Cresswell - Payet is the best in the world
WHUFC.com
Aaron Cresswell had the best view inside the Boleyn Ground when Dimitri
Payet lined up his free-kick against Crystal Palace on Saturday and has no
doubts he is the best in the world. Cresswell was standing next to the
French star when the Hammers were awarded a free-kick just before half-time.
After scoring a spectacular set-piece just a few days earlier for France,
Payet followed that up with another wonder strike as he curled the ball into
the opposite corner and the roof of the net. Cresswell feels Payet is the
best free-kick specialist in the world at the moment and hopes he can
continue his amazing form and help the Hammers push for a European spot come
the end of the season. Cresswell said: "I will put Dimi up there as the best
free-kick taker in the world at the moment. I was standing right behind him
and the ball looked destined for the top corner.
"Nobes came over to him and gave him a little heads-up, but he has put it in
the top corner once again and hopefully he can keep doing that for us. "I
will gladly sit behind him and keep watching him strike balls like that. "I
am not sure he will want to watch his first free-kick back but he has now
scored five or six in the top corner and as everyone saw in world football
the other day, he scored another one for France which was a ridiculous one
and he has now put one in the opposite corner. "As a keeper you can only
applaud someone like that and long may it continue if he can keep scoring
goals like that."
Cresswell was disappointed to only come away with a point against Palace and
felt the outcome would have been a lot different had Cheikhou Kouyate not
received a red card in the second half following his challenge on Dwight
Gayle. Cresswell added: "It is disappointing in the end considering the
circumstances. I think we were excellent in the first half and then during
the second half the sending off has changed the whole game. "If that had not
happened I think we would have gone on to win the game. "It is one of those
things which has happened and we have got to get it out of our system and go
again. I have seen the replay on the television and there is no malice in
it and he has not gone over the top of the ball. "He slid in and kicked the
ball. It might be a foul but it is not a yellow card and certainly not a red
card."
The point leaves the Hammers in fifth position and just three points behind
Manchester City in fourth place. With another London derby against Arsenal
next weekend at the Boleyn Ground, Cresswell says the race for a European
spot is still wide open as the Club prepare for the final seven league games
of the season. "We have still got it all to play for. It is another point on
the board and considering the circumstances we are disappointed with it, but
there is nothing we can do and the whole game changed from that. "We have
now got another big London derby against Arsenal next weekend and we need to
get ready for that. We will be 100 per cent at it and it is one we are
looking forward to."
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Dev Squad ready for Play-off push
WHUFC.com
West Ham United's Development Squad host Stoke City in their final home
league game of the season on Monday 4 April, knowing a win will strengthen
their play-off chances. Currently fifth, just three points off tomorrow's
opponents Stoke, the Hammers are looking to fend off the chasing pack which
includes Swansea City, West Bromwich Albion and Blackburn Rovers, all of
whom have games in hand. Earlier in the season, the Potters came from a goal
down to win 2-1 in the reverse fixture back in September thanks to late
goals from Dominic Telford and Yusuf Oban. Now, Terry Westley's men will be
looking to avenge that defeat and go in to tomorrow's encounter full of
confidence having progressed to the Barclays U21 Premier League Cup final
with Hull City, having beaten Liverpool in the semis.
Kick off at Rush Green Stadium is 7pm, admission is FREE for all fans.
Following Monday's encounter, the young Hammers travel to title-challenging
Aston Villa on Monday 11 April in their final game of the 2015/16 league
season.
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Stat's a Fact - Payet's free kick wizardry
WHUFC.com
You would have to go a long way to find a more in-form striker of free kicks
than Dimitri Payet at the moment. His wonderful goal against Crystal Palace
was his third successful conversion from a dead ball situation in his last
four games for club and country. The 20-yard strike left goalkeeper Wayne
Hennessey bamboozled and took his tally of free-kick goals to five for the
season. All five have come since the turn of the year, with Bournemouth's
Artur Boruc, Blackburn's Jason Steele, Manchester United's David de Gea,
Russia's Yuri Lodygin and now Hennessey having no answer to the Frenchman's
wizardry. His goals against the Red Devils and Russia were textbook examples
of lifting the ball over the wall and giving a goalkeeper no chance by
dipping it into the net with too much ground the make up. This time, against
Palace and with the ball so close to goal, he opted to change it up and whip
the shot over onto the goalkeeper's side, with the power, swerve and dip
leaving the Wales international with no chance. Such is Payet's prowess from
free kicks now, the award of one within shooting range now elicits such
anticipation from Hammers fans. Payet is certainly living up to that
expectation - and then some. Saturday's goal was perhaps the pick of the
lot. Only one player in the Barclays Premier League has scored more direct
free-kicks that Payet this term - Chelsea's Willian - but given the No27's
red hot form, it would be no surprise if he were to overhaul him by the
season's end.
