Daily WHUFC News - II 22nd September 2015

Preview - Leicester City
WHUFC.com

The background

West Ham United begin their Capital One Cup campaign when they take on
Leicester City at the third round stage on Tuesday night. The Hammers enter
at this round having been involved in Europe this season and have been
handed an all-Premier League tie first up, against a team who beat them in
league action little over a month ago. On that occasion Shinji Okazaki and
Riyad Mahrez hit the back of the net to ensure Mark Noble's second half
penalty counted for little. Adrian also saw red late on to complete a
miserable first home game of the season for the Hammers. Leicester are the
only unbeaten side left in the top flight, and like the Hammers have 12
points from their opening six games. In the Capital One Cup they saw off
Bury by a 4-1 scoreline at Gigg Lane. Claudio Ranieri's men have a
remarkable record of coming from behind to claim a positive result in their
last four matches, so Slaven Bilic will remind his team that they will have
to remain on their guard throughout.

The history

Leicester are three-time League Cup winners, having lifted the trophy in
1964, 1997 and 2000. In 1964, the Foxes defeated West Ham in the semi-finals
before defeating Stoke City to lift the trophy. The Hammers, meanwhile, have
finished as runners-up in this competition on two occasions – in 1966 and
1981. They have reached the semi-finals twice in recent times – in 2010/11
and 2013/14. West Ham and Leicester have met on 124 previous occasions, with
the east Londoners having won 51 times. Leicester have 44 victories to their
credit and there have been 29 draws. Bilic's men will be aiming to snap a
two-game losing streak against the Foxes, having lost 2-1 at the King Power
Stadium in April, then falling by the same scoreline a month ago.

The match
Team news

West Ham United

Andy Carroll could be in line for his first start since recovering from a
long-standing knee injury having recently returned to the first team squad.
The likes of James Collins and Darren Randolph could also be involved, while
Mauro Zarate and Cheikhou Kouyate will both be looking to return after
missing out with injury recently .The League Cup could also provide an
opportunity for youngsters Reece Oxford and Josh Cullen, but Michail Antonio
and Nikica Jelavic are both cup-tied having featured in the first round for
Nottingham Forest and Hull City respectively.

Leicester City

Claudio Ranieri is set to make a number of changes to the team which drew
2-2 with Stoke City at the weekend. Young striker Joe Doodoo, who scored a
hat-trick in the previous round against Bury, looks set to make his home
debut for the club.

Match facts

Tuesday's referee is Peter Bankes. He will be assisted by Ronald Ganfield
and Timothy Wood, while Trevor Kettle is the fourth official.
The clubs met in the League Cup in 1963/64, with Leicester winning the
semi-final tie 6-3 on aggregate.
Leicester striker Joe Doodoo scored with every shot he attempted at Bury in
round two, notching a hat-trick.
West Ham's previous four third round ties have produced 17 goals.
Leicester haven't played a home League Cup tie as a top flight side since
2001, when they were thrashed 6-0 by Leeds United
Ticket, travel, coverage and other information

Approximately 200 tickets will be available to purchase by West Ham United
supporters at the King Power Stadium (cash only) from the Sub Ticket Office
2 (located between the East and South Stands) from 6.15pm. Matchday prices
are £15 Adults, £9 Over-65s/Under-22s, £6 Under-18s, £1 Under-12s
If you're not heading to the game, you can follow the game live on our
digital platforms. whufc.com's live match centre will have live text
updates, audio commentary, in-running stats and images, while you can get
involved on social using the hashtag #LEIWHU.
Supporters travelling by road can find traffic info here and train news can
be found here.
Early morning rain is set to clear in Leicester in time for kick-off.
Temperatures this evening will drop to around 12C (54C).

