Must Win

I think about it when I'm at work.
I think about it when I'm at college.
I think about it when I'm in bed.
I think about it when I've just woke up.

You just can't get away from it when your team is in a relegation fight.

This Saturday we've got Watford at home. We have to win or I really can't see a way back for us. The players have said it's a must win game, Curbishley has said it's a must win game and every West Ham fan have said it's a must win game. We currently sit 5 points off Wigan who also have a game in hand and 7 points of Sheffield United. Charlton are on the same points as us but have just got a worse goal difference and Watford are five points off us with a game in hand.

It looks f**king desperate because it is f**king desperate!

I've been nervous all week about the Watford game. I'm s**tting it because I know how big this game is for us. I've just been waiting for Saturday to come just so we can get on with the game. We know it's going to be a fight as we are playing Watford and our players need to be passionate and want to play for the shirt. We can't afford to have any less than 100% from every single player.
I think me and a majorty of other West Ham fans need a injection of confidence and hope. The players can give that to us by beating Watford this Saturday.

It's all down to mentality in my opinion.

If we win against Watford and if Wigan lose the situation starts to look a bit better and confidence can be built. If Sheffield United lose as well then the situation looks even better.

They are all massive ifs though.

I don't really need to talk about the Aston Villa game. We lost, we deserved to lose and Upson got injured on his debut. Granted we were unlucky not to score in the last five minutes but just having a five minute flurry at the end of the game is just not good enough.

As for who is going to start on Saturday I don't know. I just hope every single one of them who are lucky enough to pull on the shirt puts in 100% effort, plays to the very best of their abilty and wins. We really need to win this one.

I'm forever blowing bubbles,

Pretty bubbles in the air,

They fly so high,

nearly reach the sky,

Then like my dreams they fade and die.

Fortune's always hiding,

I've looked everywhere,

I'm forever blowing bubbles,

Pretty bubbles in the air.

The Time For Excuses Is Over Now

I might as well start off with the Liverpool game seeing as I've yet to post about it on here.

It was not quite the all guns blazing performance that I had hoped for. We worked hard in the first-half it has to be said but two quick (and good finishes) from Liverpool seemed to make us fall to pieces. Only when Curbishley finally brought on Blanco and Zamora did we score (Blanco with what I think was his first touch on his debut) and start to look a bit more threatening when we went forward. A few thoughts....

1) Curbishley made the subs way too late. He should of made them straight after the second goal went it. When Blanco and Zamora finally came on we had more movement upfront and pulled a goal back.

2) Blanco really did impress me. He was only on the pitch for a short amount of time but he won a lot of headers, attacked the box (something that we've been missing) and scored. He reminded me bit of Ashton it has to be said.

3) Harewood and Cole produced little movement upfront.

4) Boa Morte was shocking. I don't think he beat his man once all evening. I hope he was just having an off night.

5) To anyone who started to chant "One Alan Pardew" - don't. Yeah he did well for us, yeah we liked him but he's gone now. Get over it. Move on. He's now manager of Charlton who are one of our relegation rivals.

6) To anyone who started to chant "One Robert Green" when Roy Carroll is in goal - don't. I think Green should be in goal and I hope Curbishley puts him in goal ahead of Carroll against Aston Villa but when Roy Carroll is playing the last thing he needs is people is to chant for another keeper.

7) Spector and McCartney. Do go forward at the right times, overlap and pass the ball forward. Don't sit back, pass either backwards or sideways nearly every single time and hit long balls down the line if no one is making the run.

8) Quashie was quite poor, Benayoun worked hard but gave the ball away quite a bit and I thought Reo-Coker and Davenport played well.

Moving swiftly on....

We got him!

Matthew Upson signed for an initial fee of £6million which could rise to £7.5million depending on appearances from Birmingham City. He signed a four and a half year contract at the club. This is the signing I've wanted since the start of window and I'm really glad we've got him now. Upson is an England international who is experienced in the Premiership, good in the air and a leader at the back. I personally think we've got him for a decent fee as well. Nothing like the £20million quoted by Mr Potato Head himself who has been preaching about loyalty after Upson joined us. That's right Steve Bruce is trying to talk about being loyal to a contract. Hahahahahahahahahaha.

I seem to remember we wanted Upson back when we got relegated in the 2002/03 season. We never had the money to buy him back in that January transfer window, he signed for Birmingham and the rest is history. Maybe by signing him this time we might stay up.

Aston Villa today at Villa Park. Curbishley now has a squad with plenty of quality and experience in the Premiership. The time for excuses is over now. Curbishley will be judged with how he does now as he's had the transfer window to bring in players. As Curbishley himself has said we need to start putting wins on the board. Apparently Tevez is still out as is Ferdinand, Gabbidon, Neill and Collins. Upson should make his debut, I hope Blanco starts after he scored and played well against Liverpool and though I don't think it will happen I'd like to see Green back in goal. We've yet to win away from home this season so can this be our first? Well England did beat the Aussies in the cricket yesterday so stranger things have happened.

