Daily WHUFC News - 15th September 2013

Southampton match preview
WHUFC.com
All the essential information ahead of Sunday's trip to Southampton
14.09.2013

SOUTHAMPTON v WEST HAM UNITED
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
SUNDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 2013
KICK-OFF: 4PM
REFEREE: ANDRE MARRINER
FULL AUDIO AND TEXT COMMENTARY - WEST HAM TV

Introduction
• West Ham travel to Southampton looking to make amends for a 1-0 home
defeat to Stoke last time out.
• The Hammers travel to St Mary's hoping for their first away win against
the Saints since a 3-2 victory at The Dell back in November 2000.
• Sam Allardyce's team drew 1-1 with Southampton back in April when an Andy
Carroll free-kick earned his side a valuable away point.
• If West Ham avoid defeat it will be two away trips without a loss after a
0-0 draw with Newcastle in the club's first away game of the season.
• Southampton drew their only home league match of the season so far when
they were held 1-1 by Sunderland.
• The Saints are level with West Ham on four points after an opening day win
over West Brom before a defeat away to Norwich last time out.

Team news

West Ham United
• Andy Carroll will miss the game after picking up a foot injury in training
and he will now be asseseed by specialists.
• Joe Cole (hamstring), Stewart Downing (dead leg) and George McCartney
(knee) are also out, while new signing Mladen Petric is short of match
fitness.

Last time out
West Ham United
Saturday 31 August
Barclays Premier League
West Ham United 0-1 Stoke City
West Ham United: Jaaskelainen; Demel, Collins, Reid, O'Brien; Downing
(Morrison 63), Diame (Lee 87), Noble (Collison 84), Nolan, Jarvis; Maiga.
Subs not used: Adrian, Rat, Tomkins, Taylor.

Southampton
Saturday 31 August
Barclays Premier League
Norwich City 1-0 Southampton
Southampton: Boruc; Fox, Lovren, Fonte, Chambers; Schneiderlin (S Davis 72),
Ward-Prowse, Wanyama, Osvaldo (Rodriguez 78), Lallana (Ramirez 62); Lambert.

Subs not used: K Davis, Clyne, Yoshida, Shaw.

Previous meeting
After a goalless first-half Gaston Ramirez put Southampton ahead with a
clinical finish in the 59th minute. Just seven minutes later though and West
Ham were level thanks to a low Andy Carroll free-kick which squirmed under
the wall and in to give the Hammers a good away point.

Saturday 13 April 2013
Barclays Premier League
Southampton 1-1 West Ham United

Southampton: Boruc, Clyne, Yoshida, Hooiveld, Fox, Cork, Lallana (Rodriguez
72), S.Davis, Schneiderlin, Ramirez (Puncheon 78), Lambert
Subs not used: K.Davis, Fonte, Ward-Prowse, Guly, Mayuka.
Goals: Ramirez 59.

West Ham United: Jaaskelainen, Demel, Collins, Tomkins (Pogatetz 64),
O'Brien, O'Neil, Diame, Nolan, Jarvis (Collison 58), Vaz Te (Taylor 85),
Carroll.
Subs not used: Henderson, Potts, C.Cole, Paulista
Goals: Carroll 66.

Background
• West Ham United and Southampton have met 22 times in the Premier League.
The Hammers have won nine meetings, Southampton have come out on top in six
and seven ended all square.
• The Hammers' most-recent league victory away to Southampton was a 3-2
success back in November 2000. On that occasion, Frederic Kanoute, Stuart
Pearce and Trevor Sinclair scored the goals to see the Hammers depart with
the points.
• In the intervening 13 seasons, the Hammers have only visited Southampton
four times, losing two and drawing two. Andy Carroll is the last West Ham
player to score in this fixture, as he netted an equaliser in a 1-1 draw in
April 2013.
• West Ham United have been drawn to meet Southampton three times in the FA
Cup - and have gone on to reach the final twice. The Hammers overcame the
Saints after two replays in 1922/23, when they were beaten by Bolton
Wanderers in the first-ever final at Wembley. In 1974/75, West Ham defeated
Southampton 2-1 at The Dell in the third round.
• The largest crowd to attend a West Ham United versus Southampton fixture
was the 35,000 who were at the Division Two fixture at the Boleyn Ground on
13 November 1948. The match finished in a 1-1 draw.

