What makes a successful manager/coach? The Zola Problem

[Guest]

I wouldn't have a problem however with someone like Keane not celebrating if he scored against Tottenham - doesn't it just show a little respect for the former club?

Nor would I. But it is different for a manager. The real problem was that after the game he praised the Chelsea fans but did not mention the West Ham travelling fans.

I think that's a little over sensitive of them - the guy spent a long time at Chelsea

[Guest Gary Loughran]

I wouldn't have a problem however with someone like Keane not celebrating if he scored against Tottenham - doesn't it just show a little respect for the former club?

Nor would I. But it is different for a manager. The real problem was that after the game he praised the Chelsea fans but did not mention the West Ham travelling fans.

I think that's a little over sensitive of them - the guy spent a long time at Chelsea

I acknowledged the lack of emotion from Zola at the time, not giving it much thought beyond that. I was, however, more irked by the fact he waited to warmly embrace Chelsea players coming off the pitch; whilst barely shaking hands with any of his own players. I thought this was quite extraordinary.

[Guest]

I wouldn't have a problem however with someone like Keane not celebrating if he scored against Tottenham - doesn't it just show a little respect for the former club?

Nor would I. But it is different for a manager. The real problem was that after the game he praised the Chelsea fans but did not mention the West Ham travelling fans.

I think that's a little over sensitive of them - the guy spent a long time at Chelsea

I acknowledged the lack of emotion from Zola at the time, not giving it much thought beyond that. I was, however, more irked by the fact he waited to warmly embrace Chelsea players coming off the pitch; whilst barely shaking hands with any of his own players. I thought this was quite extraordinary.

I watched the match on TV and saw him embrace and shake hands with both.

I am not a West Ham fan so my eyes may have been playing tricks with me.

[Guest Gary Loughran]

I wouldn't have a problem however with someone like Keane not celebrating if he scored against Tottenham - doesn't it just show a little respect for the former club?

Nor would I. But it is different for a manager. The real problem was that after the game he praised the Chelsea fans but did not mention the West Ham travelling fans.

I think that's a little over sensitive of them - the guy spent a long time at Chelsea

I acknowledged the lack of emotion from Zola at the time, not giving it much thought beyond that. I was, however, more irked by the fact he waited to warmly embrace Chelsea players coming off the pitch; whilst barely shaking hands with any of his own players. I thought this was quite extraordinary.

I watched the match on TV and saw him embrace and shake hands with both.

I am not a West Ham fan so my eyes may have been playing tricks with me.

Your eyes are fine Andy especially when you want them to be

It was a little hyperbole from me. But a non-knowledgeable fan would be hard pressed to identify which team Zola managed. I would also say in the little bits it did show of him at the end of the game he looked more inclined to the certain Chelsea players.

There is ample time before and after games to 'catch up' - anything much more and I believe it tends to be for the cameras.

[John Simkin]

Another impressive performance against Portsmouth. I was especially pleased by the way they responded to letting in an early goal. I believe it is true that previous to this game, they have not got a point after going behind. The remained positive going forward and it was no real surprise that they got four goals. As I said before, the main reason for this improvement in form is the inclusion of Noble and Collison. This enables West Ham to protect the back but still get men into the opponents penalty area. I urged Cole to be replaced by Sears against Portsmouth as I thought his movement alongside Bellamy would upset the two big centre-backs. Although Zola/Clarke did not do this, they did not send in a lot of high-balls from the back. Instead the balls out of defence went to Bellamy on the wings. This worked fine as West Ham kept on getting behind the backs. Collison was immense scoring one and making two, his long pass to Bellamy for the third was fantastic. Zola is now taking credit for giving him his chance but the fans wanted him playing earlier instead of Faubert. In the same way that the fans want Sears to start in front of Di Michele.

Neill gave away the penalty he has been threatening to do over the last few weeks. Luckily we got away with it. I was nervous about the decision to bring on Faubert at half-time. Soon after he came on he dashed forward and gave the ball away and Crouch nearly scored from the resulting centre. However, after that he settled down and made one brilliant covering tackle. He still makes the odd pass inside without looking. Hopefully, Clarke will remove this from his game. The rest of the defence had excellent games.

Bellamy is out today. Hopefully, he will play Sears instead. However, I expect he will play Tristen. This will be a mistake as Stoke are a big side who will be beaten on the floor rather than in the air. We are clearly a better counter-attacking away side at the moment and expect us to struggle to score today. Maybe it will be Noble to score the only goal with a free-kick (I don't think he has got one on target this season).

