West Ham look powerless to resist the pull of the relegation black hole

By Jacob Steinberg in West Ham United Fans Blog

Published 16:24 29/03/10

• 

Jacob Steinberg writes about West Ham for MirrorFootball...

A little time away can do wonders for the soul, and Gianfranco Zola’s sojourn to Sardinia after West Ham’s defeat to Stoke City on Saturday appears to have reinvigorated his appetite for the job.

Zola returned home to be alone with his thoughts and reflect on whether or not to resign after a sixth defeat in a row left West Ham level on points with Hull City, who are third from bottom. He has since vowed to keep on fighting, although so deep-rooted is the malaise afflicting the club, it is doubtful it will do any good.

Zola: 'I'm staying at West Ham'  

Clearly the co-owners, David Sullivan and David Gold, are not going to sack Zola with six games left in the season. Zola challenged them to fire him in the emotional aftermath of Saturday’s game, yet despite repeated public and private criticisms of manager and players, the pair have taken no action.

Sullivan, in particular, has made his feelings about Zola’s capabilities eminently obvious, so we can rule out any notion of him sticking by his man. More likely is that no-one else is willing to take charge of a side for whom relegation seems inevitable. Perhaps they just don’t want to be the men who shot Bambi.

After being mauled by Wolves at home last Tuesday, Sullivan went on a PR offensive, ripping into under-performing players and sending open letters to supporters revealing he had been unable to sleep after the humiliation by Mick McCarthy’s side. His tactics were not dissimilar to those used before the home game against Birmingham City in February, when he accused Zola of being too nice, predicted financial “Armageddon” should West Ham go down and warned players of pay cuts. West Ham won the game 2-0; Sullivan modestly congratulated himself.

Self-delusion is the reserve of rich men however, and games are not won on a regular basis by a chairman’s egotistical preening. They are won by managers and players, and here was where Sullivan’s comments rang true. West Ham's are not good enough. There was surely no worse opposition for a meek and nervous side to take on than Tony Pulis’ robust Stoke, hardly the sort to cede an inch against relegation strugglers.

In fairness to West Ham, unlike against Wolves, they could not be accused of a lack of effort. Quality, though, was a different matter. Despite Zola making five changes to his side, one suspects that West Ham could be playing now and still not have scored. Before the game it was noticeable that the advertising hoardings had been moved in to squeeze Rory Delap’s long throws for Stoke, but it was West Ham who were suffocated.

What brand of football do West Ham play? The inability to pinpoint precisely what sort of side they are - some might just mischievously say a bad one - is a notable shortcoming. They do not possess effective wide players, and they are too slow to set themselves up for rapier counter-attacks. Equally their thought process is laboured and their confidence on the floor, meaning last season’s effective passing game is consigned to the memory banks. On Saturday Zola paired Carlton Cole with Mido in attack, two big strikers, and mistakenly attempted to bombard Stoke’s giants with long balls.

Suffice to say, the ploy did not work. Cole is obviously carrying the effects of his knee injury, and either he has been rushed back, or he is thinking about his World Cup place. While Mido’s attitude is commendable, his physical condition is appalling. When Cole’s shot was patted straight into Mido’s path by Thomas Sorensen after 35 minutes, he was unable to react quickly enough to put the ball into an empty net. A goal then would have calmed the nerves.

This was not the only tactical miscalculation by Zola. Mark Noble’s return in midfield was welcome and he had a quietly effective game. Valon Behrami’s stationing on the left of midfield was more puzzling though. The use of inside-out wingers in the Premier League has become prevalent, but it is a subtle role that demands characteristics beyond Behrami's. He is essentially a defensive midfielder and although the ploy might have been to get him to maraud inside to link play, he is not creative enough to do so. And when he was required to use the left foot, the only people he troubled were sitting in the upper tier.

West Ham did, at least, cope well with Delap’s prodigious throws. Robert Green and Matthew Upson defended stoutly in this regard and Manuel Da Costa was also excellent in the air. It was a shame, then, that the two central defenders were less adept at coping with the Stoke substitute, Ricardo Fuller, on the ground. Fuller’s goal, the winner after 69 minutes, was excellently improvised, but Da Costa’s initial challenge was feeble and Upson was duped as well. Having worked himself into a shooting position, Fuller gave Green no chance.

And that was that. No rousing comeback from West Ham. They had not been outplayed, rather outdone by a piece of skill. The game was up the moment Fuller scored - West Ham have not won a single game this season after conceding first - and Zola’s response was incoherent. What meagre shape West Ham already had was further cut to shreds as Zola chucked on Benni McCarthy and Ilan, the introduction of more strikers surely the sign of a desperate manager.

There is now clichéd talk of West Ham having six cup finals left to salvage their season, but it will not have escaped anyone’s attention that the game against Stoke was similarly billed. Rhetoric is tiresome, the inability of either Zola or the players to instil any urgency into their approach on Saturday will have been a boon for Hull.

Relegation looms, and West Ham are powerless to resist. Even another email from the desk of David Sullivan won’t save them.

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