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Vinny 5:34 Wed Oct 5
On this day - 5th October

A 3-1 loss at home to Bolton Wanderers happened on this day in 2008 and here is the report from the WHO archive.

http://web.archive.org/web/20081026210612/http://www.westhamonline.net/article.php?3010196

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West Ham 1 Bolton Wanderers 3

Two Robert Green howlers gifted Bolton victory in a disappointing result on a miserable Sunday at Upton Park.

This was a bit of a freak game which saw unusual circumstances ruin a day which many (myself include) thought would be one which would see us emerge as victors and continue our good run of form. Unfortunately it was not to be and although this is not what I would call a terrible performance the result was obviously very disappointing.

Up until Robert Green gave Bolton the opener, we had just been getting into our stride and although we had not really tested the keeper, I believed that a goal would come with patience. Giving Bolton a goal was bad enough but to do it again just a few moments later effectively ended the game and although we did have our moments in the second half and did manage to get a goal with a healthy amount of time left it was just not to be.

Gianfranco Zola made no changes to the side which started against Fulham and Craig Bellamy had to make do with a place on the bench with Di Michele getting a further chance to show us what he can do.

Bolton won a free kick within ten seconds of the kick off and this would be one of the main themes of this game as the ref stopped the game for just about everything and this played into the hands of Bolton who like to disrupt the tempo with their ugly style of football.

It took us a few minutes to actually get hold of the ball as Bolton were powering their way forward in the opening stages but we did start to find our rhythm and get players on the ball and into space.

It was down the left with Etherington and Ilunga where we looked most dangerous and a strong run from Ilunga lead to a free kick being awarded. It was taken by Faubert who whipped the ball in but despite the slippery conditions, Bolton keeper Jaaskelainen held the ball well.

Mark Noble was shown the yellow card for a late tackle as ref Mike Dean began his card happy afternoon. Carlton Cole saw a decent effort go over the bar but the first real chance of the game came at the other end when Bolton’s Johan Elmander had a clear chance on goal but wasted it with a tame effort straight at Robert Green.

We came straight back at Bolton with Ilunga showing great skill as he burst into the box only for a last ditch block from Jay Lloyd Samuel.

Bolton were playing well and were very much in the game, but I was still confident about our own performance especially when we were on the break. Counter attacking is something we are good at and possesses some good quality when doing so with players like Etherington and Noble who really know how to drive forward.

An example of this was when from a Bolton corner we broke away with Noble and Parker which ended with Di Michele hitting an excellent curling shot at goal which went inches wide.

I thought we were battling well and although it had proven to be a difficult game I was still confident our goal would come.

But then it all turns pear shaped as a mistake is made which you cannot legislate for. A long hopeful cross into the area saw Robert Green go up to catch but then drop and Kevin Davies stabbed the ball into the back of the net. It was a real clanger and the handful of Bolton supporters (it would have been less but for the free travel the club put on) were delighted with the gift their team had received.

Our players seemed a little shaken up by such a freak goal but came back with a free kick from Noble which went just wide with the Bolton keeper struggling to get across.

Robert Green making one bad mistake is rare enough but to make a second was a real shock to the system and when Bolton further their lead it seemed to suck the life out of Upton Park with both players and supporters completely deflated.

A well struck effort from Bolton’s Steinsson was saved by Green but he failed to hold onto the ball and Gary Cahill was on hand to tap the ball into the goal to put the visitors 2-0 up.

Going in a half time losing by two goals was something I did not expect before the game had kicked off. In fact, I think I was more confident going into this game than any I can remember in the last couple of years. No matter how many times West Ham do this sort of thing I never seem to learn.

The rain continued to fall at half time and our players came out a few minutes earlier than the Bolton team and the officials.

I was of the thinking that if we were patient and got some confidence back in our play (which had been lost with that second goal) we could still get something out of the game.

Bolton were obviously going to shut up shop and with the physical ability most of their team possess this was not much of a shock.

We were so close to reducing the deficit early on in the second period as Jussi Jaaskelainen made a stunning save in front of the Bobby Moore stand. It was Carlton Cole who received the ball, turned and hit a left foot shot which seemed certain to find the back of the net but somehow Jaaskelainen clawed the ball away.

Frustration levels began to rise with the referee not helping matters by giving some very soft free kicks against us. One of the worst being an alleged foul by Behrami who was penalised for a push. This saw Julien Faubert show his frustrations at the ref and finding himself in the book.

Craig Bellamy entered the field of play in place of the poor Di Michele. Bellamy seemed to move out to the left with Etherington coming over to the right hand side.

