Alan Curbishley
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Date of Birth : 8th November 1957
Place of Birth : Forest Gate
Signed : December 2006
Position : Manager
Height : 5.10
Playing Details : West Ham United
Appearances: 85
Goals : 5
International Appearances : 0 |
KUMB: With 73 minutes on the clock came the first substitution with Sears going off to be replaced by Cole. This prompted chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing.” This seemed a tad unfair to me under the circumstances. Sears had struggled to make much of an impact and was clearly tiring. On the other hand Zamora’s touch had been poor throughout and my own preference would normally be for a little and large combination up front so I wouldn’t have been too surprised to see Zamora being the one to go. Either way the front pairing needed freshening up so the change had merit. The move paid dividends within a few minutes. In one of the few examples of decent football of the game, Noble played a lovely return pass inside the full-back to Ljungberg whose cross across goal was turned into the roof of the net from close range by Cole. A couple of minutes after the goal Solano came on to replace Faubert. Solano got a few interesting looking crosses in over the remaining ten minutes or so but at the end it was the visitors who had a couple of chances to equalise, a Savage free header going harmlessly over as the three minutes of stoppage time started. At this point Boa Morte replaced Ljungberg to a chorus of boos. Now I understand the principle that states you have a right to boo a player because you’ve shelled out your hard-earned to watch a match but booing someone before they’ve actually stepped onto the pitch seems stupid to me... On the bright side, Tomkins continued to show promise which, given the number of defenders we have on the treatment table, is no bad thing. (Gordon Thrower, 21st April 2008)
Daily Mirror: Tyrone Mears has accused West Ham stars of being big-time Charlies who are failing to live up to their big-money reputations. Alan Curbishley's side were booed from Upton Park after grimly holding on for a lacklustre win against the worst side in Premier League history. And Mears, who was sold to Derby in the summer, claimed the Hammers players scuttled from the pitch at full-time "embarrassed" by their tepid second-half performance. Now a year on from the thrill of the Great Escape, the former Hammer reckons his old club need a great summer shake-up to inject some passion. "West Ham have a lot more big names now than when I was there but the spirit doesn't seem to be there like it was last season," Mears claimed. "Curbs transformed them last season and it was a miracle that they stayed up. But that was all down to their spirit and it doesn't seem to be there now. (Neil McLeman, 21st April, 2008)
The Guardian: West Ham have a long tradition of youth development with Anton Ferdinand ranking among their brightest academy graduates. Here, though, Ferdinand was too often disappointingly slapdash, his display at centre-half, during which he was at fault for Reid's winner, contrasting markedly with that of Sunderland's equally elegant but defensively far meaner Jonny Evans whose game was encapsulated by a vital, impeccably timed, first-half tackle on Dean Ashton. If Reid has inspired Keane's side in the final third, the signings of Evans - on loan - and Phil Bardsley from Manchester United in January have provided resilience. Indeed, their goal apart, West Ham, who, having used all three substitutes, were reduced to 10 men in the 87th minute when Ljungberg was carried off on a stretcher with a hamstring injury, barely threatened Craig Gordon's goal. Maybe Curbishley should ask Keane for some tips on delivering rousing half-time speeches. (Louise Taylor, 31st March 2008)
The Guardian: As exhaustion set in, West Ham's reserves of energy - indeed, their reserves with energy - prevailed. And it was the men from mid-table, their weekly injury bulletin notwithstanding, who boasted options, the most intriguing of them lending a futuristic look to their side. While Everton's focus on the short term is undiluted, West Ham can take a broader view. "I've got to have one hand on trying to win Premier League matches and another on the future of the club," said the manager, Alan Curbishley. That entailed the introduction of the 18-year-old James Tomkins for his debut. The central defender soon struck the bar and then erred for Everton's goal - "Yakubu rolled him," said Curbishley - before the Nigerian finished forcefully. Yet after an eventful but chastening opening, Tomkins recovered admirably. He forms part of a youthful collective in an East End union that finds favour with its customers. "I came down to breakfast and three of them were sitting round the table, [Jack] Collison, Freddie Sears and James Tomkins," Curbishley said. "Then [Mark] Noble came down and he was like the shop steward because he's a year older than them; I thought he was taking their subs." The apprentices are being schooled in the way of things at Upton Park and one has already shown a propensity to strike. Sears, their match-winner against Blackburn nine days ago, rolled a shot against a post during a sparkling cameo. There is an endearingly old-fashioned element to West Ham's faith in youth, mirrored in their support. "Mark Noble's is the biggest-selling shirt in the club shop because he's home-grown," said Curbishley. "It's as simple as that." Given Noble's intelligent repertoire of an inside-forward's skills, sheer locality should not be the sole reason for the midfielder's popularity with the fans. In the company of such ingenus, Dean Ashton approaches veteran status. The 24-year-old's equaliser, headed in emphatically from Lucas Neill's cross, was almost overshadowed as Sears displayed pace and promise in equal measure. Noble, seemingly inspired, whistled a late long-range shot over the bar. Adventurousness can be infectious but, as Everton know, anxiety is equally contagious. (Richard Jolly, 24th March 2008)
The Guardian: Alan Curbishley's features have long been an incongruous combination of the boyish and the crumpled. He looks like a middle-aged actor playing an adolescent. These days, however, he is more worried about being typecast as a losing manager. Consecutive 4-0 defeats by Liverpool and Chelsea - what, one wonders, would Barnsley pile up against them - was followed yesterday by another beating by the same scoreline at the hands of a Spurs side who showed little sign of being distracted by Wednesday's Uefa Cup second-leg tie against PSV. West Ham have conceded 12 goals and scored none in three matches in nine days. It is the sort of slump Charlton supporters used to associate with Curbishley during his generally impressive career at The Valley. It would be harsh to say his job at Upton Park is on the line. Last season he pulled them out of a steep dive towards relegation and before yesterday's match the club had taken 40 points from 28 games, double the number that had been won from the same number of matches last season. If they fail to win another point they are probably safe from relegation. But the worry about Curbishley runs deeper than the desperate results of the past week. He has accumulated a large squad of long-toothed players and too many of them spend too much time in the treatment room. When those players return from injury they are not match fit and, more worrying, they tend to get injured again. Yesterday Scott Parker, who can be pivotal in midfield, made his first appearance since December while Bobby Zamora started a game for the first time since August. Both were horribly off the pace. The questionable quality of Curbishley's purchases is a more considerable concern than the recent run of results. There was also a problem yesterday with Luis Boa Morte who was sent off for the seventh time in English football for wild lunges at Tom Huddlestone and, just before half-time, Aaron Lennon. (Paul Weaver, 10th March, 2008)
Daily Mirror: Curbishley even took the unusual step of naming and shaming Anton Ferdinand as the defender who was supposed to mark Berbatov but lost him on both occasions. It is almost the unwritten rule in the managerial code not to name the offender and Arsene Wenger has only done it once in his 12 years as Arsenal manager when he singled out Nelson Vivas for costing them the title in 1999. But Ferdinand got it in the neck yesterday - even more than pantomime villain Luis Boa Morte who was sent off a minute before half-time for a second yellow card for persistent fouling. Curbishley said: "Anton has got to dig in. He gave a penalty away against Chelsea very early on and can't allow forwards free headers. Berbatov has got one and then another." At least, according to Curbishley, Boa Morte had shown determination amid his madness, even if it meant West Ham played the second half with 10 men, although he added: "What could go wrong is going wrong at the moment." But Curbishley could have got stuck into most of his players as they simply did not turn up. It was little wonder the West Ham fans were chanting midway through the first half: "You're s*** if you can't beat us 4-0." (John Cross, 10th March, 2008)
JS John Simkin GL Gary Loughran HM Hammer Man RD Ren Dog HD Hammer Divone
MC Mr Chewy UC UK Chris RO Rocketron GA Gav SM Simon LE Lee CB Chrissieboy
John Simkin: It was a brave decision to drop Ashton and play Cole up front on his own in a home game. Cole is excellent at playing this role and is a good example of the notion that you defend from the front. The strategy of worked like a dream. Not only did Noble, Mullins and Parker control the midfield, they also had the energy to join Cole in attack. As a result, they looked more dangerous than they did against Reading. Last year we scraped victories against Man United. This time we outplayed them: Possession (54.5 - 45.5), Territorial Advantage (54.9 - 45.1), Passing Success (73 – 72.9), Tackles Success (83.3 – 78.9), etc. Even Ferguson had to admit after the match that West Ham was the better team. Although we have had several disappointing results this year, only Man City in the first game of the season has clearly outplayed us in a game. That is why we have such a good defensive record. Despite (maybe because) all the injuries, Curbishley has built a team of players who seem to know what they are doing. Only Neill gives me a concern. Yesterday he was again found out of position on a couple of occasions. However, overall, Curbishley is doing an excellent job and fully deserves his 10/10.
Gary Loughran This game was, tactically, without parallel - whilst Portsmouth and Chelsea were good, this one brought home the bacon. The decision to drop Ashton was correct. Curbishley's intention was to play 4-5-1 when Utd had the ball and 4-2-3-1 when we had it. Ashton is lacking fitness and this would have been telling in what was a high energy tactic. Every ball was fought for and usually won. In possession West Ham were excellent, Ljunberg and Solano providing the guile to the tireless running of Parker, Mullins and Noble. Cole once again bruised and battered the United back 4. Bringing on Ashton (the only tactical substitution) was also astute. This gave United another 'big man' to mark at set pieces, where West Ham were already dominant. This unsettling affect bore fruit when both Upson and Ferdinand (the one likley to punch rather than roast you) scored from headers. I was amazed at the possession we had and also how wasteful United were with theirs. It seems that Chelsea had a similar bad day against us. To think that would be to denigrade the ability of the West Ham players, who to a man were outstanding. McCartney continues to impress with his tireless overlapping creating options on the left. I would also agree with John Simkin that Neil's positional sense, if he has any, is problematic. I would say, though, that his tackling and distribution is improving. In an interview where Ferguson's obvious hangover wasn't helped by the result, I was disappointed by his childish remark that our motivation came from United's visit being the biggest game of our season. A Christmas Cracking 9.5 for AC.
Hammer Man: The 4-5-1 was spot on. Fair play. The Solano injury forced him to change but he stuck to it and brought Paintsil on. Fair play. The Parker injury forced him to rethink things, but he stuck to the 4-5-1. Fair play. Brought Ashton on at the right time. Fair play. Got very lucky with Cuntiano Ronaldo's penalty miss. We beat the Champions, again. 10 out of 10 for me. Well done Curbs.
Ren Dog: We controlled most of the game against the Champions. Of course, at 1-0 and conceding the pen, I think "Ah well, it's another of those West Ham games where we put in a good performance and then come away with nothing". We then beat them 2-1. Got to be a 10 really.
Hammer Divone: 10/10. Anything less would be an insult!
Mr Chewy: Brought on defenders to keep the shape right when Solano and Parker went off, which was the right thing to do as we were playing well, the system was working. Ashton on at the right time and his subs came off well - Paintsel's dribble through the middle.
Uk Chris: Got to be up there with Derby if not on top. Tactics were spot on today. Big call to drop Deano for Noble and it paid off 100%. Cole is continuing to be a great unexpected asset. Subs were more or less forced on him so hard to comment on these although he used them in the right places. Pantsil was great when he came on. I did think he'd end up with a red at one point though!
Rocketron: 10/10. I couldn't ask more than beating the champions after going a goal behind. When you take into account our injuries, together with the run of form that Manure have been on, this was a masterclass in Football Management.
Gav: Superb. Forced into changes of course but 10/10.
Simon: Team Selection - 10/10...credit to him for having the bollocks to drop Ashton and play a 4-5-1. It clearly worked. Team Performance - 10/10...three points against the champions, what more could you ask for?
Lee: Absolutely brilliant today, and you can't really give anything other than a 10 because he set the standard and the shape and stuck to it no matter what and it Worked Wonders. We overran them for the whole game, so fair play to him... plus Curbs was forced into changes once again.
Chrissieboy: We played well throughout. I did think at halftime we'd lost our chance but we did brilliantly in the second half. I think he got it right today. 10/10
JS John Simkin EG Eggy BF Bishops Finger DO Dodger SH Southend Hammer HG Hgster
MA Iron Mark NY Nicky RB Rob MA Matt KB Kay Bee CB Chrissie Boy HK Hong Kong Hammer
John Simkin: I had no problem with his team selection. He was right to bring back Cole and Spector deserved to hold onto his place from Ferdinand. Reading were very impressive and deserved a point with their excellent goal. Given the options on the bench, it was difficult for Curbishley to change it. I would have liked Noble to have come on earlier. I would also have kept Cole on for longer. His threat in the air would have been useful in those last ten minutes. Camara added very little and would have preferred a tired Cole to a fresh forward who is struggling with his form. There was an example late in the game when Camara failed to control the ball on his chest (it hit his chin). Although it was a disappointing performance I don’t really think you can blame Curbs for this. A realistic and unemotional 7/10.
