HOWAY THE LADS 2005-2006

4-2 against west ham is another step in the right direction - west ham have been playing well and had a lot of confidence in their build up play on saturday but in the end it was class in front of goal that told. west ham had the vast majority of their first team playing bis, and we are still struggling with injuries (3 of the back 4 injured and emre, nzogbia and dyer still not available) so it is not like we were up against wigans reserves (perhaps not a good analogy ;-))

traditionally we are bad away from home and shite in london so any result is welcome. yes west ham had the majority of posession and the more attractive football but apart from the efforts that hit the post and one cleared off the line by shearer given didnt have a difficult save to make all game. solanos own goal was a huge slice of luck for west ham and their penalty was the result of "one-cell" living up to his name when under absolutely no pressure at all.

if you compare the everton - bolton game and our game the stats are nearly identical. in both games the losing side had about 65% of the posession and had the more shots on and off target but conceded 4. when bolton do it it is because they are a ruthless machine but when we do it we are a bunch of fortunate clowns according to the media.

interesting on sky that cottee (and lets face it you cant get much more west ham bias than that) at the end said that newcastle definately deserved to win because they created the better chances and took them well which brings us to that owen chappy.

while i wouldnt say we are a one man side he clearly makes a massive difference but that is why he is considered a world class footballer and cost £17 million. most teams have one influential player and if you took rooney out of manure and gerrard out of liverpool then there would be noticeable effects. look at arse without viera - they have already lost 6 games this season only 2 years after going an entire campaign without a defeat. there are only 2 teams in the league that dont rely on one player significantly - chelseas cos they have so many and sunderland cos they dont rely on anyone.

onwards and upwards then with liverpool on boxing day but i think parker is suspended for his 5th booking which is a bugger.