WHUFC.com
Scoring sensation Elliot Lee and a terrific team display saw off Sunderland
on Saturday
27.08.2011
Sunderland U18s 2-3 West Ham United U18s
Elliot Lee made it a third straight hat-trick in league play as the
Under-18s recorded a fantastic away win at Sunderland on Saturday morning.
Lee scored all the goals as the young Hammers won by the odd goal in five
against a spirited Black Cats team. The 16-year-old struck a treble on the
opening day of the FA Premier Academy League season last weekend against
Sheffield United, having done the same against Chelsea on the final day of
the 2010/11 campaign. The visitors, who travelled up to the north east on
Friday night with a six-and-a-half hour coach journey, were quick off the
mark with Lee scoring inside the first minute. A through-ball by Kenzer Lee,
replacing Leo Chambers who has been on England duty, set his namesake away
and he made no mistake after slipping the last defender. It was two on the
half-hour mark. Danny Potts rose highest to meet a corner and head towards
goal. Lee was quickest to the ball and saw his effort bounce down off the
crossbar and go over the line, with Potts helping it on its way. It was the
striker's goal, though, and he was firmly on course for another treble,
having also struck seven goals in pre-season.
Sunderland came back strong in the second half although the Hammers were the
first to show immediately after the interval. Lee might have got his
hat-trick with a chance at the far post while Jack Powell also went close.
As it was, the home side were next to score, breaking away to get themselves
back in the game. That buoyed the Black Cats and they were level with a
terrific free-kick from the edge of the area. At that point it seemed that
there would be only one winner with the Hammers put under immense pressure.
However, Lee showed great skill and composure to bag the winning goal as the
match entered the closing stages. Picking the ball up on a tight angle, he
worked his way into a central position before firing in an unstoppable shot.
Sunderland came back once again but it was too little, too late for the
hosts and the young Hammers head into next Saturday's derby at Tottenham
Hotspur on a high.
West Ham United: Larkins, Young, Shaw, Potts, K Lee, Hurley (Hunt 66),
Turgott, Powell, E Lee, Sadlier (Miles 80), Fanimo (Labonne 66)
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Nottingham Forest v West Ham United - Match Preview
KUMB.com
Filed: Friday, 26th August 2011
By: Preview Percy
Preview Percy has spent the last few days banging his head against the wall
muttering "It's Mansfield 1969 all over again". So it's been business as
usual then for the doddery old twit, who just had time to prepare this look
at Sunday's match at the City Ground before he was carted away for his
therapy session
Next up we lollop up the M1 to Nottingham for another 1.15pm Sunday kick-off
at the City Ground where, obviously, Nottingham Forest will be our hosts for
the afternoon. It's on the box if you have one of those dish things.
Statistically speaking, Forest are, of course, THE single most hated club in
the whole of football. This is purely because since their full name fits the
melody of Elgar's best known work so well, that song that must have been
sung at every ground in the country at one stage or another. The more
truthful lyric of "we're mildly indifferent to Nottingham Forest" wouldn't
work nearly as well and, I suspect, the original version would still find
favour on matchdays at Meadow Lane.
They made the playoffs last season, going out to the eventual winners
Swansea, losing 3-1 in Wales after a 0-0 draw at home. The failure to gain
promotion brought to a close the managerial tenure of Billy Davies who had
taken over at the start of 2009. He was replaced by Steve McLaren who, no
doubt, is already working on adding a Midlands accent to his repertoire of
comedy voices, though to be fair he'll have to go some to beat the
Connery-esque slurrings that he adopted whilst boss at FC Twente. Having
brought the Dutch title to Enschede he was lured over the border to Germany
where he became boss of Wolfsburg. Things didn't quite work out for him
there though, presumably because it is difficult to do a comedy German
accent without straying into offensiveness.
The season so far saw them open up with a disappointing 0-0 draw at home to
Barnsley. This was followed up with a 2-0 defeat at Millwall with their
first win coming up at Doncaster where a solitary goal was enough to give
them all three points. Last weekend they picked up a point at home to
Leicester, coming from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with virtually the last kick of
the match.