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Aaron Cresswell hails West Ham's Dimitri Payet as one of the world's best
free-kick taker
By Nick Lustig
Last Updated: 03/04/16 4:28pm
SSN
Aaron Cresswell has labelled West Ham team-mate Dimitri Payet as the best
set-piece taker in the world. On Saturday, Payet scored a sensational
20-yard free-kick to put West Ham in front against Crystal Palace, but his
strike was not enough to claim victory with the visitors pegging the Hammers
back to claim a 2-2 draw at the Boleyn Ground. The 29-year-old's growing
reputation as a dead-ball specialist was enhanced earlier this week when he
struck a stunning 30-yard free-kick for France in their 4-2 international
friendly victory over Russia. Those strikes, coupled with Payet's other
free-kick goals in the recent FA Cup matches against Blackburn Rovers and
Manchester United, has left Cresswell in no doubt about the midfielder's
ability from dead-ball situations. "I will put Dimi up there as the best
free-kick taker in the world at the moment. I was standing right behind him
and the ball looked destined for the top corner," the left-back told the
club's official website. "Nobes [Mark Noble] came over to him and gave him
a little heads-up, but he has put it in the top corner once again and
hopefully he can keep doing that for us. I will gladly sit behind him and
keep watching him strike balls like that. I am not sure he will want to
watch his first free-kick back but he has now scored five or six in the top
corner and as everyone saw in world football the other day, he scored
another one for France which was a ridiculous one and he has now put one in
the opposite corner. "As a keeper you can only applaud someone like that
and long may it continue if he can keep scoring goals like that."
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West Ham to appeal against Cheikhou Kouyate red card
By Nick Lustig
Last Updated: 03/04/16 10:09am
SSN
West Ham will appeal the red card picked up by midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate
during Saturday's 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace. Kouyate was shown a straight
red card by referee Mark Clattenburg in the 67th minute, despite appearing
to win the ball first in a challenge with Palace forward Dwight Gayle. West
Ham, who were leading 2-1 at the time of Kouyate's dismissal, failed to hold
on to their one goal advantage with Gayle netting an equaliser in the 75th
minute to earn Palace a point.
Slaven Bilic has blasted referee Mark Clattenburg's decision to send off
Cheikhou Kouyate...
"Disappointing decision by Mark Clattenburg to red card Kouyate which we
will be appealing. We must give referees more TV replay help," a tweet from
West Ham co-chairman David Gold read. Kouyate will serve a three-match ban
if the Football Association decide to uphold Clattenburg's decision and miss
the upcoming matches against Arsenal and Leicester as well as the FA Cup
quarter-final replay with Manchester United.
In February, West Ham appealed successfully against the red card Kouyate
received during the 5-1 FA Cup fifth-round win over Blackburn Rovers.
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CLATTENBURG: IT'S ALL ABOUT ME!
By Iain Dale 2 Apr 2016 at 20:36 145 comments
WTID
Guest Post by Rugby Irons
They say fine margins make all the difference. Today we saw just how true
that was. Mark Clattenburg with a rush of blood may have changed our season.
The best refs take their time to get the big decisions right but he couldn't
get his card out quick enough for Kouyate's dismissal.
It's a lazy tackle from a committed player. But it was an honest tackle. I
referee so know only too well how hard it is. I also know the Laws, which at
Premier level are judged differently and inconsistently. How Clattenberg has
deemed it a straight red is very disappointing if not surprising for him. He
is supposed to be a top referee so you would expect him to get the big ones
right.
His position was first rate ,just a couple of yards away, the game was was
an hour old ,so knew the players and pace of the game, he had a perfect
view, he could it was there to be won by both players, and if Kouyate got it
wrong, then it's a foul. Fair enough. But when you watch it again
Clattenburg is straight in - red card out, name in all the papers, wrong
decision and changed the game.
In truth, it's not a first time. Even in a small elite group, Clattenburg
makes the same rash decisions that change and spoil games. Can't he learn?
You will also note, that a lot of his decisions favour the bigger clubs. The
best referees take time to get the big decisions right. Had he done so we
would have had two more points.
But that of course is just the start of it. Koyoute is now missing for three
games - Arsenal, Man U and Leicester. Fancy that, the three biggest games of
the season to come, all in one week, and because of Clattenburg's poor
refereeing, we are now missing our best player.
If I were Mulder, I might start to think that sending off our most
influential player, just as we play the big boys might just be seen as a
conspiracy. But as I say, he has a history of favouritism to the big boys,
because they promote his career. So,unless we win an appeal, and let's face
it the FA are just as likely to protect United and Citeh's interests, that
one decision is really going to hurt us.
It's also worth noting that Kouyate was having a good game and we were very
likely to go on and win the game. And both Managers have come out and
disagreed with the decision, so credit to Pards for that.
So there you are, one rash decision, not a stray pass, an own goal, headbutt
or bite,but a well placed international referee, bigging himself up - again
- and getting it wrong. I'll be glad when we are a big club and the
decisions go our way!
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Dimi's amazing free kick/goals conversion rate
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on April 3, 2016 in News, Whispers
C and H
Exclusive
Regular readers will know us over here at ClaretandHugh aren't big on stats
- news is more our scene!
