Claret and Blue In My Blood

Green Praises Allardyce

2012-02-27T18:32:00.003-08:00

Rob Green is certainly one of the two or three front-running candidates for my Hammer of the Year. He is responsible for some critical saves during a number of our close-fought and narrow wins this season; however, there has been much speculation over his future at the club.

I must say it's hard to get an accurate take on where everything lies when you're trying to read between the lines of sensationalist publications. Some newspapers have him stalling on a deal because he is allegedly unhappy with the potential salary offered, while still others claim that he is not signing until, or unless, West Ham are promoted. Whatever the truth is, I'm not sure I subscribe to either of those scenarios. I suspect he's on big wages (deservedly so - he and Scott Parker did everything in their power to avoid relegation last season), and this season, when called to, has single-handedly staved off that late equalizer on many, many occasions to secure the club a valuable haul of points.

Rob Green doesn't give many interviews; it's a shame as he is intelligent, and articulate - a rare quality in many players these days; he'd have many interesting insights and viewpoints on our game in general and the club in particular, at least that's what my mum says - and she should know, she taught him in Horsell as a student.

So it is refreshing to read a short interview conducted with him by the Guardian where he reflects on how things have changed at West Ham for the better under Allardyce:

"It's been good working under the manager at West Ham [Sam Allardyce]," Green said at the England Footballers Foundation Lions & Roses charity dinner. "He's turned round a pretty depressed place. One thing he can do is man-manage people. The motivation for me at West Ham is there. We have to get promoted. Whatever else happens, happens. I'll get on with affecting what I can affect."

Personally, I'm pleased for him: the England call up is no more than he deserves and certainly reflects well on him, the West Ham team, Allardyce, and ex-Hammer and current caretaker England manager, Pearce.

Paul

West Ham 0 - 0 Crystal Palace: Mired In 4141

2012-02-26T10:00:00.001-08:00

Again, just when you thought this is it and West Ham have stepped up their game and are going to eke out a gap, the team misfires. This was a disappointing if a fair result for both teams, but it could have been different. Except for Green, the irreplaceable Faye and Tomkins, Palace could have been up by 3 or 4 by half time. Not that the Eagles looked that much better in the first half, just half a yard fresher and very comfortable at the back. To be fair, the midweek match with 45 minutes of ten men at Blackpool, together with the Southampton and Millwall matches may have had something to do with the lack of sharpness in the first half. Certainly the team never shifted into second gear in the first half, although Maynard tried, as did Vaz Te. Noble and Collison battled in midfield, but never really combined to be effective in the way that had been previously; their movement and touches looked heavy and lumpen. Reid had some horrific episodes before he settled into the match, but other than that, no one player could really be fingered as being the focus for our problems: the whole team were just flat.

But the real problem was the 4141 formation.

At Blackpool, Allardyce was a genius. Holloway, nay the world, expected him to start with a 4141 or, more likely, 451 with big Cole up front as he had previously. All the dominoes were lined up for such a start. Sam had made sure that the world knew that he thought the pitch was unplayable, and, therefore, it would be a Boltonesque aerial bombardment of Blackpool's penalty area with five across the middle to choke the game up and stifle any on the deck stuff. Then he proceeded to play a 442. What?! Yikes, two up front! It was a rout; we know what happened.

Then, for some inexplicable reason as far as I can see, with a nearly fully fit squad, he does two very strange things. (1) He picks exactly the same 10/11 that started at Blackpool, and, (2) even more bizarrely, he doesn't play a 442 as he did away at Blackpool, he plays a 4141 and leaves Maynard isolated up front, at home. And that was the problem. Maynard, who is not that sort of player, was left to chase poorly passed half chances while being thoroughly covered by two very large and proficient centre backs; he had even less success than Cole does in that thankless position. Strangely, the only glimmer of hope in the first half was when Tomkins got seriously clattered by the Aussie version of Father Christmas (did you see that gut?!). No doubt slightly concussed by the innocent elbow to the temple - or was it temple to elbow, Cole started to warm up. While Tomkins was his usual rock-solid self up until that point, our attack was AWOL. My fingers were crossed as Cole top off his tracksuit top and stepped up to the side line that Allardyce would go to a 442 and remove the sweeper/defensive midfielder, sitting Cole up front next to Maynard and take this match.

But as we all know Cole sat back down, ever stalwart Tomkins soldiered on and we reverted to mistimed passes, fruitless forays forward and lumpish off the ball movement. The midfield was scrappy, and the lone forward was starved.

Coming out of the second half, Allardyce took off Faubert for Cole. This was a mistake. He was too cautious and should have removed Tomkins. Tomkins was not quite himself after that clattering; many of best moves up the left had involved Faubert. The addition of Cole though did add an immediate impetus to the game and Palace started to be tested at the back, but by this time, Maynard was a little ragged from running his guts out, alone, during the first half and so the combination wasn't at its best. Vaz Te's removal for O'Neil was another strange move for me. Lansbury perhaps, but O'Neil is not a particularly attacking player (despite his first goal at Blackpool last week). Palace did look dangerous at times, but the best form of defence is attack, and putting Baldock on for the fading Collison would have have been a better move for me and moving to a 433 with Vaz Te out wide in midfield. Baldock's late introduction was as critical as Cole's had been: he immediately caused Palace all sorts of trouble and had two very good chances. His incredible agility and ability to run at defenders created havoc in the Palace defensive ranks. With all due respect and credit to Palace for stifling West Ham and offering some threat, with Maynard, Baldock, Cole up front, Vaz Te and Faubert either side of Noble, I have no doubt we would have taken the game.

Overall, I think it was a case of Sam worrying too much about the opposition and not putting enough stock in our own form of late. I suppose this result gives Sam the opportunity to re-introduce Nolan into the midfield, citing an indifferent home performance by the Nolan-less midfield yesterday, but I'm not convinced that is the answer to these all too frequent needless dropping of points. While I can never understand fans booing their own team, as some did yesterday, I can absolutely sympathise with the frustration they feel, because I feel it too: based on what we have seen recently, the clubs riches of talent, the mediocre quality of the opposition, a home fixture, that should have been a solid 3 points with a clean sheet. Against Southampton and, yesterday, against Palace, we have dropped 4 points. Where would that put us now?

Like I said, I don't think any one player can be criticized for yesterday's lackluster performance: it was a team-flop. It was probably instigated before the ref ever blew his whistle for the kickoff.

We have to do better.

On a positive note, my Hammer of the year so far is still Rob Green. He was, again, outstanding, and has been deservedly called up for England, despite the commentators little quips yesterday! Will they ever drop it?

Paul.

Bobby Moore "The" #6

2012-02-24T15:53:00.003-08:00

I am not going to write a piece on the great man, to be honest, it upsets me.
It upsets me that he went so young, that our club never treated him right from when he retired, and it rankles me that he isn't Sir Bobby. If anyone in English football ever deserved that honour, it is Bobby Moore. The greatest captain England ever had, our captain, a local West ham boy.

What I will say is that he must never be forgotten. If you saw him play you should pass
that knowledge down, for Bobby epitomised "The West Ham Way" that I am so fond of referring too. Bobby Moore was the personification of it.

Currently doing the rounds on Twitter is the below... 6 minutes for Bobby Moore.

“Anyone going to the game tomorrow lets all sing “One Bobby Moore” for 6 Min's from the 6th minute”.

Iain Dale has already supported this on his excellent site, "West Ham Till I Die", I would also urge you to support this. I have retweeted it from my Twitter account and I for one shall certainly be singing it, for he must NEVER be forgotten. Will it bring tears to my eyes ? too damn right it will !

Please support it and spread the word in any way you can.

Booby Mooore RIP .......

Martin

Preview: Crystal Palace at the Boleyn

2012-02-23T21:05:00.000-08:00

Labelling yourself an Eagle is a lofty epithet; but it's the Hammers who are flying high right now: let's hope they don't make turkeys out of us.

Like that old motor racing legend always said, never look back, only forward. Aryton Senna had the right idea: take pride in your accomplishments, but don't let them go to your head. Nothing has changed, and if you let yourself get nostalgic and take your eye of what is in front of you to bask in what you did yesterday, then someone will come along and put you back in your place. I'm sure the lads are being reminded of that right now; Palace are no walkovers, despite my quip above.

Crystal Palace sit in 13th place, 17 points below the Hammers. It's unlikely they'll make the play-off spots being ten points behind 7th place 'Boro, but that won't stop them trying. Last weekend with Chris Martin's brace they put four past a Sordel-less Watford at Selhurst Park, but as their position indicates, the Eagles are inconsistent, and, in the long run, that result will do little to revive fading playoff hopes after their recent Carling Cup semi-final defeat.

Palace, like West Ham have a reputation for nurturing talent. The latest young player to emerge from the erie is 19 year-old winger Wilfried Zaha. He looks a natural talent, and had just received his first England U21 call up for next Wednesday's match against Belgium. Zaha is a fine player, but many Palace fans seem to feel that he lacks that final ball in a team that seem to like to sit back on a one-goal lead when playing away.

West Ham must be wondering if they'll finish this game with ten men; certainly many players must be feeling the fatigue of playing three matches a man short for nearly 200 minutes. The good news is Rob Green's suspension has been revoked by the FA, after it was deemed the ref made an error in sending him off. My only concern is whether key players like Faye, Noble, Tomkins, and Collison will have recovered sufficiently to play the up-tempo style that has seen us sweep up 7 points from a possible nine. Against both Southampton and Blackpool when it was 11 v 11 West Ham were the far superior team.

There are doubts over both Tomkins and Faye, and both players face a late fitness test a hour or so prior to the 12:45 kick off on Saturday. Tomkins, in particular, would be a huge loss for us; not that Faye is unimportant either. Both have marshaled a robust defence of Green's goal this season; in fact, they are part of the reason Green has found his way back into England contention (the other part is, of course, Green's own sterling performances and the absence of Capello - who seems very closed minded - remember Parker...). Faye went off, while Tomkins played on. So with that, I'm assuming that Tomkins will play, and Faye will be a doubt. Let's hope Diop is back, and that Demel makes an appearance. George John hasn't had a look in yet; could this be the match? Faubert was off fairly quickly after Green was sent off, so he should be fairly fresh. Baldock hasn't played in a while, but I don't want to see Maynard or Vaz Te off: they played so well against Blackpool. I'm going for a 442, as I don't think Faye will be fit and the Hammers need to attack this game.

Green

JOB-Tomkins-Reid-McCartney

Faubert-Noble-Collison-Vaz-Te

Maynard-Baldock

Subs: Diop, Lansbury (Chuckle), John, O'Neil, Cole

Well, there's not much more to say, except the Hammers need to start like they have left off: high tempo, quick and confident. There is always that lingering fear and doubt that the team will come out flat; let's hope I'm wrong. It is the first time in a while that I have seen players smiling when they're coming out onto the pitch, perhaps, after that dreadful last season or so under Grant, they're actually enjoying their football!

If all 11 players play as well as they have been with ten players of late, then, with all due respect to Palace, I don't think it matters who the opposition are right now.

COYI

Paul.

A Blackpool Season Ticket Holder's Perspective on West Ham

2012-02-22T17:09:00.005-08:00

I came upon an article written by a Blackpool blogger who, while being critical of Holloway's tactics yesterday, was refreshingly open about his view on West Ham. The whole article is here. The excerpt below makes an interesting read.

Hammers bound for the Premier League

Over the course of two matches this season West Ham have now racked up an aggregate score of 8-1 against Blackpool, and on both showings they have looked every bit worthy of a promotion-winning side. Much has been made of the money spent, both at the beginning of the season and in the January transfer window, but it looks like Allardyce will do the job asked of him and guide the Hammers back to the Premier League at the first attempt.

To have taken seven points from the last three games despite having a man sent off in each shows an ability to get results from difficult situations, and the ease with which they coasted to victory at Bloomfield Road demonstrated a difference in class of the two sides. Not only do West Ham boast a strong defensive unit, they also have a number of quick and skillful attacking players who were threatening on the counter-attack, often exposing Blackpool's gung-ho approach in the final third of the game.

There is still a good chunk of the season remaining, but of all the teams in the race West Ham are possibly best placed to maintain their position until the end of the campaign. Allardyce may have bad memories of his final season on the Fylde coast, but at this point it's difficult to imagine a similar collapse might be in store for those at the Boleyn Ground.

It's quite refreshing to have a non West Ham blogger's viewpoint to be so honest about the club; ever since the Tevez affair that has been all too rare, with most opposition fans highly bigoted and irrationally jaundiced in their assessment of the team.

I think Allardyce has a nice balance in the team right now; the only way he should change anything is if we stumble at home to Palace; otherwise, perhaps captain Kev may face a spell on the bench?

Paul

Blackpool 1 - 4 West Ham United: Looking At The World Through Red-Tinted Glasses

2012-02-21T20:06:00.001-08:00

The second Arsenal GK we've used this season!

3 matches, 3 red cards, 10 men for 196 minutes, and 7 points: top of the table. Who'd have guessed? Those are amazing numbers must tell a story of team understanding, work ethic, and cohesion among the players: they're no longer a group of individuals. While Green's red card was probably justified, I couldn't believe it! Several key vertebrae from the spine of the team have been removed over the past three games, yet, each time, the team seems to stand even taller. Neither Nolan, Taylor or Green will be present for Saturday's televised game against Palace at the Boleyn, but given the spirit in the team, you'd be a fool to bet against the Hammers. West Ham seem to have reacted by growing in stature since the thrashing at Ipswich.

Swamping Blackpool in the first half, West Ham were strong right out of the traps tonight; they seemed to know just how important this match was. Sam started both Vaz Te and Maynard which I thought was adventurous of him. I thought Maynard was good from the off; it was his first start, and he damn near scored after he turned Cathcart only for Tangerine's GK Gilks to get the smallest of deflections from his boot and touch it wide. It was nice to see Tomkins get on the score sheet again, especially from a Noble set piece. And it wasn't long before Maynard netted.

But when Phillips got one back almost on the stroke of half time, I must admit to feeling that the team had squandered the chance to win this handsomely. Then, a few minutes into the second half, Green's professional foul and his subsequent sending off nearly made me spit in my beer. I just couldn't believe it: again, after all that work? And one look at the subs bench just to make sure I really was seeing what I was seeing: no back up GK! You can hardly blame, Sam; I'm sure if you look at statistics, that the chances of a GK either getting injured or sent off are infinitesimally minute, and with only 5 subs allowed on the bench, you've got to have at least a defender, a couple of midfielders and a couple of attack minded players. Holloway didn't have a GK on the bench either. Still, apparently, Lansbury was up and stripping off before Sam even asked him to: that's confidence.

And after years of poor January signings (remember Mido and McCarthy?), how gratified must Gold, Sullivan and Sam have been tonight to see both Maynard and Vaz-Te find the net? And O'Neil must be pretty proud too after his long road to recovery to have got one too.

While the result leaves me hugely relieved, very satisfied and looking forward to the next game, it also leaves me with a few questions. Nolan will be back from his suspension after the weekend's game to Palace: where do we put him in a midfield that seems to be functioning better than it has done all year? Vaz Te was great to watch down the left; Taylor who? (OK perhaps that's unfair). Who will play in place of Green for his one game suspension? Stech's former club will get a 750,000 appearance fee if he playes two more games; can the club really afford that? Would an Almunia loan for a game be a cheaper and safer bet? What of Baldock? The man has great potential, but where do you play him? I can't see Maynard or Vaz-Te losing their spots. Cole is useful in one up front formation which Big Sam seems to like to play frequently, so just where does Baldock fit? And Carew's last good perfomance for West Ham was playing alongside a scintillating Baldock against Blackpool at home when the Hammers also scored 4: is that a possibility?

Still, barring the Green problem, they're nearly all nice questions to have because the club has serious depth now. Perhaps I'm just looking at the world through red-tinted glasses.

Finally I'll leave you with a Holloway quote on West Ham: "They looked like potential champions and we looked like people who should sort our lives out. We were second best all night and it hurts me to say it. It was pretty horrendous.”

Well done, Lads: you made us proud, again, tonight.

Paul

Preview: Blackpool vs West Ham

2012-02-20T18:57:00.000-08:00

With the Tangerines a scant five points behind and West Ham with a game in hand, this is another cliched six pointer for both teams. West Ham who, by dint of Southampton's excellent 4-0 demolition of Derby last weekend, are once again topping the table by two points over the Hammers, are going to find this fixture a tough one. But it's not a foregone conclusion despite the bookies favouring of Holloway's Blackpool.

Both sides have some absences, although both managers are hopeful that their squads are deep enough to be able to weather the storm. Well, one of them is wrong. Blackpool's Holloway, quoted recently as not sure of his best eleven, is not unduly worried about forward Gary Taylor Fletcher's or defender Alex Baptiste's absence, perhaps because Mat Phillips will be back for the Tangerines. For West Ham Demel, Diop, Taylor and Nolan are out. Diop, Taylor and Nolan may be a miss in what may end up being a gritty mud bowl of a game under the lights at Bloomfield Road.

The two teams have had contrasting league fortunes of late if we look at Blackpool's home record versus West Ham's away record. Blackpool are unbeaten in 2012: They have not lost in seven league games with a 2012 home record like this: WWDWD.

While West Ham can boast the best away form in the division (27 points from a possible 45), Hammer's fans have perhaps been coasting along on that old chestnut that the club's away form is what has been buoying the team up in the automagic promotion spots of late. But it hasn't: LDLWL...

Given the playing surface, I'm not expecting big Sam to go up there to play pretty. Frankly, while a win would be nice, a draw is more likely on Sam's radar. Blackpool are a very tough proposition both home and away lately, hence their ascent up the table to automatic promotion challengers. It's going to be a 451, with Cole alone up front. Blackpool have only scored one goal in the first 15 minutes of a match, but have scored an incredible 20 in the last 20 minutes over this season. I suspect this match will be as much about attrition and fitness, as it will about football. It's a pity we don't have Diop and Nolan because I think they would add the dimension any team would need to smash and grab 3 points at Bloomfield Road. I'm thinking that Big Sam will place Tomkins back and Faye as a defensive midfielder. I'd like to see a 442 with Maynard and Cole up front, but I'm not sure that'll be the plan this evening.

Green

JOB-Tomkins-Reid-McCartney

Faye

Faubert-Noble-Collison-Vaz-Te

Cole

Subs: O'Niel, John, Lansbury, Maynard, Baldock

I'd like to see Maynard on for Cole at 65 minutes, Lansbury for Collison and Baldock on for Faye if we get behind.

I'm hoping for a passionate, committed 11 man performance that garners 3 points, but a single point would be respectable. I know Martin will be up there, so for his sake, lets hope for a good performance no matter what!

COYI's

Paul

What Do You Think Of This?

2012-02-16T18:21:00.000-08:00

"Hmm! What are those microdots on the horizon, Dad?" "Nothing, Son, clean your binoculars."

I'll be honest, initially, I was in favour of West Ham's tenancy of the Olympic Stadium. It made sense on so many levels. The Boleyn is getting long in the tooth, and even with re-development the maximum capacity could only be brought up to about 45,000 fans according to a recent interview given by Karren Brady. While this is a 10,000 fan capacity increase on what the club have now, it simply isn't enough long-term to generate the revenue needed for top level Premier League status. Besides how the hell are they going to move that road?

Upton Park is the 14th largest capacity stadium in England, behind such clubs as Everton (40,000), Aston Villa (42,786), Liverpool (45,276), and Sunderland (48,707). None of those teams seem to be able to compete for the very top honours in the Premier League any more (I know Liverpool fans may want to bicker here, but frankly they're deluding themselves). In fact, the only clubs with capacities less that 50,000 that can compete in the "Greedy League" as Martin so aptly calls it, are the ones with Daddy Warbucks owners: Chelsea (42,449) and City (47,405)...And, while you never know, it's unlikely West Ham will be purchased by a Russian Billionaire or Arabian Conglomerate in the near future. Now there are some that might suggest the Funky Chickens are doing well with 36,000 or so, but, well let's give it a season or two before we decide on what level they maintain and how much silverware they actually compete for, let alone win; besides, they're desperately trying to increase capacity too!

Not that a larger capacity is by any means a guarantee of success: Newcastle, who, admittedly, with our ex-striker and our ex-manager, are doing better than they have done for decades, are sitting in St. James's Park (I refuse to call it whatever shoddy commercial epithet the owners have renamed it) which has a capacity of 54,409 people, but years of mismanagement are probably to blame for their past decades of mediocrity.

Even if the Boleyn were redeveloped to house 45,000 fans, it would likely not be filled: the transportation links to Upton Park are, simply put, completely inadequate. If the stadium were somewhere else, with much better links, then yes, I'd be confident of 45,000 to 55,000 depending on the fixture. A venue that is easy to get to, and has greater revenue would certainly be a major boost over what we have now. So, ostensibly, the Olympic Stadium is it then?

But, as Martin has alluded to on many occasions, from a fan perspective the new venue MUST have an atmosphere, and it must to be a venue suitable for watching football.

This is not negotiable.

The Olympic Stadium, as it presently stands, is not suitable for football. And I'm not just talking about the diluted revenue streams of the potential "new deal" or the lack of naming rights; I'm talking about the actual spectacle the Wedding Cake-like venue will provide the grass roots fan. You and me.

While I haven't been inside, everything I've read, seen and heard indicate that the OS is unsuitable. The terraces, from my eye, look far too shallow, which means the sight-lines are fundamentally awful and they slope away too gently from the playing surface that the mid (let alone upper) tiers are too distant for decent viewing. And the pitch is isolated in the middle of a running track. On top of that, the whole building is very, how shall I put it, prefabricated looking..?

Yes, I've heard the arguments that the OS will be renovated after the "Games", and that sliding seating could theoretically be retroactively fitted to cover the track. However, I genuinely don't believe there's feasible way to turn that stadium into an atmospheric replacement for the Boleyn with good views and a West Ham feel. The only intimidation opposing teams will feel is the long walk from the tunnel to the pitch. Half-time will have to be lengthened to 25 minutes just so the players can get to and from the changing rooms for a pee and a pep talk; and as for the opposing fans, they might be intimidated by the cost of rental binoculars and earhorns.

In my opinion you must have four cornerstones in place before a football venue can be considered successful: capacity, transportation links, atmosphere and grass roots level fans to fill it. West Ham can provide the fans, and the OS can provide the transportation links and the capacity, but it cannot supply the atmosphere.

But funnily enough, it seems one man has come up with a sensible solution.

Meet Steve Lawrence. He's the architect of the OS. He's also the man behind the anonymous complaint to the EU Commission which derailed West Ham's bid for the stadium. In an interview he gave to Sky Sports recently, he outlined a much better solution for West Ham and the athletics legacy:

Lawrence's solution would be to build an athletics stadium where the warm up track will be and then allow the stadium to be converted for football only use, possibly with joint tenancy for West Ham and Leyton Orient.

