In pole position we have Ludo’s very own monumental second half performance against Manchester Utd at the last match of the 1994-95 season.  The whole West Ham team came out that day and battled Man Utd in a display of commitment, pace and skill.  However, with the game locked at 1-1 Ludo had a golden last quarter of the match in which he seemed to erect a one man brick wall to keep out the increasingly desperate Utd attacks, including the one that resulted in the stunning point blank save from Andy Cole.

We fans knew nothing of him, when he was signed from Czech league during Lou Macari ’s brief managerial reign, but he went on to become a much loved figure at the football club.  Ludo put in many fine performances in the Hammers green jersey, but he will always be remembered for that stunning save from Andy Cole.  Not a bad highlight in a great and loyal career at the football club.  Is it?

Secondly, we have Phil Parkes’ defiance of WBA in the 3rd round FA Cup tie, away at the Hawthorns, in January 1980.  WBA outplayed us in that match, putting our rearguard under intense pressure.  The West Ham defence stood up well, but WBA breached our defence on a number of occasions.  And every time that they did, Big Phil Parkes was there pulling off save after save!  We got a draw and defeated them 3-1 in the reply and, as we all know, we won the Cup that season, with a superb victory over Arsenal in the Final. 

Billy Bonds in his autobiography recalled the quality and magnitude of that display by Parkes and how crucial it was to the Hammers progressing in the competition.  Amidst the post-match celebrations at Wembley he recalled looking over to Parkes and thinking, we would not even have got here if it had been for you, big man!  What a great tribute to Parkes from one of the greatest Hammers skippers of all time!

Thirdly, I would nominate Mervyn Day’s debut as a 17 year old against Ipswich Town, at Portman Road, in 1973.  Day’s debut was a trial by fire!  Bobby Robson’s Ipswich laid seige to our goal and the young man stopped everything thrown at him to earn a valuable draw.  After the match, Ron Greenwood famously said that Day would be the Hammers keeper for the next ten years!

Sadly, Greenwood’s prediction was wide of the mark.   By 1978 Day was displaced as first choice custodian at the club and soon after left for Leyton Orient.  Yet, for three seasons or so Day was probably the brightest goalkeeping prospect in English football.  He left with a FA Cup Winners medal, a ECWC Finalist medal and a number of U-21 caps for England; and memories of that fantastic debut and a memorable tribute from Greenwood.

My final choice has to be Rob Green’s superb goal keeping performance against Arsenal, at the Emirates, in the ‘great escape’ of 2006-07.  Yes, Zamora scored the winner in a 0-1 victory, but equally vital was the performance of Green in defying the gooners onslaught.  It was one of those games that we should have lost by rights, but for all Arsenal’s dominance they just could not find a way past that man Green.

So that’s my brief trip down goalkeeping memory lane, in honour of big Ludo.  Four stories and four great goal keeping performances!  Any others spring to mind?

SJ. Chandos.

The cohesion that we saw against Brum and Hull was missing, as was the vital work rate and commitment.  When you play Bolton you know beforehand that the game is going to be physical and aggressive.  You must match that and then go on to play your football.  As it was, the team failed to turn up from the kick off and we were quickly out fought in midfield and overran at the back. 

As I watched events on the pitch unfold, my mind drifted back to a memorable and hard fought West Ham win, when the team’s guts and aggression carried the day.  Bolton play a certain way, but the old Wimbledon FC were the original masters of that style.  I well remember the League Cup (or whatever it was called at that juncture) 4th round tie at Upton Park against them in 1989-90.  We won 1-0 with a Martin Allen goal, but the match itself was a running battle from start to finish.  Wimbledon came to intimidate and strong arm us, but the West Ham of the era of Dicks, Ward and Martin Allen stood up to the physical challenge that evening and won through.

If only we had shown a bit of that fighting spirit against Bolton, then they would not have walked all over us.  But it is old fashioned grit that this team appears to lack and Bolton exposed that yet again.  Lee Chung Yong’s play down the right flank troubled us and Davies and Elmander absolutely ran amok.  The early surrender by the Hammers midfield did not exactly help our centre-backs, but admittedly both Tomkins and Upson were poor on the day. 

The fact is that Owen Coyle got his tactics spot on and we failed to make the changes necessary to try to counter Bolton’s early ascendancy.  We were clearly, yet again, vulnerable to attacks down the right side.  As I previously suggested after the Man Utd match, Zola had the option of trying to counter it by playing Daprela in front of Spector and moving Diamanti inside to support Cole.  But there was no reaction from the bench after Bolton’s first goal, when it was apparent that we needed to make changes.  After we conceded the second it was virtually game over!  I am generally supportive of Zola-Clarke, but I found their delay in acting  inexplicable.