Eggy: Yet again we lacked some cutting edge upfront, with very little on the bench to change that. Defensively good, Freddie probably had his best game so far. 6.5
Bishops Finger: Thank god Reading had a man sent off or it could have been really embarassing - when Kitson and Doyle were playing up front together we were under a lot of pressure. Kitson is a player with real class, which we are sadly lacking up front. What Curbishley could have done to change it round is difficult to see - we lack quality (to use a modern term) particularly up front. The sooner the transfer window opens the better - let's hope Curb's can get some additional attacking options, and a bit of quality! A poor performance - 5/10.
Dodger: Far too negative early in the second half which cost us the match. Noble did well after coming on but why oh why does he keep bringing Solano off? That said I feel it was slightly more us just missing chances than Curbs fault today. Still didn't cover himself in glory though. 5/10
Southend Hammer: Given the injuries there isn't a whole lot he can do to change the game around although I would have like to seen Noble come on a little earlier. I would rate his performance a 5.
I thought we were absolute crap today - Cole and Ashton were complete and utter rubbish. Why people chant Ashton's name all the time is beyond me!
Hgster: We had a load of chances that we did not convert. 6/10
Iron Mark: The only reason I am not giving less is that injuries are restricting his selection. Failing to win against Reading who haven't won away this season, after taking the lead and them having a player sent off is very bad. However, the performance was also awful. 5/10
Nicky: No creativity, no idea how to get that second goal. 5/10
Rob: Too negative second half, needed to make a sub or change the tactics to kill of the game. Injuries is not an exuse, we win away but not at home, so injuries are not the reason. Taking cole off and bringing on camara? We had to go for the game, not just go for like for like. And when solano went of that was game over imo, it was not Noble's fault, it's just nobby is our most likely source of creating something. 4/10
Matt: Very poor, should have sorted them out at half time, but didn't. 4/10
Kay Bee: We would have lost, and probably comfortably, had that partnership been able to stay in place. Another tepid, timid display from both Curbishley and the players, excepting Solano, Parker, and possibly a couple of others. We will go nowhere with Alan Curbishley in charge of the team. Boring and Frustrating, like most of this season. 3/10.
Chrissie Boy: Basically not much else he could do though I would still like to see Noble ahead of Mullins at home. 7/10.
Hong Kong Hammer: Ratings for Curbs are 7/10 for the team selection and subs. Personally I think he went with the correct team, Only difference in the subs I would have made was Camara for Ashton or leave Cole on and not bother with Camara. Ratings for the team performance 5/10. Poor overall but glimpses of good movement from Parker, Ljungberg and Solano's vision is excellent at times. Ashton was poor once again but still should have scored twice (lob and hitting the bar). Had enough chances to win the game comfortably despite the lack of pace and urgency.
The Times: Reading still have not won away in the Premier League this season, while West Ham United have been dismal at Upton Park, where this was their fifth consecutive game without a victory. Yesterday they failed to profit from a goal and a man advantage at half-time after the dismissal, for a flying two-footed tackle, of Brynjar Gunnarsson, the Reading midfield player. Injuries are advanced as part of the explanation for their home form, but have not prevented West Ham winning three of their past four away league games. “We’re massively disappointed to have dropped two points,” Alan Curbishley, the West Ham manager, said. “We seem to set our fans up by winning away from home and coming back here and not doing it. The games we have lost have been to top-six sides, but it’s the other games – we’ve drawn with Bolton, Wigan and again today. We’re doing it the wrong way round at the moment. The fans are as frustrated as me. The players are giving their all, but the experienced ones are missing.” (Nick Szczepanik, 27th December, 2007)
The Guardian: A flurry of injury-time activity, during which Scott Parker missed one outstanding chance and Dean Ashton headed against a post, was never going to be enough to mute the chorus of home disapproval which followed the final whistle. In fact, if decibels are any sort of measure, Alan Curbishley is not much more popular with the West Ham faithful than his predecessor, Alan Pardew, was shortly before he was sacked last December, and it was not hard to see why. Reduced to 10 men after half an hour, and a goal down going into the break, Reading scored a deserved equaliser and had no problems containing a Hammers side badly lacking in creativity and, less forgivably, a decent work-rate. Not that Curbishley saw anything wrong with his side's effort. "Of course we should have taken advantage of the sending-off, and it wasn't spectacular, but we had enough chances to have scored a winner," the West Ham manager said after a result that leaves the east Londoners with two victories in nine matches at home. "I can't ask any more of the players I have available; they're giving everything they've got," Curbishley went on. "Sometimes it isn't good enough, when we're drawing games here we perhaps think we should win, but overall I'm delighted with them." It was, Curbishley acknowledged, an opinion that might not be shared by every supporter .(Richard Rose, 27th December, 2007)
HO Houston EG Eggy WH Whizzy ZM Zam LA Law DC David Cross
LA Laffers NY Nicky RB Rob NB Neil Bob BU Bubbles MA Matt TE Tel
Houston: !'d have to say 9.5. What the heck he was supposed to do with who he had available. I think Camara came off injured after that "no existent" tackle from Arca....Don't think he wanted to bring on pantsil to be honest. Nobby looked knackered at 66 minutes so he managed to get another 10 minutes out of him.. Not his biggest fan, but I really have to ask what the fans expect of his subs and team sheet to be honest. The centre pairing of Mullins and Parker hardly give the opponent a sniff. while not being creative they certainly stifle the opposition.
Eggy: Superb away win against a team in form. We still have quite a few injuries, so curbs cant take all the credit as the team virtually picks itself. An excellent result nonetheless. And 7pts ahead of the scum! 8.5
Whizzy: I think he has done well and I'm still not his biggest fan. 9 for me.
Zam: Delighted with the win. Felt we played very well last fifteen minutes, but quite poorly before that. Wish he would have brought Ephraim on. 8/10 from me.
Law: This away form is incredible. We'll finish top six if we start doing the same at home. 9/10
David Cross: Any success is built with a solid defence which is clearly what Curbs has installed over a long period now. Last xmas we could barely defend any ball into the area, now we defend superbly for the most part excusing the odd mistakes which every defence can make. When we can mix this defence with the more gifted and imaginative players we are missing it will be an exciting and winning team to watch. Thank Curbs for the solid foundations that are in place. 9/10 today.
Laffers: 10/10 Anyone who is down to Dailly and Ephraim as reserve players and can still go to a team that we normally lose to away too and win deserves full marks.
Nicky: Made the best of the players he had available. good performance from the lads in very difficult circumstances. 9/10
Rob: Done the best with his starting 11, but some of his subs I didn't understand. 7/10
Neil Bob: 9 for me. Ugly at times, but we have to be with these injuries. We look like a team now, and a team that will play for each other.
Bubbles: 10 definitely. 3 days before Xmas - up in the lousiest of the North East Prem grounds and atmospheres with a team with plenty of "reserves/misfits" - cue the usual abject 2-0/ 3-0 walkover for Boro - but no....the team stuck at it, scored two great goals and won for the first time in 18 years. Amazed that some are still finding lots of fault. He consistently amazes me about: 1) How disciplined and organised our defending has become - for most of the last 35 years its been like watching the Keystone Cops. 2) How he seems to get the best out of "poor/ordinary"players - so far this year - Spector, Bowyer, Cole, McCartney.... even Paintsil played a quality ball for the winning goal. 4 months ago everyone was saying how crap his man management was. Europe is close - just a couple of quality forwards/midfielders shaking off injuries close - in my probably far too optimistic view.
Matt: Was brilliant considering the injuries.
Tel: Bare Bones stuff. 10/10
JA Jacko CH Chewy JU Junco EG Eggy AN Anton AY Antony AB Albie Beck
JY Jonny MO Morrad BF Bishops Finger OW Old Wrinkley MM Mad Mart LA Law
Jacko: We are set up too cautious at home. Don't need two holding midfielders to start with. The solano substitution was poor when Freddie looked dead on his feet already.
Chewy: He was poor second half but with the injuries. Bowyer and Parker in the middle would be ideal for me. It ain't ever going to happen. Or Bellamy and Ashton.
Junco: Bit of luck in the 1st half and we could have been 2 up. Worrying lack of urgency & ideas in the 2nd half to chase the game. Subs were odd but options on bench were limited.
Eggy: A generous 6. Attacking options limited which showed.
Anton: I'm sure that if we started with a centreback pair of Upson and Gabbidon, people on here would be screaming as to why James 'Our strongest defender' Collins wasn't included! Considering the injuries to our midfield and forward line then Curbs had little or no choice to select from. Reid is not premier standard but was on the pitch because Freddie is a sicknote, Boa-Morte and Etherington are injured. Noble is not a right winger but had to come on because our only fit right winger in Solano can't last the full 90. Cole was playing with a knock so had to come off only to be replaced by Camara, another player only recently back from injury and of generally dubious quality. Ashton was slow and unfit. The performance was glum and so is our luck with injuries. A poor show from west ham and an indifferent one from Curbs.
Antony: 5 for me. I liked going with Collins at the back as Yakubu pissed on Gabs on Wednesday night. However, we were overrun in midfield on Wednesday and then again today and so I was a little disappointed that he didn't do anything to combat that. Certainly didn't agree with the taking off of Solano, and he must see something in Kyel Reid that I am yet to, because he doesn't seem to be much of a footballer.
Albie Beck: Curb's selection was once again more or less made for him. The subs were constrained by injury and fitness issues. Tactically I'd like to see more passing and less hoofing, but that's as much to do with a worrying loss of form and confidence as anything else.
Jonny: And Collins had him in his pocket didnt he. to many times Yakubu pissed him for pace. 6/10 for me, Ashton again looked to far off the pace which with the injury situation up front is a major concern at the moment. The Solano substitution was a strange one for me, as soon has he went off the balance completely went.
Morrad: His options for the subs were limited cos of injuries, but playing two defensive midfielders at home, especially when our main problem all season has been creativity, was a bad decision. It dont matter if Mullins is playing good, Parker is playing better and is more worthy of the one holding position. But a more creative player is a must in Jan.
Bishops Finger: Not a good performance - the attack with Ashton and Cole looked slow and cumbersome. I read today that Curb's is bemoaning the lack of quality that is available to him - the inclusion of Kyel Reid and Camara are a perfect example of what he is on about. Obviously, we are lacking depth to the squad and that is starting to be found out. On the bright side Parker had another good game and is starting to become more influential, Ljungberg looked lively (for a change!) and Noble also had a reasonable game when he came on. A battling performance but glaring quality deficiencies were found out by a good Everton team. A disappointing 5/10.
Old Wrinkley: Please help me, can somebody explain what job Mullins is supposed to do, if Noble was fit then start with him and Parker, give him the 60mins or so then replace, Solano didn't appear to be struggling, I agree that his hand was forced into Reid's selection, but why change when we were beginning to apply pressure (not much but some). As for the forward situation, I would rather see an untried reserve than Camara, we all know he is not up to it, come on Curbs, give the kids a go, at least then people will give you the benefit of the doubt. Stop playing the no good so called experienced subs.. as for tactics.. again forced into the long ball game, we dont have any enough quality passers in midfield to break a defence down, and without any wingers yesterday nobody can get into decent crossing positions, the only great cross yesterday came from Parker's run down the right, when he carried the ball for 40 yards, and still nobody got into the box, how much time do they want!
Mad Mart: Getting increasingly fed up with the long ball tactics. Moyes did his homework very well. What did he say to them at half time - it certainly didn't inspire them. It's been a year now and we still haven't sung "Curbishleys Claret and Blue Army".
Law: Parker was too far up the pitch for Noble to partner him. We'd have had no cover in front of the back four with up to 4 Everton players (Cahill, Arteta, Osman etc) advancing towards them. Mullins was responsible for the odd error, but his tackles are much cleaner than Noble's and he's learnt to keep his head and not dive in. Yesterday was the first match I've been to (except maybe the freak game at Coventry) when it was blindingly obvious that we were limited by who was fit and who was not. I don't think Curbs had any choice to play Ashton and Cole together (when neither was able to last the pace). He is without Bowyer, Dyer and Faubert in his present plans - which means that a lot of the pace and spark in the team is absent. I think that Ljunberg was nowhere near as bad as some are trying to make out, but his abilities are becoming limited by his lack of any pace. Curbs must be able to see that there are issues with Neill, but has no real replacement. We tried to make do and mend. We played, regardless of the problems, some decent football in the first half. We fell apart in the second. I assume the substitutions were caused as much by injuries (or unfitness) than tactical mistakes.