Even the O's Barry Hearn, who wanted West Ham out, and wanted the O's in, now concedes that the venue is awful as it stands.

I personally, wouldn't have a problem sharing a ground with the O's. They certainly aren't going to nab our fans, although they may benefit from some exposure. And West Ham would have all a purpose built football stadium, with atmosphere, sight lines, capacity, and transportation links second to none.

It sounds like an idea worth considering. David, David and Karren?

Paul

Billy Sharp (and better things)

2012-02-16T10:44:00.000-08:00

I am surprised to see some Saints fan here commenting on Paul's post below, there again in all my years of travelling up and down the country following football I'm always surprised to see them anywhere !

As for the "football" they claim to have played, I was there, did I miss something? Yes they passed the ball around a bit, actually reminding me of West Ham, but West Ham under Zola! Sideways, normally in their own half, round and round in a circle before hoofing it up field! I was one of Sam's biggest opponents before coming here because of his "alleged" style of football, and my "jury" on him is still out, but whilst not being the most attacking team at present, I do not feel he has served up that much long ball football. If he did I would not be watching it ! my thoughts on it are well documented on this site, and I certainly wouldn't be dragging up to Blackpool for a Tuesday night game next week!

As for the "vile chants" they should have been there when we played millwa** ! However I was on the train both going and travelling back to Kings Cross with some Saints, and they were telling me what a great atmosphere Upton Park always has.

As for the culprits in the game ........ Taylor, like Paul has written, was an idiot, and he let us down. He has done much to hurt our cause. As for the other culprit on the night, well .....

Billy Sharp has been treated well by football fans in general since the awful events that surrounded his life, he has been given and treated with, and rightly so in my book, an awful lot of respect over the trauma he has had to deal with. Forgetting the bleatings of a couple of the above "Internet warriors" trawling around West Ham sites to pass comment, I would love to know if Billy Sharp himself feels he has afforded the game the same level of respect that has been shown to him ?

As for the better things, our Academy boys put up a great performance last night before losing out to Chelsea on sudden death penalties. There is much to be proud of from our youngsters, and much to be optimistic about. Well done and thank you to all of you on behalf of our club, we all look forward to seeing more of you in the near future.

COYI's

Martin

West Ham Counter Saint's Advantage

2012-02-15T18:09:00.000-08:00

While the Hammers failed to hold their lead at the scintillatingly atmospheric Boleyn yesterday, they can hold their heads up high regarding the manner in which they played against Southampton from whistle to whistle, despite going a man down after only 20 minutes. West Ham started much the brighter, with Ricardo Vaz Te - after just 45 seconds - and Winston Reid forcing two superb saves by the Saint's keeper, Kelvin Davies. For the first twenty minutes it was pretty well all one-way traffic, with West Ham getting a succession of corners and swamping Southampton. And, frankly, when a penalty was awarded, you just couldn't see this match going any which way except into West Ham's pocket: they were rampant. But don't take my word for it; listen to neutral punter, Steve Claridge's version of events:

Steve Claridge:

"With 11 men, West Ham certainly were the better side up until the point where they had the man sent off. Southampton then, as you would expect, took control of the game with regard to possession. I don't think they created an awful lot second half. I can't remember an outstanding chance they had apart from the goal, but they certainly deserve something from the game...We've certainly seen the reason why these two are one and two in the division. Not just the quality of the game, but everything that went with it. We had the full package tonight. We had a magnificent spectacle tonight."

In Southampton's defence, Green did make a few spectacular saves, and kept us in it, as did Davies for the Saints. Green, in fact, is one of my candidates for Hammer of the year: he has been pivotal.

But, back to the match, another streak of indiscipline turned the game on it's head.

While the ref's red card for Taylor's petulant push on Billy Sharp was perhaps soft, it is technically deserved. A player just can't raise his arms to another player. Billy Sharp took full advantage of the situation and evened the penalty call up in one fail-swoop by grabbing his own face and falling like a poleaxed heffer. Taylor reacted on emotion; Sharp used calculated nouse twinned with a performance worthy of an Oscar to seal-the-deal and manipulate a relatively inexperienced referee; furthermore, in losing Taylor, West Ham have lost a real match-maker for 3 matches. Damn. Losing Taylor, meant Collison had to leave too, and McCartney made his appearance into his usual birth in place of Taylor. It is nice to know that with Vaz Te able to patrol the left wing, that Taylor is able to offer some depth to the left back slot...later.

Noble cooly slotted the penalty home on his 200th appearance. I'll say no more because Karma is important.

However, I've got to say, for the second match in a row, I was both flummoxed by Sam's formation choice and equally enthralled by the passionate performance and attitude the players displayed. Something has gelled this season: I haven't seen such togetherness, camaraderie or team spirit since the early days under Zola. The difference is, the team looks confident with a capital C, more effective, and better balanced, rather than fragile (with a capital F) and tentative

Sam's choice again was to go with a 451 or, if you're generous, a 433. But it was a quite ingenious working of players in unusual positions which, given the first 20 minutes...worked. Vaz Te patrolled Taylor's old stomping ground on the left wing. I thought he looked very effective with anticipation, pace and skill. Because Diop was again not fully fit, Tomkins was initially started as a defensive midfielder, but like against Millwall, when it became an 10 vs 11 competition, he sat between Reid and Faye in a string of three centre backs - rather like my preview lineup.

It was interesting that the only way the Saints could equalize was to play the second half with an airborne bombardment; Adkins' side looked more like Bolton than Allardyce's Bolton did, so the media can drop all that "Saint's beautiful football" nonsense. I suppose it's a case of what works, and finally Lambert knocked in a Fox bomb.

Given the last two performances for the Hammers though, when we do eventually get to play with 11 players back on the field, it looks very encouraging for us. We have a tough fixture against Blackpool at their place in a week; and by all accounts, given their recent form, it's another cliched six pointer.

Finally, before I hang my boots up tonight, I'd just like to put a word out about the media, and, in particular, the print media's reporting of this match. If you hadn't known better, you would have thought from the various headlines regarding last night's clash that Southampton were the team that was one man down, and that they were the technical winners of the evening's spoils. I suppose it could be construed as a back-handed compliment that the print media's slant on this match was to focus on West Ham's supposed inadequacy rather than Southampton's profligate impotence. If you didn't know it before, know it now: Southampton are the media darlings...

"Hooiveld denies Hammers victory" Sky Sports

"Saints primed for promotion push" BBC Sport

"Saints draw is Hammer blow for Sam" Evening Herald

"Honours even as Saints hold West Ham" SuperSport

"Hammers miss chance to open up 4 point gap" City AM

"Jos Hooiveld sticks it to Hammers" Daily Star

"Hammers held by Saints" Sporting Life

"Saints strike back to deny Hammers" ITV Sport

So I offer this:

10 Men Hammers Hold the Saints... Is that too sensational? Perhaps overly biased? Not at all. It's the truth of it: ask a Saints fan. Heck, ask the manager, he certainly crowed on after the game as if he expected more.

Paul

The Saints Come Marching In: Pray For Excommunication

2012-02-13T18:15:00.000-08:00

A couple of arrows in that halo would be a fitting Valentines Day present for me, m'dear...

How important is this match? Well, in the grand scheme of the season, not pivotal. But you're kidding yourself if you think both teams don't really know what this game is all about. Wheeling out that tired old cliche: this is a six pointer; and despite the potential points for the Hammers from a game in hand, victory for either team tomorrow would be a massive fillip and ego-booster for the final run towards automatic promotion and title honours. Not to mention that the winner of tomorrow's game will be top come the final whistle.

No pressure then.

Do I really need to rant on about how good Southampton have been this season?

Yes, because lately they haven't been quite as stellar as the media have portrayed. But all credit due, since being promoted last year, Nigel Adkins' Southampton have owned the Championship for the first half of this season. They narrowly defeated the Hammers in the first fixture at St. Mary's by a goal, although it was a close match.

But, since Boxing day, and until last Saturday, Southampton had been on a little bit of a rough ride; however, that was seemingly all forgotten last weekend when they swept Burnley aside to move within a point of the Hammers. It was a familiar story to Southampton fans: Adam Lallana nodded in the first from a Richardson cross; the league's leading scorer Ricky Lambert somehow missed two golden chances; new signing Billy Sharp rippled the net with his maiden goal for the Saints, and ex-Hammer, Connolly, nearly made it three, but the linesman decided it was offside. And that was against a Burnley that have won five of their last six away games.

They can score then.

So if at this point your sphincter is twittering and the bile is rising in the oesophagus, then you're in good company. Robert Green, Reid, Tomkins, Faye, McCartney and O'Brien are all probably pondering their fundamental cavities right now too. They have a job to do tomorrow, but more on that later.

Could the Burnley win have been any more confidence boosting for the Southampton team, twinned with the fact that West Ham were hamstrung by a frozen pitch?

Probably not.

However, I watched the Saints play a relatively poor Forest side at the City ground a while ago, and, despite all the reports, I felt Forest were hard done by in the first half. They were extremely unlucky not to be ahead for the first 25 minutes and had dominated most of the play. Of course, with their only real break, Southampton scored, and Forest's game went to Hell in a handbasket as they forgot their shape, chased the game, and had a man sent off for the entire second half to boot.

So, a template not to follow then. But, initially, Forest had the better of the play because they cut off the service to the forwards. Those dangerous forwards. Forest's plan was to crowd the midfield and fly down the wings, mustering their own attacks.

That is the template West Ham must follow today if they are beat Southampton.

I'm not convinced that a strict 451 is going to garner 3 points, let alone 1 for the Hammers. West Ham have depth all over the field and need to play an up-tempo game tomorrow: pressure high up the pitch and on the ball at all times.

Simply put, we need to keep them busy, so busy that they can't implement their plan while we implement ours.

I'm going to suggest something a controversial for tomorrow. A change. Against Southampton, I feel it is a danger to play with wing backs - you leave yourself exposed by dint of the fact that your wingbacks can be caught too far up the pitch and can be exposed by Southampton's versatile, rapid and devastating attack. It's also not productive to play with one up front. In order to keep the pressure high up the pitch and and to cut off their supply lines, while maximizing our chances of scoring, we need a midfield that is well stocked and at least two up front.

Subs: Diop, Demel, Lansbury, Baldock, Vaz Te

It was a toss up between Lansbury and Collison, but lately, I feel Collison has started to show his form, and Lansbury is a loanee. For now, rewarding academy graduate Collison is the best idea for the long term aspirations of our club. If he fails to work, or is ineffective, then Lansbury is on the bench. Demel too is said to be fit; however, match fitness is something else. Baldock and Vaz Te should both be brought on as Cole and Maynard tire from their constant pressing and running. Taylor and Faubert are class this year, and keeping those crosses coming in is priority one. Noble speaks for himself: captain. O'Neil is a good battler and offers mobility to a fairly square and flat wall of a back line: strong tacklers all of them.

It's time to start one of new acquisitions. I don't think that starting such a potentially volatile character as gifted Morrison is a good idea, yet, but I do believe that he has a place on the bench in the near future, if only, to keep him focused. You have the feeling that idle hands may... Well you know what I mean. For now though, this is a big fixture which requires level heads, stout hearts and bags of stamina.

Fingers crossed. Paul.

COYI's!

Preview: The Posh Entertain West Ham

2012-02-09T19:36:00.000-08:00

It's a new season now; nothing that has come before counts: the next 17 games will determine the fate of the Irons. And that starts on Saturday, against The Posh.

Every West Ham fan has an optimistic side, but it has been weathered by experience, and, on occasion, our hot irons have been unexpectedly quenched by a bracing jolt of cold water, with the resulting steam pouring furiously from our ears. So it wouldn't be completely out of character for West Ham, after a pulsating short-handed win over local rivals Millwall, to have their enthusiastic progress of last week tempered by the unfancied Posh. All the boxes are checked: Darren Ferguson's Peterborough United haven't won a game since their Boxing Day victory away to Forest. And at home you have to look back to mid December to find their last home win, against Coventry, by the only goal of the match. They've shipped 8 goals at home since the New Year with only two in reply.

That said, and despite the absence of our captain, I don't think I'm alone in expecting a West Ham win on Saturday at the London Road Stadium, despite our soft one-nil home win in the return fixture at the Boleyn in late September thanks to our favourite penalty taker, Mark Noble. It's not that I think Peterborough will be a pushover, but that given our strength, depth, ability to win despite, at times, looking unconvincing, we really must expect to win a match against an 18th placed side if we're serious about making consistent progress to automatic promotion to the Premier League.

But lest the West Ham players take it this fixture too lightly, we need only look back to Ipswich and compare that with what we saw against Millwall.

Much has been written about our performance at home to Millwall: and while it perhaps wasn't quite Barcelonaesque and was against mediocre opposition, it was also a gutsy team display with the player's effervescent mood apparent all game. As Martin wrote below, the football was driven by Mark Noble in central midfield; rather than Rob Green's boot to Cole up front. There were neat one two's, fabulous runs off the ball (how long is it since we've seen that), abundant effort and a willingness to chase everything, and some sublime crosses into the box. The team needs to replicate that performance at the tiny London Road Stadium; they need to replicate and build on it every match. Players need to work to get into the first eleven based on their on willingness to make runs regardless of their chances of success. Sam also needs to be cognisant of the fact that this creative play came from having more space in midfield after Nolan "vacated" the pitch, and that players were willing to push up and chase. Sam fine tuned the ten players, but the formation was not his first choice. Hopefully a similar one, albeit with 11 players, will make its way into his thinking for this game.

With McCartney and Carew the only two regulars listed as a slight doubt, young Danny Potts may make an appearance, but I doubt it. I liked Tomkins as the defensive midfielder with his natural desire to defend deep, he was invaluable last weekend. I enjoyed seeing Collison and Taylor, and I would like to see Demel, Baldock, Maynard and Vaz Te too, but we can't have everything.

For sure, Allardyce will have a hard job picking the team with so many choices, and it will be hard for him to drop any of the ten players who played so well last weekend, excepting McCartney, if he fails the fitness test. While Tomkins started as a DF, he often reverted to CB last week; having the 3 quasi CB's and no Nolan seemed to allow Noble to push up. He, Collison and Taylor played with far more freedom. Taylor added a dimension to our left side that Collison's tendency to come inside didn't give us in the first half. Collison needs to be given the chance to play centrally. With McCartney a potential casualty for this one, O'Brien, in the name of symmetry, has to be dropped too. I've got enough subs on the bench to allow Big Sam the luxury of reverting to 451 if he wants. While I'm reluctant to mess with success (our away record at the hands of 451 has been, until recently, phenomenal), I'd like to try a more attacking formation for this match.

Subs: Demel, Diop, Lansbury, Baldock, Vaz Te

Whatever Sam picks, let's hope that from now until the last game at home to Hull City, the Hammers play like they did against Millwall rather than like they did against Ipswich!

COYI's!

Paul

Brooking, Capello, Redknapp...

2012-02-08T18:42:00.000-08:00

Wasn't yesterday a whizzbanger of a day? Ostensibly the Capello resignation and the Redknapp court saga have nothing at all to with West Ham. But on closer inspection there's a lot to tie both those events to the club...and to each other.

Firstly, love him or hate him, past manager and "reluctant" wheeler-dealer, Harry Redknapp, was acquitted in the case brought against him by the HM Revenue. The prosecution alleged that then Portsmouth manager Redknapp was upset that he was not getting the 10% commission from owner Milan Mandaric which his contract had previously stipulated, and he felt he deserved from the sale of Peter Crouch to Villa. Instead, after being promoted from Director of Football to manager, Redknapp had to make do with a contractual 5% of the 3million quid...and, allegedly, Mandaric would make it up to him.

It strikes me that any manager getting a slice from the sale of a high profile player may conflict with the interests of the club, but what do I know? I do know there are other perspectives. Some will argue that surely a manager should get some remuneration for all the effort and hard work they have put into developing a player after all those years? But I thought they did: it's called a salary, results, personal satisfaction, and a bonus for performance-targets met. Call me old fashioned on that one. Anyway, to make it up to Harry, allegedly Milan set up an account in Monaco (the account was called Rosie, if you can believe it, after Redknapp's beloved deceased dog) where a sum roughly, heck no almost exactly, equivalent to the other 5% of the Crouch fee was deposited. Tax free. Anyway, the prosecution's case was "flimsy" and the lovable rogue got away with that one. It does make me wonder how many of West Ham's players may have been sold on because of personal gain over the decades.

Then there's Fabio Capello's resignation as England manager today because former West Ham academy youth player John Terry was stripped of his England captaincy for allegedly making racial slurs towards ex-West Ham defender and fellow West Ham academy graduate, Anton Ferdinand.

And in yet another West Ham connection, one of our best number tens ever, Trevor Brooking, and former Hammer defender Stuart "Psycho" Pearce have stepped into the vacant England manager's job for the short term, until a replacement can be named.

And here' where my hands really start rubbing together in expectation. I believe that Brooking and Pearce would be an excellent pairing to manage England through the European Championships. Brooking with his visionary ideas and past experience, twinned with Pearce's knowledge of the U21's and HOW TO PLAY IN TOURNAMENTS would, I believe, offer England a better chance that Capello would have.

But, you and I both know, that won't happen, so, what could be the next best solution?

Well, from a purely voyeuristic perspective, I imagine the appointment of Harry Redknapp would be entertaining for many West Ham fans? It would be interesting: his man-management and motivation skills are legendary. I mean look how he has taken a droll, small team of perennial underachievers and got them pretending they're a big club and playing good football. If you were him, wouldn't you get out now, while your reputation is intact and the Spuds bubble hasn't burst?

Yes. So would I. I wonder where that leaves funky roosters? I wonder where it leaves England.

This season is getting better and better.

Paul.

Milwal

2012-02-07T11:08:00.001-08:00

I have waited until now to post on this subject but I still doubt that have anything intelligent football wise to add to the subject ! But boy o boy am I still buzzing !!!

This was football as it should be for me. I loved every second of the day, from being around the ground from 10am until afterwards and even beyond. It was a day with atmosphere ! For all the talk of players, tactics, managers, and all of the other stuff, what we often forget about when considering form and performances at home is what was Upton Park like ? Did it have the atmosphere that made it intimidating to come and play there ? I have rarely seen or felt it in recent years, but on Saturday it was awesome ! Upton Park rocked. If you are still undecided about whether you like the idea of a stadium move or not, consider this, you will struggle to EVER generate that atmosphere in the Olympic stadium. It is that atmosphere that pundits and ex pro's of other teams used to talk about when discussing West Ham. It was that over the years that helped make Upton Park a difficult place to come to.

I could even put it as a question, if you only want Premier League Football above all else then the extra revenues from Stratford may help get you that. IF you want football the East End way, with atmosphere that you can feel reach out and touch you, if you want to see opposition players intimidated, and you want great experiences, then Upton Park is more likely to offer you that. I know what matters to me, West Ham is about belonging !

As for the game, I have been critical often of Cole in the past, he was fantastic on Saturday, along with Faubert, but for me it was all about central midfield. I know Nolan is a good player, but he hasn't excited me yet, nor looked as though he is fully committed to the cause. That's not to say he wont be eventually. but one player who has always been committed is Mark Noble. Even when he has played poorly in the past, he has never shirked. No dropped shoulders or hiding out wide. He bleeds Claret & Blue and on Saturday produced one of the most immense performances I have ever witnessed. He picked that team and drove them on, and for that, in beating "them" I shall be eternally grateful ! Arise please, Captain Noble !

I shall quit at this point rather that go on and on about how I'm buzzing still. My wife said the day before I was like a kid on Christmas Eve, and I Haven't calmed down since !

Oh happy days :))

COYI's

Martin

More Please, Sir: WHUFC 2 - 1 Millwall

2012-02-04T17:56:00.000-08:00

For several reasons, that was by far the best performance I've seen all season.

I must admit to shaking my head when I saw the team sheet before the match. I was nonplussed. O'Brien and not Demel? Faye sitting in Diop's place instead of displacing Reid? Cole but no Baldock? One up front, at home? The 4-1-4-1 had some other surprises to: Taylor was on the bench and there was no sign of our new strikers in the starting lineup. What, I thought, is Sam thinking?

And while Millwall started the first minute or two quickly, it wasn't long before West Ham started to look threatening, and then came the sending off. It wasn't the ref's fault: it's the bloody rules: they're quite clear - and dead wrong. They dead wrong because they are black or white; there's no discretion allowed. Referees need to be given discretion, because that tackle was not in anyway potentially dangerous; it was a controlled, professional sliding tackle. Nor was it malicious or executed in a rash or uncontrolled manner. While I understand that, technically both Nolan's feet, at momentarily left the ground, the studs of his left foot were down, he didn't go down until after he made contact with the ball. At best, it was a yellow card.

What that red card was, though, was a revelation.

Nolan, the captain walked, and I knew we were doomed. Who was going to captain the side, boss midfield and make sure players kept the team's shape? How are West Ham going to keep pressing and running for 80 minutes or so with ten men?

Step up Mark Noble. There wasn't one player, except possibly the-too-late-to make-in-impact Ricardo Vaz-Te, that wasn't imperious for the Hammers today, but a hair above them all was Noble. With ten men, initially, Millwall had more possession, but rarely did it look like amounting to anything. Noble was everywhere, and, more often than not, everything was going through him. By the end of the match, West Ham had all the stats in their favour bar corners, and that was close.

Frankly, within ten minutes, you wouldn't have known that one team only had ten players. Faubert, Collison, Cole and McCartney were rampant. The effort and energy expended by the whole team was tremendous. Was it a backs against the wall performance? Certainly. Was it inspired by the auld enemy? Partially, but I don't think they are the only reasons. For the first time, every player on the pitch seemed to have a belief that they would get the result, come what may. O'Brien looked the part today, and Faye was commanding in his holding midfield role; he wasn't beaten once and was a close second for my man of the match today. Collison's substitution at half time was a sage move by Sam; the boy had put a heck of shift in, and, he's still regaining his stamina; Taylor, recently, back started where Collison left off. While Collison likes to break inside, Taylor gave us some much needed pace and penetration down the left wing: there's another candidate for captain if we ever need one.

The TEAM display excited me today; the off the ball movement was finally there; the on the deck one-two play from the day's of yore started to make an appearance; gone was the lob it up and try to bang one in mentality a la Bolton: it was West Ham we were watching again with some silky interplay and great crosses - Just ask Faubert who was on the receiving end of a McCartney gem.

And we scored two goals from open play: the first in a while at home. Cole is not a prolific goal scorer, but today you could see his value as a hold it up merchant, he fought for everything (again his yellow card was travesty) and brought other players into the game. His touch was good today and his desire to run, chase, battle and harry was evident. He made his goal happen after a couple of near misses.

