The Big Interview - Ricardo Vaz Te
WHUFc.com
Ricardo Vaz Te says the Hammers are in confident mood ahead of Saturday's
trip to Selhurst Park
19.08.2014
Ricardo Vaz Te believes there is plenty of reason for optimism ahead of West
Ham United's Barclays Premier League meeting with Crystal Palace on
Saturday.
Adamant that the Hammers should count themselves unlucky to have left the
Boleyn Ground empty handed following last weekend's defeat by Tottenham
Hotspur, the Hammers No12 is hopeful that the Club's fortunes in front of
goal will turn at Selhurst Park.
The 27-year-old was one of many to try and fail to beat Hugo Lloris last
time out and expects to get sharper each and every time he takes to the
field going forward.
It's a few days since the Tottenham game and everyone's had some time to
digest it. What are your thoughts now?
RVT: "We're OK now, we're all professionals here. Obviously we were
disappointed to lose but we pick ourselves up and go again. I think it's the
manner in which we lost that's very disappointing. After Tottenham went a
man down we had control of the game, we had a few good chances, myself
especially, and I was very disappointed.
"But it was the first game and I thought we performed well, so I think we
can take many positives from the game. Everybody seems alright, the spirit
is OK, the mood is OK, we're fine."
A lot has been said of debutants Cheikhou Kouyate, Aaron Cresswell and Enner
Valencia. What did you make of their first outings at the Boleyn Ground?
RVT: "Enner obviously hasn't really played with the team, that was his first
game. But Cheikh and Aaron, I think they look like they belong to the team.
They look like they've been here for ages, to be honest. All pre-season it
looked that way, so they've adapted really well, which is very pleasing.
Because you always have that kind of concern if they're going to adapt
straight away, but they seem very comfortable.
"Actually, I think Aaron and Cheikh were our best players. Hopefully they
can keep that form, they can grow from it and just be better and better.
Enner will hopefully come in slowly as well and show the same result. I
think it's all down to the lads, because they're so welcoming, everybody is
so friendly. It's nice to come into a dressing room like that and I think
that makes it easier for the new lads."
Was it good to be back in front of a packed house at the Boleyn Ground?
RVT: "It was frenetic, I've never actually seen it that way. I've been at
the Club now for three years, but I thought wow, this is where you want to
be, this is where you want to play. So we were all very excited and it was
just such a shame that we couldn't get the three points."
You spoke of the positives from Saturday. Do you think if you're able to
replicate that performance that you can get a result at Palace?
RVT: "Of course. Obviously our aim is really high this season compared to
last, but I think the fans could see the difference. I think we were the
best team, I think it's fair to say we were the better team. Tottenham were
very lucky to come away with the result, I think they'd have taken a draw,
to actually go and win it was something else for them. Like I said, it was
very positive, we played some good stuff, we created opportunities, good
opportunities and we just failed to take them."
Palace are currently without a manager, is that something that could benefit
West Ham, if there's uncertainty among the players?
RVT: "It's always tough, but you never know how they're going to react to
it. I saw the game against Arsenal and they look like a decent side. It
didn't look it had affected them at all, but obviously it will have some
effect, but to what extent I don't know.
"We're going to go there with confidence, obviously we know we can get a
result there, it's going to be tough, of course it's going to be tough, but
we believe in ourselves. I think we're a very good side and we've got plenty
of players here capable of making the difference."
You've had a good pre-season, you've been in good form and obviously you
started the first game. How do you feel at the moment?
RVT: "I feel good, I feel like there is another gear coming up, which is
good. I'm just getting sharper and sharper, but you only get sharper with
the games.
"Last year was very unfortunate. If memory serves, I started five games and
my fifth one was at Swansea, where I dislocated my shoulder. By then I'd
scored four goals out of four starts. So it was very disappointing, because
I felt I had it in me to go a long way, to keep that form. But never mind, I
pick myself up and go again. "This season I just want to be consistent.
Only by staying fit can I improve, can I grow and I think I can improve
more, especially from Saturday. There are so many positives to take and
there's so much room for improvement, definitely."
The Club have been busy in the transfer market, seven summer signings. Some
are in the attacking positions where you play, so does that add more
pressure or is that a good thing as far as you're concerned?
RVT: "Definitely, it makes you raise your standard, but it's definitely a
pressure. Some people can handle it, some people can't. We're professionals,
so hopefully we can all handle it. I look forward to it, I love pressure, I
love that. Jarvo [Matt Jarvis] was in great form before his injury, Stewie
[Stewart Downing] is in great form, so hopefully Matt will come back and put
that bit extra pressure on us, so we can all raise our standards. It's
definitely a good thing."
