Daily WHUFC News - 3rd September 2013

Haycock delighted with epic comeback
WHUFC.com
West Ham United Development Squad boss Nick Haycock was pleased with
Monday's win over Newcastle
02.09.2013

West Ham United's Development Squad staged an epic comeback to beat
Newcastle in a nine goal thriller on Monday and leave coach Nick Haycock
amazed by what he had seen. The young Hammers were looking down and out
after 13 minutes as a hat-trick from Jonathyn Quinn put the Magpies three
up. But goals from George Moncur, Dylan Tombides and a hat-trick from Elliot
Lee stunned their opponents as Haycock's team hit five goals in the space of
25 minutes before Rolando Aarons struck a consolation late on. The
all-action encounter left the West Ham coach stunned. He told West Ham TV:
"I've just sent a text to Ian Hendon and Neil McDonald to say what a mad
game we've just been involved in. "I found it hard in the first half, I
needed to help them and I think the change in formation helped to stop the
goals going in. "At one point we just needed to have a ten minute spell when
we didn't concede again because we felt the attacking unit would come into
the game and we could have scored 20-plus goals today."

Haycock's team showed a huge amount of courage after going three down and
were still looking to pass the ball around despite the deficit. They were
back in the game when Kieran Sadlier was felled in the box and, fresh from
his Premier League debut on Saturday, Elliot Lee stepped up to send the
keeper the wrong way. The comeback which followed left Haycock full of
praise for his team's fighting spirit. "They're inspired by the first team
lads, we know it was a disappointing performance for the first team at the
weekend but the camaraderie spills over to the young lads. "We've got some
good lads in the club, Kevin Nolan, Mark Noble to name but a few are always
speaking to me about the young lads. "They're a good set of lads, they do
get on so I didn't doubt that but like I said I could pick eleven lads who'd
run around and work hard for West Ham United but I want intelligent
football."

The result was even more impressive given the team had to reshuffle the
defence due to injuries and the absence of Leo Chambers who was on
International duty with England. The coach bemoaned the team's injury
problems but was pleased with how they performed given the situation. "We
had to make four changes to the back four or five as Stephen Henderson's
come in to get some minutes as Spiegel's on International duty, leaving
Callum the only established member of the defence in his right position. "We
moved Jamie Harney from the youth team, who only played Saturday, because we
were that short with injuries at the back. "I demanded more leadership from
Pelly Ruddock and I thought he showed that today which was a good sign
because he's started the game sloppy but then he got that back four
organised."

Hat-trick hero Lee and the absent Chambers have both featured for the first
team in the past week, a fact which Haycock says everyone at the club is
proud of. He said: "We're delighted, not just me it's a whole load of staff
and the list is too long for me to name but it's down to everybody at the
football club.
"We're a family and we take great pride when a young boy steps across that
white line. "I suppose it looks like me because I'm in charge of the team
but I'm just there to finish off the good work by everyone else at the
Academy and they take great pride in it. "I think there were quite a few of
them there the other night and I think Leo and Elliot both know now, I've
said to Elliot today 'you've come down played well and got a hat-trick
that's all you can do'."

With players like Chambers and Lee looking to stake a claim for a regular
first team spot, Haycock is hopeful others can follow their lead, but
mindful that it may not be possible just yet. "Sam put in his programme
notes that it's hard for young players to break into the first team of a
Premier League team these days and I witness it myself now. "Sitting on the
bench for the first team home games you can see the size, speed and tenacity
of it, our boys aren't there yet but their certainly making noises that they
will be in the future but they've got to keep performing at this level."

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Manager on Monday
WHUFC.com
Sam Allardyce is keen to put things right when West Ham United visit
Southampton
01.09.2013

Sam Allardyce will use the international break to try and right the wrongs
of West Ham United's 1-0 defeat to Stoke City on Saturday. After three
encouraging results to kick off the 2013/14 season, the Hammers suffered
their first loss of the new campaign courtesy of Jermaine Pennant's fine
second-half free kick. With international football now taking centre stage
for the next ten days, Big Sam will have an opportunity to regroup his squad
and ensure they are firing for the trip to Southampton on Sunday 15
September. "We were establishing ourselves in the Premier League and
sometimes you've got to accept that the lads will dip off but what I don't
accept was it happening like the lads did on Saturday, not at home," he
said. "To play a game for 90 minutes, which we were never really in, that's
the disappointing thing for me. Hopefully the players will take it on the
chin and bounce back, which is what we were really good at last year after
really disappointing performances. We've got to lift the performance level
back up for when we play Southampton."

A trip to Spain to face Espanyol on Thursday will provide an opportunity to
experiment with personnel and fine tune strategy, but one player that will
not feature in the game is Andy Carroll, who will remain in England to work
on his fitness. Big Sam said he hoped the England international would be
back in time for the trip for Southampton, while the hamstring injury that
kept out Joe Cole on Saturday will be assessed on Monday. "Andy will be
close for the Southampton game but it's unlikely he'll be able to start," he
said. "Modibo didn't have the best game on Saturday, but against Cardiff and
Newcastle he played well. It wasn't just him who didn't play well though,
apart from the back four and the goalie who did their jobs the front six
were decidedly average."

The transfer window closes at midnight on Monday, but Allardyce does not
expect to see the same flurry of last-minute activity as last summer, when
three players arrived in the last seven days. He reiterated once again,
though, that any incomings are dependent on players leaving the club. "I was
much more nervous about the end of the window last year because we bought
three players in and you saw the contribution those three players made,
particularly Matt Jarvis and Andy Carroll who were a big factor in us
finishing tenth in the league. "We're not quite that desperate now, but
because we've had a disappointing performance and result people will say we
should go out and strengthen. "We know how well we can play and we know how
disappointed we are that we haven't played as well as that against Stoke.
With the additions of Razvan Rat, Adrian in goal and Stewart Downing to the
squad, a few of the first team squad from last year have left but the vast
majority of this squad finished tenth last year so that's our capabilities.
We have to make sure we don't perform like we did on Saturday again."

