West Ham Utd 4 Portsmouth 3 (10/09/11)

[bubbles1966]

PP, your right about the ease the other teams get through our midfield. But this is what happens when you play Nolan and Lansbury/Collison who are more like attacking midfielders and Noble who's tackling is suspect at DM, the game passes him by just the same as Nolan.

Agreed.

We don't have a genuine defensive midfielder and the 4-4-2 that some propose is just asking for it with our choice of central midfielders.....

[Hayden]

Neville Nixon over at WestHamFans.org is claiming that West Ham will appeal Piq's red card and that there may have been something racist said. I have to admit, when I saw the player walking in front of Piq and his reaction it was clear that something was said. Judging by Piq's reaction you'd think so....

From the article...

http://www.westhamfans.org/node/19256" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?

The 'Piq Man' was clearly provoked in to palming of his ex-Pompey team mate, but did his actions warrant a red card? well some would say according to the letter of the law that he did deserve his marching orders, but with the aid of a couple of old pals at the Beeb, we can confirm that audio files clearly show a deflamatory and arguably racist comment aimed at the Hammers striker, hence his agitated reaction.

Yet to hear evidence of such, however, as he doesn't provide it.

[Smonnie]

No, I don't see him as a Parker replacement - he's a different kind of player .And all the stuff about his positioning for freekicks etc is well noted , and noticed by me .

However , the speed and ease with which Portsmouth - with Mullins in the middle - were able to drive forward , unopposed, was more than a touch alarming , and for all the benefit Nolan brings at one end of the pitch , is it enough to compensate for the gaping hole it leaves at the other end ?

Cardiff, Leeds and Pompey have all been able to tear up the middle - usually whilst Nolan is jogging back .

I'll tell you one thing, if he pointed the finger at me on the pitch he'd be told pretty smartly to concentrate on his own contribution first .

I think this is why you have to consider playing Nolan as effectively playing another striker. He doesn't offer enough defensively, because, with his stamina, if he did, he wouldn't be as potent as an attacker.

Nolan and a Parker-like terrier would have been the best combination.

[the pink palermo]

I think this is why you have to consider playing Nolan as effectively playing another striker. He doesn't offer enough defensively, because, with his stamina, if he did, he wouldn't be as potent as an attacker.

Nolan and a Parker-like terrier would have been the best combination.

Hence why I've posted he needs to score one game in three to justify his place , but at 4-2 up yesterday Sam should have pulled a player off , and sent on a defensive minded midfielder .

The player who should have been hauled off was Nolan - but as he is skipper, Sam won't do it .In effect we have him as a "second" striker , who is guaranteed a place due to his Captaincy .

If he ain't scoring , he's a passenger .

[Smonnie]

Hence why I've posted he needs to score one game in three to justify his place , but at 4-2 up yesterday Sam should have pulled a player off , and sent on a defensive minded midfielder .

The player who should have been hauled off was Nolan - but as he is skipper, Sam won't do it .In effect we have him as a "second" striker , who is guaranteed a place due to his Captaincy .

If he ain't scoring , he's a passenger .

Sam will also be working on his fitness; just because he's skipper, doesn't mean he'll be exempt from all the fitness work that Sam likes all his players to do -- we know how he likes his stats (miles run etc).

I think he'll grow in to the team as much as the team grows around him, and will look better as the season progresses. At times, he might look like a passenger, but I think we can all accept that our multi-million pound signing, who is probably also contractually captain (something I personally don't like), is unlikely to be dropped.

[dapablo]

The player who should have been hauled off was Nolan - but as he is skipper, Sam won't do it .In effect we have him as a "second" striker , who is guaranteed a place due to his Captaincy .

If he ain't scoring , he's a passenger .

His major ability is his driving captaincy not his kickaball, that's why he's put on the pitch and why he stays on the pitch, something we've been lacking for a few seasons if you think about it.

[Up the Junction]

That Cotteril was actually moaning about the sending off, I don't understand how you can debate that decision

He was moaning about Lawrence's first booking in the post-match presser - then got Faubert confused with Lansbury (easy mistake):

http://www.kumb.com/story.php?id=125675

[Matt of iron]

He was moaning about Lawrence's first booking in the post-match presser - then got Faubert confused with Lansbury (easy mistake):

http://www.kumb.com/story.php?id=125675" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The first tackle was worse then the second!

