Has West Ham’s Premiership Bubble Burst?

Jacob Steinberg of Mirror Football writes: -

Quote: “A little time away can do wonders for the soul, and Gianfranco Zola’s sojourn to Sardinia after West Ham’s defeat to Stoke City on Saturday appears to have reinvigorated his appetite for the job.

Zola returned home to be alone with his thoughts and reflect on whether or not to resign after a sixth defeat in a row left West Ham level on points with Hull City, who are third from bottom. He has since vowed to keep on fighting; although so deep-rooted is the malaise afflicting the club, it is doubtful it will do any good”. end quote:

Our manager says they are going to work harder; why weren't they before, what have they been doing? -The captain has called for unity and says he is up for the fight (as is Faubert); why has he [Upson] been such a wimp of late and isn’t it a team sport, as in United? And Faubert FIGHT, is he sure, he’s a Frenchman after all? – Cole says he is going to get us out of it, a  'marksman’ who fires blanks; "Every time I go on to the field I never want to let him down, and no other player in the squad wants to do that either. Everyone loves him and wants to do well under him” said Cole; does it make you want to puke? Why has he left it so late even if he can do anything now, which is a big 'IF' for this ‘striker’? 

Stanislas and Da Costa want to impress – Mido’s committed; on a grand a week, yeah sure? - Robert Green has reminded his West Ham United team-mates that all is far from lost this season and insists they are behind Zola; start saving a few then Robert - Parker was singled out against Stoke City as MOTM; how must he feel playing alongside his ‘team’? – Benni McCarthy insisted that every single West Ham United player is determined to drag the club out of its "horrible" situation and says we have to make things better, he goes on to say, "We're heartbroken to be in this situation, but we've got to come together and stand tall”, is that another puking moment; he has only been here five minutes and only came to get away from fat Sam? It’s the long-suffering fans who are TRULY heartbroken – Sully called us (Parkers team) shambolic and disorganised & accepts that the club is in deep relegation trouble  

All this crap still going on:- “West Ham threaten £50m lawsuit against Fulham for fielding a weakened team at Hull” whilst Mohamed Al Fayed is still trying to sue West Ham for £450,000 after the Carlos Tevez affair; I thought it was little children who should be seen but not heard? – April the first Dubai investment – 

The following is from a speech given by Theodore Roosevelt in Paris at the Sorbonne in 1910:
“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat”.

Are we going down with a whimper? Is it only Zola who has his face that is marred?

I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you a dead cert one for failure, which is:
"Try to please everybody all of the time". 

Is this Zola’s plight; is he too nice to win? Can his players give him and fans all the above crap (and more) and yet not really give one themselves?
Should he have picked battles big enough to matter but small enough to win?  Were our last 3 home games those winnable battles? Battles that we went on to be defeated in which will ultimately determine our fate this season (and perhaps for years to come) just because Zola is weak and trying to please all of the people all of the time?