Daily WHUFC News - 7th November 2013

Haycock praises Hatters
WHUFC.com
Nick Haycock was full of praise for Luton Town after the Development Squad
lost out to the Hatters
06.11.2013

Nick Haycock was pleased with the tough examination his side were given
after the Development Squad fought hard in a 2-1 defeat at Luton Town. Two
first half goals won it for the Hatters, who profited from the visitors'
failure to make their chances count despite the best efforts of winger Blair
Turgott, who scored the Hammers' only goal after 51 minutes. It was the
second time Haycock's team have played Skrill Premier side Luton in just
under a month, with both games ending in narrow defeats, but the coach
believes they provide a different type of challenge for his players. He told
West Ham TV: "For me the challenge is far greater than the U21 league and I
still want to keep pressuring the Premier League to let us be part of the
league pyramid and that's what this FA Commission should look at doing.
"That's real, games like this are what the boys are going to experience if
they go and play in the league whether they play in the Conference, League
Two or League One. "I've got a lot of respect for John Still, Terry Harris
and [development coach] Hakan Hayrettin and the work that he does here
because they play organised football. They play off a shape and play fast,
aggressive football and that's something which you've got to deal with and
we don't encounter very often in the U21 league."

Turgott scored in the Hammers' 3-3 draw with Chelsea in their last league
match and had already netted once when he was handed the chance to grab his
team a draw after Pelly Ruddock was sent tumbling in the box by Arnaud
Mendy. He stepped up and struck his penalty low to the keeper's right but
saw it well saved by Elliot Justham. Despite his side's missed
opportunities, Haycock was happy with his team's response to being 2-0 down
at the break.
"Coming out of the game it's not so much about the result because I got the
response I wanted from the players, I didn't think there was too much wrong
first half. I just thought we needed to press more and play higher up the
pitch to threaten their backline a little more. "The Luton fans here will be
delighted but we should have won the game hands down in the second half with
the amount of chances we had, missing a penalty and missing two sort of
one-on-ones. But at the end of the day it was a very pleasing response in
the second half with a very young team out."

Haycock was particularly pleased with right winger Turgott, who ran the
Hatters defence ragged, creating several opportunities for his team-mates.
He said: "I've got a great support staff behind me and we're very detailed
in what we do and the targets we set for the players and Blair's working
towards his at the minute. "I've talked to him a lot about Andros Townsend's
performances for England and about what wide players are. Manchester United
have been the foundations of good football in this country for many, many
years playing with two wingers who are direct, aggressive and go at people
in the final third and I think we're starting to see that from Blair. "He
was unlucky not to come off with a hat-trick and a couple of assists as well
so he can be well pleased with his performance. I thought he deserved to
take the penalty because I thought he was our outstanding player."

The Development Squad do not play in the Barclays U21 Premier League - which
they top - again until Friday 29 November, when they welcome Leicester City
to Rush Green Stadium for a 7pm kick-off. Between now and then, Haycock has
arranged a number of friendly matches to keep his players fit and focused.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
The Big Interview - Elliot Lee
WHUFC.com
The young striker reflects on his maiden Football League goal for loan club
Colchester United
06.11.2013

Elliot Lee has scored goals wherever he has played. The West Ham United
striker netted 14 goals at U18 and U21 level last season, earning a
first-team debut in the FA Cup third-round replay at Manchester United in
January 2013. This season, Lee scored five times to fire the Hammers to the
top of the Barclays U21 Premier League table, seeing him loaned to Sky Bet
League One club Colchester United late last month. On Saturday, the
18-year-old marked his third U's appearance with a last-gasp equaliser in
the 2-2 draw at Rotherham United. Lee will not be eligible for Saturday's FA
Cup first round visit of Sheffield United to the Weston Homes Community
Stadium, but he told West Ham TV he will be cheering on his new team-mates.

Elliot, fresh from your maiden Football League goal, how are things going at
Colchester?

EL: "Things are going really well. I've played three games and we're
unbeaten so far, so things are going well and hopefully I can keep
progressing and we'll keep moving up the table."