Last six meetings
(Barclays Premier League unless stated)
13 April 2013 - Southampton 1-1 West Ham United
20 October 2012 - West Ham United 4-1 Southampton
14 February 2012 - West Ham United 1-1 Southampton (Championship)
18 October 2011 - Southampton 1-0 West Ham United (Championship)
5 April 2003 - Southampton 1-1 West Ham United
2 December 2002 - West Ham United 0-1 Southampton
Overall record v Southampton (all competitions) W 37 D 28 L 30

Ten-year records
West Ham United
2012/13 Premier League 10th
2011/12 Championship 3rd (promoted to Premier League via Play-Offs)
2010/11 Premier League 20th (relegated to Championship)
2009/10 Premier League 17th
2008/09 Premier League 9th
2007/08 Premier League 10th
2006/07 Premier League 15th
2005/06 Premier League 9th
2004/05 Championship 6th (promoted to Premier League via Play-Offs)
2003/04 Championship 4th

Southampton
2012/13 Premier League 14th
2011/12 Championship 2nd (promoted to Premier League)
2010/11 League One 2nd (promoted to Championship)
2009/10 League One 7th
2008/09 Championship 23rd (relegated to League One)
2007/08 Championship 20th
2006/07 Championship 6th
2005/06 Championship 12th
2004/05 Premier League 20th (relegated to Championship)
2003/04 Premier League 12th

Old Boys
West Ham:
• West Ham United's all-time leading goalscorer Vic Watson moved to
Southampton after 15 seasons as a Hammer in 1935. Watson would spend the
1935/36 season at The Dell, scoring 14 goals in 36 appearances to finish as
the Saints' leading goalscorer in Division Two before retiring in summer
1936 at the age of 38.
• Among the other players to have played for both clubs are William Adams,
Eyal Berkovic, Wayne Bridge, Henri Camara, Alistair Campbell, Frank
Costello, Christian Dailly, Calum Davenport, Iain Dowie, Bob Fairman, Jack
Foster, Horace Glover, Richard Hall, Jimmy Harris, Fred Harrison, Joe
Kirkup, George Kitchen, Alex McDonald, Walter Pollard, Nigel Quashie, Albert
Roles, Robbie Slater, David Speedie, Vic Watson, Arthur Wilson, Richard
Wright.
Referee
• The man in the middle for Sunday's televised fixture is Andre Marriner.
• Marriner last took charge of a West Ham United game on March 30, as the
Hammers beat West Bromwich Albion 3-1 at the Boleyn Ground.
• Birmingham-born Marriner began refereeing in 1992, progressing through the
Birmingham Amateur Football League and Southern League to become a Football
League assistant referee in 2000.
• He was appointed to the Football League List of Referees in 2003 before
joining the Select Group in 2005. Since then he has also been added to
FIFA's International List in 2009.
• Marriner will be assisted by Scott Ledger and Marc Perry, while Michael
Oliver will be the fourth official.
General Information
• Tickets will be available on the day from Ticket Office 3 which is located
between turnstiles L and M from 1pm. .
• Sunday looks to be predominantly cloudy with a chance of rain around
kick-off.

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U18s draw with Blackburn
WHUFC.com
The Academy side were pegged back in drawing 3-3 with Blackburn Rovers on
Saturday morning
14.09.2013

West Ham United let a two goal lead slip in the 3-3 Barclays U18 Premier
League draw with Blackburn Rovers at Little Heath on Saturday morning. The
hosts were 2-0 up within the opening 13 minutes when striker Jordan Brown
smashed in a left footed shot after Djair Parfitt-Williams back heeled the
ball through the defence, before Parfitt-Williams turned from creator to
scorer to smash home an impressive half volley. Blackburn pulled one back
when Brice Wassi volleyed home expertly from 18 yards, but within 15 minutes
of conceding, West Ham re-established their two goal lead through Kieran
Bywater. The 18-year-old captain scored for the fourth match in succession,
stabbing home from 12 yards after meeting Parfitt-Williams' tricky right
wing cross. The game was turned on its head during the second half however
when Hammers keeper Vit Nemrava dropped a catch to gift a goal to Liam
Langford, before Jordan Preston buried a controversial penalty to level the
score and steal a draw. Both Jerry Amoo and Kyle Knoyle were both close to
the action when the visiting player took a tumble in the penalty area, with
the referee deciding to award the spot kick despite replays showing that the
penalty should not have been given. West Ham U18 manager Steve Potts, who
returned to his role after missing two league matches, was impressed with
West Ham's first half performance, but believed West Ham should have been
more ruthless and put the game to bed before the break. "The worst part
about the draw is that I felt disappointed at half time that the score was
only 3-1," said Potts. "Looking at the way we performed in the first game,
especially at this age level, it comes down to how ruthless you are in front
of goal. "I really think that the game should have been dead and buried
before half time. For all the hard work and effort the lads put into the
first half performance, it almost feels like a defeat now. That's what the
boys have to see and learn from."

