West Ham United supporters must be enjoying the respite of the Carling Cup this season.
The Hammers gave Manchester United a 4-0 thrashing on Tuesday night to reach the semi-finals of the competition.
It was the worst defeat for Sir Alex Ferguson's side for nine years and West Ham's players put in a performance that made them look world class. Carlton Cole and Victor Obinna were particularly impressive in attack, despite having scored just once each in the league this season.
West Ham's exciting cup run has been in complete contrast to their league form. It shows that they can raise their game and compete with the very best, but struggle to maintain that level of performance.
Naturally, the longevity of a league season means that the type of winning streak possible in a cup competition is difficult to reproduce on a weekly basis, but even so, the contrast in the figures is startling.
West Ham have beaten Oxford United, Sunderland, Stoke City and Manchester United in their Carling Cup run, scoring 10 goals at an average of 2.5 per game.
"Why can't we play like that every week?" you can hear Hammers fans saying. In the league, they have won just two of 15 games, their goal ratio is 0.9 per game and they have scored more than one goal in a game just three times.
Hammer shows
League Carling Cup
15 Games 4
13% Win ratio 100%
14 Goals 10
0.9 Goal ratio 2.5
Bottom Position Semi-final
