Birmingham City boss Alex McLeish will wait a little longer before deciding
whether to sign Nigel Quashie on loan. A decision had been expected on a
possible loan move to St Andrew's for the West Ham United midfielder, who
has been training with Blues. McLeish told BBC WM: "Nigel's had a difficult
couple of weeks. "We want to wait until we can see him in a much sharper
vein over the next couple of weeks. We'll make decisions later on, maybe not
right now."
Quashie joined West Ham in January 2007 following the fourth of his
relegations from the Premier League with West Bromwich Albion (he also went
down with QPR, Nottingham Forest and Southampton). He has made just seven
starts in almost two years at Upton Park, largely down to a nagging foot
injury which kept him out all of last season. McLeish gave him the last of
his 14 caps for Scotland in June 2007 against the Faeroe Islands. The Blues
boss has also deferred a decision on whether to sign another recent
trialist, the Togolese midfielder Souleymane Mamam.
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Hull v West Ham - BBC
Venue: KC Stadium Date: Sunday, 19 October Kick-off: 1500 BST
Coverage: BBC Sport website, BBC Radio 5 Live & highlights on Match of the
Day 2
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Team news to follow later.
BIG-MATCH FACTS
Hull City take on West Ham protecting a 100% Premier League record against
London clubs.
The Tigers are unbeaten in four; their three wins and one draw in September
gained Phil Brown the manager of the month award.
West Ham pay their first visit to the KC Stadium looking for their first
points against a promoted club this season, having already lost away to West
Brom.
This is the first meeting of these clubs since they fought out a goalless
draw at Boothferry Park in the old Second Division on 23 March 1991.
Distance between the clubs: 188 miles (302 kilometres)
CLUB FORM
HULL CITY
Club stats
Going into the weekend: 3rd 14 points
2008-09 Premier League performance
(all statistics are ahead of this weekend's round of Premier League
fixtures)
1. Targeting a hat-trick of Premier League victories.
2. Won the last two, away to Arsenal and Tottenham.
3. Three of their four Premier League victories have been against clubs from
the capital. The first was an opening day home victory over Fulham.
4. Picked up six more points away from home than at the KC Stadium (four at
home, 10 away); the widest such dichotomy in the Premier League, which is
matched only by Everton.
5. The highest placed club with a negative goal difference.
Fixtures
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WEST HAM UNITED
Club stats
Going into the weekend: 6th 12 points
2008-09 Premier League performance
(all statistics are ahead of this weekend's round of Premier League
fixtures)
1. In danger of suffering successive defeats for the first time in 12
Premier League outings, since tumbling to three defeats in a row between 29
March and 12 April 2008, against Sunderland (a), Portsmouth (h) and Bolton
(a).
2. Pursuing back-to-back away victories, having gained their first maximum
in nine away games with a 1-2 victory over Fulham on 27 September.
3. Not managed two successive victories on their Premier League travels
since defeating Blackburn and Middlesbrough on 9 and 22 December 2007.
4. Not recorded a draw, nor kept a clean sheet in any game in any
competition this season.
5. On the longest current run by any club in the Premier League of 19
matches since a clean sheet; the 0-1 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage on 23
February being the most recent.
6. Completed 35 Premier League matches since a goalless draw; the most
recent being away to Portsmouth on 27 October.
7. Could become the first club to commit 100 fouls in Premier League matches
this season; on an unmatched 98 at present.
Fixtures
KEY PLAYER NOTES
HULL CITY
Squad profiles
Nick BARMBY needs a hat-trick to reach 100 club career goals.
Dean WINDASS is a hat-trick shy of 200 goals in English and Scottish league
football.
If selected:-
Andy DAWSON will be playing on the eve of his 30th birthday.
Wayne BROWN will be making his 50th appearance in a Hull shirt.
Loanee Paul McSHANE will be making his 100th career league appearance
(Walsall, Brighton, West Brom, Sunderland and Hull).
