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WHO Poll

Q: 09/10 Chelsea Away.

a/ Zola to Bloody the nose of his old club. An unlikey 3pts to West Ham.
10%

b/ West Ham to find some spirit, but not enough. A point a piece.
16%

c/ We'll roll over like the useless bunch of c*nts we've become.
55%

d/ Hooray! Hooray! Time for some shopping down the Kings Road and then off to a lovely little bistro I know.
2%

e/ JTsey, RAAAAARRRR. Lampsey, RAAAAAARRRRR, I just wanna kill someone, RAAAAARRRRR. Cnt, cnt, c*nt.
17%


On the Forums	Updated By	Posts
JUST SUFFERED A BAD BEAT............ Posted by mph	chim chim cha boo 1:53 Wed Mar 10	4

Women you would marry tomorrow.... Posted by madeeasy	joe royal 1:53 Wed Mar 10	54

Lampsey or JTsey Posted by Knob Jockey	Xnulian Rrudho 1:32 Wed Mar 10	4

Wolves, Hull and Burnley Posted by Bleeding Claret	Coffee 1:20 Wed Mar 10	118

Latest Article

Vinny's Bolton Report
Vinny 07 Mar 2010

West Ham United 1 Bolton Wanderers 2

Bolton recorded their third victory over West Ham since August as two first half goals were enough to deal a crippling blow to West Ham and their chances of survival.

Much has been spoken about the home games which pose a much easier task than those away from Upton Park. So far it had been going well with the wins over Birmingham and Hull but this is a massive set back and once again drains confidence from the players and supporters.

For me this was simply a case of the other team wanting it more. Bolton may have a new manager but their style was much the same and the excellent Kevin Davies taught James Tomkins a lesson all day long. Bolton deserved their victory and we didn’t do enough throughout the ninety minutes to warrant even a point.

It was disappointing to see the fans turn so quickly on the players and manager considering how positive they had been after the last two homes games. The booing, the cunting off of particular players (Cole in particular) just made a horrible afternoon even worse.

Zola will be blamed although there was little I saw wrong with his team selection which was the same that started against Hull in our last home game.

There was just one change made from the side who were beaten by Manchester United and that was Scott Parker coming in for Mark Noble. Parker had been ‘rested’ as he was one yellow card away from a two match ban. Mark Noble was not on the bench as he was out injured with an arm injury picked up in that game.

Jack Collison was also out injured so his place on the bench was taken by Junior Stanislas.

In our last home game we had come flying out of the blocks and bombarded the opposition with high tempo attacking football. This could not have been more different as we played into Bolton’s hands as they attempted to play a slow long ball game and break up the play with tough challenges in order to frustrate us. Rarely have I seen a game plan work so well and rarely have I seen the other side play so foolishly into their hands.

From the off it seemed as though Kevin Davies was going to be a problem. He is very good at what he does and up against young defender James Tomkins it was an obvious mis match.

With ten minutes on the clock this issue became all the more evident at Bolton took the lead. It was such a simple goal and one that was down to some poor defending mixed with a player who is deadly in the air.

The ball came out to Chung-Yong Lee on the right hand side who put a cross into the area where Tomkins misjudged the flight of the ball, Faubert did not stay with his man and Davies put his header firmly past Green to put the visitors a goal up.

Whilst it was a bad defensive mistake it should have never got to that point as Diamanti had bottled out of a tackle in the centre of midfield which led to Bolton gaining possession. This is the issue you have when playing Diamanti in midfield as if possession is lost it is a much more danger than if he had done this further up the pitch alongside Carlton Cole.

We needed to react but the football never seemed to get going. Parker was of course the one who looked likely to drive us forward. Our first chance of the game came from a free kick just outside the area in which Diamanti curled the ball over the wall but also over the bar.

Bolton should have increased their lead with Elmander having a couple of very good chances as we looked in disarray at the back. The frustration was starting to be vented by many of the fans and things got worse just before the half hour mark as some quite abysmal defending saw Bolton (just like last season) take a two goal lead.

A long ball was played towards our area with Tomkins and Davies racing for the ball. Tomkins was way in front but instead of clearing the ball he attempted to let the ball run out for a goal kick. Davies was not going to give this us and got a boot to the ball to cross it into the area and this found Cohen who head the ball down for the unmarked Jack Wilshire who finished from a just a few yards out.

It was real car crash defending and given how we had failed to make anything happen at the other end you just could not see at the point how we were going to get back into the game.