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Slaven Speaks - Leicester City
WHUFC.com

West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic says the Club have a strong chance of
winning the Capital One Cup this season and will be looking to maintain
their impressive away form when they travel to the King Power Stadium. The
Hammers have enjoyed a superb start on their travels picking up memorable
wins over Arsenal, Liverpool and Premier League leaders Manchester City last
Saturday. The players were back in for training on Monday before making the
short trip to the Midlands and are full of confidence as they prepare for
the first major cup competition this season. Bilic is taking the Capital One
Cup seriously and hopes the latest victory over the Premier League leaders
will give everyone in the squad the confidence to achieve a similar kind of
result when they face Leicester. Bilic said: "The greatest manager of the
Croatian team said that after a big win he would not like to play for a
couple of months and to enjoy it. "But we have the game on Tuesday and it is
a big game for us. It is a competition where we know we have a chance. "You
never know what will happen but what I can say is that we will give our
best. "We are approaching the competition with the aim to win it if
possible. We are not the favourites but that will be our approach."

Bilic is hoping to utilise his squad for the game on Tuesday night, but will
be unable to choose new signings Michail Antonio and Nikica Jelavic as they
are cup-tied. Mauro Zarate, Andy Carroll and James Collins will all be
pushing for a starting place and the Hammers manager reveals he will look to
rest some players who have worked so hard in the recent victories over
Newcastle and Manchester City. Bilic added: "We will try to look at other
players. It is a shame that Michail and Jelavic cannot play as they have
already played in the competition and are cup-tied. "But we will try to
maintain our chances and keep the same quality on the pitch. "If possible it
will be good to rest a couple of players who played against Newcastle and
Manchester City on Saturday." Youngsters Reece Oxford, Josh Cullen and
Elliot Lee could all come into contention, while Cheikhou Kouyate is also
hoping to make a return to the squad after missing the City victory with a
minor niggle.

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Brown happy with first goal of the season
WHUFC.com

West Ham United striker Jordan Brown was delighted to open his account for
the season with a well taken finish for the Dev Squad, just four minutes
into their game against Newcastle United.
The 18-year-old striker collected the ball on the edge of the area, burst
through the defence and slotted coolly past Magpies' goalkeeper Brendan
Pearson. Speaking after the game, the No9 said: "I'm happy to score my first
goal of the season but disappointed we didn't get the win. "I'm happy with
my goal; I just composed myself and put it in the back of the net."

The young Hammers started the brighter side, and had further opportunities
to score. Brown went close several times as did Marcus Browne, Djair
Parfitt-Williams and George Dobson. However the visiting Magpies rallied,
equalising through Ivan Toney's finish before Callum Roberts scored late on.
However, Martin Samuelsen managed to salvage his side a point with a 90th
minute penalty which he confidently tucked away. "We were the team with most
chances, I'd like to see the possession stats but we definitely had the most
chances. "That is a big positive. We got our first point which is good for
confidence, even though we've played better this season and lost."

Another positive for the Hammers was Michail Antonio's impressive
performance. The winger looked dangerous every time he was on the ball
before being replaced, as planned, by Lewis Page on his return from injury,
after an hour. "Michail is a great player, it was nice to get the
opportunity to play with him. It was good that he came down and wanted to
play with the U21s. "He's got a lot of experience in the Championship, he's
strong and powerful, a pacey winger and he gave me a couple of really good
balls."

Brown continued to thank the number of fans who turned up to support the
U21s on a wet Monday evening before looking ahead to the Hammers' next game,
away at Stoke City on Saturday 26 September. "It's always special to play at
the Boleyn Ground, particularly in the last season here. Whenever we play
here it gives us that extra motivation to go and do well. "The fans that
came certainly got right behind us and that helped us too. I'm not sure we
would have found our second goal without them. "Hopefully we'll get our
first win of the season away at Stoke on the weekend. If keep the positives
tonight and play to our potential, I'm confident we can do that."

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Hard work the key for Lanzini
WHUFC.com

Manuel Lanzini has enjoyed a superb start to life with West Ham United,
helping the team to victories in all three Barclays Premier League games he
has started. Having won at Liverpool, Lanzini was then involved in victories
against Newcastle United and Manchester City as the Hammers climbed to third
in the table. The Argentine credits the team's fine form to their hard work
and says the focus is on ensuring that continues. He explained: "It was an
unexpected victory and we did it because of our hard work. There are a lot
of good players here and hopefully we can keep doing this. "Slaven Bilic is
a very good manager and a very good person. Everything he tries to teach us
is reflected on the pitch. He reads the game very well so we hope to keep
getting the kind of results we're getting. "We are very lucky to have Adrian
as a keeper. He was very good on Saturday, he made good saves and thankfully
for him we won."

