The Bright Side of matters

[Nicey]

Listen after last nights result we are all allowed to be a little pissed off. It is a reflection of our expectation levels and how far we have come that we go top of the lg and are not happy about it.

But for a moment if we can look on the bright side, we have gone top of the Lg whilst not playing no where near our best football. We have gone top of the lg whilst missing our No. 1 Striker for much the season. We have gone top of the league with over 1 3rd of the season gone. We are top of the League of performance against the top half of the Premiership. We are top of the top 4 lg. We have sorted qualification for the Champions Lg with a game in hand, comfortably.

Last night whilst the result could have been better, our performance as a team was markably improved. The Hammers keeper made number of fantastic saves, a couple of them truly world class. Also lets give credit to the Hammers they were impressively well organised and did not tire in the 2nd half as they usually do. Obviously this something we need to seriously take a look at and I am sure Rafa will be.

But I repeat we are top of the league whilst technically playing through bad form, that's the mark of potential champions

[ronanm]

I agree to an extent. I woke up this morning, put on the computer and couldn't believe the result. During a brisk walk to work, I thought to myself at least we are top of the league. However, we have dropped 6 points at home now vs. West Ham, Stoke and Fulham - this isn't a sign of champions imo. We need to start winning these. There are no longer any excuses - results like these mean we need to win at Highbury in a couple of weeks. We should be benchmarking our results vs. our expectations - not what other teams do at the weekend. And we should be beating that drivel every season. This was another chance to create a gap. Still, for the moment, top of the league.

[SB]

Listen after last nights result we are all allowed to be a little pissed off. It is a reflection of our expectation levels and how far we have come that we go top of the lg and are not happy about it.

But for a moment if we can look on the bright side, we have gone top of the Lg whilst not playing no where near our best football. We have gone top of the lg whilst missing our No. 1 Striker for much the season. We have gone top of the league with over 1 3rd of the season gone. We are top of the League of performance against the top half of the Premiership. We are top of the top 4 lg. We have sorted qualification for the Champions Lg with a game in hand, comfortably.

Last night whilst the result could have been better, our performance as a team was markably improved. The Hammers keeper made number of fantastic saves, a couple of them truly world class. Also lets give credit to the Hammers they were impressively well organised and did not tire in the 2nd half as they usually do. Obviously this something we need to seriously take a look at and I am sure Rafa will be.

But I repeat we are top of the league whilst technically playing through bad form, that's the mark of potential champions

Clutching at straws I'm afraid.

Rafa's team selections at times bemuse me to the point of tears.

[Nicey]

I disagree, there is absolutely no drivel in the Lg this campaign and the table is a testament to this. It is the opinion of all the top managers and its certainly seems to be the case. There is no way you can call West Hams performance last night drivel. History also disagrees with you assessment, time and time again the stats have shown, whoever wins the Top 4 Lg wins the the lg .. look at Man United last season ... They got beaten by West Ham, Beaten by Man City home and away, Beaten by Bolton, dropped points at Reading, Pompey, Blackburn, Boro etc

Lets put things in perspective please

[Nicey]

Clutching at straws I'm afraid.

Rafa's team selections at times bemuse me to the point of tears.

Excuse me how the **** can I be clutching at straws .. the stats do not lie .. we are to of the lg end of story, we are 6 points clear of United, 1 ahead of Chelsea who are arguably playing better football. We have making are way through a section of the season were historically we have been weakest and coming out top and moving into the 2nd half of the season were again historically we are strongest of all teams ...

Does not take a brain surgeon tell you the last few results have not been ideal but we will pull ourselves out of it, we have too much quality all over the park
We are top now, we are in control, it is up to us to stay there

[ronanm]

I disagree, there is absolutely no drivel in the Lg this campaign and the table is a testament to this. It is the opinion of all the top managers and its certainly seems to be the case. There is no way you can call West Hams performance last night drivel. History also disagrees with you assessment, time and time again the stats have shown, whoever wins the Top 4 Lg wins the the lg .. look at Man United last season ... They got beaten by West Ham, Beaten by Man City home and away, Beaten by Bolton, dropped points at Reading, Pompey, Blackburn, Boro etc

Lets put things in perspective please

I agree - whoever wins the 'top 4 league' will be there or thereabouts - 3 points won against the Scum this year means we're 6 points better off against them this season. Nonetheless, these results mean we have to beat the other 3 in the top 4 which is more difficult to do.

