Graffito

It looks to me like more of the same as what we saw last season with a bit more quality added. Carroll was a great signing for them (though his antics against Saints weren't impressive). Jarvis was a good signing. Collins is a big no nonsense unit. Allardyce's methods are tried and tested and relatively simple. If they stay up, and I think they will, he'll add a bit more quality as he did at Bolton. Their fixtures have not been so tough as Saints' allowing them to build on confidence. Whereas Saints have tried to introduce all at once new formations and new personnel with a very tough fixture list which has almost knocked the stuffing out of the players. Add in the manager and chairman being on a steep learning curve and it's no surprise we are where we are. I expect West Ham to fall back down the table but to stay up and I hope by the end of the season we can get the hang of it and move up to safety such that we won't be so far apart points wise.

Fair point well made. Sticking with the manager would seem to be in keeping with ethos of a stable sustainable club building for the future unless to do so would undermine those ambitions. Equally it could be argued that the structure of the club should allow for managers to be replaced without impacting on the longer term ambitions. I'm for keeping NA right now.

I'm not an advocate of laying long but in yesterday's match I think we could have done so a bit more to good effect. Swansea didn't look that good at the back. Would have brought on Mayuka for Puncheon at 70 minutes.

I would say the team was playing conservatively rather than negatively. We've conceded a lot of goals recently. But for the errors that gave them the opportunity to score (expertly taken by Dyer) we would have had all three points and the tactics would have been vindicated.

I saw no quality gap between Saints and Swansea yesterday. We lost yesterday due to errors by two individuals. If Saints' passing isn't as crisp as it has been I would put that down to confidence.

Short term effect. QPR sack Hughes, appoint floppy chops and they beat us next week. You can just see it happening.

No Saints are not aggressive enough. Are Barcelona cloggers?

The saddest part is poor old Ted forever waving at the cement works. Whose fault is that?

We must be nice to Nicola or we'll lose him to AC Milan.

Wtf. I need a lie down after reading that!

Yes and in the previous two seasons I would say if asked to describe Adkins in a nutshell I would have said team builder and confidence builder. It's a real concern. There comes a point where you would expect to see the players say sod it if we are going to lose then we do it by playing the way we have played to get to PL. But there doesn't seem to be that leadership or character on the pitch.

Had to listen on the radio tonight. Great support from our fans. They're a good example of what's required when things are not going well.

Mayuka did well on the right against Spurs. If all PL teams must have pace up front then all must have it at the back as well. Some in midfield wouldn't go amiss.

Just watched it. Not your greatest moment Nige.

They get few locals. Fulham used to be a working class area but long ago became gentrified. Anecdotally they draw in support from further afield like parts of Surrey.

From where does this wind blow?

In the position he plays there's a big responsibility to create for the team. He's done ok this season but never does enough IMO. He's hampered by the fact that he has insufficient pace to go on the outside. This is a problem Lallana has also but Lallana is much the more creative player. Defensively Puncheon doesn't do enough either but he's not alone there.

Correct. They played quite well in that match as I mentioned above.

LOL. That makes two of us then ...I think.

No idea mate. What do you think?

If you saw the match you'd know we gifted it to them. I readily admit I don't watch them regularly as I'm generally watching Saints though I did see them live in a couple of matches the season before last as I've lived in London for over 30 years and have West Ham supporting mates. Wasn't impressed with those games either but we're going back a couple seasons there so probably not fair to judge. Do you watch them much live?

You're being a bit hard on them there. They have more nous or know.

Remains to be seen. It's a long season. I posted my opinion already.

He's wrong about the quality bit too.

West Ham's PL experience and quality is being overstated a little here. They have more PL nous, worst example being Carroll's diving, but I didn't see much quality on Saturday. They were gifted the win. I saw both games against them last season too. In the draw at Upton Park they played quite well but their performance at SMS was dismal.