We started the match by trying to play our usual passing game, but all to no avail.  Bolton’s pressing tactics broke up and frustrated our forward play.   I thought that Cahill’s absence would prove a bonus for Carlton Cole, but in truth Bolton did not even need him.  Cole and Franco’s immobility up front made it far too easy for Zat Knight and co.

This season, the crowd at Upton Park have grown increasingly frustrated at the number of square balls and back passes.  Usually the player on the ball incurs the crowd’s wrath.  Yet, might it be the case that that our strikers are not working sufficiently hard off the ball to create the improved options for the forward pass?  Strikers need to make intelligent runs to dislodge defenders and create options and space.  Anyone lucky enough to have seen Geoff Hurst play will know that he was a master at this.  Hurst consistently worked hard off the ball,  making powerful runs in and around the box, pulling opposing defenders out of position and creating valuable space for himself and his team mates. 

Of course, the lack of real pace amongst our current strikers does not help.  The injured Zavon Hines is genuinely pacey and, of the others, Ilan is reputed to be quick in the final third, although we have seen precious little evidence of it so far.   However, we do miss having the option of playing the ball over the top for a pacy Bellamy type to run at and expose opposition defences. 

The performance against Bolton was, indeed, abject.  There can be no excuses made.  On Saturday we saw one side of the West Ham coin, their predictable inability to deal with a team like Bolton’s aggressive playing style.  The other side is the corresponding trait to play well and pull off unlikely results against the top PL teams. 

Now would undoubtedly be a good time for that latter tendency to reassert itself, with the tough Arsenal and Chelski away games coming up.  Will the team heed Valon Behrami’s clarion call to sort themselves out and put in some timely performances?  We can only hope that they do?

Beyond Arsenal and Chelski, Wolves await in a genuine ‘must win’ fixture!  In truth we probably need to win a minimum of four points from the next three matches to get firmly back on track.    

SJ. Chandos.

And apologies that I missed out Mido from the Bolton game players. Not that he would have troubled the scorers very much

Make no mistake, we could have conceded four or five. And most of them to Kevin Davis, who I predicted in my match preview would continue to a thorn in our side. Our central defenders were awful today. Slow, cumbersome and all over the shop. Upson in particular seemed to be on a different wavelength. Tomkins was clearly to blame for the second goal. But if his performance was off beam, then I don’t know how I can describe Spector’s. Woeful. He was given a complete runaround by the Bolton Number 27 from Korea. He looked a very good player down the right. Faubert was largely anonymous and then had to go off injured.

And it wasn’t a lot better in midfield. Parker had a bit of an off game for him. He went on one or two surging runs into the area, but once he gets there you just know he doesn’t know what to do next. And it always comes to nothing. Behrami was all over the pitch again, but not necessarily in a good way. His passing was atrocious today. Kovac had bursts of endeavour, but for most of the game he was in his normal headless chicken mode. Dyer nearly scored with his first touch, and had a few good little mazy runs, but none of them came to anything.

Up front Cole had his quietest game of the season and Franco was simply terrible. Mido hardly got a touch when he came on. The only bright spark was Stanislas, who came on for the last fifteen minutes and nearly resuced a point in injury time with a piledriver which hit the bar.

We didn’t ever look like getting in the game. If we had snatched a draw it would have been completely undeserved. They came to complete a mission to stop us playing our normal game and it worked. I’d hate to have to watch Bolton every week, but today they did what they had to do. And it had to be us who gave them their first away win since September. Bloody typical.

And as if my day couldn’t get any worse, I never even saw the Diamanti goal. The bloke in front of me stood up as if to leave, but stayed standing so I completely missed it. I was less than gruntled, as I told him in no uncertain terms. ******.

Oh well, we’ll get six points from the next two games to make up for today. No sweat. Ahem.

Bolton have a number of injury worries. Our only new absentee is Mark Noble, who has an injured arm. Thankfully Scott Parker is fit again. I susoect, therefore, we will see the same lineup that did so well against Burnley, which means no starting place for Jack Collison again.

Green
Faubert
Spector
Tomkins
Upson
Kovac
Parker
Diamanti
Behrami
Franco
Cole

The Roman goddess Fortuna was considered to hold sway over the affairs of mankind, bestowing either good or bad luck as she saw fit.  Indeed, the Roman Fortuna was essentially fickle and indiscriminate in the way in which she intervened in classic lives, whether for good or for bad.   

It is with the advent of the Renaissance that fortuna was placed within the context of personal action or conduct.  Renaissance thinkers introduced the concept of virtue, that idea that fortune favours the virtuous individual via their principles and personal conduct.  It’s clearest and most stark expression is in Machiavelli’s seminal work on the exercise of political power,The Prince, in which he states that fortune always favours the strong person that takes decisive action.