Talk us through your goal at Rotherham. I understand it was a header and
sparked wild celebrations which saw your immaculate hairstyle ruined!

EL: "Everyone is bantering me about my celebration but it was my first
league goal and it was a 96th-minute equaliser so I celebrated as it was one
to remember. Luckily enough, we didn't really deserve a point on the day at
Rotherham, but we stole one and that was really good for the boys. I always
get bantered for my barnet and I don't often score headers, but it just fell
to me in the box and I just nodded it over the 'keeper and it's gone over
the line! That was it, really, and it was really good."

Colchester have achieved some outstanding results since you've been there,
so you must be proud of how things have gone so far?

EL: "Yes, we went to Shrewsbury on my debut and drew one-all and we probably
should have won if we're being honest. Peterborough then came to our place
and got a great result there, beating them one-nil. We went to Rotherham on
Saturday, which isn't an easy place to go, and stole a point, so we need to
keep the momentum going and keep pushing on."

How have you found League football compared to the Barclays U21 Premier
League?

EL: "It's a bit quicker and a lot more physical than the Under-21s, so I'm
just enjoying the challenge of playing competitive senior football week-in,
week-out. I'm really enjoying it."

Freddie Sears injured his hamstring on your debut, but how much did it help
to have a familiar face in the dressing room when you arrived at Colchester?

EL: "I remember getting the shout before the Wolves game [for the U21s] but
I had to get straight on the coach and up to Shrewsbury, so it wasn't the
easiest of things to do, especially having not even had a training session
with them. Knowing Searsy, he introduced me to the boys and everything, so
it definitely helped. Although he is injured, he is still around every day
and it's good having him there."

Has your loan spell given you even more confidence that you can play
regularly at first-team level?

EL: "Yes, 100 per cent, because I am becoming a better player and learning
something different with every training session and game I play. Training
with and playing against these players can only benefit my development and
hopefully I can score a few more goals and impress their manager [Joe Dunne]
and our manager [Sam Allardyce]."

You have the weekend off as West Ham have not given you permission to play,
meaning you can play for us in the third round. With a weekend off, will you
be a Colchester fan?

EL: "Yes I will be a Colchester fan! I'm coming back to Chadwell Heath for
the week because the Gaffer doesn't want me to play for them in the FA Cup,
but I will be supporting Colchester and it should be an interesting
weekend."

Your loan spell ends on 23 November. What can you achieve between now and
then?

EL: "I have two league games before my loan spell ends - Swindon at home and
Preston away - so hopefully I can get myself a few more goals for the team."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Reid injured
WHUFC.com
Winston Reid will be missing for club and country after picking up an ankle
injury in training on Tuesday
06.11.2013

West Ham United can confirm Winston Reid suffered an ankle injury during
training on Tuesday and will miss the fixture against Norwich City on
Saturday.
The injury will also rule the central defender out of both of New Zealand's
FIFA World Cup Play-Off games against Mexico. whufc.com will carry further
updates when they are available.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Hartson praises away form
WHUFC.com
John Hartson says the Club's good away form is a big improvement on years
gone by
06.11.2013

Former West Ham United striker John Hartson has paid tribute to the team's
solid away form which has seen them concede just once on their travels all
season. The big Welshman, who starred in a Claret and Blue shirt between
1997 and 1999, believes Sam Allardyce's squad have succeeded where Hammers
sides of the past have fallen down. Speaking after the 0-0 draw with Swansea
City, he told West Ham TV: "West Ham historically haven't been a great side
on the road, even in the days I was there. "Harry [Redknapp] would always
say even in the great days gone by when he played with Bobby Moore, Martin
Peters and all those great, great legends at West Ham they were always a bit
of a soft touch on the road. "The fact that Sam has got them more solid now
will mean they can pick up more points on the road. He's obviously addressed
that, looked at them over the years and by defending really solidly and not
conceding goals you're obviously going to pick up more points on the road."

