Zola needs more stick and less carrot to get it right at West Ham

By Jacob Steinberg in West Ham United Fans Blog

Published 18:23 08/03/10

• 

Kieron Dyer was just trying to be helpful, but Gianfranco Zola might ask him to keep quiet in future. As in comedy, timing is paramount in football and it did Zola no favours that on the weekend that Martin O'Neill’s half-time team-talk inspired Aston Villa to return from the dead against Reading, Dyer revealed that Saturday’s shambolic home defeat to Bolton was the first time he had seen the West Ham manager get angry.

Now, it would be easy to reject Dyer’s revelations given that the midfielder has suffered such an injury-ravaged few years at West Ham that he would have been in the dressing room on just a few occasions to witness Zola remain sympathetic to the tea cups. The problem is that it is an image that sticks to Zola and, indeed, one he has cultivated. It is no surprise to learn that a man regularly referred to as the nicest in the game has been reluctant to lose his temper when necessary.

Having a likeable personality is all well and good, but even the widest of smiles will not win football matches. A cursory glance at the best managers reveals none could give two hoots about upsetting their players. David Beckham and others may refer to Sir Alex Ferguson as a father figure, but when they do so, they are not reminiscing about games of catch in the back yard. They are remembering how Ferguson would push them to realise his and their greatest ambitions.

When Jose Mourinho was at Chelsea, he once saw Joe Cole score the winner against Liverpool. His response was to castigate him for losing possession in his own half. It provided a stark contrast to Cole’s time at West Ham, when he spoke in effusive terms about Glenn Roeder being a great coach and a great man. Great - but Roeder got West Ham relegated. Mourinho did not criticise Cole simply to play the bad guy, he did it to make him a more effective player, and it worked.

Players tend to prefer a manager who indulges them. Yet footballers can't be trusted to know what is best for them in the long run. The England squad under Sven-Goran Eriksson - and Steve McLaren after him - descended into an ill-disciplined rabble and it took the appointment of the uncompromising Fabio Capello to knock the delinquents into shape, a headmaster to unruly children. Out went mobile phones, in came shirts and ties. Results swiftly followed.

History does appear to side with the tyrants. For Zola, this quality is an alien concept, yet if he wishes to keep his job beyond the end of this season, it is one he needs to embrace. Unless Zola is keeping his rage bubbling away under the surface, like an Italian Ned Flanders, it seems unlikely. Certainly his boss, David Sullivan, believes that Zola is too nice for management and it is a consensus that is gathering more and more momentum.

More of the stick, less of the carrot then. The trouble is that Zola himself has resembled a rabbit paralysed by headlights all season and nothing summed this up better than his inability to buck up the young defender, James Tomkins, who was being given something of a schooling by Bolton’s Kevin Davies. Compare and contrast with the public stream of invective Ferguson directed at the Manchester United defender, Jonny Evans, after a particularly slack-jawed first half in Milan last month.

After beating Birmingham and Hull City in their last two games at Upton Park, West Ham merely needed more of the same against Bolton. The importance of starting well was especially emphasised against Hull, when West Ham tore into the visitors immediately and were a goal up inside three minutes. Against Bolton they did precisely the opposite and were two down inside the first 20 minutes.

West Ham have just about enough quality and winnable games to ensure that relegation should not be an option, but the defeat to Owen Coyle’s side was symptomatic of the manner in which they have sleep-walked their way down the table. Too often they have allowed matches to slip away from them, only starting to play when the situation has become desperate. Last month they trailed 2-0 at Burnley but could have won the game based on the final 15 minutes.

Even against Bolton, West Ham could have snatched a draw following the frustrating Alessandro Diamanti’s 88th minute curler. In stoppage-time, Junior Stanislas, a youngster who shows a refreshing lack of inhibition, crashed an effort against the crossbar. Even Zola knew that would only have papered over the cracks, admitting Bolton deserved to win.

Davies, naturally, was a nuisance. The striker enjoys playing against West Ham and has now scored eight goals in his last 10 games against them, so it made little sense that he was marked by the youthful Tomkins when he had an England centre-back alongside him. It was epic cowardice on the part of Matthew Upson - the captain, no less - not to swap strikers with his inexperienced partner. Capello will surely have been deeply unimpressed by Upson reneging on his responsibilities as West Ham’s supposed leader.

And that is what West Ham lack: leadership. Scott Parker cannot perform miracles every week and when little guidance is forthcoming from the touchline, it is impossible not to pine once more for last season’s captain, Lucas Neill. Expensive he might have been, but he contributed more than Dyer whose lasting impact may be to unwittingly convince West Ham that Zola is not for them.

Fancy winning £3,000 for FREE this month? Play Mirror Football Streak for your chance to win cash prizes! Start predicting now!