Why take this little philosophical diversion?  Because I feel that it sheds some light on West Ham’s position at the moment.  Fortuna has most definitely smiled on West Ham in the last two weeks, with virtually every result going our way.  Indeed, last weekend it felt almost as if West Ham’s position was consolidated without us even kicking a ball in anger.  If the Roman Fortuna has done us an initial  good turn, now it is time for the club to make its own luck, in the Renaissance sense, by ’seizing the day’ on the pitch against Bolton Wanderers.

No match with Wanderers is easy or unproblematic.  Their brand of anti-football, based on aggression and forcing the play, is one that we have struggled to come to terms with.  However, the diagnosis is the same as that I advocated against Birmingham City, just magnified!  We need to put in the work rate, match their commitment and then bring our greater technique and skill in to play to win the match.

Obviously we must dominate in midfield and (whatever combination is selected from) Parker, Kovac, Behrami  and Noble will need to get their foot in, stand strong and impose themselves.  However, another area of key importance will be the clash between Upson-Tomkins and Davies-Elmander.  You have to grudgingly admire Kevin Davies, he is an aggressive and awkward centre forward that gets in where it hurts.  He has done more than any individual Bolton player to take far too many points from us in recent seasons.  Upson needs to be sure footed on Saturday and use all his strength and experience to deal with him, whilst Tomkins counters the faster, more mobile Elmander.  

Elsewhere, Bolton are likely to be weakened by the absence of Gary Cahill in central defence.  That is an important omission and it should give Carlton Cole greater freedom up front.   It will certainly be interesting to see who partners Cole, the technically superior Franco, the stronger, imposing Mido or the more mobile Ilan?   At the time of writing I am assuming that McCarthy is not fit as yet and, if he is, he will be eased back via the bench.

It is crucial that we build on our recent good fortune and grab the three points, especially with the highly challenging (but not hopeless) away matches with Arsenal and Chelski coming up. 

‘Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the next.’  Well said Horace, be advised Zola!

SJ Chandos.

The interesting point arising from the story (if true) is that the club are prepared to grant him a contract extension on his existing (alleged) terms of £65,000 a week wage.  Moreover, Sullivan has supposedly expressed the hope that Upson will sign to return the favour that he granted him  in  allowing Upson to move from Birmingham City to West Ham in January 2007!   

Will he sign again?  It all depends what offers his agent receives from other clubs?  Especially if the offer is from the likes of  Arsenal, Liverpool or Man City, who are candidates to compete in the Champions League next season.  One thing is certain, Gold & Sullivan will not hesitate to sell him in the close season if the club’s overtures fail.  They certainly will not allow him to run down his existing contract and just walk away, at the end of next season, without receiving a fee.  Nor should they, if Upson will not play ball then the club must get the best deal that they can for the player.

Personally, I would probably favour Upson staying.  We will be hard pressed to find another player of similar quality and at 30 years of age he is at his peak  as a central defender.  Certainly, if Upson goes then we will most certainly have find another experienced defender (probably two if Gabbidon also moves on) to provide the know-how to assist Tomkins and the likes of Spence, Ngala, Fry and Eyolfsson to develop as first teamers. 

Yes, Upson has not had the best of seasons for us so far.  But it should not be forgotten just how consistent he had been over the previous two seasons.  He did it before and he can do it again next season.  Gabbidon’s injury record indicates that he is likely to exit in the summer, so lets get in another old head to cover Upson and give our stable of outstanding young central defenders the chance to compete to play alongside him.

Good luck to Green, Upson and Cole with England tonight.  Here’s hoping for successful international appearances for all three Hammers players, but no injuries, please!!!!

SJ. Chandos.

SSN and other media sources have since reported on the contents.  Some of the key points highlighted are that:  £45m of short-term debt was owed to the banks; the club has made losses of c.70m over the last three seasons; £14m is outstanding to other clubs; in 2007-08 the total wage bill increased by 50%; at its height the wage bill stood at c.80% of the club’s annual turnover; the contracts of two players signed in 2007-08 (one who has since left the club) will cost £34m for a current return of 32 matches played; and Dean Ashton’s settlement of his new 5 year contract, on his retirement, cost the club £5.8m.  

The club’s Financial Director states, in his report, that some decisions made in 2007-08 were ill-judged and the level of expenditure did not bring the expected on-pitch success.  He does, however, also report that a process of wage/cost reduction was commenced in 2008-09 to address the financial situation via player sales and the recruitment of less costly replacements.  

Unfortunately I have not had an opportunity to examine the accounts first hand.  I hope to rectify that tomorrow.  No doubt there is other interesting information in there to be extracted and scrutinised?   In the meantime, over to you for comment!

SJ. Chandos.