Allardyce has seen only Hull's Robbie Brady score against his team in five
away outings, which have garnered six of the side's ten points so far this
season.
It's been at the other end of pitch where the Hammers have so far struggled,
scoring only eight Barclays Premier League goals thus far and Hartson feels
they are feeling the absence of a certain Andy Carroll. "He brings that big
presence up front, he's got the big number nine on his back, he's very big
and strong, he's got good feet for a big man and he's aggressive in the air.
"I saw one or two balls go in the box against Swansea and I'm nudging my
little son and I'm thinking if big Andy was on the pitch he gets a one, two,
three and he goes and attacks the ball. "When he's in form he's similar to
Duncan Ferguson in the fact that when he gets a one, two, three on a
defender and gets a run he's very, very difficult to stop. They obviously
miss him, they paid a lot of money for him but he's been very unfortunate
with injuries and there's nothing anybody can do about that."

Hartson is well placed to comment on Carroll as he himself was a fearsome
striker who was as good on the ground as he was in the air. The 38-year-old
also believes that West Ham are handling Carroll's injury well and that the
most important thing is to have him back when he is completely ready. He
said: "It's important that when he comes back he's not carrying any little
niggles because that causes setbacks. I think that's what West Ham are doing
with Andy Carroll at the minute, they want to get him right and get him fit
to go and play. "For me it's important that he is fit when he returns, not
only so that he does well for West Ham but he could even break into the
England set-up before the World Cup."

It may be 14 years since the burly Welshman left east London but he still
remains close to some of the club's supporters and has fond memories of his
time at the Boleyn Ground. "I have a friend who runs the South Wales West
Ham Supporters Club. He asked me if I'd come along to a local little hall up
the road where they were meeting before the game at Swansea. 500 West Ham
fans all came down in their buses and I went to meet them. "I was meant to
be there 20 minutes but I was there two-and-a-half hours having pictures and
autographs but it was nice, they were all reminiscing about one or two
incidents over the years and I haven't got to tell you which ones! "It was
great fun, they're great fans and I had a great two years at West Ham."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
A tribe on the move
KUMB.com
Filed: Wednesday, 6th November 2013
By: Andre Smith

If you watch footage of football matches from the early 1960s, it really is
another world.

Just about everyone is dressed quite formally. Suits, shirts and ties, hats
and coats, sports jackets, trousers and shiny shoes. It's difficult to find
a clip where everyone isn't cheering, clapping, waving bits of paper and
generally having a good time.

Rosettes, rattles, and loads - absolutely loads of home-made signs and
effigies. Dirty great pieces of card, cut into the shape of cups, covered in
tinfoil. Sticks with signs on top, emblazoned with a player's name on top.
Happy, inventive, committed supporters.

Those were the days. Players were all paid in loose change, cigarettes and
occasionally bought a pint by a fan in the pub after the match.

Despite the popularity of the sport, it wasn't monetised properly. Football
tickets were cheap. And your average top flight footballer in the 60s played
every week, home and away, in all competitions and unaware that by the time
they were 70, they would need ...and more amazingly, be able to get ....new
knees and hips!

Then came the 70s and the 80s. Dark days where we used to take our lives in
our hands every match day, herded like some species of inedible (and
therefore valueless) meat, occasionally given a bash on the head for good
measure by a friendly bobby. If the coppers didn't get you, the hooligans
would give it good go.

Then lives were lost and the whole thing was suddenly rethought. They took
way the option to stand and gave us very uncomfortable, small plastic seats
to sit on.

But what killed it, was the very thing that also thrilled it. Money poured
in to the game, unchecked.

Modern Football Is Rubbish, we were told back in 2008 when Nick Davidson and
Shaun Hunt published their book. Did we heed their warning? Did we heck as
like. Drawn in like moths to a flame, all of us. Compelled like Wiley Coyote
to pursue that damn beeping bird, endlessly we die (albeit just inside a
little bit) as if we have no control over our thoughts or deeds.

But if you want to read a really good book on what is wrong with us, why we
will never stop being fans, look up "The Soccer Tribe" by Desmond Morris.
Don't be put off by the title. Morris is English and a world famous
Zoologist and ethologist. His book "The Naked Ape" is well known, and if you
ask any female friends with children about him, the chances of one of them
having a copy of "Baby Watching" are plausibly high.
So football is tribal. And that's what has us sophisticated primates by the
short and curlies.

