always planning to play Olsson and Holliet ahead of diouf and Diouf wasn;t going to be happy so let him play somewhere else.

[den]

Isn't Diouf a bit catch 22, if he is not playing he is probably a nightmare to have around.

Kean probably doesn't have the experience to handle his personality and has already said he was always planning to play Olsson and Holliet ahead of diouf and Diouf wasn;t going to be happy so let him play somewhere else.

He was playing though and playing well. After the QPR fracas, Kean dropped him rather than supported him - and sent him to Rangers. Kean only said that after he'd sent him on loan.

[chris]

He was playing though and playing well. After the QPR fracas, Kean dropped him rather than supported him - and sent him to Rangers. Kean only said that after he'd sent him on loan.

Hmmm, I think you are right though, I never really thought at the time against West Ham how useful EHD would have been.

Still, I sense Diouf was not happy and Kean knew it:

I was doing well at Blackburn under Sam Allardyce and I think I was playing the best football of my Rovers career but then he left and things changed.

I am a loyal guy and I liked Sam and things were not working for me so when this chance came up I grabbed it. I know this is only a loan move but I would love to make it permanent. I need a change and this is great for me.

[Gav]

Who's decision Gav? The only person capable of making any decisions on where EHD would play his football was Steve Kean - is that who you meant? Up until the QPR game EHD was playing well for the team, only after Kean took Warnock's viewpoint was there any problem.

As for EHD, I stand by my point that if we had had him available against Wham, particularly in the second half, then because of his abilities to keep posession, we might just have ridden out that storm and taken three points. We needed posession and had a player on the books who would have helped enormously in that way. Unfortunately Kean thought we are better off with him at Rangers. In my opinion, it was a bad decision.

EHD asked to leave when Allardyce was sacked, that very day in fact. The club had to wait until someone showed an interest and the window opened, and Rangers came in for him, so he went as requested.

Kean could have made him stay, but you’ve been telling me for weeks he has no say on players coming and going, and you don’t want an unhappy EHD on the books.

As for WH away, if we’d have had a firing Bentley, Bellamy and RSC playing we’d have won also, so EHD not being here isnt really another stick to beat kean with.

[RevidgeBlue]

He also knew when things didn't need changing. It was having the right people, in the right positions within the club that kept us in the top flight for as long as we have.

As for EHD, I stand by my point that if we had had him available against Wham, particularly in the second half, then because of his abilities to keep posession, we might just have ridden out that storm and taken three points. We needed posession and had a player on the books who would have helped enormously in that way. Unfortunately Kean thought we are better off with him at Rangers. In my opinion, it was a bad decision.

If you take the view that Souness didn't need sacking back in the day maybe. It was only Freddy Shepherd that saved our bacon at the time by thankfully taking Souness off our hands.

The EHD point is completely superfluous imo. Diouf might have kept possession in the second half against West Ham but with him on the pitch Emerton might not have got forward to provide the cross for the first goal. What we can say with far greater certainty is that Diouf would not have had half the impact Hoillet has had in the second half of the season.

[Mattyblue]

EHD asked to leave when Allardyce was sacked, that very day in fact. The club had to wait until someone showed an interest and the window opened, and Rangers came in for him, so he went as requested.

Kean could have made him stay, but you’ve been telling me for weeks he has no say on players coming and going, and you don’t want an unhappy EHD on the books.

As for WH away, if we’d have had a firing Bentley, Bellamy and RSC playing we’d have won also, so EHD not being here isnt really another stick to beat kean with.

You seem to be stating a lot of things as fact Gav... you in the know these days?

[den]

EHD asked to leave when Allardyce was sacked, that very day in fact. The club had to wait until someone showed an interest and the window opened, and Rangers came in for him, so he went as requested.

Your first sentence Gav - how do you know that? Your second sentence - the club were happy to play EHD and EHD was happy to play for the club, until Warnock slated him and the manager backed the oppositions manager*. It really doesn't fit in with your version does it?

*Hmmmm, would Wenger or Fergie have done that?

Kean could have made him stay, but you’ve been telling me for weeks he has no say on players coming and going, and you don’t want an unhappy EHD on the books.

You're talking as though EHD was refusing to play. As long as he was playing and was playing well, we should have kept him here. He was one of our best players and there was no reason to get rid mid season. I've been telling you that I don't think Kean knew who Formica, JJ and Rochina were before they came to the club. Not that he has no say.

[Gav]

The facts came straight from the horses mouth chaps, I need say no more, and I don't think he was telling porkies either.

Your first sentence Gav - how do you know that? Your second sentence - the club were happy to play EHD and EHD was happy to play for the club, until Warnock slated him and the manager backed the oppositions manager*. It really doesn't fit in with your version does it?

*Hmmmm, would Wenger or Fergie have done that?

You're talking as though EHD was refusing to play. As long as he was playing and was playing well, we should have kept him here. He was one of our best players and there was no reason to get rid mid season. I've been telling you that I don't think Kean knew who Formica, JJ and Rochina were before they came to the club. Not that he has no say.

You've to much time on your hands Den

[den]

Bunkum Gav.

The EHD point is completely superfluous imo.

The need for someone on the park who can get you some posession, which apart from players time wasting, is the only way to stop the oppositions momentum - isn't supefluous Simon. It's a vital ingredient of any team.

BTW, you still haven't responded to my question:

From your postings, the chief executive doesn't matter, the owners are fine, Jerome Anderson picking the manager and his assistant while bringing in players for Kean isn't a problem and sacking Allardyce is no loss. Shipping EHD out and going to the press saying that Samba wants out aren't problems either.

Wonder why we're so close to going out of this division? Bad luck maybe.

[Gav]

Bunkum Gav.

Quality