No one can be blamed for the Millwall goal, it was a blinder, and Trotter found himself in a little space. But Reid hit a glorious effort 3 minutes later, and despite a few corners towards the end of the five minutes added time, West Ham were very good for the win.

The only question I have now, is-when he's back from his suspension, should we start Nolan.

On the face of today's display, I'd say there was a compelling reason to reconsider. Afterall, Sam, you can't call today's performance the best of any team that has played for you ever, and not notice that Nolan was not involved for 90% of it.

If the team plays like this for the rest of the season, then we have nothing to worry about. I hope they take heart from what they did today and build on it. With the rivals all dropping some points today (Blackpool look a worry!), the team can look forward to Southampton's visit to the Boleyn on Tuesday week, after visiting Peterborough.

I do hope we get to see Maynard, some more of Vaz-Te and Demel. But on the face of what we saw today, we've finally shifted into second, or maybe third gear...to coin a Collison metaphor.

I'm a happy Hammer!

Paul

Preview: West Ham United Vs Millwall

2012-02-02T22:02:00.000-08:00

Out of the Den and into the Boleyn: form goes out of the window for this local derby

So the old Thames Iron Works face the Isle of Dogs lot for an early kickoff on Saturday at 12:30. It's live on Sky; let's hope we don't see a repeat of what happened in Egypt a few days ago, and that sensible heads prevail, no matter what the result.

Millwall seem only too pleased to have us back down at their level, as was witnessed last May when some joker flew the "Avram Grant - Millwall Legend" banner across the DW stadium after West Ham had squandered a 2 goal lead and lost by 3 to Wigan to be relegated. I'm hoping this is the last time we meet the "Lions" for a very long time, as hopefully West Ham will be promoted while Millwall, who sit one place above relegation, slip into the clutches of League One. However, given our form last Tuesday evening, a West Ham fan cannot take anything for granted. Ipswich were sitting below Millwall until we visited them, shipped five goals and handed them "our" three points.

I'm not going to spend much time on Millwall; frankly, if we're going to get promoted then teams languishing at the bottom of this league shouldn't, in theory, create too many problems. But we're West Ham, and enigmatic is our middle name (well, one of them!). Briefly, then, Millwall's last few results have been a mixed bag. After beating Ricardo Vaz-Te's former club 3-1 at Oakwell, they held Southampton at home in the cup, and lost at home by two goals to Watford. However, I saw Watford play the Spuds in the FA cup at Vicarage Road, and they were a very strong side, certainly more dangerous looking that the Spuds on the night, and West Ham lately too. So let's not get up ourselves and take Millwall too lightly.

Bringing in three new faces will no doubt increase the competition for places and stir the squad to pull their fingers out, if only for selfish reason, even if this local derby doesn't. By all accounts our defence was terrible at Portman Road, while our attack, but for two real chances, was toothless. It was nice to see Matty Taylor back, and no doubt his fitness will improve as he gets more match practice, but I was disappointed not to see Demel.

And that's where I start: our back four were dismal on Tuesday, and I'd change a few things. O'Brien has been caught for pace lately, and, while a good journeyman RB, I don't think he'd make it the PL; we need more. Demel is a pacey player who can deliver fabulous crosses in the box...when he's fit. I'd start him on tomorrow. Reid had not looked quite the same since returning from his shoulder ailment, and prior to that, Faye looked fabulous, so I'd start him too. Players have to know there are consequences for losing. I'd like to see something of the George John, or John George if you like!

My formation would change too, with a wide midfield making use of Taylor and Vaz Te as wingers. I would start both senior new faces tomorrow and drop Cole. We're at home, so I want to attack. If we want to hold a lead later, then we can bring on Diop, George or O'Brien if needs be.

With Baldock's buzzy runs, and Maynard's interplay, the two of them might start to actually create something up front. Maynard has good close control, and his first touch is better than Cole's; I think he may be a good foil for Baldock. With Vaz Te and Taylor whipping balls in, at 6ft, Maynard may be able nod one or two down or, dare I say it, in? If I had my say, I might have left Nolan out for this game, replaced him with Diop and handed the armband to Noble, but that'll never happen.

Subs: John, O'Brien, Collison, Lansbury, Cole

The next three months are not only important for promotion, but also to build a team that can compete in the Premier League next season, with the addition of a couple of new faces in the summer, if we are so lucky. Nothing I have seen lately indicates that West Ham are ready, and despite Collison's assertion that there is far more to come from this squad, he and the boys showed the exact opposite last game; bugger getting out of first gear: we were in reverse! Are we a team of journeyman squad players, or are we a team with Premier League potential?

It's a truism that no team is particularly worried about meeting West Ham in this league, and that they all feel they could squeak out a result against the Hammers. With Birmingham's volcanic ascent and Cardiff looking doggedly consistent, West Ham need to start to put some convincing results together with conviction and authority.

Given this match is a local derby, and taking into account last Tuesday's result, any prediction on my part would be absurd.

COYI's!!!

Paul

The Hammers Do the Business (Off the Pitch at Anyrate)

2012-01-31T18:11:00.000-08:00

This was a stellar day for West Ham off the pitch. The club have captured 3 very promising signings which will go some way to temper the massive disappointment of a thrashing at Portman Road last night. While there are several lessons in that dour performance, perhaps the biggest one is we just can't seem to score enough goals from open play, Collison's goal the exception.

West Ham needed two more strikers; Carew and Piquionne just weren't going to be good enough, and Cole and Baldock have not exactly been prolific lately. Young Robert Hall is promising, very promising, but he is not the product we can solidly rely on for promotion, besides the pressure would have been unfair on such young shoulders.

Cue the two Davids and Big Sam who identified and purchased three very promising signings, while avoiding the Jelavic pitfall.

Firstly, West Ham have signed 25 year old striker Nicky Maynard from Bristol City on a 3.5 year deal. Maynard, scorer of 8 goals this season, was out of contract at the end of the season, and, despite talking to Wigan earlier in the week, has been purchased by the club. While the fee is officially labelled at "undisclosed", it is being widely reported as being between 1.5 and 2M. If that's the case, then this is an extremely good bit of business. He is experienced in the Championship (unlike Jalavic or Rhodes) and has aspirations of Premier League football. And, on the basis of tonght's performance, should be in the team by Saturday...

Just as significant is the capture of Barnsley's Portuguese striker Ricardo Vaz-Te. The 25-year-old, who has scored 12 goals in in all competitions for the Tykes this season, has signed a two-and-a-half-year deal, again for an "undisclosed" fee, again widely reported at 1.5M, and is re-united with the manager who brought him to England in the first place. Again this is a fabulous bit of business, and by signing Vaz-Te and Maynard we have increased the competition up front at the club: these players offer us options that Cole, Carew and Piquionne haven't been delivering of late.

Finally, in what may be seen as a very risky move, West Ham have also signed the enigmatic Manchester United youngster, Ravel Morrison. The up front cost of the deal was snip, and the contract is loaded with incentives and goals. Again, I can only doff my cap at the two Davids and Sam for negotiating this deal. The deal itself, as described by "United Rant" an "analytic site" is the following:

The bare bones are these: Morrison has moved south for about £650,000 up front, rising to £2 million should certain performance targets be met. With Morrison’s contract running down, United had no stomach for the lottery that is the transfer tribunal. West Ham have a low-risk talent who could bloom into something far more valuable.Meanwhile, the player will earn nothing like the erroneous figures reported in the press recently, with Morrison’s starting salary of £12,000 per week only rising in increments to £65,000 should the player become a huge success and promotion achieved. Morrison must attain performance and playing targets over the course of a four-and-a-half year contract to earn the big bucks on offer. Agents Nick Rubery, for Morrison, and Barry Silkmann for the Hammers, have certainly done well for their clients.

Is there a chance it could fail? Yes - spectacularly, but if it does, the club won't have lost any more than 650,000 pounds if he walks away from the game, which is highly unlikely. To understand the magnitude of both the undertaking and the deal, probably the best people to comment are the Mancunians themselves, so I ask that you read this. It certainly seems to indicate the club have done well.

So a very big thanks to David Sullivan, David Gold for dipping into their own pockets and pulling out 3 plums. This fan, for one, is very appreciative of their personal dedication to the club we all love. That was not an easy transfer window to deal with, I'm sure.

Paul

Tractor Boys Plough West Ham Under

2012-01-31T14:57:00.000-08:00

I didn't see this match, but, as best I could, I followed it on Twitter and the radio while at work. I have read all the reports, but don't pretend to know all the details, but make no mistake, we have had a result like this coming, since before Christmas. Our recent wins have not been entirely convincing, and on several occasions we have got off lightly. But the result tonight, was a travesty.

I am aware that the team started dismally, and, despite a few chances and several critical misses at critical times, never got out of first gear, again. Words on twitter best summed it up: shambolic, slovenly, wasteful and...well several other words which I can't possibly type here, but I'm sure we all feel. Yes, I'm aware we hit the bar and Tomkins put a close one over, but all teams miss chances: that's no excuse for not creating enough in the first place against a relegation threatened side.

Oddly, the stats on the game look good for West Ham: shots, corners and the like are all nigh on pretty even; however, according to many fans, we have lacked discipline and quality tonight.

Certainly Nolan, a player who I feel is central to West Ham, did not perform at all well tonight as a captain. The commentary team I listened to characterised the team as far too casual. Nolan let himself and the side down: a silly yellow card and a lack of organization on his part no doubt contributed to tonight's humiliating thrashing.

This result is an indicator that change is needed in the team. Nolan looks a little overweight to me, and perhaps a rest and some intensive cardio work will shape him up mentally and physically for what is to come in the second half of the season. If there's any indication about how important Diop is to the team, then, possibly, tonight showed that. But, given we have John and Demel, would it not have been prudent to place one of them at right back if JOB was not up to it rather than Faubert? Faubert has been great out on the right side of midfield, but RB?

I'm at the point where we we seriously have to change our formation: and play to our strengths. We have a dearth of midfielders, and both supposed "wing backs" are not working out right now. Perhaps the answer tonight would have been to have played 3 CB's at the back, 5 in midfield and (wait for it) 2 up front? From Faye, Tomkins, Reid and Diop surely a 3 man dedicated defence would be solid? A 5 man midfield without Nolan would also provide us with tremendous options. And, again, 2 at the front: Baldock and Cole, or Hall would be worth a try because, as I've said, this has been coming with our 451 with a makeshift RB and one attacker...

The only (only) silver lining on this result is that the other teams directly below us drew: Southampton showing almost as much character as Cardiff and clawing a goal back at home to the Welsh team. Birmingham have won away from home by netting four goals against Leeds. That's no small accomplishment, and, with a game in hand, they are closing. Meanwhile, incredibly but undeservedly so, West Ham, continue to sit atop the table still.

So: what's the solution? Was it really just a bad day at the office; is this the formation and team to win us the Championship?

Paul

The Talking Stops The Action Happens ?

2012-01-31T03:04:00.001-08:00

Finally, after all the bullshi* and rumours we may actually start seeing something happen!

As Paul states below, a Brazilian striker ! .. but for how long and how good ?

More importantly though, Vaz Te from Barnsley looks like a realistic deal. I have not seen much of him I must confess, but have been checking him out this AM, a prospect for sure. and already doing it in the championship. Proven at this level and could be a real addition to the squad.

Morrison from Man U is an exciting prospect, if the other issues that appear to surround him can be dealt with, is Sam the man ? could he deal with this and help this undoubted talented individual to start to realise his potential ?

Finally in the last half hour Sky are breaking that we are now in talks with Nicky Maynard, the one real proven player at this level who fulfills the criteria that we need , goals !

Looks like an interesting day ...... almost glad I'm stuck at home unable to work !!!

COYI's

Martin

Preview: Ipswich Town v WHU

2012-01-30T20:37:00.000-08:00

Apologies, but this will be a quick and dirty, as I'm very busy right now, and I felt putting more energy into the transfer post below was more important.

I've been told that the Tractor boys expect to plough us under tomorrow

Tomorrow, evening, whether we actually have new signings or not, will not be important because it will be as if we do. Eh? I hear you cry. Well, in short, tomorrow we welcome Matty Taylor and Guy Demel back into the squad, and perhaps George John to the bench. While last time West Ham were ploughed under by an Ipswich given too much space, time and respect, tomorrow will be somewhat of a different game. Our away record is second to none in this league, and, if we are to lose, then Ipswich will have to work much harder and play much better than they did at the Boleyn.

This is test of character for both teams though: West Ham are in defence of their league topping position; whereas, Ipswich are just attempting to stem a 6 game winless streak without Lee Bowyer. Having the most porous defence in the league (conceding an average of 2 goals a game), Ipswich may find it easier against a side that is lately, having difficulty scoring from open play. But from dead-ball situations, West Ham are, well, deadly...as long as Matty Taylor is taking the FK's and corners and Mark Noble is taking the penalties. I'd like to change a few things...

Green

O'Brien-Tomkins-Reid-McCartney

Nolan Noble

Faubert Taylor

Baldock

Cole

Demel, Faye, Collison, Lansbury, Hall

Some believe, or we can hope, that West Ham have not, as Collison put it, shifted out of first gear yet. And I'm inclined to agree. The motivation of being top of the league may stimulate a bit of clutch and throttle tomorrow, and the Tractor boys may find themselves ploughing a furrow back to their own 18 yard box. I'm going for a 2-0 win to the Hammers.

COYI's!

Paul

Transfers Deadline Day Brings Some Questions

2012-01-30T20:00:00.000-08:00

Transfer deadline day is here, and, as usual, not much of any note has happened up and down the leagues so far; however, today, and, in particular the last three hours of today, is likely to be frenetic.

A few clubs will clubs pick up a bargain, although, most clubs will take a gouging. Of course, it's hard to predict the value for money a new player brings until the season is over, but the January transfer window is one where, typically, you must spend over-the-odds to get a player that is likely, at odds with their own club for various reasons. It could be the player is not on-form, or there are personality issues with the management, or age, wages or personal-life issues have cropped up. Sometimes, of course, you get some odd jobs which no one has heard of, or have unusual pasts or potential fitness problems...These can work out well: to whit, one Paulo DiCanio and Demba Ba, but they can also be risky like, say, Savio...

West Ham have made offers for many players over this window, and through a set of strange circumstances, have ended up missing most of them. The details of the deals are secret, but judging by the comments made by the vending parties in some cases (Huddersfield for Rhodes, Rangers for Jelavic, and Barnsley for Vaz Te) we have low-balled many offers. I wasn't keen on an unproven Jelavic for 7-8M, and a missed-promotion escape-clause, and West Ham were right to pull out of that one.

Rhodes though will have to be seen as a big miss. Huddersfield's reluctance to sell him was a hard nut to crack, but perhaps a better strategy would have been to have hit them with a big offer straight away rather than low-ball and haggle. The low-ball-haggle process not only alerts the vendors to their asset's potential value to you, but also gives them time to evaluate their desire to keep the player. I imagine the negotiations become principled and more a battle of wills than a question of a transaction after hours of negotiation. It's much harder to resist the sudden, and unexpected influx of cash, if it's quick and the media don't get hold of ongoing "haggling" and start hyping things up, not to mention the vending club's fans hearing about the potential transaction and weighing in with their feelings on top of everything else. Pretty soon it becomes nigh on impossible to negotiate a fair market value for the player as too many other "political" issues get involved in this short window.

However, it seems we haven't learned from that, and may have made the same mistake yesterday when we made a derisory offer for Barnsley's Vaz-Te. Whether you or I rate this player is not important. What is important is that if West Ham are going to make an offer, particularly at this point in the window, then it should reasonably reflect what the vending club expect. We're not buying second hand cars here. Of course the vending team have to be realistic too: when a player is out of contract in the summer, then, despite the value the club may have paid for him, and despite his short term value for the rest of the season to Barnsley, Vaz Te will walk free in four or five months. However, if the owners aren't careful, this could go the same way as the Rhodes debacle.

But I believe the vending club's valuation of Vaz Te was realistic.

Vaz Te has scored 10 goals this season for Barnsley. When you consider that this is the same number of goals scored this season as ex Doncaster Rovers' Billy Sharp who just moved to Southampton today, then you get the picture. Just how much did Southampton pick up Sharp for we don't know as the fee is "undisclosed". But last summer, Southampton had a £3.25m bid rejected for him by Doncaster. Then Doncaster accepted an estimated 5-6M from Leicester City on January 7th 2012, after an unnamed club had also had a bid turned down. Sharp rejected the personal terms of that move to Leicester.

So while Vaz Te can, ordinarily, be seen as worth the same value as Sharp, he isn't because he will walk at the end of the season. So what does that do the the a player's value? I'm not sure, but if Sharp is worth say an estimated 5M, then would you Vaz Te is worth at least 1M?

So would I. Now read this from Barnsley's manager Keith Hill about West Ham's offer:

"We have had one for him bid so far. It was from West Ham and was derisory when you consider the amount paid for other players who are out of contract in the summer like Wes Morgan who has apparently joined Leicester from Nottingham Forest for £1million."

Apparently, we didn't even stump up a million. I'd have to agree with Mr. Hill, that it was an unreasonable offer. Apparently, we're still in negotiations...

Certainly fortune has smiled on us in other ways in this window: Portuguese-based striker Eder decided he wouldn't be happy at West Ham and went walkabout. Well, it's better we learned that now, than, say after paying some money for him and wondering where he was after 3 weeks.

And we have picked up a Brazilian striker, but one that has been at 16 clubs in his short career. But perhaps, West Ham will be the place where Ze Eduardo (I'll call him Zed) finally makes a name and a home for himself? We've got to hope. Frankly with a name like that, I'm not sure I can deal with acquiring someone called Vaz Te as well. The typing...the typing...:-)

Finally, there is rumour that we're looking into a young Mancunian called Ravel Morrison. By all accounts a floored genius. Can he be turned around at West Ham? For me attitude, motivation, discipline and team work is everything: I'm not sure Morrison meets any of that criteria, but does that mean we shouldn't pursue the chance that he may turn it all around? If Manchester United are ready to give up on him, what does that say? It's a hard call. How hard: read this and then weigh in with your thoughts.

Yes, you got homework! :-)

Questions, questions, questions.

Paul

Tevez - Counterpoint & Reality Check

2012-01-28T10:05:00.000-08:00

So Carlos Tevez is coming to West Ham. Or is he? Playing Devil's advocate for a second, let's slow down, reduce expectation and take a deep breath.

Betting odds are based on rumour, bets placed, and form; odds are lowered not just because something gets closer to certainty, but because more punters put money on the bet. Bets are no longer accepted when something is fact.

Facts known:

3 more days in the transfer window closes
Tevez's rumoured transfer to Milan falls through
Wages were the stumbling block
City refuse to sell Tevez to another English club
City refuse to loan Tevez to any rival European club

Questions:

West Ham cannot afford even half of Tevez's 250K a week; in fact, 60K a week would be too much given the club's financial constraints, and Manchester City aren't going to pay his wages for him to play somewhere else, unless they think it keeps their asset fit and marketable. But the Championship? Is that the stage to maximize the value of their player?
Tevez could be loaned to West Ham at any time this season - outside the window, if necessary. Why now? Over to you, Kia:
Kia Joorabchian is a alleged to have been involved in some deals in the past that have got the club into trouble; would the club would ever deal with him again?
More importantly, with just over 2 days to go, Joorabchian's job is to get as much publicity for Tevez as possible. A heartwarming story like this is sure to do that; it also sure to put other European clubs on alert that Tevez is flexible on his wages, and that a short contract would be acceptable to Tevez. What better way to raise the player's profile in the media?
Last time Tevez came to West Ham his presence, the whole media circus, upset the apple-cart and was the beginning of the end for Pardew. Would Big Sam really welcome such a huge name into his squad: would this be more divisive than productive?

Tevez is a true Claret and Blue hero; no doubt about it: he scored against Manchester United on the last match of the season to send Sheffield United down and keep West Ham up. He crosses his arms over his chest and salutes the West Ham fans whenever he's at the club. He has never played well against us. He is one of my favourite players for his passion, determination and, yes, technical ability.

But, truly, even if these rumours have any merit at all - and I'm not saying they don't, is it really the best solution for the club? Is Robert Hall going to get a chance while Tevez is here?

Help me out here; over to you...

Paul

Sordell Bringing Spurs Down To Earth

2012-01-27T13:34:00.000-08:00

I'm watching the FA Cup between Spurs and Watford, and while Spurs are leading with a very speculative shot, Watford have looked far more threatening. Sordell, in particular, is giving Kaboul all sorts of grief. Spurs reverted to type, poor defending was rampant, with Watford extremely unlucky not to have got something out this game. Mariappa has completely silenced Adebayor. Certainly watching this game, you wouldn't know that it wasn't Watford threatening at the top of the PL and Spurs residing in Championship mediocrity; Saggy has the twitch.

Sordell. Hmmm...Certainly not outclassed tonight.

Paul

State of the Nation: Potential Transfer Targets

2012-01-27T10:55:00.000-08:00

With four days to go, the phony war is over and the real business is going to start. Once the FA Cup games are finished, the window will start in earnest, and the last two days will erupt with the transfer strategy at many clubs motivated more by panic than by any logical policy or real tactical need.

Let's hope West Ham have their ducks in a row and can be the beneficiary of other clubs' knee-jerk last-ditch transfer panic-buys, and more importantly panic-sales. There is much impatience out there by fans of all clubs waiting for either some player acquisitions, or the window to be closed so they can hold onto their "stars". But I believe the owners at West Ham have worked hard and diligently towards securing the players we need for relatively sensible money - given this is the January transfer window.

The West Ham management team have identified 3 key potential positions for strengthening in the squad (Striker, Winger- Wide player, CB). George John has been brought in on loan, and by all accounts he is going to be good, so CB is perhaps taken care of. Many other offers have been made, with many rejected. Two offers are still being considered, and negotiations are progressing slowly, with the vendors stalling and waiting for potential late bids from others to bump up the price. 2 of the key positions we are looking to fill is for another striker and a wide player. I have made a list of realistic potential targets and their relative merits include the following:

Nikica Jelavic: It's likely the 26 year old Croatian striker will leave Rangers this window as the club are in financial combustion with HMRevenue on their back: the Scottish equivalent of Portsmouth if you like. One club has put in a bid for him so far: West Ham. The first bid was rejected out of hand; the second hasn't been rejected, and negotiations continue, albeit slowly. Jelavic is not playing this weekend for Rangers against Hibs because of a "Virus"; read into that what you will. His average goals per game in the SPL for Rangers has been 0.67. Celtic fans rate him; that should tell you enough about him, given the history of "love" between the clubs.

Verdict: 50% chance of success with this bid - Rangers are dragging their feet, although they need to sell him; West Ham are running out of patience: there are other targets out there. At between 7-8M he is pricey given our budget, but by all accounts, worth it; Liverpool and CSKA are sniffing; hence the reluctance of Rangers to accept early bids for him.

