West Ham Utd 1 Chelsea 3 (02/01/06)

[Perth Hammer]

need someone to hold the ball in midfield as well as a defender with confidence
harewood is the only one who can do it
robben ran rings round us

[Vince]

Why Pards keep his faith on Bellion? :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

Etherington looked knackered. Zamaro was on already.
AP didn't really have many other options,although we could have done with both Hislop and Carrol in goal I suppose.

[yabush]

yabush, don't take it so hard. never forget that until fifteen years ago, chelsea were competing with west ham for the title "third biggest team in london". now they have money, success, superstars and a hugely swollen fanbase. however, why be jealous of that? knowing you're going to win every match, even when you play badly is not what most football fans want. they have become a brand, a franchise, but with as much class as top shop.

Although our players are not as good as they are, they still played as good as they tried to. That's something I should appreciate...

[yabush]

Etherington looked knackered. Zamaro was on already.
AP didn't really have many other options,although we could have done with both Hislop and Carrol in goal I suppose.

I think Aliadiere is much better than Bellion.

[alan170986]

I think Aliadiere is much better than Bellion.

Ive been thinking that all along as well, always looks bright when he plays

[gavind]

it does make u wonder, should we really be looking elsewhere than for a new striker... also if tom goes then its like this for good

[yabush]

Ive been thinking that all along as well, always looks bright when he plays

but Bellion,
disappear when he plays.
maybe running with purposes...

[yabush]

O...we have conceded 17 goals in 8 matches
we have conceded 30 goals so far.

[Hawaii Hammer]

Everton beating Charlton
Sunderland beating Fulham
Birmingham beating Wigan

If results go against us today we are almost in the thick of it.......

[H4g5ster]

bellion's name has been mentioned twice know he must be playing a blinder :lol:

I thought he had a good game.

[Larry]

I must admit to looking worriedly at the teams below us as the points difference shrinks :(

if pompey win then we will only be 7pts clear of the relegation and any body who says we should not be starting to get concerned is a fool we lost 5 of the last 7 and 4 successive home defeats with a tough game away to Villa up next. We desperatly need to stop the rot because we are in danger of going into free fall and being dragged right into a relegation battle.

What's more I honestly believe we are going to need at least 42 or 43pts to be sure of safety which means at least another 16pts we need to get.

[dodger]

Need Blackburn to win tonight.
We were slightly unlucky and i'm proud of the lads performance. Worked very hard and in the end a couple of mistakes and their quality cost us.
Ratings:
Carrol-8 Two excellent saves
Konchesky-5 Torn to shreds in the second half
Ferdinand-6 OK but can't play offside to save his life
Collins-5 Didn't win as many headers as usual
Dailly-5 Worked hard but gave Robben a ridiculous amount of space in the first half
Benayoun-6 Not his best display but dangerous as always
Mullins-7 Very impressive against some good midfielders
Fletcher-6 Not bad but made the mistake for the second chelski goal
Reo-Coker-9 Awesome again. Worked his socks off and went on some great runs
Etherington-7 Good work rate, well played Matty
Harewood-9 Works so hard and deserved his goal

SUBS
Zamora-6 Good hold up play
Bellion-5 Send him back

[pdbis]

Everton beating Charlton
Sunderland beating Fulham
Birmingham beating Wigan

If results go against us today we are almost in the thick of it.......

We will continue to be in it until we reach at least 40.

[Ironball]

Konchesky clearly got jogging weights from Christmas and decided to wear them for a laugh.

I thought Mullins 'started brightly', but praised the Lord when he was taken off. We need midfielders who pick the ball up and spread it, who give and go. Like NRC was doing, finally, as the second half went on.

In NFL terms, Dailly ended the first half with about minus three hundred yards.

Our least worst performance of the last three games, apart from the early corner blitz against Charlton, but that's not saying too much.

[kthammer]

We were simply outclassed chaps - their centre forward cost more than our team put together...
I thought Caroll, Anton, NRC, Ethers (until his traditional 70 minute fadeout) , Yossi and Marlon all looked premier class.
I can't see anyone stopping Chelsea before the end of the season. They don't make mistakes and have very physically strong players in all positions. Their technique is awesome and Jose can make fantastic substitutions that must rip the heart out of tired opponents. Thought Frank was quiet but otherwise they were outstanding and we pushed them. Respect intact - now let's get on with a win in the cup and some points against Villa and Fulham...

[hawkins_hammer]

Pardew had to bring in Bellion because Etherington was knackered. Collins did very well in the air and made some good tackles but can't pass for peanuts. Harewood was useless despite the goal. He needs to learn to stay on his feet and stop looking for fouls. Still if Harewood can be coached right he will be a force for us. We all learnt today that Mullins is good but not excellent. Fletcher played his heart out and has been a good servant for us since he came back on loan. I think Reo-Coker was our best player by miles today. Never gave up.

On the other side Lampard did nothing to convince me he is world class. He keeps the ball moving but didnt win a tackle. He cant dribble either. Robben is pure class and im gonna stop slagging off Drogba. Crespo is going to give me sleepless nights before the World Cup. Carvalho was also impressive in defence.

We simply can't match the top 5 or 6 teams in the premiership but if we try our hearts and are managed the right way we will go far. We have some good lads who want to play but i will still take seventeenth place. Come on you irons.

[chrislewis7]

I can't believe the cr@p I've just read on this thread.

I've just got back in from the game. At the end the team was clapped off the pitch. They worked harder than I've ever seen them work. Mullins, Fletcher and Reo Coker were heroes. Lampard and Gudjohnson did nothing all game.

And Koncheskey played well. He had Robben running at him all game and for the majority of the game had him under control. He beat him once on a quick break and once he turned inside Konch to get a shot away.

Carroll made a few very good saves. Harewood is not a lone forward and shouldnever be played there. Once Zamora cam on and he moed to the wing he looked far more effetive.

Ethers had his usual good hour.

Benni never got into the game.

Dailly did well, nothig got pasgt him. Anton and Collins looked good.

All 3 goals were gifted to them through mistakes apart from that they didn't look like scoring until the end when Mullins went of and we started chasing the game.

Chelsea are better than us in every position, but we should be proud of the players today. They were clapped off the pitch and rightfully so.

[mattcox10]

We were alright, I hate to say it but they are a fantastic footballing side.

Collins was poor. I'm not saying he is **** coz' he isn't, he will be a good player in a few years, but he is not yet ready for the Prem.

Thought the tactics were wrong. We set up too defensively, you are never going to be able to defend against that side. You need to attack them, and hope you get a lucky break. When we attcked them, we looked alright.

Harewood can NOT play the lone striker role. FACT

[Tel The Hammer]

Just got back from the game and i'll admit i'm not mullins' biggest fan but he had his best game in the shirt today, i've slated him most of the season but i thought he did really well, thought fletcher should've come off instead, all in all chelski outclassed us, but we didn't do bad, just a shame we made a couple of mistakes and gifted em two goals...

...robben played really well for the russians, dailly allowed him too much room though, but i was really pleased with reo coker, mullins and harewood.

[Ironball]

Just got back from the game and i'll admit i'm not mullins' biggest fan but he had his best game in the shirt today, i've slated him most of the season but i thought he did really well, thought fletcher should've come off instead, all in all chelski outclassed us, but we didn't do bad, just a shame we made a couple of mistakes and gifted em two goals...

...robben played really well for the russians, dailly allowed him too much room though, but i was really pleased with reo coker, mullins and harewood.

I'd agree, it should have been Fletcher not Mullins but anything which gives a sense that Pardew understands we have a problem in central midfield is positive in my eyes.