We saw a lot of the ball but were having no luck in breaking Bolton down. Some of our passing was very poor and Scott Parker was guilty of this far to many times for a player of his quality.

Saying that, one of his overhit passes actually led to the corner which in turn led to our goal. A ball down the right hand side was overhit but Etherington didn’t give it up and picked up the pace, flicked the ball off the defender and won the corner.

Etherington took the corner and it was met by Upson who head towards goal and Carlton Cole got in front of his marker and flicked the ball into goal.

Back in the game and with over twenty minutes remaining, Upton Park had found it’s life again and we needed to keep the tempo up.

But Bolton know how to employ spoiling tactics and they dragged the game out winning free kicks and making substitutions. They stifled us and we had nothing to offer in a way of breaking them down.

A effort from Behrami went wide when he may have done better but there was to be no great chance that would deliver itself.

Zola removed Etherington and replaced him with Freddie Sears who was fresh off the back of four goals in midweek in a reserve game against West Brom.

With five minutes remaining Bolton killed off any hope of a comeback as they stole a third goal. Another soft free kick was awarded by Mike Dean this time against Ilunga. Bolton’s Matthew Taylor (who had just come on as sub) stepped up and hit a stunning 25 yard drive which flew past a slow-to-move Robert Green.

Cue the fan exodus as the 33,715 quickly fell in numbers. We just did not have enough in the second half to trouble Bolton who were tactically spot on in nullifying our counter attacking. They doubled up down the flanks and shut out every option of a pass.

Player Reviews

Robert Green
Not much to say apart from his mistake cost us the game.

Herita Ilunga
Another very positive performance from the left back. He is looking better as each game progresses. A good defender and wins just about every tackle he goes in for. Also excellent going forward and seemed to have quite a bit of skill about him.

Lucas Neill
When you concede three goals you would look at the two center halves and see if they were at fault, but they were not today and with a difficult physical task Neill played well again in this new found position. Bolton offer no pace so this was playing right into the hands of Neill.

Matthew Upson
Like Neill he was not at fault of the goals today and defensively I thought we and Upson did quite well. Apart from one dodgy back pass he did well enough.

Julien Faubert
Having been happy with his performances in recent weeks at right back today he was very disappointing. He was getting murdered by Ricardo Gardener (who always does this to us) and when going forward his crossing was terrible.

Valon Behrami
The best of the three midfielders today. His work rate was the most promising thing about his performance as well as actually being able to find a West Ham player when passing.

Scott Parker
A very frustrating performance from Parker. Always wanted the ball and was not afraid to get forward but his final ball was too often poor. He just kept giving the ball away and making the wrong pass which is something he seems to keep doing.

Mark Noble
Like Parker his passing was his main flaw today. He worked hard but some lazy misplaced passes made his performance frustrating to watch.

Matthew Etherington
Started well but like the team seemed to be shell shocked by the two quick fire Bolton goals. When he got going he looked good and did well in the second half to win the corner for the eventual goal.

David Di Michele
Kept slipping over and losing the ball continually. Apart from one decent effort in the first half he was again pretty anonymous.

Carlton Cole
Worked hard, was very unlucky not to score earlier than he did and eventually got his goal. Slowly bringing goals into his game and with Bellamy alongside him I am confident he will get more.

Subs Used

Craig Bellamy (on for Di Michele 56 minutes)
Had very little impact which was disappointing as we expected him to galvanize us. But the plus point is that he did not get injured again.

Freddie Sears (on for Etherington 79 mins)
Hardly saw the ball.

Subs not used: Lastuvka, Lopez, Boa Morte, Mullins, Davenport.

Overall

A disappointing result no doubt, but not a terrible performance and let’s be honest the first two goals were simply down to goal keeping errors. This was not tactical naivety by Zola, this wasn’t a performance where we find out the flaws of certain players, this was simply a bad day at the office.

We are in a healthy position in the league and Hull City are up next in a game which we are more than capable of winning despite Hull’s good form.

It could all be a lot worse - we could be Tottenham Hotspur.

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Other games on this day:

2014: West Ham United 2 Queens Park Rangers 0
2002: West Ham United 1 Birmingham City 2
1994: West Ham United 2 Walsall 0 (LC AET 3-2 agg)
1993: Chesterfield 0 West Ham United 2 (LC 7-1 AGG)
1991: West Ham United 0 Coventry City 1
1985: Newcastle United 0 West Ham United 2

dicksie3 9:25 Thu Oct 6
Re: On this day - 5th October

I remember this one. Fucking awful.