The tribe has changed its appearance over the decades, but it has never
changed its colours. They can hit you over the head, they can make you sit
in a seat designed to accommodate a 12 year old, they can charge you
astronomical sums to get in the ground, but seemingly they can't stop you
wanting more.

Recently, Tottenham fans were publicly humiliated when their manager spoke
into a Sky Sports microphone whilst thanking them for being useless. Andre
Villas -Boas said:
"We looked like the away team. We played in a difficult atmosphere with
almost no support. We have a wonderful set of fans but they can do better.
We don't need the negativity of today.

Away from home their support has been amazing; we play with no fear and we
need that atmosphere at White Hart Lane. We didn't have the support we
should have done. There was much anxiety from the stands, the players had to
do it alone.

We spoke about it at half-time. I told the players that we would have to do
it on our own. They had to dig deep and look for the strength within
themselves. They also believed that it's not easy to play in this stadium
when the atmosphere is like this."
Ouch.

But in fairness to Spurs, despite White Hart Lane having considerable form
for being a tough gig, they aren't the only ones suffering.

The Emirates is another venue that frequently finds itself a shrine to
silence. The excuses are endless. The prices, too many corporates, the
burden of expectation, it was a bit rainy... the list is actually endless.
The bottom line is this, do you want to support your team, or have you and
your overblown sense of naked entitlement just turned up to collect some
bragging rights in a doggy bag?

To use typical Karren Brady "The Apprentice" language, West Ham United will
soon be facing some challenging supporter issues. Once they are able to
finally shake off Barry Hearn, they will be faced with the reality of a very
large stadium to fill. One that was not specifically designed with football
in mind.

So far, the indicators are good. The Hammers routinely sell out at The
Boleyn and the Club's commitment to young fans is a credit to them. West
Ham's move to the Olympic Stadium will be exciting. Let's hope that the fans
remember to keep it tribal in there.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Come home Defoe, (almost) all is forgiven
KUMB.com
Filed: Wednesday, 6th November 2013
By: Paul Walker

Big Sam should be preparing for the worst and formulating plans for the rest
of the season that assumes Andy Carroll will not be involved.

He should be moving heaven and earth to get Jermain Defoe back, and only
going for Demba Ba as a last resort.

I am sure, like me, you are all sick to the back teeth with the Carroll
saga. Now it seems that there has been another set-back that has halted his
rehab. A virus has wrecked any thoughts that he could be back before new
year.

Allardyce insists that Carroll will need a month to regain full fitness,
which could take us to the end of January. By then we will be two thirds of
the way into the season, with just a dozen or so league matches for Carroll
to play.

By then we could be deep in relegation trouble. So Sam should not be banking
on Carroll's return as our salvation.

I sense that Defoe's return would be welcomed by far more of our fans than
some think. I don't really care about what he did in 2003. The timing was
poor and he was ill-advised, but plenty more players than him have jumped
ship after relegation.

Demba Ba for one. From us. We gave him a lifeline when a string of failed
medicals looked like wrecking his career. But the first hint of folding
stuff from Newcastle, and a release clause David Sullivan admits he should
never have allowed, and Ba was off.

Loyalty is rare in football, but Ba then pushed acceptable standards of
behaviour to the limits by turned over Newcastle and jumped ship for a
massive wage rise at Chelsea. And when he could have come back to the Boleyn
in the summer, he was happy to sit on the bench at Chelsea and draw his mega
bucks wages. As mercenaries go, he is pretty near the top of the list, and
would his cold- blooded attitude improve if he did return to Upton Park? I
doubt it.

Now nothing happens in football these days without a reason. So to see Defoe
praising "the club he still loves" - us - and saying how sorry he is that
things worked out the way they did, suggests he is angling for a move back
to the East End.

The reasons seem obvious. He has been told he can find a new club in
January, and will clearly be only a bit part player at Spurs for the rest of
the season if he doesn't. And with a World Cup coming up, he cannot afford
that.

It could damage his chances of being in the England squad in Brazil. And
fanciful suggestions that he could go to States in January would kill his
international career stone dead. Roy Hodgson would not even consider taking
a player in MLS to Brazil.

