Daily WHUFC News - 13th April 2018

Arnautovic: A win on Monday would be a big step
WHUFC.com

Marko Arnautovic is looking forward to a big match this Monday at London Stadium when the Hammers take on his former club, Stoke City, under the lights. As the east Londoners look to build on four points from their last two fixtures, Arnautovic is hoping to build on his tally of nine goals for the season. "We can make the gap between us and the bottom bigger on Monday so we're doing everything we can," he said. "We just need to concentrate and put in the effort, and I'm sure we will win the game."
The No7 will look to sink the Potters again after scoring against them in the 3-0 win earlier this season and he says the squad have been putting the hard yards in to prepare for the Monday night match-up. "We are training hard and we are keeping ourselves fit. I think over the weekend we will go into the details of how to play against them. We know what we have to do though."
Arnautovic is confident the home fans will get behind the team again as they come off a spirited 1-1 draw against Chelsea last weekend. The Hammers have been in good form at home recently having lost just once in the past five home matches, while Stoke come into the match having lost four of their last five matches and are winless in nine. This makes Monday night's match all the more important. Arnautovic concurs: "A win would be a big step. This game is massive. It's a big game for us, for the Club, and for the fans. We will go all together on Monday and we will try as hard as we can to get the three points."

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Bobby Moore - Gone but never forgotten
WHUFC.com

The greatest player to ever wear the Claret and Blue would have been 77 today. Bobby Moore OBE, West Ham United's most famous player and England's 1966 World Cup-winning captain, was born on this day in 1941. The central defender made 646 league and cup appearances for the Hammers, scoring 27 goals. Moore was born in Barking on 12 April 1941, making his debut for his local club in a 3-2 win over Manchester United at the Boleyn Ground as a 17-year-old on 8 September 1958. It was the start of a glittering career that is remembered fondly by football fans the world over. As a West Ham player, Moore lifted the FA Cup in 1964 and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1965. A year later, he was back at Wembley to complete an unforgettable hat-trick by lifting the Jules Rimet Trophy following England's 4-2 victory over West Germany. Moore would go on to star at the 1970 World Cup finals in Mexico before moving to Fulham, for whom he played against the Hammers in the 1975 FA Cup final. Following his retirement, Moore moved first into management and then into the world of broadcasting before his life was cut short by cancer in February 1993. He was just 51. Bobby Moore, gone but never forgotten.

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New role for Nik
KUMB.com
Filed: Thursday, 12th April 2018
By: Staff Writer

Slaven Bilic may still be waiting for the right job offer, but one of his former backroom staff members has already returned to football in a management role.
Bilic and his backroom staff were fired by West Ham last November having been held responsible for the club's poor start to the 2017/18 campaign that left the Hammers struggling at the foot of the table.
However Nikola Jurcevic - Bilic's assistant manager at West Ham - has landed himself a plum role back home as manager of leading Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb, who have won the Croatian First Football League in 11 of the last 12 seasons. Last month the 51-year-old former midfielder replaced Mario Cvitanovic in the managerial hotseat, the latter being fired last month following two consecutive 4-1 defeats less than a year after being handed the role. And Jurcevic has got off to a flying start with two wins and a draw in his opening three matches, thus ensuring his team are eight points clear of bitter rivals Hajduk Split, with just eight games of the season remaining. The former Hammers assistant opened his account with a 2-0 win over Rudes before being held to a goalless draw at Inter Zapresic. However Zagreb and Jurcevic returned to winning ways last week when securing a comfortable 4-0 win at struggling Istra 1961 - making them odds on to win a 12th title in 13 seasons.

