To be completely clear, no West Ham fan expected to win at Liverpool on Saturday. Given that it's 47 years since we last won there, and that Bill Shankly had summed up West Ham in his raw scotch accent 'West Ham, great team, great to play, four points every year' (when there were 2 points for a win, of course). Given that we are rock bottom of the league and have only won once all season. Given that we haven't won away since the first game of last season when we managed to beat Wolves. Given that Super Scott Parker has finally succumbed to the effort of carrying the entire team and was sick (add your own punchline of choice). Given that the quality and manner of our performances this season has been unremittingly dire.
So, as the old Rolling Stones song says, No Expectations.
Which gave a resigned ambience to watching the match on ESPN in Norfolk. Both dogs could relax because I wouldn't be hurling abuse at the television set. The Controller could try to engender some spirit by opining that 'this is the kind of game that they might win' or 'the pressure will be off them so they might perform' (that's a translation into football speak of her more novelistic, writerly comments), but without success.
So if, even in such circumstances, it's possible to be disappointed, it's an illustration of how very, very, very, very poor a performance it was. The first few minutes set the tone for as lacklustre a non-showing as I can ever remember seeing. Perhaps, the thought struck me, the players have as much confidence in their ability to win as I have. But I'm not paid shed loads of money to at least put the effort in. Mark Noble honourably excepted, not a single outfield player is worth his wages this week. Even if they get paid 10% of what I think they get, they're not worth it.
The commentators were amazed by how poor West Ham were performing. Chris Waddle, as the summariser, had a career as footballer that was hardly distinguished by hard running and putting his body on the line when it mattered. So when even such as he is staggered by the 'efforts' of the team, it speaks volumes.
At one point, the commentator noted that Avram Grant was standing on the touchline 'but he's not doing anything', so at least his performance was of a piece with the rest of the season.
This weekend it's my elder daughter, Jessica's, birthday. If she lives (as I hope) at least another 47 years she won't see West Ham win at Liverpool playing like that. I would hope that she will never see a performance as bad as that, but we've still got the rest of this season to go.
Everybody now says that next Saturday's home game against Wigan is vital. Even the manager has grasped that. Whether he'll still be there to see it is another matter.
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