They've won both matches in the League Cup, getting rid of neighbours Notts
County on penalties after a 3-3 draw in the first round. They made lighter
work of Wycombe in the third round, running out 4-1 winners at Adams Park in
midweek.
The Forest 'keeper is Camp (ho ho). Lee Camp came in a few years ago from
QPR having started his career with Derby County and was an ever-present last
term. Despite having gained caps at U21 level for England, he is now a full
Northern Irish international qualifying as he does through a grandfather
born in that part of the world.
Their skipper is Luke Chambers. Chambers plays in the centre of defence
having started out as a right back. Although he wasn't initially first
choice at the start of the 2010/11 season, injuries to and a loss of form by
others saw him come into the centre of defence where his performances were
good enough to earn him the player of the year award and, under the new
managerial regime, the captain's armband. Like Camp he has declared himself
available for selection for international duty across the Irish Sea, in
Chambers' case for the Republic.
There's a bit of experience across the middle. George Boateng arrived in the
summer from Greek outfit Skoda Xanthi. He is of course better-known for
spells with Villa and Boro', with whom he picked up a UEFA Cup runners-up
medal. After Boro' he spent a while with Hull but left for Greece after the
Tigers were relegated at the end of 2009/10. Boateng and McLaren know each
other well of course (or should that be "of courshe") from their time
together at Boro' and it was the player's 94th minute equaliser against
Leicester that got them a valuable point last weekend.
McLaren's first signing on taking over at the City Ground was Andy Reid.
Reid made his name with Forest before moving in a double deal with Michael
Dawson to Spurs. It never really worked out for the player and after little
more than a season there he left for Charlton where manager Les Reed
apparently likened the player to Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskas. Well Reed
was right in one respect, Puskas was a bit of a chubber but that's just
about where the resemblance ended. Sunderland was his next port of call. He
scored his first goal in the 7th minute of the five added on by the ref in
their home match against us in 2008. However he fell out of favour and was
so desperate for first team football he ended up at Sheffield United on
loan. He spent the last four months of last season at Blackpool but failed
to make an impression there, starting a mere five times under Holloway.
There is an ex-Hammer in the midfield. Academy product Chris Cohen was the
youngest player to pull on a first team shirt for the Irons when he came on
as a 16 year-old sub in a match against Sunderland in 2003. He joined Forest
in 2007 after a spell at Yeovil, during which he won their player of the
year award. It'll be interesting to see how he gets on with George
McCartney, having been sent off for a two-footed challenge on Linda who, at
the time, was on loan at Leeds.
A new arrival during the summer was much travelled striker Matt Derbyshire
of whom I wrote at length last season when he was on the books at
Birmingham, with whom he was on loan from Olymipiakos. He never really got
much of a shout at Birmingham but when the loan ended the Greeks told the
player he was free to go what with the country being broke and all. In
truth, long before Greece effectively became a subsidiary of Deutschland AG
Derbyshire had already been told that he had about as much future as an
Athens mortgage-broker, despite picking up the MOTM award in the 2009 Greek
Cup Final in which he netted twice despite playing with concussion,
Olympiakos taking the cup 15-14 on penalties.
More recently they brought in Ishmael Miller for a rumoured £1.2m from West
Brom. Miller has one of those splendidly biblical northern names (Where's
Jebbediah? He's gone t' Olethwaites with Ishmael Miller – there's trouble at
t' mill etc). Miller started out at Man City moving to the Baggies
permanently in 2008. A combination of injury, the arrival of other forwards
and Roy Hodgson saw him drift down the pecking order at the Hawthornes,
something that saw him farmed out to QPR where he netted just the once in 12
league matches. He made his Forest debut in the 1-0 win at the Keepmoat nd
was on target in the 4-1 League Cup win at Wycombe.