Potts was also delighted with the way the team finished off their attacking
moves, agreeing that Djair Parfitt-Williams impressed by playing a big role
in all three of the Hammers' goals. "All three of our goals were excellent
finishes," he added. "We were moving and passing well throughout the first
half and I found myself saying that we could have finished a lot more moves,
that is why I was disappointed that the score was only 3-1. "[Djair] had a
brilliant game. His technical ability is fantastic and he showed it by being
involved in all three goals. I asked him to do a job and role and I think he
did it to the letter. Saturday's disappointing draw will give Potts' side a
lot to think about over the next week, with the Academy manager knowing that
it doesn't take much at this level for teams to punish the smallest of
defensive mistakes. "There were plenty of areas, both positive and negative,
that the boys will sit down and watch back on the DVD during the week and we
will learn from them. "We will take the positives and negatives out of this
game to adapt for our next fixture, but it's just a case that a few small
errors can lead to goals and really punish you at this level."

West Ham travel north to face Sunderland on Saturday morning, with the
opening day victory over Manchester United being the Hammers U18's only win
of the season so far.

West Ham United U18s: Nemrava, Knoyle, Harney, Burke, Mavila, Cullen,
Makasi, Bywater, Amoo, Parfitt-Williams (Nasha), Brown.
Subs not used: Howes, Girdlestone, Onaraise, Bailey.

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Southampton v West Ham United
KUMB.com
Filed: Saturday, 14th September 2013
By: Preview Percy

The Titanic (again)? Fish fingers? Haggis? Mini Kievs? It must be time for
another of Preview Percy's, er, previews. There's also some stuff about the
match in there if you look hard enough. Apparently...

Right where were we?

Next up we hit the M3 for a trip to St Mary's where our hosts will be
Southampton. It's a space telly match which will kick off at 4pm on Sunday.
If you're going by train there doesn't appear to be any engineering works in
the offing so it'll be the "leaves on the line" excuse then.

Southampton start this match pretty much level with us. An opening day win
at West Brom was followed up by a home draw 1-1 with Sunderland and a
pre-break 1-0 defeat up at Norwich. This leaves them with 4 points from
three matches which, for what it's worth at this time of the season, leaves
them in tenth place, two places behind us by virtue of our plus one goal
difference trumping theirs of zero.

They also turned over Barnsley 5-1 at their place in the League Cup.

Here at the Avram Grant Olympic Rest Home For The Bewildered we are stifling
even more yawns than normal. You see Southampton are one of those clubs that
are sort of just there. It's difficult to get worked up about them one way
or another really. To be honest the only reason Pompey have such a bee in
their collective bonnets is probably because Bournemouth is just too far to
go for a ruck. If Southampton had a beach they probably wouldn't bother. The
city's history is littered with tales of people trying to leave the place.
The Mayflower started off there as did the Titanic, whose skipper's last
words were "at least we got out of Southampton".

They did become a bit irritating a couple of years ago in the match at our
place that ended up 1-1 thanks to playacting and diving of scouse
proportions on their part – maybe it's no coincidence that they seem to have
ditched the white stripes from their traditional kit. The only surprise is
that they didn't go for beige.

They finished 14th last term, an unconvincing start leading to the eventual
sacking of the odious Nigel Adkins who was ditched in the middle of a
relatively decent run.. Adkins' replacement was former Espanyol boss
Mauricio Ponchinetto who, having come in in mid season, made up for lost
time during the summer break, Ponchinetto found the club cheque book and
broke the club record in bringing in Kenyan Victor Wanyama from Celtic. The
£12.5m deal made the midfielder the most expensive player ever transferred
out of Scotland, beating the £2.50 and a plate of haggis Liverpool paid for
Dalglish all those years ago Wanyama's main claim to fame up there was in
becoming the first Kenyan to score in the so-called Champions League in
famous Celtic win over Barcelona last season.