[Guest Gary Loughran]

Another impressive performance against Portsmouth. I was especially pleased by the way they responded to letting in an early goal. I believe it is true that previous to this game, they have not got a point after going behind. The remained positive going forward and it was no real surprise that they got four goals. As I said before, the main reason for this improvement in form is the inclusion of Noble and Collison. This enables West Ham to protect the back but still get men into the opponents penalty area. I urged Cole to be replaced by Sears against Portsmouth as I thought his movement alongside Bellamy would upset the two big centre-backs. Although Zola/Clarke did not do this, they did not send in a lot of high-balls from the back. Instead the balls out of defence went to Bellamy on the wings. This worked fine as West Ham kept on getting behind the backs. Collison was immense scoring one and making two, his long pass to Bellamy for the third was fantastic. Zola is now taking credit for giving him his chance but the fans wanted him playing earlier instead of Faubert. In the same way that the fans want Sears to start in front of Di Michele.

Neill gave away the penalty he has been threatening to do over the last few weeks. Luckily we got away with it. I was nervous about the decision to bring on Faubert at half-time. Soon after he came on he dashed forward and gave the ball away and Crouch nearly scored from the resulting centre. However, after that he settled down and made one brilliant covering tackle. He still makes the odd pass inside without looking. Hopefully, Clarke will remove this from his game. The rest of the defence had excellent games.

Bellamy is out today. Hopefully, he will play Sears instead. However, I expect he will play Tristen. This will be a mistake as Stoke are a big side who will be beaten on the floor rather than in the air. We are clearly a better counter-attacking away side at the moment and expect us to struggle to score today. Maybe it will be Noble to score the only goal with a free-kick (I don't think he has got one on target this season).

This was an amazing game for sure. A great result. Two very evenly matched teams gave everything, and though it could have been 4-1 to Portsmouth, I am delighted the pendulum swung our way. It was undoubtedly a very positive performance.

As for the Neill penalty, I viewed that as an aggregate decision, made on the back of 3-4 penalty claims made by Portsmouth in the preceeding 30 minutes. There was no way it was a penalty. Crouch should be ashamed at how easily he was 'pushed' off the ball. How much was Neill missed? Faubert was pathetic and Pompey murdered us on our right side the whole second half. You've correctly identified a couple of instances of his poor play. He was also outjumped by their small right back (Wilson) for a shot which hit a post. He continually hits poor passes and bombs on without seeing the result of his poor passing. Behrami, Collison, Parker and others had to continually tuck in to assist him. Faubert should never play for us again. He has threatened to leave (reckons we're hurting his chances of making the French team by not playing him). I know the French have been poor lately but not that bad surely. Good riddance.

MOM: Craig Bellamy. Best performance in a West Ham shirt .Star Men: Collison was huge for us. Green kept us in it as usual. Davenport and Upson building a good partnerhip. Ilunga and to vastly greater extents Faubert, Di Michele are poor on an alarmingly regular basis. Nice to see Cole get a 'Johnny on the spot' goal. Nice to see him get any goal - hope he can fire on.

Good call on Sears for Bellamy for both Portsmouth and today. I think you're, unfortunately, right that Tristan will play. Though he might start Di Michele as a nippy player who could shine against Stoke.

Edited December 28, 2008 by Gary Loughran

[John Simkin]

This was an amazing game for sure. A great result. Two very evenly matched teams gave everything, and though it could have been 4-1 to Portsmouth, I am delighted the pendulum swung our way. It was undoubtedly a very positive performance.

As for the Neill penalty, I viewed that as an aggregate decision, made on the back of 3-4 penalty claims made by Portsmouth in the preceeding 30 minutes. There was no way it was a penalty. Crouch should be ashamed at how easily he was 'pushed' off the ball. How much was Neill missed? Faubert was pathetic and Pompey murdered us on our right side the whole second half. You've correctly identified a couple of instances of his poor play. He was also outjumped by their small right back (Wilson) for a shot which hit a post. He continually hits poor passes and bombs on without seeing the result of his poor passing. Behrami, Collison, Parker and others had to continually tuck in to assist him. Faubert should never play for us again. He has threatened to leave (reckons we're hurting his chances of making the French team by not playing him). I know the French have been poor lately but not that bad surely. Good riddance.

