westhamonkey Sat 11 Jul 2020, 5:48 pm
Okay, okay… you got me… I set me alarm, set two… even woke up full of beans when they went off… but I just couldn’t bring myself to get up at 4:00am…
So here we are at the more civilized, but surprisingly tired hour of 8 in the morning, watching the game on DVR.
I’m watching as live and off all social media so have no idea what the score was/will be. I had no idea Jack Charlton had kicked the bucket either… so that’s sad news…
Even sadder was seeing Mark Noble on the pitch as captain in the starting XI… I mean we’ve played better without him so obviously our minge of a manager puts him back in as soon as he can…
Honestly… when will this nightmare be over?
7 minutes gone and we’ve had three attempts on goal so far…
A loss for Norwich will see them out of the top flight for a record number of times… so there’s every incentive for West Ham to their foot of the gas and help them out – as they did just then where Norwich were able to pass the ball around our penalty area with ease despite there being something like twenty West Ham defenders in there.
Fortunately their shooting is awful and it ends with the ball trickling wide of Fabianski’s goal.
At the other end Antonio goes close…
Then we get a corner and Antonio makes no mistake… rockets the ball into the top of the net from 6 yards out…
11 ½ minutes gone… 0-1
Can we hold onto a lead? Not usually? Will today be any different? Hopefully.
But this will be interesting… Norwich have not come back from a losing position this season… and, as we know all too painfully, we’ve given away the most points from leading.
Norwich somehow have had 60-something percent of the possession but managed only two attempts on goal.
Watford are currently goalless against Newcastle and we could really do with the Toon helping us out with a victory today.
Fabianski dives low to smother the ball as Norwich dare to mount an attack…
noble tries to run through the Norwich defense but had neither the pace or the ball control and so gives up. Cresswell puts in a cross from the wing but Antonio is off the mark with his mid penalty area volley.
We give the ball away in midfield but Norwich as terrible and can’t capitalize on it. Haller’s sitting on the bench shaking his head about something… possibly his inflated price tag, his lack of skills… or pointless move to Eat London… could be all or any of those.
Now that’s better from Norwich… they might actually have put in a bit of thought finally… realizing how godawful we are at defending wide, they play it down the wing, cross into the middle and the shot is only a tiny bit wide of the mark.
Now it’s the drinks break… can someone tell me what the point or “logic” (and I use that term somewhat ironically in relation to English football) behind the drinks break? Is keeping hydrated effective in fending off coronaviruses? It’s not like we ever break a sweat when playing so it can’t be to cool us down…
Comms is talking about the idea of Norwich’s young players needing th stay with the club for another year to get experience in the Championship and perhaps even enjoy wining some games.
I know there’s all sorts of clauses in player contracts allowing them to move on if a team gets relegated… but how about you put in clauses that actually force players to not move from a club if they go down?
you know… force the players who underperform and get a club dropped to a lower division, then have to suffer along with the fans…
Never gonna happen… stupid idea.
Anyway… Newcastle have taken the lead at Watford. All hail the talents of the mighty Steve Bruce.
West Ham free kick sails onto the top of the net
28 minutes gone.
Ooh… it’s a good job we play such poor teams… Norwich miss hit the shot form the edge of the 6 yard box and it goes wide. A decent forward would have punished us badly there…
As Norwich mount another attack, I’m lamenting our inability to put in a tackle.. then we make what looks like a fair stab at one and the ref gives Norwich a free kick just outside the penalty area…
Fortunately it’s just over the bar… but we don’t need any help in not getting a result.
Bowen drags a shot just wide of the post.
can anyone explain to me how Fornals is keeping his place in the starting XI?
Do we really have no other options at all?
Plenty of space for Norwich as they come forward… Soucek gently pushes him on the edge of the box but this one the Ref waves away as nothing…
We go close at the other end and have a corner… which ends in Norwich coming forward…which turns into us coming forward and Fornals being brought down on the outside of the box as he tried to cut in from the wing…
The free kick is right on the edge of the Norwich penalty area… Noble to take… too hard, too far, Soucek gets a head on it but can’t stop it basically going straight out of play.
Great volley by Soucek that forces a great save from the keeper. It was a Fredericks ball into Noble who played it to Soucek…
first corner went nowhere but we get a second chance which also goes nowhere as a Norwich defender falls over after heading the ball.
Almost half time… will need to go get a coffee. Not sure how much added time there’ll be but our games have tended to be shorter than most of the rest – or at least seem to be.
Fornals gives away the ball.
we’re basically a three man team… Bowen, Soucek and Antonio. Fabianski is solid in goal but all the rest are pretty negligible in their contributions.
It’s tough… but Norwich really are struggling – and struggling against us in our current form is not something that says anything good about your team.
Another free kick to us on the edge of the Norwich…. And it’s a goal…
Noble’s free kick goes to the middle of the box this time where Antonio rises above two defenders to easily head the ball into the bottom corner of the net.