Richard GARCIA will be playing against a former club. The 27 year old
Australian forward made 22 appearances (16 in the league) for West Ham from
the outset of his professional career to his move to Colchester in September
2004.
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WEST HAM UNITED
Squad profiles
Lee BOWYER is a double shy of 50 career Premier League goals (Leeds,
Newcastle and West Ham).
If selected:-
Dean ASHTON will be making his 250th career league appearance (Crewe,
Norwich and West Ham).
Hayden MULLINS will be making his 200th appearance in a West Ham shirt.
James COLLINS will be making his 100th career league appearance (Cardiff and
West Ham).
Mark NOBLE spent three months on loan to Hull in 2006.
If on the field from the outset:-
Matthew ETHERINGTON will be making his 150th league start in West Ham
colours.
HEAD TO HEAD
West Ham have not won at Hull in 54 years, since a 0-1 triumph in the old
Second Division on 13 September 1954.
The Hammers' last victory over the Tigers was 7-1 at Upton Park on 6 October
1990 in the second tier.
Home and away
League (inc PL): Hull 8 wins, West Ham 11, Draws 13
Prem: Hull 0 wins, West Ham 0, Draws 0
at Hull only
League (inc PL): Hull 6 wins, West Ham 3, Draws 7
Prem: Hull 0 wins, West Ham 0, Draws 0
REFEREE
Chris Foy (St Helens, Merseyside)
Premier League referees' table
Chris Foy's 2008-09 Premier League card count
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Hull City v West Ham Utd: preview - KUMB
Filed: Thursday, 16th October 2008
By: Staff Writer
Next up we have Hull in a match that has been moved to Sunday for no good
reason other than the local police said so. Either the constabulary
genuinely believes that any troublemakers will prefer to attend church that
day or they are abusing their powers in an attempt to a) make travel
difficult for law-abiding citizens, and b) make themselves a cosy few bob in
Sunday overtime. You decide.
Hull City is a unique football club for at least three reasons. Firstly, and
no I haven't checked this out so don't complain if it's wrong, apparently
it's the only club in the four divisions whose name contains absolutely no
letters that can be coloured in. Secondly they were the first club ever to
get knocked out of a cup competition by penalties (in a prehistoric
pre-season competition called the Watney Cup). Thirdly, and most
importantly, they are the club that took part in an event that was unique in
British, nay World football history. On 6 October 1990 at the Boleyn, Steve
Potts picked up a ball on the right hand side and, running towards the North
Bank, he let fly from a good 30 yards out. Much as we'd like to remember it
as a screamer that hit the top corner the truth is that the 'keeper made a
complete pig's ear of the shot and fumbled it through his own legs. The goal
- our second in a 7-1 win - came in Pottsy's 88th senior appearance, and,
though he went on to complete over 400 league and cup appearances for the
club, the goal remained his only one in the claret and blue.
That match occurred in the old second division (that's "The Championship" to
you kids).Much has changed for both clubs in the intervening years. Hull
went through a number of ownership changes and, for a while were owned by
Ilford-boy and former Davis Cup tennis player David Lloyd. Lloyd sold the
club to new owners having cannily kept hold of Boothferry Park in the
process and endeared himself to, well nobody in football really, when, in
2001, he locked the ailing club out of the ground during a period of
administration, though the matter was eventually resolved. A winding-up
order courtesy of HM Customs was survived, new owners took over and a move
to the snappily-named Kingston Communications Stadium followed in 2002. The
current owners took over in June 2007 following a relegation battle that saw
them stay up in one place above the drop zone. The margin of safety was 7
points however, though this would have been reduced to three but for Leeds
United's cynical manipulation of the administration process that saw them
take a 10 point hit once relegation was a mathematical certainty. The
2007/08 season therefore came as something of a surprise to even the most
ardent Hull fan as they finished third and went on to claim the third
promotion slot at Wembley where a Dean Windass effort was enough to see off
Bristol City in the play-off final.
Since that day bookies and pundits alike have happily written off Hull's
survival chances. Only nobody at the KC seems to have read the script and
the Tigers sit happily at third place in the table with 14 points, two more
than ourselves. Their last two outings have resulted in wins at the Emirates
(only the second club ever to do so of course) and at White Hart Lane where
the visiting support cruelly chanted "are you Arsenal in disguise?" during
the 1-0 victory that preceded the international break.
Hull started both matches with the same line-up. In goal US-born, England
U21 cap and now Welsh squad member Glyn Myhill is the current 'keeper of
choice. Myhill is listed by most sources as having the first name "Boaz" -
presumably in order to distinguish him from all those other
Anglo-Welsh-American goalkeepers called Glyn that were born in Modesto,
California. In front of him the central pairing of Michael Turner and
Barking-born Wayne Brown has been interrupted by injury to the latter and
on-loan Paul McShane has kept Myhill's fellow Taff squad member Sam Ricketts
out of the starting line-up. Andy Dawson at left back and Kamil Zayatte at
right back complete the back four. Zayatte, a Guinean international, is
currently on loan from Swiss outfit Young Boys, though a deal has been
agreed to make the transfer permanent during the January window. Dawson is
brother to Tottenham's Michael which must make for some fun family phone
calls at the moment.
In the middle, Hull can call on the services of another Barking-born player
in Dean Marney. Marney was described by former Spurs boss Martin Jol as "a
complete player" so it was no surprise that he was sold. Marney usually
partners club skipper Ian Ashbee and the experienced George Boateng in the
middle. Ashbee is a player that seems to meet with mixed reactions from the
Hull faithful, but, since the last four Hull managers have all made him
skipper during their respective reigns he must have something going for him.
Current favourite amongst the KC crowd is Geovanni who arrived during
close-season having been released by Manchester City. Geovanni is the club's
current top scorer and the Brazilian has a habit of scoring spectacular
efforts from distance so the defence will have to be on their best behaviour
on Sunday and avoid giving away unnecessary free-kicks outside the box
(though the fact that halfwit referee Mike Dean won't be in charge will be a
help in that respect). Another option in midfield is local veteran Nick
Barmby but he has featured in only two matches this season - one of those
appearances being from the bench. Barmby played in the memorable 5-1 defeat
of Germany by England back in 2001 and his last cap came in the draw with
Greece a month later that sealed qualification for the 2002 World Cup.
Blimey was it that long ago?
Up front the current pairing of choice is Marlon King and Daniel Cousin.
King is currently on loan from Wigan. I suggested in an earlier preview that
King was touring crap towns, a comment that met with a response that Hull
actually has some nice countryside nearby. So I'll just say that King is
obviously touring places that "have nice countryside nearby". Cousin has had
an interesting recent history to say the least. Formerly with Rangers, he
seemed set to join Fulham in the January 2008 window but was denied
permission to move by FIFA because players are only allowed to play for two
clubs in a season, unless, of course, Liverpool are involved, when the rules
mysteriously cease to apply. Cousin saw out the remainder of 07/08 in
Scotland before ending up in Hull, presumably having been told about the
nice countryside that is nearby.
Other options up front include former Hammer Richard Garcia, who is likely
to start in the racing car seats on Sunday, and the aforementioned Dean
Windass. Windass has done the rounds, starting and probably finishing off at
Hull and including an early spell at Aberdeen in which he managed to somehow
get himself a yellow and three red cards in the one match without the
involvement of a certain Mr Poll. The first red came for a second yellow
after which Windass refused to leave, an act that brought the second red
card. The third was shown when Windass finally left when he decided to take
it all out on the corner flag which came off second-best in the altercation.
A lengthy ban ensued and the corner flag recovered after counselling.
As for us, we'll be looking to a return to winning ways after the pre-break
defeat by Bolton. Despite his 'mare in the Bolton match, the injury
sustained on England duty by Rob Green is a worry and at the time of writing
the club has been silent on the prospects of his making the starting
line-up. The extra day's rest will hopefully be a help, especially since
Lastuvka's only outing to date, in the League Cup defeat to Watford, was not
exactly inspiring. Matty Upson and Mark Noble appear to have emerged
unscathed from their full and U-21 international exertions and rumours of
Valeron Behrami's demise proved (thankfully) to be wildly exaggerated so we
ought to be close to full strength (well as close as we can ever be anyway).