Nicky Maynard: The 25 year old Bristol City striker was in "advanced negotiations with Wigan" according to Bristol City's manager last week. However, Wigan deny they have even spoken to him. Nicky Maynard is back at the Robins training hard for tomorrow's league game. The scoop is Maynard was dissatisfied with Wigan's personal terms. Maynard is a good, not great, journeyman Championship striker. That doesn't mean he doesn't have potential: you can only score with service. Last summer, Bristol City turned down a 6M bid from Leicester, but since then Maynard's contract negotiations with Bristol City have stalled, and Maynard can walk on a free in May.

Verdict: No bid yet. Considering their predicament, the lack of firm interest from PL clubs, his mediocre 0.35 goals per game average while at Bristol City, 6M is far to much for this player, 3M is all City should be offered if Jelavic or other options fall through. Maynard will be sold by Tuesday: Bristol City simply cannot afford to let this player walk.

Marvin Sordell: The 20 year old Watford striker has garnered some enquiries from the West Ham owners, but no more yet. He's young, and that's a double edged sword: if we're promoted, is he old enough and experienced enough to deal with PL defenders? I doubt it. However, youth is potential.

Verdict: Sean Dyche values Sordell, perhaps too much. Paying more than 4M would be unwise, but this window is often expensive. Given his age and his 0.375 goals per game average this season, he must be considered in the same breath as Maynard. And, if that is the case, given lower wages and more potential, perhaps he's a better deal?

Billy Sharp: Trying to find loyalty in a football player these days is like trying to find a Republican who will vote for higher taxes. And I can't work 25 year old Billy Sharp or Doncaster Rovers out: he was willing to move Leicester after they bid an undisclosed (thought to be in the region of 6-7M) amount on January 7th for him. He tentatively agreed the move, but then Doncaster offered him improved personal terms and he rejected the move to Leicester to stay at Doncaster. Is that loyalty? A lack of ambition? Greed? Who knows. But if you consider that he's playing for a poor side and has still managed a consistent goals per game average of 0.48, you'd have to say he's a better bet than either Maynard or Sordell. But is he still on the market?
Verdict: Unlikely to leave since he just signed a contract with improved terms. Not worth more than 5M, and given Doncaster turned down a rumoured 6-7M, you'd have to say his arrival is extremely unlikely. Too bad - a goal every two games for Doncaster could translate to better for us...and that's potentially good stats for any striker (Torres eat your heart out).

Jordan Rhodes: League One Huddersfield Town wonderkidVerdict: Never say never, but flying pork is rare as are blue moons and bargains in the January transfer window, and, until he's proven in the higher leagues, you'd have to say, despite the stats, he's over priced.

Wingers

Robert Snodgrass: Leeds United's 24 year old Scottish winger/striker was a boyhood Celtic fan, so disregard anything you hear from Rangers supporters on this player! Leeds fans generally speak very highly of "Snoddy". He is portrayed as a hard working team player who is consistent week in and out. Not a prodigious goal scorer, he is more the creator of chances and a set piece merchant, rather like a younger Matty Taylor in that respect. Like Taylor he has had his issues with injuries, and recently (New Year's Eve) was in having his appendix out. But his rapid recovery and willingness to play quickly is another testament to the man's motivation. Leeds originally valued him at 8-9M last year, but with his contract expiring in May, he will likely walk into another Championship club or a lower Premier League club this summer if he isn't sold now. Ken Bates, the Leeds owner, is fairly mercenary when it comes to money (and would give his eye teeth for profit - sorry couldn't resist), so, despite how very central he is to the Leeds team, he is always up for sale. While I feel for the Leeds fans, who are going through Hell under Bates, he would make an excellent signing for us. While West Ham can't be considered a bigger side than Leeds, we are a better bet for promotion and future Premier League aspirations; whereas, Leeds, while under Bates, will, I fear be kept as money generating pit for Bates' own finances (after all, he's only just admitted to owning them - crafty bugger). Therefore, the Hammers may be a tempting proposition for Snodgrass.
Verdict: There is a tentative bid in for him; however, the Jelavic bid is the priority right now, and room for negotiation will likely be dictated by the Jelavic negotiations. Personally, I'd snap him up now: he can play either wing, and combined with his youth, leadership, motivation he would be an asset to any team in the same way Parker was. Goals per game average: 0.22.

Lewis McGugan: The 23 year old Nottingham Forest midfielder by his own admission lately, doesn't like playing wide. West Ham have a dearth of good solid midfield players; the team needs more width. I'm not sure Lewis McGugan, despite his cheaper valuation than Snodgrass, is the man for West Ham if we're after a wide player. Certainly he has youth on his side, and he is the jewel in Forest's crown. If promotion and survival is the prospect, then who would you dump for McGugan to play in the centre of midfield? Noble? Nolan? Lansbury? Collison? Diop? Perhaps. But is perhaps a good enough reason to blow 3-4M on a player that doesn't really solve our problem - a lack of width?
Verdict: His potential acquisition by the club has to be seen in the light of what we need. If we get a winger and a striker, then go for it, if there's any money left over! Given his goals per game average is 0.19, (which means his cracker against West Ham may have been a lucky strike!) Snodgrass makes infinitely more sense: he's a winger, a team player and scores more goals.

Paul

UPDATE: Herita Ilunga Tweets a Goodbye

2012-01-27T10:01:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: West Ham have issued an official press release on Herita Ilunga's departure:

Herita Ilunga has left West Ham United by mutual agreement after three years at the club.

Too bad, I was hoping we would get something for him, or that he'd at least be part of a package deal somewhere...

Herita Ilunga just tweeted the following:

Just to say thanks for all west ham's fan, you've been so great with me. Wish we'll support together the hammers in premier league next year Come on you irons!!!!!!!!

This after yesterday tweeting:

Sur le vrai depart

Which roughly translated means:

On the real departure...

Transfers: New Bid in For Jelavic; Leeds Refuse £4M

2012-01-26T09:06:00.000-08:00

Leeds have reportedly refused a £4M "test the water" bid for winger Robert Snodgrass from the Hammers this morning. They are looking for £6M. West Ham are countering. Perhaps £4.5M and Sears?

Lewis McGugan may not be the man West Ham should target if the club is looking for a wide player. He is adamant that he doesn't enjoy playing wide, and that a central midfield role is what he wants. He convinced the Forest manager to play him there on Saturday against the Hammers, and look what happened. What concerns me about McGugan is his mental inflexibility; a team player should be willing to play anywhere - within reason. Is he the man for us?

It is now reported that West Ham have just submitted a counter offer to Rangers for Jelavic. It is another £500K, more cash up front and a sell on clause. Rangers picked Jelavic up for £4 million and he signed a four-year-deal. It is also reported that, despite discussions at West Ham, Piquionne is unlikely to leave during this window because of player wage demands. I'm still hoping someone will come in for him at the last moment. It's probably pie in the sky, but optimism can't hurt!

Paul

Jelavic: West Ham to Counter Offer

2012-01-25T12:44:00.000-08:00

Despite all the talk of a "take it or leave it" clause in the first offer, West Ham are reportedly preparing a counter-offer for Jelavic after Rangers' initial rebuttal. If this is true, I'm not sure how I feel about this. I'm sure he's worth it, but the club need a creative midfielder or winger too, and with a reported 10M transfer budget this window, it doesn't leave much room for further acquisitions. It's not my money, but I hope it's not a penny more, and, instead, includes player swap deal. Perhaps Piquionne? We can hope.

Paul

Jelavic Offer Rejected - 2 Incoming On The Radar; 1 Decoy On The Horizon

2012-01-25T09:27:00.000-08:00

David Gold has re-tweeted, and it is now widely accepted that Rangers have received a 7M bid for Croatian striker Jelavic. It is a take it or leave it bid; that is, the Hammers will walk unless it's accepted on face value. And despite previous protestations from Ally McCoist that 6M wasn't nearly enough, at one point Rangers owner Craig Whyte appeared to be leaking news that they would accept it. However, Chief News Reporter for Sky Sports Brian Swanson has just tweeted that Rangers have rejected the bid.

My feeling is that while, from all the accounts I've heard from both Celtic and Rangers fans, the player is worth it, it was also a large percentage of our transfer budget to have tied up in one deal. The player is not a proven commodity in the Championship, let alone the EPL, and I am not too disappointed if this rejection is the case.

Frankly I'm more excited by the potential signing of 24 year old Leeds United winger/striker Robert Snodgrass. There were productive talks yesterday between both clubs, and West Ham are placing an offer in for him today. Snodgrass is a creative player who can play on either wing. His reputation at Leeds is stellar, and, furthermore, he is very experienced in the Championship. Altogether, he is a better bet, for less money.

Another deal I am hoping for is for 23 year old Nottingham Forest midfielder Lewis McGugan; Forest are said to be considering the offer.

Both of these young players, I believe, offer far more potential for the club than Jelavic, and both can probably be had for the price of the Jelavic bid.

Finally, reports that West Ham are moving for Salomon Kalou are, at this time, completely wide of the mark.

Fingers crossed, that both Snodgrass and Mcgugan arrive before Monday.

Paul

A Glimpse Into the Future

2012-01-24T10:43:00.000-08:00

George John and Matty Taylor both played in the development squad match yesterday against the Gills. John volleyed a Matty Taylor corner into the net. Last weekend against Forest, the Hammers had 14 corners against Forest and several dangerous free kicks, from which they failed to find the net. This has been an ongoing concern for the Hammers since Taylor's long-term absence due to a calf injury. Taylor's free kicks and corners are extremely accurate and often result in a goal or near miss. Prior to his injury issue, Taylor was starting to form quite a productive partnership with James Tomkins. Let's hope John's link play with Taylor blossoms into something too: perhaps we got a glimpse into the future?

Solid Gold: Hammers Jelavic Bid Confirmed

2012-01-23T19:13:00.000-08:00

David Gold has confirmed that West Ham have now made a formal bid for wantaway Ranger's striker Nikica Jelavic and are waiting for a formal response. In a tweet late last night, David Gold answered a tweeter's question:

"any news on Jelavic yet.. Hi Stuart. Still no news DG"

The bid is believed to be for £7.2M, and, according to SPL correspondent Daniel Gordan, it is believed that Rangers are satisfied with the bid, and it is now up to the player to agree terms, although this is unconfirmed, which, of course, contradicts DG's tweet..."still no news". Despite the claims of Rangers supporters, it is known that Liverpool are distancing themselves from false reports ostensibly circulated by Jelavic's father/agent that he was likely to sign for them.

Many twitterati are also claiming that the Hammers have a £3M bid in for the man who last scored against them, Nottingham Forests' 23 year old creative midfielder, Lewis McGugan. He was involved in many of Forest's dangerous opportunities on Saturday and was the scorer of their injury-time goal, which was a cracker. Forest are on a fairly tight budget, and it is suggested they are reluctantly entertaining this offer to bring more new players in. I hate to say it, but given their play on Saturday, I would say patience is their only need right now; I felt they certainly acquitted themselves well at the Boleyn.

Strong rumours purportedly from within the club also insist that if Jelavic or Mcgugan fail to materialize, then West Bromwich's 30 year old Russian Born Nigerian striker Peter Odemwingie is next on the list.

At the very least, these are interesting stories. What do you think?

Paul

West Ham: Wants, Needs & Darwinism: Evolve or Die

2012-01-22T15:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's performance really sums up West Ham's season so far. The Hammers have not played particularly well, but, with determination, organization and, lately, more than a little luck, they find themselves, at least temporarily, on top of the table. There have been some big wins: away to Watford and Forest are notable, but even in those games - particularly the Watford match, West Ham didn't look stellar.

There has been a truism this season that at home, West Ham have flattered to deceive, and that other clubs don't particularly fear the club, particularly at the Boleyn. Often, prior to the match, opposition managers big the Hammers up, flattering the club with epithets like "favourites", "Big Club" and describe the team as "Premier League quality" and "powerful". However, more often than not, come the post match interview, the opposition manager feels "robbed" or aggrieved at chances missed, lucky calls for the Hammers, and, occasionally, point the finger at the "negative" play. And they do have a point. West Ham haven't really looked the part of runaway champions yet, despite the record. The football, while industrial at times, would perhaps be more tolerable to a larger majority of West Ham fans if the team were running away with league.

But West Ham aren't. A quick look at the table shows that there are now at least four clubs battling for two positions. Of course that may change, but a huge indicator of the potential to grab an automatic promotion spot is Goal Difference.

Clubs with the potential to grab one of the two automatic promotion spots are perhaps best identified by GD. As we saw yesterday, Middlesbrough's biggest handicap to automatic promotion is themselves; with a disastrous loss away to bottom club Coventry: inconsistency, is their Achilles. Of course, West Ham's win at home recently over Coventry City was hardly flattering, but it was a one goal clean sheet. The job was done: a factory win. Hull City, like Middlesbrough have looked inconsistent, showing moments of potential, but then being unexpectedly nobbled. And both teams have mediocre goal differences. To write them off is premature, but there are more pressing predators to worry about for the Hammers right now.

Obviously, Southampton, though, of all the teams, perhaps have to be favourites to grab one of those top two spots. They, like West Ham, are also well organized, confident and, at times, lucky. But the key difference is they are scoring goals and playing with more creativity.

On Goal Difference at least, Birmingham and Cardiff look like definite threats. While Brum are ten points behind, they have a game in hand. Cardiff though are right there, snapping at West Ham's heels. And, unlike West Ham, Cardiff look the part.

Cardiff dominate their matches with attacking play, centred around their creative players: Peter Whittingham and Craig Conway among others. Check out their first goal yesterday. Who created it? Whittingham. Who created their second? Conway. Who scored their winner in injury time? Conway.

West Ham's strikers have taken a lot of stick for not scoring goals, particularly when compared with Southampon's, or, in fact, a whole host of other Championship clubs. And I'd have to admit, I've been a bit narrow-minded in my observations of the club's goal scoring deficiencies lately. Looking at yesterday's match again, Baldock ran his heart out and did open up opportunities, including a penalty call. For the first twenty minutes he seemed to follow the game plan and stay fairly static and wait for service, but when it didn't come he decided to look for the ball himself. And that is when the Hammers started to get a toe-hold in the game. For Carlton Cole, while he looks clumsy at times, and has issues with close-control, there are occasions when he can hit a sweet pass or slot a ball home with aplomb. But, it seems when he gets a long spell of fitness, and appears in the team regularly, he starts to run cold. As a sub or impact player his record shows he is effective.

Perhaps, as many readers have suggested, the solution is not a new striker but another winger or two; after all, we lost loanee Bentley, and the club haven't quite looked the same. The defence has looked rock solid this season, with West Ham's total Goals Against of 24 being the best in the league. Yesterday, apart from a very skillful shot in the dying minutes, the Hammers would have yet had another clean sheet. And, if the full backs weren't expected to bomb up the wings to deliver crosses, then those three real chances Boro got in the first twenty minutes wouldn't have happened. But with no width or midfield players to bomb down the wings and send balls into the box, it's up to Faubert (RB yesterday) and McCartney to do so.

And it's not happening enough. Faubert and McCartney have another job to do: defend. And to rely on them to get balls into the box all the time is being far too optimistic at best? Delusional is perhaps the word?

In order not only to be successful candidates for promotion, but to survive next season in the PL (if the club are so lucky), Allardyce needs to be planning now. With a rumoured £10M to spend in this window and a reported £30M to spend in the summer, Sam needs to purchase players that will see the club through its potential first season back in the PL. West Ham are unlikely to survive Premier League season playing the way they currently are: the team just don't have enough offensive threat. And it's not just down to the strikers. The midfield players who are not providing enough service.

West Ham are lacking creative midfield players. The club need wingers in the Matty Taylor, Matty Etherington style. They need playmakers of the type that will cross a ball like Brooking and score from a free kick, like, well, Taylor. And the club needs them now. So, Ranger's wantaway striker Jelavic? Perhaps, but for £8-9M, absolutely not; having £1-2M left in the budget is not going to buy that creative midfielder that the club so desperately need: Whittigham, Conway? Absolutely.

There are further problems too. Reportedly both Faubert and Rob Green are intending to leave on Free's at the end of the season. Both are refusing to sign a new contract. It's a shame, and while Faubert has upped his game this season (without too many assists or goals it might be noted), it is Rob Green that will be a huge loss to the club. Green has been nothing short of Stellar for West Ham, particularly this season. Without him, the club would not be topping the league; and with West Ham's present reserve GK's, he is irreplaceable. But allowing a prize player and asset to walk is financial suicide for cash strapped club like West Ham. Green either needs to be re-signed now (for better wages - there are few who disagree he, above all, deserves them), or sold within 9 days. There are clubs looking for stop-gap GK's, Manchester United come to mind, as do Arsenal. And Green is good enough to play Champions League (albeit next season), and he deserves a crack at it. Fans will not like to see him go, but if it's going to happen the it must be during this window for West Ham's sake. Almunia did a good job for club on loan, perhaps a swap deal, at least for the short term would be feasible.

Yes, West Ham top the table, but there's a lot to do if the owners want this season to be a "success". Certainly, if they want to attain automatic promotion and transform that into Premier League survival, then planning for the future and filling those needs must start now. Any assembled players need to start to gel now, if the club want promotion and survival.

Evolution and survival of the fittest.

Darwin had it right: will West Ham's bid for automatic promotion and Premier League survival evolve or die? It's in the lap of the God's, the foresight of the manager, and to certain degree, the pockets of the owners.

Paul

West Ham 2 - 1 Nottingham Forest

2012-01-21T09:20:00.000-08:00

This was a good result, despite the slow start and the slack finish, which took the gloss of the win. Despite the aggravating reality that we didn't keep a clean sheet today, overall it was a solid, if largely pedestrian, team performance today with Mark Noble clearing off the line once and scoring two penalties, not to mention a close shot from open play that skimmed the outside of the post. Collison missed a sitter, and Lansbury drew a great save from Camp. And, despite the two goal lead, Sam made a refreshing decision to replace Baldock at 78 minutes with Robert Hall and Piquionne on for Cole later rather than putting a defensive minded player on. Forest's late goal came from Lewis McGugan. It was a left footed 30 yard screamer from just left of the D outside the 18 yard box right on time. Certainly it was a silly way to end the match, and takes the gloss of a good win; let's hope it doesn't make Sam rethink his late substitutions...

Cole had several headed chances today to add to his 8 goals, but was unable to stuff them in the onion bag; if he's not careful he'll have Mark Noble passing him as West Ham's top scorer with 6 to his name now. I'm not sure if that's good news...

For those out there who don't think we need a new striker, I ask you to consider the fact that Baldock, Cole, Carew and Piquionne have not been banging them away of late, and but for Mark Noble and seven goal Nolan, we'd be in a pickle. In fact, but for referees, we wouldn't have scored our last three goals. Yes Cole should be banging them away in this league, but, evidently, he's not.

With Cardiff's late win, we are still only 4 points ahead of them, and with Southampton to play at home on Monday, it's likely we'll be second by Tuesday.

But sitting at the top of the table is fabulous, and certainly gives me heart that we are on the right path. We still have everything to play for, and with a ten day rest until going to Ipswich, we can perhaps pick up a striker and see the return of Matty Taylor and the introduction of Demel and John to the squad.

Paul

Half Time: West Ham United 1 - 0 Nottingham Forest

2012-01-21T08:04:00.000-08:00

Well you don't get any luckier than that. Forest's Guy Moussi was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box on the stroke of half time; Noble calmly slotted home. How much longer can we expect him to put those away: brilliant.

However, this was a slow start by West Ham in more ways than one, as the ref started the match some 6 minutes late. In what can only be described as a narrow formation, Sam chose to start with Baldock and Cole up front; however, it was all Forest for the first fifteen minutes, with West Ham looking sluggish, and lucky not to go down by one. Forest started fast and had three corners within the first twenty minutes. However, as the half wore on, West Ham started to motor, eventually playing the ball on the ground for a few moves and starting to look the part. By half time, the stats were even in all respects except corners, where the Hammers had seven to no avail. We really need Taylor back!

The only negative of the half, apart from the awful opening play, was Diop. He went down late in the half and Sam replaced him with Lansbury, which is a little more positive for a home fixture.

Nottingham Forest have not been good once being a goal down; so there's every reason to look forward to some more goals, as long as the boys are not asked to sit back. Cardiff squandered an early lead at home to Pompey and are locked in a 1-1 tie at half time, and Boro are a man down and a goal down at Coventry. Southampton don't play until Monday. So without counting chickens, it all looks good at this juncture...

On to the second half...

£6M + Winger = Nikica Jelavic?

2012-01-20T17:08:00.000-08:00

Nikita Jelavić: He's here, he's there, he's everywhere, or is he?

Everywhere we look, there are claret and blue bread crumbs leading to a 6'2" 26-year-old Croat striker named Nikica Jelavić. From tweets up the ying-yang, to KUMB, West Ham Till I Die, ESPN, and Sky Sports. All of them claim that talks are taking place between Glasgow Rangers and West Ham United, but that no official offer has been made, although the heavy rumour is that between £6 to £9M is the likely asking price. Fans are divided on whether Jelavić is worth anywhere near £9M, with the only real stats available showing he has netted 30 goals in 44 appearances since arriving at Rangers. He is a big player, in the Allardyce mold. But does that mean that these claims have any foundation?

Probably not. But let's explore it anyway.

Grant Holt netted 30 goals in 44 appearances for Norwich City in his inaugural N-Power Championship season in 2009-10. After being promoted with Norwich to the Premier League that has almost been cut in half to 8 goals in 20 appearances. Why do I bring this up? Because I feel that the level of the SPL and the NPower Championship are equivalent; in fact, there are only two really strong teams in the SPL whereas in the Championship one could argue the competition is closer with a host of clubs able to beat any other on their day. That cannot be said in Scotland, where there are only really two dominant clubs that would likely be offered a place in the PL or Championship. And you know who they are; I don't need to name them.

So is £9M as a fair asking price for a player of Grant Holt's calibre? I suppose it depends on a number of factors: (1) Who's money it is! (2) Whether he can contribute to certain promotion (which in itself is worth over £20M) (3) Whether he can maintain his level of performance once, and indeed if, the club are promoted to the EPL. But if it were my money, I'd say categorically no. But maybe this is an unfair comparison because I have never seen Jelavić play, and perhaps he is better than his pure stats (which are pretty good) give him credit for. Conversely, perhaps Grant Holt arguably didn't have the quality around him that Jelavić does at Rangers, so his performance is better?

But perhaps the biggest spanner in the works for the Jelavić story is this: I'm not sure why Rangers would be entertaining offers less than £9Million, as, according to BBC Sport, on 30 August 2011, it was reported that Rangers had rejected a £6.5m bid from Leicester City for Jelavić and also an apparent bid from an unnamed agent working on behalf of an unnamed club, for 9 million pounds on Transfer Deadline Day. So why would they accept anything less now? Certainly, West Ham, having published their accounts, are not exactly rolling in the dosh; Gold and Sullivan are financing most of the acquisitions themselves, but 9 Million quid on one unproven player?

