Well, man up buttercup.
Afternoon all. Two days. That`s all it is. Just forty eight little hours before we play Stoke. Two days ago, I was saying that it was five days to go, but we will gloss over that and just blame the pressures of the week.
In a week of pressure and nerves and start with some good news. And that news is that, according to one national newspaper, Zat Knight has turned down the lure of a new contract (Someone offered him a new contract? Sack them. Sack them now.) and looks set to leave the club in the summer, regardless of where we end up playing.
Well, smack me down and call me Lulu, if that is at least not one prayer answered. I imagine that there will not be a great many Bolton fans shedding a tear if, as reported, the flaming great galah joins to Bolton reserves revolution at Upton Park. I dare say that there may be a great many West Ham fans shedding their own tears at this news.
here is little doubt that Knight is the back up at the club, Wheater and Ream preferred ahead of him due to his inability to do any actual defending for the most part. As I said earlier in the week, he has the occasional good game, but for the most part has difficulty coordinating his feet in crucial situations and has the unfortunate record of being the Bolton Wanderers player with the most own goals in one season.
His one facet is his height, which will fit right into West Ham`s team. Unfortunately, this height has seen him beaten in the air by, amongst others, the 5`7″ David Silva this season. Whilst we wish all Bolton players the best if they decide to leave at the end of their contract, you do get the overwhelming impression that he won`t be missed. Even if he plays the game of his life on Sunday. Which he will probably have to do.
Speaking of Stoke, Ryan “Mummy! I want my Mummy” Shawcross has come out and said that they won`t be pulling any punches come the weekend due to Stoke wanting to match their points record from two years ago. Said the player who isn`t like that at all:
“There’s a lot on the game for us as well. We are professional footballers and we always want to win games. But we also want to equal our best points tally in the Premier League.
Yeah Ryan. Let`s look back on that. You want to equal your best points total, which is a totally admirable and professional way of thinking. But more desperate? It is that kind of thinking that can cause a player to snap another players leg in two and then have your fans boo him the next time he comes to your ground for having the temerity to leave his leg there in the first place. I`m not being funny Ryan, but you haven`t got a Scooby, do you? You dilward.
Hopefully, with Stoke so “desperate” to get those points, and no doubt get a comfy bonus for finishing as high as eleventh, we can take advantage of such desperation and take the three points. Because we all know how desperate players are to reach the heady heights of eleventh. It must be the pinnacle of their career.
Naturally, come five o`clock on Sunday I will take seventeenth, which would be the pinnacle of Chris Eagles career, having never finished that high in the Premier League before. And the floppy haired taxi hailer has admitted that this is one of the games of his career:
“It`s probably going to be one of the biggest games of my career. We have to win, it`s as simple as that.“
Thanks for that Chris. If you hadn`t have pointed that out, I`d have walked into the pub on Sunday, phone in hand, thinking that we were pushing for eleventh.
Eagles admits to nerves, but personally I`m as cool as a cucumber. Last weekend I was speaking of embracing the fear and using it to form positive thoughts. And it was working until the last fifteen minutes. It became obvious to me that some of you weren`t embracing it enough. So this Sunday, wherever you are, I call on you to embrace your own fear and then use that embracing to send out positive vibes down the M6. Hey, it works on Deal or No Deal sometimes. I can`t think why if all twenty odd thousand of us do it, it won`t work.
QPR have a problem. They can`t embrace the fear. So cock sure are they that they are staying up they ran onto the pitch last weekend like they had won the league. They cannot countenance fear like we can. They are a team that bought for success and then, when that failed, tried to buy some more, and it still failed. They are managed by an arrogant man who believes that, just because he managed to take Blackburn into a better position than they currently find themselves in, he should be considered a success. He couldn`t do it at Citeh and feels slighted. He is on a massive bonus if he manages to save QPR. What he needs to receive is a P45 and a final dent to his reputation. If he fails, he will surely not get another job like this. All of us, from manager, coaches, players, their wives and girlfriends, and us the supporters, need to make this happen. So, remember, at three o`clock on Sunday,
EMBRACE THE FEAR.
Right, we will return with our final preview of the season tomorrow. It may just be a little different. Until then.