[Matt]

But I repeat we are top of the league whilst technically playing through bad form, that's the mark of potential champions

Winning at Man City, Everton and Chelsea is the mark of potential champions - taking 1 point each at home to Stoke, Fulham and West Ham is actually relegation form.

Said it yesterday but we are utterly dismal at capitalising on rivals' poor results. I don't know if its a pressure thing but my big worry is that if we're still in with a shout near the end of the season and we get a chance to put one over on Utd and Chelsea, we'll crumble.

[Resu]

My positives after last night:
- Top of the league
- Dossena, hopefully he`ll build on this
- Babel looked lively
- Hmmm, I`m starting to struggle now

[rudedog]

Dissapointed by the result obviously but for the first time in a long long time we can actualy say the league title in now in our own hands.

[Woobus]

results like these mean we need to win at Highbury in a couple of weeks.

If we play there I cant see there being much of a crowd Mind you it will probably be as noisy as the Emirates.

[MindGuerrillas]

However, we have dropped 6 points at home now vs. West Ham, Stoke and Fulham - this isn't a sign of champions imo.

And yet we have more points at home than anyone else. With so many terrible home records this might be the first year ever when nobody wins the league

[Big Dave]

We really do need to win these games. Taking 3 points from the "lesser" teams especially at home will mean it's less important to have to go to Arsenal and Man Utd and get a result. Those 6 points that we've dropped against Fulham, West Ham and Stoke would have allowed us to go to these places and not have to win.

Still, it's nice to be top of the league and still disappointed!!

[Resu]

We really do need to win these games. Taking 3 points from the "lesser" teams especially at home will mean it's less important to have to go to Arsenal and Man Utd and get a result. Those 6 points that we've dropped against Fulham, West Ham and Stoke would have allowed us to go to these places and not have to win.

Still, it's nice to be top of the league and still disappointed!!

Actually it`s a sign of how far Rafa has taken us. He`s not perfect, and I have my doubts about some of his tactics and people skills, but when everybody is moaning after us going top he has to do something right.
It a strange feeling, i`m not used to this in december.

[The Birdman]

I'm generally optomistic but last night left me frustrated more than anything.
On the plus side I thought Dossena was very good, maybe Aurellio being out will allow him a run of games to settle in, he and Riera linked up well and were far more productive than our right hand side.

These are the bits that left me bemused -
Hyypia?? why play him? do Man U or Chelsea change their centre halfs depending on who the opposition play upfront?? is Rafa saying that Agger, an international centre half can't handle Carlton bloody Cole??
Bennyoun was very average, I thought he tried hard but again if a captain of his country can't see that we needed width and for him to hug the touchline rather than getting in Gerrards and Alonso's way through the middle then he is clearly playing for himself and not the team.
Kuyt was back to his headless chicken game - why he shot from 20 plus yards instead of playing Gerrard in again beggers belief, he should have been moved right when N'Gog came on.
Keane - did nothing but then what do we expect? he is being played in a role totally alien to him, asked to stay right up top while Kuyt dropped in to make a midfield 5, why they both didn't roam and alternate who played right up top is a mystery to me.

Perhaps controversally to some on here but Babel was ****e, wandered around dis-interested, sulking and apart from 1 shot did nothing. The worst thing for me was he gave the ball away on the half way line and stood and watched as West Ham broke away to nearly score, he had been on 5 minutes and couldn't be arsed to chase back - that is why he isn't getting picked imo, he doesn't work hard enough, watch how hard Rooney and Ronaldo work for the team then compare to Babel, he is wasting his talent and wasting our time and money at the moment.

[Resu]

I think Hyypia played due to his strength in the air, and it very nearly paid off.