When Carlos Tevez signed for West Ham (under very strange circumstances), people thought he would score soon and propel West Ham into the top 10 and make them a genuine Premiership force.

How things have changed since that 31st August…

West Ham are in the crapper, the FA is after them, their players can’t stop gambling long enough to prepare for games, Curbishley can’t get them to play decently for more than 1 game and injuries have not helped their cause either.

For Tevez to score his first Premiership goal for West Ham now does not mean that they won’t get relegated, but it demonstrated his footballing skills for once (instead of his MSI connections) and could lay the foundation of his departure from the club when if West Ham is relegated.

The free kick was intelligence over power - Tevez saw Robinson standing off his line (what was he doing so far out front) and tried to chip him. From that short a distance Robinson had no time to backpedal, so he jumped and missed the looping ball. It hit the underside of the crossbar before going in, but it was a smart free kick and long overdue goal.

His celebrations won him a yellow card but you cannot begrudge him his joy for finally scoring.

He does have a roll of fat around his waist though, worse than Ronaldinho’s, and this will concern any manager looking to buy him next season.