JS John Simkin GL Gary Loughran CO Coxy HD Hammer Divone DC David Cross RH Rocking Horse
AB Albie Beck BF Bishops Finger DO Dodger JP Junco Partner SA Sanchoz JD Jasper Drum NG Nicky G
John Simkin: Curbishley did nothing wrong today. Nothing inspired but extremely competent. It made sense to keep the same team. I would have liked to see Noble in the starting line-up but I assume he is not fully fit. Bringing on Ashton on was not a tactically change as Etherington had a groin strain. West Ham looked more dangerous with Cole and Ashton playing upfront together. I saw them playing together several times for England’s under 23 team. They will prove a handful for most defences. The most encouraging thing about the performances is that they are playing well as a team. My only concern is that Neill gives the ball away too often when he advances upfield. I don’t think Curbishley and West Ham have been given enough credit for their recent run. You always get the comment that Portsmouth, Chelsea, Blackburn, etc. did not play well. They seem to forget there are two teams out on the pitch. The Hammers are stopping teams playing well. We will know more after we play out two games against Everton but if we keep this up, we can end up in the top 6. 9/10.
Gary Loughran Curbishley kept faith with the team that performed so well and were so unfortunate against Chelsea. Blackburn could justifiably have the same complaint today. Etherington is markedly regressing each week; his one major plus is that he is a true left sided player and this helps balance the side. Boa Morte too often drifted inside and left Mullins to graft on his behalf out wide. The defence, en masse, were again superb. Neill on occassion still thinks he's Cafu in his pomp, perhaps the result of playing in front of the seemingly impregnable Green. The bench today was used conservatively. Ashton was forced on due to Etherington's injury and with Boa Morte going wide, the teams balance remained. The delay in bringing on Camara (I'm aware of the communications fault between sideline and ref) might have been costly at a time when the fresher legs were needed. Have times changes so much that without electonics we can't make a simple substitution for 5 minutes.
Coxy: Tactics were spot on, and substitutions were perfect.
Hammer Divone: Should have taken Cole off sooner as he was at risk of being sent off, otherwise taking Matty off at half time was exactly the right thing to do and Spector strangely seems to be growing in to the midfield role. 8.5/10
Rocking Horse: Set the team up to break up any creativity that Tugay or Dunn may have had and we looked dangerous when we broke. Etherington was having a bit of a mare so made a bold attacking substitution and the sub got the winner. I don't think it's a coincidence that we are getting the best out of the supposed 2nd string players at the moment. Another away win, another clean sheet and still with a partly depleted squad,- can't really ask too much more than that. 8.5/10
Albie Beck: A performance very comparable with last week. If anything we played better as a unit against Chelski. He has built probably the best West Ham defence in more than a decade. 8.5 from me. All his best ratings are away matches.
Bishops Finger: A really good performance from the team, Curb's tactics were spot on. I'm glad to see Scott Parker getting a complete game in, he and Mullins add a lot of stability to what is becoming a really 'professional' outfit. On the downside, Carlton Cole didn't have much of a game and I still don't think he is up to the Premiership (and Nobby Solano looks like he's melting). 8.5/10 - harsh but fair!
Dodger: Best managerial performance of the season in my opinion. All the subs were correct and served their purpose. The tactics from the start were spot-on. I've never seen us look so solid in such a difficult away game. 10/10 for me. Better even than Derby and perhaps only Reading away was a better preformance IMO.
Junco Partner: Lets not get too carried away, Blackburn played poorly but still had enough chances to win, however 3 points away can't be argued with, subs were at the right time Ethers was out of sorts and Solano tiring fast, didn't let Blackburn's kicking habit get the upper hand. So an 8.
Sanchoz: Good all round team peformance and Curbs is reaping the reward of having Parker in the side who put in a really good shift. West Ham typically no matter whos in the side are a bit shakey at set pieces attacking or defending (just like we cannot find anyone for a throw in) but beyond that we are looking very good. Its a shame we cant peform at home. 8/10
Jasper Drum: Did everything right, turning out to be a brillient manager, West Ham thru & thru. 10/10
Nicky G: Knew it was going to be a gritty game, but as mentioned above the tactics were set up to nullify blackburns attck. which worked very well.
JS John Simkin GL Gary Loughran PA Party Iron BN Boleyn DC David Cross OD Oldun
AB Albie Beck BF Bishops Finger RN Rich Neal MH Mitch SA Sanchoz PO Polar NB Neal Bob
John Simkin: Team Selection: My only complaint was with the selection of Solano. In my opinion he is a luxury player who should not be playing in games like these. I would have played Noble in that position but as he was not on the bench, I suppose he was injured and would therefore have played Spector. Tactics: Packing the midfield was a no-brainer. However, they did it exceptionally well. Parker and Mullins were excellent and Boa Morte put them under constant pressure. I thought Neill got caught out of position too many times but Gabbidon and Upson picked up everything except for the goal (Upson left Cole for a ball he was never going to get). Substitutions: I would have brought on Spector for Solano at the beginning of the second-half. I definitely would not have brought on Ljungberg. I would also have brought on Ashton earlier - though he is still clearly far from being fit. Overall: The best performance of the season. Curbishley is clearly building a well organized team who are quick enough to hit the best teams on the break. Unfortunately, the best two chances fell to Solano. I thought it was disgraceful the way he ducked out of the second of these chances. Like at Portsmouth, he was thinking of being clattered by the goalkeeper. 8/10.
Gary Loughran The team selection left the wide midfield areas looking a little flaky today. Etherington was invisible the whole first half and wasted possession all too often. Parker, who was excellent for 60 minutes, obviously tired and was over running the ball near the end. Upson, was outstanding along with Gabbidon at the heart of a very solid defence. The tactics were well set and executed. At last West Ham have a team capable of performing to the tactical nuances of the manager. Every player (except Etherington) worked doubly hard today, notably Cole, Parker and Mullins. It was a very impressive performance as a team. It is difficult to take a defeat to a Joe Kinnear/Wimbledon special. That could have been Fashanu, Jones and Earl arriving offside to score. The players disappointed reaction after the game, says a lot for their improvement as a whole - competing equally with top sides, often retaining possession for long periods. This is where Solano, Parker and Mullins were so effective. It was a pity Solano and Parker tired so much and so quickly as Ljunberg will not graft. Great performance, disappointing result, tactically sound 8.0. Everyone put in a great shift today. Gabbidon, Parker, Mullins, Boa Morte all deserve merit. Carlton Cole was outstanding...again. I give Man of the Match to Matty Upson for a quietly confident performance. He gives a reassurance to the back four not seen since Bilic and has been for me a consistently excellent performer over the last few games.
Party Iron: Very impressed with today's performance, one of the best defensive performance's I seen from West Ham. What we did lack is a striker that has a goal scoring instinct. Curbs done his bit today got the players fired up and gave them the tactics to win the game, we just lacked the one or two players that turn them games from loses to wins. But well done to the lads. 9/10
Boleyn: Tactically spot on, nullified Chelsea threat for most of the match and deserved more than we got. Subs correct but perhaps a little bit late.
David Cross: If you can't give a 10 after winning 5-0 away you never can.
Oldun: I think you can see exactly what Curbs is turning us into, he is building the team from the back. In all the years of going over there I've always watched teams who could attack but couldnt defend, this team is definatly different and once his happy with this part of the team I hope he pushes on to create a team that will punish teams. I still think our style of play suits us as an away team and is not so good when we are playing at home but I'm sure I can get used to it. 8/10
Albie Beck: That was an excellent team performance, one of the best since Curbs came along. He might have brought Deano on sooner, but otherwise I have no quibbles. 9/10
Bishops Finger: I thought they played well and the tactics very nearly worked, it was a very disciplined performance. The weakness was in the substitutions - fair enough Solano looked like he was melting and was pretty well knackered but Ljungberg - I am at a complete loss to understand what he brings to the team - an utter waste of space. A generous 8/10
Rich Neal: I have to agree with John. It's hard, but we have to separate the result from the performance. One of the best, battling performances I've seen from West Ham for a long time - probably better than Man U and Arsenal away last season. I'm sure some will disagree, but that's okay... So, overall - bad result, good performance - I'm going to break my duck here and give Curbs an 8.5 out of 10. IMO, he got the tactics spot on.
Polar: I'll give him a 9. Thought
Solano
should have been changed a little earlier as he faded from the game in the second half. Overall a very good technical performance and made Chelsea play badly. Just gutted about the goal.
Sanchoz: Deano should have been on earlier and we never looked like scoring for a long time going forward. Boa Morte tiring and Carlton running himself into the ground and in need of fresher legs to play along side him. Sub too late.
Mitch: Curbs is starting to win me over! How long before he gets the ultimate acholade - Alan Curbushley's Claret and Blue Army! He kept us up last season and is doing a pretty decent job now. We just dont seem to be able to accept him for some reason ? Pards won us over - why not Curbs ?
Neil Bob: Battling display and very organised in every position.
JS John Simkin GL Gary Loughran RD Rendog BN Boleyn NX Nox DE Dicksie MA Iron Mark
BB Butterfly Boy CK Chip Korea WH West Ham Rob SA Sanchoz PO Polar CO Coxy LA Law
John Simkin: There are two schools of thought about how you bring back players who have been off injured. For example, Benitez started with Kewell on Saturday even though he had not played in the first-team for 18 months because of injury. He was brought off after 58 minutes. Curbishley obviously favour the idea of bringing in top players like Ashton off the substitute bench. Personally, I would have liked to have seen Cole and Ashton playing together from the start. I would have also brought on Ashton earlier. In fact, to be precise, in the 54 minute when Ramos took off Kaboul. When he eventually arrived Ashton and Cole caused Dawson and Chimbonda a lot of problems. Even so, after a worrying first 15 minutes, I thought the West Ham team performed well. The defence is clearly much better organized now. I liked the way the midfield closed down the Spurs’ players. Neil remains my only concern. I was very unhappy about the way he gave the ball away in the Spurs’ half in the 29th minute and then trotted back leaving others to race back to stop the counter-attack. I was also unimpressed with Neil pulling the shirt of Defoe in injury time when he was clearly going nowhere. Overall, I would give Curbishley 7. I think he is overly conservative in his tactics but I believe he is building a really good team.
Gary Loughran Curbs started the game with the in-form Cole retaining his place ahead of the newly fit Ashton. Parker also could find no way into the starting lineup, both justified decisions. West Ham fashioned 3 great chances in the first half, all reminiscent of the flowing football we're famous for. Cole scored - again - and was a handful all game, despite being on a yellow card for a poor refereeing decision. Green might have done better for the Spurs goal but more than made up for it with another penalty save. Curbs substitutions, for the most part, were like for like and worked as well as could be expected - with Ashton unlucky not to score. There was nothing negative tactically nor was there anything suicidal. The ref Riley was the poorest performer on show - every West Ham challenge, particularly in the air was met with a whistle. 33 fouls, 3 yellow cards - Spurs had around 5 fouls and 4 cards. A great game and I'll give Curbs a 7.5.
Rendog: OK we didn't win, but Sp*rs looked in quite good form, so I think he picked the right team all things considered. 7.5
Boleyn: Good performance, the flashes of penetrating, one touch, attacking football are becoming more and more frequent and on occassions we tore into Tottenham. Solid defensively, which is impressive as in past games we would have melted after their performance in the first 10 minutes. Subs were good. Noble was completely anonymous and had to go, we looked far more threatening with Parker; we needed a new threat up front, Carlton was playing to well to go off - thus Boa; Solano was knackered, no other right winger to come on - thus Spector. More and more impressed with Curbs.
Nox: Tthough the result didn't go our way, I agreed with all the subs and tactical changes. Granted, we didn't win. though obviously, Curbs can't be blamed for the crappy ref or Green's mistake that led to their goal. 8.5
Dicksie: Thought we started the second half poorly and I would have introduced Parker a little earlier and have kept LBM on- he seemed to be worrying them. Rest of the performance quite pleasing though. 7/10
Iron Mark: The only reason that result was ok was because of Greeno's pen save. If there hadn't even been a penalty then we would be disappointed at losing points. Just like the Portsmouth game. Should've won, had some very good chances but are happy with the result because we could have lost it right at the very end.
Butterfly Boy: Made the right substitutions. Maybe could have been made at earlier, but at least we came away with a point and (hopefully) no injuries.
Chip Korea: Should have brought Ashton on for Solano, dropping LBM to right wing. Then Noble off for Parker. 6.5.
West Ham Rob: Bought Ashton on, but then took our only creative spark in midfield off - Solano. No support to strikers for majority of 2nd half game. 5/10
Sanchoz: Spector is not a right sided midfielder (or a midfielder) so taking off Solano, unless injured did not help us. We had some good chances, so did they in a game that was allright in patches. I like the way Curbs picks on form, rather then the "best players". Something McClaren failed to do. 7/10
Polar: I thought he kept Noble on too long. He looked off the pace to me (not surprising as he has been injured). I also would have kept on Solano. 7/10
Coxy: I think people are forgetting that Solano was absolutely shattered and had recently made the trip to Peru. Bringing on Spector gave us fresh legs and he didn't exactly do bad did he? The substitutions of Ashton and Parker looked effective whilst the discipline in the team was clear. 8/10 from me.
