Some of you may be well aware that I took the short trip down to Villa Park for the atrocity exhibition that was West Ham's 4-1 capitulation to Villa earlier this afternoon. In truth, a poor Villa side were very much flattered by a result that owed more to the Hammers' infuriating generous defending than it did to the home side's dominance. The Irons had the better of the early exchanges, having a goal disallowed and another chance cleared off the line, but once Lee Hendrie capitalised on some typically tentative defending to take the lead for the Villains the writing was clearly on the wall.
Things got a lot livelier in the second half but West Ham failed to convert a couple of one-on-ones with keeper Enckelman, and after seeming to take an age clearing the ball conceded a sloppy second courtesy of Oyvind Leonhardsen. Unsettled Paolo Di Canio got one back for the Boleyn Boys but we hadn't finished celebrating by the time Dion Dublin notched his 100th premiership goal to make it 3-1. The Hammers visibly shrunk at this point and it was no real surprise when Darius Vassell made it four with arguably the best goal of the game. A lot of the West Ham fans left at this point, leaving the disgruntled hardcore to turn ugly against rookie boss Glenn Roeder and the board. Even the recent memory of Dion Dublin's comically awful miss from five yards out couldn't lighten the mood.
'You're going down with the Albion' the Villa fans chided, suddenly finding their voice after getting a three-goal cushion. And you know what? They're almost certainly right. Logically, we have better players than our relegation rivals so we should survive, but to be honest deep in my gut I know this feels very much like a relegation season and one of Albion, Bolton and Sunderland are going to survive this term down to our sheer incompetence. The board, the manager and many of the players deserve nothing less than relegation, to be honest. Only the fans, out in commendable numbers and in fine voice up until the fourth goal, deserve better.
SO BRING ON MILLWALL NEXT YEAR!
Things got a lot livelier in the second half but West Ham failed to convert a couple of one-on-ones with keeper Enckelman, and after seeming to take an age clearing the ball conceded a sloppy second courtesy of Oyvind Leonhardsen. Unsettled Paolo Di Canio got one back for the Boleyn Boys but we hadn't finished celebrating by the time Dion Dublin notched his 100th premiership goal to make it 3-1. The Hammers visibly shrunk at this point and it was no real surprise when Darius Vassell made it four with arguably the best goal of the game. A lot of the West Ham fans left at this point, leaving the disgruntled hardcore to turn ugly against rookie boss Glenn Roeder and the board. Even the recent memory of Dion Dublin's comically awful miss from five yards out couldn't lighten the mood.
'You're going down with the Albion' the Villa fans chided, suddenly finding their voice after getting a three-goal cushion. And you know what? They're almost certainly right. Logically, we have better players than our relegation rivals so we should survive, but to be honest deep in my gut I know this feels very much like a relegation season and one of Albion, Bolton and Sunderland are going to survive this term down to our sheer incompetence. The board, the manager and many of the players deserve nothing less than relegation, to be honest. Only the fans, out in commendable numbers and in fine voice up until the fourth goal, deserve better.
SO BRING ON MILLWALL NEXT YEAR!
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