In retrospect it was almost inevitable: on the weekend when West Ham had a great chance to move up one or two places they blew it, and not only that, but the buffer between us and the bottom half of the table reduced from 8 to 7 points.  All we had to do was get a better result against Wigan than Spurs, Portsmouth and Blackburn could manage against Man Utd,  Chelsea and Everton respectively, so of cours we lost while they all got draws.

Such events are the reason why supporting West Ham is so much of a roller coaster.  When there is a bit of good news, like Ashton getting into the England squad last year, it is immediately followed by a banana skin, like Ashton breaking his leg in training. It gives you a particular outlook, typified by Russell Brand writing about Capello’s first England squad in today’s Guardian:

I’d like to have seen caps for Dean Ashton and Robert Green and maybe even Mark Noble but at least I don’t have to spend the next few days worrying that they’ll have their legs smashed in by England’s reckless training methods.  What do they do there? Cage-fighting?

Shame about Green though.  He has been having an amazing season , particularly away from home, and hasn’t had any of the three penalties he has faced go past him.  What more does he have to do to get in the squad?  That was a rhetorical question Curbishley asked before today’s game, and he suggested that Green will have to get his hair dyed or something.