Forever blowing games

AS that noted football pundit Oscar Wilde almost said, to chuck away one game is a misfortune. To blow two looks suspiciously like carelessness.

But three? Four weeks ago I asked why West Ham had twice fallen apart after 60 minutes. On Sunday they were goal-less against Spurs for an hour, and then they let in three. Still it could be worse. Against Charlton and West Brom it was all over by halftime.

There speaks the voice of a nervous supporter. After last season's seventh place, I really thought this would be a great year. It still might be. But here we are, rooted to the bottom, with the papers filled with stories about Paolo di Canio's tantrums. And there's Harry's Portsmouth team, filled with Upton Park rejects, romping away with Division One.

See that brick wall? See my head? Just watch.

Maybe I'm overdoing it. Plenty of Spurs fans reckon they were lucky to take three points on Sunday. Glenn Hoddle commended West Ham for their spirit, just as Arsene Wenger did. Keep playing like that, people say, and you'll soon be out of trouble.

You reckon? The sign of a successful team is that they win, even when they're playing badly. If a team lose, even when playing okay, then it's time to worry.

In part, it's a matter of individual form. Sebastian Schemmel, last season's player of the year, has been played out of position, then dropped. Christian Dailly can't defend against Faroe Islanders, Gary Breen has yet to settle and Michael Carrick is in the dumps.

Joe Cole is full of dazzling dribbles and playground tricks, but the ball ends up in Row Z more often than the goal. As for Di Canio, why does anyone think his big mouth is big news?

The real problem is deeper, a systemic failing.

Because the first thing you need to know about any side is not, 'What's the best they can be?' It's, 'What's the worst?' At their best, West Ham are dazzling. They made the Gunners look like mugs. But when they're bad, they're a shambles.

Shape and organisation vanish. The defence folds after an hour because that's when fatigue kicks in and players can no longer maintain the individual acts of desperation that have kept opponents out thus far.

From then on, panic ensues. Forget about closing down space or tracking runners, midfielders neither protect the back line, nor keep possession when they get the ball. Opponents attack unchallenged down the middle of the field. It's like a recurring nightmare - last season's horrors at Everton and Blackburn, replayed all over again.

It's not very West Ham to talk about getting the basics right. There will always be siren voices insisting that it's just a matter of time - one fluked goal, one scraped victory - before things turn around.

But the Hammers can't afford their old happy-golucky ways, bouncing back and forth between the top two divisions. With a pounds 32 million wage bill, that's a surefire route to bankruptcy.

Glenn Roeder's got to find a solution fast. A settled backline and a reliable holding player in midfield to shield them would help.

I'm sure he thinks a partnership of Tomas Repka and Breen, shielded by Steve Lomas, will do the job.

It's not his fault Repka was injured on Sunday and Lomas had to switch to right-back. That was bad luck.

But it was also tough luck. There are only three things that matter in pro football: results, results, and results. West Ham aren't getting them. Five games.

One point. End of story.

Copyright 2002
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