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From the Boardroom - David Gold
WHUFC.com

It is unbelievable what is happening to us at the moment. I don't think many
people would have predicted we would go and beat Arsenal, Liverpool and
Manchester City. It tells me that we have got a serious squad of players. At
the start we said our aim was to finish in the top ten, but who knows what
could happen now this season. We brought in great players like Payet, Moses,
Obiang, Ogbonna and it is hard to believe we would have this amount of
success so early on in the season – especially after the home defeats
against Leicester and Bournemouth. But we then go and beat Liverpool,
Newcastle and the Premier League leaders last weekend and now have three
wins from the last three games. We need to avoid any serious long-term
injuries and if we manage to do that I think this could be a very special
season. Of course you need your best players to be on top of their game and
there is no doubt that Winston Reid was one of the best players on the pitch
against City. He showed his desire to win and he was outstanding. I think if
someone had driven a bus from the half-way line, he would have headed it
away! He is a top class central defender and we showed with his new
long-term deal how much we wanted him to stay. We are building a team and a
squad that is good enough to compete when we move into the new Stadium next
summer and Winston remains a key part of that. I also want to highlight the
performance from James Tomkins who was also magnificent and has showed his
versatility this season producing outstanding displays at both right back
and centre-half. It certainly gives us options if a player gets injured
during a game that James can easily fit into another position. I know Slaven
picked out Diafra Sakho for his superb display leading the attack and his
work-rate throughout the game. Sakho is a very unusual centre-forward in
that most of the players who play in his position don't work as hard as what
he does. Diafra runs for the team and pulls defenders out of position. He
never stopped with his work-rate and was rewarded with a goal as well. I
believe there is nothing stopping him scoring 20 goals this season. There
are not many strikers outside the top four club who can do that, but if he
stays fit, why can't he achieve that? I know we are only six games into the
season, but we have beaten three of the best teams in the Premier League and
it does lay down a marker. Our expectations are sky high.
I feel this is the best squad of players in our time in charge of the Club
and they are capable of taking us onto the next level. We now switch our
attentions to the Capital One Cup and a big game against Leicester on
Tuesday night. I look back at the history of being a West Ham United fan and
some of our finest moments have come in the cup competitions. We won the FA
Cup back in 1964, 1975 and 1980 but that is a long time-ago and it would be
a fitting way for us to finish our final ever season at the Boleyn Ground if
we could win some major silverware.
It is disappointing that our new signings Michail Antonio and Nikica Jelavic
are cup-tied but I am excited at the prospect of seeing Andy Carroll get
some more game time under his belt.
He had a few minutes against Newcastle last week and Andy is looking as fit
as I have ever seen him. He is raring to go. We were very disappointed to
lose against Leicester in the league, but they have continued their amazing
form from the end of last season. If we manage to win there, we would have
beaten a very good side.

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Leicester City v West Ham United
KUMB.com
Filed: Tuesday, 22nd September 2015
By: Preview Percy

This will probably be the only match preview you read that tackles the
"Great Crisp Packet Controversy". Here's Preview Percy to show why this is
not necessarily a good thing.....

'Tis to the Midlands we next wend our jolly way where our hosts in the
League Cup 3rd round will be Leicester City. Kick-off is 7:45pm, with extra
time and penalties both being available to decide the tie on the night if
required. By the way, the last train back from Leicester to St Pancras
leaves at 21:58 – the next one being at 04:45 the following morning. Best
hope for a long penalty shootout to save on the hotel bills then.

Leicester have had a decent start to the season sitting in 4th place.
They've had to work a bit for that over the past couple of weeks, going 2-0
down to Villa before coming back to take all three points. And just this
weekend they had to come back from a similar deficit to pick up a point at
Stoke. Three of their points came courtesy of their 2-1 win at the Boleyn,
after which Anthony Taylor was suspended, fined £50,000 and barred from all
football-related activity until he had satisfactorily completed a course of
retraining. Or at least that's what would have happened had the same
principles of justice applied to the criminal organisation that supplies
referees to the Premier League as does to clubs and players.