It is true that Rangers are in the need for a winger and a number of defenders. So perhaps a cash plus player deal then? I suppose we could look to see if there are any Rangers scouts at the Boleyn tomorrow... West Ham don't have dearth of defenders, but wingers? Perhaps. Jack Collison's name was bounced around yesterday on Twitter as a Leeds target (you can hear the roar of anger already). Freddie Sears can play as a winger, as can O'Neil, Barrera and a few others. I suppose it's possible.

But I'd be mightily surprised.

Paul

Preview: WHUFC vs Forest - Beware of Tree Spikes

2012-01-19T19:24:00.000-08:00

If you go down to the woods tonight, you might be in for a big surprise...Then, again, perhaps not.

If you speak to a forest fan right now, there is a lot of negativity flying around; the contrast between between now and the quiet confidence that McLaren's appointment brought last summer is stark. Players are getting stick, and the fans have given up hoping for a win. And, ostensibly, it's hard to disagree with them. With Steve Cotterill's Forest languishing firmly in the relegation zone, some two points off safety after shipping seven goals in their last two matches without response, it's easy to see why many fans are seriously concerned about relegation. Five home losses in a row don't help either, nor does not scoring at home since November 19th.

But digging deeper, there are some mitigating factors that perhaps have conspired to make Forest seem worse than they are. Firstly, having a player wrongly sent off (IMHO) in their last league fixture at home to Southampton for almost the entire second half didn't help matters. And despite all the reports, I watched the match and felt that Forest were certainly giving as good as they were getting for the first half. Southampton didn't look head and shoulders better, and their first goal, honestly was scrappy. But the Luke Chambers sending off at 50 minutes ensured that the game was over as a competitive match. It allowed Southampton the space to get in behind them, and they made Forest pay.

But away to Leicester in the Cup - well, there's no sugar coating it - Forest were awful. They missed two guilt edged chances before half time.

Despite this, Forest fans will rightly tell you that their away form in the league is slightly better, but not much. With only 4 away wins out of 12, and only one of those this year against Ipswich, the previous one being in October, it would be easy to right off their chances of a win. Furthermore, to darken the cloud over Forest, four key players are missing: Chambers is suspended, and Wes Morgan, Chris Cohen and Ishmael Miller are missing through injury. Then there's Matt Derbyshire's twitter outburst that has probably ensured that he won't be high on Steve Cotterill's team sheet...

Ouch. Is there any light for the trees? Yes. Marlon Harewood, after a 6 month spell playing in China (not bad pay, apparently - just ask Drogba...), he has signed on for a short loan spell with Forest. And while he's still working on his sharpness, he will bring an added dimension to Forest's attack on Saturday. No doubt he will be determined to prove a point back at the club where he was leading scorer a few years back. So there's hope for the Forest fans?

Perhaps. Last time we played a bottom of the league team, Bristol City, we were frustrated for 90 minutes. If you're Steve Cotterill how are you going to set up? That's right: 10 men behind the ball with Harewood ready to pounce. And with West Ham's inability to score more than one - perhaps - two goals per game, a draw is quite possible because although it seems that when Forest go down a goal, it's over, we should remember that, lately, when West Ham go up a goal, we sit on the lead and entertain capitulation in the final few minutes. Furthermore, every time we've had the chance to go top, West Ham have blown it. And this weekend, by dint of Southampton's fixture being played on Monday, we have that chance again.

But, in fairness to the Hammers, a loss or a draw is not likely, particularly because, with no fresh injury worries, it looks like Big Sam will have nearly a full squad to pick from. Guy Demel and Matty Taylor are both now in full training, though it doesn't sound like they're quite ready to start a game yet. George John will likely be a few weeks from serious availability, although a bench seat soon is likely. I see Diop as a great away player, or when we need to hold a lead. Reid has done well as late, despite Faye's previous good form, so I'd keep him in. When Taylor is fully fit he is in, no ifs, ands, or buts: we need his creativity and, above all, his set piece expertise. And Demel too, if he can stay fit would have place as right back in my side. O'Brien needs a rest. And while I'm sure Sam will not go with my team tomorrow, but this is what I'd pick, based on the opposition and our need for goals. It's time to change it up, we've become too predictable and constipated. Yes, Nolan is in the line up: he's our best Captain in eons and joint top scorer...before the whining starts. :-)

Green

O’Brien-Tomkins-Reid-McCartney

Noble-----Nolan

Lansbury---------------------Collison

Baldock

Cole

Subs: (No GK) Faye, Faubert, Taylor, Nouble, Hall

This five subs is really annoying! I'd have Demel and John in there if I was sure they were fit.

With all due respect to Forest, who are, and always will be, a big team with a rich history, West Ham have the chance to go top tomorrow and score some goals. Let's hope they do it, and make us all wonder why we're in the market for a striker.

Paul

2 Bids In For Strikers

2012-01-17T20:55:00.000-08:00

There are very strong rumours on Twitter, allegedly attributed to David Sullivan's son, Jack, that West Ham have two bids in right now for two strikers. Usually, I don't pay much attention to Clunge or any of the self annointed Tweeters, but there is one fellow with a good track record - an agent, and he is among many who is independently confirming this news. One, the lesser of the two bids - around 3.5 million, is supposedly for Watford's 21 year old striker, Marvin Sordell. Sordell has scored ten goals (8 in the league) this season for Watford, which, considering their position and the support he gets, isn't bad. It's certainly more than anyone at West Ham has scored so far this season.

jsullivanwhuJack Sullivan:

we have made made two bids today for strikers (£3.5m and £5m). we HOPE to get one and have good news within 7 days if not sooner

There is considerable conjecture regarding the second bid of around 4 to 5 million pounds. One of the favourites seems to be 23 year old Celtic striker Gary Hooper. But, in my opinion, this is highly unlikely as the English striker is said to want to stay at Celtic, and the management are very outspoken in their desire to keep him at Celtic Park. The other target is touted as Jordan Rhodes; however, it is well known that Huddersfield won't sell him for a penny less than 8 million, and they would prefer not to sell him at all. I would be extremely surprised if another bid was put in for Rhodes: if he's going anywhere, then, likely it will be to sit on a Premier League bench. Which is a shame...

That leaves a few other possibilities, one of which I believe is highly likely to be Doncaster Rovers' 25 year old striker Billy Sharp. If you remember Billy Sharp was destined for Leicester City a week or so ago, after they had an offer accepted for 3 million by Doncaster. However, Doncaster had second thoughts and offered Billy an improved contract in order to keep him at the club. He has also scored ten goals this season, and if Sordell's ten for Watford seem impressive, then, by the same token, Sharpe's ten for 23rd placed Doncaster is even more impressive. If Sharp can score goals with the quality of players around him at Doncaster (no disrespect intended), then he should be more successful at West Ham with players like Taylor, Lansbury, Faubert, Collison, Noble, Nolan, and McCartney whipping balls in, not mention Cole holding them up for him. I'm not sure why we haven't heard more about Bristol City's 8 goal striker Nicky Maynard up until this point. Perhaps it could be him?

Given our recent toothless displays in front of goal, Sam's recent comments echoing fan concern about our profligacy in front of goal, let's hope this speculation leads to substance.

Paul

They're At It Again: Piquionne...

2012-01-15T15:55:00.000-08:00

Not content with their appalling journalistic inaccuracy on Friday regarding Piquionne's apparent "move to Wolves", the Daily Mail are at it again. Read into it what you will...

While Piquionne may not go the Wolves; the Daily Mail really has gone to the dogs. No quotes, no evidence, and no author attributed to this story.

Portsmouth 0 - 1 West Ham United

2012-01-14T09:09:00.000-08:00

The right result, if a nervy and frustrating one. West Ham dominated the first 25 minutes, with Pompey coming back into it after the Noble penalty. In the second half, Portsmouth went down to ten men after Norris was sent off. From then on it was all West Ham with Robert Green not having too much to do, despite a late sequence of pressure from Portsmouth's Benjani. However, from West Ham's perspective, that old bugaboo of poor finishing took the edge off of our momentum. There were some horrendous misses by Faubert, Nolan and Noble in the second half. Portsmouth were satisfied to defend deep, but West Ham were passing square balls rather than penetrating. When they did, the offside flag was often up. Noble was my man of the match; overall, he had a fabulous game.

The frustration comes from the fact that this was a chance to pump up our goal difference which we didn't take; unfortunately, Southampton did. I'm sure we're desperately looking for a creative midfielder and a striker, and this performance did nothing but firmly underline our deficiencies in these areas.

While Sam did bring Faubert off for Lansbury late on, it seemed that the strategy was to hold the lead. This was a dangerous tactic, and I am not a proponent of that for obvious reasons: it only takes a set piece success by the opposition and we're back to square one. In fact, Benjani's late chances were very threatening, and one resulted in a handball which, amazingly the referee didn't give. Futacs missed a golden opportunity late on too; frankly, West Ham were lucky to avoid another late goal against. We drew the pressure on ourselves by not making the necessary changes earlier on. One has the feeling we cheated fate today. Certainly the benevolence of the referee today, while correct and brave, cannot be relied upon week in and out. A lesser man would have buckled to the fan pressure and awarded a penalty late on, or perhaps sent Nolan off as an even up call. How that referee is getting home tonight is one of life's great mysteries. An armed escort, I shouldn't wonder.

Sam's inactivity on the sub's bench was interesting: neither Faye or Baldock were called into action, and only Lansbury was brought on late for Faubert. Baldock was perhaps being penalized for his penalty miss (which seems overly harsh and not good man-management to me); and, fair enough, Faye is just back from injury. Why Carew was on the bench though, rather than Hall is a mystery to me.

Still it is another away victory at a very hard venue against a team on a good run of form with the inspiration of a new manager. It's nothing to grumble about, but only a fool wouldn't heed the warnings: we need more creativity and, yes, some more clinical fire-power in front of goal. This game should have been killed off in the first half.

Paul

Norris Sent Off-Deja Vu

2012-01-14T08:17:00.000-08:00

Norris: a high boot, far too high. Ref instant red card. Moments before he had clattered Nolan down. Deserved.

Half Time: Portsmouth 0-1 West Ham

2012-01-14T07:50:00.000-08:00

A Noble penalty on 24 minutes is all that separates these two sides. This started slowly but soon became a firecracker of a game with not much love lost between many of these players: you get the feeling there's a lot of bad history between some of these players. The half has resulted in two yellow cards so far for Pompey. West Ham dominated early, but after the goal, the expected Pompey response came with a series of corners where Robert Green kept our lead safe. Overall, West Ham deserve the lead and take it into the dressing room for half time.

Southampton are one up at Forest; Boro are two down. Cardiff are still 0-0 at Doncaster.

24 Minutes: Portsmouth 0 - 1 West Ham United

2012-01-14T07:31:00.000-08:00

Portsmouth were unable to deal with West Ham, who were gaining the ascendancy with more possession, a series of free kicks, corners and very creditable penalty calls for the Hammers lead finally to more industrial and desperate tackles by Portsmouth. The resulting tackle off the ball on Faubert, convinced the referee that, on second thoughts after dismissing a similar event a minute prior, that indeed this was a penalty. Noble swept it in, as usual. Perhaps Baldock can learn something from that? West Ham are now completely controlling this one.

Piquionne Gone To The Wolves

2012-01-13T17:36:00.000-08:00

That great bastion of journalism that is the Daily Mail is reporting that Freddie Piquionne has been "sold" on free-transfer to Wolverhampton Wanderers. If this is true (and it's almost too much to hope for), then I wish him well. He has been at the club since 2010, having arrived from Portsmouth. I have no hard feelings towards Freddie, although I am not sorry to see him go. Initially he seemed promising, but from last season to this, I find it hard to remember him lighting up any single game, or looking like he should win Man of the Match. His wanton reluctance to actually chase or move into space has become a sort of anti-folklore among the fans, and there have been times this season that it has appeared that we have played with 10 men.

So while the obvious bonus to this is that we get an enormous wage earner off our books, free up a space in our squad for another striker, perhaps the real victory goes to Robert Hall or Frank Nouble, both of which have shown far more initiative and nouse in recent games. If it means that Robert, in particular, gets the nod more often, then I think that can only be good news for the club and Robert Hall's development. The boy has potential: perhaps Sam has noticed?

Paul

Objects In Your Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear - Away to Portsmouth

2012-01-12T18:41:00.000-08:00

Pompey: Another team left for dead in the wake of "Arry's" trajectory to North London...We can only hope.

Saturday's match at Fratton Park - one of the true great bastions of football - is more about three points than beating Portsmouth. A win is vital, and it's now the time in the season where the opposition needs to become inconsequential; it's all about what West Ham can do, not about the opposition. If we look at promotion like an 800m race, then the bell has rung for the last lap, and Allardyce has put the Hammers firmly on the shoulder of the pace-setter and in pole-position to kick off, but, by the same token, the chasing pack is close behind, and they have exactly the same idea.

It's all about fitness, stamina for the fight, and who has the mental and physical reserves to push to the line. We can dream about a cushion, but I believe this will be tight race to the end, with the lead changing several times. Once you're on top, there's only one direction to go. As a fan, are you prepared for that? Can you accept that we may be passed down the back-straight and that the finish will be nip and tuck? Can you keep your spirits and belief up all the way to the line? With our support, hopefully the players can.

The second half of the season is where the leadership in the club comes to the fore: it's why Allardyce bought Nolan, Faye, and Diop to the club. Are they the most captivating players of all time? Perhaps not, but they have heart and incredible self-belief, so much so, that opposition fans hate them. They're tossers to the opposition, but they're our tossers.

Pompey visited the Boleyn and lost by the odd goal in 7, with things all square at two a piece before Liam Lawrence was sent off. For Allardyce it was far too thrilling, and I suspect he would have been happier with the one goal difference and a clean sheet. For the fans it was an open game where Matty Taylor, Henry Lansbury, Mark Noble and Carlton Cole each scored. It's been a long time since we've rippled the onion bag that many times. Still with all the rest the squad have had, and a few returnees (only Taylor and Demel are absent for this one), West Ham couldn't be in better shape, apart, I fear, from set pieces.

Disregarding the opposition is one thing, but going into a match without a little background is never prudent, so here's what the Hammers need to know: 17th placed Portsmouth's recent form suggests they are better than their league position indicates. Currently they are unbeaten in their last seven games at Fratton Park: with wins against Barnsley, Doncanster, Nottingham Forest, Coventry, and Watford with recent and creditable draws against Leicester, and Southampton in the blood-feud Derby. Much of their recent form can be attributed to their new young manager, ex-West Brom coach Michael Appleton. He was an outsider for the job, beating out experienced applicants like Sean O'Driscoll and Steve Coppell. An, ex-player whose career was cut short by an injury and a surgeon's neglect, he successfully sued the surgeon which does show some self confidence and determination, if nothing else. He started a coaching career at 27 at the Baggies and by all accounts was greatly admired by fellow coaching staff, players and, above all, manager Roy Hodgeson, who was sad to see him go.

As far as goal scorers, 30 year old striker Luke Varney and 31 year old midfielder David Norris have 5 a piece, but it's someone with the name Futacs who is chipping them in lately (sorry couldn't resist).

West Ham? You can be sure Sam will be back to fielding the strongest possible side available, which I hope, at least, includes Robert Hall on the bench. I certainly don't expect to see his place taken up by one Freddie Piquionne. Faye and Diop are available; however, Taylor and Demel are not. Lansbury hasn't really impressed me lately, although Collison had a good match last time out. George John won't be available either.

Green

O'Brien-Tomkins-Faye-McCartney

Faubert - Noble - Diop - Nolan

Cole - Baldock

Subs: Kurucz (for obvious reasons), Reid, Collison, Carew, Hall

It's no use whining about the 5 sub limit, but it would be nice to include Lansbury and Potts, but oh well. I'm sorry, but its time for deadwood to move, and I have no place for FP in a squad that, hopefully, has to start thinking about top-level football next year.

Given everything we have seen lately from both teams, a draw would be a reasonable conclusion; however, I think force of character will win the day and we'll break the tape first on this one.

Paul

A Word For Sam

2012-01-10T14:59:00.000-08:00

Nice to pick up one of the Sunday papers with a full page spread from Sam saying that the FA cup means sweet FA to him.

There were about 3.500 of us at Hillsborough on Sunday who had some passing interest in getting a result. I worked till 3am Sunday morning then left home at 9.30am to drive to Sheffield. Nice to know I wasn't wasting my time ! For any of you that have been ever been to Hillsborough you will know what an awful place it is, hardly a nice day out, I went to watch West Ham !

Sam needs to understand that whilst promotion is the priority, (getting back to the greedy league seems to be what it's all about), this is a proper well supported football club. He isn't at Bolton, or Blackburn, or even Newcastle, there are proper supporters here, people who care. Don't sell us short ! If I want to watch the reserves I can nip over and watch them up the road for about a fiver !

Are that many of you really that happy to see us bow out of both cups with a whimper ?

For the record, Whilst he says "rotation" was what it was all about, Sam's interest in the game see him get up from his seat about 4 times in over 100 minutes, hmmmmm, is that the Sam that everybody knows ??

COYI's

Martin

FC Dallas' George John Loan Deal Concluded

2012-01-09T11:07:00.000-08:00

George John, a centre back come defensive midfielder from MLS team FC Dallas has concluded a load deal to join West Ham until February. If all is well, then apparently a full transfer can be expected.

Hopefully this is cover and not as a replacement for Tomkins.

Sheffield Wednesday 1 - 0 West Ham United: A Striker Or Two, Please - Post Haste!

2012-01-08T17:12:00.000-08:00

While winning this FA Cup clash would have been the best result, the second best result is to lose away from home. Certainly it is prefereable to a draw: a replay would have been disasterous to our already tight league schedule and may have resulted in fatigue or injuries that we can well do without. And while Southampton can hold their heads high, winning away to Coventry, West Ham, like Cardiff, have nothing else to focus on but the league.

There are no excuses, then.

I am not concerned, nor do I believe that Sam doesn't value the FA Cup, but that he, like me, values promotion more. Not that I think he went to Sheffield with the intention of losing this game, just to give some players a rest, some a run out in order to evaluate them, and that he still felt we had enough in the tank for a win. And given the chances 10 v 10, possession 54% to West Ham, and 8 corners to Wednesday's 3, and a missed penalty, West Ham should have got something out of this.

What this match did illustrate is our need for another centre back, a creative wide player and at least two strikers. There's no use sugar-coating things here. Lansbury and Collison were a decent pairing in midfield, but it does bring things into perspective when, without the presence of Cole and Nolan on the pitch and their cumulative 15 goals this season, and, leaving Baldock's five goals aside, the rest of the starting lineup have only scored a total of 8 goals among themselves in 24 games. So just where was the goal going to come from? I say goal, because frankly, Baldock should have put the penalty away. If he had, then it would have been a grudging 2-1 victory to the Hammers. Baldock himself hasn't scored in his last nine games for West Ham.

This isn't about finger pointing, that's never constructive, but it is about converting chances into goals. Something that Allardyce recognizes:

"We did everything right apart from not finishing our chances and making a basic error that cost us the tie. The changes we made weren't the problem. The problem was not finishing the chances we had, the biggest one being the penalty.

But most of all, this loss reiterates how important Noble, Nolan and Tomkins are to our promotion chances. Potts is a fine player with a hell of a lot of potential, but McCartney is better right now in that position, and, by the same token, Tomkins is vital to our back four. Taylor too was missed today, as he has been all season long since his injury. What today's game also demonstrated is that we have no Trevor Brooking: a wide, creative midfielder with accurate looping crosses that always find their mark, a player who can turn a game with a free kick. And while Noble was missed today, he is not that man. Taylor is the closest we have, and given his injury, we obviously need coverage for him. Bentley was that man, but...

Still, onwards an upwards. I don't expect anything to happen too quickly in this window; afterall, would you let your starlet to the club that puts the first offer in? Neither will Huddersfield. This is a bidding war: and Jordan Rhodes will go to the club that pays the most. Maynard is still available, as is Peter Whittingham. It sounds like Sharp will be wearing a Leicester shirt soon.

I'm sure the owners are working hard on this, and, this season, I am certainly appreciating their discretion and confidentiality on impending deals, even if it does make it a little more frustrating.

Paul

FA Cup: Half Time - Sheffield Wednesday 0 - 0 West Ham United

2012-01-08T08:11:00.000-08:00

Chances at both ends, with both teams guilty of glaring misses have left the game goalless at half time, with perhaps Sheffield the unluckier of the two sides not to be ahead. West Ham have had 60% of the possession; however, the clinical finishing hasn't been there despite the presence of Baldock. Allardyce has named a young squad with Collison and Lansbury anchoring midfield: this has been a very fluid midfield, with Diop on the bench. Collison has shown glimpses of his previous form, but Potts has been beaten several times for pace and guile. Reid and McCartney anchor the defence, with Tomkins on the bench. Let's hope that's nothing more than squad rotation and has nothing to do with Newcastle.

Second half just about to get under way.

Paul

Parish Notice

2012-01-08T08:03:00.000-08:00

Firstly, apologies for my shoddy spelling of both JORDAN Rhodes and Billy Sharp (no E!). No excuses, and as one poster says, I should do better. I will. I've been a little rushed lately, but that's no excuse for substandard proof-reading! So thanks for keeping me on my toes.

Secondly: while friendly banter is fine, pure vitriolic one-upmanship is not. Many postings from both sides - Hammers fans as well as those from rival teams - have become laced with abuse. I choose not to screen all posts on this forum, and, for the most part, I am extremely impressed with all posters for their restraint and willingness to follow my request to "Please keep your posts clean and respectful." However, if the tone continues to diminish, then I will be forced to screen posts. It's not something I want to do, so please, help me by restraining the impulse to insult.

I really appreciate those posters from all sides that demonstrate incredible knowledge and insight, often correcting me or adding interesting perspectives to the conversations, and that is the sort of dialogue I'd like to see on the blog. Fans of other teams have every right to put their two-pence worth in, as long as it is constructive and objective; it's interesting to hear other people's perspectives. Friendly banter is fine; put-downs for the sake of venting are not. They have no place on this forum.

Paul

Give Doncaster Ilunga and Ca$h for Sharp?

2012-01-07T20:36:00.000-08:00

It strikes me, with all the discussion today that Doncaster Rovers have accepted a paltry 1.85 million pound bid from Leicester City for their 10 goal-scorer 25 year old Billy Sharp, that West Ham may be about to miss a coup here.