Looking further ahead, what would success be for West Ham this season?
RVT: "I think success now, without getting ahead of ourselves, is to finish
top ten, comfortably. Not scrapping for it, just to have a good season, a
stable season, especially coming back from last season, when things were
uncertain. "Just a clean season, because we're moving to the new Stadium in
two years, so you want to be consistent, so that when you move there, you
can attract very good players to the Club to make the Club even better. I
think that will be a very good season for West Ham United to finish top ten
and we can build again."
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Big Sam's bucket challenge
KUMB.com
Filed: Wednesday, 20th August 2014
By: Staff Writer
Ravel Morrison took the Ice Bucket Challenge earlier today - before
nominating manager Sam Allardyce as the next participant. West Ham's young
midfielder appeared on Instagram this afternoon taking the challenge, before
nominating four people to follow him - including West Ham United's Carlton
Cole and manager Sam Allardyce.
The Ice Bucket Challenge is an American initiative whereby participants are
challenged to accept a full bucket of ice-cold water over their head. Once
nominated by previous participants, those either unable or unwilling to
follow suite within a 24-hour period are requested to make a charitable
donation.
It now remains to be seen whether Big Sam will comply with Morrison's
nomination; were he to do so he'd follow in the footsteps of famous names
such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Microsoft mogul Bill Gates and pop star Miley
Cyrus, all of whom have been swept up in the viral challenge which has swept
across Europe this summer.
The Ice Bucket Challenge was until recently popularised by non-profit
organisation The ALS Association, who campaign to spread awareness about Lou
Gehrig's disease - aka ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) - predominantly
in North America.
This summer the challenge has been adopted in Europe and the UK, with
charitable concerns such as The Motor Neurone Disease Association and
Macmillan Cancer Support benefiting from the campaign.
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Valeri Bojinov reportedly due to talk to West Ham about Premier League
return
Last Updated: 20/08/14 9:17am
SSN
Former Manchester City striker Valeri Bojinov has been allowed to travel to
England amid reports he will hold talks with West Ham United. The Bulgaria
international is currently playing for Levski Sofia in his homeland, but has
a clause in his contract which allows him to leave the club on a free
transfer.
He was left out of Sunday's game against Botev Plovdiv and reports have
claimed that he is now discussing a move to West Ham. Levski sporting
director Georgi Ivanov told Bulgarian National Radio: "We had to let him go
because we have an agreement. I allowed him to travel to England because I
am contractually required to do so. "But he remains a Levski player until
he signs with another team."
West Ham manager Sam Allardyce is in the market for a new striker after
losing Andy Carroll for around four months due to an ankle injury. Bojinov
previously spent three years at City after joining from Fiorentina in 2007,
but his time at the Etihad Stadium was wrecked by knee and Achilles
injuries.
The 28-year-old made just 12 appearances for City, with his only goal for
the club coming against Tottenham Hotspur in 2009. He has subsequently
played for the likes of Parma, Sporting Lisbon and Vicenza before linking up
with Levski earlier this year.
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NEXT UP: CRYSTAL PALACE
By Tony Hanna 20 Aug 2014 at 20:19
West Ham Till I Die
The first match of the season against Spurs will be reviewed with mixed
emotions amongst West Ham fans. On the positive side we played some nice
football at times and the energy and enthusiasm was there to see on the
pitch and the crowd responded, generating a good atmosphere around the
Boleyn. The promising debuts of Kayoute and Cresswell have already been well
documented and discussed and the general view is that we have secured a
couple of very good additions to the squad. The downsides were obviously the
loss itself to our arch rivals and our inability technically and tactically
to score the goal that would have almost certainly put the game to bed
before our last minute heartache. I blame myself for Noble's penalty miss. I
always close my eyes for West Ham penalties but have become so confident in
recent times that I decided to watch the one against Spurs. Sorry Mark!
So this weekend we have a chance to put things right in our second London
derby of the week against Crystal Palace. As a newly promoted team to the
Premier League last season, Palace's first thirteen games only secured seven
points and they looked doomed even before Christmas. The Tony Pulis
revolution that followed actually saw them go on and finish eleventh and
some five points ahead of the Hammers. The football World never ceases to
amaze but it again threw up a bombshell when Pulis and Palace parted company
just two days before the new season started last week. My heart goes out to
those who backed Sam in the sack race as they did not even get a run for
their money. Most pundits had Palace safe in their pre-season tips and many
were sent running to make changes, if they could, as the bookies prices
tumbled on their relegation probabilities.