The other concern was how many Bolton could actually get because that defensive was the worse we have seen it in quite some time. Upson should have been put on Davies from the moment it was clear that Tomkins was struggling. Upson as captain should have taken responsibility and I’m pretty fucked off that nothing was done about this because Davies was having a field day.

Diamanti had another free kick after Parker was fouled and this time it made the target but was saved by Jaaskelainen.

Our best chance by a mile came soon after when Cole was played through on goal but instead of taking his shot Cole seemed to have this impression he could just run through the goal keeper and failed to take his shot which saw defender Sam Ricketts get a foot in and Jaaskelainen smother the ball.

Lee should have made it three for Bolton after some horrible defending from Upson whose terrible header played it into the path of the South Korean but his shot went well wide. He is a player who has really impressed me in the games I have seen him play against us this season. He was by far the best player when we played them at the Reebok in December and it is nice to see wingers flourish given that I never see any at West Ham any more.

The usual boo’s rang out as the ref blew the half time whistle but there was a deafening hush around the ground as we saw the return of the sensational Hammerettes. Oh yes, they were back and on top of their game. Any thoughts of poor defending were gone and not even Kevin Davies could spoil their return.

But sadly the players returned and this had seen Zola make no changes to the side who were quite clearly getting beat up by a Bolton side who wanted it more and were getting what they deserved.

Just two minutes of the second period had elapsed when Julien Faubert was forced off with injury and he was replaced by Dyer who was met with a mixed response from the crowd. I presume this is because Dyer deliberately get injured?

But Dyer should have made an instant impact when a cross into the area saw Cole flick the ball towards Dyer who somehow saw his shot go over from just a few yards out. It was a great chance to get us back into the game.

Bolton were happy to sit back and attempt to hit us on the break and there were a couple of times where Elmander may have thought he should have done better with half chances which fell his way.

The visitors found themselves down to ten men with around twenty minutes to go as Cohen saw red for as he picked up his second yellow.

Franco should have scored soon after when he was set up by Parker but the Mexican blazed his shot over the bar and the board was put up a moment later with his number as he was being replaced by Mido. The ironic cheers met by this decision were a bit unfair to Franco who although had being having a poor games was no worse than anyone else.

Zola made another change soon after replacing Kovac with Stanislas as we looked to go for broke and find some way back into the game.

Half chances followed with Stanislas shooting just over the bar from a free kick and Diamanti (who by this time had moved to the right hand side) seeing his cross met by a tame header from Dyer.

It was announced that Alessandro Diamanti had been given the man of the match award which puzzled many including myself given that he had been poor on and off the ball. A couple of decent free kicks did not seem to merit being announced as our best player.

There was never a constant wave of pressure from ourselves and despite having the extra man Bolton were solid and stuck to their game plan. Bolton manager Owen Coyle had won the tactical battle with Zola who seemed void of any idea to get the players going once again.

With just a couple of minutes left a headed Bolton clearance went as far Diamanti who cut inside and hit an excellent left footed strike past Jaaskelainen to make it 1-2. As I was saying, Diamanti was obviously our best player.

As we looked to attack Bolton hit us on the counter and a cross to the back post was met by Davies who saw his shot crash off the crossbar.

As the fourth official held up five minutes injury time the fans were willing the team on to get what at this point would have been a very unlikely point. When a situation arises like this in football the team looking for that goal always seems to get that one chance and that did happen on this occasion.

The ball played into the area was cleared as far as Stanislas who saw his half volley beat Jaaskelainen but smack off the bar and was eventually cleared to the dismay of the rapidly emptying Upton Park.

A poor performance and a soul destroying result.

Player Reviews

Robert Green
Nothing at all he could have done with the two goals as they were both close range finished after some shocking defending.

Julien Faubert
Tried to get forward in the first half to support Behrami and I had thought this might be a chance for us to get some crosses into Franco and Cole but Bolton seemed to be able to snuff out this threat and Faubert was seen less and less. Can also be put at fault for their opening goal as he let Davies get in front of him far too easily.

Matthew Upson
An awful performance from the Captain. Any leadership quality he is meant to have was certainly not on show and why he wasn’t the one marking Kevin Davies is something I obviously need explained to me.

James Tomkins
Had a part to play in both Bolton goals. Was poor throughout the game, was bullied by Davies and this was probably his worst performance of the season.

Jonathan Spector
Struggled although some of the passes that were made to him were always going to play him in trouble. His issue with having to get it on his right foot was quite clearly something Bolton were aware of and every time he got the ball he was closed down very quickly.