Another attacking option is David McGoldrick. The former Southampton striker
has disappointed somewhat since joining Forest in 2009. He managed six goals
in an injury-hit season last term though he was on target at the Boleyn in
the FA Cup tie last season where he gave the likes of Winston Reid a testing
time.
And what of our good selves? Well in an interview pre-season Mr Allardyce
proudly informed us that no side of his would let a two goal lead slip as we
had done up at Wigan. I suppose he's been right – after all we were only one
up against Leeds and Aldershot and we were level against Cardiff. Ok in
midweek it was a virtual second string eleven but it was a bit worrying that
so few players took the opportunity to press claims for first team status.
Junior Stanislas was one of the few to impress (insofar as anyone did
impress) and he will probably be in the squad for Sunday. Pablo Barrera was
taken off early on Wednesday, presumably because check-in at Stansted
Airport was closing. We've seen the last of him and, I suspect the same is
now true of Scott Parker. At time of writing "talks are taking place" so it
seems unlikely to me that he'll be about on Sunday. That being the case he
goes at least with my thanks for the past and best wishes for the future in
recognition of the sacrifice he is making by going to N17.
The imminent departure of Parker may have a beneficial effect on the
midfield where one gets the impression that players have, in recent weeks,
been selected because we had to. His transfer may well free things up in
there where it's looked a bit cluttered of late. A simple old soul like me
has struggled to work out how we can often have five in midfield but still
have no width so it will be interesting to see what Mr Allardyce will do
with this new-found freedom.
Further back we can be thankful that Rob Green will be back to replace
Boffin, who had an uncertain 90 minutes on Wednesday night. Hopefully the
run out will have done Linda the power of good, fitness-wise. I think that
Wednesday night was one mistake too far for Ilunga, whose antics this season
have now arguably cost us three late goals. If he starts rather than
McCartney I suppose we could we at least take him off with ten minutes left
– thus increasing our chances of not conceding on 89 minutes?
Perhaps unsurprisingly Abdoulaye Faye is rated as highly doubtful for the
weekend which leaves us a bit short in the middle should anything befall
Tomkins or Reid. Wednesday night should have hammered home the point that we
lack strength in depth and, with Faye's fitness already in question we ought
perhaps to be looking at spending some of the Parker Pounds in the central
defensive area (unless of course players come in as part of the Parker deal,
which rumour suggests be include a cash plus livestock arrangement).
Up front I'd expect Cole to get the nod over Piquionne – another who failed
to make a case on Wednesday – whilst Carew is probably going to be better
used from the bench. I understand that Sam Baldock has been having a medical
(if he can get past Shaun Wright-Phillips who has been having the same
medical for about five years now) but I don't suppose that any signing will
take place in time for him to be considered for Sunday.
This is a difficult one to predict based on recent events. On the one hand
we have a 100% away record and we're playing a side that (penalty shoot out
apart) has yet to win on its own turf this season. On the other hand we
still seem to be finding our feet a bit at this level and Forest will be a
different prospect to those we have faced on the road so far. In fact
they've lost only two of their last 44 home league matches. I think a win is
not beyond question by any means but the draw may be a more realistic
prospect so I shall opt for an entertaining 2-2 draw as we go into the
international break.
Enjoy the game!
When Last We Met: Won 3-2 Our last meeting came in the 4th round of last
season's FA Cup where we ran out 3-2 winners courtesy of a strange Victor
Obinna hat-trick that included a mis-hit cross and a penalty. Adebola and
McGoldrick netted for the visitors. Though we bossed the second half we
looked very shaky in spells in the first half, particularly when we went 2-1
down.
Referee: Graham Salisbury – Not seen this one since we last played in this
division. Oversaw the Scunthorpe v Newcastle League Cup Tie the other night
which went to extra time, so he'll be happy for the extra day off.