Wanyama's fellow ex-Bhoy Artur Boruc is currently no.1 between the sticks.
Adkins picked him up last year after he'd been released by Fiorentina. Some
uncertain performances by Paolo Gazzaniga and Kelvin Davies in the early
part of last season saw Boruc come in, making his debut in the rather sweet
4-1 revenge match at our place.

Having broken the club's transfer record once, Ponchinetto clearly got the
taste for spending and went and broke the record again by bringing in Pablo,
some say Daniel, Osvaldo. The basic fee weighed in at something like £12.8m
but there is also another couple of million in potential add-ons to
consider. Argentinian by birth, like many from that country he qualifies for
Italy, which also comes in handy when it's work permit time. Osvaldo came in
from Roma where he once had a bit of a contretemps with a team mate who he
thought really ought to have passed to him. It's the sort of argument
forwards have with eachother the world over. Osvaldo took it a stage further
though, decking his team-mate and getting a three month ban in the process.

Something for Rickie Lambert to look out for then. Having spent most of his
career in the nether regions of the league, Lambert could be said to be
enjoying something of an Indian summer, scoring with his first touch in
international football. However, it should be pointed out that it was only
against Scotland. Lambert followed this up with a goal in the recent
qualifier against Moldova and had a decent first half against Ukraine the
other night, though he became increasingly more isolated as the second half
wore on. Given that Lambert arguably owed his position in the England side
to the absence of others, he's taken his chance well – he'd just do well to
pass to Osvaldo once in a while.

Having gotten himself an international career, Lambert was not the one to
miss out on selection in favour of the incoming Osvaldo. That honour fell to
Jay Rodriguez who was banished to the bench. Being of Iberian descent (the
clues are there) he probably has a decent grasp of the Spanish language.
However it'd be nice to imagine Osvaldo turning up and introducing himself
to his new team-mate only to be greeted with some sort of "ey-oop" greeting
in the Lancastrian's native tones.

The other blue-eyed boy at the moment is defender Luke Shaw. Shaw attracted
a lot of attention during the last two windows, something that led
Southampton to tie him up into a long contract as soon as he turned 18 in
July. Which probably means that he'll be off at the end of the season for a
massive fee.

As For us? Well looking amongst the forums of this site you'd be forgiven
for believing that there had been a rule change and that any team called
West Ham United that isn't top after four games is automatically relegated.
True it's not been the greatest couple of weeks but the dour mood seems to
have been exacerbated by the feeling of helplessness caused by the
international break.

Yes, the Stoke match was awful. Too many off days all at the same time. Yet,
if a crumb of comfort were needed, one could point to the fact that the
defence was resolute to the point that JJ had little to do for most of the
game - it needed a dubious free kick and another blatant foul in the wall
from Stoke to cause the defeat. We're not going to win every game and the
time to get all doom laden is if we
start to play like that every week, not after one poor match.

Of course the shenanigans off the pitch aren't exactly over-inspiring. It's
typical West Ham for a key player to pick up another injury just as an
earlier one clears up. Somewhere on here you'll have seen Mr Allardyce's
denial that Andy Carroll is "injury-prone". I'm not sure what dictionary the
manager is using but I'd say that the latest setback means that the player
is close to satisfying the criteria applicable to that definition. Clearly
the decision to spend money on Downing was something of a gamble, since
doing so reduced the funds available and therefore range of strikers
available to us. Exactly how much of a punt that was only the club will
know. Whatever the details held at the time on Carroll's injury, the gamble
relied on him being able to return sooner rather than later so this latest
setback is a right royal pain in the proverbial.

Since Maiga has failed to inspire and Carlton's not in shape enough to earn
a contract apparently, we've been forced to go shopping in the bargain
bucket clearance sale department, which tends to be populated with
professional football's equivalent of the wheezy kid that always got picked
last at school. So in comes Mladin Petric from that legendary club FC
Unattached. Petric had a storming start to his spell with Fulham, scoring
twice and making another in a 5-0 win over Norwich. However, in the
remainder of the two seasons he was with the Cottagers he made only another
22 appearances and scored only three more goals before being released at the
end of the season. You'll pardon me for not being too whelmed then.