Valon Behrami
A decent display although drifted in and out of the game in the second half . He worked hard and always battled for possession. Not too many complaints for Berhami.

Radoslav Kovac
Gave the ball away far too many times and should have been taken off long before he was. Kovac often battled, won the ball but then proceeded to give away the ball.

Scott Parker
Did not have as much impact as in recent weeks but for me he was out best player yet again. His ability to retain the ball despite being closed down by three players was excellent and he rarely played a poor pass.

Alessandro Diamanti
A couple of free kicks in the first half can’t disguise that he was pretty poor. When he gets the ball you do have the expectation that he will do something clever with the ball but far too often this expectation is not met. He scored a good goal but in a midfield position he doesn’t do enough for me. His role since he joined the club should have been the second striker.

Guillermo Franco
Never in the game enough, wasteful in possession and never looked like scoring at any point. Would not be surprised if we played Mido or Ilan against Chelsea.

Carlton Cole
This was the worst performance I have seen from Carlton Cole in a long time. He was shocking at times and Zat Knight found it very easy to get the better of him. He should have scored in the first half and I am just hoping this is a minor blip because we can’t have Cole playing badly.

Subs Used

Kieron Dyer (on for Faubert 47 mins)
Looked lively although anytime he makes of these sub appearances he usually does. The what happens is that he starts a game and gets injured. So despite a few decent runs and pieces of play I have no expectations for Dyer.

Mido (on for Franco 67 mins)
On for over twenty minutes and I don’t recall him doing anything of note

Junior Stanislas (on for Kovac 75 mins)
On for the last fifteen minutes and certainly made an impact. Hit the bar which nearly got us the unlikely equaliser. A decent cameo from a player who seems to have fallen so far down the pecking order when Collison and Noble are back he won’t even make the bench.

Subs Not Used: Stech, Ilan, Da Costa, Daprela

Bookings: Kovac, Diamanti

Man Of The Match: Scott Parker

Attendance: 33,824

Overall

After two excellent home victories this is certainly a set back but one we must not get hung up on and we must look to the next game and ensure we get something out of the game. We need out better players to really stand up and be counted because too many of them put in poor performances and whilst you can usually accommodate one player off his game to have players such as Upson, Tomkins, Franco and Cole all playing so badly things are always going to be a struggle.

Bolton came with a game plan, stuck to it and deserved their win. In fact I would say with some of the chances they had in the latter stages of the first half they should have been well out of sight and the only disappointing thing from their point of view can only be that we were so close to equalising at the end.

Next Game - Chelsea (a)

I am not buying this opinion that this game is a write off. I am not paying over £40 to watch us go and lose. I want us to compete and we did just that last season so why can’t we do it again?

What I would do is change the team slightly and bring in Dyer on the wing with Diamanti pushed forward just behind Carlton Cole. We still have enough going forward but also enough in midfield to compete with one of the best teams in the country.

Our issue away at Old Trafford was that every time the strikers got the ball it would not stick as they had no support from the midfield. Diamanti would cause more damage in a central area and his inability to defend means a midfield slot for him is detrimental to the team.

I still think we will stay up as I am confident we will win three more homes games which I believe will be just about enough anyway. But Bolton showed us that there is a lot more work to do and relegation is still a big threat.

Zola's View

"I'm disappointed," .

"I wasn't expecting that. Nobody was. The way we started the game determined the result.

"They were better than us and took advantage of their opportunities. In the second half it was difficult, we tried until the end but it's our fault and I have no complaints."

"When [Johan] Elmander and Davies are playing like that it's not easy,"

"They are difficult to handle. James has potential. He needs to work on his game. We had opportunities to come back after the goal but by then it was too late. We lost points today and I told the players we have to go and get them back somewhere else."

"I must say that after every international game you never know what you are going to get. It can be good it can be good. It is difficult to assess the squad in one day's training. It is disappointing because it came before a very important game."

"I don't care if we're playing Chelsea or Arsenal. Last year we got a point in both games, so you never know. I'm not going to go there already beaten, that's for sure," "In football you never know and I am not going to give up.

"I know we lost a game but there is a lot to play for and we have learned a lot from this game. I want more focus, I want more from the beginning to set the tone. We have to do that. We have to keep our chin up, being down won't help the situation."

This report is dedicated to Mr Sensible - My inspiration through difficult times.

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Vinny's Bolton Report
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Posted 02 Mar 2010

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