The transfer window has not seen too many new faces arrive at Selhurst Park.
Martin Kelly from Liverpool and Brede Hangeland from Fulham have been
brought in to bolster the defence and Fraizer Campbell arrived from Cardiff
City. Another amazing football fact is that both Kelly and Campbell each
have an England cap to their name. What is not so surprising is that both do
not have two!
Despite the turmoil, Crystal Palace put in a valiant effort on the weekend
away to Arsenal. Taking the lead from a Hangeland header from a corner they
finally succumbed to injury time goals at the end of both halves to go down
2-1. It was a typical Palace performance. Hard to break down, score from a
set piece and put in an effort that was full of heart and desire. Pretty
much what Sam wants from our boys to be honest. At the time of writing the
dogs are barking that Malky Mackay is the man to take over from Tony Pulis.
The bad news for us is that the "new manager always wins his first game"
scenario looms large if the appointment is made this week. James Collins
suspension from his red card against Spurs, together with a lingering injury
to James Tomkins have caused concern as to who will partner Winston Reid at
the heart of the defence. Perhaps a phone call to "relegation Roger" will
help mirror last seasons embarrassing phone call to Carlton? Palace will
also be without the suspended Jason Puncheon.
Our recent history against Crystal Palace is not good. They did a 1-0 double
over us last season and we have failed to beat them in the past six meetings
including the play off final back in 2004. You have to go back to 2003 for
the last time we beat them and indeed back to 1991 for the last time we beat
them away. One advantage that Palace do have in their home games is their
brilliant crowd support. They break the trend where so many Premier League
home grounds are practically sterile nowadays and the noisy vocals of the
Palace supporters are the envy of many. Our own excellent away support
should ensure a great match day atmosphere in what may already be termed by
some as a vital six pointer. COYI.
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TODAY'S TRANSFER GOSSIP
By Iain Dale 20 Aug 2014 at 12:34
West Ham Till I Die
Iron Views reckons talks are advanced with Manchester City's Micah Richards
for a season long loan. When he broke into the Citeh first team he looked
the real deal and soon played for England. Perhaps we can get his career
back on track. He can play in central defence or as a right back. I'd be
really excited by his signing.
There are strong rumours that former Manchester City striker Valeri Bojinov
may be on his way to Upton Park on a few transfer from Levski Sofia. He has
been very injury prone in recent seasons, but had a good goals to games
ratio last season. Personally I can't see the logic of this one and doubt it
will actually happen.
Claret & Hugh reckons James Tomkins will be fit for Saturday
According to the Daily Mail West Ham have asked about taking Corinthians
striker Paolo Guerrero on loan with a view to a permanent deal
The Mail and Mirror allege the Hammers have also revived interest in Boca
Juniors left-back Emanuel Insua, 23.
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LET ME TAKE YOU DOWN, COS I'M GOING TO... VELEZ SARSFIELD
By Iain Dale 20 Aug 2014 at 08:06
West Ham Till I Die
Guest Post by Neil Clack
"He's 'Loco', I'm tellin' ya… a real fruit-cake… But fantastic player…
really skilful… a bit selfish… well, very selfish actually, ha,ha, but all
the best strikers are, aren't they?"
Where better to get an opinion on the Hammers' new striker than from those
who watched him play in Argentina last season, where he topped the
goalscoring charts of the 'final' league tournament with 13 goal in 19
matches, so, as I'm out here for a few weeks, I thought I'd investigate.
It's saturday evening and current champions Velez Sarsfield have just won
2-0 at home to 'El Arse' (the nickname affectionately, and quite innocently,
given to Arsenal de Sarandi by both fans and the Argentina press alike).
Velez is a family club, one of the best run in Buenos Aires, and the old
couple serving behind the bar in the Supporters' club know the Zarate family
well. Mauro is the youngest of four brothers, all professional footballers
(Roland played briefly played for Real Madrid during the Galacticos period,
as well as Velez and a host of other clubs), and their father, from Chile
originally, was also a well-known professional footballer for Independiente.
"Of the four of them, Mauro is the most talented", reckons Aunt Evelyn, "but
he's also the craziest!" That ties in with the view of journalist and club
historian Eduardo who describes Mauro as "temperamental", and a "spontaneous
player", who can "conjure up magic", but who is also "very up and down".
"I think that's what happened at Lazio", says Eduardo, "He did well there in
the beginning, but then, by all accounts, went right off the boil. I think
he needs to be loved, to feel wanted". When I mention that Mauro didn't play
today against Tottenham, Eduardo shakes his head, "I can't see him lasting
long there then", he says, "to be honest, I don't know why he's at West Ham.
