West Ham in trouble after mauling

ENGLISH PREMIERSHIP/West Ham 1 Wolves 3: THE TIDE has turned at the Boleyn Ground

ENGLISH PREMIERSHIP/West Ham 1 Wolves 3:THE TIDE has turned at the Boleyn Ground. Gianfranco Zola's reign as West Ham United's manager may limp on today, but this felt like the beginning of the end. The Italian shivered through the latter exchanges of this mismatch while a minority in the stands chorused "You're getting sacked in the morning". The majority treated the players to worse. There may be no recovery from this.

Wolverhampton Wanderers, fast finding their feet in this division, dismantled their hosts so efficiently that, even three points above the relegation zone, West Ham feel hopelessly adrift. They sank without trace. Benni McCarthy, a forward bought for €3.8 million by the club’s new regime in January, was booed off 19 minutes from the end.

His replacement, Guillermo Franco, scored a consolation goal but the entire side had long been subjected to chants of “You’re not fit to wear the shirt”. Other sides at the foot will sense the presence of a wounded straggler. This had always felt like a key match between two teams terrified of the drop, with the emphasis on the hosts to find some breathing space at the wrong end of the table. Zola’s side had been pointless since beating one of those teams below them, Hull, last month, though their selection policy in the contests against the top three since that match had always been focused on the run-in.

The squad had been carrying knocks and strains and with little expected from those meetings with the title contenders, Zola had taken an opportunity to rest the likes of Carlton Cole, Alessandro Diamanti and Scott Parker, on occasion. “He has carefully managed his players to ensure as many as possible are fit and available for what is the start of a vital period,” said the club’s joint owner, David Gold. By the interval, West Ham trailed and they were thankful not to be further behind.

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It was Wolves’ lone forward who had shone. The timing of Kevin Doyle’s spring to meet a header is invariably exemplary and here, peeling off Matthew Upson, he was outstanding as the focus of this team’s attack. It was his flick from Marcus Hahnemann’s punt, the lay-off angled inside Fabio Daprela, that sent Kevin Foley into the West Ham area early on. The midfielder belted a volley against the bar from an unkind angle.

West Ham soon contrived to hand the visitors the lead. James Tomkins should have dealt with a routine long ball, only for indecision to grip him as Doyle pecked at his back. The centre-half, his body shape all wrong, could only scuff a weak attempt at a left-footed back-pass goalwards and the scampering Doyle collected it. His finish, low and true, cannoned in off the far post.

The mistake was agonising for Tomkins, who did not reappear after the interval, though it had at least sparked some urgency in his team. Parker, so often this team’s most dynamic influence, burst into life to muscle his way forward and curl a low shot beyond Hahnemann and on to the right-hand post. The ball rebounded back across the line for Parker to attempt to slide it into the unguarded net, only for the goalkeeper to recover and block before George Elokobi cleared.

That opportunity had been created just before the break, though it merely offered the hosts false hope. Their attacking was frenzied and shapeless after the resumption and their defending lamentable. Wolves, so clever in their use of the ball and breathless on the counter-attack, revelled in the home side’s misery.

David Jones found space to put Ronald Zubar free of Daprela just before the hour, with the full-back fizzing his finish across Robert Green and into the far corner. The home support was still spitting over that goal when, two minutes later, Jones repeated the trick for Matt Jarvis, who was running into a void between the centre-halves, and the midfielder finished accurately. Simmering dissent soon erupted into open revolt in the stands, with the owners fidgeting awkwardly as they surveyed the mess from the directors’ box.

WEST HAM: Green, Faubert, Tomkins (Spector 46), Upson, Daprela, Behrami, Parker, Kovac (Stanislas 46), Diamanti, Cole, McCarthy (Franco 71). Subs Not Used: Stech, Ilan, Mido, Noble.

WOLVERHAMPTON: Hahnemann, Zubar (Halford 80), Craddock, Berra, Elokobi, Foley, Mancienne (Guedioura 86), Henry, David Jones, Jarvis (Ward 71), Doyle. Subs Not Used: Hennessey, Ebanks-Blake, Iwelumo, Milijas. Booked: Mancienne, Zubar.

Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire).