Hammers net Petric
WHUFC.com
West Ham United are delighted to announce the signing of Croatia
international striker Mladen Petric
10.09.2013
West Ham United are delighted to announce the arrival of Croatia
international forward Mladen Petric on a deal until the end of the 2013/14
season. Petric, who spent last season in the Barclays Premier League with
Fulham, has played at the highest level in Germany for Borussia Dortmund and
Hamburger SV, along with appearing in the Euro 2008 finals for his country.
He notched 51 Bundesliga goals prior to moving to English football last
summer, where five goals in ten starts for the Cottagers followed. He told
whufc.com of his delight at linking up with the Hammers. "I'm very happy,
excited and looking forward to training with the team and to the first
game," Petric said. "I know [the Premier League] and I'm happy to be back in
the Premier League, because it's a fantastic league and I'm really looking
forward to being part of this team and this Club. "There are a lot of good
players here and I'm happy to be part of such a good team and I hope we can
all celebrate my first goal for West Ham as soon as possible. "I didn't
speak to Sam [Allardyce] until today but I've heard a lot about him and I
spoke to Guy Demel, who I know from my time at Hamburg and I'm sure I'll
have a good time here. "I remember playing at West Ham last year and it was
a very tough game for us at Fulham. I think we lost 3-0! It's not easy to
come here [as the away side] and take points away."
Petric was born in Dubrave, then in Yugoslavia, in January 1981 and began
his career in Switzerland after moving there with his family as a youngster.
Spells at FC Baden, Grasshopper and Basel, where he was the Swiss League's
top scorer in 2006/07, saw the 6'1'' striker establish himself before
earning a move to Germany with Borussia Dortmund in summer 2007. He helped
Dortmund reach the final of the German Cup, as well as notching 13 league
goals in his only season with Die Borussen, moving on to fellow German club
Hamburg in 2008. Petric remained equally prolific with his new club, scoring
12 times in 25 league games in his first campaign and bagging 38 in total,
along with 15 assists. Martin Jol, who managed him for a time at Hamburg,
then took him to Fulham in 2012. He has also appeared on 45 occasions for
Croatia, netting 13 goals - including the winner in their 3-2 win over
England at Wembley in November 2007.
The striker has been maintaining his fitness over the summer and will begin
training with his new team-mates immediately.
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Vaz takes Goal of the Month prize
WHUFC.com
Ricardo Vaz Te's stunning free kick against Cheltenham Town won August's
Goal of the Month
10.09.2013
Ricardo Vaz Te has won the whufc.com Goal of the Month poll for August. The
Portuguese forward curled a stunning free-kick into the top left hand corner
of the net in West Ham's 2-1 victory over Cheltenham Town in the Capital One
Cup. That strike earned 29.5% of the fan vote, just beating Joe Cole's
assured finish against Cardiff City (26.4%) into second place. It was a
close vote across the top three, with Ravel Morrison not far back in third
(18.7%) for his fine finish against Cheltenham.
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Mladen Petric: West Ham swoop for former Fulham striker
BBC.co.uk
West Ham have completed the signing of former Fulham striker Mladen Petric
on a deal until the end of the season. The 32-year-old Croatian has been
without a club since leaving the Cottagers in the summer after his one-year
contract expired, having scored five goals in 23 appearances for them. West
Ham swooped after an injury setback to Andy Carroll, who injured his foot in
training on Monday, and they are waiting to discover how long the former
Liverpool and Newcastle forward will be sidelined. The 24-year-old England
striker, a club-record £15m signing from Liverpool this summer, has not
played since suffering a heel injury in the final game of last season.
Petric scored twice on his Premier League debut as Fulham beat Norwich 5-0,
but struggled for form after that, scoring just three more goals for the
club. He started his senior career in Switzerland with FC Baden before
joining Grasshopper in 1999, making 114 appearances for the Zurich-based
club. Petric also had a spell at Basel before moving to Borussia Dortmund
and Hamburg, for whom he scored 38 goals in 98 appearances.
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Petric signs
KUMb.com
Filed: Tuesday, 10th September 2013
By: Staff Writer
West Ham have completed the signing of Croatian international Mladen Petric
on a free transfer. The our of contract former Fulham striker has signed a
one-year deal with the Hammers and could be set to make his debut against
Southampton at St Mary's this weekend. Speaking to whufc.com, the
32-year-old said: "I'm very happy and looking forward to training with the
team and to the first game. I'm happy to be back in the Premier League
because it's a fantastic league and I'm really looking forward to being part
of this team and this Club. "There are a lot of good players here and I'm
happy to be part of such a good team and I hope we can all celebrate my
first goal for West Ham as soon as possible." Capped 45 times for his
country, Petric spent his entire professional career in Switzerland and
Germany prior to joining Fulham in 2012. He marked his debut for the
Cottagers with a brace against Norwich but scored only three more goals -
all before Christmas - during his season-long stay in west London.
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MLADEN PETRIC - HE'S A 1 IN 3 STRIKER WHO COULD SAVE OUR SEASON
By Iain Dale 10 Sep 2013 at 14:50
West Ham Till I Die
OK, this has to be quick as I am on air in an hour. Petric has signed and
has been unveiled in his Hammers kit. He might not have been prolific at
Fulham (5 in 23) but someone pointed out on the last thread that he only got
10 starts. His scoring record elsewhere has been pretty decent. He scored 38
in 99 for Hamburg, 13 in 29 for Borussia Dortmund and 38 in 72 for Basel.
