However, being the disinterested and often tired football fan I am by the time The Football League Show starts, I hadn’t seen West Ham’s football first-hand all season – bar their John Carew headed appearance at St. Mary’s earlier in this campaign – and thus, I hadn’t fully engaged on a wholehearted opinion on West Ham’s football this season, and still haven’t.
Yet, the Sam stereotype was something further enforced by the pre-game entertainment in which a montage of five recent Hammers goals were shown: three were penalties – two of them being described by the BBC as “controversial”; another was struck home by Winston Reid whilst David Forde laid motionless on the floor, having been floored by Julien Faubert, a goal that Millwall manager Kenny Jackett felt shouldn’t have stood; and the last of the five-goal highlights was a headed effort by Carlton Cole following a lofted ball into the box from deep.
Whilst the football isn’t pretty and the results, although victorious 56.67% of the time, aren’t always attractive, I can’t help admiring the relentless waves of attack that The Hammers led with in the opening stages, irrelevant of how direct they were or were not. They were like salmon swimming up water: they leaped up strong and regularly in attack and defence to head the ball clear and nod it down to runners gliding through the channels to meet the waiting balls and like salmon they didn’t give up when the tide was against them, like it was once Matty Taylor had been sent off.
When watching Southampton this season, despite the fact we’re the league’s top scorers, I have been hit with twinges of frustration when the neat, slick football isn’t paying off and a quick switch to something more direct isn’t adopted: it pangs me. We’re second and I can’t complain with that position, but having led the race for four months, not winning it or finishing second would pain me and if there is one thing we can learn from a team that aren’t admired for their style of play this season, it is their grit and determination to get the ball forward relentlessly.
I’d dislike for us to resort to that method as the norm for the rest of the season, but lately the goals are not being scored as frequent as they were for the first four months of the season – 2.2 per game – and they’re currently only coming at a rate of 0.9 goals per game and the ability to switch from the pretty to the necessary when needed, in order to get a result, could be the factor that ensures us back-to-back promotions.
West Ham “used to play football” as the chant went, but not playing it is serving them well at the moment: whilst some may like to believe we are Brazil or Barcelona, we’re not and sometimes the brutality of the game is as effective as the beauty.
Written by Jordan Florit for www.maycauseoffence.com/ For more articles visit my website or my Twitter @JordanFlorit
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What a poor poor piece. Southampton can most certainly learn from the hammers. Infact it was Southampton who were playing boring long ball football, the only time they were passing was in their own box, then hoof it up front to Billy ‘bastard’ sharp (cheat). Makes me laugh the rose tinted glasses Saints fans are wearing, at the end of the day you got a point against a 10 man team. Commend yourselves.
4 points from two games idiot
Sorry West Ham fans…4 Points to 1 this season…we’ve come up from league 1, you’ve come down from the prem…and we still play much better football than you haha! #boring #hoof #championship4life And dont keep moaning about having 10 men…you lost when it was 11 vs 11 didnt you?? I hear big sams plotting summer moves for fabrice muamba and Emile Hesky…should add to the exitement!!
Being a west ham fan I sort of agree we don’t play attractive football anymore but look where it got us, and first 15 minutes we tore you apart the only way you got back into the game is because we sat back with 10 men I watch you alot this year as I go to uni in Portsmouth (your other favourite team I know) you play nice football but your style wont work in the prem lambert won’t score a handful of goals nor guily or sharpe, Danny fox flopped in the prem, one of your centre halves is from the SPL great record in the prem from that league
A few points:
– I haven’t seen the “West Ham” way of football regularly since I was a kid watching Brooking. Not even when DiCanio was playing. People need to grow up and accept the game has changed.
– Southampton were poor Tuesday night. No ideas, no slick passing in the last third and the less said about the obvious attempts to reduce West Ham in numbers the better.
– The chanting was taken in good humour by West Ham fans who didn’t care one way or the other what the Southampton fans thought. I for one thought the Soton fans were very good on the night and I feel sorry for the fact that their team were not confident enough in their own game to play it.
A very fair analysis in a comments section full of bitterness and slapdash responses. Thank you.
Southampton plan A. Load Lambert at the far post.
Southampton plan B. Errrrr.
Factor into that the blatant cynicism and gamesmanship of Sharp and others, and the manager’s Tony Pulis-style touchline antics, and you don’t exactly get the impression of an attractive side.
All evening, Upton Park was treated to chorus of “hoofball” (?!) by the saints fans. That WHU passed Soton off the park while it was 11 v 11 seemed to pass them by.
It seems to me that win, lose or draw, you saints were DETERMINED (before kickoff even) to try and claim some kind of moral victory by assuming the mantle of Best Footballing side in the division. Wow – talk about small beers.
No matter that it isn’t true.It’s something for you to cling to, isn’t it?
At West Ham, we’re slightly bemused by your attempts to try and assert some kind of superioty over us. We don’t think of ourselves as hot shit. But clearly you must do. Why else would you be so determined to score a moral victory over u – for that is surely the nature of this piece of “writing”.
As a West Ham fan I take it as a compliment. You probably don’t even realise, but it most certainly is one. Backhanded, but a compliment all the same.
In the FLC, the merest suggestion that WHU *might* be the club to beat brings you all out in a hot flush. It’s childish, subconsious jealousy, that you can’t admit to yourselves.
The irony is, at West Ham we dont give a shit if we’re “bigger” or “better” or “play better football” than you. Why would we?
You reveal the chip on your collective shoulder, with one eyed codswallop like this. Small club mentality.
Didn’t realise that there was so much rivalry between the two club and surprised how sensitive WHU fans are.
There isn’t any. Not from WHU’s side of things. Can’t speak for Soton.
But like the rest of the Championship, for whatever reason it is, they’ve got a chip on their shoulder. Big Sam / “hoofball” is just a convenient term of abuse. Anyone who saw the game would know what nonsense that was.
It’s the only way Soton can make themselves feel special. Look, we took 4 points off West Ham!
So what? As if no one’s ever done that before!
Like I say. For West Ham it’s the ultimate compliment. Why would Soton boast about it if they didn’t think it meant something to them. Sad.
Tuesday’s ‘hoofball’ embellishments are just tragic. The sign of a club with nothing better to care about. Soulless stuff.
Not sensitive at all. Just AMAZED at Southampton’s powers of delusion.
If West Ham get a draw against Blackpool on Tuesday, do you think us Hammers will be running around going Ooh, we’ve got 4 points off Blackpool this season!!!
Saddos.
But for all the chanting – it’s just a wind up. Anyone with sense knows that both clubs like playing football. What do you expect Saints fans to say about us taking 4 pts from you? You’d say the same I’m sure, or someone would, not necessarily yourself. We don’t feel special but we feel really good about ourselves having come so far since admin, and probably some fans forget that and should feel a little more humble but they get carried away which isn’t surprising. We are not deluded as we could see ourselves dropping down the table due to our recent bad run. I was at the game with a few West Ham mates of mine and we all agreed it was a mixture of passing and long ball, like a lot of other games but what people need to understand is no matter how much fans respect the opposition, there will always be the banter and the chanting from the fans. The problem with a lot of comments on this site is that instead of people discussing it sensibly, it’s just a continuation from the terraces.