Bellamy's starts for Wales will have improved his match fitness and, having
caused the German defence a few problems the other night he must now be
getting close to a place in the starting line-up. James Collins also had an
impressive night in Monchengladbach and he could be a good bet for the bench
as is Diego Tristan, who may also be added to the squad if the two week
trial to prove his fitness hasn't actually knackered him.
Hull are on a high at the moment following their consecutive victories over
North London opposition but I'll take us to stop the trend. However, a
victory may be just a little too much to expect against a side whose
collective spirit at present is resulting in the whole exceeding the sum of
the parts by quite some degree. For that reason, and the fact that we're
overdue a draw, I'll plump for a 2-2 on this occasion.
Enjoy the match!
Last Season: did not play
Danger Man: Geovanni
Look out for: Flying corner flags if Windass gets the hump
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Diego: Zola is reason I came to Hammers
This Is London
Diego Tristan has admitted the prospect of playing for Gianfranco Zola lured
him to West Ham. The 30-year-old Spanish striker signed on a free contract
this week and is delighted to have been given the opportunity to resurrect
his career by the Italian. He said: "The treatment and welcome I've had from
Franco and all the players around the West Ham training ground while I've
been here on trial has been literally incredible. "They've put a lot of
effort into making me feel at home and making me give my best on the
training ground. I'm inspired to find that a guy who was such a brilliant
footballer is equally topclass as a manager and I'm really hoping that
Franco will prove to be a successful coach. "My objective now that I've
been offered this unexpected chance is to score the goals which make West
Ham and Zola great."
But the former Deportivo La Coruna striker is still bitter that no top clubs
in Italy or Spain came in for him. He added: "I lost a lot of weight and
got really in form for Livorno last season. I know that Zola spotted me in
Italy and thought that I'd be right for him if the opportunity arose and now
it has. "I am two weeks away from making my debut and I'll have to adapt,
quickly, to life in London. "Carlton Cole plays really well with his back to
goal and I'm the guy who the club thinks can complement him. "I've been told
our objective is to take West Ham into Europe this season and nothing would
give me greater pleasure than to help them achieve that."
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Bellamy: Thank God Aaron is Welsh
Wales captain Craig Bellamy is excited by the prospect of playing alongside
Aaron Ramsey, saying: "Thank God that he is Welsh."
TeamTalk.co.uk
The West Ham striker, bitterly disappointed with the 1-0 defeat by Germany
in a World Cup qualifier on Wednesday in Monchengladbach, believes youngster
Ramsey is set for a glittering career for club and country. Ramsey almost
guided the Wales Under-21s to success over England in midweek with a
stunning 30-yard goal in the UEFA Championship play-off. Now the former
Cardiff midfielder, who has already played in the Champions League for
Arsenal this season, is set to win his first senior cap in Wales' friendly
in Denmark next month. Bellamy said: "I just thank God that he is Welsh.
Aaron is different to a lot of boys I have been involved with in football.
"He seems to glide, his balance is superb and he is just special. He is just
17 so he could have an incredible career ahead of him. "It could go the
other way of course, but he is at one of the best clubs in the world, with
the best manager. "I know Aaron's family and he has enough talented,
experienced people around him not to need any advice from me. "He is in good
hands where he is and he has a good family around him."
And Bellamy believes Wales will soon begin to benefit from the emerging
talent in their Under-21 squad. It is very likely by the time their next
World Cup qualifiers arrive in March against Finland and Germany in Cardiff,
Ramsey will be a key component in the senior midfield. Bellamy added: "Aaron
Ramsey is special, he is a one-off. I just hope he keeps improving for the
benefit of Welsh football. But the rest of the Under-21s have done
brilliantly as well and I am in awe of what they have achieved. "Very few of
them are playing regular club football so you wonder what is going wrong.