While I think the Hammers need to cough up big time for Jordan Rhodes, I also think that getting Sharp would be a coup. And why not? Ilunga has just arrived back from Doncaster on loan. Doncaster manager, Dean Saunders, has been very public about wanting Ilunga back. West Ham want to get him off their wage bill, why not give him to them and add a paltry 1.85 million quid on top? We get rid of a player who obviously has no place in Sam's plans and who underwhelmed for two seasons now, and his wages.

According to the BBC, even though Leicester's bid has been accepted, personal terms between them and Sharp have not yet been agreed.

Time for the two Davids to jump in?

Paul

FA Cup: Sheffield Wednesday v West Ham United

2012-01-06T18:07:00.000-08:00

Let's hope Megson gets them to cough up a pellet

Gary Megson's Wednesday have only lost 1 of their last 11 matches in all competitions. The League One team are in an identical position to West Ham; that is, second in their league, to Charlton, with two more points from one less game than the Hammers. As both clubs will have their priority on the league in general and promotion in particular, neither side will want a replay. Megson knows that it is in his best interests to play his strongest side and "give it a right go": West Ham can expect a hard game at Hillsborough. The stadium itself is huge, bigger than the Boleyn (in fact it's even bigger than that enormous club's ground in N17!) with a capacity of nearly 40,000 souls, and Wednesday have been drawing crowds of between 20,000 and 30,000 week in and out for their League One matches, so our boys can expect a very intimidating atmosphere off the pitch.

On the pitch, it will be much the same: Wednesday are grafters with a never-say -die attitude. In their recent game against Jordan Rhodes' third placed Huddersfield in the all-Yorkshire derby, there were 8 goals scored blistering match. Yes, Jordan scored ALL 4 of Huddersfield's! (He also scored all 5 for them today! - Get him Msrs. Gold and Sullivan, even if that means outrageous personal terms to turn his head away from Tottenham's shady ghetto). Megson's teams are more Allardyce-like than Allardyce's! While their midfield playmaker is Chris Lines - a summer arrival from Bristol Rovers - their hatchet man is Portuguese defender José Vítor Moreira Semedo. Lines should relish the chance to showcase what he can do against tougher opposition; Semedo’s steel and Hines' style has worked for the Owls since the two were paired together.

Allardyce is rumoured to be considering wholesale changes from the recent league win against Coventry. That suits me fine. The league is our bread and butter, and it is time to give some youngsters a try. Wouldn't it be nice to discover a hidden gem and save ourselves a few quid in the transfer window? This is the perfect opportunity to give the youngsters and fringe players a chance, and with 7 subs on the bench for the Cup, I'm sure many of them will e up for this. Montenegro, Montano, Hall, Potts, Nouble, and Sears will hopefully all get a chance to either start of come on and strut their stuff. And frankly, there's no time like now...

Boffin

O'Brien - Tomkins - Reid - Potts

ONeil - Diop

Sears - Lansbury

Nouble

Hall

Subs: Green, Moncur, Faubert, Noble, Montenegro, Monteiro, Carew

Despite rambling on about neither side wanting a replay, my bat-intestine divining and tea-leaf reading lady seems convinced this will be a 1-1.

Still, she has been known to be wrong: she predicted the Spuds would wax Swansea on New year's Eve and win the Europa League in 2012, and look what happened there?

Paul

January: Kevin Davies, Vedran Corluka and...Clungewhu

2012-01-05T20:54:00.000-08:00

This year, I have deliberately avoided much of the hype swirling around the January transfer window. I made a pact with myself to be the model of restraint and to remain low-key, only commenting on sure things, done deals, or patently ridiculous speculation, leaving other bloggers to react/postulate/speculate and repeat everything else...The endless cycle of dramatic headlines punctuated with exclamation marks but without any sources is...tiresome.

But, mostly, they're patently false.

Typically, a deal or two will be done on the first few days of the window, then nothing will happen until the last three or four days of the month. Clubs with players they want to keep will refuse any quick offers (such as those from West Ham for Huddersfield's Jordan Rhodes and Cardiff's Peter Wittingham), in the hopes that if they can't keep their star players, then they can wait for desperation, potential rivals, and the impending deadline to drive the price up.

The January transfer window is 99% boredom and 1% panic as far as I can tell. From a West Ham fans' point of view it starts with a massive number of rumours put about by bored Tottenham-supporting media hacks who have little or nothing to go on. They start by putting two and two together and getting, usually, three. Or five. But rarely four. This speculation will typically begin with one of our big/established/top performing players being courted by 'Arry. The Spud's fans will weigh in, call us their 'feeder club', and then rumoured bids emerge, usually without any creditable sources. Then they'll switch to us being the recipient of one of their crocked players, or loaning us a pre-pubescent starlet so that he can get experience with the "junior club". Some West Ham bloggers will get involved and add to the scare-mongering...

I ignore it.

I'm well aware of "Clungewhu" from Twitter. He bills himself as "West Ham Insider". I follow him, but, while many hold him in high esteem, as some anonymous "Deep Throat"-like insider at the club, I'm more dubious. "Clunge" has predicted many a transfer or move to the club over the past few seasons, and some have been right, while some have been...well...wildly inaccurate. This inaccuracy is often put down to a last minute snag with the medical, or a superior offer coming in just under the wire from a competing club. And perhaps it's true. "Clunge" never reveals his sources or, indeed, his identity, but we are assured that he is "in the know". Clunge does seem to get some early team news regarding returning players etc, but so does my contact, Mildred, the tea lady, if only because the more they train, the less tea they want - Sam frowns upon diuretics!

So, again, on the whole, I'm dubious regarding Clungewhu's tweets. Indeed, his latest pronouncement that out-of-favour Spud's right back, Vedran Corluka, is undergoing a medical for West Ham today after the Spuds accepted an offer of 1.8 million quid is contrary to "Arry's adamant assertion yesterday that Corluka was absolutely not for sale.

However, I suppose you can see how a rumour like this could start: Corluka has only started 3 times for the Spuds this season. A serious injury last year and the competition for spaces has knocked him off the team sheet more often than not this season. Adding that to the fact that we need coverage at right back (or even an improvement on O'Brien who seems to lack a little pace), and that Sam is looking for younger pacier players, then it would be a safe bet to start a rumour like that.

And I remain sceptical. Spurs don't like doing business with us as much as West ham don't like doing business with them (You get the feeling much handwashing goes on after the money changes hands), and Levy never lets anyone go for a paltry 1.8 million quid. Corluka would be a good addition to our Championship squad, although whether he has enough quality to serve us in the Premier League (should we make promotion) is, again, dubious, given his failure to hold down a place at the Spuds. Besides, surely he would rather join any of the other clubs (Bolton, Wolves, Everton etc.) who are thought to be bidding for him? Perhaps West Ham offered better personal terms?

I suppose all will be revealed tomorrow. Over to you, Clungewhu.

Meanwhile, rumours of 35 year old ex-Allardyce and Bolton striker Kevin Davies putting his house on the market and joining us had better be wide of the mark! He was good once, but at 35, and with few goals this season, I'm not sure he's a short term or a long term answer!

Paul

The Warnings Are There

2012-01-03T18:07:00.000-08:00

I read an interesting article on this year's promotion battle as compared to years gone by. Apart from pointing out that, so far this season, this is the closest promotion battle in 20 years since 1992, and pointing out some interesting facts and figures, it also got me thinking.

As we all know the top of the table is quite crowded and, ostensibly at least, it looks like a whole host of clubs are quite capable of making a bid for the automagic promotion spots, let alone the playoffs. But if we're a little more discerning, we can see a clear gap forming:

And while I am extremely hesitant to write off any of the top ten clubs (Leeds for instance), certainly, at this point in the season we can see the clubs that are the main contenders for automatic promotion. The top four clubs have established a cushion, and while the Christmas period showed us that anything is possible in this league (West Ham, Southampton, Boro all lost unexpectedly), it also showed us who the main protagonists are likely to be in the battle for automatic promotion.

Of the top four, West Ham have had the worst injury/suspension crisis over the past few weeks. Of the top four, they also have the second worst current form. Whether we can blame this injury/suspension crisis for the West Ham's dip in form is debatable, and certainly a little disingenuous to the opposition that have taken 11 of our last 18 possible points.

Current Form Guide of Championship Clubs Over the Past 6 Games:

As mentioned before, while not writing them off, I'm not too concerned with teams below the "gap" opening up in the Championship right now (5th placed Reading), as I don't think they have the squad or resources to keep up their current form going consistently over the second half of the season. This particularly applies to Burnley, Derby, Hull and Blackpool, some of whom will likely get into the playoff spots, but not likely the automatic spots.

Early title-favourites and media-darlings Southampton have surprised everyone by tanking and dropping 13 of a possible 18 points (Bristol City robbing them of 6 of those). They are also facing a little bit of a crisis now, as their runaway league-leading scorer Rickie Lambert was sent off with a red card in their last match means that he has a three game suspension handed to him. This is no small dent in their promotion campaign. Lambert is responsible for 15 of their 47 goals, and has made a host of others. But write Southampton off at your peril: they will be there right to the end, of that, I'm sure.

Middlesboro have the best form of the top four, joint first overall, grabbing a possible 13 out of 18 points over the last six games, but they still don't concern me as much as one team in particular. Firstly, their resources are meagre. Their manager, while experienced, is getting the best from a very mediocre squad, and they have little in the way of depth.

The Bluebirds though are an entirely different proposition. Only grabbing two points less than 'Boro over the 6 games, their form is quite incredible, especially if you look at it over the past 15 games. In fact, it's amazing.

Cardiff have only lost once in 15 games to Middlesboro by the odd goal in 7, and have won 10 of those 15 matches, drawing 4 of the 15. Their current form is spectacular. They are unbeatable on the road and damn impregnable at home. And they’re doing it with style. It’s a team effort, and to say anything else would be disingenuous to Malky’s men, but one man who is looking sublime for them is their number 7, Peter Whittingham.

Yes, the man West Ham have had a bid turned down for.

Make no mistake, Cardiff are well coached, have a deep squad and have been perennial playoff runners up for years. This year, with Malky MacKay in charge, and a squad of technically gifted and hard grafting players, they will be pushing hard for one of the two spots, and, with their current line-up, have my vote for an automatic promotion spot.

And that is why I believe that the two Davids have to bit a more cynical and pay above the odds to prize Cardiff's fingers off of Peter Wittingham. He is a fabulously creative wide player: just what we need. He is also the jewel in their crown, and depriving Cardiff of him would be, I believe, a devastating blow to their form and their automatic promotion chances. Yes, it's a team game, but he really is something special.

Dirty pool? Perhaps.

Paul

West Ham 1 - 0 Coventry City: A Deserved 3 Points

2012-01-02T09:25:00.000-08:00

Coventry: Not so Skyblue today....

West Ham made it count today, although it was never easy. The Hammers took a deserved three points while others faltered: Southampton lost super-star Lambert to a red card and went down by three goals away to Brighton. Middlesboro lost by 3 goals at Blackpool, although Cardiff polished their promotion cred with a 3 -1 win against Reading.

The Hammers certainly deserved the win over the 90 minutes; they dominated large spells of the game, with Coventry finishing the stronger in the last 4 minutes. For most of the game it was the Hammers dominating possession and play, with Coventry throwing ten men behind the ball; when Coventry did get it forward, there was never anyone there to collect. During the last six minutes, Coventry threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Hammers, with a series of corners, shots and one near miss of the bar; consequently, a perusal of the game stats doesn't really tell the whole story.

The whole story from the Hammers perspective is that the team are struggling to put away their chances. Frankly this should have been over after 60 minutes, and West Ham should have been 3-0 up, rather than the nervy ending it was. Again though, it was the combination of a lack of set-play polish (Noble has to be replaced as the primary free kick/corner merchant), a lack of clinical finishing, and a superb Coventry GK in the form of Joe Murphey. Frankly, if it's true that Robert Green is refusing to sign a new contract and wants out even if we're promoted (and I'm not sure it is), then we'd do worse than sign Joe Murphy. He was spectacular today and was the only factor from Coventry's perspective that kept the scoreline so low: it should have been 4 for the Hammers.

And while many will complain that Nolan didn't dominate possession or scamper hither and thither, he did provide us with the goal that kept our automatic promotion chances alive. Complain all you want, but it's his goal that won the game. He is only one goal behind our so called super striker, Carlton Cole. You can't get much better than that from a midfielder. It was George McCartney, in for Danny Potts, who crossed to my man of the match, Tomkins, who flicked it Nolan. Nolan's header made no mistake: his positional play is excellent, and he was always there, ready for a chance. Our strikers could learn something from that. Baldock will undoubtedly get better as he gets match fit; Cole was more of a playmaker today and didn't ever really look like scoring, and Noble missed a sitter from Nouble's rebound late.

Statistically to win a game by one goal isn't good enough when the statistics show that West Ham had 22 shots to Coventry's 7 (most of which came in the last 4 minutes). We need another striker or three.

Overall, it is 3 points, and fully deserved. It's a massive result, particularly given the other promotion hopefuls big slip-ups today: I'm sure I'm not alone in breathing a little more easily today. Back up to second, and out of first only on GD. Hopefully more strikers will put paid to that!

Paul

Should Be Two

2012-01-02T08:40:00.000-08:00

Nouble beaten by the keeper; Noble puts the rebound wide. This goalkeeper is fabulous! Really, we need to put this game to bed, before we're punished for profligacy.

Baldock Off; Nouble On

2012-01-02T08:33:00.000-08:00

Baldock has worked hard, but has not been very effective. A couple of chances on goal, but Murphy was equal. Nouble...Let's see. It's a positive move, at least we're not protecting the lead. Tomkins is recieving attention for a facial cut. Tomkins back in.

NOLAN SCORES!!

2012-01-02T08:26:00.000-08:00

West Ham have dominated; it's been frustrating watching as we have peppered their goal, but Murphy (Coventry GK) has been stupendous. Thank GOD for that. Nolan header. That's why we bought him.

Southampton have had star striker Lambert sent off.

Cardiff are 3-1 up against Reading (ouch)

Boro 2 down to Blackpool

Preview: West Ham United Vs Coventry City: Let's Not Spill the Claret

2012-01-01T13:46:00.000-08:00

The Skyblues come to the Boleyn

West Ham welcome the Skyblues to the Boleyn tomorrow for 3pm kickoff after beating them by two goals to one at the Ricoh Arena in the away fixture. Coventry arrive of the back off a two-game home winning streak, so in that sense, their current form is better than that of the Hammers. Moreover, Coventry have started to play some attractive football, with the latest results seeing them start to climb off the bottom and to haul in Nottingham Forest and, every Hammers favourite second team right now, the Robins... It was Bristol City who played well at the Ricoh on Boxing Day, having the lion's share of possession and double the chances (26) on net but coming away somewhat unfortunate losers to Coventry two fixtures ago. However the Skyblues completely deserved their subsequent New Year's Eve win over Brighton at home. While possession and chances on goal were split evenly, Coventry were more clinical in netting twice; Gus Poyet's Brighton are having trouble scoring. West Ham may want to take note here: over the last two home games, we have only managed 2 goals.

Coventry's latest success at home seems to have come from Andy Thorn's change in tactics. Lately he is employing a 4-3-3, and this seems to have suited forwards Lukas Jutkiewicz and Gary McSheffrey, both of which scored in the victory over Brighton. However, Coventry City medical staff were today, assessing both forwards as they picked up knocks in the game yesterday. Despite this, Thorn does hope to name an unchanged side for the match (sound familiar - Derby...). However, much of that will depend on whether recently fit-again defenders Martin Cranie and Cyrus Christie can recover quickly enough to start. First pick at left-back for Coventry is Chris Hussey, but he only made the bench against Brighton. Regular captain Sammy Clingan is out with a fractured toe.

Despite their league position, there is an air of optimism at most Coventry fan sites regarding this fixture. The players and manager will have buoyed by the fans singing their names over the past few games: there is a sense that manager Thorn inherited a poor squad, and that, finally, he is getting them to play some attractive football as a team.

Which brings us to West Ham. The captain, Kevin Nolan, will be available from his suspension, as will Collison, Faubert and McCartney. The latest team news from West Ham suggests that Reid, Baldoc and O'Brien (who is playing with a nasty ear infection - hence his lackadaisical performance at Derby) are all available. Faye will not play, but will be ready next game. Demel, Taylor and Bentley are no where near available yet.

While both Hall and Potts have made valuable contributions over the past few game (s), I believe they will be benched for this one, although both I believe are in the initial 20 man squad. Potts' mistake allowed the first goal, and, Hall, despite being a fan favourite and running hard last game, didn't actually do much to impact the game. Settle down! - Both are real talents, don't get me wrong, but softly, softly: steady heads and experience count from the whistle in this match, with the chance to bring them on later.

Our defence has been week since Faye's absence, and having Reid and McCartney back with Diop sitting in front of them will restore a sense of impregnability to the team. Chuck Tomkins and O'Brien into the mix, and I'm fairly confident we won't be down by two goals after ten minutes. Of course, if O'Brien is too poorly to play, then, at a pinch, Faubert can slip back into that slot, now that we have Lansbury, Nolan and Collison back and available in midfield.

Collison hasn't impressed me this season so far; he's just not up to form yet. And there's a lot of conjecture flying about that Sears is for sale. There's no doubt that academy prospect Sears has been given enough chances, both starts and off the bench. The fact is that Sears was an unpicked sub yesterday, so I don' think he'll make the bench tomorrow. Nouble started, and, again rumour has it he's in the shop window, but with Baldoc back, and Cole semi-rested for the last game, I'm not sure we'll see Nouble start. And while O'Neil showed industry, I think he'll also start from the bench for this one, given his fitness levels after his recent horrendous injury lay-off. And yes that's a no sub goalie...

So...

Green

Faubert-Tomkins-Reid-McCartney

Diop

Lasbury Noble

Nolan

Cole Baldock

Subs: O'Brien, Potts, Hall, Collison, Nouble

While often, as fans, we tend to over expect as soon as players are back and the team is strong, only to find that the team don't gel well on the first match back, I'm fairly confident with this one. It's time for a blowout. And while a sensible prediction would be 2-1 to the Hammers, the four bubbles in my Hammers mug of hot tea this morning seems to indicate a four goal bonanza. It's time!

COYI's!

Sam's Strategy?

2011-12-31T14:39:00.000-08:00

If you were a manager and had two underperforming forwards who were commanding huge salaries with respect to all other forwards in the league (Lambert, Maynard etc...), and you wanted some results, what would you do before the transfer window opens up to "stimulate" some action? Perhaps this:

“Sam Baldock will score goals and Carlton Cole’s got eight. But John Carew and Freddie Piquionne have just two each. That’s not good enough. From a wages point of view, we have the four most expensive centre-forwards in this league. And those four have got the responsibility to live up to that."

I would have to say it's almost never a wise tactic to publicly castigate your own players in the media. There are only, in my opinion, two appropriate times to do this.

As a last straw, when your players consistently aren't working, performing and scoring and you've tried everything else behind closed doors, including deflecting criticisms, putting arms around them, bigging-them-up when they do get something right, and showing faith in them by starting them ad-nauseam...and if that fails...
When you want to off load one or both from your wage-bill and free up some funds for a replacement or two...Certainly Sam's criticism may make one or both either step up or more likely to want to ship out. Doncaster anyone?

Frankly, I hope it's the latter. Roll on January.

Paul

Derby 2 - 1 West Ham: A Lack of Quality and Depth

2011-12-31T14:12:00.000-08:00

Firstly, I have to admit that I haven't yet seen the game, but I have listened to the commentary in the car and read copious reports. I usually find a way to watch live, but New Year's plans put paid to that I'm afraid. And now I'm not sure I'm looking forward to watching this one when I get the time: who likes watching matches where your team concedes two goals within the first few minutes and then struggle to convert their apparently long spells of dominance into goals? And you can't blame Sam: he started with five strikers on the bench and no reserve goal keeper today. It's clear that he wanted goals and lots of them; it's clear that also knows none of our goal scorers are in Lambert-like form right now, and he has to find one who is going to start to light up the league.

It was always going to be a hard game. Clough had the luxury of naming an unchanged side from their recent win over Leeds. Pride park has become a fortress of late, and Derby are on the bubble riding a wave of confidence. That can't be said of West Ham who have now only won one game in their last five.

And we can try to blame it on injuries and suspensions, but these are excuses that wear a little thin: yes, we lost today because of a lack of depth in the squad; yes, there was a lack of quality at times, but, frankly, the real reason we lost again was because of a distinct lack of accuracy up front. And if you want automatic promotion, then you need two teams of eleven that can beat anyone on their day by scoring goals! It's very simple. And we don't yet have that.

While Reid, O'Neil and Baldock all made appearances, it was because of our lack of depth that we had to rush these players back so fast. They may be fit, but they're not match ready yet: we're simply not going to see the best of them for three or four weeks. Reid, by all accounts, was fairly plodding. Potts is a wonderful talent, but for a 17 year old to be starting for the first team is an indication of our predicament. A lack of experience and confidence led to the first goal from a throw in. The second was a classy effort by the sounds of it. Nouble did himself proud and damn near added to his late first half goal in the second half, after having two chances in the first. I suppose Sam's logic on starting with Nouble was to rest Carlton for Monday's game at home to a resurgent Coventry.

It's bad enough when you go down by two goals early, but to squander the number of chances we had in what has been described as a fairly dominant second half for the Hammers, is indicative of our problem of late: we're not scoring enough goals. Noble, Diop and Piquionne all missed sitters in the first half. Sam was quite outspoken yesterday in his clear criticism of both Piquionne and Carew, as have many readers of this blog. And he's right: neither of them inspire confidence in me when they come, or, worse, start. And while Piquionne did feed Nouble for his goal, he also missed a sitter!

While Southampton's loss at home takes the edge of this loss, Cardiff and Middlesboro are piling on the pressure. Cardiff in particular look damn near infallible. With a move to third, and the pack fast catching, the two Davids are going to have to open their wallets...

It's fitting that this disastrous relegation year - 2011 - should contain the both scoreline digits of today's last result of the year and our Premier League finishing position of last season. Let's hope that by the time I'm clinking my glass and heralding in a hopefully better 2012 tonight, that the bubbles in my glass aren't the only ones going up in the new year.

Paul

The Robins Do Us A Favour - Again

2011-12-30T15:30:00.000-08:00

After a 25 game unbeaten record at home, Southampton finally lost this evening to Bristol City. This should give the Hammers some motivation tomorrow, not they need it.

Let's hope for Peterborough to put one over Middlesboro tomorrow...Or is that too much to hope for? :-)

Paul

Preview: Derby County Vs West Ham Depleted

2011-12-30T08:47:00.000-08:00

Clough's Rams: A tougher proposition at home...

Tomorrow is a big day for West Ham. It's a pressure day. Southampton will likely go 6 points clear tonight as they play Bristol City at St. Mary's, where they haven't lost all season. It's the battle of the "Boro's as Middlesboro have a relatively easy home game to 13th placed Peterborough. I expect both the Saints and 'Boro to win this weekend, which means it's quite possible West Ham will slip to third and out of the automatic promotion spots. And Derby will be looking to avenge the 3-1 defeat they suffered only 4 weeks ago at Upton Park.