Law: Spurs are the best team at up since L'Arse. A point in the circumstances needed winning in itself. However fluid was some of their passing, AC has built a strong, durable defence this time around. Lets hope he can embed a more purposeful attacking midfielder and we can expect to match the decent sides more regularly. 7.5
DC David Cross JT JT-whufc GA Gavin LE Lee QH Qatar Hammer GL Gary Loughran
AN Antony OD Oldun AL Albie NE Neil VG Viking LA Law JS John Simkin
David Cross: If you can't give a 10 after winning 5-0 away you never can.
JT-whufc: I'm not a massive curbs fan but gotta be a 10! 5-0 away from home, with a reserve team out bar a few players. you cannot ask for more than that. I know it was only Derby...but most people on here thought a 1-0 scrape.
Gavin: Well I have to say I hope..... that he did a good half time talk which spured them on.. Whether it was him or not I don't care. 10!!!
Lee: I don't know whether playing 5-4-1 for 20mins when you're 5-0 up and threatening easily to make it 7 or 8 is genius in terms of practising sucking up pressure, or stupid for not making the most of opportunities like this game that don't come around very often at all. 9.
Qatar Hammer: 5 games unbeaten and playing with a second string team. Pantsil, Spector, Cole would not get a sniff if not for the terrible list of injuries. Years gone by just 3 or 4 injuries and WHU would show no depth or passion. He has brought stability in the team and the squad and let's not forget he started that last year when everyone expected us to be playing fizzypop football this season. We've looked solid at the back and after today we are +8 GD, better than Man City in third. Well done Curbs Well done the players today. 10/10
Gary Loughran Thumping result. The big squad is being fully stretched, and once again, Curbs selection was easy given what was available. Smartly moved Neill to left back to allow Pantsil to play on the right following McCartney's injury. Carlton Cole (now top of the assists chart - 6!!) looked excellent again. Was Solano our first non-British scorer in the league albeit if Eddie Lewis is credit for Spectors shot?? Curbs also done well to resist the temptation to play Ljunberg, instead bringing on Collins and pushing Pantsil on. Whilst Pride Park may be a misnomer at the minute there can be no doubt this was a great victory to lead into the International break. The only downside being a hernia operation for Bowyer, though thanks to him for delaying the op. Curbs gets a resounding 9.
Antony: The thing is he didn't have a great deal to do cos our injury list means the team pretty much picked itself! That said Spector as a central midfielder is one I would never have seen and you simply cannot give any rating other than 10/10 to a manager thats led his team to a 5-0 win away from home!
Oldun: 10 of course, why a lot of our fans still dislike him is beyond me, his style of play may not be to the liking of many fans and I agree we are defence minded now but just look at the table, not just the position but just as important the goals against column. I think you will find we are about the 6th best and after today our goals for ain't bad either.
Albie: To be honest, I don't even understand where this "negative" image comes from either. For all his time at the club he has either been fighting a bush fire (last season) or rehearsing an episode of Casualty. He hasn't been able to play his preferred side more than a handful of times. But on the odd occasion where he has been able to let the team off the leash (Bolton last season, perhaps Reading this) the team have looked not bad at all! He deserves a 10 today.
Neil: 10/10. Derby were woeful, but you can only beat the team in front of you - and we did that with aplomb.
Viking: As Claret Parrot wrote you have to give out the ten for something extraordinary, even though todays result away from home was very good considering all the injuries, well TBH it would have been a fantastic win even with all our players fit. 9.5
Law: Making us a force to be reckoned with defensively away. Three away clean sheets in 12 games. Shrewd purchase in Solano. Getting solid performances from a practically second string midfield. Got to be a 9.5 for today.
Bob: Team selection: Hand was forced but who would have had Jon Spector in as goalscoring, defensive, playmaking midfielder? Certainly no one who had watched some of his performances in defence last season. The rest of the team picked itself but Cole/Boa Morte seemed to work a lot better than it had in the past. 9/10 Tactics: The 4-4-1-1 worked and the midfield supported Cole well. 5-0 away from home. What can you say? 10 Substitutions: No tactical substitutions required so we'll go with a solid 8 here. Overall 9.
John Simkin: I think Curbishley is a good manager and have been unable to understand the calls for him to be sacked. However, I have found most of the praise of Curbishley’s performance against Derby well-over the top. It is true that it is difficult to identify any mistakes that he made in the game against Derby. The main reason is that Derby was so poor they were unable to exploit any mistakes that he made. To my mind, a manager deserves 9 or 10 when he innovates successfully, not when he fails to make mistakes. Curbishley was competent and not inspirational on Saturday. If you give him a 10/10 for a victory over Derby, what do you give him when he tactically out-thinks Ferguson and we get a good win at Old Trafford? To my mind he only deserves 7/10.
JS John Simkin BF Bishops Finger WH WestLondonHammer BN Ben GL Gary Loughran SC Scaloni
ZA Zam EG Eggy DG Dodger HS Hambrosia Stu DU Dublin Iron MN Mark Noble WR Wragg
West Ham v Bolton: Video Highlights
Bolton (4/11/2007)
John Simkin: Given the injuries the team picked itself. However, the tactic of playing the long ball up to Cole was a disaster. (Or was that the decision of the players?) Not that Cole played badly, but surrounded by three defenders, it just meant that we constantly gave the ball away. The only time we looked any good was when we passed it through midfield. It soon became clear that Boa Morte still has not recovered his confidence. He took ages making decisions and when he did, it was always the wrong one. I would have had him off before half-time and replaced him with Reid. The substitution of Cole was also very strange. True he was tired but it would have been better to have kept him on and brought on Camara for Boa Morte. 6/10.
Bishops Finger: It was like watching the Sunderland game all over again - West Ham started well and played some nice football and scored a good goal, then for some unknown reason they fell back and seemed to invite Bolton onto them and seemed happy to defend. LBM was poor and I have a bit of a blind spot about Carlton Cole but I suppose there was not much choice. The midfield is looking really thin and has become a problem, Mullins and Bowyer both look unfit and things are going from bad to worse. I like Kevin Davies, he's a real handful and a great target man - he gave Gabbidon and Upson a real hard time. Curbishley's tactics and substitutions were baffling, that's why I'll give him only 5/10.
WestLondonHammer: Result: Last week at the final whistle felt like a win... this week like a loss... but we didnt win or lose either just shows how football can go. Team selection: What choice was there? Substitutions: Another 3 enforced changes... nice to have nearly a week between games maybe to get a couple of players back. Tactics: Ugly and nearly worked... possibly could put todays loss down to players being so tired and so making individual errors. 7/10
Ben: Tactics terrible & what were those subs about? Curbishley out! 3/10
Gary Loughran: This is tough one to rate Curbishley tactically on. The team was literally the only one that could play. It included a couple of not fully fit playeres in Mullins and Bowyer; and it showed. The workrate was high and once again the much maligned Neil and McCartney were stand outs. After a slow start Boa Morte seemed to gain some confidence (given the Coventry performance was the worst individual performance I've ever witnessed by a WHUFC player) and was hurting Bolton late on. When Pantsil, Spector came on - moves Curbishley would not have made had there not been injuries - the team looked disjointed. Switching Camara for Cole defied logic and this gets a point deducted from my default score of seven. 6/10
Scaloni: Very few options, to be fair to him. Thought the formation worked when we played properly but long-ball stuff was useless. Suspect that was players' fault rather than his. Boa should have come off instead of Cole, but that's about it. The Mullins injury came at a bad time. 6/10
Zam: Mullins`injury made it much more difficult for us to keep hold of the ball, and that's what ultimately cost us, imo. Very frustrated that he didn't give Reid a run out when he couldn't possibly have been worse than LBM. 6/10
Eggy: With what curbs had to choose from today 6/10. Half that team woudnt get near the squad let alone team so we have to make allowances. Think we all saw the equaliser coming in all honesty.
Dodger: Did little wrong IMO. Played the only team he could...perhaps question marks about bringing Cole off but really it shouldn't have been decisive. We did enough to win but were slack at the back once in stoppage time and paid for it. Considering the injuries we had I thought we played better than I expected we would but it means little since we didn't win. Overall, 7.5 to Curbs.
Hambrosia Stu: I agree it did feel like a loss. I agree that he didn't hve much choice with his selection. I guess the one choice he had was playing LBM in a 5 man midfield, or up with Cole in a 4-4-2. Must admit I'd have prefered the latter, but with Bolton playing 5 in the middle I can see the logic in doing so ourselves. The subs, I'm not sure about Cole going off. If he was injured, or they were trying to protect him for future games, fair enough. But even a knackered Cole gave us a point of focus. Once he went off we had no one to aim for when trying to clear our lines, so I'd have kept him on. I'd have taken LBM off personally, as he was playing like someone who'd had his pre-match cup of tea spiked with magic mushrooms! So whilst it's hard to lay too much blame at Curbs' door, it'll have to be a dissappointed 6 for me.
Dublin Iron: 8/10 from me. Their goal was down to our poor defending. But I think our defenders were playing too deep because of Green's off-day. When you lose a bit of confidence in your keeper you tend to defend a little closer to the goal line and the box gets over-congested at times.
Mark Noble: He took Bowyer off when he was the only centre midfielder on. Also thought it was a bad decision to take Cole off he was doing a good job. Curbishley rating 3/10
Wragg: Team... Didn't have a lot to choose from. Subs . . . Nobody seems to have picked this up, but Bowyer took a knock in the first half. He had made some good runs into the box (and should have scored at least one) then he toook a knock and stopped going forward. Mullins injured Spectre was penciled in for that position had Mullins failed his pre match fitness test, so there's the logic for that. Cole was well and truly f****ed, so off he came. I'd give Curbs 7/10
The Times: When Curbishley opens his 50th birthday presents on Thursday, he may be hoping that instead of boxer shorts and socks, his wife has bought him a spreadsheet to keep a record of the remarkable list of injuries. It was 13 at the last count, when Hayden Mullins limped off yesterday, but best to double check. Handy, too, would be a list of players out of contract, as at this rate they may not get to the January transfer window. Curbishley hurled his water bottle in disgust at the end, a reflection of his team’s intermittent daydreaming and carelessness. “We wasted a lot of energy in needless things when we should have been professional and killed the game off,” he said. (Gary Jacob, 5th November, 2007)
JS John Simkin BF Bishops Finger WH WestLondonHammer DJ DjBelz GL Gary Loughran
DC David Cross SN Sicknote PA Party Iron LA Larry MA Mart
West Ham v Portsmouth: Video Highlights
Portsmouth (27/10/2007)
John Simkin: Personally, I think it was Curbishley’s best performance of the season. True, the defence looked fragile in the first 15 minutes but after that the Portsmouth attack rarely looked dangerous. Cole did a great job playing up front on his own. The only real problem was Bellamy who was not carrying out his defensive duties. The situation improved in the second-half when Etherington replaced Bellamy. My only complaint about Curbishley’s decision-making is that it could be argued that Solano should have been brought off earlier. It is unfortunate that the best two chances fell to Solano but on last week’s evidence, he deserved a start. If we play as well as this we could give most of the top teams problems in away games. 8/10.
Bishops Finger: I thought West Ham did well against Portsmouth, being a bit of a pessimist I thought we would be overpowered by Portsmouth and might be in for a bit of a hiding. I was pleasantly surprised by the performance, the midfield and defence stifled Portsmouth and we were unlucky not to come away with the points. I'm not much of a fan of Carlton Cole but I thought he had the best game I'd seen him have for West Ham. Robert Green was outstanding (again!). The sour notes were Bellamy getting into a running duel with Hreidarsson, that sneaky kick by Bellamy on the defender and then getting booked, and a couple of lapses from Gabbidon. Curb's tactics were spot on! - a comfortable 8/10
DjBelz: Even ole' Harry gave our gaffer the thumbs up for "doing his homework" and playing the right system to match Pompey in the midfield, which we did. Superb from Curbs with the players available, and I considered giving him a 10, and probably would have if Solano had put one of those chances in and we would of likely got the 3pts.
Gary Loughran: In a break from type, it seems Curbishley employed tactics from the beginning tonight. West Ham played 4-5-1- with Cole on his own upfront and Bellamy and Boa Morte coming off the wings in support. The plan being to stifle Portsmouth's 4-3-3 and it worked. After weathering the storm in the opening exchanges West Ham found room in the middle of the park and were particularly effective on the left. Bellamy's injury around 30 minutes should've warranted an immediate substitution (the main tactical error); continuing to play allowed Portsmouth to regain some composure before the break. Amongst many good performances - Notables were Green, Neill and McCartney. A very effective and surprisingly good West Ham performance: passionate, energetic and fluid. Tactically sound 8/10 (1 mark off for Bellamy effect).
Sicknote: Got it spot on, had lady luck looked upon us we would have had the perfect away game, for me one of the best allround team performances of this season, at a ground and club, who are riding high and make things difficult to play against.
Party Iron: I dont know if we looked better because we were on tv, but the team performance was the best this year even cole looked ok. I thought the system was the right one to play maybe we will use this more often. Credit to curbs we look like we are improving 8/10 for this game from me.