Leicester's path to the third round was relatively relaxed. The first round
was obviously a rest day for Premier League clubs, whilst they eased past
Bury 4-1 at Gigg Lane in the second. They did require two late goals to make
the score look slightly more comfortable though, youngster Joe Dodoo netting
in the 86th and 90th minutes to complete his hat-trick on his first-team
debut. Dodoo was one of the fringe players to be given a run out in the
second round and it is in the nature of this competition these days that
players are rested in favour of those who don't usually get a place in the
starting line-up on a Saturday (or, I suppose to be more accurate, on a
Saturday, Sunday or Monday). The England U19 striker started instead of
Jamie Vardy in the last round and has since got a few league minutes under
his belt, coming on in the 72nd minute of the 1-1 draw with Bournemouth to
replace Marc Albrighton who, like Vardy, was excused boots in the previous
round.

Amongst those regulars who did appear at some stage of the Bury match was
striker Leonardo Ulloa. As mentioned in a previous preview, his surname came
from the "Steve McClaren school of pronunciation" with a couple of "Js"
appearing randomly in there. He scored 13 in all competitions last season
but has yet to find the mark this term, his last goal coming in the 5-1
defeat of QPR at the end of last season.

One place where we probably will see a change from the league XI will be
'twixt the sticks where the veteran Mark Schwarzer. This time last year
Schwarzer was one of the 4,362 players registered with Chelsea, having
signed a one year deal to act as cover for Courtois and Cech. In fact
Schwarzer stayed only until the January window, when he moved to Leicester
on a free. Schwarzer actually received a Premier League winners medal for
his efforts in Chelsea's title-buying side last season, a season in which,
according to the work experience kid with the Harry Potter spectacles, he
made precisely zero league appearances. Now I'm sure there used to be rules
on this sort of thing – minimum number of appearances etc. However, I always
fancied a Premier League winners medal to go along with my Southern Amateur
League Champions gong so I wrote to the authorities and pointed out that I'd
played as many games for Chelsea as Schwarzer had so could I have one? They
told me to go away, but they did add that, since I hadn't played for
Millwall either, they were happy for me to claim responsibility for their
relegation, which, frankly, is probably a bigger honour really.

Another player who started against Bury but who has not been otherwise
employed this season is striker Andrej Kramaric. Kramaric arrived from
Rijeka in his native Croatia in January for a club record £9.7m. The Foxes
don't really seem to be getting value for money out of hi so far though. He
was used sparingly last season with half of his 16 appearances coming from
the bench. In 5 of the remaining 8 games he was withdrawn meaning that he
only lasted the full ninety on three occasions. This season the Bury match
has marked his sole appearance, though it was a match capped he with a goal
set up by the aforementioned Dodoo. However, even then he didn't get through
the full match, being replaced on 65 minutes by the wonderfully-named
Schlupp.

Another who has been in and out of the side is Franco-Malian midfielder
N'golo Kante. Kante was a summer arrival from Caen and his first three
appearances of the season came as sub, including one in the match at the
Boleyn. He started the Bury and Bournemouth matches, getting MOTM plaudits
from some for his performance in the latter fixture, before dropping to the
bench against Villa. He started at Stoke being taken off in the closing
moments. At 5ft 6 tall he's even shorter than the short chubby one who turns
up here at the Avram Grant Olympic Rest Home For The Bewildered every week
to pick up these words of wisdom.

What about us then? Saturday was good wasn't it? Unlike the wins at
Libraries at both Arsenal and Liverpool (which were pieces of cake) we had
to dig deep and put in a defensive performance which was, well magnificent
probably isn't too strong a word. Winston Reid was foremost amongst the
defence but Tomkins wasn't half bad either. All eleven worked their
collective backsides off and, if Adrian did have a couple of "moments"
(punching one he should have caught and that rush of blood in the first half
spring to mind), he more than made up for it in the second half.

One of the interesting things to note is the fact that the win came without
the presence of the influential Kouyate, who pulled up lame the day before
the match. In the past that's the sort of injury in a key position that
would have disrupted things no end. However, whisper it, but we now appear
to have a genuine squad. This will be more fully illustrated should Mr Bilic
elect to make his own chunk of League Cup changes. Randolph has proven
himself an able deputy for Adrian in recent weeks, there's the possibility
of a start for Ginge.