This isn't a crisis though. While West Ham's form has stuttered over the past four games with two losses, a win and a draw, given the injuries the club have had, all is not lost. Three points tomorrow will be a big ask for the Hammers with four out on suspension and five or six out injured, key players all of them.

But what of Derby? Well their home form of late has been impressive, with two wins against substantial opposition. They beat Bristol City and kept a clean sheet while they disposed of Leeds last weekend. Against Leeds, Derby were the better side. It was an open game, which either side could have pinched, but Derby played the better football, created more genuine openings and ultimately, deserved to win. Jamie Ward was Derby's most potent attacking threat, and it was his left-foot finish subsequent to a right foot rebound that somehow made it in from an impossible angle.

In defence against Leeds, it was Shaun Barker who made several crucial interceptions, despite the pronounced "limp" he plays with week in and out at the back. In fact, Barker's last poor game was against West Ham a month ago where he couldn't handle a rampant Carlton Cole. For that reason, Sam will likely be starting Cole up front tomorrow. Between them, the two Derby centre backs seem able to cover most attacks; although neither is blessed with tremendous pace, they are experienced and aware and position themselves correctly every time: Derby have only conceded four goals in the last five games.

Ward on the left side of midfield is a dangerman. He is creative in the way Taylor can be at his best, and he scores. But what of Derby's weaknesses? The right side of midfield is an area to worry about for them, with only Ben Davies a natural in that area; however, he has to be very careful tomorrow as he (together with midfielder Craig Bryson) go into the final game of 2011 on four yellow cards. They will escape a suspension if they can avoid collecting another because the cut-off point for five bookings is this game.

As far as injuries go, Derby are not too bad with Nigel Clough hoping to be able to name the same starting 11 that beat Leeds on Boxing Day. One man certain not to feature, however, is young defender Mark O'Brien, who is out for the season with anterior cruciate ligament damage sustained in training. Jeff Hendrick and Steven Davies have had recent layoffs. 5 goal striker Steve Davies thought, was on the bench for the Leeds game as was 7 goal dangerman Theo Robinson. And both could make an appearance tomorrow.

West Ham's biggest miss tomorrow is their captain. Only fools would doubt how important this man's strength, leadership and desire to win has been to West Ham's success this season. He wasn't brought into the team for his ability, though his six goals (2nd highest club scorer behind 8 goal Cole) certainly indicate how good he is; he was brought into the team to galvanize team spirit and to organize the players on the field. His indomitable spirit and constant in-your-face leadership will be sorely missed tomorrow. No doubt Noble will be named captain against the Rams, and while he has a lot going for him, natural leadership ability isn't one of them. Of course with Abdoulaye Faye (thigh), Winston Reid (shoulder), Guy Demel (thigh), Matt Taylor (calf), David Bentley (knee) and Sam Baldock (hamstring) all either out or doubtful, and Kevin Nolan, winger Julien Faubert, defender George McCartney and Jack Collison all serving suspensions, the team is looking very thin.

What to do? While David Gold tweeted a day or so that both Baldock and Taylor would be fit for the Rams game, it seems their has been some back-peddling on that front since. The official website (Pravda as I call it), is now saying that while Baldock, Reid, Lansbury and O'Neil are all "back in contention", Taylor, Faye, and Demel are not available.

O'Neil has played a few 'reserve' team games behind closed doors. But while Baldock and Reid are "fit", they are not match fit: they haven't played a game in 5 weeks. To start them is to risk them and this would be unwise. Sam has resisted this, unlike Grant last season, and it's likely they won't start, but will warm the bench.

There is no place in my team for the underwhelming Piquionne: frankly it's time for him to go.

Green

O'Brien-Tomkins-Diop-Potts

Montenegro-O'Neil-Noble-Lansbury

Sears-Cole

Subs: Stech, Reid, Taylor, Baldock, Carew.

I'd like to see Montenegro, but I doubt it: for some reason, and there must be one, he never seems to make the cut. As for Sears: it's now or never. A small man off a big. Give it a go.

O'Niel has to play Nolan's role, and Noble needs to be reticent of the fact that there is no Diop as a DM

Prediction: this will be a hard match, and Derby will see this as a golden opportunity to get three points over a big club with serious absentees. I expect a tight game. My head says 1-2 to Derby, but I'd settle for getting through this game with a point with no more injuries and a lot of returnees for Monday's game against Coventry. However, this is also an opportunity for some players to step up and perform. Lansbury, Montenegro, Sears, O'Neil: I'm talking to you.

COYI's!!

Zamora, Maynard and Rhodes: Nostalgia or Statistics?

2011-12-29T09:41:00.000-08:00

Zamora, Maynard, Rhodes or...Nostalgia, Damned Speculation, and Statistics.

As we all know, January is almost upon us, and that means the papers will soon be full of rampant speculation regarding the potential ins and outs of clubs up and down the land. David Gold has confirmed that West Ham have a list of 25 potential 'targets' that they are chasing to fill two or three spots: a striker, a wide man and a couple of defenders.

As far as strikers are concerned, Sam Allardyce today confirmed that West Ham have made enquiries about Huddersfield Town's 21 year old Scottish striker Jordan Rhodes; however, most sources indicated that initial offers have been firmly rebuffed by the Yorkshire club. Nicky Maynard has rebuffed a new contract at Bristol City, and is a free-agent come season's end; consequently, he has been placed on the transfer list by the Robins and will certainly be sold in January. Bobby Zamora too, is rumoured to walking away from Jol's Fulham in January if he can land a London team.

These three players all have their proponents. I have mentioned Maynard on many occasions, but, up until today, Rhodes had never crossed my radar, and Zamora, as an ex-West Ham player, is, of course, familiar to most West Ham fans.

It's important to weigh up the relative merits of all three players carefully before springing the hard earned cash for them. Zamora is the nostalgic choice of many: his prior history at the club makes him a natural favourite. Who can forget his promotion winning goal in Cardiff against Preston? We all know he is a life-long Hammer fan and bleeds claret and blue. He is a fan favourite in the way Noble and Tomkins currently are. He has certainly made a name for himself at Fulham, and, up until his recent injury, was touted by many as the answer to England's problems up front.

But, and this is difficult for many of us to do, removing the nostalgic glasses for a moment, we have to remember that this isn't about re-uniting an ex-Hammer with his former club. This is about strengthening the promotional prospects of a currently injury-ravaged club by bringing in a fit striker that can have an immediate impact up front for the team.

Baldock has been a revelation when he's played, but as the only true poacher in the squad, a lot is riding on his (small) shoulders. His recent injury has had to mean that we have had to rely on big front men, one of which is older and both of which are frequently nursing a knock. We don't need another big man up front, we need a Baldock backup or alternative, one who can play off of Cole or Carew and nick a goal every match or two. And we need that man to be fit.

Zamora doesn't fit this bill. He will turn 31 in January; he has just got over a major injury and his form of late has been spotty. Statistics can be misleading, but, taken in context, they are an indicator of potential form. Zamora started 130 times during his tenure at the Hammers - some of that in the Championship, netting 30 goals. At Fulham he has started 88 times, scoring 18 goals during that time. These aren't spectacular averages: that is an average of one goal every 4.5 games. Of course, this average would plummet if we included games he didn't start because of injury: which has been a frequent occurrence during his career.

So is Zamora the answer? The answer has to be "Unlikely".

If we look at the leading league goal-scorers in the Championship as it stands right now (courtesy of the BBC Football Website), you will notice Nicky Maynard doesn't appear in the top 15.

However, does this mean that he should be overlooked. Ostensibly - yes! But, as I said, stats can be misleading. Lambert on 15 goals is surrounded by quality players who are able to give him the service he needs. Southampton's Guly also benefits from this. Nicky Maynard does not have the same sort of quality around him: his team lies in 21st place in the league with a -9 goal average, but they have scored 21 goals, of which Maynard has scored a third of them (7 for you Maths challenged out there :-). Nicky Maynard is also young, and his fitness record is very good. Surround him with a better team, with better service and I suggest his goal average would improve markedly.

Then there's League One's fifth-placed promotion-chasing Huddersfield Town's Jordan Rhodes. He's also young, and his fitness record is excellent. He's not playing for one of the top three teams in that league either, but despite this, if we look at his statistics, they are truly mind-blowing: he has scored 18 league goals in 19 league appearances this season. I won't insult you with how many goals that is a game on average, except to say that currently it's better than almost anyone else in any league in the country. Over his entire career, his average is one goal per two games for five different teams. However, this has to be tempered with the fact that most of his career to date has been rooted in league one, with a spell at Ipswich in the Championship. Nevertheless, I'm sure you'll agree, it's sobering stuff. Yes Huddersfield have stoically warned the Hammers off, but everything has a price, and the rumour is 4.5 million. Too much for unproven Championship aspirations? Perhaps. But, by all accounts, Baldock is looking well worth his money.

But why stop at a new striker? While we certainly need a couple of defenders, we also need a wide man - an attacking creative midfielder - now that we have lost Bentley for the season. I would suggest a fabulous short-term solution, at least for this season, is Ipswich Town's Keith Andrews. Yes he's 30. But he has scored 9 goals from 20 games, and is not a happy camper under Paul Jewel at dysfunctional Ipswich. I would suggest he could be had for a song and would add depth and cover for Lansbury and Taylor.

Nostalgia and speculation versus statistics? I'll go with stats every time. They're not perfect, but they certainly tell a story. Let's hope for some early action in January.

Paul

Some Good News For Hammers Among the Injury Suspension Misery

2011-12-28T08:24:00.000-08:00

David Gold Tweeted this a while ago. I though we could all do with a pick me up:

"Baldock back for Derby hopefully Matt as well.."

That is good news considering the list of injured and suspended:

Suspended: Mccartney, Nolan, Collison and Faubert.

Injured: Demel, Bentley, Reid.

Regaining Fitness: Carew, O'Niel, Faye, Taylor, Baldock

Paul

Birmingham City 1 - 1 West Ham United: A Tactical Tie

2011-12-26T13:04:00.000-08:00

As if to prove me wrong about starting him, Carlton Cole netted for the Hammers on four minutes, right after Nolan had failed to connect with a beautiful Faubert cross. Cole's goal was a product of poor Birmingham defending, with Ibanez, in particular, at the centre of most of their dreadful early defending. After Cole's goal, and for the next thirty minutes, while the Hammers played 4-3-3, West Ham were rampant, with Birmingham chasing shadows. Faubert, playing in an advanced role today, should have slotted one home after a deliciously Brookingesque cross by young Danny Potts somehow evaded both him and Cole, and, more importantly, a gaping goal-mouth.

In the first half, Birmingham looked like West Ham did for much of last season: they seemed to have no strategy, and the two centre backs were at sixes and sevens, failing to lead or communicate - rather like Upson's pathetic attempts last season to marshal his back four. As if to illustrate this, it was Faubert was robbed later in the half by Danny Murphy's deliberate handball. Murphy's arm was all that stopped Faubert's header and West Ham doubling their lead. Had Faubert scored, then this would perhaps have been 3 points in the bag. But St Andrews hasn't conceded three points this season, and I'm sure a vocal Allardcye sensed this as West Ham started to sit back a little deeper as the half wore on, a la 451. Brum, to their credit worked their way into the game for the last fifteen minutes of the half, pulling a couple of good saves from set pieces and Green in particular, but it was Cole who was robbed by an excellent reaction save by Myhill in the dying seconds of the half. Again had this goal stood, what a different game the second half would have been.

But the one goal lead wasn't enough to see the Hammers through to the end. Again, early in the second half, West Ham were robbed by former Hammer Jonathan's Spector's clear shoulder and bicep control in the box. But witin five minutes of the re-start, Birmingham were starting to get a toe-hold and Sam tried to counter this by taking off a lethargic Piquionne and replacing him with Lansbury - who doesn't quite look his old perky form either since signing his Arsenal contract. Carew was on for Cole later and Sears was on for Faubert. But despite these, ironically, it was handball merchant Murphy who netted the equalizer from a set piece.

There were a few things to notice today. One was while we were 433, Birmingham couldn't handle us. With the full back's movement, Faubert and Nolan feeding Cole, we looked like we'd go on and butcher Birmingham. Our defence, too, looked strong, despite the makeshift lineup of McCartney playing a CB role and Potts on the left. As a defensive midfielder, Diop was huge (excuse the pun), cutting out balls and refusing to allow anyone past without a tackle,. The players in blue hesitated more than once when they saw the "Fridge" in their way.

Piquionne has got to go: he's not committed in the tackle, not willing to run back, has no confidence on goal and contributes nothing mentally to the team. His unusually early substitution in the second half despite our lead, speaks volumes.

Noble had an ineffectual game; yes he ran, but his set plays were fairly banal and his overall impact in the game was low. We are really missing Taylor's creativity and, most of all, his very dangerous set-piece deliveries. Our away form is dependent on set piece success, and today we had none. Nolan was typically big, using his character and bull-charm to impact those around him, but his totally deserved second yellow for a foul on Zigic will see him rested for a game now. And while Nolan is unable to keep to the pace up for a full 90 minutes, this rest may actually do him some good, as he has played every game this season so far. Some will criticize him for his reckless foul on Zigic, but I could see what he was trying: it was a message. Zigic came on several times for Birmingham last season against us and he was always effective and dangerous. And his impact today was instant too; Tomkins couldn't handle his aerial threat in the box. Nolan had to warn Zigic that he was going to be a very bruised boy if he got too close the goal and attempted to use his head to "Carew" a goal in from a cross. He made his point and took one for the team; you could see it on his face: his smile but concern was readily evident. Noble, though, was the silly boy, and by running 20 yard over to admonish the referee for legitimately booking McCartney for time-wasting, earned himself a needless yellow. Faubert too, perhaps a little frustrated at his missed chances, gained a needless yellow.

Potts didn't put a foot wrong and, again, played with skill, speed, vision (how big is that in a 17 year old?) and guile. Apart from his first cross of each half - let's call it nerves, his crosses were aesthetically things of beauty, coming out of nothing and curling gracefully into exactly where they need to be. All we need now is Baldock!

Boro have snuck up, although their goal difference does tell a story. Given their positions, West Ham should have done better on the day, but it was always going to be a hard sell to win there. It is ironic though, that the Brum fans were chanting "who is the cockney in black?", given that he failed to award two dead-cert penalties to the cockneys...

It isn't going to get easier though. With Nolan, McCartney and Faubert out of the squad for Saturday's visit to Pride Park because of suspensions, and Taylor, Baldock, Reid, Faye to name a few all unable to make the trip, Alladyce is facing a New Year's eve crisis.

Perhaps now it's time for Montenegro?

Paul

Preview: Birmingham Host The Hammers

2011-12-25T08:08:00.001-08:00

West Ham travel to St Andrews tomorrow, and while my journey back from the Dominican Republic today will undoubtedly be much longer, I'd wager that my trip will be easier. And, yes, that's why I've been somewhat negligent in my posting since the last match; however, I've faithfully worn every Hammers shirt I own during my time here - flying the flag and spreading the word as it were. Alas baseball is the national preoccupation here, with the only other football shirt seen fluttering in the wake of a ridiculously encumbered Suzuki 100cc motorbike betwixt a dog, a flagon of water and a child holding a nativity scene. It was a Barcelona shirt, but I digress.

Birmingham haven't lost at home this season; the Blues also boast the best home defensive record, conceding only four goals at St Andrews although it's been nine league games since they last kept a clean sheet (against Brighton and Hove Albion at home). As far as injuries go, the two team's fortunes are even further apart than their relative league positions suggest. West Ham are missing a host of significant players (Taylor, Baldock, Bentley, Collison, Reid, ) with Faye and Carew both extremely doubtful for this one and O'Brien and Faubert possible returnees. Birmingham have no real injury problems with key man Ridgewell and Beausejour having returned to training after picking up knocks; although Liam will have his work cut out ousting the impressive David Murphy from his left back berth. Curtis Davies is suspended for this fixture after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season against Crystal Palace meaning Spaniard Pablo Ibanez should slot in in central defence as cover.

If Sam had his druthers, then no doubt he'd go for a 451 starting Cole and looking for a narrow 1-0 victory. And I'd welcome that, but I'm not that optimistic I'm afraid.

For starters, since the pressure from Baldock and Carew has dried up, so has Cole's streak. Starting him doesn't seem to pay unless there are options on the bench. Cole is a great impact sub, and can change games. But starting him allows the opposition the ability to plan to isolate him, while refs often take against his physicality, and this seems to "mark" him out for the rest of the game.

I also recently read on another blog that some don't feel there's space for a creative player like Montenegro in the midfield; I disagree. If young Danny Potts showed us anything it's that experimentation can, in some circumstances, allow the team to evolve. Moving McCartney to the CB birth to coned for Faye was a positive move. I'd like to see Faye back, but that's extremely unlikely, so, given Potts's performance, more of the same please. With Lansbury, Nolan and doubtful Faubert all one yellow away from one-game suspensions, this is the perfect time for Montenegro to start.

GREEN
O'BRIEN-TOMPKINS-MCCARTNEY-POTTS
DIOP
MONTENEGRO-NOBLE-LANSBURY
NOLAN
COLE

SUBS: Stech, Faubert, Mocur, Sears, Carew

I'll finish the way I started: Birmingham haven't lost at home this season; and I don't expect them to tomorrow. As long as West Ham aren't Hammered on Boxing Day, then I'd be happy with a draw.

COYI!

Paul

Sent from Miphone

West Ham 1 - 0 Barnsley: Industrial Christmas Cheer at the Boleyn

2011-12-17T09:10:00.000-08:00

17 Year Old Danny Potts: My Man of the Match

The potential banana skin was averted with a solid West Ham peformance. Diop's solid header on 6 minutes was a tonic: our forwards never really looked like cracking Luke Steele today, although they had several good chances. The official man of the match was Kevin Nolan; however, under 18 academy prospect Danny Potts was, for me, undoubtedly the star performer today. He came in at short notice for Faye and the back four had to be shuffled with Potts taking McCartney's place in the left back slot, and McCartney moving into Faye's tradional spot. And the debutant had a fabulous match with bursting runs, strong tackles and energy to spare: he will be one tired chappy tonight!

Barnsley came to the ground for a draw; they kept 5 men back at all times, made nothing except for a breif period where they had several corners in a row. West Ham did more than enough to derserve this victory. The scoreline should have been two or three to nil, the Hammers having missed a couple of sitters. It was an industrial peformance by the team, and just what we needed.

With 'Boro going to Cardiff and getting a result, they have moved into third place, 2 points behind West Ham. West Ham are currently tied on points with Southampton, and only if the Saints lose by 4 or more goals later will we go top. Fat chance :-). However, we can all sigh a breath of relief until boxing day's travels to Birmingham City, where we can pray for some recovery from the injuries we're carrying.

Given our circumstances right now, keeping a clean sheet against the Tykes is a very good statistic!

COYI's!

Allardyce Sent To The Stands

2011-12-17T08:47:00.000-08:00

Sears upended in the penalty box. No penalty. Allardyce furious. Sent to the Stands. Walking right behing the dugout. What a laugh! He's actually got a better view now than he had before. Allardyce asked to move. Climbs a wall and stands among the fans :-) He's now being asked to move again!

Noble is giving Piquionne an earful for his lacklustre performance. Davies finally gets a yellow card for a foul on Diop.

Potts Is Making A Place For Himself

2011-12-17T08:35:00.000-08:00

17 year old Danny Potts is certainly making a fabulous case for a regular first team appearance.

15 minutes to go. The game has got scrappy. We need another goal to seal this one. We don't need any nasty late surprises.

Steele Saves from Sears

2011-12-17T08:31:00.001-08:00

Should have been a goal.

Faubert Off; Lansbury ON

2011-12-17T08:29:00.000-08:00

We are the walking wounded right now, but Lansbury is on. Crowd is pleased. But Lansbury is playing right back...Whynot bring on Faye for Faubert and Lansbury for Piquionne. Hopefully, Sam has a plan. Reshuffle - Diop into RB?

Piquionne: Why?

2011-12-17T08:26:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure why Piquionne is playing. I would have taken him off for Sears rather than removing Carew. Again Piquionne is looking disappointing and far too "casual". Faubert has tweaked a hamstring. Let's see Montenegro.

Davies Looks Good

2011-12-17T08:21:00.000-08:00

Davies has turned both Tomkins and McCartney. He is dangerous! Barnsley have a free kick. A silly foul. Dangerous. Goes over the bar.

West Ham 1 - 0 Barnsley

2011-12-17T08:19:00.000-08:00

57 Minutes: Sears has come on for Carew. Still a 433 for West Ham. West Ham good value for the lead. Crowd urging on for another goal. Danny Potts, the academy youngster, is having a cracking game in defence. Faye is on the bench.

Live Audio Coverage West Ham v Barnsley

2011-12-17T08:16:00.000-08:00

http://www.sportz-for-free.org/channel2.html

Sears on for Carew

West Ham Tangle with the Tykes

2011-12-16T16:25:00.000-08:00

Spectemur Agendo is a Latin motto meaning Let us be judged by our acts.

Trying to judge Barnsley by their acts, is rather like trying to jam a chopstick into a jellied eel: near impossible (take it from me). Until last weekend, the Tykes were on an impressive five-game winning streak, but Barnsley made a right pig's ear of Saturday's match at home to Paul Jewel's woeful Ipswich. After being 2-0 up at half time, the South Yorkshire team somehow contrived to let five goals in with only a single token goal in answer.

But to write the Tykes off would be condesending in the extreme; it would also be stupid in the same way that it was against Burnley. The Reds, an original name if ever I've heard one, have played some very attractive football this season. And while many of us may imagine the Tykes to be comprised of nobbly-kneed, blunt-speaking Yorkshiremen who like to run through the mud hacking at outstretched legs and dark-brown cowhide covered ball-bearings in equal measure, the truth is the team frequently play with a continental style 4-2-3-1 formation; they score a bucketload of goals - usually in the first half, and, while shipping goals, still manage to win. In fact, despite acquiring loanee Nile Ranger from Newcastle, Keith Hill will find it hard to justify dropping Ricardo Vaz Te and Craig Davies up front for Barnsley, as they have shared nine (9!) goals in the last four matches.

But they'd have to, because Barnsley do find it difficult to keep a clean sheet, and that has nothing to do with their goalkeeper, Luke Steele, who they have to thank for their recent victory over Leeds United at Elland Road. His stunning save from Leed's United's Ramon Nunez right at the death a few weeks ago was typical of the Barnsley mentality. But the fact remains, Barnsley have only kept 1 clean sheet in the last 5 and have conceded an average of 2 goals a game.