Mr Allardyce's usual strategy is to let new signings take time to bed in –
witness the current state of play with Roland. However, given the lack of
oomph displayed by Maiga thus far it's not a luxury that we can probably
afford and since the Sunday kick-off gives us an extra day for preparation
there may be a start for the Croatian.

It's been an interesting week for Ginge as well. Chris "mind the bend"
Coleman accused the player of turning down the chance of a game for Wales, a
claim denied by Collins who pointed out that, not having actually been asked
by anyone to play he had no idea that his services would be required. Memo
to Coleman: telephone and telepathy are two rather different things. Still
at least he didn't pick up any knocks

Team news is that, apart from Carroll, Downing is also a doubt with a leg
injury, whilst Joe Cole's hamstring will keep him out for a bit. This may
mean a start for young Morrisson. As mentioned, Petric will need to be up
and running and those who failed to perform against Stoke won't want to have
a repeat of the rocket that I hope Mr Allardyce delivered after that game.

Prediction? Well they've been a bit goal shy and so have we. Lambert's
enjoying life at the moment but he's had a tough time midweek. Hopefully the
trip to Barcelona will have shaken some of the cobwebs out but I reckon this
one has draw written all over it. So the AGORHFTB fund to top up Chris
Coleman's pay as you go mobile (£2.50) is going on a 1-1 draw this time.

Enjoy the game!

When Last We Met At St Mary's: Drew 1-1 April 2013 Ramirez put them 1-0 up
on the hour. Andy Carroll's free-kick levelled it.That was about all there
was to say.

Referee: Andre Marriner – last seen handling our 3-1 home win over West Brom
when he took part in one of the funnier sendings-off you're likely to see as
Mulumbu took an early bath for throwing the ball at Gary O'Neil.

Danger Man: Dani Osvaldo – Lambert's picking up the headlines at the moment
but Norwich had their 'keeper to thank for keeping the new boy off the
score-sheet the other week.

Daft Fact Of The Week: Southampton was chosen as the first city in the
country ever to have fish fingers. Even today the trial is still the most
interesting thing ever to happen down there and Clarence Birdseye's birthday
is celebrated every 9 December with funfairs and street parties. A later
attempt to introduce the mini Kiev never really caught on.

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West Ham's 25-man Premier League squad: Find out who has made the cut for
the new season
5 Sep 2013 09:10
The Mirror

West Ham have announced their 25-man squad for the Premier League, including
new signings Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing from Liverpool. Sam Allardyce
has also named fellow new signings Adrian, Razvan Rat and Danny Whitehead
have also been included as the Hammers look to build on their tenth place
finish from last season. All Barclays Premier League managers had to submit
names to the authorities yesterday following the closure of the summer
transfer window. Rules state that clubs can have no more than 17 players who
are not deemed to be 'home grown', but may have as many U-21 stars as they
like. The Premier League says: "A Home Grown player will be defined as one
who, irrespective of his nationality or age, has been registered with any
club affiliated to the Football Association or the Football Association of
Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons or 36 months
prior to his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns
21)."

Changes can be made, however, when the window reopens again on January 1
2014.

And you can find out who features for West Ham here:

25-man squad list (player name and whether they are 'home grown')
Carroll, Andrew Thomas (Yes)
Cole, Joseph John (Yes)
Collins, James Michael (Yes)
Collison, Jack David (Yes)
Demel, Guy Roland (No)
Diame, Mohamed (No)
Diarra, Alou (No)
Downing, Stewart (Yes)
Henderson, Stephen (Yes)
Jaaskelainen, Juusi Albert (No)
Jarvis, Matthew Thomas (Yes)
Maiga, Modibo (No)
McCartney, George (Yes)
Noble, Mark James (Yes)
Nolan, Kevin Anthony Jance (Yes)
O'Brien, Joseph Martin (Yes)
Rat Dinca, Razvan (No)
Reid, Winston Wiremu (No)
San Miguel Del Castillo, Adrian (No)
Spence, Jordan James (Yes)
Taylor, Matthew Simon Yes)
Tomkins, James Oliver Charles (Yes)
Vaz Te, Ricardo Jorge (Yes)
Stewart Downing signs for West Ham

