Daily WHUFC News - 3Rd May 2013

Macca on: Newcastle United
WHUFC.com
Neil McDonald speaks to the press ahead of Saturday's game against his old
club Newcastle United
02.05.2013

Neil McDonald is looking forward to Saturday's Barlcays Premier League visit
of Newcastle United for more than one reason. Not only are the Hammers back
on home turf and aiming to consolidate their top-ten position in the table,
but the assistant manager comes up against a club for whom he played 206
games.
With manager Sam Allardyce and former Magpies duo Andy Carroll and Kevin
Nolan also preparing to face their old employers, West Ham are sure to be
well motivated to put one over the relegation-threatened Geordies.

First of all Neil, is there any injury news as all?

NMc: "No, nothing new from last week. We've almost got a fully fit squad to
choose from, so there's good competition for places."

At the start of the season if we'd have offered you where you are in the
league now, what would your reaction have been?

NMc: "We'd have snapped both hands off really. I think we've had a fantastic
season so far, and to be in a position where you're almost safe with three
games to go, and with a chance to put the points on board to get
mathematically there is great."

I've heard some good tales about how Sam has kept players motivated when
they've been safe with a few weeks to go, telling them if they win on
Saturday they're off until Thursday - things like that. What's he doing here
at the moment to keep them motivated?

NMc: "He has actually done that once this season and we've had a fantastic
response. Physically their levels went up, so it does work. They've been
working really, really hard in training and games for nine months, so to
have a little break, as long as they're not abusing their bodies, means they
come back fresh. We find that the work-rate and intensity goes up, so it
does work."

How excited is Andy Carroll about this weekend?

NMc: "He and Kevin Nolan are looking forward to the game. They've got some
fantastic memories from their experiences at Newcastle, With Andy being a
young kid coming through the ranks and Kevin having the success of putting
them back where they belong after a relegation, they're really looking
forward to the game."

Is it right that the England management, as we understand it, are keeping a
close eye on Andy at the moment?

NMc: "I think they should. He's in good goalscoring form, and in good form
itself. His contribution to the team and interlink play has been really good
and that's reflected in our results.

What sort of game do you expect?

NMc: "I think it'll be a tough one. I think they'll come and keep it nice
and tight. They're on the verge of getting involved [in the relegation
battle], but personally I think they've got enough points. They'll try to
keep a clean sheet and get something on the counter attack."

Do you like it when you hear tales that your opponents might not be
completely pulling in the right direction? Do you see that as an opportunity
that you can take advantage of?

NMc: "We try to concentrate on our own team really. Our atmosphere and team
spirit around the place is definitely pulling in the right direction. It's
always difficult when you sign players who come into the club from foreign
parts. to get them used to the culture and how the manager wants to play.
That takes time to settle in. I think when they [Newcastle's January
signings] first came in they hit the ground running. They've just gone
through a little sticky patch at the minute and I'm sure they'll come
through it, just after Saturday!"

Winston Reid signed a new deal this week, how big a boost is that?

NMc: "It's a brilliant boost, he's been our most consistent defender this
season and he thoroughly deserves his new contract. From when we first came
here two years ago there's been a vast improvement in all aspects of his
game. Maybe he could get a couple more goals from set plays, but on the
whole he's been tremendously consistent."

Wembley will have an all-German final in the UEFA Champions League. Is there
anything you've seen in the background coaching and looking at other methods
and models that we can learn from German football?

NMc: "I think organisation and players knowing their roles and
responsibilities has shone through, especially watching Bayern Munich. I saw
them in the earlier round against Arsenal, and they did to them what Arsenal
do to a lot of Premier League teams. They certainly played well on Wednesday
night and I think it'll be a fascinating final. Bayern Munich have the best
form coming into it and will start favourites."

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Hammers hit by heavy defeat
WHUFC.com
The Development Squad went down to a disappointing defeat at Saints'
Staplewood Training Ground
02.05.2013

West Ham United's Development Squad suffered a 5-2 Barclays Under-21 Premier
League defeat at Southampton, ending their hopes of a top-three Elite Group
finish. Though Elliot Lee and George Moncur had twice put the Hammers in the
ascendency, the Saints fought back courtesy of Corby Moore and then Lloyd
Isgrove to level at the break. It looked to be delicately poised after the
interval, until Sam Hoskins and Omar Rowe both struck in the space of three
mad second-half minutes to turn the contest decisively in the Saints'
favour. Jake Sinclair added a late fifth as an afternoon that had begun so
brightly ended in bitter disappointment.