Sadly Antonio and Jelavic, who, under other circumstances, would be looking
for places in the top half of the team sheet, will be cup-tied and since the
days of "Mannygate" hopefully we're a bit more careful about these things.

Up front, Andy Carroll looks a strong possibility for his first start since
the injury. Throw in the likes of Zarate, Oxford, and possibly even
Samuelson (who looked good to me in pre-season) and it will be seen that we
do have some genuine talent in depth for a change.

What will be interesting is to see is whether Amalfitano has served his
sentence or whether there is to be no parole. If there is no sight of
Amalfitano in the matchday squad I think we can probably say goodbye to him
in January.
Predictions are always a bit of a pain for this sort of match – you're never
quite sure what sort of teams are going to take the field and what their
relative strengths are going to be so inevitably a lot of guesswork will be
required.

However, based on what I believe are the relative strengths of the backup
squads I actually fancy us to win this one, albeit possibly after extra
time. I'll therefore be placing the Avram Grant Olympic Rest Home For the
Bewildered's monthly pig's head budget (£2.50) on us to win in extra time
after, say, a 2-2 draw.

Enjoy the game!

When Last We Met At Their Place: Lost 2-1 April 2015. Unusually for us in an
away game this was a match in which we actually had chances going forward.
Cambiasso opened the scoring and Adrian saved a Nugent penalty. Kouyate
equalised in the second half and also hit the post in the second half before
King's late scrambled winner gave them some hope in their fight against
relegation.

Danger Man: Riyad Mahrez Costing them two and a tanner, he's had a fine
start to the season so far both scoring and creating goals. Of course this
being the League Cup they may rest him…..

Referee: Peter Bankes As usual in the League Cup, it's a bit pot luck with
the referees. Mr Bankes, not to be confused with the late Yes guitarist of
similar name, appears to be in his first full season as a Championship ref,
though he has experience of running the line in the top flight, taking
charge of one of the flag/buzzer things when we beat Cardiff 2-0 on their
own patch a couple of years ago.

Irritating Celebrity Supporter Of The Week: It's still the crisp salesman
Gary Lineker who should be first up against the wall for his crimes against
potato-based bar snacks never mind all his other sins. Consider this: in the
good old days you had a choice between Golden Wonder and Smiths. It worked
well by and large. Dark blue for ready salted or plain, light blue for salt
& vinegar, green & yellow for cheese & onion, yellow for anything poultry
related, pink for prawn cocktail (if you had to) and a brownish colour for
anything vaguely meat related. Then Lineker's employers came along and
changed the colours so nobody had a clue. Never mind the railways Corbyn
sort that one out first.

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LEROY: Slav must keep winning momentum going
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on September 22, 2015 in Leroy's Blogs, News,
Whispers
C and H

It's going to be very interesting to see the kind of team Slaven puts out
against Leicester City tonight but he will know better than anyone how
important it is to keep out momentum going.
I don't expect to see Sakho or Payet and were it not for the fact that
Antonio is Cup tied I don't think we would see Victor Moses either. After
the amazing result at the Etihad at the weekend there are going to be some
very tired bodies around but the manager has shown us enough so far for us
to believe he will get it right. Claudio Ranieri has made it clear there
will be a lot of changes in the Leicester team which is hardly a surprise –
he's not known as the Tinkerman for nothing! I fully expect to see Andy
Carroll lead our line and it will be fascinating to see how Slav changes
things to suit the big fella's game if that's the case. Until we see the
teams it's a very hard game to call but such is the confidence running
through the team I expect the Irons to edge it. Winning at Manchester City
is about as big as it gets and there will be players coming in who know they
have to do everything to nail down a place in the future so we'll see a team
that has real edge. We have so many options now that we can go anywhere and
get a result which is why I reckon we'll put it across the midlands outfit
tonight. I'm going for a 2-1 and some big performances from the boys who get
a chance perhaps for the first time this season.

