There really is no pleasing some people. I’ve been going to West Ham for years, I’ve seen great football, I’ve seen turgid football, but I don’t think I’ve ever described us as ‘hard to beat’. But last night, that’s exactly what we were and I’m very pleased with it. It was almost two years ago I saw Everton do to us what we did to Brighton last night. We played nice football, but Everton were clinical in the two chances they created and we came away 2-1 losers. It was a horrible feeling and at the time I wished we could do the same to teams, rather than have it done to us. And now we are, but that hasn’t stopped ‘fans’ moaning about it.
Some are even talking about Poyet and how they wished he was our manager. Sorry, but right now, the man is a Zola clone. Lovely fella, great footballing philosophy but too easily out thought. Allardyce played a blinder against him last night, and Poyet’s outburst against our football was a simple cover-up to the inadequacy of his lack of counter against it. In fact, look back at the comments of Moyes and Zola after that match, could just have easily been Sam and Gus…
Everton manager David Moyes:
"We could have done better but the one thing we do at Everton is know how to win. It might not be the best way but we know how to do it.”
West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola:
"It's tough for me and for the players. The guys gave everything until the end but we need to sort out the little problems because they're costing us a lot.”
Sound familiar?
Playing football the right way is lovely when you have the luxury of doing it, but last night it simply was not an option, for two good reasons. One, the squad had six first teamers out and so we had to make the best of what we had. Two, a second defeat in a week would have been demoralising and possibly started to cut us adrift from teams starting to find form. A win keep us up there, where we need to be.
Performance wise, I was impressed by Reid, Noble, Nolan and Faubert. My main worry is Jack Collison. I was a big fan of Jack’s and I’m aware he has been through a terrible couple of years. However, he seems to have put on some weight and not quite regained his touch and confidence. I hope he can come back and be the highly promising player he was, but I think he needs to do some more work. A shout out to Manuel Almunia as well, who though not overly tested by shots, was calm in goal and handled the eleven corners flung at him well.
So, onwards and upwards to Leicester, it will be a tough one against a currently managerless team, and it won’t be easy. We might have been better off with Sven still in charge quite frankly. I don’t imagine we will play quite as we did against Brighton, but Leicester don’t exactly play total football, so it may well be a bit industrial. But let’s continue to get behind a team and manager who are winning, remember that people, we are Winning!!!!!