3 minutes of added time announced and we’re 0-2 ahead. If this all holds, this will give us a valuable cushion to see out the weekend.
Fancy diving save from Fabianski just to keep him awake.
Half time. Job done thus far.
a little bit of fast forward on the DVR, a coffee and a bagel and we’re off for the 2nd half.
immediate west Ham corner, Noble leaves it to Bowen… all comes to nothing.
Free kick to us on the very edge of the Norwich penalty area. Bit of a trick one… Noble slides it across the pen to a sneaky shot… but the ball is too slow and so the defense smother it and clear.
I know things are going well today – or at least, according to plan… but I really do worry for what comes next.
I mean… we could have Liverpool’s first team but I’d be worried with M*yes in charge… but we barely have eleven functioning first team players… and the chances of there being as many poor teams in the league next season as this time round… is just not something we can – or should – count on for our survival.
Anderson… Fornals… Lanzini – they’re supposed to be our unstoppable creative midfield… and they’re all terrible.
Anderson is terrible no matter what his situation. Lanzini as moments but is not the same since injury…
we pause this rant t announce Antonio has his hat-trick. Played in from midfield by Noble (yeah, he’s not half bad when he can just stand still and make passes) to Antonio who goes on a solo run towards goal – plays a great shot past the keeper… just after Watford pull back and equalizer against Newcastle… three goals to West Ham – something of a turn up for the books.
but back to my pre-emptive rant for next year…
Haller might be our top scorer. But he’s hardly set the premier league alight with his 7 goals… a good striker should be in the 15-20 range at least.
and then there’s the defense… seriously, without Fabianski, we’d be relegated already – and relegated the previous season as well.
we’ve ridden our luck this year… there’s at least four teams who are just as awful as we are – and we pull off the one a season win against a ‘big’ team to give some hope and just scrape ourselves out of the relegation spots… but I just don’t see that working a third time…
M*yes has done nothing to turn this team around. He’s the least wining, most unsuccessful manager we’ve ever had. As poor as we were at the end of Pellegrini’s reign, we’re not an ounce better at the moment.
Escaping relegation isn’t a victory… and shouldn’t be seen as such. It should be something no half decent team even has to consider… yet here we are again… and again… and again…
It’s happening so regularly that it can’t even be just a statistical anomaly…
We’ve played much better than this – even since the restart – and got nothing from a game.
We attack… the ball comes to noble a few yards outside the Norwich penalty area. He just stands on it, looking around, unsure where his team mates are, unclear what the attack is about, or where to play the ball. A Norwich player tuns up behind him and takes the ball off him and the moment is over…
That’s our captain, our most experienced player… doesn’t even have a clue…
65 minutes gone – our third game in 7 days… and not even a sign of a substitution being in our near future.
Even we are unlikely to drop a three goal lead (I know, I know…) so why not give a couple players a chance to rest and a couple more Haller… the chance to get some match play?
That’s how you know M*yes is just a clueless twat… no one has bitched more than him about how unfair it is that we had to play so many games in such a short timeframe… but with the possibility to have made 5 substitutions in those games… what has he done?
In the last game he only used 2 and the second only came on with a minute to play…
Norwich are about to bring on two new players. The game is lost. They are relegated.. but they’re still going for it.
I’d take off Noble, Fornals and Antonio.
Oh wow… Norwich are making FOUR substitution at the drinks break…
It’s been nearly two minutes since the restart and Norwich haven’t even played the ball out of their own half – we’ve not touched it mind – they’ve just been playing at across the back…
and that just rubs salt into the wound… adds insult to the injuries… lazy (or should I say ‘measured’) build up play by us… the ball goes out to Fredericks on the wing… he cuts inside… to Antonio who is in the middle of the 6 yard box… looked almost like it was an own goal from the original angle but the replays show that Antonio got his foot to it and the defender wasn’t really even close…
75 minutes gone. You have to feel for Norwich. Nothing is working for them – at all. We’re not even playing well, we’re not a good team… and we’re destroying them.
I guess this’ll be good for our confidence… but it’s not like we’ve really got good players… so the point is?
M*yes will just sit back on this and claim ‘winning is what he does’ – oblivious to the fact that even a Sunday pub team would have given us a harder time today.
Antonio finally comes off and Haller will make and appearance.
Wilshire is also on – but Noble didn’t go off.
Cresswell’s blushes are spared and his own goal ruled as a questionable offside…
Haller has touched the ball once – being bundled straight off it. Can’t think Wilshire has touched it at all.
Yarmolenko and Masuaku are coming on with 8 minutes to go. Fornals and Bowen make way.
Watford have taken the lead against Newcastle, so the three points here are going to be vital in our survival hopes.
Ogbonna off and Balbuena comes on… 3 minutes to go.
90 minutes gone… 3 to be added.
Arguably we played better in the first half against Burnley than we have today – but that’s football… it’s a funny old game.
Game over… boos??? Boos? It’s piped in crowd noise… it’s a made up special effect… so someone made the choice and took the effort to pipe in boos… fupping hell.