While it will come as little consolation, West Ham had earlier flown out the
traps, with forward duo Lee and Sean Maguire continuing where they left off
against Liverpool. Reward for a fast start arrived after just four minutes,
with a goal that owed as much to the patience and persistence of Maguire as
it did the unerring finish of Lee. Ben Marlow fed Lee, whose first-time
flick allowed Maguire to bring the ball under his spell in the box, before
picking his moment to slide into the path of his strike partner. The
Hammers' No9 is in a rich vein of form just now and never looked like
missing, bending it delicately into the far corner to notch his third in as
many outings. Rather than awakening the hosts, West Ham continued on the
front foot and but for a brilliant stop, Lee would have been celebrating a
second. Maguire, again, was the architect, whipping over a centre from the
right-hand side. Lee's leap was timely and strong, but his header was clawed
away by 'keeper by Cody Cropper.

Eleven minutes in and there were more West Ham heads in hands. Moncur's deep
corner picked out Marlow, whose header required the goal-line intervention
of Moore. Having prevented a goal at one end, Moore was soon responsible for
the leveller at the other. Callum Chambers sped away down the right and
despite the best efforts of Sebastian Lletget, was able to pick out Moore.
The Saints forward finished every-bit as clinically as Lee before him,
slotting a measured drive back across Baxter. Far from surrendering the
impetus, West Ham continued to plug away and took the lead for a second time
in the 28th minute. Skipper Jack Stephens needlessly handled Pelly Ruddock's
header, prompting referee David Woolford to point to the spot. Moncur
stepped up and dispatched the spot-kick, sending 'keeper Cropper the wrong
way.

It was a lead that would last until the stroke of half-time, before the
scruffiest of goals squared things once more. Jake Sinclair burst into the
box and his mishit shot was prodded home by the outstretched leg of Isgrove.
As the hour-mark approached, Hoskins had a gilt-edged chance to put the
hosts in front, but headed Sinclair's pinpoint centre straight at Baxter. It
mattered not, however, as the Hammers' afternoon soon unravelled in the
space of three forgettable minutes. Midway through the second period,
miscommunication between Callum Driver and Baxter allowed Hoskins to nip in
and fire the Saints into the lead for the first time. And before the Hammers
had time to catch breath it was four, when Rowe dispossessed Ruddock and
drilled home. With less than five minutes to play, Rowe's corner was met by
the seemingly unmarked Sinclair at the far post, who compounded the Hammers'
misery with a fifth.

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Carroll pleased with scoring run
WHUFC.com
Andy Carroll is determined to keep his impressive run of form going against
his first club Newcastle United
02.05.2013

Andy Carroll may have ended up on the losing side at the Etihad Stadium on
Saturday afternoon, but the West Ham United striker still had plenty to be
proud of. Despite being disappointed to have lost out on points against
Manchester City in the 2-1 Barclays Premier League defeat, Carroll was
pleased to have notched yet another goal for the Hammers, bringing his
seasonal tally to seven - six of those in the last ten games. "Getting
another goal was good, really good, because that keeps the run [of goals]
going for me," said the No8. "I want to be scoring for the team all the
time, as many as I can, in every match if I can, so it was important to put
that one in. "But obviously at the end of the day we are disappointed
because we lost. You want to win and it is about the team, but I thought we
played well and kept it as tight as we could, even though they had a lot of
the ball so it was hard at times. The finish from Yaya Toure to get the
result for them was great. There was nothing any of us could do about that
strike."

Carroll grabbed one back for West Ham after he met Guy Demel's cross in
injury time to hit a low shot which squirmed under Joe Hart and crawled over
the line, much to the delight of the army of travelling Hammers fans behind
the England keeper's goal. "We kept going. Although we did lose, to get a
goal against them and make it 2-1 instead of 2-0, just made it that bit
closer. We battled to the end to make sure that, if we weren't going to win,
we would push them to the end."

Before the lunchtime kick-off against last season's Barclays Premier League
champions and this year's FA Cup with Budweiser finalists, the Hammers had
gone five games unbeaten. A good run of results at home at the Boleyn Ground
this season has seen West Ham edge that bit closer to securing their Premier
League status and it is something the team want to carry on until the end of
the season, with Newcastle United visiting this weekend for penultimate home
match
The visit of the Magpies, where it all started for the Geordie-born forward,
is something he is very much looking forward to. Carroll played his part
when the Hammers got a 1-0 away win at St James' Park earlier in the season,
the winning strike coming from club captain Kevin Nolan, who was also
playing against his old side. "It will be a tough game, it is always
difficult to play against them - they probably haven't had the season they
wanted in terms of where they are in the league, but can still be a force
and I am just looking forward to playing them. "We did have a great result
up there back in November, Kev got the goal. And we are playing really well
at home and getting the results here, so we will definitely be looking to
keep that going at the weekend as we feel confident.
"We went into Saturday's game on the back of five games unbeaten so it is
always disappointing when a run like that is broken. But as I said, we are
confident at home and it is all about making sure we finish the season in
the strongest way possible and we will be trying to do that again with
another good result at home on Saturday."