Larry: We had to stop Portsmouth's free flowing attacking football and the 4-5-1 formation we adopted succeeded perfectly Curbishley. got his tactics spot on. 9/10
Mart: Beat Harry all hands down, excellent formation which pompey struggled to get to grips with, good timing for subs too.
JS John Simkin BF Bishops Finger AY Andy BB Boleyn Boy GL Gary Loughran
BO Bobby HS Hambrosia Stu DU Dublin Iron PR Prophet
West Ham v Sunderland: Video Highlights
Sunderland (14/10/2007)
John Simkin: Given the injuries it would have been the team I would have picked. It soon became clear that Kenwyne Jones was winning everything in the air. Upson and Gabbidon could not cope and so I thought there was an argument for bringing on Ferdinand in the first-half. Yet this change only took place in the 85 minute. I was also surprised that Cole was not asked to mark Jones at set-pieces. Curbishley should also have brought Solarno on earlier. We desperate need a midfielder who can supply the passes for Bellamy’s runs. After the game Bellamy claimed he had been lobbying Curbishley to pick Solarno. As it happens it all worked out alright at the end. However, Curbishley only deserves 6/10 for his role in this.
Bishops Finger: I thought we were extremely lucky against Sunderland. I'm not and never will be a Cole fan - personally I wouldn't have him within a million miles of the first team - having said that, he scored a goal that came about after a period of controlled possession and a good move. Roy Keane made bold substitutions and Sunderland got well on top in the second half - Curbishley was late in using his subs - Noble did not have a good game and Etherington took two or three really heavy tackles and was pretty ineffective all afternoon. The last two West Ham goals were against the run of play but nevertheless were good goals. What worries me most is the defence - they looked like conceding every time Sunderland got into the West Ham half. Corners and dead-ball situations are a nightmare. I realise that Kenwynne Jones is a handful but there didn't seem to be any move to counter the threat he posed. Curb's was lucky to get away with it - a harsh 6/10.
Andy: Before the substitutions I would have given him a 6. We needed to do something to change the pattern of play or we were out of it in the second half. They were lumping the ball up unchallenged to Jones and giving us all sorts of problems. Bringing Nobby and Boa on at that moment changed the match in our favour and despite my frustration at seeing Nobby ready to go in the dugout for about 5 minutes before he got on, I would have to say that Curbs got it spot on in the end. Overall yesterday given our restrictions, an 8 from me.
Boleyn Boy: Team selection - 8 - Can't really fault that, maybe would have liked to see Solano starting on the right but, as one of the commentator's said, he'd only had a few days of training since coming back from Peru so it would have been a big ask. Cole scored, so he vindicated that decision. Tactics - 5 - Poor. Once again too many long balls and Curbs took too long to react to the extra man in midfield. When we started to pass it along the floor we looked good, when we lumped it up to Bellamy we didn't. Substitutions - 8 - Would have been higher but they came slightly too late. Although this was elementary as we won. Nice and attacking minded, he can't be faulted on this. Overall - 7 - Poor performance but we got the result and I would place a large amount of respoonsibilty on the players in this case. Some of the concentration was diabolical from the midfield. The amount of misplaced passes HAS to be addressed.
Gary Loughran: From the players available the team pretty much picked itself, with Gabbidon holding his place, likely and hopefully, due to a lack of recent matches by Ferdinand. A complete inability to secure and maintain possession remains an alarming facet of West Ham's play all season especially when linking midfield and attack. In the few minutes of playing time, Nolberto Solano perfomed well; doing much of what West Ham have missed all season (notable exception Ashton), constructive, simple, possession based passing. I am unsure if it is a deliberate strategy by the manager to construct a team which plays only on the break, if so this would explain the lack of possession football in favour of long and swift counter attacks. Keane won the tactical battle easily making 2 attacking half-time substitutions and turning the game in Sunderland's favour. The lack of a tactical reply from Curbishley was startling and when he did ring the changes even the Upton Park faithful were unsure if he knew what he was doing. However, these changes won the game. Whilst awaiting the return of the many injured players, 3 points was a good haul from a game where for long periods 1 point would have been a bit of an escape. For the impact of the substitutions, by luck or by design, Curbishley's rating has been boosted to a mid table 5/10.
Bobby: Its a 7 from me. I thought he was a bit slow to react to their half time changes, we could have been 3-1 down by the time he made the substitutions. But they were the perfect substitutions when they came in my opinion.
Hambrosia Stu: Any points lost for waiting longer than necessary to make the changes, were immediately won back by the impact of those subs. I thought we could have moved to address the problems Jones was causing us, but I'm not sure what Curbs could have done. He won everything, first against Upson, then Gabbs, and then Anton when he came on. Not a great game from us, but when you consider the injury list, it wasn't so bad.
Dublin Iron: 8 from me. With the tools at his disposal he used them wisely and won the game. This is the kind of game we would have lost every other season.
Prophet: There were 5 or 6 positions yesterday in which AC had no choice of player (we have two match fit forwards, for instance). We needed some width, if Bowyer was playing, so Matty had to start wide left. The subs were a long time coming, but only AC/Merv have any real understanding of LBM/Solano's levels of stamina. I'd have subbed Noble earlier. We won a game by two goals when anyone in the ground would have taken a point immediately after Green's one-handed save. 7/10.
JS John Simkin h WH WestLondonHammer AH AaronHammer SM Sunday Mirror
West Ham v Aston Villa: Video Highlights
Aston Villa (6/10/2007)
John Simkin: Team selection - Not playing Noble seemed a very strange decision. He gives us energy in the midfield and was badly missed. I was also disappointed that there was no place for Collins. It seems that he is now the fourth-choice at centre-back. Gabbidon of course caused the only goal in more ways than one. There was also an argument for Ljungberg to play up front instead of Camara. Tactics - Neill had problems with Young all afternoon. He clearly needed more help than he got. I thought the midfield did well defensively against Villa but posed little threat going forward. One of the outcomes of leaving Noble on the bench. Subsitutions - Camara was replaced because of injury. West Ham looked more dangerous after Cole joined Ashton but he clearly has no confidence in front of goal. I would have thought that it would have been better for Noble to replace Camara with Ljungberg being pushed up front. I would prefer to have seen at least the second substitution taking place at half-time. I do not see the sense of bringing on players like Noble for ten minutes. I think this was an example of where the manager deserves a lower-rating than the team. 5/10 for me.
WestLondonHammer: Team selection: Etherington for Noble seemed a fair swap considering the form etherington has been in this season and Noble's form over the last 2-3 games! Gabbidon for Anton was only fair based on Gabbys performance last weekend... Dont see much wrong with the team tbh considering form and the resources available 8/10... Taking Neill out of the team might have been an option, but considering there was 1 change being made to the defence, anymore going into an away game may have been de-stablising (especially taking the teams leader out), so on reflection probably a correct call Tactics: Nobody likes ugly, long ball football but with the resources available and considering the opposition ugly football was necessary... bowyer and mullins were not exactly going to outpass Barry (one of the best passers in the division), Gardener and NRC and so bypassing their midfield was probably the only way we were going to get a point (which we nearly snatched)! Would it have been better to match them with 5 accross the middle? Is Ashton fit enough to play up top alone (he doesnt look like he is)... so that would answer that question 7/10 Substitutions: Cole for Camara was a natural swap considering the players available... The introduction of Noble was puzzling when it came... LBM for Etherington didnt make much difference and it can be argued they were probably too late... 5/10 Result: Obviously losing is not nice, based on the first half and second half performances a 1 goal deficit was probably fair... did anyone expect anything more away from home against a top 8 side? 6/10
AaronHammer: Team selection - Well Ferdinand & Parker were enforced changes, and not many would argue about Gabbidon & Mullins replacing them. Etherington rightly brought back in but I found it strange how Noble was dropped (unless he wasnt fit). Noble and Mullins have played well in the middle this season so I don't know why he would change that to have Bowyer play there, just seemed to me he wanted to accomodate Bowyer, Etherington, Ljungberg. Camara continued up front but he is better (only slightly) than CFC and we have no other fit strikers. All other players were in the team by default. Tactics - Well i dont have any major issues, but he could have played a more 4-5-1/4-3-3 formation with Noble instead of Camara and have Etherington/Ljungberg supporting Ashton or Bowyer from deep. He let NRC have to much space to run into and employing another central midfielder he could have stopped villa's quick counter attacking style. Once again though he made changes too late (10 mins to go) when we were losing 1-0. Subsitutions - Camara was enforced by injury and Cole was the only striker on the bench, but maybe Boa should be used more as a striker, his pace with Deano has looked quite good a few times. I think the other subs were correct just too late. Not much he can do with injuries occuring left right and centre, unless his training isn't very good. For yesterday I would say 6.5
JS John Simkin AY Andy WN Winnah WH WestLondonHammer BF Bishops Finger
MA Mart SE Sendô RR Roaring Repka JP James P SM Sunday Mirror
West Ham v Arsenal: Video Highlights
Arsenal (30/9/2007)
Andy: Without knowing why certain players were or were not available I would have to give Curbs 8 out of 10 on Saturday. Ashton is clearly not fit and wasnt given great service and made the most of what he had. On another day with a bit of luck, we would have scored at least 2 in the second half. We just ran out of luck against the Arsenal after the last 2 seasons. I would like to know where Solano and Etherington were however.
Winnah: A very difficult team to play against and we did exactly what we needed to do, we managed 49% possession and we even scored, we had lots of offside decisions go against us which are no way Curbs fault. Loses a point for putting too much faith in Parker too soon and for possibly bringing Boa Morté on too late. 9/10.
WestLondonHammer: Team selection - I personally would have liked to have seen muggins for noble and collins for ferdinand, but i can understand by those selections were made... shame etherington and bellamy were late withdrawals, that would have had a big impact on the teams preparation - 6/10 Tactics - We nearly got a point against the form team in the division while giving a good account of ourselves... abit of luck and it could have been different - 8/10 Substitutions - 1 enforced on the team, 1 good decision (gabby) and 1 probably a little too late despite being the right decision - 7/10. Overall - 7/10.
Bishops Finger: I wasn't impressed with his team selection today - picking Parker for such a big game when he's clearly not ready yet and him getting injured again - is beyond me. The midfield looks lightweight without Mullins - although I wouldn't call myself his number one fan. The substitutions of Parker and Ferdinand were enforced and Boa Morte came on too late in the game to make any impact. The referee and his linesman didn't do us any favours but a draw would have been a travesty. Not impressed - 5/10.
Mart: 8/10. 1-0 against the inform team of the season thus far. Freddie's goal should of stood. Parker like Deano needs games to get fit. Deserved a draw, but Arsenal are back to their old ways and beat teams by clever passing.
Sendô: Boa Morte needed to come on much earlier, it was clear that Bowyer was having little effect. Arsenal were defending tight and narrow, we needed wingers with overlapping full backs to get around their defence, but Curbs waited until the 85th minute - too late by then. I was disappointed with Camera as well, but to be fair to Curbs I'd have picked him ahead of Cole as well. 6/10
Roaring Repka: Boa Morte needed to come on much earlier, it was clear that Bowyer was having little effect. Arsenal were defending tight and narrow, we needed wingers with overlapping full backs to get around their defence, but Curbs waited until the 85th minute - too late by then. I was disappointed with Camera as well, but to be fair to Curbs I'd have picked him ahead of Cole as well. 6/10 I'm pro Curbs but I thought there were some poor decisions today selection-wise. Mullins never deserved to be dropped and Parker wasn't ready. Having to make that sub so early led to us only being able to make one attacking sub and having to leave it till late on because he didn't want to use all three too early in case of injuries. Thought the team lacked width somewhat with Ljungberg cutting inside a fair bit and Bowyer rarely getting forward in good positions on account of having to cover for Lucas. And the thing that stuck out most to me that most people haven't been too quick to admit is that the team missed Carlton Cole, that guy who gets booed despite setting up 4 of our 9 league goals this season. Ashton was having to get the flick ons to play in Camara and he couldn't do it and it meant Camara didn't get in the game and Ashton didn't get as good a service as he could have done. We were playing long ball and Ashton isn't that amazing in the air in my opinion so we could have done with Carlton on the pitch. I thought the third and final sub was wrong, I thought Carlton should have come on then and Boa Morte didn't do much when he came on. But we played well in the second half and would have drawn if it wasn't for the dodgy offside so that has to be taken into account for a 5/10 I think.