I catched a plane to Japan very early in the morning after this match with a steaming headache... (Booze, of course). :-(

Buster 9:00 Thu Oct 6
Re: On this day - 5th October

SLAGS

On The Ball 8:42 Thu Oct 6
Re: On this day - 5th October

I remembered, but I thought it'd be hurtful if I pretended to forget. Passive aggressive, me.

mallard 8:15 Thu Oct 6
Re: On this day - 5th October

Happy Belated Birthday you miserable bastard

Far Cough 7:42 Thu Oct 6
Re: On this day - 5th October

Happy birthday, CUNT

Buster 7:35 Thu Oct 6
Re: On this day - 5th October

I was born.

Did any of you cunts remember? Did you bollocks.

B6NY B 7:06 Wed Oct 5
Re: On this day - 5th October

What I remember about this is that a WIN would have put up TOP in October (I believe)

mallard 6:59 Wed Oct 5
Re: On this day - 5th October

Mark Noble
He worked hard but some lazy misplaced passes made his performance frustrating to watch.



8 years ago !

i-Ron 6:00 Wed Oct 5
Re: On this day - 5th October

Carlton Cole

Worked hard, was very unlucky not to score earlier than he did and eventually got his goal. Slowly bringing goals into his game and with Bellamy alongside him I am confident he will get more.


Really fucking slowly because he managed 32 PL goals in 161 games over the next 7 years.

Vinny 5:58 Wed Oct 5
Re: On this day - 5th October

Considering how similar things have been over the last 15 years it continues to surprise me that West Ham fans are up in arms about the current situation.

mallard 5:52 Wed Oct 5
Re: On this day - 5th October

I remeber that Bolton game on TV and the Taylor Free-Kick, was that a BFS masterclass?

As for the Birmingham game, looking back to them earlier games, we deserved to go down, a handful of stars playing alongside a brittle defence - sound familiar?

Loving these threads, but can we have a few more reports after winning ? Reading that confirms how little we've moved on over the years

Cheers Vin

Vinny 5:40 Wed Oct 5
Re: On this day - 5th October

In 2002 following a 2-1 home defeat to Birmingham City Alex V wrote this for WHO:



A couple of horrific lapses and a truly appaling second-half team performance - it all adds up to another humiliating defeat to distinctly average opposition at home. But it's starting to look like humiliation is the least of our problems - whatever way you look at it we're really on the edge now of a huge crisis.

Once again, as in virtually every game this season, West Ham carved out numerous chances to score, almost all of them in the first half. Some of our approach play was mesmerising, Di Canio was his mischevious best, Sinclair splitting defences with his bombing forward, Cole popping up perfectly in space, Defoe nipping about looking for that half chance. But it all counts for absolutely nothing when (a) we don't capitalise on our best play and (b) our defence continues to be horrendously brittle at key moments.

Birmingham's early opener couldn't have been easier for them. Savage chipped a ball into space on the flanks, Breen tripped over his own feet challenging with John, who drove a near post shot that James could only deflect into his own net. Truth is Birmingham did little or nothing up front that was out of the ordinary, they just chipped balls forward to the big men and looked for a bit of luck - Breen and Repka looked frankly totally incapable of coping with the task, and put in their worst performances for the club.

At least we had some spirit coming forward in the first half. Our goal was a terrific finish from Joe Cole - as he received the ball from Di Canio he seemed to run it too wide with his first touch, but curled a slightly lofted shot into the far corner, and ran into the crowd to celebrate. If only we could treasure these kind of moments afterwards...

But as the first half drew to a close we'd run out of steam somewhat with only the equaliser to show for it - once again the game could and should have been wrapped up by then. But of course we let Birmingham steal in again - Repka's marking of his man in the box little short of abysmal, he might as well have stepped aside while the striker poked the ball into the net.

And the second half was a true disaster, very hard to describe. We never at any point got going, the team were like strangers to each other, we started to panic way too early, and you can tell it must have been desperate because Roeder even turned to the subs bench to no avail.

If the manager is struggling to save his job, he must surely be devastated at the performance of his team in the second half especially - this was not a group of players fighting for their manager, this was a jaded bunch who looked to have finally given up the ghost. This is even more worrying than the result - at least we haven't lacked commitment in previous poor displays, this really was pitiful.

But Roeder isn't spared any blame - beyond the display there still are painfully obvious flaws with the long-ball tactics. If I have to see one more ball pumped forward for Defoe to jump at I think I might combust - it is stupid, stupid, stupid, full stop! - it's not as if it even works when Kanoute's playing. I just can't begin to understand why this tactic is given such importance in a West Ham setup so blessed with ball-players.