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OS to stage Rugby World Cup matches
KUMB.com
Filed: Thursday, 2nd May 2013
By: Staff Writer

The Olympic Stadium has been named as one of the venues to be used for the
2015 Rugby World Cup. The Stratford stadium, which West Ham United will be
moving into ahead of the 2016/17 Premier League season is one of 13 arenas
to have been chosen to host matches in the tournament, which takes place in
September 2015. Five of the tournament's 48 matches will be played at the
Olympic Stadium, which is one of ten football-based venues chosen to host
the games. Only three of the 13 grounds - Twickenham, Gloucester's Kingsholm
Stadium and Exeter's Sandy Park are dedicated to rugby.

The 54,000-capacity stadium will host two Pool D matches (France v TBC and
Ireland v Italy), one Pool C match (New Zealand v To Be Confirmed), one Pool
B match (South Africa v To Be Confirmed) plus the Bronze Final (aka third
place play-off) on Friday, 30th October. Manchester United's Old Trafford
was removed from the pool of prospective venues due to worries over the
impact matches might have on the playing surface. Tickets for the tournament
go on sale from next year.


The 13 Venues of Rugby World Cup 2015
In order of capacity

1. Wembley Stadium, London - 90,256
2. Twickenham, London - 81,605
3. Millennium Stadium, Cardiff - 74,154
4. Olympic Stadium (West Ham Utd) - 54,000
5. St James' Park (Newcastle Utd) - 52,090
6. City of Manchester Stadium (Man City) - 47,800
7. Villa Park (Aston Villa) - 42,785
8. Elland Road Leeds (Utd) - 37,914
9. King Power Stadium (Leicester City) - 32,312
10. Amex Stadium (Brighton) - 30,750
11. Stadium MK (MK Dons) - 30,717
12. Kingsholm Stadium (Gloucester Rugby) - 16,115
13. Sandy Park (Exeter Chiefs) - 12,300

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Hammers aiming to heap further misery on Pardew
KUMb.com
Filed: Thursday, 2nd May 2013
By: Staff Writer

Assistant manager Neil McDonald faced the press this morning ahead of this
weekend's Premier League clash with Newcastle, as Big Sam took another
temporary hiatus from duties.

Allardyce, whose current whereabouts are unknown left the press call to his
assistant ahead of Saturday's match, a win from which would see West Ham
mathematically assured of Premier League football next year.

However McDonald insisted that despite Newcastle's recent woes and slide
down the table, West Ham would still have to be at their best to secure what
would be a ninth home league win of the campaign.

"I think it'll be a tough one," he said. "I think they'll come and keep it
nice and tight. They're on the verge of getting involved [in the relegation
scrap] but I think they'll try to keep a clean sheet and get something on
the counter attack.

"We've had a fantastic season so far, and to be in a position where you're
almost safe with three games to go, and with a chance to put the points on
board to get there mathematically is great."

And McDonald also revealed that former Newcastle duo Andy Carroll and Kevin
Nolan - who were both on the scoresheet for the Magpies on the last occasion
on which the two clubs met at the Boleyn Ground, in 2011 - were itching to
play against their ex-employers.

"Andy and Kevin are looking forward to the game," he confirmed. "They've got
some fantastic memories from their experiences at Newcastle. With Andy
having come through the ranks there and Kevin having put them back where
they belong after a relegation, they're really looking forward to it."

Meanwhile former West Ham boss Alan Pardew, whose side are looking to bounce
back from last weekend's 6-0 home drubbing against Liverpool, the club's
worst home defeat for 88 years, has scotched rumours of dressing room
unrest.

Pardew, who lost his job at West Ham in 2006 after similar rumours spread
regarding what was referred to as a 'Baby Bentley culture' at the club said:
"As far as I'm concerned, the group is pulling together and trying to get a
result.

"The fact there are a lot of French players - and that there is a language
difficulty - has been turned into something else. There are no problems.
There haven't been words out of turn. To say players from foreign countries
aren't bothered is ridiculous, as their professionalism is on the line."

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West Ham duo Kevin Nolan and Andy Carroll relishing visit of former club
Newcastle
Last Updated: May 2, 2013 4:08pm
SSN

West Ham assistant boss Neil McDonald reckons Kevin Nolan and Andy Carroll
are relishing the visit of former club Newcastle on Saturday. Nolan scored
the only goal of the game to give the Hammers a rare away victory when the
teams met earlier in the campaign. But ex-Hammers manager Alan Pardew will
bring Newcastle to Upton Park with his team on a worrying slide, having
picked up just four points from a possible 18 in recent weeks. Defeat for
the visitors could see them drop into the bottom three if Wigan win their
game in hand, and McDonald insists there is no room for sentiment. "I think
Andy and Kevin are looking forward to the game," McDonald said. "Andy being
a young kid growing up there and Kevin having had a relegation and promotion
in his time."

