COLUMNIST KEN BUCKLEY

From my seat: West Ham (A)

Striker light

A good two overcoats warmer than the City match but the same cold response in front of goal from a game that failed as a spectacle as much as the manager failed in what can only be described as an experimental line-up.

The Blues started brightly and within 5 mins Distin got clear from a cross at the back of the box but his touch was heavy which took him wider and he was only able to flash a shot across goal and out. We were playing some neat stuff in joined-up mode with Fellaini the orchestrator in chief but our cutting edge in the final third was blunt and that set the tone for the rest of the match.

We were pretty much in control but on the quarter hour mark we failed to clear a corner properly which resulted in a melee in our box and no more than a poke forward from a West Ham player hit the flailing leg of Hibbert and deflected into the net. I felt sorry for Hibbert as he was drafted in to cover for the injured Jags and Heitinga and had made some good strong tackles to that point.

The goal seemed to take a lot of wind out of the Blues sails as the next 20 minutes belonged more to the hosts than us due to the excellent Scott Parker running the show. Slowly but surely, we started to regain some composure, mainly due to the efforts of Fellaini and Pienaar getting the ball down and finding Blue shirts.

Arteta seemed to be still struggling for form and it was hard to see what position he was supposed to be taking up as to often he seemed to drop a little deep and get in the way of Fellaini and Rodwell rather than offer an option darting forward. Still just a few minutes before half time he was in the right space behind the ineffectual Cahill exchanged passes with Pienaar and fed Cahill to the left of goal, Cahill moved the ball from left foot to right foot and delivered a cross that caught the hosts defence tucked in and the ball went across goal to the unmarked Coleman who made no mistake and we all celebrated.

We were then nearly caught cold as the very impressive Parker broke and tried a delicate chip that beat Howard but thankfully found only the top of the net. Half-time and all square and most agreed Cahill up front on his own just wasn?t working and some sort of change was needed as Upson and Tomkins were having a much easier night than they should have been having.

No changes were made but we did start to dominate the half, Coleman seemed to have the measure of his markers but Neville was having an off-night and some of his balls to Coleman were poor. Pienaar was buzzing about and linking with Baines from time to time and Fellaini putting in a good box-to-box job with elements of skilful promptings as well as an assured calm. Distin was holding the back line together with some authority but it was the same old story, everything breaking down in that final third due to lack of incisive movement in the box to allow a killer pass.

On the hour mark changes were made by both teams, first the hosts brought on Carlton Cole and then the Blues took off a rapidly tiring Rodwell who was losing his touch and composure. The only surprise for me was that it was Yak who came on and he hasn?t played for a while but with the form all three of the strikers are in at this time it was probably a tossup.

West Ham then produced the best chance of the half when Sears broke clear down the right after yet another Blues attack had floundered in the final third, catching Baines stranded up field, he picked out a cross to the unmarked Cole but he pulled his effort horribly wide with Howard exposed. The Blues responded to this scare and in the last 10mins Cahill brought Green to his knees to make a save, Fellaini had a goal-bound powerful header which saw England?s calamity keeper make a great save. Cahill had the ball in the net but was ruled offside.

On the 90-min mark, Beckford replaced Pienaar and then, in the third minute of the allotted 5 extra, Bilyaletdinov replaced Arteta. So a point apiece and further disappointment for the travelling hoards.

Overall a poor spectacle of a match between a team desperate to get out of the bottom three and one unable to operate in the final third no matter how much possession and pretty approach play. I thought tonight the Blues allowed the enforced change at the back, coupled with the knowledge not one of our main strikers was deemed in good enough form to even start, affect their mindset and fell between two stools in being a bit overprotective at the back and more than a bit unsure how best to attack.

The manager can take a fair chunk of the blame for our performance tonight but at least he tried by putting his best available players on the park but for me he should have decided after watching for twenty minutes the experiment was not going to work and to get all three points something had to change, Saha for Arteta would have been my shout.

Just a few days to think and then it is off to Stoke and we know what to expect there so I wish the manager the best of luck in the injury department and some sort of magic wand in the striking department.

Happy New Year to you all.
UP THE BLUES

Reader Comments (15)

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer

Warning: Undefined array key "commentUserName" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 34

Warning: Undefined array key "commentUserName" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 34

Warning: Undefined array key "site" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 46

Warning: Undefined array key "commentUserName" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 34

Warning: Undefined array key "site" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 46

Warning: Undefined array key "commentUserName" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 34

Warning: Undefined array key "site" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 46

Warning: Undefined array key "commentUserName" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 34

Warning: Undefined array key "site" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 46

Warning: Undefined array key "commentUserName" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 34

Warning: Undefined array key "site" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 46

Warning: Undefined array key "commentUserName" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 34

Warning: Undefined array key "site" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 46

Warning: Undefined array key "commentUserName" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 34

Warning: Undefined array key "site" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 46

Warning: Undefined array key "commentUserName" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 34

Warning: Undefined array key "site" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 46

Warning: Undefined array key "commentUserName" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 34

Warning: Undefined array key "site" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 46

Warning: Undefined array key "commentUserName" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 34

Warning: Undefined array key "commentUserName" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 34

Warning: Undefined array key "site" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 46

Warning: Undefined array key "commentUserName" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 34

Warning: Undefined array key "site" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 46

Warning: Undefined array key "commentUserName" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 34

Warning: Undefined array key "site" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 46

Warning: Undefined array key "commentUserName" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 34

Warning: Undefined array key "site" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 46

Warning: Undefined array key "commentUserName" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 34

Warning: Undefined array key "site" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 46

Warning: Undefined array key "commentUserName" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 34

Warning: Undefined array key "site" in /var/www/vhosts/toffeeweb.com/httpdocs/includes/reader-comments.php on line 46

About these ads