Tuesday, February 9, 2010 Previous editions
Monday, November 30, 2009
THESE are trying times to be a manager.
Sam Allardyce is currently recovering from a heart complaint that might, or might not be stress-related, while a report published last week suggested top-flight coaches will take, on average, 312 weeks to turn grey. "I think the process might be quicker for me," said Gianfranco Zola, through gritted teeth.
If Just For Men were ever to enter the shirt sponsorship market, West Ham would undoubtedly represent a sound choice. Quite apart from the myriad financial problems which continue to haunt the club – their current owners, the Icelandic bank Straumur, will visit Reykjavik’s High Court on 11 December to seek an extension to their moratorium on debt repayments – the team also knows how to make young managers grow old.
West Ham have twice thrown away two-goal leads in the last four weeks and, here, they somehow conspired to engender collywobbles despite opening a five-goal advantage by the 68th minute. Burnley duly slashed that to two before the final whistle drew a round of boos.
"The way the things are going for us, we need to think about the positives but you can see we are nervy," Scott Parker, the midfielder, said. "Obviously there are some underlying problems we need to sort."
Parker is not one of them. The former Chelsea midfielder delivered a whirling dervish performance, making an early goal-line clearance from Clarke Carlisle’s header, setting up Jack Collison’s opening goal and finally taking a fiercely struck free-kick full in the face as West Ham attempted to protect their lead. Upton Park, a stadium that appreciates its rough ‘n tumble midfielders, bellowed its approval.
But Parker was the exception. The brittle confidence of West Ham’s youngsters was exposed in the final 20 minutes, when Steven Fletcher twice converted low crosses from Chris Eagles before the American notched his own goal in injury time, moments after Steven Caldwell had been sent off for a professional foul on Zavon Hines.
"As a squad we have lost Lucas Neill and James Collins – senior players who know what the Premier League is about," he said. "There are players in the dressing room who have to step up and take responsibility. As a senior player you have to do that."
At least there is an abundance of raw materials in east London. Collison is developing into a midfielder of some pedigree, and took his goal with commendable coolness; Junior Stanislas has a confidence which allowed him to net from an improbable angle in the 33rd minute; and Giullermo Franco, who headed in the fourth goal, has the kind of silken touch which would make even Zola, no slouch himself, applaud.
Carlton Cole, who took his season’s tally to seven with a penalty after Robbie Blake sent Jonathan Spector sprawling, is also a player who would command a place in most Premier League line-ups, although whether he features for West Ham in the coming weeks is open to debate. He failed to re-emerge for the second half due to a knee injury, which will be assessed today, allowing Luis Jiminez to assume spot-kick duties when he was brought down by Brian Jensen.
Zola might fear his silver fox era is imminent but Owen Coyle has already beaten him to it, and no wonder. The Irishman has seen his side leak 31 goals this term, the joint highest in the league, and their commendable commitment to attack is making them a soft touch on their travels.
Not that they are about to change their habits. "The manager is that positive about his players, he wants us to attack teams," Blake said. "You’ve got to understand that we’ve been knocked every week. A lot of people have been saying: ‘Oh, it won’t last. They are not good enough.’ But this squad of players has character."
REFEREE: Chris Foy (Merseyside) 6: Coyle complained about Burnley being on the wrong end of rough decisions but it was hard to see where he was coming from.
MATCH RATING: **** Breathless, even if the defending was parks level.
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