Another nervous and un-inspiring performance at home from the Hammers resulted in a 1-1 against 10 man Reading who were stubborn and spiky throughout. I imagine Stephen Hunt is trying on his Robbie Savage wig on this very morning as the player appears to be doing everything he can to replace Robbie as the most hated player in the Premiership. But I'm not going to spend too much time on this team that continues to punch above its weight. Upton Park resembled a library and you could feel the tension and the nervousness around the stadium.
What is it that has caused this to be? Some will point to extortionate Premiership prices, pricing out traditional fans and moving towards those who see football as entertainment rather than a passion, a life long love affiar if you will. Others might just say our performances at home are just not good enough to get a good crowd response, leading to a whole chicken and egg scenario. Either way, I pray this will change for the vist of Man Utd on Saturday, a game which previously shattered decibel levels around Upton Park. If we can get a good atmosphere and a decent result, then Upton Park could become the fortress it once was again.
So, over to the players and the game, we had chances to nick it but the Stripes did their best to frustrate us, in fact they played in a similar way to how we do as an away team. I don't think we can complain too much about the result, it's definitely the kind of game we would have lost last season, even against 10 men. Here's how I rated the performances...
Green - 6 - did what he had to do, undone by a great finish
McCartney - 6 - tried to get going and got forward well and did his covering at the back
Upson - 7 - another solid game, becoming very reliable
Spector - 7- yet again a comfortable game as centre back, going to be hard to drop when Gabbidon and Ferdinand are back
Neil - 7 - final ball when going forward a bit lacking but good Captain's performance otherwise
Ljungberg - 6 - a slightly better game from Freddie but still expecting more from him, got himself in some good positions
Parker - 6 - never quite got going but looked like he could be dangerous
Mullins - 7 - very good performance from H, really got involved in the game
Solano - 8 - excellent game from the Peruvian legend lovely goal and always looks dangerous
Cole - 6 - seemed a little out of sorts and unsure of his role but as usual was making lots of effort
Ashton - 5 - very stationary performance from Deano, clearly needs a few more games to get back into things
Great to see Noble on as sub as well looking his lively old self. Bring on the Mancs!
The comments on Spector was the most funny ones I've read today. Solid? Running away from Kitson as soon he gets into the box, Solid?
(gainst Boro he surprised me though)
Posted by: Prince H | 27/12/2007 at 15:40