Daily WHUFC News - 17th February 2013

Youngsters defeated at Sunderland
WHUFC.com
West Ham United's U18s suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat at Sunderland on
Saturday
16.02.2013

West Ham United's Under-18s had nothing to show for their efforts from the
long journey to Sunderland on Saturday after a second half penalty for the
Black Cats sent them to defeat. Taylor Tombides' second goal of the season
brought Steve Potts' side level before the break, but they were unable to
capitalise on a bright start to the game as Sunderland made the most of
their chances. Under-18s boss Steve Potts told whufc.com: "It was the same
sort of game as last week at West Brom. We played some good football but
weren't able to turn that into a result. "That's where we are the the moment
- results aren't the be-all and end-all and the performances have been
pleasing, but the next step is to learn to be more ruthless. "We made an
excellent start and had two goals disallowed, as well as creating a
one-on-one chance very early. They scored with their first real attack after
15 or so minutes, and it was a case of thinking 'where did that come from?'
"We regrouped and equalised to get to 1-1, and at that stage you want to
keep it tight and try to take one of your chances, but they got a penalty
and were able to close out the win."

Taylor Tombides tapped in the Hammers' goal from close range after Lewis
Page nodded Nana Boakye-Yiadom's centre back across to his teammate. Potts'
men now have four points from as many games in the Tier One stage of the
Barclays U18 Premier League. They are next in action on Saturday 2 March
when they make the short trip to face Tottenham Hotspur.

West Ham United: Howes, Alexander, Page, Burke, Harney, Girdlestone, Makasi,
Miles (Pike), Boakye-Yiadom (Gilchrist), Cullen (Carter), T.Tombides

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An evening with the Joint-Chairman
WHUFC.com
Join West Ham United Joint-Chairman David Gold at a charity event on 7 March
16.02.2013

West Ham United Joint-Chairman David Gold will be appearing at a charity
dinner at The Bickley restaurant in Chislehurst, Kent, on Thursday 7 March
2013.
Mr Gold will be helping the Charlton Athletic Community Trust in their
efforts to raise £30,000 to purchase a minibus for the Charlton Upbeats, a
project for young people with Down's syndrome. There are only 60 places
available for the informal dinner, which includes a drinks reception,
followed by a mouth-watering three-course meal.

Doors open at 7pm and seating will start at 7.30pm.

Tickets for the evening are priced at £75 each and host for the evening is
Sky Sports Commentator, Dickie Davis.

David Gold will be talking about his life as a businessman and being the
current Joint-Chairman of West Ham United. His daughter Vanessa, the
Managing Director of Ann Summers, will join him to talk about her success in
business and to offer a few tips!
As numbers for the evening are limited, please call Tina Johnson on 0871 781
2095*, or email tina.johnson@cact.org.uk as soon as possible to reserve your
place

*Please note that calls will be charged at 10p per minute from a BT
landline. Calls from mobiles and other networks may cost more..

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Haycock defiant in defeat
WHUFC.com
Haycock had no complaints with his side's display as the Saints ran out 1-0
winners at Rush Green
16.02.2013

Nick Haycock spoke of his delight with another highly competent showing from
West Ham United's Development Squad, as Southampton emerged with the spoils
from a closely fought Barclays Under-21 Premier League contest at Rush
Green. With little to choose between the sides, a point apiece looked the
most likely outcome before substitute Alberto Seidi took aim from 25 yards
and rifled home to hand the visitors the lead just after the hour mark. The
Hammers' best chance of salvaging a draw came and went in stoppage time as
Elliot Lee saw a diving header squirm past the outside of the post, while
goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga merely stood and watched. Though the home side
were to end the evening with nothing to show for their efforts, Haycock was
in no mood to bemoan ill-fortune, preferring instead to praise another
mature showing in the Elite Group from his inexperienced team. "Ultimately,
at half-time I said it's got 1-0 written all over it," Haycock told West Ham
TV. "I thought, really, the game deserved to be a draw. I don't think either
side deserved to win it but fair play to Southampton. Martin Hunter and
Steve Greaves always produce good footballing teams. "To be fair, I was
delighted with the players. They showed good character and good commitment
to keep going when we'd make the mistake of the goal. It was a great strike
but on another day you probably get a foul on Seb Lletget. It was going to
take a goal like that to win the football match. "I think we got into some
good attacking areas and a mixture of wrong choices on final passes and some
great defending from Southampton kept our scoreline to nil. All in all, four
games played [in the Elite Group], most people would take six points, but
the two games we've won we deserved to win and those we've lost the minimum
we deserved was a draw."