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Masuaku linked with Spurs and other transfer news
KUMB.com
Filed: Thursday, 12th April 2018
By: Staff Writer

French winger Arthur Masuaku is being linked with a move across London, in today's transfers news. The 25-year-old, who recently returned from a six-match ban for spitting at an opponent during the FA Cup defeat at Wigan Athletic is being linked with both Tottenham and Chelsea in today's tabloids as the current campaign draws to a close. Masuaku, who cost West Ham United £6million when moving from Greek side Olympiakos in the summer of 2016 has become something of a crowd favourite at the Olympic Stadium since he was moved from full back to the wing. However it is suggested that the player - who signed a four-year contract upon joining West Ham - is keen to taste Champions League football and will listen to offers this summer as a result.

* In other transfer news, left-sided full back Aaron Creswell is reported to be a transfer target of former Hammers boss Sam Allardyce. Big Sam, who signed the 28-year-old defender from Ipswich Town in the summer of 2014 (for £3.75million) is keen to be reunited with his former charge, who has also represented England this season, according to the latest speculation. Everton are reported to be willing to pay up to £25million to sign Liverpudlian Cresswell, who was born just a few hundred yards from Everton's Goodison Park ground.

* Elsewhere today in Europe the Hammers are being linked with Barcelona midfielder Andre Gomes, who is also being cited as a potential target for Juventus (by tuttomercatoweb.com) who were knocked out of the Champions League last night. Spurs are also said to be monitoring the situation with view to making a summer bid for the 24-year-old, who cost Barca €35million in 2016 and had previously represented Benfica and Valencia.

* Finally Saint Etienne forward Jonathan Bamba has been linked with a string of clubs across Europe in recent weeks, including West Ham. French media (Foot Sur 7) claim this morning that Fenerbahce have now joined a long list of admirers. Bamba, 21, who is out of contract this summer has repeatedly refused to sign a new deal with Les Verts ; fellow Premier League clubs such as Huddersfield and Newcastle are also said to have registered their interest in the player who is currently the club's second-higest goalscorer this season behind Remy Cabella.

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Hart backed for England World Cup role
KUMB.com
Filed: Thursday, 12th April 2018
By: Staff Writer

West Ham United's most recent signing believes that Joe Hart should go to the World Cup with England. The on-loan goalkeeper has only recently won back his place in the West Ham first team squad after he was preferred to Spanish stopper Adrian by David Moyes. However Patrice Evra believes that Hart is still the best English goalkeeper around - and backed his new team mate to be a success in Russia, having regained his spot at West Ham. "I remember when I came [to West Ham] and Joe wasn't playing," said Evra. "Adrian was playing and I would say 'Joe, come on, you need to play - the World Cup is coming soon'. " I said 'your time is coming, never give up' and you can see how he played against Chelsea. He was the Man of the Match, well deserved, and even today at training he was still Man of the Match. "He was really confident and I'm really happy for him. Big players need to handle the pressure, you're going to get criticised."

The former French international has made three appearances for West Ham since joining the club on a free transfer at the beginning of February - two starts (both 4-1 defeats, against Liverpool and Swansea) and a substitute appearance against Chelsea last weekend.

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THE HERNANDEZ DEBATE - SHOULD HE START?
By Blind Hammer 12 Apr 2018 at 08:00
WTID

Blind Hammer also looks at the enigmatic pros and cons of starting Hernandez

One of the risks of writing weekly posts is that other bloggers will submit posts of similar ilk. Great minds think alike and all that. With apologies then I submit this piece already written before FC Chandos posted yesterday. At least this can be presented as a debate. here is the piece written on Tuesday.

If West Ham survive the relegation threat which has haunted us, it will be due, in no small measure, to Hernandez's goals. He would concede that he has not set the Premiership alight, yet his equaliser against Chelsea adds to a tally of match winning or point grabbing contributions. His away goal against Palace ensured we rescued a point despite their second half domination. In the reverse fixture Palace conceded a penalty against his threat, enabling Noble to equalise. Another effort garnered a precious point against Bournemouth. His goal against Watford highlights the important of his contribution against teams considered our rivals. In a season with an extraordinarily compressed lower table these contributions have probably ensured our survival. Without his interventions in these critical fixtures we would not only be at least 7 points worse off, but arguably, just as damagingly, adrift as we would have surrendered at least 9 points to immediate relegation rivals.
In only 3 games have Hernandez's goals failed in a losing cause. His brace away against Southampton accompanied another South coast reversal against Brighton. His remaining goal in a losing cause registered in our home defeat to Tottenham.