COYI

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Hammers U21's scrape a point
Posted by Hammers Newshound on September 22, 2015 in News, Whispers
C and H

West Ham's Development team scraped their first point last night at the
Boleyn Ground after drawing with Newcastle Development team in the 90th
minute thanks to a Martin Samuelson penalty.
It gives the under 21's their first point of the season after five games and
four loses but they are still rooted to the bottom of division two, one
point above Newcastle. The Hammers took thje fourth-minute lead through
striker Jordan Brown. West Ham included Michail Antonio in the starting
lineup, as the 25-year-old who joined from Nottingham Forest in the summer,
is cup-tied for the League Cup clash against Leicester this evening. It was
left up to Martin Samuelsen to convert a late penalty for Irons to rescue a
point
U21: Starting XI Spiegel, Knoyle, Hendrie, Dobson, Chambers, Onariase,
Parfitt-Williams, Browne, Brown, Samuelsen, Antonio U21: Subs Nasha,
T.Brown (GK), Page, Pask, Belic

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Dimitri Payet surprised by West Ham's flying start
Last Updated: 22/09/15 10:41am
SSN

Midfielder Dimitri Payet admits he has been surprised by West Ham's flying
start to the Premier League campaign. The Hammers have been outstanding this
season, especially their away form which has included a hat-trick of
victories at Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City. They have won four of
their six league games and sit third in the table. "I might have been a
little sceptical if you told me where we'd be, but we've shown that our
position has not happened by chance," the French midfielder told the club
website. "We continue to take points, that's the important thing. "I
wouldn't necessarily say we're winning away with ease, but it's true that
we've got a defensive unit that's tough to budge," said the 28-year-old
summer recruit from Marseille. West Ham won 2-1 at the Etihad to become the
first team not only to beat City in the league but to score against them
this season. "We've sprung a few surprises - we've beaten City, so people
are beginning to speak a lot more about us. Naturally, victories bring
confidence. Saturday was the third win away from home," he added. "When
we're winning we grow and grow in confidence. We're quite sure of ourselves
because we have faith in our quality. I'm trying to continue where I left
off with Marseille last season. It's going very well."

Team-mate Diafra Sakho, who scored against Liverpool and City, attributed
their impressive away success to hard work and discipline. "Every player has
worked so hard for the team and had a big motivation to win the game," the
25-year-old striker said. "The manager spoke to every player and we knew we
had to give 100 per cent. Our tactics were very important."

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Who runs furthest in the Premier League? James Milner has covered most
ground
By Pete Smith and Joel Barnett
Last Updated: 22/09/15 1:47pm
SSN

James Milner has covered more ground than any other Premier League player so
far this season. The Liverpool midfielder is renowned for his industrious
play and the stats show he has clocked an incredible 74.8km (46.48 miles) in
the Reds' six games this season. That's the equivalent of just over 202 laps
of the Anfield pitch. Newcastle United's Jack Colback is second on the list
(71.8km), followed by Bournemouth's Andrew Surman (70.8km).

West Ham shocked Manchester City on Saturday to move into the top three of
the Premier League but there has been plenty of hard work behind their fast
start - three of their players make the top 20 furthest runners list: Mark
Noble (70.4km), Dimitri Payet (65.2km) and Aaron Cresswell (64.6km).

Everton also have three players in the top 20, with Gareth Barry (68.9km),
James McCarthy (65.0km) and Ross Barkley (64.6km) putting in the hard yards
for boss Roberto Martinez.

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Bilic looks at Leicester options
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on September 22, 2015 in News
C AND H

Slaven Bilic approaches tonight's Capital One Cup game at Leicester
declaring:"It is a competition where we know we have a chance." And he added
– speaking to www.whufc.com: "You never know what will happen but what I can
say is that we will give our best." "We are approaching the competition with
the aim to win it if possible. We are not the favourites but that will be
our approach." OxfordMichail Antonio and Nikica Jelavic are both Cup-tied
and Mauro Zarate, Andy Carroll and James Collins will all be hoping to get
starts." The manager said: "We will try to look at other players. It is a
shame that Michail and Jelavic cannot play as they have already played in
the competition and are cup-tied but we will try to maintain our chances and
keep the same quality on the pitch. "If possible it will be good to rest a
couple of players who played against Newcastle and Manchester City on
Saturday." Youngsters Reece Oxford, Josh Cullen and Elliot Lee could all
come into contention, while Cheikhou Kouyate is also hoping to make a return
to the squad after missing the City victory with a minor niggle.