Cup Final Time

The less said about Watford on Saturday the better.

We were rubbish. Carlton Cole was the only player who looked like he was trying (our man of the match by far) and we got exactly what we deserved. How Curbishley can come out after the game and say he's told the players that they could do no more (in terms of work rate) is beyond me. Watford were nothing special but they worked hard and put pressure on us which was more than we did to them. Carroll f**ked up for their goal. A hit and hope looking cross to the 18 yard area was deemed dangerous enough for Carroll to come racing out of his goal for a catch. I know I've said he's got to be a bit more commanding of his area but when you come Roy you've got to get the bloody ball! He missed, the ball dropped and Watford scored. To top it all off Lucas Neill got injured and is now out for around two weeks. Fanbloodytastic. As I said after the match the one thing we can take from the game is that it was not in the league.

Now can anyone tell me why we've dropped Robert Green who should be our number one? It seems to me he's been made the scapegoat for the Reading defeat when really he was one of our better players that day. When the Watford fans started to chant "England's number one" a comment from around me was spot on "yeah he's sitting on our bench". Look don't get me wrong Carroll is a good keeper (a mistake does not make you a bad keeper) but he does not command his area as well as Green, he does not have as good distribution skills as Green and he is not as good of shot stopper as Green. Quite simply Green should be our number one keeper.

Only a few days before the transfer window shuts. We continued to be linked with moves with a whole host of players. Mascherano looks set to join Liverpool, Upson is still being talked about after he moaned about Birmingham rejecting our bids, Darren Bent won't be joining and we've apparently made a £2.5 million bid for FC Copenhagen's Danish International centre half Michael Gravgaard.

Today we've got Liverpool. We're the underdogs but sometimes that does suit us. It's one of those games that at the start of the season as a fan you don't really expect anything from it and anything is a bonus. However due to us being in a relegation battle and this being a home game your mentality changes. This is no longer a game we can't really expect anything from and anything is a bonus. It's a cup final and every single game we play until hopefully we are safe from relegation is a cup final. In cup finals the thoughts of "anything is a bonus" and "not really expecting anything" go out of the window. All you can think about is winning.

Sour Scouse Grapes

All I've seen in the papers since Lucas Neill signed for us is the press and Liverpool having a pop.

Liverpool have been showing a sever case of sour grapes over the whole Neill transfer. First off you had their chief executive Rick Parry saying...

"The decision by Lucas Neill not to accept our terms, after we agreed a fee with Blackburn, will bemuse many fans. He had the choice between Liverpool and West Ham, and we were offering him Champions League football. What we want are players with an instinctive desire to play for Liverpool."

"We want people with a real passion to come here and help us win trophies. What we never want is to be in a position where someone is only coming here for the money. A player has to be driven by more than that. Clearly, there will always be a chance for players to earn well, if they do well. But, because of the stature, history and ambition of Liverpool, there should be no need for us to sell the merits of this club."

In other words he has only signed for us because of the money, he is showing no ambition, no footballing decisions have entered his mind, he is a liar and he does not have the right passion.

Then we have Mr Benitez saying...

"He knows that isn’t true. His comments were a surprise because when I spoke to him he was telling me different things. At the end of the day, if he didn’t have enough passion to come here then maybe it’s better for us."

Oh look another person calling Lucas Neill a liar and saying he does not have enough passion.

The media seemed to be very quick to jump on Neill as well saying he's being payed £50/60/70K a week and he's only come here for the money. Now I might be going mad here but I'm sure Lucas Neill was in a press conference on Tuesday laughing at the claims he is on £60K a week, saying he is on nothing like that, is within the clubs wage structure and has come here for footballing reasons. But oh I'm sorry how dare he turn down one of the big four! Or maybe he's signed for us because Curbs and Eggy told them their plans for the club and showed real desire to sign him.

I'm sure he will be up for the Liverpool game on Tuesday anyway but I hope Neill has seen those comments from Liverpool and the press. I really hope he can shove those comments down their throats on Tuesday evening by playing his part in a West Ham win.

Before the Liverpool game though we face Watford today in the FA Cup 4th Round at home. This is a important game for us. Not only because a win will take us into the FA Cup 5th Round but because (as all the managers say) results breed confidence. So a win today will add more confidence to everyone at the club going into Liverpool game on Tuesday night. I'm not sure how we are going to start to be honest. Gabs, Collins and Tevez are all still injured, Ferdinand is a doubt, Harewood is suspended and Davenport has already played in the FA Cup this season for Spurs so he can't play either. Neill should make his debut from the start with fellow new signing Blanco on the bench.

