WHUFC.com
The club's young centre-back has enjoyed the limelight of late, especially
on international duty
06.04.2011
Holmar Orn Eyjolfsson should line up for the reserves once again next
Tuesday night against Aston Villa on the back of an excellent run for club
and country. The centre-back has enjoyed a memorable few weeks, notably
scoring the winner as Iceland defeated England 2-1 in an Under-21
international at the start of last week. He then followed that up with
another 90 minutes for the reserves in a 1-0 defeat by Manchester United at
Bishop's Stortford. At still only 20, Eyjolfsson is keen to keep on the
learning curve - especially with the UEFA European Under-21 Championship
finals to come this summer. "It's been really interesting," he told West Ham
TV. "I've played some good games. "It was good to score and beat England,
which is one of the best U-21s teams and good for the finals in the summer.
We have quite an interesting team. "It's a mix of boys that outside of
football are all good friends and it's such a powerful team. The team spirit
is really good so we are enjoying every minute of it. "I can't wait to play
at the finals. You always want to play against top players and test yourself
so we'll see what I am made of out there."
What made the England win even sweeter was that Eyjolfsson was up against
club-mates James Tomkins and Jordan Spence. "They were not too happy with
me," he recalled with a smile before talking about his happiness at
recovering well from a frustrating foot injury. "The fitness is getting
back. I've been injured a lot, I've had a stressed fractured on my fifth
metatarsal. I feel that I'm getting in massive fitness now so I'm just
looking forward to the next few weeks to get a few more 90 minutes."
Eyjolfsson should line up on Tuesday night when the reserves welcome Aston
Villa to Bishop's Stortford. Jack Collison could also return to the starting
lineup after appearing as a substitute for the last 30 minutes of the
Manchester United match, his first action in 13 months.
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Canaries clip U18s
WHUFC.com
A freak goal was enough to defeat West Ham United's youngsters at Norwich
City on Wednesday
06.04.2011
A freak goal cost West Ham United Under-18s dear as they fell to a 1-0 FA
Premier Academy League defeat at Norwich City. The Hammers dominated for
long periods in Norfolk, but were unable to find a path past the Canaries.
Elliot Lee and Dylan Tombides both missed first-half opportunities to open
the scoring, but it was the decision to turn down West Ham's claims for a
spot-kick when Robert Hall was tripped inside the penalty area that left
Academy Director Tony Carr MBE feeling hugely disappointed. "We lost to a
fluke goal right on the stroke of half-time," said Carr. "Their boy has
crossed from a wide position and the ball has flown over everyone and gone
in off the inside of the far post. "Before their goal, though, we should
have had a penalty when Rob was clearly tripped as he collected a pass from
Elliot and beat his full-back. I've seen the replay and it was a blatant
penalty. I don't know why Rob would have gone to ground when he was through
one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but there's nothing we can do about it now."
Having fallen behind, West Ham found it difficult to break down the massed
ranks of Norwich defenders on a warm afternoon at Colney Training Centre. On
one of the rare occasions when the home side did break out, they were
awarded a penalty for a foul by Danny Potts. However, goalkeeper Sam Cowler
guessed correctly to keep out the spot-kick. "We had plenty of the ball but
we just couldn't find a way through," Carr confirmed. "If we had scored
first, then it would have been a different game because we wouldn't have
been chasing it and they wouldn't have been able to sit back on their lead.
"They had their goal to defend and were able to put numbers behind the ball.
They were not the better team, but they got the win. It was not one of our
better days. We had too many of our players who were off-key and didn't play
to their full potential."
The U18s host Watford at Little Heath on Saturday, with kick-off at 11am,
before taking a two-week break for Easter. Admission and parking for this
weekend's fixture are both free of charge to all supporters.
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Newcastle and Villa planning to steal Hammers starlet
Published 23:00 06/04/11 By John Cross
The mirror
West Ham youngster Jordan Spence is a target for Aston Villa and Newcastle.
England under-21 defender Spence, 20, has been offered a new deal at Upton
Park as his contract expires at the end of the season. But Villa and
Newcastle are watching developments closely after Spence - who has been on
loan at Bristol City - got an England call-up to reward his progress. Villa
and Newcastle would have to pay compensation if they can persuade Spence to
leave with West Ham.
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West Ham preparing shock summer move for Chelsea star
Published 23:00 05/04/11 By Football Spy
The Mirror
West Ham are lining up a surprise £1.5million bid for Chelsea's Jack Cork.
The midfielder, 21, currently on loan at Burnley, has been with the Blues
since 2006 but is yet to make his Premier League debut for the club. Hammers
boss Avram Grant is expected to make a move for the England Under-21 star at
the end of the season.