The seven game thriller at Posh is another example of how unpredictable this side are. Posh score an average of over 3 goals per match; but even that wasn't enough to deter Barnsley, who were three-nil up by 55 minutes. But Posh, true to form scored three in return before Barnsley's Craig Davies scored a fantastic winner 10 minutes from time making it 6 goals in 6 games for Barnsley’s number 9 – an unbelievable scoring run.

So, if forwards Davies and Vaz are a concern for us, then any hope we have of winning must rest with their defence, and our "attack". And when I say "attack", I'm not talking about Piquionne. In a strange twist that many West Ham fans might find ironic, many Barnsley fans are accusing their defenders of playing over-glamorous football and not being pragmatic enough. The Captain, in particular, is coming in for some stick. His performances in spells throughout recent games has fans accusing him of "overplaying" and "fancyfoot work" and letting teams back into matches by wrecklessly losing possession in his own penalty area by trying to dribble it out. Very un-northern! Sam, are you listening?

But what of West Ham? Yes, as mentioned yesterday we have lots of injuries: Baldock, Taylor, Demel, Reid, O'Neil, Bentley and of course O'Brian and Collison will be gardening. Lansbury is expected to make the squad, and there are rumblings about some juniors making it in. Of course the various injuries do mean that Faubert will be relegated to right back, which, if we're honest, isn't ideal. But excuses aside, and a rejigged formation, there's no reason why we can't get something tomorrow. According to Pravda, Dan Potts, Olly Lee, George Moncur, and, at last, Brian Montenegro may make the bench tomorrow. Where's Jordan Spence??

Green

Faubert-Tomkins-Faye-McCartney

Diop

Noble-Nolan-Lansbury

Carew - Cole

Subs: Stech, Lee, Mocur, Sears, Montenegro

I expect we'll play some industrial stuff tomorrow to stop their front two and to preserve our energy levels, given the fixture list, injury list and substitutes available. I'm going for a 1-0 win which will suit me fine. If we can keep a clean sheet against Barnsley, then we've done a very good job! Time to get things back on track.

Paul

Feliz Navidad? West Ham's Watershed

2011-12-15T20:17:00.000-08:00

This season-long loanee hasn't played a minute of first team league football, yet...

While there are many out there clinging to the January transfer window as the catalyst to springboard the club into top-spot in the division, cementing the automatic promotion chance, I am skeptical. The January transfer window is notoriously hit and miss: if a player is performing well, physically fit, and mentally strong, then he's not likely to be for sale. If a player isn't regularly making the vending club's first team, has fitness issues, character flaws, or is out of contract, then why buy him?

And while we possibly need some coverage in defence and perhaps another striker, frankly, if we don't already have the players and depth in our squad, then it's hardly likely to be substantially boosted by the January transfer window. Many of the targets we are hearing about are unlikely to substantially impact our chances of promotion: a 30 year old Japanese player who has no experience outside of the J-League; an injury-prone ex-Hammer who, while at the club last time, ran as hot and cold as our present strikers do; a current Championship striker who, at 19 and with only 2 league goals so far this season, likely does not have the ability to play 46 games for 90 minutes or the experience to justify a 5 million pound price tag...and the list goes on.

Forget it.

West Ham are riddled with injuries, yes, but Sam has built a physical squad that he can fall back on for just this type of problem. Diop, Faye and Nolan are battlers and, while they may not be the most mobile of players, they are hard to push off the ball, have season long stamina, bags of experience and a determination to win. And while the injury list couldn't be any worse, with nearly a full first team team out, we do have the depth to turn out two first teams in most areas. Arguably, Lansbury, Demel, Baldock, Reid, O'Neil, Carew, Taylor and Bentley would make a mid-table team in the Premier League, but right now they're in the treatment room, and Collison and O'Brien should be use their gardening leave to work on certain aspects of their game: mental toughness being one of them. Collison has three weeks: perhaps he could work on improving his game to the level it was before he was injured?

So it's going to be industrial football at the Boleyn for the next little while: and that's likely what we need as the fixtures come up thick and fast for the club. Of the remaining players you can still make a substantial team: Green, Tomkins, Faye, Diop, Faubert, McCartney, Nolan, Noble, Sears, Carew and Cole are all good enough to beat any player in this league on most days. And while any team in this team can beat any other team on their day, the law of averages says we have the depth to prevail most times.

But, perhaps rather than rely on the transfer window, this is a time for some young blood? I really want to see young defender Jordan Spence and striker Brian Montenegro on the bench for this weekend's game. Sam seems to have been reluctant to blood these players into the first team, but if there was ever a time when necessity and opportunity could develop into something productive for us, it seems to me that this could be it. A little youth and vitality is what we need right now: and both these players have done really well of late. Spence should be recalled from Bristol City post-haste, and Montenegro moved up from the development squad to the bench.

Barnsley this weekend will be no cake walk, but it would be an excellent debut for those two young players to strut their stuff for the last 25 minutes or so. Let's hope they get the opportunity.

Paul

A Right Royal Bollocking

2011-12-13T18:23:00.000-08:00

It's taken me a few days to be able to sit down and type. It wasn't anger. It wasn't even shock; it was the crushing disappointment in the players. It wasn't shock because as I said, last time out, football is a funny old game: just ask a United fan (chuckle), a City fan, a Chelsea fan, and old Brittania'd Bagpuss himself. The media are constantly having to remove appendages from their mouths because of the unexpected nature of the game - their early season crucifixion of Arsene Wenger is a case in point.

But back to West Ham. Last weekend's match at the Madejski Stadium was a scrappy match with both sides looking fairly unconvincing and a-clinical in the opening half. While going down by three goals is highly unusual for us this season, it's more the nature of the loss that was disappointing. And while all was level before O'Brien's deserved sending off, one minute later we conceded a soft - nay, sloppy - set piece goal. In fact, that first goal came from the subsequent free-kick given for O'Brien's offence, and Harte's delivery was not cleared properly, and ex-Hammer McAnuff slipped the ball into Pearce's path and the centre-back side-footed home. As I said: sloppy.

Down to ten men, one goal down, I still believed that we had enough to tie this up. Given our form - our away form in particular - West Ham have learned to never say die, and often a goal catalyses them into affirmative action...

But not last Saturday. Instead we got another ill-disciplined piece of defending when Reading crossed and had an easy knock in past Green. Then, with Kebe stopping while in possession to pull his socks up, Collison saw red and raked him. Red card number two. And, again, from the resulting free kick, the Royals rippled the net.

It was as an ill-disciplined performance as I have seen all season. Frankly, while meaning (almost) no disrespect to Reading, West Ham lost the game. This is something we, as fans, haven't seen for half a season, and it brought last season's - and the season before's - debacle back into clear perspective. On the flip side, in a perverse manner, it does show us how far we have come. But to lose a match by such a margin, and worse, in such a fashion is not in keeping with aspirations of automatic promotion. Cardiff are a real threat! Southampton are too, but it's Cardiff I'm worried about.

The players, as Nolan eulogized, have only themselves to blame. Yes the team have injuries, but to point the finger at that is to say our squad isn't deep enough for automatic promotion. And I don't believe that. While there are some areas we can bolster, essentially I believe we have to make to with what we've got. I don't believe we've shifted into top gear with our current squad; there's more potential there.

Collison and O'Brien hopefully got a Royal Bollocking from Sam: but I like the way it's private and that neither of the owners are blagging about it publicly. It shows a discipline that perhaps the players were lacking last Saturday. It shows that they have come a long way since last season.

Demel is a concern, in the same way Dyer was. Let's hope I'm mistaken. Taylor limping off was worse. Lansbury, Baldock and Reid are a big miss, but, like I said before, we've got what we've got, so let's not make excuses: let's get stuck in.

A win against Barnsley is not an option, and neither is self-destruction. And I'm sure the pulsing vein on Sam's temple will have reminded the players of that after last weekend.

Paul

@ Reading: Are you a Pensioner or a Royal?

2011-12-09T22:34:00.000-08:00

This is a funny old fixture with a funny old history. In fact, the recent history is extremely dodgy and can be classed as a bookies nightmare with a 6 goal thrashing just after Curbishley took over (where he could be seen clearly on camera telling his number two "F***ing Hell: We're Shit" as the fourth goal went in) to the most recent meeting where West Ham beat the Royals by 3 goals to 0 at the Madejski Stadium in 2007.

Then there's the funny history of the typical pseudo-Reading supporter. They see this as a home derby. But being as they're a Berkshire side and NOT a London side, that's rubbish. So why the heated rivalry, at least on their side? could it be that really, Reading supporters are just Chelsea supporters with a free weekend? Perhaps that's where the venom comes from: the Royals are just Pensioners without an awayday ticket...

Recently the 12 placed Royals have had a mixed bag of results with a home loss to in form Cardiff, followed by an away win at Portman Road, a home win against Posh, followed by their most recent match which was a loss to Blackpool by a goal. The one thing that all these games have in common is that they have conceded goals. And while Brian McDermott's Reading are battling for their fourth win in six games, his sage advice is to not sit back. If I were Brian McDermott, I'd think carefully about that. This season the only teams West Ham have had trouble against are teams that sit back. Cardiff sat back and stung us in the last few minutes at the Boleyn. Bristol City sat back and muffled us. Burnley sat back; we played some fabulous stuff but were mugged. That's one of the reasons why our away record is so impressive: away from home we sit back and let the opposition stretch themselves. We find a way through and we score.

However, we do have several issues right now: Baldock, Taylor, Lansbury, Reid to name a few. Last match I felt that Cole was off the boil. Tomorrow I'd like to see Sam start Carew and bring Cole on later, after the Royals are little fatigued. Cole does his best damage when he is brought on as a fresh impact sub and the referee is not so sensitive to his play. I'd like to see Demel on in place of O'Brien.

Green

Demel-Tomkins-Faye-McCartney

Diop

Faubert-Noble-Collison

Nolan

Cole

Subs: Stech, O'Brien, Sears, Carew, Montenegro

Ordinarily I'd expect a draw at this one, but because of last week's loss at home to Burnley (ouch that's hard to type), I'd be worried if I was a Royal fan.

Paul

West Ham 1 - 2 Burnley: A Golden Opportunity Missed

2011-12-03T09:26:00.000-08:00

A frustrating match that culminated in a hugely disappointing result: the game, while not stellar, was certainly well within West Ham's grasp to win. However, some ineffectual finishing, some uncharacteristically poor defending twinned with the two only good chances Burnley had, left Stanislas the one smiling today. This result is all the more frustrating when one looks at the stats: goal attempts were 15 to 6 in West Ham's favour; Possession was 60-40, and corners were 10-1. Ordinarily Taylor and Tomkins would have got something from those, but it wasn't to be...

West Ham dominated the first half, without much penetration as Burnley endeavoured to frustrate and stifle keeping 9 and 10 men behind the ball and failing to trouble Green. At the other end, Cole found little in the way of penetration, and Baldock was really missed today. He was just the sort of player that would have found a way through. But it wasn't to be. Nolan missed a glorious chance and at half time it was honours even.

Come the second half, it started as it finished, with West Ham piling on the pressure which was duly rewarded six minutes into the second half when Kevin Nolan eyes lit up as Robert Green's long kick was flicked into his path by Cole. With Lee Grant caught off his line, the midfielder lobbed the keeper; it was class. And from then on, all we've seen this season so far indicated that West Ham would disappear over the horizon leaving Burnley for dead, as up until that point they hadn't offered a thing. But within one minute of Taylor's replacement by Piquionne, Burnley were on the score sheet. A ball in from right-hand side from Stanislas of all people, allowed McCann a free header past Green into the net. Vokes came off the bench for Stanislas to head in a 75th minute winner – thumping in fellow substitute Ross Wallace's out swinging corner, after Green tipped Jay Rodriguez's 40-yard shot around the post.

West Ham piled the pressure on again, but Burnley defended for their lives. Both Cole and Collison hit the post in the last ten minutes, but it was too little too late.

Our defence let us down today: both Burnley goals were free headers, one from a set piece. I suppose every defeat has a silver lining, and that is that Southampton lost at Doncaster; so the fortuitously the gap to them remains at two points. Cardiff, only 6 points behind us, host Brum tomorrow, and will almost certainly cut our lead to 3 points.

Hopefully Sam will have something to say to some of his players, as I felt that they weren't up to snuff today; however, I'm not sure why he took Taylor off: that for me changed the complexion of the game. Piquionne looked back to his effortless self.

Paul

Half Time: West Ham 0 - 0 Burnley

2011-12-03T07:51:00.000-08:00

West Ham have dominated the bulk of the play with 60% possession, with Burnley stacking the midfield with nine behind the ball. Nolan missed a beautiful ball in from Carlton Cole, and Joey O'Brien has made some solid runs down the wing with some great crosses. With Green fairly anonymous, Burnley haven't offered much: they're dragging their feet. West Ham will have to find a way through a stubborn and negative Burnley who have come to the Boleyn for a point.

The impetus is with the Hammers to find a way through. I'm sure they will. Baldock would be a big plus if he was fit: he's just the sort of player that would find his way through.

Burnley Come To The Boleyn

2011-12-01T21:14:00.000-08:00

Let's hope the Clarets are corked...

Football is an appealing game for many reasons, but perhaps one of it's most appealing aspects is its capacity to flip reality on its head. For West Ham, historically a very capricious club renowned for its unpredictability, fans will be hoping that this weekend's game will be as steady and as predictable as the last match was.

Burnley though, have to hope that more unpredictability will come their way. It's the sort of unpredictability that they found at the KC last Saturday. At their away fixture against Hull, they found themselves two goals down with scant minutes to go. Burnley had put in their familiar defensive shambles of a performance and were staring down the barrel of a fifth successive league defeat and a place in the drop zone. But for the last 10 minutes, at least, this did not look like a side accepting relegation as their fate.

But while their 3 goal comeback was inspirational and incredible, it was also unlikely and freakish. However, it seemed to spur them on for Paul Jewel's Ipswich side midweek, where they creamed the Tractor Boys 4 goals to nil. So from a side that was staring relegation in the face, they seem to have developed some confidence. One blogger has previewed this match with a 4-1 match result prediction: that one-eyed view sells the Clarets somewhat short and refuses to take into account their resilience, determination and team spirit.

West Ham of course have a special connection with Burnley: two of our most recent and perhaps promising academy prospects decided to up sticks and move there. By all accounts Stanislas is playing regular football and is well liked up at Turf Moor. But Hines is a bench warmer, and it appears it may take him a little longer to break into the starting eleven. But there's no doubt they'll have a point to prove in front of the West Ham fans and the dugout this Saturday. I'm sure they'll both relish the challenge, so for that reason at least, this match shouldn't be taken lightly.

Sam Vokes, Jay Rodriguez and a Chris McCann are the men who did the damage against a woeful Ipswich side who were out shot 24 to 2. Ipswich suffered their sixth straight loss at Turf Moor, and it would be easy to right it off as a capitulation result. But with confidence this side has ability. Where they are weak is at the back. Burnley have let in more ridiculously clumsy goals than anyone else this year. One Burnley blogger noted that rank poor defending has lead to many recent goals...

There was nothing fortuitous about the way Leeds’ Robert Snodgrass took advantage of Brian Easton’s statuesque defending, nothing fortunate in the way Birmingham’s David Murphy was allowed to slalom past Ross Wallace, Kieran Trippier and Andre Amagou to set up the Blues’ late winner and capricious whim did not smile down upon Matty Fryatt as he watched Lee Grant comically flap a hand at his shot to gift-wrap the hosts’ second goal.

So, an attacking formation with a solid holding midfielder. That'll be Diop then.

Green

Demel-Tomkins-Faye-McCartney

Diop

Faubert - Noble - Taylor

Nolan

Cole

Subs: Stech, O'Brien, Collison, Carew, Piquionne

Big Sam has asked for 9 points from 3 games. It's a big ask, but perfectly possible if West Ham play like they did in the second half against Derby and like they did against 'Boro midweek.

COYI's!

Middlesbrough 0 - 2 West Ham United: Squad Rotation in the Championship

2011-11-29T17:47:00.000-08:00

As Allardyce said afterwards,

"Kevin Nolan was talking about it (the unbeaten record) before the game, that we could make a big statement tonight"

Perhaps it was Nolan's pre-match chat to the players that inspired them to come out of the blocks so quickly and knock the stuffing out of Mowbray's side. There was no slow start in evidence tonight at the Riverside, as certainly the "Big Dogs", as Mowbray portrayed the Hammers recently, played like their lives depended on it last night.

With Carew picking up an injury in training on Monday, and Baldock out until Christmas, it was always going to be Cole and Piquionne up front, but what delighted me was that Cole was rotated to the bench after the Derby game. That may sound surprising, given my frequent grumbling about Piquionne's lack of effort and goals in 2011, but Sam has shown again that firstly he believes in rewarding players for results and thereby getting the best out of them (to whit Julien Faubert), and, two, that Cole is an impact player, and does very well when coming of the bench in a 451 formation when he is the lone player at the front. To often we've seen Cole started in a 451 formation and he has become frustrated with the referee's decisions, his isolation, and the heavy man-marking he is often subjected to. Tonight he looked fresh and made an instant impact; he was hungry and motivated. Sam is a man-manager: he knows that while some players thrive on playing every game (Faubert, Nolan etc.), others are best motivated by using them sparingly: you leave some players wanting more, rather than starting them week in and out and being greeted by stale performances.

In fact, Rotation was a big part of Sam's plans tonight and I feel a big part of West Ham's success. We looked fresher, quicker, stronger and slicker all evening. Debutant Demel was great at right back in for O'Brien and he looks the real thing. Diop too started. He was impressive again solid and unflappable as a holding midfielder, and should have scored on sixty minutes but slotted just wide. Nolan had been there for the pass, and was not best pleased! Taylor was on for the slowly recovering Collison too, and looked fresh.

While both halves were dominated by West Ham, the first half was almost total dominance, with Middlesbrough limited to three real chances, of which one was goal-worthy but for an amazing Green save. Piquionne's goal came from a fabulous cross by Mark Noble. To their credit Middlesbrough started the second half strongly as Piquionne faded. So Sam sent Cole on, and the next twenty minutes included some sublime passing moves between Nolan, Noble, Taylor and Cole. It was fabulous stuff, and I think we've really missed the winger's creativity. Cole's impact was immediate, and seemed to release Nolan forward, as Cole was tracking back when need be, unlike the latter part of Piquionne's shift. Taylor's free kick was tipped over by Steele, but it was Cole in injury time who deservedly capitalized on an error by Boro defender and slotted past two defenders on the line to double the lead.

Yes Southampton had us thinking we were top at half time, but Adkins is no fool, and his team are very solid at home, so, as expected they fought back and won against Hull. But, equally, West Ham had the better result tonight: an away win against a team that haven't lost at the Riverside since February's defeat to one of last season's successfully promoted teams by 3 goals (QPR) ; a clean sheet , and a six-point cushion to Cardiff in third place. West Ham can look up now, instead of back; it's much harder to be the chasee and to keep one eye anxiously looking back over your shoulder than the chaser with both eyes firmly focused on denting your halo.

Another fine win by West Ham. Resurgent Burnley becon on the weekend; it won't be an easy match, and the return of Stanislas and Hines will add some spice.

Paul

To the Riverside: Middlesbrough Beckon...

2011-11-28T21:03:00.000-08:00

After our victory on Saturday, or rather despite it, there are those "supporters" who are STILL whinging. Sam set up for a 442 in the first half and it was, admittedly, dire - perhaps that's why he's resisted 442 for so long, despite the armchair pundit's insistent suggestions that this IS the way to play.

No, obviously, it's not.

But plan B in the second half, when Big Sam reverted to his home 433, was glossy stuff. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to predict how these same 'fans' will react when the Hammers actually deign to draw or, heaven-forbid, lose an away match. But I suspect it will be sooner than later, because that is a distinct possibility tonight. Despite all the success, our relative position in the table and our very good second half on Saturday, there are those, it seems, who will always find fault with the marriage of Sam Allardyce and West Ham, and who live in eternal hope that Sam will screw up and the team to flop. And, frequently, they justify their arguments with the hollow "what if" statements. What if Cole hadn't scored on Saturday? What if Derby hadn't faded? Well I've got a few "What if's" of my own: What if Baldock hadn't limped off? What if, instead of saying Derby faltered, we recognize that West Ham simply took the momentum from Derby, grabbed the Ram by the horns and played them off the park? But I fear that would fall on deaf ears; some people like to revel in self pity and indulgent misery, and when things get to rosy, they piss vinegar.

And to say that I find the negative pessimism of some other bloggers on other sites churlish is an understatement, particularly given the plight of our opposition tonight.

I watched Middlesbrough play Watford on the box a while back, and, in terms of football, it was absolutely dire. Even though 'Boro won it, they did not deserve to, but, then again, neither did Watford. In fact, a draw would have been flattery to both sides, who should have been put-down with no words spoken afterwards. I only continued to watch it because it had reduced me to a such a state of torpor that I couldn't muster the energy or the enthusiasm to blink or breath, let alone fumble with the remote to turn the tube off. There was someone on another blog who rather disingenuously talked about slashing his wrists after watching the Derby match last weekend; he also complained about the number of vacant seats at the Boleyn (Attendance was 27,813/35,533). But what is there left to do then for the 'Boro fans at the Watford match who saw a game that made West Ham's first half on Saturday look like the El Classico, and sat in a staggeringly barren Riverside stadium with 14,366 bums on the 34,998 seats. Makes our fellow blogger's diatribe seem like wee bit of an overreaction, no? One does wonder what's left in the self-flagellation arsenal if we actually lose. That I have to see!!

So West Ham head off to Tony Mowbray's Riverside. 'Boro have the most miserly defence in the league (with us). Since that farce against Watford, they've drawn twice: home to Blackpool and away to Peterborough last weekend. I don't expect this to be a thriller; I do expect it to be Boro 451 against a West Ham 451 which counters as a 433. The absence of Baldock puts a lot of pressure on Cole. Cole is on a streak right now, but it appears, in times of yore, that when the weight of expectation moves to his shoulders, he can falter. Cole has been magic of late simply because he has had to fight for his place and that seems to re-invigorate him. Play him as first choice for too long and he fades. I'd start Carew and Collison for this one, and bring on Cole and Taylor later as both precautionary post-injury measure and as a catalyst for some of that Cole hunger.

Green

O'Brien-Tomkins-Faye-McCartney

Diop

Faubert - Noble - Collison

Nolan

Cole

Subs: Stech, Demel, Taylor, Sears, Carew

Southampton host Hull who lost at home to Burnley. I don't expect Southampton to falter; I expect they will react to their loss to the Robins with an assured home win. West Ham may nick this one, but more than likely, a safe away score draw would be my best bet. And that's nothing to be sneered at considering Boro are in 4th.

Fingers Crossed: COYI's!

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Milwal