MOM: Craig Bellamy. Best performance in a West Ham shirt .Star Men: Collison was huge for us. Green kept us in it as usual. Davenport and Upson building a good partnerhip. Ilunga and to vastly greater extents Faubert, Di Michele are poor on an alarmingly regular basis. Nice to see Cole get a 'Johnny on the spot' goal. Nice to see him get any goal - hope he can fire on.

Good call on Sears for Bellamy for both Portsmouth and today. I think you're, unfortunately, right that Tristan will play. Though he might start Di Michele as a nippy player who could shine against Stoke.

Just watched West Ham's lucky victory over Stoke online. They were very poor today and badly missed Bellamy and Noble. As Collins was at fault for the Stoke goal you could also argue they missed Davenport. Faubert probably had his worse game so far in a West Ham shirt. His reputation went before him and he was left completely unmarked throughout the game. He must have made 20 crosses, not one was on target.

Di Michele showed a couple of nice pieces of skill on the ball but is far too slow for the Premiership. His reaction time is terrible. I just cannot understand what Zola has against Sears. Cole got a good goal but the winner was very lucky. However, it pushed us up the table and today's results show that Spurs and Newcastle are back in trouble. There will be mass demonstrations by the fans if West Ham sells Bellamy to Spurs. Especialy if it gets them out of a mess and we get dragged back into a relegation fight.

[Guest Gary Loughran]

Just watched West Ham's lucky victory over Stoke online. They were very poor today and badly missed Bellamy and Noble. As Collins was at fault for the Stoke goal you could also argue they missed Davenport. Faubert probably had his worse game so far in a West Ham shirt. His reputation went before him and he was left completely unmarked throughout the game. He must have made 20 crosses, not one was on target.

Di Michele showed a couple of nice pieces of skill on the ball but is far too slow for the Premiership. His reaction time is terrible. I just cannot understand what Zola has against Sears. Cole got a good goal but the winner was very lucky. However, it pushed us up the table and today's results show that Spurs and Newcastle are back in trouble. There will be mass demonstrations by the fans if West Ham sells Bellamy to Spurs. Especialy if it gets them out of a mess and we get dragged back into a relegation fight.

I am out tonight so have set the sky plus to record the game on football first at 10:15. Will post back with more substance after watching. I did 'watch' it on skysports/sportinglife text service. It seemed that a lot of Stokes early work was on our right. We seemed OK for most of the game.

Yes, I think we'd miss Davenport and Neill at the moment. 1 month ago I would've sworn that was a sentence I'd never think never mind type . It looked, on paper, to be the weakest side we've put out all season. Boa Morte, Faubert, Di Michele all starting...scary.

Faubert probably had his worse game so far in a West Ham shirt

. In all my time on the forum this is easily the most frightening thing I've ever read I can't believe that he could be any worse - I can't wait to see this.

I'm delighted that Cole has got a goal today. I could go on about how he probably should've had 2-3 but I'm trying to be more positive. If he can kick on and get some goals to go with his hard work, perhaps he can be an asset.

I can't see Bellamy going to S***s, the reasons you've stated are also the biggest reason for my belief he'll stay or perhaps go to City if Hughes isn't sacked. They are currently getting beat 1-0 by Blackburn.

[John Simkin]

I thought it might be worth looking at Zola's record as manager of West Ham. His win record in comparison with other recent managers since the formation of the club:

Billy Bonds (43.61) 1990–1994

Charlie Paynter (41.25) 1932–1950

Alan Pardew (41.10) 2003–2006

Ted Fenton (39.75) 1950–1961

Alan Curbishley (39.44) 2006–2008

John Lyall (39.12) 1974–1989

Syd King (38.87) 1901–1932

Harry Redknapp (37.00) 1994–2001

Lou Macari (36.84) 1989–1990

Ron Greenwood (35.07) 1961–1974

Glenn Roeder (31.40) 2001–2003

Gianfranco Zola (29.17) 2008–

It is true that some of the best performing managers spent most of their time in the lower leagues. However, even if you only look at performances in the Premier League, Zola (29.17) is still bottom and the man he replaced, Alan Curbishley, is top (39.44).