So Defoe needs to be playing regularly and to maintain his form. He is
unlikely to get a move to a top six club, so returning to West Ham is now
more appealing. There were rumours he was an Allardyce target in the summer
after a 'chance' meeting in a London restaurant.

Everyone denied the significance of that, and Allardyce said the player's
wages were out of his price range. But you can bet that it was suggested to
Defoe that he needed to make peace with West Ham fans first. Hence this
week's remarkably honest interview. We should bite his hand off.

We are suffering badly for the transfer deadline day shambles with every
minute that passes in our league programme. Really bad mistakes were made to
ruin what had been a pretty impressive summer of business. Carroll, Stewart
Downing and the solid and reliable Razvan Rat were all good signings.

But everyone knew we needed a couple of new strikers, but the board and the
manager failed to make that happen, and we have suffered the consequences
ever since. We ended up with Carlton Cole and Mladen Petric. There are
always reasons why players fail to find new clubs before the window shuts,
and we are all now seeing why because both are way short of full fitness and
are not going to solve our problem any time yet.

That is a shame because we have a goalkeeper playing out of his skin, and a
defence with the third best goals against record in the division plus a
couple of midfielders who have been outstanding in Ravel Morrison and Mark
Noble.

Up front things are very different and many feel we are sleep-walking into a
dangerous situation while the belief still exists that we will be fine once
Carroll is back. Seemingly now, not any day soon.

Hindsight is easy, and the anti-Carroll brigade are in full flow claiming
he's a waste of money. That's nonsense. Remember how we all sang "Andy
Carroll we want you to stay" at the final game of last season, ironically
the match that saw him pick up the heel injury that has sidelined him every
since.

If you want to buy current England players, then you have to pay the going
rate. Trouble is, we could only afford one such player. Spurs and Manchester
City were able to spend more that £100m each, that's the way it is.

And I still think buying Downing was correct, we have seen enough of him to
know that he can supply plenty of ammunition for Carroll from the flanks.

But so far that has not been able to happen, and we are sinking into a
relegation fight. And even if our owners put their hands deep into their
pockets in January, we are still controlled by the new unfair Fair Play
rules which do nothing more that maintain the status quo and stop smaller
clubs from ever challenging the giants of the game.

It makes me realise that we are all being fed a lie when owners outside the
top six talk of one day reaching the Champions League. There was a time when
I felt we had teams capable of winning the title, not now.

The Bobby Moore era had the players of quality if not the consistency and
strength of character. On into the 70s the teams of Trevor Brooking, Alan
Devonshire and Billy Bonds should have done far better than they did. Then
there was the 80s and the boys of '86, who came the closest in our history.

Then the team of '98, including Joe Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Paolo Di Canio,
Frank Lampard and Trevor Sinclair, managed a fifth place finish. But we all
know that it should have been much, much better had these stars not been
systematically sold off.

Bur since then, there has been nothing to even challenge really, just
relegations and financial crisis. It will not get much better in my view, so
I flinch now when I see owners spinning the line that one day the Champions
League is possible. But I am nearly 65 and am beginning realise that I will
not see us ever reaching the world of the big boys.

But that is history, this is now and we are left these days with little more
to hope for that staying in the division and maybe having a cup run. It made
me very angry after the defeat by Manchester City. They were so, so much
better than us and you start feeling just why we bother because genuine
success is just a pipe dream.

But we are all here because we love the club and our history. And owners
know we are all trapped with nowhere else to go. So at least save us from
yet another relegation battle, because we are very close to being hauled
into one.

The season has not started well. Sam reckons we are six points short of what
we should be. Last season after ten games we had 15 points, this time it is
ten from ten.

Even more worrying is the like-for-like statistics. If you compare our
results so far with those against the same teams last term it is becoming
very worrying.

You have to replace results against relegated clubs (Wigan and QPR) in our
opening ten games this season with results against promoted teams (Cardiff
and Hull), and we have taken ten points from those ten games this season,
compared to 17 from ten in the last campaign.