Player to watch: Lewis McGugan – midfielder with a name for being dangerous
from distance – particularly from dead balls.Top scorer last season
Daft Fact Of The Week: Every October Nottingham enjoys a festival known as
the Goose Fair. During this period it is legally decreed "Fair" for men to
"Goose" women in the street, as long as they are whistling the theme tune to
the 1950's tv version of "The Adventures Of Robin Hood"
(Disclaimer: as ever, some if not all of "daft fact of the week" may be made
up and the editors can accept no liability for anyone who finds themselves
in court as a result of the information contained therein. Disclaimer
particularly applies to Manuel DaCosta)
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Baggies reject Thomas bids
Offers from Fulham, QPR and West Ham knocked back
Last Updated: August 27, 2011 12:37pm
SSN
Skysports.com understands West Brom have received three bids for Jerome
Thomas and have rejected them all. Fulham, Queens Park Rangers and West Ham
are the sides believed to have tabled offers for the winger. The Baggies are
reluctant to do business, though, as Thomasremains a key part of their
plans. The 28-year-old has only recently shaken off a hip problem that has
delayed his start to the new season. He made his first appearance of the
campaign in the Baggies' 4-1 Carling Cup victory over Bournemouth, and
opened the scoring after just seven minutes. Roy Hodgson is now mulling over
whether to hand Thomas his first Premier League start of the season against
Stoke on Sunday. The Baggies boss remains a big fan of the former Arsenal
and Charlton man and is not prepared to discuss a sale during the summer
transfer window.
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Stoke no option for Cole
Striker open to moves closer to home but remains a happy Hammer
By Jamie Casey. Last Updated: August 27, 2011 12:39pm
SSN
West Ham striker Carlton Cole has revealed family reasons were behind his
decision to reject a move to Stoke City earlier this summer. The Potters had
a bid, believed to be in the region of £6million, accepted in July but
personal terms barely got off the ground. The former Chelsea man, 27, is
reluctant to leave London and a move up north to Staffordshire was never a
feasible option for Cole and his family. "I know a fee got accepted," he
told the Daily Mirror. "The position West Ham are in means I'm one of the
saleable assets and they had to accept. "But it was down to me and I didn't
really want to move. It wasn't best for me and my family to go up north."
Cole, who has seven England caps, has scored two goals in four appearances
in the Championship this season, but John Carew's arrival has threatened his
place in the team. Having repeatedly reiterated his desire to stay at Upton
Park, Cole admits he may be forced to seriously consider the next offer,
should one come about. He added: "I'll think about what's on offer but I'm
scoring goals and I'm happy where I am."
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Parker's West Ham exit looks imminent as Spurs makes move
Sam Allardyce confirms West Ham are talking to Tottenham Hotspur about the
sale of Parker
News.ladbrokes.com
From the moment the final ball was kicked in the Premier League last season
everyone assumed Scott Parker would be returning as a Premier League player
this season. In what was frankly a little disrespectful to West Ham United
football club, pundits, journalists, punters and fantasy footballers had all
assumed that Parker would be plying his trade at the top level. The weeks
came and went and with every passing day there was renewed optimism among
the West Ham ranks that their star midfielder would tough it out in the
Championship. Four games into the season and West Ham have started strongly
enough to see them earn outright favouritism at 11/4 in the Championship
title betting, and Parker has played every minute of those four games. West
Ham play Nottingham Forest on Sunday and both teams are likely to be
battling it out for the title at the end of the season, but Parker may not
be there to help West Ham to the three points. Tottenham Hotspur are in
talks with West Ham about signing Parker and the centre midfielder has
always been keen to link up with the north London club. "I am not in talks
(personally) with them but there is some dialogue going on at the moment,"
West Ham manager Sam Allardyce said. "That is all I am aware of."
It is believed it would take a fee of around £8m to land Parker and should
Tottenham do so, it would be their second major signing in the space of a
couple of days.
Emmanuel Adebayor's loan move means Harry Redknapp has strengthened his
attack and Parker would certainly strengthen his midfield. Tottenham host
Manchester City on Sunday in what is a huge game for both clubs. If Spurs
want to be considered as top four challengers then they must win but if
Manchester City win, their title rivals will really sit up and take notice
as Roberto Mancini's side continue to impress at the start of this season.
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