Under-21 players (Contract and Scholars)
Amoo, Jeremiah
Bailey, Kieran
Baxter, Samuel James
Boakye Yiadom, Nana Emeka
Brown, Jordan
Brown, Tim
Burke, Reece
Bywater, Kieran
Chambers, Leo Alexander
Cullen, Joshua Jon
Driver, Callum Charles John
Fanimo, Matthias Olubori
Girdlestone, Robert
Gogo, Thomas
Guzman Rosique, Gines
Harney, Jamie
Homans, Courtney
Knoyle, Kyle
Labonne, Dymon Jermaine Kwabena
Lee, Elliot Robert
Lletget, Sebastian
Maguire, Sean
Makasi, Kusu Moses
Marlow, Ben John
Martins, Marcio Filipe
Mavila, Nathan
McCallum, Paul Leon Miller
Miles, Taylor Robert
Moncur, George
Morrison, Ravel Ryan
Mpanzu, Pelly Ruddock
Nasha, Amos Lawrence
Nemrava, Vit
Page, Lewis Robert
Parfitt Williams, Djair Terraii Carl
Pike, Alexander George
Potts, Daniel
Sadlier, Kieran Paul
Shaw, Frazer Dean
Spiegel, Raphael Simon
Tombides, Dylan James
Tombides, Taylor James
Turgott, Blair Sebastian
Whitehead, Daniel

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Kevin Nolan will stay at West Ham until he retires
14 Sep 2013 22:32
The Mirror

Kevin Nolan wants to spend the rest of his ­career at West Ham. And there
are ­indications that he 31-year-old midfielder will open talks about a
contract extension in January. Nolan has made a big impact at Upton Park
since his ­arrival from Newcastle two years ago for ­£4million. He was made
captain by manager Sam Allardyce and led the team from the Championship back
to the Premier League in his first season at the club. Nolan also played a
key role in helping West Ham secure safety in the top flight on their
return. "Kevin would love to stay at the club and make it his last one,"
said a source close to the player. "He likes West Ham and has done well for
them." Nolan has two years left on his deal and would be interested in
staying two additional seasons. His immediate priority is to help West Ham
­recover from their horror show against Stoke two weeks ago, a limp
­performance which ended in a 1-0 defeat.
Nolan and his teammates want to respond today against ­Southampton – and
Mark Noble reflected that ­determination. "I can't remember the last time we
played that badly at home," he said. "At Upton Park, our form has been
brilliant. ­Everyone came off and didn't know what had happened. "Now we
have got ­Southampton on a ­televised game. They are a good side who have
spent a lot of money. It is the best time and the best place to fix it."

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West Ham United fear striker Andy Carroll's freak foot injury could rule him
out until Christmas
The Telegraph
Jason Burt By Jason Burt11:00PM BST 14 Sep 2013

Andy Carroll could be out of action until Christmas following his latest
injury setback, with West Ham United now poised to re-sign Carlton Cole to
provide cover. West Ham fear that Carroll's freak foot injury, more commonly
associated with ballerinas and basketball players, will rule him out for up
to 14 weeks.
Carroll flew to Belgium on Friday to see a specialist as West Ham try to
find the appropriate treatment. It is likely that the 24-year-old striker
will also be sent to the United States as the club desperately seek a
solution. West Ham are not officially putting a timescale on how long it
will take Carroll to recover from the injury – a damaged plantar fascia, the
tissue that supports the arch of the foot – but the best case scenario is
understood to be eight to nine weeks. The club fear it will be longer,
however. Carroll has not played this season, having completed his £15
million move from Liverpool after a season-long loan, after suffering his
initial heel injury in a heavy fall. He returned to full training last
Monday, and it had been hoped that he would feature in Sunday's Premier
League match away to Southampton, but he suffered another problem to his
right foot after just a day. The setback will also disappoint England
manager Roy Hodgson with the crucial World Cup qualifiers against Montenegro
and Poland looming next month. The injury is a huge blow to West Ham, who
are now likely to finally re-sign Cole as back-up. The striker was released
by the club over the summer but has continued to train with them and a deal
now appears close to being agreed having been shelved last month. West Ham
have also signed free agent Mladen Petric, after the Croatian was released
by Fulham. Carroll's team-mate Mark Noble said it had been "tough" for the
rest of the squad to see Carroll break down injured once more. "To see him
come back out, happy again and smiling — but then get injured again, it's
tough," said Noble.

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