[jonnyboy]

He was moaning about Lawrence's first booking in the post-match presser - then got Faubert confused with Lansbury (easy mistake):

http://www.kumb.com/story.php?id=125675" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And the first booking was an awful challenge too! Two indefensible bookings

[The Rebirth]

What about the handball?? He said it was ball to hand even though the player juggled the ball a bit!!

[Dyl]

their manager is clearly a ****, how on earth he can complain about the sending off, unreal, stupid blind ****

[durham city hammer]

We are being overrun in midfield too easily so for me, when everyone is fit I would like to see
Demel in at rightback and either O'brien or Diopp in the defensive midfield position, for me Noble isn't the answer their, not because
He isn't mobile enough but for the simple reason he cannot tackle to save his life, Diopp and Joey are both specialists in this position and will break things up and make a huge difference, IMO that is!
The rest then need to fight it out for the other midfield berths,
With regards Nolan, like Sam says he is still working his way back from injury and I suspect it takes Nolan a little longer than others, worth noting he made exactly the same start to his toon career with the same critisiscms being levelled at him, nd as we all know he came good there!

[Aceface]

He was moaning about Lawrence's first booking in the post-match presser - then got Faubert confused with Lansbury (easy mistake):

http://www.kumb.com/story.php?id=125675" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He comes across quite small-time in that transcript. That's a pretty obnoxious set of quotes.

Regarding the handball thing, are we sure it wasn't Faubert? I haven't watched a replay but I was sure it was young Julian at the time. Can certainly forgive him that one if it was indeed Lansbury

[Hayden]

Regarding the handball thing, are we sure it wasn't Faubert? I haven't watched a replay but I was sure it was young Julian at the time. Can certainly forgive him that one if it was indeed Lansbury

We are sure it wasn't Faubert, it was Lansbury.

[Up the Junction]

He comes across quite small-time in that transcript. That's a pretty obnoxious set of quotes.

What the transcript fails to convey is the sarcastic manner in which he answered the first question.

I wasn't there last night, Gnome was so I've only heard the audio. But I've read plenty of Pompey fans saying how he can be a bit of an embarrassment and that he's sorely lacking social skills.

[Gnome]

That's a pretty obnoxious set of quotes.

As the resident kumb-person on duty yesterday in the press room I would point out that, as is our usual policy, the whole of the conference was transcribed in its entirety! (just in case anyone was wondering about selective quoting).

I still have RSI from typing up that one Ian Holloway did when he was QPR boss all those years ago.

[Hockley Hammer]

When we signed Nolan I was delighted as he is a player i'd always admired.

I heard the fitness criticism before the season even started from some Geordie fans I know, and to be honest his performances so far are not what I was expecting. However, I have watched him closely in games and he is always in the thick of the action in both boxes. He has won numerous defensive headers and it always looking to cause a nusicance at set pieces at the other end.

He doesn't go in for crunching tackles, but quite often nicks the ball away and just plays it simple when he gets it to retain possession. His leadership stands out all over the pitch, when they scored their first yesterday, it was well worked but a lucky deflection, the first thing he was doing was telling everybody to stay calm and don't panic. He likes to be the focal point of incidents, which might make him pick up the odd booking, but I think younger players are going to respond to him. Think over the years how many times we seem to have been intimidated in games by Terry, Fabregas, Kevin Davies etc who are constantly playing to the ref and we always seem to lose those games, well now we are doing the same and look at the difference. We don't look a soft touch anymore.

Look where we are and Sam admits we are nowhere near the finished article yet!

[hammer1975]

He doesn't go in for crunching tackles, but quite often nicks the ball away and just plays it simple when he gets it to retain possession. His leadership stands out all over the pitch, when they scored their first yesterday, it was well worked but a lucky deflection, the first thing he was doing was telling everybody to stay calm and don't panic.

I'd also add that he was injured in the summer so not sure how full throttle he was through pre-season (I believe Sam mentioned this). he's not the type of player to make 60 yard throughballs or last ditch tackles but think he does the simple things very well with keeping possession, setting our tempo and, as others have said, keeping his head and helping others keep theirs when all around are potentially losing theirs

[TheAlmightyAmmer]

I'm sorry but you cannot come out and say you were 'very, very unfortunate' not to win when you conceded four goals

[prophet:marginal]

What's happened to the 2011-12 assists thread?

Leon!

Le-on!