Normally the scourge of opposition defences, strike duo Wellington Paulista
and Elliot Lee were unusually subdued as West Ham found it tough to carve
out openings. Haycock, however, reckons his side's frustrations in front of
goal were chiefly a result of the thoughtful planning of his opposite
number. "They certainly weren't as sharp but I think with Southampton's
organisation behind the ball, they had obviously watched us play and you
could see they tried to deny space in midfield and space in behind the
lines," added Haycock. "Elliot gets a chance right at the end and I said to
him, you play Tottenham and you get six or seven chances in a game, tonight
it was at a minimal and you get the chance with a header at the end, if it's
on target it's a goal. I don't think the 'keeper would have got there but
unfortunately it shaved the outside of the post."

In the absence of first-team squad members Dan Potts and Jordan Spence,
Haycock was only too glad to blood some of his younger personnel, whose
displays on the night were a source of particular pride. "Going forward it
is about development and I was delighted with the first years Amos Nasha and
Ben Marlow.I didn't think there was a player in the dressing room tonight
who didn't look at home at this level. I told the boys 'don't change what
you're doing. On another night you could have drawn the game or even won the
game, it could have gone either way.' They can be pleased with the efforts
they put in."

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Collins to Return for the Spurs Match, but Who Gives Way?
By S J Chandos
West Ham Till I Die

There were reports today that James Collins could be fit to return for the
match at home to Spurs on Monday 25 February 2013. Collins has been out with
a leg injury and many feel that we have missed his robast style of defending
in recent weeks. But, if so, the question is, who gives way to facilitate
his inclusion? WInston Reid is a rock in central defence and is a real
contender for Hammer of the Year this season. As such, it is a fair bet that
he will be in the starting line up. So, that leaves James Tomkins, but he
has shown a significant improvement in form in recent matches and was our
best performer against Swansea and Villa. It would be a mistake to exclude
him, or play him out of position, now that he has started to back back in
form, after an indifferent start to the season. No, the best option, in my
view, is to continue with Reid-Tomkins at centre-back and have Collins on
the bench.

At right-back, it is unlikely that O'Brien will be fit for the Spurs match.
In his absence, Demel will probably start at right full-back and Pogatetz or
Taylor at left-back. These are functional selections, but they do not
exactly set the pulse racing, do they? One of the most problematic areas of
the squad this season has been at full-back. I like to see full-backs with
pace and power, who not only defend well, but can get forward and provide
width to the attack. McCartney is not particularly fast, but he is our best
full-back at present. He is solid defensively and does a good job getting
forward down the left flank. The alternatives are Jordan Spence, on the
right, and either Danny Potts (fitness allowing), or the very promising
Matthias Famino, on the left. Personally, I think that it is time to play
Spence, he has looked good whenever he has played this season and he needs
to be given an opportunity to show that he can claim a regular first team
place. Potts is in poll position for the left-back slot, but I am unsure if
he has recovered yet from the head injury sustained against Man Utd. I
really like the look of Famino, who has been outstanding for the Development
Squad. But he is unlikely to be selected this season, so it looks like we
are, indeed, left with either Taylor or Pogatetz against Spurs.

In Midfield, Noble-Diame-Nolan has been an automatic selection for most of
the season. Nolan has received some criticism for his form and there is no
doubt that he has not been at his best in recent matches. Will Sam Allardyce
drop Nolan? Should he drop Nolan? My reponses to those questions are no and
probably not if he continues to play 4-3-3. The truth is that Allardyce is
unlikely to change his 4-3-3 formation and Nolan's attacking role in that
system is fairly pivotal. He gets forward, links up midfield and attack and
positions himself well for the Carroll knock downs. Could other players play
that role? Yes, both Joe Cole and Jack Collison could play there, with skill
and work rate, if perhaps not the same finishing ability in the box.
However, if we adopted a 4-4-2 then, unless he played as an out and out
second striker, it would be very difficult to fit Nolan in to that system.

Personally, I would like to see Jack Collison get more match time. Collison
is an excellent player, whose development as been adversely effected by a
serious knee injury. But we saw at the end of last season how effective and
influential Collison can be for West Ham. He is back now and needs to make
up for lost time. And it would be good to see that eagerness and desire
added to the team I would certainly like to see a midfeld combination of
Noble-Diame-Collison given a chance at some point this season. Collison can
finish, as we saw recently against Arsenal, but it is an aspect of his game
that he needs to improve. A player like Collison, when fit and playing
regualarly, should be scoring at least 8-10 goals a season.

Up front Joe cole picks himself, when fit and able to play consecutive
matches. He possesses rare skill, vision and technical ability and we always
pass and move the ball far better when he is in the team. He is likely to
occupy a positon to the right of Andy Carroll. On the left side, our best
option is Matt Jarvis. He has pace, skill on the ball and the ability to
cross the ball accurately. His link up with Carroll should be key and we
need to see it produce the goods, in terms of goals scored. Both Cole and
Jarvis have crucial roles to play in supporting Carroll and getting
intelligent and accurate balls in to him. The Swansea match showed that if
you give Carroll the right quality of delivery, he will score. Compare the
ball in for his headed goal against the Swans with the speculative and
inaccurate stuff served up to him against Villa.

