Lake Palmer aka Monk wrote:
Its very hard to argue with Nolan or anyone's selection when you win 3 nil and are 7th in the league.

No matter what you think Nolan can't do or doesn't do he is in a team that has won 3 nil. Its a team game, at the top level of sport everybody has to contribute or you don't win 3 nil. Fred you need to accept that you can't see what Nolan did yesterday. You have to admit you're clueless over his contribution. You have to question your self over everything you see on a football pitch , everything you understand about football.

Its gonna be a tough few days of introspection I guess.
Oh do please fuck off.  I am still waiting for someone to tell me what he does other than leadership, goals (when he is scoring them) and the running around a bit and working hard (that I personally did not massively notice, and is irrelevant to the discussion because that is the bare minimum we should expect from our midfielders, not a reason to play them ahead of others.)

I am thoroughly enjoying the season and BFS is doing a great job.  But the other thing that is great about football (and sport generally) is that it is a constant battle to try to do that little bit better, and to do the absolute best we can.  For me, and a lot of West Ham fans, the obvious way to get a bit better is to give Nolan fewer minutes.  To a lesser extent Carroll perhaps gets more game time than he should (5 in 8 is very very good, but he does not offer the energy of S and V, and Sakho has a better goalscoring record this year).

I love BFS and think that I have supported him as much as pretty much anyone on this board. 

edit - and where did I say that Nolan should not have started against Hull?  I very deliberately try to not comment on the line-up for a particular game and have no issue with Nolan getting a game, especially is Noble is missing.  The issue here is a pretty straightforward one -

Is Nolan (and to a lesser extent Carroll) the solution, a player who should be playing a lot, or possibly even as much as possible?  Or is Nolan (and to a lesser extent Carroll) part of the solution, a player who should be playing some of the time, when the particular opposition makes him the best choice or when other players are not available, but should not be an automatic starter?

BFS has done a great job.  He is doing a great job.  But surely we can debate the minor changes that might make him (and WH) a bit better?



Last Edited By: Father Fred Jan 19 15 11:54 AM. Edited 1 times.