[John Simkin]

I thought it might be worth looking at Zola's record as manager of West Ham. His win record in comparison with other recent managers since the formation of the club:

Billy Bonds (43.61) 1990–1994

Charlie Paynter (41.25) 1932–1950

Alan Pardew (41.10) 2003–2006

Ted Fenton (39.75) 1950–1961

Alan Curbishley (39.44) 2006–2008

John Lyall (39.12) 1974–1989

Syd King (38.87) 1901–1932

Harry Redknapp (37.00) 1994–2001

Lou Macari (36.84) 1989–1990

Ron Greenwood (35.07) 1961–1974

Glenn Roeder (31.40) 2001–2003

Gianfranco Zola (29.17) 2008–

It is true that some of the best performing managers spent most of their time in the lower leagues. However, even if you only look at performances in the Premier League, Zola (29.17) is still bottom and the man he replaced, Alan Curbishley, is top (39.44).

Some fans have argued that these stats are misleading. I would argue that it all depends on how you interpret them. For example, it has been claimed that according to these figures Macari is a better manager than Greenwood. These stats only give the win percentage ratio. Greenwood did have a poor win ratio when he was a manager. Fans were aware of it at the time. I remember him being criticised at the time for underachieving in the league considering the quality players in his team. While he was manager West Ham finished 16th, 8th, 12th, 14th, 9th, 12th, 16th, 12th, 8th, 17th, 20th, 14th, 6th, and 18th. However, overall we did not complain because he kept us in the top flight and he won the FA Cup (1964) and the European Cup Winners’ Cup (1965).

To use these stats to compare Greenwood and Macari is of course unfair. Macari was only in charge for 38 games whereas Greenwood managed 613.

Others have criticised these stats because they do not show the quality of football being played. A lot of nonsense is talked about “good” and “boring” football. “Boring” usually refers to “long ball” whereas “good” means “passing the ball on the ground”. Burnley and Wigan play “good” football. However, they have not won many games playing this way. The same goes for the Hammers. There are two main reasons for this.

(1) They play most of their good football in their own half. This might be good to look at but it is not effective football as it does not lead to goals. It can also result in the opposition scoring because you only need one misplaced pass and the other team can score a goal.

(2) They do not have the right squad of players to play “good” football. This was illustrated in the first goal last night. When the ball arrived awkwardly to Tomkins his first thought was to pass the ball. That is the way he has been coached. A defender in a team that was not encouraged to pass at all times would have blasted it into the crowd.

The stats do not tell as about the “style” but the “effectiveness” of the football played under the different managers. The problem for Zola is that his best win ratio came when he was using Curbishley’s squad of players. It is true that Zola had little influence over players brought in during Nani’s time at the club. However, under Sullivan and Gold the situation has changed and Zola was clearly the man responsible for the signings in January. His big buy was McCarthy, a player who could not get a game at Blackburn. Allardyce likes to play one up front, a job that McCarthy is not mobile enough to play. He is not hard-working enough to play in a two up-front system. Going by last night’s game, Zola did think that he could play with Cole and McCarthy in the same team. For that to have worked, McCarthy and Cole had to take it in turns to take part in the midfield battle. That did not happen and therefore the Hammers were always outnumbered in midfield.

Zola was completely out-thought by Mick McCarthy last night. That has been true of the whole season. What is more worrying is that Zola is unable to identify his mistakes. When it became clear that McCarthy was unwilling or unable to do his midfield duties he should have taken him off in the first-half to be replaced by Franco or Noble.

Mick McCarthy was a disaster when he managed Sunderland in his first season in the top flight. However, he has now learnt his trade and Wolves will stay up. Luckily for West Ham, there are probably three other teams (Portsmouth, Burnley and Hull) that are worse than us and we may just survive. I suspect that Zola will have to go away and learn his trade before he manages another team in the Premier League.

[Mark Haley]

I certainly can pick 'em...

My favourite quote about football is that "men frequently discard women during their lives, however, they choose a football team for life". (Like batteries, current Chelsea and Man Utd fans are not included.)

West Ham is one gigantic swan with all of us swimming frantically around her. Mated hopelessly for life

I blame me father. Mind you, he filled my head with tales of Allison, Keeble, Cantwell and Bond, then compounded it by taking me to see a team that included Moore, Hurst and Peters... oh, and last but not least... Budgie Byrne. A fantastic player !

Any West Ham fan will tell you it is very hard work following the Irons (none more so than last night's debacle). Those of you just starting... prepare yourself for countless false dawns, cup upsets, last minute equalisers, defensive gaffes, beauracratic balls ups, injury lists as long as... as... a very long arm.