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Deadline day ends in frustration
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 2nd September 2013
By: Staff Writer

West Ham's desperate attempts to land a striker ahead of the transfer
deadline appear to have ended in frustration. Despite being linked with a
number of forwards throughout the course of the day, the Hammers look to
have failed in their attempts to land any. Hopes of signing Romelu Lukaku on
loan from Chelsea faded after the young Belgian international made it clear
he would prefer a move to either Everton or West Bromwich Albion, where he
spent a successful 2012/13 campaign. And despite having apparently agreed
terms with the Blues over team mate Demba Ba, the Senegalese international
is thought to have rejected the move late in the day due to a lack of
European football at the Boleyn Ground. Claims by John Percy of the
Telegraph that Italian striker Fabio Quagliarella was in London ahead of a
medical proved to be false, whilst other rumours - including that regarding
an unnamed, African striker - proved just as fruitless. Sam Allardyce
insisted last weekend that he could only bring a player in if he was able to
move at least one on - and hopes that Ricardo Vaz Te would prove to be that
man also failed after talks with Crystal Palce and Norwich came to nothing.

The only option left for manager Allardyce is to bring in a free transfer
and unsurprisingly tonight [Monday], rumours are rife that Carlton Cole -
who rejected West Ham's last contract offer and remains a free agent - could
be tempted back to the club on a short-term deal.

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Deadline day: West Ham fail in bid to sign Demba Ba
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 2nd September 2013
By: Staff Writer

West Ham's attempts to sign former striker Demba Ba on loan are reported to
have failed. The BBC's Ben Smith reports that despite hours of speculation
Chelsea have this evening decided not to part company with the Senegalese
striker, who spent four months at West Ham in 2011 when the club brought him
to England from Hoffenheim. Similarly frustrated are fellow London clubs
Arsenal and Tottenham, both of whom made offers for the 28-year-old today.
With little more than three hours of the transfer window remaining, it looks
extremely unlikely that West Ham wil be able to sign the forward player Sam
Allardyce so desperately wants. And that could also be curtains for any
plans Ricardo Vaz Te has of leaving east London, with Allardyce refusing to
let any player leave unless a replacement can be sourced before tonight's
deadline.

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Barton rules out West Ham move
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 2nd September 2013
By: Staff Writer

Queens Park Rangers midfielder Joey Barton injected a little humour into
transfer deadline day by silencing one of Twitter's many fake 'ITKs'.
The account @ProAgentFA may seem genuine enough on the face of it - but was
fully exposed by Barton earlier this evening [Monday] after it was suggested
that he is on his way to the Boleyn Ground.

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Deadline day: Vaz Te bid rejected
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 2nd September 2013
By: Staff Writer

West Ham have rejected a season-long loan bid from Norwich for Portuguese
forward Ricardo Vaz Te. The 26-year-old was transfer listed at his own
request last week and earlier in the day looked set to join Crystal Palace -
since when both Swansea and now Norwich have expressed an interest. Unlike
the Welsh club, Norwich are reported to have made a firm offer Vaz Te which
would have seen him move to Carrow Road for the remainder of the season.
However the Mail's Lee Clayton reports that the bid has been turned down
this evening [Monday]. Whilst keen to offload Vaz Te ahead of tonight's
deadline, West Ham are unwilling to do so until a replacement has been
secured.

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West Ham's deadline day ends up with Carlton Cole
Date: 3rd September 2013 at 2:12 am
Written by: Emily Pulham |
ForeverWestHam.com

Carlton ColeAt the time of writing this, the transfer window has not yet
closed – but the hopes and dreams of the Upton Park faithful that we'll sign
another striker are fading fast (and I'm not staying up past my bed time
just to be depressed.) We're watching deal after deal fall through –
assumedly for financial reasons – and there is one big free-agenty-thing
sticking in the back of supporter's minds.

We could re-sign Carlton Cole.

When he left back in May, having turned down a new contract (this has been
confirmed by David Gold on Twitter) it was a bittersweet goodbye. He was
good for us over the years, although I fall short of using the term
'prolific.' He felt he was worth more money and could do better elsewhere –
we felt we were better than Carlton's wage demands and could get a better
striker from elsewhere – so it was a strange scenario (albeit one that at
the time seemed mutually beneficial.) Fast forward to September 2nd, and as
it turns out that neither West Ham nor Carlton have actually done any
"better."

We have made some good signings over the summer – but we've been left with a
£15million injury, an overly talented midfield who did nothing against Stoke
City, one striker who'd rather leave thank you very much, and another
striker who isn't bad per se, but just does not fit into a lone striker
scenario.

Take the above, combined with the fact that Cole is a free agent who would
not command an excessively high wage after being unsigned all summer, and,
well… would you take Carlton back? And if we did re-sign Cole, who is coming
crawling back to who? Do we need him more than he needs us?

We've somehow fallen out of the frying pan and straight into the burning
depths of hell when it comes to strikers, and waltzed into the football
equivalent of a break up where both parties are sure they can pull someone
better, and after one too many dark lonely nights of sobbing over Marley and
Me, decide to get back together after all.

I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that something good clicks into place,
and Demba Ba realises Big Sam is his soul mate, but in the likely event that
he doesn't, I'm hoping West Ham and Carlton can come to another mutually
beneficial agreement regarding his wages, and that West Ham and Cole can
come crawling back to each other before we throw away any more points.

Yeah- I can't believe I just said that, either.

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