Internationally, he's scored 13 in 45 for Croatia, so he's basically a
slightly better than 1 in 3 striker. This is what he told the club website…
I'm very happy, excited and looking forward to training with the team and to
the first game," Petric said. "I know [the Premier League] and I'm happy to
be back in the Premier League, because it's a fantastic league and I'm
really looking forward to being part of this team and this Club. There are a
lot of good players here and I'm happy to be part of such a good team and I
hope we can all celebrate my first goal for West Ham as soon as possible. I
didn't speak to Sam [Allardyce] until today but I've heard a lot about him
and I spoke to Guy Demel, who I know from my time at Hamburg and I'm sure
I'll have a good time here. I remember playing at West Ham last year and it
was a very tough game for us at Fulham. I think we lost 3-0! It's not easy
to come here [as the away side] and take points away.
I just found this video on Youtube. He seems to be quite emotional about
leaving the club in this video, and judging from the goals shown he knows
how to find he net!
He's apparently fit and ready to play. So, my question to you is this.
Should he play at Southampton?
UPDATE: He's just tweeted… Wie ihr bestimmt schon mitgekriegt habt habe ich
heute bei West Ham unterschrieben! Ich freue mich riesig auf… Translated,
this means "As you have almost definitely heard, I have today signed for
West Ham. I'm really looking forward to it." Aren't you glad I have a degree
in German? You can follow him on Twitter @Mladen_Petric.
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Andy Carroll's injury could be a catastrophe for West Ham - and one that
every fan saw coming
10 Sep 2013 22:54
Dan Silver laments the lack of planning at Upton Park after the news that
Andy Carroll needs to see a specialist over his heel problem
The Mirror
In September 2008, a West Ham centre-forward tipped for international and
domestic greatness but whose career had been hamstrung by injuries, broke
down in training. Dean Ashton had signed a new five-year deal just months
before but, tragically, never played professionally again. Five years on,
almost to the week, and Hammers fans could be forgiven for feeling an acute
sense of deja vu. Nobody yet knows for certain how long Andy Carroll will be
sidelined for, although that hasn't, of course, stopped the rampant Twitter
speculation. Social media estimates currently range from the wildly
optimistic (three to four weeks!) to the equally pessimistic (he's done his
Achilles tendon and will be out for a year!). And while the truth will
likely turn out to be somewhere in between (four months give or take), the
consequences for the club could be catastrophic whatever the prognosis.
Before the season started I expressed my serious concerns about West Ham's
lack of attacking options and suggested the dividing line between success
and struggle would come down to Andy Carroll's fitness and the loan signing
of a quality deputy. Like most Hammers fans I watched the events of Transfer
Deadline Day unfold with a mixture of desperation and despair as first Demba
Ba and then Romelu Lukaku slipped through our grasping fingers.
Despite all the evidence to the contrary, I somehow convinced myself that
Davids Sullivan and Gold had a back-up plan in reserve - even if it was just
a hitherto unknown eastern European man mountain whose sole role in life
would be to get on the end of Matt Jarvis and Stewart Downing's crosses.
By midnight, when it became apparent even that faint hope had passed,
despair had turned to anger. I was seething. It seemed unfathomable to think
that, with the promised land of the Olympic Park now within tangible reach,
West Ham's management had allowed the team to enter into a crucial Premier
League season with just two senior strikers on the books: the injured
Carroll and the unloved Modibo Maiga.
The folly of this decision had already been exposed in the two preceding
league games, a dour 0-0 draw at Newcastle and a dire 1-0 reverse at home to
Stoke, over the course of which West Ham failed to register a single attempt
on target. Maiga bore the brunt of the brickbats thrown by irate fans but
the reality is he is entirely unsuited to play in Sam Allardyce's preferred
- and, in fact, only - system.
Folly became farce in the days that followed as the club's official Twitter
feed - and also its unofficial one, belonging to David Sullivan's son Jack -
announced an approach for the recently released Carlton Cole followed by a
sheepish admission that the deal was off. It seemed that the former crowd
favourite wasn't actually fit for purpose.
Don't worry, I was repeatedly reassured on Twitter (well, perhaps not in so
many words at least), Carroll would return in time for Southampton. And
failing that, anyone from the unwanted Ricardo Vaz Te to the untried Elliott
Lee and even Kevin Nolan could lead the line. One poster even compared the
Hammers' lack of striking options to that of Real Madrid, presumably all the
while struggling to keep a straight face.
Perhaps it was the ever-increasing pressure being placed on Andy Carroll
that led to his eventual breakdown. Certainly the warning signs were then
when he missed last week's friendly against Espanyol, a game essentially
arranged to ease him back into action during the international break.
The emergency signing of free agent Mladen Petric - an experienced
international but undistinguished performer for Fulham last season - has
stopped a gap but already fans are muttering darkly about the 'long season'
ahead. What should have been a time for consolidation and perhaps
improvement has suddenly been plunged into uncertainty.
It seems churlish to apportion blame and there is an element of rank bad
luck in Carroll's latest setback (although his three separate stints on the
sidelines last season should have triggered some alarms at least). And yet
you have at least to question the decisions that brought the club to the
edge of this precipice.
By spending almost his entire transfer budget on Carroll and Downing, Sam
Allardyce put both his eggs in one extremely flimsy basket. Even if Carroll
had returned to action this weekend there was still no viable plan B in
place for when he almost inevitably picked up knocks and injuries later in
the season. I've seen this strategy rather charitably described as a gamble;
I'd liken it more to a suicide pact.
For Andy Carroll's sake, we must hope that this latest injury is where the
similarities with the 2008-9 season end. But West Ham fans would be wise to
fear a repeat of 2002-03 instead. After then manager Glenn Roeder failed to
recruit adequate back up for injured frontmen Paolo Di Canio and Freddi
Kanoute, the Hammers were regularly reduced to playing centre back Ian
Pearce in attack. The result? The seemingly unthinkable pre-season prospect
of relegation becoming reality in May.
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http://vyperz.blogspot.com
Wednesday, September 11
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