If Carroll is fit then he plays. He is by far the best centre forward that
we have. But, as stated, there are issues about the support that he receives
and the quality of balls in to him. Would he be more effective if we moved
to a 4-4-2, with Carlton Cole or Wellington Paulista alongside him? I know
that people say that 4-3-3 is the future, but there is a large part of me
that misses seeing a twin striker partnership up front. During my time
supporting the club, I have enoyed watching partnerships such as
Hurst-Byrne, Hurst-Robson, Gould-Jennings, Cross-Robson, Cross-Goddard,
Cottee-McAvennnie, Hartson-Kitson, Di Canio-Kanoute, Zamora-Harewood,
Zamora-Tevez, Ashton-Sheringham, Ashton-Bellemy, et al. An excellent strike
partnership is great thing to behold, working in tandem to create space and
opportunity. They used to say that strikers are best hunting in pairs! And
there is some truth in that statement.

So, is it time to revert to a 4-4-2 against Spurs, with Caroll partnering
Carlton Cole or Paulista up front and Joe Cole-Noble-Diame-Jarvis or
Collison in Midfield; with Jussi-Spence-Pogatetz-Tomkins-Reid completing the
starting eleven? Or would it be better to play a 4-4-2 with Carroll-Nolan as
a conventional strike partnership. Why not? Nolan has the finishing ability
in the final third and could concentrate on that rather than trying to graft
in midfield. Or should we persist with 4-3-3 and try to make the system
work? Unfortunately, I think that we will struggle to get the best out of
the system until we have the pre-requisite power and pace at full-back and
corresponding pace and finishing ability either side of the centre forward
in the front three.

Finally, Zola is doing a good job at Watford and could conceivably get them
promoted this season. My thoughts on Zola are that the timing and
circumstances of his appointment at West Ham were all wrong. He was probably
too inexperienced when he got the West Ham Manager's job and, in retrospect,
probably should have started with a job in the Championship to find is
managerial feet without the immediate, intense pressure. Plus, there was all
the huge off-field issues relating to the Icelandic regime and the
Instability/uncertainty created by the worsening financial situation It was
a brave appointment, based on the assumption that Zola's partnership with
Steve Clarke would ameliorate his initial lack of managerial experience.
Unfortunately, circumstances overtook them both and the club's new, incoming
ownership obviously came to the conclusion that they needed to make changes,
hence their final exit.

Zola had to deal with that disappointment and took a step back in order to
move forward once more as a manager. He will probably now go on to be a top
manager, with Chelsea one possible destination. Good luck to him, by all
accounts he is a great fellow and a top football man. And he deserves any
managerial success coming his way.

SJ. Chandos.

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Play it again, Sam: Andy Carroll will only stay at West Ham if Allardyce is
still the manager
The Mirror
16 Feb 2013 23:00
Jamie McDonald

Andy Carroll's West Ham future is likely to depend on boss Sam Allardyce
staying at Upton Park, writes the Sunday People. Big Sam's Hammers contract
expires at the end of the season, but the Irons hierarchy are insisting that
no decision on a new deal will be discussed until they are certain of
Premier League survival. The club have already agreed a £17million fee with
Liverpool for loan-star Carroll, but the ball is very much still in the big
Geordie striker's court.
He has massive respect for Allardyce after the Irons chief rescued him from
a difficult spell at Anfield. And the hitman is also big pals with West Ham
skipper Kevin Nolan, who he struck a firm bond with during their Newcastle
playing days. Sources close to Carroll said: "The only way Andy will join
West Ham on a permanent deal in the summer is if Big Sam is still the
manager."
Carroll's future is very much up in the air. He knows that, despite not
setting east London alight with goals, West Ham are desperate to make his
current loan deal permanent. But Carroll believes he still has unfinished
business at Liverpool, although Kop boss Brendan Rodgers' January signing of
a different type of striker in Daniel Sturridge will not be lost on him.
Carroll's preferred option would be to go back home to Newcastle – and the
support and encouragement he has received from owner Mike Ashley's
right-hand man Derek Llambias has given him hope. Certainly, Toon boss Alan
Pardew has made it clear that he would welcome Carroll back with open arms.
As a result, West Ham have checked on Southampton's Rickie Lambert and
Wilfried Bony of Vitesse Arnhem.

West Ham dig deep for Wigan's Maynor
EXCLUSIVE by Alan Nixon

West Ham are lining up a free transfer move for Maynor Figueroa this summer,
writes the Sunday People. The Honduras defender is set to quit Wigan when
his contract runs out. And the 29-year-old could get his hands on a
£40,000-a-week pay day at the Irons, who will shake up their squad this
summer.

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