Savour going into injury time 2 goals up like it's your last meal.

Best players will be sold, and there will be an occasional triumph... maybe...

Most importantly know this, no matter how indescribably huge the disappointment, you will keep coming back for more... until you have indeed had your last meal.

Last night was obviously an abject shambles on a monumental scale. Where can you begin ? I'll start and finish with the selection of Benni McCarthy up front. How any manager could justify picking him in that condition is beyond belief. I choose not to believe it. Zola must have known McCarthy wasn't even remotely fit enough to take part in a Blue Sq League game (and I say that with the greatest respect to Blue Sq players who are all much fitter than I ever was) let alone a Premier League game. I believe orders came down from higher up the food chain. "We've spent a ton of money on this player, why isn't he starting "... allegedly without prejudice

Anyone with a pea sized knowledge of the game would have declared him a non-starter. It was like we were playing with 10 men (though that has seemed quite a regular occurence over the last 44 years), 9 if you include Kovacs. Nobody would be surprised that our one half decent period of the game was the last 10 minutes when Franco came on. Not only did he score but it took a fine save to deny him on a previous occasion.

1-3 actually flattered us on the night and I personally feel Zola should have fallen on his sword as he marched down the tunnel.

However, like a doting swan I shall be gliding back down to the Boleyn on Saturday, with a hint of optimism gleaned from the last 10 minutes, coupled with the belief that we can't possibly play as badly again.

I've been saying for ages that we will go into the last game requiring something against Man City, and predict 36 points will be the safety cut off. Under Zola/Clarke I don't think we've got a 'cat in hell's chance' of achieving that.

Maybe Sir Trevor could ride to the rescue. Other than that I'm out of solutions

Edited March 25, 2010 by Mark Haley

[John Simkin]

I certainly can pick 'em...

My favourite quote about football is that "men frequently discard women during their lives, however, they choose a football team for life". (Like batteries, current Chelsea and Man Utd fans are not included.)

West Ham is one gigantic swan with all of us swimming frantically around her. Mated hopelessly for life

I blame me father. Mind you, he filled my head with tales of Allison, Keeble, Cantwell and Bond, then compounded it by taking me to see a team that included Moore, Hurst and Peters... oh, and last but not least... Budgie Byrne. A fantastic player !

I have been going to see West Ham since I was 15. I used to take my younger brother (12). He now comes over to my place to watch their games on Sky. He arrives happy but invariably goes home sad. When I now go to Upton Park I take my 9 year old grandson. Alex is now a more fanatical Hammers fan than I am. After the game against Wolves I felt a deep sense of guilt about the pain that Alex will suffer over the coming years. At times like this I try to convince myself that it does not matter if they lose. However, it is an impossible thing to do. They are your team and you are stuck with them. I was at Wembley when they won the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965. I can still remember the happiness I felt that night. It is that that keeps me going.

Last night was obviously an abject shambles on a monumental scale. Where can you begin ? I'll start and finish with the selection of Benni McCarthy up front. How any manager could justify picking him in that condition is beyond belief. I choose not to believe it. Zola must have known McCarthy wasn't even remotely fit enough to take part in a Blue Sq League game (and I say that with the greatest respect to Blue Sq players who are all much fitter than I ever was) let alone a Premier League game. I believe orders came down from higher up the food chain. "We've spent a ton of money on this player, why isn't he starting "... allegedly without prejudice

Anyone with a pea sized knowledge of the game would have declared him a non-starter. It was like we were playing with 10 men (though that has seemed quite a regular occurence over the last 44 years), 9 if you include Kovacs. Nobody would be surprised that our one half decent period of the game was the last 10 minutes when Franco came on. Not only did he score but it took a fine save to deny him on a previous occasion.

Zola could hide behind the fact that he had nothing to do with transfers under Nani. However, under Sullivan and Gold the situation has changed and Zola was clearly the man responsible for the signings in January. His big buy was McCarthy, a player who could not get a game at Blackburn. Zola thought he knew more than Sam Allardyce. I suspect that he was under psychological pressure to play McCarthy when he was fit (sic). However, the same goes for Mido. Why is Zola so keen on unfit players? Why does Clarke let Zola get away with making such daft decisions?

I really do fear for West Ham. Zola really does seem clueless. Mick McCarthy made Zola look like the novice he is on Tuesday. Tony Pulis will do the same on Saturday. As we do not have anymore games against Portsmouth, Hull or Burnley, I cannot see where our next point is coming from.