James P: Poor team selection. The midfield has been our strongest area in recent games so there was no need to tinker with it for such an important game. Dropping Mullins for an unknown quantity in Parker was foolish. I hope that Curbs would have made the change at half time even if Parker wasn't struggling. Giving Curbs the benefit of the doubt, substitutions were sensible but practically made for him. Gabbidon showed why he should be featuring for us more. A very strong performance from our former HOTY. LBM for Bowyer was a fair swap but again, what other options were there? Curbs hands were tied in a number of ways with our injuries both before and during the game, but the big decision he did make, naming his starting midfield, I feel he got wrong. 6/10
JS John Simkin CB Chrissieboy SA Sanchoz WH WestLondonHammer BF Bishops Finger
BH Bonehead BU Bubbles BN Ben HS Hambrosia Stu
West Ham v Newcastle United: Video Highlights
Newcastle United (23/9/2007)
John Simkin: Curbishley made two changes from the team that played Middlesbrough. Cole replaced the injured Bellamy and fit again Ferdinand came in for Collins. In my opinion these were two bad decisions. The playing of Cole with Ashton encouraged the long ball game. It is true they combined well to score one goal but would West Ham scored more if Camara or Ljungberg had started upfront instead of Cole? Ferdinand poor concentration once again cost West Ham. Any sort of challenge against Viduka would have prevented the first goal. In fact, Viduka bossed Ferdinand in the air all afternoon. It is hard to believe that Collins would not have done better than Ferdinand. West Ham won most of the midfield battles and played some pleasant football at times. In fact, for most of the game they were the best team. However, the defence, as it did against Middlesbrough, looks fragile. Most disturbingly, the form of Neill gives great cause for alarm. Where was he for their second goal? At the backend of last season Neill showed admirable leadership qualities and this was reflected in the achievements of the defence. This season he is setting a very different example.
Chrissieboy: 5/10 from me too. Carlton Cole isn't good enough. Anybody but him. I still think Collins is our best centre half too so not happy with that. It is hard to pick from Upson, Collins, Gabbidon and Ferdinand but for me Collins and Ferdinand compliment each other best if Ferdinand is on form. If Gabbidon is fit though I would like to see him and Collins given a go together.
Sanchoz: West Ham had a fair bit of the play at times and we still lost. Harper made a couple of saves at important times that kept Newcastle's noses ahead and the defensive mistakes can't be put down to Curbs. However picking Anton ahead of Ginger Pele? Personally I dont agree with that but Upson and Anton are Curbs first choice partnership. I agree with Cole starting for the simple fact that it proves to people in the squad the manager will give you a chance if you play well and take your chance when someone else is injured.
WestLondonHammer: We went up to a place we rarely get anything from and gave them some major problems! Form players were chose (including cole) so cant complain at all about the line-up! Manager cant be held accountable for individual player errors which in the end cost us the game! It ended up being a game where we should have got something from, which can be put down to tactics/preparation, which was down to our manager!
Bishops Finger: There are a number of glaring deficiencies at the moment - the defence is creaking, Lucas Neill has had a couple of mares, Bowyer cannot get up and down, Noble is struggling, Mullins looks ineffective, Etherington's looking knackered, Ljungberg - what's he for? and Carlton Cole - lost for words!! A poor 5/10.
Bonehead: He himself admitted the defence was poor and you aren't going to get anything out of a game with your defence looking like a shambles. Not only that but Newcastle looked physically stronger and more determined from the off. OK we had a few short decent spells but they still looked more determined than us across the pitch and Curbishley failed to change that with subs. A game when for me, Etherington's weaknesses were clearly in evidence. If we were playing the long ball, which we seemed to be, why not take Etherington off earlier? he was having little impact and his set pieces were as bad as ever.
Bubbles: Initial team selection was fine but I did query the balance on the subs bench - Spector and Collins - before the game. Team played well in the first half. Think Anton criticism is harsh - our defending was generally ok except for Neill who was absolutely Dailly. I personally would put all 3 goals down to him as he either lost possession or was completely out of position for all of them. That's two shockers on the trot from him. We looked dangerous going forward also - their centre halves couldnt handle Ashton or Cole. 2nd half we faded and I think the withdrawal of Mullins was a bad substitution. It meant we were back with Noble/Bowyer in central midfield - zero energy and pace and it meant the game was up. I personally felt Noble was a little anonymous for most of the game. Camara for Cole was understandable, but Spector for Etherington?? That comes to down to poor initial bench selection leaving insufficient attacking options. No Solano, Parker, Zamora, Boa Morte - were they all injured?? 5/10
Ben: The amount of space we gave them on the ball & backing off was shocking, can't blame the manager for that really, I'm sure he didn't tell them to do it! Saw the sense in bringing Anton in for pace but why did he start the game picking up Viduka can't help but think Collins would have cleared that though and to be fair didn't deserve to be dropped. Thought the subs came a bit late & putting Ringo on the left wing was pretty pointless, would rather have lumped Collins upfront launched it to him in the closing mins. Where was Boa Morte? Think he is handy for cover on left and upfront!
Hambrosia Stu: A strange game, in that I thought we looked the better team, but didn't have the rub of the green I think critisism of Anton is a bit harsh. He was at fault for the 1st, and seemed surprised that Viduka managed to squeeze the ball between him and the post. Not convinced by either Upson or Neill. Thought Macca was good. Not sure about Curbs' tactics though. His starting 11 was fine, but we seemed to get worse as the game went on, and the subs made us even poorer, imo. Thought Mullins was doing well enough, and was surprised to see him come off. Thought Ethers was utter pony. Having bigged him up so far this season, that was piss poor. It was like watching Beckham play for England. The whole game I was waiting for him to go burning down the line, yet for some unknown reason he was forever drifting inside, where any threat he had was easily dealt with. Why we brough Spector on for him when we were chansing the game, I've no idea. Ashton looked class, and I thought Cole looked okay as well. Nobes and Bowyer did pretty well.
SM: Sunday Mirror SA Sanchoz; KT Kennet; HH HammerHawk DA Dave; BF Bishops Finger
PR Prophet WH WestLondonHammer; BH Bonehead DJ DjBelz
West Ham v Middlesbrough: Video Highlights
Middlesbrough (15th September, 2007)
Sanchoz: Anyway Curbs's hand was forced with the Bellemy injury. It looked like we could not handle Boro on the attack but that was more down to people like Ginger Pele having a bit of a poor game and others keeping the Boro players onside all the time. What Curbs had to do with having Matty bombing down the left and other manager like things it was done well.
Kennet: I was very doubtful of the decision to bring on CC instead of LBM but it did play dividends in the end, with him making one and forcing another. The half-time talk must of been a cracker as we were of the blocks quickly in the second half. I think the team collective head dropped when Bellers went off as he is the in form player and we expected a lot from him today and so credit to the team for seeing the half out and then to Curbs to lift them and get them organised, this was the difference as they dropped and never got it really going after they lost the ex-gooner. So 9 out of ten for me the only down points being it took till the second half to pick up and why were Ashton etc rested sooner giving LBM and Freddie longer on the pitch, ultimately as soon as we had scored the third.
HammerHawk: Overall he deserves a 7 today. We played well for the first 10 minutes of the first half and then the rest of it, the game was a scrappy affiar. Obviously he gave the team a kick up the backside at half time and we came out all guns blazing second half, but inbetween the goals, Middlesborough had equally easy chances to score, and apart from the brilliance of Robert Green would have been level. The manager has no control over how well the keeper plays, and therefore this shoulf not be taken into account when rating him. The game could have been a draw or a loss if they had shown more composure. That said, for the obvious words before kick off, and half time, a 7 is justified.
Dave: Very odd performance from CFC. Apart from the goals he was a nightmare, but to be honest cant complain overall. Probably give Curbs an 8.
Bishops Finger: Well I dunno, maybe I watched a different game from most of the other posters on here but I thought West Ham were incredibly lucky to get yesterdays result. When you think of Aliadiere hitting the post when clean through, and miss hitting another great chance. Tuncay being put clean through by Downing and hitting the bar, and having another chance just bobbling wide. Robert Green making a couple of good saves - I can't remember Schwartzer working so hard. I admit Carlton Cole had a hand in a couple of goals but I remain unconvinced by him - he just seems to stumble about never really getting the ball under control, and for a big guy is not very good in the air. I grudgingly admit he laid on Bowyers goal well and made the cross that brought about the own-goal but (there's always a 'but' with Cole) he had a diabolical miss when he was clean through. As far as Curbishley is concerned - I think lucky is the word that comes to mind after yesterdays performance. I read this morning that he had a go at Carlton Cole to kick him into life - well that's what he's supposed to do! As far as his marking I'll give him a grudging 8/10.
Prophet: Bishop - I'd say we were lucky to get the scoreline - but not the result. Green on present form would possibly have intervened to prevent one of the 2 goals Schwarzer seemed helpless for. Obviously, the o/g was a slice of luck for us. If we're rating AC himself, the rocket 3/4 of the team responded to at the break suggests that he knows how to revv up a team featuring some second stringers. He's moulding it nicely... I doubt many people at the beginning of the season would have predicted the pivotal roles played by no fewer than Matty, Cole, Bowyer and Mullins yesterday. So 8/10 for yesterday's game.
Bonehead: I agree we were lucky......scoreline flattered us. OK you have to take your chances but them hitting the post and crossbar is not the stuff of really poor finishing. They looked more organised than we did in the first half. they created more chances than us and our defence looked all over the place several times. But on the positive, we did create chances and take them.
DjBelz: Half time talk clearly worked. Offside trap a concern but more to do with lazy Lucas Neill at times than anything Curbs could do. Having faith in Lee Bowyer and getting him back to form when everyone else would of thrown him out of the club has been the highlight on the managerial side of things so far this year IMO.
SA Sanchoz; CO Coley; IFO If Only; BF Bishops Finger; BU Bumpkin; BH Bonehead;
WH WestLondonHammer; AD Arch Dandy; HS Hammer Scout; HN Houston
West Ham v Reading: Video Highlights
Reading (1st September, 2007)
Sanchoz: When a team plays really badly the other side must have played well right? Well not all the time but yesterday West Ham were on top. Really organised, a great collective effort with everyone doing their bit to ensure we wiped away the memories of previous visits to Reading and came away with a positive goal difference for once. To have someone with the Pace of Bellemy to run at the Reading defense was a no brainer but we kept at it and it kept giving us joy with Bellemy roaming all over the place to pick up the ball and link up play or make the runs at the Reading Defense.
Coley: Excellent performance, tactics were spot on and hard to find fault anyware.
If Only: Strong seven feels right to me. Some great finishing gave us three goals. But we missed several chances of which Cole's was the worst. A very poor effort. At the back we survived the penalty and shortly afterwards Reading had a great chance to score. Had they both gone in (another day they would) we would be struggling to hold on to a point. You would not be giving a 10 then yet the events of the game were the same, just different outcomes. Too many people score on the result rather than the performance. It was a great result and a good performance but we got some deserved breaks.
Bishops Finger: I thought it was a good performance although the defending was a bit desperate at times. Some weeks goalmouth scrambles go against you and the speed of the attacks caught Reading out time after time - I thought Coppell was going to burst into tears in the interview I saw.
Bumpkin: 3-0 win away from home in the Premier League is an 8 in anyones book.
Bonehead: I'm glad Curbishley recognised that our finishing should have been better. IN the second half, Reading played like we did in the new years day debacle. We should have scored 6. Difference is they did score 6.
WestLondonHammer: Can't fault the performance tactically or any of the personnel chosen. The perfect performance.
Arch Dandy: I don't think you are scoring Curbishley though are you? He probably didn't tell players to miss chances and give away a penalty? We restricted the home side to pretty much nil in clear cut chances, no tactic or substitution is going to stop a team shooting at all. I thought the tactics were spot on and Readings tactics played into our hands, the substitutions didn't really matter and helped several players get a rest. Job done with a 9/10.
Hammer Scout: I thought it was popular on all sites to slag Curbs down. With the exception of Man City where he was the first to put his hand up and say I f****** up. He has done nothing wrong. Its obvious to anyone involved in football that Deano looks leaden footed. So Curbs is easing him back slowly. Give the man a break he loves West Ham and deserves a 10 for Reading.
Houston: Have to give him 9. Can't give him a perfect score gotta wait till we win 0-2 at the theatre of screams.
SA: Sanchoz; AN Antony; HL:Hammer Laffers; BF: Bishops Finger; VR: ViperRacer; BH Bonehead;
WH WestLondonHammer; RM RM9; BB The Bob; BO Bobby Orangeboom; AY Andy;
Wigan Athletic (25/8)
Sanchoz: The first half was closed and both sides did not allow too much width with Scharner playing a holding role so to free up the rest of the midfield and Curbishley from appearences tried to use Noble as the man to push forward and he had to deal with Scharner quite a bit. Second half started and the game was vastly more open. Both sides going end to end and the game was starting to go backwards and forwards. Heskey at this point was being droped back and Wigan relied on the counter attack and against that we done well some times and then others not. Ashton and Bowyer were the correct subs for the correct people and Boa Morte freshened up things. Was right to try and push the issue against a hard working Wigan but one that was not exactly fresh on its feet. The draw I think is down to Wigan being on good form and our lack of a cutting edge at the moment.
Antony: Today's game was a bizarre one in that my personal opinion was that Curbishley's substitutions were a tad baffling. However, they certainly worked! Curbs team selection was pretty much spot on as far as I was concerned. Maybe Ashton could have been given a start but I think it's a 50/50 decision. I didn't think that we played particularly well and we are very one dimensional going forwards at times, but I'm unsure as to how much blame for that can be attached to Curbs. The Ashton substitution happened at about the right time in my opinion. The Bowyer substitution surprised me as I thought Mullins had been doing quite well. However, I was pleased to see Curbs switch Dyer into his preferred position in the centre. That said I'm not convinced that a centre mid partnership of Dyer and Noble will work as I felt it was quite lightweight at times. I found the Boa Morte substitution the most surprising of the lot but fair play to Curbs as I thought Boa was the best player on the pitch after he came on.