We avoided relegation by ten points last term so we are already seven points
worse off. It's getting too close for comfort, so come home Jermain, all
will be forgiven if you keep us up.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Hughton's D-Day
KUMB.com
Filed: Wednesday, 6th November 2013
By: Trevor Twohig

The weekend produced another poor result for a West Ham side with so much
promise - but the situation must certainly be worse if you support a number
of other teams in the Premier League.

Crystal Palace look dead and buried already. Barring a minor miracle, it
would appear they are condemned to life back in the Championship. Saying
that, stranger things have happened. But if the regenerating properties of
the bubbly Ian Holloway cannot get the lads to click, it is unlikely any
other manager can make an impact in such a short space of time.

Sunderland also have a mountainous task ahead of them. Gus Poyet will
inevitably get the ball down and ensure the players try and pass their way
out of the relegation zone. Again though, the task looks insurmountable.
With 15 new players arriving in the summer and two players sent off for
appalling challenges at the weekend, they look like a squad in disarray.

This leaves one other team to face the dreaded drop. This period of time up
until Christmas will be vital and mercifully for West Ham United, our run of
fixtures looks somewhat simpler than some of the other teams. Granted we
have Chelsea and Arsenal in our nearish future, plus of course the midweek
trip to White Hart Lane for the quarter final of the Capital One Cup.

Aside from that we host Sunderland, Fulham, and West Bromwich Albion before
the New Year. We travel to Crystal Palace, Norwich, Liverpool and Man United
where, with our formidable defensive away record, even the most cynical of
West Ham fans can see a point or two being picked up on the road.

The Hammers travel to Carrow Road in Saturday's late kick off, in what can
only be last-chance saloon for Canaries' manager, Chris Hughton. There were
calls from a number of the yellow and green faithful for his head after the
capitulation at Manchester City, where they were drubbed a whopping 7-0.
Common sense seems to have prevailed and the footballing gods have deemed
the work Hughton has done, worthy of another chance against West Ham.

It would seem harsh to sack him after losing to a Man City team so full of
talent and due a big result. However, the defensive ineptitude of Norwich's
back four, plus the lack of fight in the dog, has left some fans short of
patience.

They are hugely reliant on the doggedness of Robert Snodgrass and sadly big
signings like Robert Van Wolfswinkel, have failed to produce results as of
yet. This matched with the sale of Grant Holt in the summer has left a
bitter taste in the mouth for a number of Norwich fans.

The sale of Holt was always on the cards, since he lived up north and rented
a flat in Norwich during his time there. But the ease at which this stalwart
at the club was let go has reared its ugly head since results have failed to
go their way. Holt at 32, could have been argued to be the heartbeat of the
club, the man to bring the troops together and rally them in times of
crisis. He is now doing that at Wigan, leaving the Canaries a little short
of natural leadership; the thing they need most at present.

So, is Saturday's game D-Day for Hughton? It could well be. If Norwich City
rally and manage to beat a West Ham team with the fifth best defensive
record in Europe, perhaps there will be a reprieve for the much-maligned
manager. But if West Ham manage to take advantage of a struggling Norwich
defence and put their goal-scoring hoodoo to bed, the yellow and green dream
could be over for him.

As much as I like Hughton and hope he is given time, I can't help feel it is
a make or break game for him. Such is my desperation for West Ham to cure
their net-finding ills, I fear we may be the final nail in the coffin for
the highly-respected young manager. My prediction is 1-0 or 2-1 to West Ham.


Many pundits are talking this game up as a simple home win for Norwich City.
Despite obvious bias, this is too simplistic a way to view the fixture. West
Ham have been good on the road, despite the lack of goals. In a lot of
respects our away form has far surpassed that of last year. Surely with the
quality among the ranks, a goal or two will come our way this Saturday? Not
the thoughts Chris Hughton wants to hear, I am sure.

If he is sacked, it is looking likely there will be a few other good jobs he
can walk into. However, as with so many Premier League sackings, I believe
it will be premature and Hughton should be given more time to get it right.

So, a big game for both sides - with much at stake. I am looking forward to
it and hope whatever the result, no-one at Norwich City is without a job
come Monday morning.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

http://vyperz.blogspot.com



---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com