To be frank I'm running out of notes of optimism after this game - there's no arguing with the fact that some of our best home fixtures have already been wasted. I'm sure Roeder wouldn't disagree that this was a game we absolutely had to make sure we won at all costs - in the event we failed with barely a whimper...

WEST HAM PLAYER RATINGS

David James
Not perhaps the best preparation for a match - James clearly had a huge strop in the warm up with keeping coach Ludo Misklosko and had to run off the pitch before he totally lost it leaving Ludo fuming. And I'm not sure how happy he'd be with his performance early in the match as he failed to beat out a shot blasted right at him from Stern John.
Rating 6

Tomas Repka
An awful display, I just felt he was all over the place throughout the match, never quite where he should be. It's not something I can really put my finger on - perhaps for once he was quite simply outfought. And where he's usually a positive influence stepping forward, he just kept giving the ball away. Not good.
Rating 4

Gary Breen
The first goal is a plain embarrassment - no defender at this level can let his man trot straight through him to score. Hard to believe that little chips forward at a striker can give a premiership defender so many problems - he never looked comfortable, but at least kept his head up throughout. But this is not encouraging...
Rating 4

Seb Schemmel
Again, a player who just looked in trouble all the way through the match - he simply didn't manage to stifle Lazarides, not only losing the physical battle but looking terribly flat-footed at times. He wasn't too bad coming forward, but a defender needs to earn his corn defending, and I felt Seb just gave no protection or support to his other defenders. All over the shop...
Rating 4

Scott Minto
Solid if unspectacular, Minto at least got through his work without looking hopelessly outclassed. Neither is he terribly inspiring of course, though once again he linked up well with Di Canio at times and made a number of very positive forward runs.
Rating 6

Steve Lomas
Another influential player who seemed to have a stinker on the day - the quality of his passing for the most part was absolutely abysmal. And the battle with Cisse was won by the Senegal man I'm afraid, and Steve let the frustration boil over with a stamp on Cisse behind the referee's back. Whether he's overplaying or panicking too early, I feel Steve needs to remember what he's good at and get back to being a terrier in there rather than looking for that perfect pass when others beside him do it so much better.
Rating 4

Michael Carrick
An excellent first-half, a much less impressive second. He picked up where he left off at Chesterfield, with some breathtaking passing and a real desire for the ball as well - confidence at that point looked back to its highest. But as things crumbled in the second half so did his influence on the game - a shame he wasn't fed by Sinclair in the second half when totally free in the six-yard box.
Rating 7 MAN OF THE MATCH

Trevor Sinclair
The way he goes up for the long balls and drives forward to support the attack is always admirable, and he's one player who you know will always run all match whatever the situation. But I suppose he drew a blank really today, and graft was all he had to offer in the end.
Rating 6

Joe Cole
Took his finish well, and didn't he know it - it looked like a few weeks of bottled-up frustration came out in that moment. What a shame we end up with nothing to show for it. Again he was one of our positive influences coming forward, and actually could have gone down in the box under a definite penalty challenge but sadly stayed on his feet. Perhaps slightly unlucky to be subbed, but then Roeder had to look somewhere.
Rating 7

Paolo Di Canio
Started in good form, but was frankly a complete and total non-entity by the second half. For a player who assumes such responsibility for our play, he must take a lot of the blame for what was a totally toothless performance after the first half-hour.
Rating 6

Jermain Defoe
Ran all day and looked a bright spark whenever he got near the ball, which frankly wasn't enough. You have to say that for a player who so obviously thrives on goals, he simply didn't get put in at any point during the match - you wonder if we're quite playing to his strengths, not only by concentrating on long balls and crossing, but by over-elaborating once we get the ball in the last third. Jermain's at his best being played in behind the defence, yet I can't remember a clear-cut opening for him of that sort in the league this season.
Rating 6

Ian Pearce
Came on as right-back but with definite instructions to push right on. He was quite lively going forward actually, but his first test in defence was failed miserably as he let Lazirides cross totally unchallenged from the flank. Again not totally convincing.
Rating 6

Titi Camara
Came on and didn't look overawed, tried a couple of impressive tricks to try and beat his man, but didn't really get anywhere much. You just have to watch him warm up to see what incredible skill he has, and I saw just enough in the match to warrant a much more regular place from the bench...
Rating 6

SUBS NOT USED: Van der Gouw, Cisse, Winterburn.