Rennie Gives You Indigestion

2-0 up. Our first away in sight. Seconds before half-time. Nothing could go wrong.......but oh sh*t we've got Rennie. I'm sure you've all seen the incident I'm about to talk about. Milner has a cross/shot at goal, Scott Parker standing about 3/4 yards offside steps over the ball and the ball goes into the back of the net. Lino puts up his flag and then puts it down again. Why? I tell you why because we've got the most arrogant tosser of a ref. How he can get decisions as obvious as that wrong I don't know. I know he's a crap ref but even Graham Poll would of seen that.

I have no doubts in my mind that if the goal was ruled out we would of gone on to win the game. Newcastle got a penalty in the second-half made it 2-2 and after that it was end to end stuff. Davenport on his (2nd) debut for us had a goal ruled out which looked very harsh but I expected nothing else from a man who should not be refereeing games at the top level. This was the first away game I've missed for a while so we watched the goals come in on Soccer Saturday and then I watched the game on Football First that night.

From what I see on Football First we totally dominated the first-half. Reo-Coker was back to his very best, Harewood and Cole caused loads of problems upfront (and both scored) and our defence looked much more solid. If it was not for two awful refereeing performances from Mr Poll and Mr Rennie then would be out of the relegation zone. Everton did us a favour by beating Wigan on Sunday. If we continue to play as well as we did in the first-half against Newcastle we should start to move up the table.

Then on Monday we made what I think could turn out to be a fantastic signing for the club. Lucas Neill signed from Blackburn for a fee thought to be around the £1.5 million mark. A lot had been said about the wages we are paying him and why he came to us other than Liverpool but I could not care less to be honest. He's already come out and said that it's nothing like the £60/70K that the papers have been reporting and that he's joined us because of footballing reasons as well. He's a tough right-back (who can also play in the centre and on the left) who shows passion and gets stuck in. A really good player in my book. I'm delighted with this signing.

"People have questioned why I signed for West Ham and not Liverpool, but I don't understand that. Yes, Liverpool is a great club with a fantastic history but, equally, West Ham have produced people like Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters, Trevor Brooking and Billy Bonds over the years. If West Ham was good enough for those guys, then it's good enough for me."

"If people want to insult my decision to play for West Ham, then they are insulting some of the greatest players the game has produced, including the three men who led England to the World Cup in 1966."

Good PR? Of course it is but I can't help at be happy with comments like that.

Ohhhhh Lucas Neil's a convict
He wore a scousers shirt
But when old Eggy poached him
He said he might convert
He put away his dingo
And favourite frog named Bert
And all because old Egbert
Passed him that Hammers shirt.
(c) Georgee Paris of the KUMB forums

Genius? I'll let you decide on that one.

Our signings did not stop there. Kepa Blanco signed on a loan until the end of the season from Seville. He's a striker who from the little I've seen of him on Youtube is good in the air. Curbs says "he's a as a typically old-fashioned centre-forward who is strong in the air and has an eye for goal" which sounds like exactly what we needed. He's highly rated and has a good goals to games ratio at Seville. We've got a exclusive option to sign him at the end of his loan deal as well. You can check out the Youtube video I was talking about on this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TvcgyLtSMY.

Now Is The Time (Mark 2)

As you might or might not remember my blog before the Fulham game was titled 'Now Is The Time'. My little blog that day has been put to shame but this fantastic article by Tross from the brilliant West Ham site/forum KUMB. So if you've yet to read this article then put your West Ham shirt on, play Bubbles in the background and read....

http://www.kumb.com/article.php?id=2293

Churchillian like I'm sure you will all agree. COME ON YOU IRONS!

I reckon our new signing Calum Davenport might of read that article before signing for us by the cut of his gib. Davenport became our 3rd signing of transfer window for a fee thought to be around the £3 million mark from the Spuds. Davo was here on loan in 2004 and looked a top class player. I think in my youthful exuberance at the time I stated to many people that I thought Davenport would play for England. Of course that still might happen but I think I might of gone just a tad over the top at the time. That said he really was fantastic for us and I'm happy to see him back here.

He knows the club well and has already played with a lot of the current squad. He's been playing a lot for Tottenham this season and by all accounts has been doing well for them from what I've heard and seen. With Ginge and Gabbs out with injuries for a while we needed another center half as soon as possible and Davenport fits the bill. He's very good in the air and while he lacks in pace he does well with another center half who has that pace that he misses. Good signing I reckon.

I've been really impressed with what he's had to say as well...

"I have been happy with my form this season but my decision was - do I want to be sat on the bench or do I want to come to West Ham and help them stay in the Premiership?"

"West Ham's position might have put other players off, but not me. They are in a difficult position but I want to play my part and help them get out of it."