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DG sends clubs a clear 'hands off' message
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on September 22, 2015 in News, Whispers
C and H

David Gold has made it clear that West Ham is no longer a selling club. The
co chairman has grown heartily fed up "down the years" of seeing the club
sell its prize assets and as a fan became particularly annoyed with those
who had travelled to White Hart Lane. Now, speaking on Twitter – and to
ClaretandHugh – he has sent a clear hands-off message to clubs who may be
eyeing up the likes of Diafra Sakho and Aaron Cresswell. Speculation has
been doing the rounds that Cressie could become a Manchester United target
given the injury to Luke Shaw. But Gold made it clear that none of our
players are available as we head for a new era at the Olympic Stadium next
season. He told us: "I and everybody else has become heartily fed up with
the 'West Ham are a selling club' tag that' been attached to us. We are
going to turn that round. We are building not selling." And he told a
wound-up Twitter follower @chriscoyi84 the same after receiving a tweet
wheich read: "I just read an article saying westham would sell
cress,sakho,payet inJan to balance the books if true we should shut up shop
now!!!!! Gold responded: There are no plans to sell any of our best play
ers. dg

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No nonsense Nobes first on scene
Posted by Hammers Newshound on September 22, 2015 in Videos, Whispers
C and H

West Ham born and bred captain Mark Noble has shown there is more to being
the leader than barking out orders to his fellow team mates. The 28 year old
Canning Town born captain picked up Carl Jenkinson on Saturday when the
Arsenal loanee appeared to making a meal out a tackle and seemed intent on
wasting a bit of time as the Irons hung on big time after taking a second
half battering. Nobes was having none of that and was the first one on the
scene to immediately pulled Carl to his feet who miraculously found he could
walk again. Fair play to Mark Noble, he showed himself a guy who will only
ever play in the true spirit and ClaretandHugh applauds him – the man is an
inspiration to all captains and the game itself. In sorting out what he
clearly believed was a dodgy scenario, he will have sent a message to the
squad in general that needs to be heard.

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James Collins: I'm part of the best West Ham squad I've seen but want my
chance to play
Tuesday 22 September 2015 09:52 BST0 comments
Evening Standard

James Collins believes West Ham's squad is "by a distance" the best he has
seen in his considerable time at the club. Good news, then, for Slaven Bilic
and his first-choice team but, as Collins also points out, not necessarily
to his own advantage. The experienced Wales international is hoping for his
first competitive start — if you ignore the Europa League qualifying
competition — in West Ham's Capital One Cup third-round tie at Leicester
tonight. If so, the 32-year-old defender admits the pressure is on to
convince his manager that he is worth a longer run in what is fast becoming
one of the surprise early season packages of this campaign. Collins, who
came on for the last five minutes of the thrilling victory at Manchester
City, is in the final year of his contract and his future is, as he points
out, still uncertain. "I spoke to the gaffer at length about the
situation," he said. "I wasn't playing as much as I wanted to and having
just turned 32, that's not ideal.There were a couple of opportunities to go
before the deadline but it didn't seem right for me. "I didn't want to drop
down to the Championship, I feel I have something to offer in the Premier
League and I'm enjoying it here. I know I'm not playing but the gaffer
emphasised that things can change. "I love being here, I love the club — the
fans. I did think that maybe I was going to have to leave but I didn't
really force it. "We've just had our third child — a son named Jesse — so
the timing wasn't right. I decided to stay and hopefully get some more game
time."

Collins has had two spells at Upton Park totalling seven seasons
interspersed by three years at Aston Villa. "When I came back [in August
2012], the plan was to finish my career here," he added. "It was nice to be
involved at City on Saturday and help see out the game. It has been a long
time coming so it was good to get out there and show people I'm still here!
"We know now that if we defend well, the boys we have in the attacking third
are some of the best we've had at West Ham in my time. We defended well in
games last year but if we conceded first, we'd wonder where would we get two
goals from to win."