Hammer Laffers: Wigan set out for a draw I felt today and it was hard for Curbs to change his tactics to try and overcome this. Ashton obviously isn't fit but I felt that he should have been given a bit longer than he did. However, if against Reading he sticks with Upson and Ferdinand in defense then he will automatically get a 5/10, the amount of time those two ran into each other today was embarrassing and it must be time for Gabbidon and Collins to step in. Nice touch bringing Boa Morte on, I was a bit confused at the time but it paid off.
Bishops Finger: I don't see the bringing on of Boa Morte for Bellamy as a bit of tactical genius on Curb's part - Bellamy was rubbing his groin so it was an enforced change. Having said that Boa Morte looked lively and set up some chances towards the end. However, the glaring problem today as I saw it, was Zamora's performance - he barely won a ball in the air, committed a load of fouls and his control and distribution were hopeless. Thank god Curbishley made a sensible change in bringing on Ashton as a direct swap for Zamora. I'll mark Curb's down for persisting with Zamora for far too long - I hope Ashton starts the next game.
ViperRacer: You couldn't see him changing the team after an improved performance last week, I thought Ashton came on at the right time, and changing a defensive Mullins for Bowyer was a good move. I think you'll find the Boa Morte move was coz Bellamy tweeked his groin, nevertheless, I thought LBM looked trim and lively.
Bonehead: Totally uninspring performance IMHO. The first flash of real quality was from Ashton..... followed by a couple from LBM. Before that there was very little to get excited about. Still there are players who as soon as the ball goes out of their field of vision are shoulders down and disinterested. Those players need to be culled.
WestLondonHammer: On paper and on reflection 3 points was do-able yeasterday, but as we all know football isnt played on paper... Team selection: Pretty much played the team who we all expected... team selected on merit with the likes of Etherington and Mullins retaining their place in the team... shame Ashton isn't match fit yet as Zamora isnt make the most of his opportunity here and is not re-paying the faith shown in him (7/10). Tactics: Could have been better, wasnt a controlled performance and things still look abit shabby in areas. a few players still finding their feet and coming back to fitness which will mean things will improve in time (5/10). Substitutions: The substitutions made the difference yesterday... Maybe Ashton could have came on earlier, but otherwise we all probably raised a few eyebrows at Bowyer and LBM coming on but they paid off (8/10).
RM9: No creativity, no spark and no tempo. Resonable substitutions, although they did come far too late. Zamora was off the pace of the game early doors and should of been subbed at half time.
The Bob: Correct line up picked. Unlucky not to go ahead in the 1st half with Anton header/Noble penalty claim. Still dictated possession and play in the 2nd half. Ashton brought on at the right time. Good substitutions against the crowd's wishes which led to the goal. Very promising signs.
Bobby Orangeboom: Do you not think it's worrying that he's used all 3 subs in 2 out of the 3 games played (possibly indicating he got his tactics wrong) or do you think that he's big enough to admit to maybe not starting right in the first place & does something about it IE bring on all subs what Mourinho does which supposedly makes him a "great" manager??? Because subs are there to be used surely but wouldn't have to be used if the right team was selected in the first place??? I'd give him 6 out of 10, credit for having the balls to use the 3 subs as things weren't obviously working out but I personally think LBM should start over Etherington. We looked more creative (couldn't have looked any less creative) when Bowyer came on for Mullins & Dyer moved to the middle.
Andy: After the game on reflection, I got the distinct feeling we are not a million miles away from a first class first team and from a decent performance. Curbs' key is going to be keeping everyone fit. Wasnt sure what the deal was with Bellamy when he came off, but LBM contributed well and so did Bowyer. Defending stupid goals is still our problem, and hopefully with the return of Ginge and Gabbs in place of Anton we might start to do that. Overall I would give Curbs 7 out of 10 for the Wigan game.
SM: Sunday Mirror; SA: Sanchoz; BO: Bodger; MC MattCox10; PC Pchen019;
AN Antony; AD: Arch Dandy; OW Oilywragg; JS John Simkin
Birmingham City (18/8)
John Simkin: Curbishley showed he had learnt from last week and replaced Boa Morte and Bowyer with Etherington and Mullins. I would have been tempted to have brought in Gabbidon but you can’t argue with a clean-sheet. I was also surprised that he did not replace Zamora with Ashton but assume that there were fitness reasons for this decision. West Ham clearly outplayed Birmingham and I suppose you could put that down partly to Curbishley employing better tactics than Bruce. I found the lack of substitutions surprising. I would have thought it was important to give Ashton at least 30 minutes. It would also have been a good idea to give Boa Morte 20 minutes to help build up his confidence after last week’s debacle.
Arch Dandy: Thought he got it pretty spot on, closed Brum down, upped the tempo in the 2nd half, players all looked confident and comfortable as the game went on. Set pieces looked ok, defended well with no real threat from Brum. Subs all made sense, wouldn't have bought Ashton on, he wasn't needed wouldn't have wanted to risk him on the wet greasy pitch for the sake of 20 minutes. Spector was having a pretty tough time, especially when McSheffrey came on, Gabbidon is quicker and covered better.
Oilywragg: Man Management? Almost the same team that played like a load of fairies last week (apologies to fairies), now playing like they actually want to win. What ever did Alan Curbishley do to them, apart from giving Bellamy his shirt back?
MattCox10: First half - abysmal. Far too much long ball. Second half- fantastic. Got the players fired up. Ball on the deck, and nice rhythm.
Sanchoz: Avoided the thread for the Man City game as I just thought it would be full of knee jerk reactions about how Curbishley is terrible for us, rather the being outfoxed by a world class manager. Anyway today Birmingham were nothing special at all but the team peformed well enough to get the win. I would have subbed Dyer and Etherington towards the end of the game as they both looked dead on their feet after putting in some good shifts but this thread is not for what I would or would not have done as thats egotistical.
Bodger: Zamora did enough to stay on.He got into the right positions to score. The commentator just said that Gabbs came on as Spector had a slight hamstring pull.
pchen019: What can you say? We won our first game and it away from home. I reckon that usually desires a 6 at minimum for the manager. I don’t think he desires any higher than that because like us, Birmingham struggled to play now sort of decent football. He must have changed something during the second half cause we actually started to play on the on the ground. More of this would be much appreciated! As a note, I gave Curbs 3 last week and if this game was isolated to the first half, I could give him 3 again. But he changed the style at half time and any win away from home desires at least a 6.
Antony: It was a marked improvement on the Manchester City. Curbishley's starting line up was as i'd hoped; Mullins added more bite into the midfield than Bowyer has ever done in his West Ham career thus far. Even after he got booked he performed well and he provided perfect foil for Noble to use his more creative and attacking skills.
Etherington starting was exactly as I hoped as well, because he had been our only real threat against City (before the ludicrous decision to make him left back) He probed well and gave us some genuine width. Some of his link up play with McCartney was very impressive
I was also pleased to see Zamora keep his place, as I feel he has a lot to offer and that Curbs is handling the easing of Ashton back into the team very well. Indeed, had we not scored when we did, Ashton would have come on.
My main worries were the fact that we seem to the long ball game to Bellamy. It reminded me of the early Tevez games when he had to drop back to the half way line to get anything of the ball, as there was no way he was going to win it in the air. I was also concerned by the centre back pairing. Upson looked slow and flat footed, and Ferdinand is consistently inconsistent. Particularly in the first half, they were dragged far too wide apart and had the opposition attackers been of a higher quality we would have been made to pay.
The second half was far more impressive and there was some great link up play in the attacking third. Dyer looked promising and I was pleased to see him play the full 90. He clearly isn't a right winger though so I hope to see Curbishley move him inside when we are up to full fitness.
All in all I think Curbishley had a good game. He clearly motivated something out of the players at half time and for that he deserves credit, especially given that people seem to feel his man management and motivational skills leave a little to be desired
7/10. Was close to giving him 8 but I was still not that happy with our play on a lot of occasions against what is, after all, a very weak side
Hammers Mad: Alan Curbishley, West Ham's under-fire manager, finally eased the pressure on himself with the Hammers carving out their first win of the season and hopefully producing more unity in the Londoners' camp. In a game of few real opportunities West Ham sealed the three points with a controversial 69th minute penalty from Mark Noble. It was something of a disputed penalty as the luckless Birmingham goalkeeper, Colin Doyle, cut across Craig Bellamy as the ball was going out of play. Curbishley himself cut a lonely figure sitting alone in the stand, watching a desperate first half that struggled to come to life in the heavy rain, but his second-half appearance on the West Ham bench appeared to have the desired effect. One bright spot for Curbishley was the form of his skipper, Matthew Upson, who was a given a rough ride by the Birmingham fans on his return to St Andrew's.
Sunday Times: Just an average Saturday afternoon for Craig Bellamy. Back-page news in the morning for an alleged set-to with his new boss, by early evening he was being accused of illegally engineering the penalty that earned West Ham United an important, if extremely unglamorous, win at Birmingham City and scrapping with an opponent in the tunnel. Alan Curbishley defended his summer signing on all three counts - no shouting match last weekend, didn’t know anything about an alleged shoving match with Mehdi Nafti postmatch, and no question that goalkeeper Colin Doyle has cleaned Bellamy out for the decisive spot kick. “Bellamy got a touch on the ball and once the keeper comes and gets himself in that position it’s difficult; you’ve got to get contact on the ball and he never got it,” said Curbishley, who angrily knocked down reports that Bellamy had torn strips off him after the previous weekend. “Absolute nonsense,” he said. “There is an agenda out there and if I’m not the target, it’s the club. (Duncan Castles, 19th August)
The Times: If life was fair, West Ham United supporters would be waking up this morning and reading about how their team bounced back from losing to Manchester City on the opening day of the season. Life is not fair and Alan Curbishley knows that better than most managers. Curbishley has had more bad press than Pete Doherty since he arrived at Upton Park last December and nothing he says or does seems to make a difference. On Saturday, he had to deny reports that he had fallen out with Craig Bellamy and that the Wales forward had been involved in a scuffle in the tunnel after he had been accused of diving by Birmingham City players. “I had a fairytale existence at Charlton for 15 years,” Curbishley said. “I didn’t upset too many people, but, at the moment, it seems everything I do upsets someone.” Bellamy is the kind of player who could start an argument in an empty room, but Birmingham players would have been better off blaming Colin Doyle for their second defeat of the season. The Irish goalkeeper did not need to rush off his line when Bellamy raced clear in the second half and, when he did, a penalty looked like the most likely outcome. “The penalty was the right decision,” Bellamy said. “Criticism is part and parcel of the game. If it affected me, I would have got out a few years ago.” Millions of words have been written about the Carlos Tévez affair and whether West Ham deserve to be playing in the Premier League this season, but only a Sheffield United supporter would fail to be impressed by the squad that Curbishley is assembling. Sean Bean may disagree, but the top flight is the natural habitat of players as good as Robert Green, Matthew Upson, Mark Noble, Kieron Dyer and Bellamy. “Craig’s a better player than I thought,” Curbishley said. “He’s very professional and he’s not been a problem. You get these situations where you become a target and it’s very difficult. We’re under the spotlight continuously. I’m a patient boy, but perhaps I need to have a thicker skin.” (Kaveh Solhekol, 20th August)
The Guardian: There can have been few brighter points during Curbishley's time in east London than the progression of his young charge. The arrival of an entire midfield over the summer - Freddie Ljungberg, Scott Parker, Dyer, who made an impressive debut at St Andrew's, and Julien Faubert - could threaten Noble's place but, on this evidence, he will be tough to leave out, with one superb swerving run from the touchline of particular note. "Mark seemed to lose his way last week and he had a flat and laboured performance," said Curbishley. "But we sat down with him in the week and pointed a few things out, and he's got back to basics and started doing what he's good at." The home side, in contrast, struggled to cope with the wet, windy conditions and with West Ham's superior movement. (John Ashdown, 20th August)
BF: Bishops Finger; AY Andy; AN Antony; MC MattCox10; WH WestLondonHammer; PA Patsy;
BU Bubbles; DG Dodger; JS John Simkin
Manchester City (11/8)
Bishops Finger: I think maybe Curbishley should be added to your points system. He was initially pretty quick in taking off Bowyer and Boa Morte, who both looked poor in an extremely lightweight midfield. Then he made an unexplainable move in bringing on Ashton for McCartney - moving Etherington back to left back. Until then Etherington was having a good game and looked likely to cause problems to Man City. Zamora, on the other hand, was getting worse and worse and seemed to spend the last half-hour getting in his teamamates way. The obvious change should have been Ashton on for Zamora, allowing Bellamy and Ashton to play up front with Etherington and Ljungberg playing wide.
