As the blessed St. Morrisey of Steven once observed: "I was looking for a job then I found a job, and heaven knows I'm miserable now". Employment beckoned and the Blagg coffers are once again getting swollen - until they find me out at least - but, sadly, this means not only working away but also working, and you may want to sit down for this one, at weekends.

So here I am in darkest Dereham, no radio and just a text from my best mate, an Upton Park Steward no less who tells me: '1-0 to the Cockney Boys, dominated throughout and it should have been about four more'. I have nothing to add except I think we are on our way back.

If anyone wants to help me out with match reports for the rest of the season then please email me at billyblagg@hotmail.com

This televised lunchtime match delivered plenty of entertainment and provided both prospects for better things ahead and a dire warning of what might be to come for West Ham.

The good news first is that the Hammers are starting to look more like a cohesive unit again and, with Scott Parker running the show in midfield, it wouldn't have been that much of a shock if the visitors had taken all three points from this game as they had plenty of opportunities. And the bad news? Well, this match could just have been as easily lost. Poor Rob Green is having a nightmare and his nervousness is destabilizing the whole defence while up front the Hammers look toothless and in dire need of some goals from the forwards.

There were vague signs of improvement in parts of the West Ham team that slumped to their fourth successive league defeat at the hands of the visitors from West London, but issues at the back still continue to cause problems that it's hard to surmount.

It's unlikely that anyone foresaw anything bar an away win today anyway, but when you go behind to what was a virtual free header to Essien after only two minutes then it's going to be a difficult job to find a way back. But when Hammer's keeper Robert Green failed to hold a fairly tame Drogba free-kick after 17 minutes and Upson's hasty and reckless clearance only cannoned off Kalou and back over the head of Green, you could see the confidence draining away.

The transfer window closed on August 31st with West Ham making a couple of late signings in the shape of Blackburn's International Lars Jacobsen - who played in all three of Denmark's games in this year's World Cup in South Africa - and reserve keeper and wonderfully named Ruud Boffin, a 22 year-old signed from Maastricht.

The Hammers also fended off a late bid from Liverpool to coax Carlton Cole away and rebuffed the umteenth bid from Spurs for Scott Parker. In fact, indications that Parker and Upson seemed quite happy to sign new contracts was a good indicator that some of the more experienced players, at least, seem keen to tie themselves to the mast of a ship that many commentators are currently predicting will be floundering on the rocks by Christmas.

I know that the coaching staff's inability to get the best from the available players is about 90% of West Ham's problems but I'd have to say that if only half of the named squad performed to their full potential, we surely shouldn't be hanging around the bottom for long. There's also an impressive list of available under-21's compared to everyone else in the league made up of Academy players - five of whom have already played Premier or Cup football and acquitted themselves well - who will undoubtably all be playing for Chelsea and ManU in 5 years time. Despite the doom and gloom there really is NO excuse... errr...is there?

The full squad list of all the Premiership teams can be found here