I'm not going to suggest that the referee was the sole reason we didn't take three points yesterday - that would gloss over our players poor hour. It wasn't until the final third of the match that we performed to any kind of level I find acceptable from my team. West Ham deserved to win the game over the 90 minutes. However, and my god is it a big 'however', Mark Clattenburg may well have led to our poor game. I'll go somewhat against the grain when I say I feel the penalty in the opening minute was a foul and should have been a penalty. I will now confuse you all by saying it it was a ridiculous decision! For months now, we fans have called for tougher punishment on defenders pulling shirts in the penalty area. We see it all the time and it infuriates every single one of us. If these fouls happened outside the box, refs would have no hesitation in awarding free kicks, so why do they not give them in the area? The reason, is because it isn't as controversial to give it outside the box. Refs need to start giving these consistently in every game. If there are ten penalties a game then so be it. But THAT is the reason we are hard done by. Consistency. You simply CANNOT give a penalty for something like that and then not give it throughout the rest of the match. At EVERY SINGLE set piece afterwards, I spotted grappling in the box (by both sides) - not once was it given. And to rub insult into injury, he then failed to notice two stonewall penalty shouts we had ourselves, one of which would have resulted in a red card at a time when we were beginning to take some sort of control of the game. Mark Clattenburg is a bad referee. He always has been. I defended him over the racist accusations - any sane man woud do - but if he was the Goodyear blimp, he'd be less conspicuous! Its his choice to wear fake tan and gel his hair to within an inch of its life - that doesn't make him a crap referee - but a good official should be invisible. Clattenburg, or to give him his proper name, Cheating ****ing Corrupt ****ing West Ham Secret Agent ****ing Tosser (that's what everyone was calling him yesterday - it was hard to disagree), is the polar opposite of 'invisible'. He should be struck off for a performance as shambolic as that. He won't be - he is one of the FA's 'favourites' who appear to be backed whatever he does wrong, including some very dodgy dealings both on and off the pitch. It would be wrong to relegate him to the Championship - none of the teams in the lower leagues deserve him either. Anyway, back to us. We looked tired from the off. Hughton made some strange tactical decisions and some of the players looked like they'd been out on the lash the night before (I'm sure they weren't but they were miles off the pace). Some players blatantly need a rest - others need to step up to the mark when called upon. The cup game is coming at just the right time. I don't care if we lose - play a few reserves and a few of the promising batch of kids we have coming through and let key players get back to basics on the training field and get some of our important players back from injury, fully invigorated by a break. Newcastle at home will be a big game for us. Peterborough away will not be. We need some big-hitters back for that game and everyone fully prepared. The Christmas period was always going to be difficult - realistically we were only likely to get a maximum of 4 points from it. We got 0 and some would have predicted that too. Our home form will be important. We've only been beaten by Liverpool, Chelsea and Man City - we need to keep beating the teams in the bottom half and we'll soon amass the 40 points required and with some games to spare. Certainly no need to panic - our excellent run has meant we can afford to have a bad run and still not drop anywhere near the bottom three. We've earned our position and in my opinion, 12th seems about right for our ability compared to the rest of the league. Let's regroup, get back to basics, get some key players to return, maybe add one or two new players if possible and go again. OTBC IHWT
agreed , I have bought my tickets and am off to London Road (an away trip closer than a home game for me!) but dont want to see Holty, Pilks and Tettey etc there they need a break and we need to get the first of those 15 points on the board asap No panic here just wanting the concentration on the PL
Our players did look jaded for the first hour or so yesterday compared to the Hammers and I'm sure it's not just because they played one game less over the Xmas period. Agree re resting some of the first team and give those who normally sit on the bench a run out, so that we come out 'all guns blazing' against Newcastle. Yes, I'll be at London Road on Sat and hoping we can at least progress to the next round. Should be a good game with all the NCFC fans there.
It won't bother me if we are on the wrong end of a "shock" result.Yes,give some of the others a run out.
Good read supers, one thing I could not and still cant get my head round was the dropping of garrido for tactical reasons. Yes fair enough have the extra height in there but the bit that seems strange is that he wasnt even on the bench!
I guess yesterday was our equivalent of Sunderland away last year when we also looked jaded, tired and clueless in patches? After the recent thrillers against Swansea and Citeh it breaks your heart to see such a lacklustre display, but as Superman says, we go again I'd have E Bennett in for Pilks from the start for a game or two, Pilks was anonymous yesterday, Benno made things happen
i agree. it was one of those things though, where if it pays off, everyone says what a 'masterstroke' it was. when it fails we all label it crazy. his reasons were obvious - to combat the height issue cos west ham like to switch the ball in long diagonals - but garrido is a quality player and could have coped with it in my opinion. we instantly lose something going forward without him
and yes - lets see elliott bennett playing from the start more often. the lad is clearly itching to get a game and he is probably our most positive player
good read supers why is pilkington often annoynimous in away games? I'd like to see some of the u21s given a game for posh, like the murphy bros and loza and we badly need holt back from injury.
Why play U21's when Benno x 2,Fox,Jackson,Tierny,Howson, cant get regular games!! We need a win,any win, to boost confidence. Play our strongest team and get the winning mentality back.
Apparently he pulled up injured during the warm up routine. If so, it was an enforced rather than tactical switch.
Garrido is the most vulnerable of the back four at the moment and he is not the best in the air but he is a decent crosser of the ball and Ryan Bennet and Russell Martin aren't. Russ was available to take the ball when required but I'm afraid Bennet was reluctant to look for it, and I don't blame the lad as it's not his natural game. Elliot Bennet has played at LB for us and had done so for Brighton as well so it's not an unnatural position. As much as CH got the tactic spot on against Manure and outhought (is there such a word?) Ferguson he was too clever for his or the team's own good yesterday. But the angst of watching a poor performance is over, Thai's cat or three are safe from my boot and we move on to London Road. My lucky shirt wasn't working over Xmas so I didn't purposely wear it yesterday. No I am in a quandary. Should I continue wearing it only on match days or dig out one of the older shirts in the hope of a new talisman?
I'm probably swimming against the tide here, but I'd like to see us play a strong team against Posh and get back to the winning habit. Defeat against them would be 5 in a row and although Newcastle looks winnable, it could also be a game we lose and that could be six in a row and that would inpune our confidence. Obviously survival in the EPL is the main priority so we can't risk players who have knocks and strains but a strong performance against the Posh, a win and the "winning mentality" will return for what could be one one of our most important games this season against the Geordies. I'd like to see Fox, Elliott Bennett, Jackson, Howson, and Tierney all given a start with Johnson playing as well following his ban. We've still got a strong enough squad to select a team to beat the Posh so I'd not like to see the opportunity wasted by playing the kids (not that I'd have anything against seeing Murphly or Loza on the bench).
of course there is a case for playing our strongest team at posh to try and get back to winning ways, however the players looked absolutely shot to bits yesterday. an 11-day break would do them all the power of good. we aren't likely to win the cup but i think a mixture of our reserves and youngsters would be a good match for our opponents. we played them pre-season with a mix of professionals and youngsters and beat them. our most important match is newcastle - why jeopardise our players fitness any further than we already have had to?
Rudd Francomb Tierney R Bennett Barnett Smith Johnson Fox E Bennett Howson Jackson Subs: Steer, Rusty, Snodgrass, Muprhy. Loza Looks strong enough to win the game to me and gives most of the "normal" first team a deserved rest.
