Hines shines but Hammers don't see the point

We knew it was going to be tough, but for a good hour, West Ham matched their opponents in the 3-2 home defeat by Liverpool.  After that, a certain cloud of inevitability passed over Upton Park and the Hammers went out with a whimper, not a bang.

One thing that concerned me was the level of fitness we showed.  I noticed it towards the end of the Spurs game as well, but we appear to have less puff than our opponents, although being forced to used subs early on probably didn't help.  But I'd like us to look a bit sharper for 90 minutes.  I understand that both Upson and Behrami's injuries are not overly serious by the way.

Overall, we can't have too much of a problem with the result.  Liverpool have a world class player in Fernando Torres, and frankly none of our players come close to him.  He scored two classy goals and the scousers deserved their win. 

On the plus side for the Hammers, Zavon Hines appeared to come out of his shell and put in a confident perfromance, causing Carragher all sorts of problems with his pace.  Diamanti had a decent debut and shone for the hour he was on.  One thing is for sure, is that the Mark Noble debate will go on.  I thought he was poor, with some wayward passing and neither offering a threat up front or doing enough donkey work at the back.  If Parker is the defensive man, I'd rather see Dyer in a central position as the attacking threat.  Anyway, here are my ratings;

Green - 6 - possibly went down a little early for the first goal but not to blame for the others

Illunga - 6 - rusty on his comeback but showed signs of returning to form towards the end

Upson - 6 - didn't do much wrong whilst on the pitch

Tomkins - 5 - skinned for the first goal, lacked something for me today

Faubert - 6 - did a decent job on the right, a massive improvement on last season

Diamanti - 6 - a lively debut and interesting penatly from our new Italian starlet

Parker - 7 - some crucial last minute tackles, ran himself into the ground

Noble - 5 - like I said, poor effort

Behrami  - 5 - not yet back to the high standards we have seen from Valon but I'm sure he'll be back to true form in time

Hines - 7 - great performance from Baked Beans, lively and a threat, keep your head up young man and you can do well

Cole - 7 - good header for the goal, it wasn't for lack of trying from Carlton but he had no support up front

Zola/Clarke - 6 - although options were limited due to the enforced subs, there was a constant gap between Cole and the midfield.  If anything, Cole could come in deeper and Dyer or Hines could play off the shoulder of the defender, they have the pace to do it.  We just were not going to create much with such a gap between them.

Bolton are up next in the Carling Cup on Tuesday and it would be good to get a result on the road to build the confidence back.

Comments

[Fishy]

Your blogs are a joke!

Diamanti SIX???? What planet are you on? And Hines a SEVEN???

Get a grip! Hines was easily a NINE and Diamanti an easy EIGHT!

[Stevie P]

It is worrying that Zola is using the Glenn Roeder relegation tactics. Playing to deep, with a single striker who is to far foward of the midfield. The team has to move up field and down field as a unit - this has to change now or we are in the mire.
HOW CAN HE BUY THE DIAMOND GEEZER - AND PLAY HIM RIGHT MIDFIELD ?
The team were unfit, lacking confidence, and played with little flair, or as a team. Their faces showed the strain from the beginning, they must have been scared by the management team before they went out - Roeder style.
We need a better style of play or its THE CHAMPIONSHIP NEXT YEAR.

[West Ham Blog]

Fishy - I rarely give a 9, the performance has to be match winning for that and although Hines was good, he did not win us the match. I think the only players to have got a 9 ever are Parker and Green for truly magnificent performances.

Stevie P - fortunately I rate Zola alot higher than I do the Rodent, but there is definitely an issue there that needs to be addressed. I'd like to think Zola and Clarke are astute enough to fix it.

[Stevie P]

I can see the same disharmony as when Roeder was in charge. The wrong tactics, and totally disorganised - although that may have been the returning players being ring rusty.
For instance last year we played Hull away, and played them off the park. We lost to a free kick.
Against Villa at home we matched them, and lost to a deflection.

BUT we were playing together - we ain't at the moment.

Against the Spuds it took us 20 minutes to get the ball for any length of time.