Bilic will make changes tonight but will want to do better in the Capital
One Cup than in the Europa League, when his team failed to make the group
stages. "It's a strange one," admitted Collins. "The boys who played in the
Europa League and who haven't been regulars since would have wished we had
stayed in it so they could get some game time. "But the League form of some
of the teams who have been playing in it in recent seasons has suffered
terribly. "We're looking to do well in the cups. This is the best squad I've
seen at West Ham by a distance. The players we've signed now are used to
playing in high-profile games. That's the way this club are going and it's
going to be huge over the next couple of years."

Collins has a similar challenge internationally, where he must force his way
back into a Wales team who are expected to qualify for next summer's
European Championship. Wales are hoping that Gareth Bale will have recovered
from injury in time for their two qualifying matches against Bosnia and
Herzegovina, followed by Andorra. "I've spoken to Gareth," said Collins. "He
has a little problem with his calf but he'll rest up and be ready. "I told
him, 'Don't worry about playing for Real Madrid — just make sure you're fit
for Wales!'

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West Ham's youngsters have the chance to cast a spell with Leicester's
magician absent
PATRICK BARCLAY Tuesday 22 September 2015 10:30 BST0 comments
Evening Standard

With all due respect to Aston Villa and Birmingham the Capital One Cup tie
of the night has to be West Ham's visit to Leicester. We've seen and admired
the first teams; while Slaven Bilic's men have won at Arsenal, Liverpool and
Manchester City to go third in the Premier League, Claudio Ranieri's
triumphs, including one at Upton Park, stand even higher. If Manchester
didn't exist, they'd be the top two. The King Power Stadium has remained
what it became during the routing of relegation last season — one of the
game's citadels. Yet why should West Ham, with their away record under
Bilic, fear it? Especially as Leicester are likely to rest their most
inspirational players, the magician Riyad Mahrez and defence tormentor Jamie
Vardy.
It's time for the clubs to test their strength in depth and West Ham, of
course, have plenty to prove in this respect after being knocked out of the
Europa League at the third qualifying stage. My view was that Bilic showed
strategic intelligence in fielding a diluted side then. But it might not
look so clever if West Ham also make an early exit from the Cup, leaving the
fans to wait and hope for an FA Cup run to spice the second half of their
season. He'll no doubt omit Dimitri Payet, who, when it comes to making the
purists purr, has been up there with Mahrez. But the travelling fans won't
be too disappointed if they see more of young Manuel Lanzini, while the
home-grown teenager Josh Cullen is another who can win a place in their
hearts, as Reece Oxford did at Arsenal. So good luck to Bilic. For nothing
could better prepare West Ham for the move to Stratford than the successful
promotion of youth

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West Ham's Mark Noble is the most fouled player of the Premier League season
so far
0 COMMENTS 10:56, 22 SEPTEMBER 2015
BY DAVID DUBAS-FISHER
The midfielder has been sinned against a total of 19 times in his six league
appearances in 2015-16, an average of 3.2 per game
The Mirror

West Ham's Mark Noble has been the most fouled player in the Premier League
this season. Players have been pulled up for a foul on Noble 19 times in his
six league appearances in 2015-16, an average of 3.2 per game. That's more
often and more frequently than any other player in the league. Swansea's
Andre Ayew is the next most fouled player with 18 against him at an average
of three per game. Aston Villa's Idrissa Gueye also has also been fouled at
a ratio of three per game, 12 times in total. Alexis Sanchez has suffered 17
fouls so far this season (2.8 per game), Eden Hazard has suffered 16 (2.7
per game), while Ross Barkley and Sadio Mane have both suffered 15 fouls
each at a ratio of 2.5 per match. Attacking midfielders are perhaps
unsurprisingly the ones who are usually on the receiving end of the most
fouls. Eden Hazard topped the list last season, with players being judged to
have fouled him 113 times at an average of three times per match. Raheem
Sterling was second with 94 fouls against him, followed by Sadio Mane (76),
Alexis Sanchez (72), Santi Cazorla (61) and Connor Wickham (61). These
figures are for fouls awarded by a referee and do not include fouls that
have not been given.

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