11th August, 2007

KB: KUMB; HM Hammers Mad; ST Sunday Times; SE Sunday Express; SM Sunday Mirror; OB Observer;
DM Daily Mirror; GU Guardian; TM Times; HD Hammers Diary; SK Sky; DE Daily Express

BF: Bishops Finger; AY Andy; AN Antony; MC MattCox10; WH WestLondonHammer; PA Patsy;
BU Bubbles; DG Dodger; JS John Simkin

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)

BBC: Bobby Zamora's long-range shot was the best effort Curbishley's side could muster until just before the break when they at last began to threaten and Ljungberg's snapshot was well saved by Schmeichel after Luis BoaMorte's mazy run. The tide was beginning to turn and, after Matthew Etherington and Hayden Mullins came on at half-time, the Hammers continued to improve. Micah Richards had to clear City's lines from Ljungberg's dinked cross before Zamora dragged his shot wide from the edge of the area. Etherington was unlucky that no-one could reach his drilled cross which flew along the goal-line soon after and at times City were defending for their lives. But an equaliser would not come for the Hammers despite the best efforts of Ashton. The big striker almost celebrated his return from a year out with injury with a goal when he smashed a volley just wide after coming off the bench. (11th August)

The Guardian: The excellence of Manchester City's football threw the wretchedness of West Ham's performance into even sharper focus. Alan Curbishley, too, has been busy in the transfer market between seasons but money cannot buy accurate passing, which his team struggled to achieve throughout. "We started off poor and got worse," Curbishley admitted. "Their passing and control were miles in front of ours. We looked laboured, tentative." Dean Ashton received a noisy welcome as he returned to Premier League football for the first time in more than a year but, when Matthew Etherington's long centre found him at the far post, he volleyed over the bar. The poverty of the defending and the regularity with which the ball was given away will haunt Curbishley before West Ham visit Birmingham on Saturday. (David Lacey, 12th 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)

The Independent: For the Hammers faithful, it was déjà vu. The home side lacked guile and their new acquisitions, Freddie Ljungberg and Craig Bellamy, offered scant cause for optimism. The outpouring of emotion as their team had taken the field contained a measure of relief, although they are acutely aware that the rest of English football would like nothing more than relegation for the club which should have been condemned to that fate last season over the Carlos Tevez affair. A continuation of this kind of form will ensure that those who desire that will get their wish. They desperately miss Tevez and initially deprived of Dean Ashton, fit but on the bench again after breaking an ankle with England, rarely troubled the 20-year-old Kasper Schmeichel as the son of Manchester United's Great Dane made his debut by deputising for the injured Andreas Isaksson.... After the interval, the Hammers seized the initiative and the introduction of Matthew Etherington on the left appeared likely to produce reward, but too many final balls were played on to the heads of Richard Dunne and the England man Micah Richards, deployed here at centre-back. Bobby Zamora and Etherington combined to give Ljungberg West Ham's best chance, but he failed to connect. Ashton made his entrance after 54 minutes. But his only chance, a vicious volley from an Etherington cross, flew wide. Both he and the watching England manager, Steve McClaren, were left disappointed. (Nick Townsend, 12th August)

Sky Sports: The Hammers, who finished last season with seven wins in nine games to avoid relegation, improved after a sluggish opening half hour, but they rarely troubled keeper Kasper Schmeichel, one of six City debutants in the starting line-up and eight in all.. It was Elano who provided the touch of class though. Deployed just behind lone striker Bianchi, Elano found space intelligently, never lost his composure and always threatened to cause problems. The 26-year-old had already fired one snap-shot over when he collected Stephen Ireland's short pass after Luis Boa Morte had lost possession inside the City half. Quickly sensing Matthew Upson might lack half a yard of pace, Elano ran straight at the England defender, then skipped round him with the minimum of fuss. The low cross invited a far post finish and Bianchi - fourth highest scorer in Serie A last term - was on hand to tap home. (Andy Clarke, 11th 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: Not a single player, bar Robert Green, had a decent game. They played as if there had been no pre-season. They were devoid of passion, initiative and guile. The English players must have known Steve McLaren was watching, yet none of them did their causes any good at all. From the off, Anton Ferdinand played with a lack of lustre that has become far too apparent in his game. Mark Noble played the whole game as if he couldn’t recognise another West Ham player. He gave the ball away so often you almost itched to have Nigel Reo Coker back in the side. Lee Bowyer was still on his summer holidays and was deservedly subbed at half time. Boa Morte was as bad as I have seen him. Indeed, I have never seen him have what you could call a good game. 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)

Sporting Life: With just under half an hour remaining Curbishley called on Ashton, who had not played a game since breaking an ankle on England duty 12 months ago. Yet, with Richards matching Ashton stride for stride and jump for jump, the move actually stopped West Ham's flow, allowing City to force themselves back into the contest.... But the golden moment Ashton had been waiting for arrived 11 minutes from time as Etherington picked him out with a deep cross. The striker took aim from 10 yards, only to see his first-time volley skim the crossbar. (12th August)

Sunday Times: 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... West Ham did make a couple more late chances. A shrewd ball from Mark Noble put Zamora narrowly clear, but he snatched at the ball. A minute later, when Etherington broke yet again, his accurate cross was volleyed high over the top by Ashton. (Brian Glanville, 12th August)

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