YES, its on fox sports 3.

Yeah there was a channel change - whatever the guide says is correct.

From the o/s

Team news

• Benni McCarthy, Mido and Ilan will all travel after all three new forwards looked good in training at Chadwell Heath this week.

• Alessandro Diamanti (knee) and Fabio Daprela (ankle) are both doubtful with minor knocks.

• Gianfranco Zola has had some good news on the injury-front, with Herita Ilunga and Kieron Dyer pushing to play, along with Carlton Cole and Scott Parker, who both came off the bench last Saturday against Blackburn Rovers.

• Cole has come off the bench in the last two games. West Ham's top scorer had been sidelined with a knee injury picked up in the home game with Burnley on 28 November.

• Danny Gabbidon (hamstring) and Guille Franco (thigh) are due to step up their rehab work and it is hoped they will return to full training in the next week.

• Luis Boa Morte (knee), Calum Davenport (leg) and Zavon Hines (knee) are all long-term absentees. Boa Morte has been doing some light jogging around the Chadwell Heath pitches - having not played since his cruciate ligament injury in July.

Right, what can I say about that half of football.

For the first twenty minutes, we were non existant, Burnley were everywhere. They scored one of the easiest goals imaginable, don't know where our defesnse went, but they should not be scoring goals from 60 metre long balls from left back. Late Pardew era stuff.

About 10 minutes after the goal, someone caught on to the fact that long balls up the field were not working, and we actually worked some oppurtunities. We've done well bringing the ball in from the middle and McCarthy was unlucky not to score with the clearence off the line. Cole and McCarthy haven't looked bad when we've actually gotten the ball to them, something which the long balls are incapable of doing

Other than that, our attack has been woeful. Poor decisions and terrible crosses. On our counter on 40 mins, Cole regathered the ball on the left, and tried to cross it in with only McCarthy and Behrmai to pick out amongst 5 defenders + a keeper.

"Tomkins Upson and Faubert up for this freekick" is useless when Noble hits it to the Burnley defender 10 metres in front of them.

Once we hit 35 mins though, we went back to heaping the ball up field hoping Cole would flick the ball on, which when he did, went no where.

Bad half, needs alot of improvement.

Selection wise, 4-3-1-2, fine. Play it. But don't play Noble as the man in behind. I think Collison is more suited to that role than a Left mid.

....Any other thoughts? :P


EDIT: Oh, and the referee is not playing any real advantage. Slight touches by both teams are being given as fouls when half the time they're not.

It's half time as I write this and I am a worried man. Burnley are a shower of shit but they want to win so badly, and that's why they are. The other results aren't too clever for us either.

I agree with RedRisky. We look imbalanced. I don't rate Kovac but maybe he'd provide that? Spector looks as uncomfortable as hell to me. Improvement is needed badly 2nd half

WOW so are we in the SHIT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are most indeed in the shit.

I am frustrated beyond belief. We did almost everything right in that final 30 minutes. Mido, Stanislas both hit the woodwork. We created plenty of chances. Cannot believe we failed to get a point when on another day we would have got all three. I don't even know where to start.

I hate being frustrated so now im pissed off *ANGER*. Burnely hadnt won since October and Hull since November, and both just got wins.


Carlisle should have been off for elbowing Parker in the face. Bikey didn't get so much as a yellow for repeated fouls, and should have given away a penalty for holding Mido's shirt for a good 15 seconds while he was trying to get onto a Cole header.

I've forgotten everything else, too fucking annoyed.


In other news, our next 3 away games are against Man U, Chelsea and Arsenal. :/ Fuck

Also, WTF were they booing Faubert?

Thought we were unlucky to have come away with more, having said that we were only playing Burnley! Up front i think all 4 showed good signs especially Cole, on another day the chances may have gone in.
Thats when they got the ball! I thought our midfield was very, not perhaps shit, as Parker and Berhami i think played well but Collison and Nobes were poor. We were always struggling to get the ball and not using it well when we did have it. I thought Zola showed he could recognise that by bringing on Stanislas but we need to make our presence felt right from the start and not that late.
Overall on the day we were unlucky, we seem to have the formula coming together but we have, on todays performance A LONG WAY TO GO.

Keith

Thought I'd get in before Davros.

So we were awful. .......... and we have put in well. If they don't put in then we have a problem. If they put in, then its a matter of confidence and finishing. Now not yet time for panic. Why is Zola out of depth for a relegation battle? Because he hasn't been in one. Well he got out of one last season - and very bloody early too.

I'm happy with how he has got the team to fight . Now is not the time to abandon hope and criticise Zola. Get behind him. ........ but all we get is moaning and whinging. Harden up.

Hope all of you are feeling as confident, I don't know why I've been worrying since round 8, we're obviously going to stay up. 3 new strikers, Parker Cole are back, the team is behind Zola, be a doddle really.

Methinks the axe will fall if we don't win before Man Yoo.

I was thinking that a defeat against Birmingham and Zola would be gone.
Until now I haven't been quite so worried, believing that any new players would sort it out, the new owners would settle us down, but now I am worried and i've had my first sleepless night. We probably should have won, we had lots of chances and I don't remember Green having to make a save apart from when they scored their goals. But this game is about scoring goals and we aren't doing enough of that. I hope Illunga can start against Brum and I pray that Benni isn't too badly injured. I thought he showed signs of class if not 100% fitness out there. I'm just praying that there's gonna be 3 other teams with as many problems come May. Its a worry.

I haven't watched the game yet but my opinion is that we have to stop playing so narrow in midfield to get outta this.
Maybe we have to gamble on Stanislas as a winger and also get Faubert playing on the wing then we can get some decent balls into the box for the strikers. At the moment our midfield isn't creating enough for the strikers.
We need to at least start games attacking, maybe something like below?

------------------------Green---------------------------
Spector--------Tomkins----------Upson------------Ilunga
-------------------Behrami----Parker--------------------
---------Faubert--------------------------Stanislas------
-----------------Cole------------Mido------------------

PS - NOBLE OUT!!

So it will be interesting to see then if Zola starts the game aginst Brum with the same 11 that finished it as that was when we were well on top (although they tried to just hold on).As keith alluded to you have to score goals and we dont (score enough).I actually think Mido showed more than most upfront and with a bit of time could become extremely handy the problem of course is that we donot have that time.

We are in trouble ANYWAY YOU LOOK AT IT have at look at our run in and it certainly doesnt inspire confidence and struggle to see where the results will come from.Cant see Zola getting the ARSE (unfortunately) until the end of the season and like everyone else (-players) will happily leave and get another job in the PREMIERSHIP whilst we languish in the CHAMPIONSHIP,many may say im NEGATIVE but i watch the games and this is what i see and feel.

Surely it is time to call a SPADE A SPADE ant to stop making excuses.

Some people are very disrespectful of burnley. It was only burnley blah blah. Thye have one of the best home records and we're not the best team to fall there this season. They probably thought we're only playing West Ham. Their second goal was fucking brilliant and deserving of the winner.