"Martin Jol said he wanted me to stay but my heart was set on coming to West Ham. He knows how much West Ham mean to me after my time here on loan and luckily he agreed to let me come.

"I am delighted to be back. When I moved from Coventry down to London, the first place I came to was West Ham and they made me feel at home.

"It was a big move for me at the time and I love playing at Upton Park. It is such a passionate crowd and I wouldn't have joined any other club bar West Ham."

Shows passion. I like it. Welcome back Calum!

In other transfer news Lucas Neill has agreed to join us according to his English based agent (his Aussie one is still saying he's not agreed yet) but it the deal is up in the air due to Blackburn either wanting Konchesky from us or waiting for them to get in a replacement for Neill so he can sign or us. Mascherano could go on loan to Liverpoool if FIFA can agree, we've had a £4 million bid for Upson turned down by Birmingham (show them the money Eggy) and we've also have linked with a loan move for Kepa who is a striker who plays for Seville.

Today we've got Newcastle away. Would of thought Davenport will start but don't know if Ferdinand is back yet or not. Green could be called back into the side, Collins, Tevez and Gabbidion are out injured and Zamora is suspended. We've yet to win away from home this season so can this be the first? Can this be a famous and vital West Ham away win? I'll tell you when the final whisle blows.

The Graham Poll Show

Welcome one and all to the Graham Poll show! Watch in amazement as Poll fails to spot fouls time after time, adds on five minutes of injury time for no real reason, gives foul and foul against your team for good tackles and generally f*cks you off. This show can be seen touring the country ever Saturday (though midweek dates are possible) and you should book three times (just to be sure) to avoid disappointment.

It's not often you come out of a game that's finished 3-3 talking about the ref but we did on Saturday. Why? Because the Graham Poll show was in town. The bloke thinks he's the center of attention every single time he refs a game. This Saturday he was at his shit and arrogant best (or should that be worst?). He sent-off Zamora for two late but not dangerous challenges. I would of thought that he could of given him one more warning after the 2nd one but fair enough. However if your going to do that Mr Poll you've got to do the same to the Fulham players which brings me on to the dirty Tottenham w*anker Micheal Brown who must of had at least three or four challenges in our game that deserved yellow cards. How many did he get? Not even one. Oh and just in case you've forgot Graham 2 yellows equals a red card.

Overall he booked 10 players in what was a hard but not nasty game. He also failed to send-off the player who took out Tevez when he went through one on one. He gave foul after foul to Fulham in the closing minutes for what looked like fine tackles and then added five minutes on at the end of the game. Where he got five minutes from I don't know. Dailly was then fouled just before they equalised but he also failed to spot that. Remind me how is this bloke apparently one of the best refs in the country?

I suppose I better get to the game. We once again failed to defend crosses and set-pieces. The first goal game from a corner which was easily headed down and then turned it. We need to sort this problem out and fast. A big, powerfull and commanding center half would sort us right out if your reading this Curbs. I thought we would crumble from then on but we actually had a bit of fight about us and Zamora scored his first goal in what seemed like ages. Then early in the 2nd half Yossi produced a bit of class with a wonderful chip shot. When he is on form he is a wonderful player to watch. They then pulled it back to 2-2 from another cross into the box before Yossi went up the other end and made it 3-2 to us.

Then Gabbidon went off injured. Now that was our third injury during the game (Collins and Tevez in the first 13 minutes) and later on Boa Morte and Cole would both pick up knocks. The only luck we are getting at the moment is bad. I must admit (and I wish I never) I thought when the board went up for five minutes we had done it. This was going to be a heroic West Ham performance that would lift the fans and the players. Even after our best striker went off early on, even after both of our center half's went off, even after going down to 10 men, even after Graham Poll trying everything and anything to stop us and even after being under the cosh for the last 10 minutes or so we were going to hold on.

And just like my dreams.....they fade and die.......

Bang.

Injury time.

3-3.

Stunned.

We could take plenty of positives out of the game though. The man of the match performance from Benayoun. He was back to his very best and we need that more often from Benayoun if we are to stay up. Quashie had a good debut as well. He's not a great player but he gets stuck in, had lots of energy, closes the ball down, breaks up play and passes the ball around well. He could well turn out to be exactly the sort of player we need in the center to stay up. Reo-Coker put in a performance which was more like his old self and Boa Morte had another good game. However all the said we need to work on defending crosses and set-pieces as we really look poor on them. We need to bring in a few players in defence (a right-back and a commanding center half please Curbs) even more so with the injures sustained to Collins and Gabs. Oh and thought Carroll did well in goal on Saturday I still think Green should be starting.

I really thought we had to win this game for a number of reasons but the game is gone now. We can take a lot of positives as I've said. It's far from over. A fair few games left so plenty of points to play for. We need all the players at their best, playing for the shirt and putting 100% in every game.

We can stay up.