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EXCLUSIVE: Villa enlist Glenn Roeder to help them beat the drop
Published 23:00 05/04/11 By James Nursey
The Mirror
Under-pressure Gerard Houllier has surprisingly turned to Glenn Roeder to
help Aston Villa beat the drop. Villa are just two points above the Premier
League bottom three ahead of Sunday's crunch home game with Newcastle. But
Roeder's CV is littered with relegations after being sacked by Watford, West
Ham and Norwich either before or after going down. He left his last job in
charge of the Canaries in January 2009 before they were eventually relegated
to League One. But Villa manager Houllier has opted to give Roeder, 55, a
scouting role and the ex-defender has become a regular at the club's
training ground. Roeder is spending his time watching Villa's forthcoming
opponents and analysing their strengths and weaknesses. He puts his
information in a dossier for Houllier to then prepare Villa accordingly on
the training ground. Roeder has not yet got involved with any coaching at
the club and that is not part of his mandate. But assistant manager Gary
McAllister's methods and out-spoken style have not endeared him to Villa's
under-performing squad.
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Rooney will blame swearing incident on Sky cameraman at disciplinary hearing
Published 23:00 05/04/11 By David McDonnell and Alan Nixon
The Mirror
Wayne Rooney hopes to get his swearing ban cut to one game today and leave
the cameraman in the firing line. Manchester United and their star striker
have launched a last-ditch bid to enable Rooney to play in the FA Cup
semi-final showdown with Manchester City. Rooney accepted the FA charge of
using offensive, insulting and/or abusive language following his four-letter
tirade into a TV camera lens after completing his hat-trick in United's 4-2
win at West Ham. However Rooney and United have put together a detailed
package, explaining the full background to the incident, and have presented
it to the FA whose five-man panel will sit to consider their case.
The close proximity of the Sky camera to Rooney after he scored is likely to
see the TV company warned after their cameramen broke an unwritten rule by
going on the pitch to get a close-up of the striker. Rooney let fly when the
camera homed in on him after his hat-trick goal at West Ham - with pictures
showing that some of the close-range 'money shots' were made inside the
white line. Rooney reacted to the unwanted attention with his foul-mouthed
outburst - and led to his unprecedented rap. Friends say the 'f*** off, what
do you want?' yell was aimed at the cameras as they closed in on him. The
commission will meet at Wembley today to decide Rooney's fate, with the FA
considering delaying making public their verdict until after tonight's
Champions League tie between United and Chelsea.
United were convinced Rooney's apology, issued by the club within a couple
of hours of the final whistle at Upton Park, would count in the striker's
favour in terms of the FA's investigation.
As it stands, Rooney will miss United's Premier League encounter with Fulham
at Old Trafford on Saturday, as well as the semi-final clash with local
rivals City at Wembley a week later Ferguson refused to discuss Rooney's
disciplinary case or state of mind ahead of tonight's tie, the United boss
visibly irritated by the continued focus on his star striker and the FA's
decision to charge him. "I'm not going to discuss it at all," said Ferguson,
who also batted away questions about Rooney's frame of mind. "I'm not here
to talk about that," snapped the United boss. Rooney missed the first 15
minutes of United's training session yesterday, which was open to the media,
with Ferguson claiming the 25-year-old was having treatment on a bruised
shin. Yet it is understood Rooney was kept away from the TV cameras and
photographers to spare him further scrutiny and exposure. "Wayne missed the
training this morning for a good part of it," said Fergie. "He was having
treatment. I'm sure he'll be fit for the game."
Players' union chief Gordon Taylor admitted he was concerned that Rooney
faces the charge with no prior warning given to players about such
behaviour. He said: "If sanctions are to be imposed in such circumstances
then this has to be done in a balanced and consistent manner, and
participants made aware of this fundamental change in approach."
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De Canio linked with West Ham job
Football Italia
Lecce Coach Luigi De Canio could be heading for the Premier League, as he
has been linked with the West Ham job. The tactician is struggling to keep
the Salentini in Serie A, but has recorded impressive results this season
against the likes of Milan, Juventus, Inter and Udinese. According to
TuttoMercatoWeb in Italy, De Canio has been targeted as the potential
successor to Avram Grant. He'd join the group of Italian managers in
England, which currently include Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea and Roberto
Mancini at Manchester City.
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Collison ready to join West Ham's fight for survival
By talkSPORT
Wednesday, April 6
West Ham midfielder Jack Collison is hoping to be back in first-team action
by the end of April and wants to play a major role in helping the club stay
in the Premier League. Collison has been sidelined for the last year after
suffering a serious knee injury and needed surgery to clear up the problem.
The Wales international resumed light training back in January, but the club
refused to gamble over his long-term fitness. Collison has now made a full
recovery and made his long-awaited comeback when he played 30 minutes for
the reserves against Manchester United last Friday. The talented midfielder
will continue his comeback against Aston Villa reserves next Tuesday and
hopes to force his way back into first-team by the end of the month.
Collison said: "It's great to be back out with the boys, that's what the
rehab has been all about. It's down to a lot of people working very hard
with me. "The medical staff at West Ham has been brilliant - they haven't
rushed me; they've helped me through it and it's been a real team effort.
I'm obviously still trying to find my lungs a little bit and my sharpness,
but that's going to come with more minutes. "I'd like to be involved.
They've said I need to get some more minutes under my belt on the pitch
before I can push back into the first team, but I'm ready whenever the
manager needs me. I think the next reserve game is against Aston Villa here
and it'd be nice to get a start in that one."
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