[Guest Gary Loughran]

I just lost 30-40 minutes of writing (about 10 words), which I thought had posted, including season review and marks out of 10 etc. Will try again tomorrow. In essence I am just about calm enough to post after an appallingly individual display which reflected the man who is manager (sic), a man who cares nought for West Ham. A display so abjectly poor that Franco looked like Maradona when he came on. Wolves were so used to playing against the statues of Cole and McCarthy (though the McCarthy one wobbled a bit round the middle when the wind blew) that when a player came on who could move and with the ball too, they were at a loss.

Oh and I wrote a large portion of how I detest Diamante, the poster boy for Zola's tactics and career. Get the ball, think only about yourself, try to look good, don't tackle, don't head, don't have pace, shoot from anywhere and everywhere with as much chance of hitting the cornerflag and importantly don't make simple passes to your team mates. Training at West Ham must be fun - if this performance is anything to go by the defence, midfield and forwards must all train on different pitches with Diamante getting one to himself.

Will post properly tomorrow!.

[John Simkin]

Oh and I wrote a large portion of how I detest Diamante, the poster boy for Zola's tactics and career. Get the ball, think only about yourself, try to look good, don't tackle, don't head, don't have pace, shoot from anywhere and everywhere with as much chance of hitting the cornerflag and importantly don't make simple passes to your team mates. Training at West Ham must be fun - if this performance is anything to go by the defence, midfield and forwards must all train on different pitches with Diamante getting one to himself.

I agree that Diamante does shoot too much and does not tackle enough. However, he is one of the few players that can make an accurate defence-splitting pass. I would actually play him upfront with Cole today although I expect it to be Mido who gets the job.

[John Simkin]

Extracts from the reports by the newspapers on the game against Stoke:

News of the World

He promised a big performance after the Wolves horror show. He said he was doing everything he could to turn things around. But all he delivered was hot air.

Zola says the club is in his heart but there was no point during the game yesterday when it looked like his heart was in it any more.

And it would come as no surprise if the two Davids - Gold and Sullivan - reached for the shovels to finally lay to rest their dead man walking.

But if they don't push him, he looks certain to jump.

Baying fans screamed for some emotion from their manager. Anything would do.

But he didn't even look angry at the woeful display before him.

He simply shrugged his shoulders and accepted his fate.

Sullivan seemed to have overstepped the mark by forcing his way into the dressing room to castigate his players but, when he branded the team fat, lazy and useless, his words rang true.

Fat: Mido, for one, has that Ricky Hatton effect. The biggest cheer came when Zola hauled him off before the final whistle - you have never seen the Egyptian move so fast in his life.

Lazy: West Ham looked like a beaten team long before the decisive goal was scored and only sprung into life in the last five minutes.

And useless: You need only to look at the Premier League table to decipher that one.

Sunday Mirror

When Andre Marriner brought an end to the game, it coincided with the heavens opening on Upton Park. It hadn’t just rained on Zola’s parade, it had hammered down.

He stayed by the side of the pitch until the end to thank each of his men for their ­efforts. It could well be ­goodbye.

Click here to find out more!

Zola is one of football’s nice guys, a role model of a player who handled himself with dignity on and off the pitch.

But as a manager, he has ­suffered through ­inexperience, suffered through the internal politics at a club which was once a bastion of stability but has crumbled into one of ­intrigue and mismanagement.

Money has been squandered on sub-standard players and is now in the ownership of two men who declare their love for the club but have also shown a liking for headlines that they feel reflect their commitment to claret and blue.

The Star

West Ham co-owner David Sullivan had blasted the midweek 3-1 defeat to Wolves as “pathetic” and “appalling” and there was little evidence of an improvement today.

In an open letter to supporters Sullivan also pointed to West Ham’s lack of quality players and, Scott Parker and Carlton Cole apart, that was clearly evident as they once again lacked passion and ideas.

Gianfranco Zola made five changes from the Wolves defeat, a couple of which raised more than a few eyebrows around Upton Park.

Mido, who came in for Benni McCarthy up front, spent most of the game off the pace and missed a sitter while Manuel Da Costa was at fault for Fuller’s goal.

Kieron Dyer came into the team but only lasted until half-time while the industrious Mark Noble was sacrificed early but Zola preserved with Mido.