Andy: If we accept that he didn't have a clue as to what City's players would look like, or play like until the actual match (bearing in mind two of them didn't have international clearance to play until the Friday evening), then his initial choice of Bellamy and Zamora up front and Boa Morte on the wing with us trying to play through their effectively 5 man midfield was a bad idea from the start which should have been rectified quickly. Lumping big balls up the pitch to Bellamy and Bobby was not working from the off and with Boa Morte not able to go past a bag of cement, Curbs should have changed things earlier. Wrong players on the bench IMHO, Paintsil still not getting a chance when he did ok against Roma. Moving Etherington to left back said it all for me, although Ethers did at least look a bit more dnagerous than LBM had. A total balls up tactics wise, hampered by a lack of quality players in certain positions (Bowyer come on down) and some players being unfit (Upson how slow are you?). Either way, Curbs picked the team and has to take the rap.
Antony: I'm a Curbishley fan but his decision to bring Ashton on for McCartney baffled me. I'll give him credit in taking off Bowyer (who was awful) and Boa Morte (who was almost as bad) at half time. Mullins gave us more bite in midfield and Etherington was the best player on the pitch for 15 minutes.
Why then did he decide to waste him by taking off McCartney. Etherington is a winger that relies on his full backs support, on the overlap, when attacking, and needs balls played through for him to run on to by his full back. Going to 3 at the back with Etherington playing a sort of wingback role was never going to work, and ended up meaning Matty was neither effective in attacking nor in Defence. Spector also seemed baffled by having to play more centrally and was caught out of position a lot, Ashton barely had a touch, and I can remember nothing that Zamora or Bellamy did.
MattCox10: Understandably there are still signings needing to be made but there was not one creative player on that pitch. Yes there is stil two weeks left of transfers - but our rivals can stole a march on us for sure. Also Bellamy - Zamora does not work. Bellamy pushes out too wide.
WestLondonHammer: How do you prepare for a team when you havent got a clue of the players, the formation or the system? It is very very difficult, if not impossible Man City started brilliantly, Eriksson had used the element of surprise to his advantage and they immediately took a stranglehold of the game by flooding the midfield... despite this we still created a number of openings which unfortunately either fell to Zamora (resulting in a awful final ball (I can think of about 3 occassions)) or Bowyer (ditto)! At half time came a few tactical masterstrokes (credit has to go to Curbs)... the introduction of Etherington (which I must admit slightly baffled me as LBM looked to be improving as the game went on) and Mullins changed the game and for the next 15 minutes we dominated... our lack of luck evident when Ljungberg was unable to get his foot on that great Etherington ball in the move of the game! This then forced City to change their formation and make 2 substitutions!
Patsy: Well I didn't think much of some of his selections, Spector at right back instead of Painsill, not for me, one thing Painsill will do is bomb on down the right, Bowyer in the side full stop....no....., granted Parker was injured, but never Bowyer again, Boa Morte instead of Etherington, Well I will admit here I don't like Boa Morte at all, but at home Etherington is ok, no place at all for Collins after his displays last season, a mistake and no starting place for Ashton, another error I'm afraid, and when he does come on its for McCartney.
Bubbles: The only player in the starting 11 who was an absolute cert as "should not be there" when we kicked off was Bowyer. The others are easy to criticise with hindsight but were reasonably understandable selections 10 seconds before kick off. Nobody playing out of position, all arguably first choice players among those who were fully fit.The subs bench was well balanced as well. Can't fault him in the first 10 minutes - how could he know how Man City would line up? Half their team was still in immigration at Dover a couple of hours beforehand, metaphorically speaking. From 10 minutes on he should have noticed that we were being swamped in midfield and done something to adjust the team shape. Credit it to him he put it right at half time and his successful tactical change lasted 15 minutes or so. Unfortunately, he saw it was right, and decided that wasnt right and completely ballsed it up in the last 30. All 3 players that he brought on were right. The Etherington for Boa Morte sub was right in every way - right time, right change. Mullins for Bowyer was right change but perhaps 10-15 minutes late on the day. Both Etherington and Mullins had a very positive effect on West Ham Performance. Ashton was the right person at right time, but the removal of MCartney was clearly a mistake. It had to be Zamora, or maybe Noble, based on their contributions to the game at that point. Overall, thats about 6 out of 10 - so-so, some understandable decisions, some good decisions, 2 shocking moments (Bowyer in, McCartney off).
Dodger: I'd give him about a 4 out of 10. Two of the substitutions were very well chosen while one was not. So that's a positive. On the negative side he brought Ashton on for the wrong person, and our drive and tactics in the first half seemed non-existant.
John Simkin: I disagreed with three of Curbishley’s selections on Saturday. Like most people I would have liked Mullins to play instead of Bowyer. In the pre-season games Bowyer often got into the opposition penalty area but failed to score after getting into good positions. To me it makes more sense to have Noble as the attacking midfielder with Mullins providing protection to the back four. However, I think a bigger problem concerns the decision to play Ferdinand and Upson as the two centre-backs. Ferdinand is clearly a very talented player. However, he has appalling concentration and makes too many errors of judgement during a game. As he is a defender, these mistakes often result in goals. Until he removes this aspect of his game, I don’t think he should be playing in the first-team. I also think Upson is too slow to play at this level. I would much prefer Collins and Gabbidon. The defence looked much better with Collins in the side during the last 10 games of last season. Gabbidon was also an impressive defender in the first season in the Premiership. True, he had problems last year, but that was mainly linked to match-fitness. Collins and Gabbidon have also developed a good partnership playing for Wales. They did extremely well against a very good Czech attack in the summer.
Then there was his decision in the 62 minute to switch Etherington to full-back. This not only severely reduced the crosses from the left but also allowed Onuoha, Man City’s right-back, to join in attacks and this resulted in the second goal with both Etherington and Zamora, two non-defenders, failing to get in a tackle against him.
KUMB: The crowd wanted Ashton on and the manager gave everybody their wish on 62 minutes, but the resulting tactical rearrangement was inexplicable. All the danger so far in the half had been coming down the left with Matty, yet the manager made a decision bordering on the inept to relegate our most penetrative player into left back duties, sacrificing McCartney. It was at that point that I felt that there was no way back for us. So it proved and the irritation with the tactics was deepened when the only real chance to get an undeserved draw came when the emasculated Matty managed to get into an advanced position and get over a great cross with just under ten minutes left. (East Stand Martin, 13th August)
The Times: Eriksson out-thought everybody on Saturday, including, most importantly, Alan Curbishley, his opposite number. From the start, West Ham struggled to get to grips with the breadth of the Swede’s game plan and by the second half Curbishley was so confused that he moved his best player, Matthew Etherington, to left back to accommodate Dean Ashton, negating his only chance of winning the match. “I didn’t do anything about the way they were going to shape up before the game and I moved too many people around in the second half,” Curbishley said. “Etherington went from wide left to left back, Bobby Zamora started up front and went left, Freddie Ljungberg started on the right then went left and Craig Bellamy started in the middle then went right. I was just trying to get a a spark and perhaps it would have been best left alone.” (Martin Samuel, 12th August)
Sunday Times: Untypically, West Ham’s fans booed their team off the field at half-time. But when Matthew Etherington replaced Boa Morte on the left flank after the break, things began to look up. Almost at once, Etherington was doing the kind of things that natural wingers should, finding room to send in a succession of dangerous left-wing crosses. On 50 minutes, one of those balls, an excellent cross, had the City defence in confusion, but Bellamy could not quite connect. Ten minutes later, Bobby Zamora beat two men, and bent in a swift cross into the goal-mouth from the right which Etherington only just failed to make contact. It was surprising, three minutes later, when West Ham finally brought Dean Ashton, peroxide blonde hair and all, onto the field as central striker but only and bizarrely to push Etherington into a deeper position on the left, with Bellamy deployed on the left-hand side of what became a three-man attack. The repositioning of Etherington was the more surprising and debatable for the fact that Schmeichel junior, in the City goal, a far smaller, slighter figure than his massive father, looked vulnerable to the high cross. (Brian Glanville, 12th August)
KUMB: Things were better for the first 20 minutes of the second period. In Etherington we had somebody who at least wanted to run at his defender and we did actually create a number of half chances from that source. The leftovers from one cross ended up on the edge of the box where Mullins and Zamora got in each other’s way. The ball fell kindly for Zamora who screwed his shot wide. Another Etherington cross was inches away from being converted by Ljungberg and there was cause for a few minutes for cautious optimism. However what followed was, tactically speaking, a little baffling. We’d all been expecting Ashton to appear and his prolonged warm-up suggested that this was going to occur sooner rather than later. Zamora was having a terrible match, most of which consisted of losing the ball and giving away needless free-kicks in his attempts to regain possession. The stage was set for the obvious switch. Instead Curbishley made the decision to remove Linda from left back pushing Matty back to left-back and pushing Bellamy out on the left. Thus, whilst we’d been denying City space by having Matty keep their right-back busy, the change meant that we conceded territory. As if to reinforce the point, the best chance we had fell to Ashton who volleyed over from close range from an Etherington cross on one of the few occasions that he got forward. (Gordon Thrower, 11th August)
Hammers Diary: At half time Curbishley subbed Bowyer and Boa Morte and brought on Etherington and Mullins. The first twenty minutes of the second half showed a little promise. Etherington constantly raced down the left and crossed the ball, only to find no one there. Etherington did more in the first five minutes of the second half than Boa Morte had done in the entire first half. Boa Morte didn’t seem to realise he was on the left and constantly went in field. It was left to Bellamy to ply his trade down the left. But when Dean Ashton came on... Curbishley brought off McCartney (who headed straight down the tunnel) and unbelievably moved Etherington to left back. After that he disappeared. (Iain Dale, 11th August)
News Items
The Guardian: Kieron Dyer is hoping Newcastle United will relent on an asking price in excess of £5m to help accelerate his proposed move to West Ham United. The midfielder wants to leave St James' Park to be closer to his family in Ipswich and West Ham remain frontrunners for his signature. Dyer was jeered by some supporters during Sunday's 2-0 win against the Italian side Juventus and, according to reports in the north-east, his car and home have come under attack from fans. West Ham are understood to have offered close to £5m and he is now keen to leave the north-east after eight years and 251 matches for Newcastle... Wages are unlikely to be an issue for West Ham, who would be capable of matching the £60,000 he earns. Sam Allardyce accepts that Dyer's exit would suit all sides, with the Newcastle manager prepared to generate money by selling some of his highest earning players. West Ham have yet to make an acceptable offer but the Dyer camp are hopeful that a compromise can be found by the end of the week. (1st August, 2007)
KUMB: Alan Curbishley has told KUMB.com that he is aiming for a top ten finish next season. With expectations high following a spate of recent signings and rumours of more to follow, Curbishley has revealed that European qualification - as suggested by some - would be an unexpected bonus rather than a target. Yet given good progress in 07/08, he admitted that a top six finish would be in his sights the following year. Curbishley said: "We’ve got players that are good enough for us to have a solid season. If we have a solid season that makes us a little bit more attractive for next year and people start to know about us. We’ve got to get that. There’s a lot of negativity around us and we’ve got to spin that around by what we do on the pitch. Hopefully we’ll do that this year. It’s a proper expectation level for us and if we do a little bit better then fine, if we do a little bit worse than that, that’s disappointing." (29th July, 2007)
The Observer: The squad Curbishley has been allowed to assemble means it is now - having inherited Alan Pardew's team and problems - purely a test of his managerial abilities. 'The way in which we've been reported suggests we've spent loads of money. But if you examine it you'll see that £23million has gone out and £21m has come back. Five other clubs, including Portsmouth and Fulham, have spent more than us,' the manager said. 'And what I've done is replaced those players who have left rather than added. The chairman (Eggert Magnusson) has been quite bullish since he came in. And he accepts we're still a bit skinny in some areas.' While Yossi Benayoun, Nigel Reo-Coker, Paul Konchesky and Marlon Harewood have left, the manager has spent a club record £7.5m on Craig Bellamy, £7m on Scott Parker, £6.1m for French midfielder Julien Faubert and landed Freddie Ljungberg on a bargain free transfer. (28th July, 2007)
KUMB: As a player, and as an opposing player, and as an opposing manager I know what West Ham’s all about. But I didn’t realise until I actually got inside how much it means, and the responsibility of being the manager. It wasn’t a shock, but I quickly realised that this was a different set of rules I was working under... We lost to Watford and Charlton on the spin - and that was my lowest point … If you look at it, the only time it was settled was from the Tottenham game onwards. There were only two changes to the team thereafter -Yossi Benayoun and Matthew Etherington. The rest stayed the same for the last ten games which made a big difference. From the first game it was constantly changing and we were getting inconsistent team performances, inconsistent team selections and inconsistent results. But the one thing that was consistent - and I’m not saying this to butter anyone up - was the fans. It was quite easy to turn off but they still turned up in numbers home and away. (27th July, 2007)
