Just past the 3 minute mark Carlton Cole capitalised on the uncertainty of a new centre back pairing for Birmingham, and swept the ball across the keeper and into the corner of the net. I celebrated with one of my most muted 'West Ham have scored' moments ever. I was glad and all, and happy for Carlton to score not just a conventional, but also an attractive looking goal.
Why the apathy then?
This is probably the least I've been able to see the Hammers (mid 80s TV blackout aside) since I was at college and as a student household we couldn't scrape together enough money for Sky Sports. Not to mention that back in the early 90s, Sky Sports wasn't the all consuming monster it is now, and we were hardly showered with a choice of games to watch. Anyway, I've digressed. Why the apathy? Simply that this West Ham side looks alien to me. I've watched us, for a whole 90 minutes, on just 4 occasions this season. There's nothing particularly familiar about them to me, and the same can be said for the way we play now. It just all looks a bit wrong, and unfamiliar. That the goal came from a ball launched forward by Green, a flick on, and then via Cole's foot could be used as ammunition against Big Sam's perceived predilection for route 1 football. Having seen us a scant number of times, I couldn't comment, and the game against Derby showed that we do have more in our tactics locker.
The only thing that looked familiar, beyond the faces from seasons past, was Danny Potts who looks very much like his dad. Not that we offered anything down the left hand side, and on the occasion that we did, neither the attacking Faubert or the referee spotted the glaring handball that took Julien's header off-target. Faubert was himself busy down the right flank, at least for the opening 30 odd minutes.To say we controlled or owned the opening 2/3 of the game would be rather generous, as Birmingham didn't really offer anything in opposition. Then, only as West Ham can, we handed the initiative over to the home side by virtue of a wearying number of balls lofted forward from the back. That they very rarely found a claret and blue shirt, head, foot or even arse meant that Birmingham suddenly found themselves with a lot of possession. Chris Hughton bellowed from the sidelines ably, and Birmingham turned that possession into attacking threats. Having said that, Green was only seriously tested from a free kick, that he pushed relatively comfortably around the post.
Had we had more brains, we wouldn't have handed the initiative back. But clearly no-one thought to step forward from the bench to say "hold on to the ruddy ball" or "keep it on the floor". Perhaps Big Sam had no inclination to encourage us to keep it on the floor, I just know that the last 15 minutes of the first half had my eyes rolling like I was enduring an epileptic fit. It was poor, and the aimless lumps up field should have been snuffed out from the sidelines via some instructions.
Diop, Tomkins, Faubert and Cole stood out in the opening 45, perhaps purely because the rest of the action was so rooted in mediocrity.
The 2nd half got underway with no clear indication that Sam had addressed any of the problems that had emerged over the duration of the 1st. Birmingham looked the more threatening, and their pressure was only momentarily punctuated as Piquionne attempted to latch onto another booming punt up the park from Green. A good tackle, or Piquionne's standard leaden footed running meant that attack came to nothing, and shortly afterwards the frighteningly unthreatening Piquionne was removed as Sam decided to shore up the midfield with Lansbury. By this time Birmingham had introduced Zigic, who so haunted us last season. It was Lansbury's introduction that was most potent as he produced a rasping shot around the 65 minute mark that Myhill failed to hold on to. Faubert could have followed up, if not for the fact that he was offside, and looking in completely the wrong direction, contemplating his dinner perhaps.
Other entertainment was provided by the comically rotund Beausejour skinning the desperately slow O'Brien down the right hand side. If one moment illustrated how much we need a right back who isn't O'Brien, then that was it.
Another penalty shout was overlooked as another Birmingham hand connected with the ball inside the box, but again the long balls rained forward and Birmingham continued to be the most likely to score, and most likely to score via the busy Chris Burke. Moments after the introduction of Carew as the game entered the last 20 minutes, a goal mouth fiasco had Tomkins slicing the ball into the stratosphere, over a scrambling Green's head, and heading back towards the net. Zigic obligingly handled it. The telling Birmingham pressure, combined with our inability to do anything remotely creative or productive inevitably lead to an equaliser on 80 minutes, with a Murphy header from a corner. Who'd have thought that the 'hit it aimless and long, while wasting time whenever possible' tactics would bite us on the arse?
Sam decided we might need a 2nd goal after the equaliser, which was a shame as many would have no doubt felt a 2nd would have been handy at any point in the preceding 80 minutes. Lightning quick, he introduced Sears for Faubert, and then juggled the midfield around to make it look like he'd been paying attention to the game. To add insult to injury, Big Sam's obsession with time wasting ensured that 5 extra minutes were tagged on to ensure Birmingham had a chance to grab all 3 points.
Had I not sat and watched this dispiriting, lacklustre, rudderless performance, I'd no doubt be arguing that a point away, where Birmingham have been so strong, would be a good result. Sadly only our increasingly lethargic and clueless performance made Birmingham look good. A dull game, devoid of any real excitement, and with only Birmingham providing moments of creativity. It ended 1-1 and I couldn't help thinking a snooze would have benefitted me more.
No comments:
Post a Comment