But because we are about to reveal the truth on Dimitri Payet's amazing free
kicks we are happy to make an exception.
They show a pretty extraordinary conversion rate from free kicks to goals
since he became the Irons regular free kick taker.
The figures we are quoting here also include the incredible 37 yard goal he
scored on his return to the French international team last week.
Dimi started taking free kicks on January 12 in the goal-less draw at home
against Stoke City and since then he has struck 10 of them for five goals -
an extraordinary 50 per cent conversion rate.
He has also hit the post and forced a save of the season qualifier out of
Manchester City and England keeper Joe Hart so with just a touch more luck
he would have had a 70 per cent conversion rate.
The stats are amazing by anyone's standards but there are literally no words
to describe the quality of his strikes.
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Gold: This has to stop
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on April 3, 2016 in News, Whispers
C and H
Fed-up David Gold has had enough of incorrect refereeing decisions and has
called for technology to be introduced NOW.
Taking again about the Mark Clattenburg decision to send off Cheik Kouyate
he told ClaretandHugh: "Nobody wants to see this and it is happening to us
week after week.
"I have called in the past for a third ref in the box and it has to happen -
surely. At the moment the referees have two assistants and in the majority
of cases they all seem to be coming to the same conclusion on incidents
which I frankly don't understand.
"Yesterday everybody we spoke to after the game agreed Cheik should not have
been send off - surely we can't all be wrong because several of them were
Palace people.
"Cricket has a third umpire and there are only odd occasions when the
decision remains unclear after several viewings and if that's the case in
football then we go with the referee. Simple.
"At the moment we are taking about decisions within the game rather than the
game itself. Referees must have help - the shouldn't be made to have to live
with decisions that may be wrong f we have the means of proving the issue
one way or the other. We're all human."
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Football's stuck in dark ages - let's get a grip
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on April 3, 2016 in Hugh's Blogs, News, Whispers
C and H
There's an old saying that goes: "Once is an accident, twice maybe
coincidence but after that you have more sinister thoughts!"
The bundling of Darren Randolph into the Manchester United net which led to
an FA Cup equaliser and a replay may therefore have been an accident, but
the penalty that never was against Chelsea and now the sending off of Cheik
Kouyate yesterday ( not to mention the rescinded one against Blackburn )
really does make you think.
David Gold has made his case for using technology and it's hard not to agree
that compared with other sports , the biggest and best game on the planet is
living in the dark ages.
Ok, as an Irons fans I've had enough, but surely every other sensible fan
believes the time has arrived for a radical technological shake up haven't
they?
Cricket - where a number of captain appeals are allowed against dodgepot
decision as well as regularly employing TV on a vriety of issues - - rugby
and the NFL have all moved into the 21st century so why has football left
itself stuck in the dark ages.
There are those who claim that the after match arguments are the beauty of
the game. I'm not among them. Cricket has benefited from the third umpire
and I believe the same would be true of football.
Quite apart from anything else there are millions of pounds at stake every
season on positional and European qualifying positioning.
Clubs may indeed be relegated as a result of the sort of decision we saw by
Mark Clattenburg yesterday. The time is here and the time is NOW. We need
technology to settle these errors of judgement or confirm correct decisions.
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No second thoughts on Kouyate
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on April 3, 2016 in News, Whispers
C and H
West Ham intend to go ahead with the appeal against Cheik Kouyate's red card
despite Slave Bilic being fed up with FA appeals.
ClaretandHugh was the first to beak the news that an appeal was on the way
against Mark Clattenbourg's game-changing decision against Palace.
And this morning David gold -currently holding an open day for fans at his
home - made it clear the club would not be changing its mind on the issue.
Bilic had declared: ""Will we appeal? I am fed up with appealing," said
Bilic.
However, Gold - and it is understood David Sullivan - are determined to get
what they consider is justive and Gold said: "No second thoughts - we will
be pressing ahead with the appeal.
"It can all become very tiring but this is a crucial last stage of the
season and we have to do all we can to keep our best players on the pitch."
Kouyate had looked tired as he made the challenge and it maybe that the trek
from international duty with Senegal found him out in the later stages of
the game.
However, there is now little question after Clattenburg's decision met with
a chorus of universal disapproval from all sides, the appeal will go ahead.
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Hammers respond to Watford rumour
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on April 3, 2016 in News, Whispers
C and H
Re-cyled reports in The Sun that the Hammers are interested in Watford's
Odion Ighalo is "on West Ham's list for a big-name striker" are entirely
wrong.
The Hammers were interested earlier in the season and even made an inquiry
which is presumably where this report has been resurrected from.
But ClaretandHugh, when inquiring as to whether he remained a target was
told a week ago t the club had no interest at all.
We were told: "He looked the type of player we wanted when scoring 13 in the
first half of the season but he has managed only three since the turn of the
year and has fallen out of our thoughts as a result.
It's well known the Hammers are ready to spend big on a striker this summer
but that won't be on Nigerian Ighalo .
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Monday, April 4
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