"We need them to be playing in their first teams and they need to go back to
their clubs and win a place. "They are obviously good enough and if they get
regular football a few of them will move up into the senior squad and try to
impress. "If they are still not playing over the next few months then they
won't be picked. We have young players in the senior squad who are in a
similar situation with their clubs, so they are promising but they need to
progress. "We want them to kick on and hopefully that will make us a better
and more experienced team."
Bellamy survived his first full match for almost a year after continued
injury problems, and now aims to be in West Ham's front-line at Hull on
Sunday. He said: "It was my first 90 minutes in a year and it is brilliant
to know that I am feeling great and ready to play on Sunday. Maybe I need to
be a bit sharper and a bit fitter. But that will come."
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Hammers seek full hearing
Teletext.co.uk
West Ham hope the Court of Arbitration for Sport's probe into the Carlos
Tevez affair will lead to a full hearing. The CAS have begun an arbitration
procedure but must initially establish whether they have the power to
adjudicate over the matter. A Hammers spokesman said: "This is the start of
the CAS process and we hope it will be the first step toward a full
arbitration hearing in due course."
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West Ham's Bellamy keen to be mentor for Arsenal kid Ramsey
17.10.08 | tribalfootball.com
West Ham United striker Craig Bellamy is happy to mentor Arsenal superkid
Aaron Ramsey. "Aaron is special, he is a one-off," said Bellamy. "I hope he
can keep going and develop. He is different to a lot of the boys I have been
involved with. He has this ability to glide and show balance. He is just
special. "We have to remember he is only 17 so it could be an incredible
career. But it could go the other way. He is under the best manager in the
world for me, in Arsene Wenger. I just thank God he is Welsh. "I know his
family and his old man as they are from the same area of Cardiff as me. He
has enough talented people at his club that he is in good hands and he has a
good family behind him to kick him on. But if he needs to speak to me I'll
always be there."
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West Ham keeper Stech delighted with progress
17.10.08 | tribalfootball.com
West Ham United goalkeeper Marek Stech is happy with his progress. The 18
year-old Czech Republic keeper is set to travel with the first team again to
Hull City this weekend and told whufc.com: "It's great training with the
first team as you get good experience. "You see the atmosphere on the pitch.
It's great to train with the first team and to be with the players before
and after the game. It's a nice experience even just to warm up before the
game." The 6'4 goalkeeper, who more than impressed in playing three times
for the first team during pre-season, is being mentored at the club by his
compatriot Ludek Miklosko and is learning a lot from the goalkeeping coach.
"Ludo's unbelievable. Every day we work hard and on the training pitch and
he is a fantastic coach," Stech added.
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Noble hails Zola's West Ham impact
17.10.08 | tribalfootball.com
Mark Noble says Gianfranco Zola has already made a big impact at West Ham
United. "Hopefully we can really push on and push up the table with West Ham
this year," the midfielder told setantasports.com. "Zola's brilliant - he
wants to play football. He's a brilliant manager - a great man-manager - and
he gets on really well with the lads. "I think it's important that he keeps
on drilling us to play football the right way. I think if you've seen us
play the last three or four games, we're really passing it well. "I know we
didn't get the result against Bolton - that was a little bit of bad luck -
but he's good for us."
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Behrami agent insists he's happy at West Ham
17.10.08 | tribalfootball.com
Valon Behrami's agent insists the midfielder is happy at West Ham. "The
rumour saying the player is unsettled at West Ham is wrong; it comes from
Italy, where several clubs have always been interested in him - Roma,
Palermo and Juventus," Alessandro Beltrami told setantasports.com. "People
say West Ham have money problems and want to re-sell Behrami quickly in
order to earn money, but I don't believe this. "I am due to meet with Nani
before the game with Arsenal, but he told me there's no issue with the
player at all. "As far as the player is concerned, he loves London life and
likes being a West Ham player."
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