McDonald is also backing Carroll for a return to Roy Hodgson's England squad
as the Liverpool loanee has rediscovered his scoring touch. "I think they
should," McDonald added. "He is in really good form and his contribution,
his inter-link play is very good and that reflects in our recent results."

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Can Ravel Morrison Make an Impact Next Season?
By S J Chandos
West Ham Till I Die

The answer is probably yes, but it also begs the supplementary question
whether will it be at West Ham, Birmingham City or elsewhere. Ravel Morrison
is a very talented young footballer. Indeed, he has the ability to become a
top PL forward. His talent has never bee in doubt, but it was feared that
the same could not be said about his attitude and application. That is
ultimately why Manchester Utd called time on Morrison and made the decision
to sell him to West Ham. There is no doubt that even the greatest natural
football talents can fail to make it if the hard work and correct attitude
is not present. It seemed that this was the very large dark cloud over the
shining light of his talent. And the fact that Morrison was loaned out so
quickly seemed to indicate that 'the writing was on the wall' for his West
Ham career.

Yet, there is new hope that Ravel Morrison may be buckling down and taking
his talent and career in the right direction. He has earnt some outstanding
reviews for his displays whilst on loan at Birmingham City and, his manager,
Lee Clark has commented that Morrison has made significant progress both on
and off the pitch. So much so, that Clark has stated that he would like to
secure Morrison's services on loan for a second season. It will certainly be
interesting to see how West Ham react in the summer. In particular, will
they acknowledge his progress and bring him back in to the West Ham first
team squad for pre-season training? We could certainly do with a forward of
his technique and ability, adding some much needed extra guile. It could
happen if Morrison proves that he has turned over a new leaf and now has
greater dedication and maturity to his unquestioned natural ability. Lets
hope that it goes the right way.

After the Manchester City match, Sam Allardyce made the point that West Ham
needed to improve the quality of the squad next season in order to push on.
Although he did not put it as diplomatically as he might have done. Perhaps
that was because he wanted to send out a clear and unambiguous message to
the West Ham board. Regardless, last Sunday's match perfectly illustrated
where we currently stand as a club. We have done exceptionally well this
season. We have some very good players and organisation and team spirit have
been the additional factors that have stood us in good stead. On Sunday, we
faced a team which player for player is unquestionably superior. Yet, we
overcome a ropey first 45 minutes and actually came back and made a game of
it in the second half. Yes, we went down 2-1, but we were competitive and
far from disgraced on the day. If only we can introduce improved quality in
to the mix then the team can improve next season.

The question is who will supply that additional quality? The names of new
summer acquisitions have started to circulate. These include: Romanian
international left-back Rat, QPR goal keeper Ceasar, his QPR team mate Remy,
Wilfred Bony, Jordan Rhodes, Noel Hunt and others. A collateral question is
therefore whether West Ham will pursue the signing of Andy Carroll or look
at other alternative options? Might the club try to pull off a surprise
signing of a young and emerging star, like Redmond at Birmingham City or
Hughes at Derby County? And what does all of this mean for the club
developing its own talent? Both Spence and Potts should gain greater first
team exposure next season, while the likes of Turgott, Lee, Moncur, Hall and
Chambers should all compete for starting places or the bench.

It also begs the question, who will be heading for the exit this summer.
Personally, I think that both O'Brien and O'Neill have underlined their
value to the squad, this season, and should stay with the club. Can one say
the same of Henderson, Demel, Taylor, Maiga, Diarra, Vaz Te and Carlton
Cole? Of these, Henderson's days seem to be numbered at the club, Maiga also
seems to be surplus to requirements (as unfair as that decision seems),
Taylor is past his sell by date at PL level and Diarra will almost
definitely make a permanent move away from Upton Park. While Demel has
recently been given a new contract and will probably be retained and Carlton
Cole is likely to be given a 'take it or leave it' of another 1 or 2 year
contract. As for Vaz Te, I think that he will still be with us next season.
Elsewhere, Robert Hall is allegedly out of contract in the summer and is
stalling on signing a new deal. That has to be an issue of concern, given
Hall's undoubted potential.

Finally, we face a relegated threatened Newcastle Utd side at home, this
Saturday. No doubt Carroll and Nolan will be eager to do well against their
former club. I am going for a 3-1 home victory. COYI!

SJ. Chandos.

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