Tempo, Durchschlagskraft und Leidenschaft

Der Telegraph lobt in seiner heutigen Analyse von West Hams 3:0-Auswärtssieg gegen Reading vor allem den Waliser Craig Bellamy und West Hams Fähigkeit, rasch von Defensive auf Offensive umzuschalten:

"Since West Ham are distinguished this season by the art of turning defence into attack, it pays to discover a little more about the motivation of Craig Bellamy, the man whose relentless running has engineered the change. Three breakaways, three goals - with the Welshman leading the line, Alan Curbishley has finally created a team whose force is in their flair.
Reading were unravelled with such ease that the contrast with the same result last season, when West Ham succumbed 6-0 on New Year's Day at the nadir of Curbishley's management, could scarcely have been more stark. Eight months on, a nine-goal swing is the strongest sign yet that a revival is stirring, with or without the luckless Kieron Dyer.
While not exactly a rhapsody in claret and blue, the performance inspired by Bellamy showcased every quality that West Ham have lacked - the pace, penetration and, most pertinently, the passion.
After a fine individual goal within six minutes, he set up Matthew Etherington for an emphatic second and dictated the distorted balance of this game. For Curbishley, who dismissed rumours of a dressing-room rift with his star striker as "fictitious", this was a timely payback for the efforts made to sign such a temperamental talent.
Wary of stating the theory that mavericks in Bellamy's mould fit in best at West Ham, the manager countered: "We worked hard to bring him in. The one thing I said to him was, West Ham fans would love him for his endeavour, his finishing - they would carry him around the Boleyn Ground. So I asked, 'Why don't you be remembered for that'?" The message has been absorbed, for Curbishley admitted: "He's a better player than I thought. He drives you mad a bit when he keeps dropping off, always on the last man. But I have never had a minute's problem with him."
To the untrained eye, West Ham's sheer dynamism could have concealed their doggedness, yet this was a victory fashioned just as much from the defence. It was telling that goalkeeper Robert Green, the poor unfortunate who was hit for six at the Madejski Stadium last time, achieved several crucial saves, including one from Kevin Doyle's second-half penalty, while Anton Ferdinand - another veteran of that aberrant match - appeared transformed at centre-half."