Hernandez has achieved this despite niggling injuries and illness feeding prolonged absences. When played he often finds himself in a formation ill-suited to his strengths.

There seems objective evidence then that Moyes should be inking Hernandez in as one of the first names on his team sheet.
Yet even now considerable doubt surrounds Hernandez inclusion. He can plummet from hero to zero in the space of 90 minutes. He is the classic goal scoring enigma, offering little beyond goal poaching. When he is good, he is very very good; when bad he can be awful. He disappears in scraps requiring effort, muscularity and athleticism.

Luckily Marco Arnautovic has emerged as a match winner who can offer the requisite athleticism and work rate that Hernandez seems unable to provide. Consequently it is Arnautovic who has grabbed the main headlines. He has been the inspirational force in our most eye catching performances, whether it the winner in our home fixture against Chelsea, our away thumpings of Stoke and Huddersfield, or arguably our game of the decade in the home win, against enormous pre-match pressure against Southampton.
Equally importantly, until the Chelsea equaliser, our most incisive offensive partnerships have relied on Arnautovic combining with Lanzini rather than Hernandez. I can remember only the Watford game as an occasion when Hernandez joined Arnautovic on the score sheet.

Yet Hernandez is not the only player who can flit from hero to zero in a blink. Mario and Fernandez received justifiable praised for their performance against Southampton but were heavily criticised for their anonymous performance against Chelsea. Arguments are already building for their replacement by Hernandez and possibly, if fit, Lanzini.
I have sympathy for both Mario and Fernandez. Lauded for their positive performance against players like Redmond they are panned for not replicating this against players of the calibre of Hazard and William. This seems illogical to me. Stoke will provide a challenge similar to that provided by Southampton. I am not persuaded that we should jettisoned Fernandez. Against Southampton he provided the pace, energy and commitment which we are likely to require. Lambert will ensure that Stoke offer a challenge of hard work, high pressing, and physical combativeness. The game is likely to be a blood and thunder battle. In other words it may be just the sort of game in which Hernandez will struggle.

Hernandez's accomodation actually still takes second place to greater priorities. Over the season our Leakey and ineffectual defence continues as our most punishing weakness. Any recent improvement should not blind us to our shocking defensive record. The bald stats do not lie. In the goals against table we are easily in the bottom 3. Amongst all the teams below us actually only Stoke have a worse record than us. Stoke will understand then, more than anybody, the paper thin confidence a porous defence can create. They will inevitably target this vulnerability. Only 2 games ago we conceded 7 goals to Swansea and Burnley. Despite the revelation of Declan Rice increasingly mature emergence it would be foolish to assume that these problems are behind us. Stoke will attempt to exploit this fragility. Lambert will also hope that negative volatility of campaign against the Stadium will re-emerge if West Ham fall behind and will help their cause.

All this indicates that this is another game in which the first goal will be critical. Whilst this has been billed as a "must win" it is in reality a must not lose game. Drawing against Stoke would be disappointing but not terminal. Losing might just plummet our season and snatch defeat out of the jaws of safety.

Moyes will know that in recent games Stoke have paid the price of tiring after initial first half efforts. It seems then that Hernandez is best positioned again to make a telling contribution from the bench. His particular skill set may be lethal against tiring Stoke defenders with weakened concentration. Match winning interventions from the bench are under rated. Before the season Mourinho praised the talents of Hernandez, and his goal scoring record. It was precisely his ability to transform games from the bench that he was most complementary of. What we require first and foremost against Stoke is a solid performance. It is from that position of strength that Hernandez's talents may assist us most.

COYI
David Griffith

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