The West Ham faithful gave all they could in the opening minutes and Upton Park was rocking for the first game back at the Boleyn. Unfortunately the team didn’t respond and were back to playing the same shit football which was on display last season. It was clear to me Sheffield United were playing to cut out the supply to West Ham’s strikers and doing whatever they could off that. They knew the dangers of our strikers and were just piling them out with men. If this was so obvious to me then why can’t any of our professional players figure out that there is no point in hoofing the ball up high for the shortest man on the pitch to do battle with an overgrown centre-half in the air. When Defoe did get the ball to his feet he looked the only player likely to make something happen. He struck one shot onto the post and had the Sheffield United defence on edge every time he had the ball at his feet. Unfortunately though, he was surrounded by a sea of mediocrity and rarely had the opportunity to do anything.

The football became so poor that the fans inevitably took out their frustration on the board with ‘stand up if you want Brown out’ ringing round the ground met by the majority of the support rising to their feet.
The Blades seemed content to just keep the ball away from West Hams strikers but West Ham were hardly giving them a difficult job. Hutchinson was piss poor just like he was against Preston, lacking any sense of idea or creativeness.

Roeder soon sent on Neil Mellor to join Defoe and Connolly in a bid to find a way through but the more the West Ham fans got behind the team the more disappointed and frustrated they became as time and time again West Ham were unable to make anything of their possession.
West Ham face more Yorkshire grit next week as they travel to Rotherham United. The Millers aren’t likely to possess the same level of concentration or discipline as Sheffield United but West Ham are going to have to seriously improve if they want to get off to a winning streak at Millmoor next Saturday.

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