He should be playing for a Champions League team, in my opinion".
Crazy? Moody? Spontaneous? Does that sound familiar to Hammers fans? And in
another of those 'only at West Ham' anecdotes, we now have two players in
our history who have returned the Nazi salute to the fascist Ultras amongst
the Lazio fans. However, whereas, Di Canio tried to explain it away by
giving an impromptu history lesson on how it is not a Nazi salute, but the
Roman salute that Hitler stole from them, Zarate's representatives simply
claimed naivety, explaining that Zarate didn't even know who Hitler and
Mussolini were. As ludicrous as that may sound, the education system in the
provinces of Buenos Aires, where Zarate grew up, isn't the best, and unlike
ourselves, kids in Argentina aren't brought up on a stable television diet
of World War 2 films and Dad's Army repeats, it's is actually feasible that
he really didn't know his dictators…
But enough of all that. Tactically, it's difficult to see where Zarate fits
into Allardyce's system. At Velez last season, Zarate formed a striking
partnership with Lucas Pratto, in the classic Argentine version of the 4-4-2
formation (4-3-1-2, the difference being that a playmaker, with few
defensive duties, plays behind the 2 strikers – the other 3 midfileders have
more defensive roles and play fairly central). Zarate is probably used to
more elaboration in the build-up, while he moves laterally across the final
3rd, timing his runs and waiting for the killer pass to run onto. It's
difficult to see which players at West Ham will be capable of delivering
that all important 'defence-splitting' pass, and he won't be used to playing
with wingers, so it will be interesting to see what he makes of players like
Downing and Jarvis, with their crosses, and the diagonal balls from the full
backs, and Sam's famous PBEs (Penalty Box Entries), all of which will be a
new way of playing for Zarate.
If the idea is to partner Zarate with Andy Carroll (or Carlton Cole when
Carroll's out), then there could be a worrying precedent in the way that
Carroll and Luis Suarez failed to gel at Liverpool? Of course, it's unfair
to compare Zarate with one of the best players in the world, but they do
both come from the same Rio Platense footballing background.
Despite Carroll wishing to stay at Liverpool two seasons ago, manager
Brendan Rogers was adamant he should leave. I read a tactical article about
Liverpool by Jonathon Northcroft in the Times last April and this bit caught
my eye: "Rogers has filtered out the slow movers – ditching Joe Cole and
Andy Carroll early in his reign and sidelining Lucas and Jose Enrique
lately. His training involves 'exercises built around the speed of the
ball'.
Without Carroll, who got in Suarez's way by operating in the same areas that
the Uruguayan likes to move in, and without Downing too, which allowed
Suarez to also pull out wide and attack from the left, Suarez reaped havoc
on opposition defences, who never knew from which which part of the pitch,
and from which angle, he was going to run at them, and in Daniel Sturridge,
Suarez found an equally mobile and flexible strike-partner, on his
wavelength. Pratto, Zarate's strike-partner at Velez, was a lot more
Sturridge than Andy Carroll/Carlton Cole in style of play.
In fact, logic says it can't work. You can't just graft a South American
ball player onto Sam's system and expect it to morph into flowing carpet
football with all the players understanding one other.
Or can you?
By all accounts Zarate did well in his brief spell (4 months) at Birmingham,
and Alex McLeish is an even bigger PBE-merchant than Allardyce! (although
Zarate's efforts weren't enough to prevent Brum from being relegated that
season it should be added).
The tactical theory says it can't work, but my heart really wants it to, so
thinking positive, could it be that the idea is so mad and illogical that
maybe, just maybe, it could be a stroke of genius?
Beatles fans will tell you that Strawberry Fields is actually two, quite
different, John Lennon songs. He was struggling to finish both of them
before he hit upon the idea of just joining them together. Paul McCartney,
and the 5th Beatle, producer George Martin, did their best to persuade
Lennon that it was a bad idea that wouldn't work. Martin, trained in
classical music theory, even took Lennon aside to explain how the two songs
were in a different key and had different tempos, but Lennon, drunk and
stoned, insisted, "I can hear it in my head – why can't you just slow and
speed up the recordings and splice them together". In the end, Martin and
McCartney did that, just to appease Lennon and shut him up, to show him how
it wouldn't work. The result, to their astonishment, was one of the most
emblematic, some would say most beautiful, songs of the era.
Which nicely leads me to the end. In Argentina, the crowds on the high
standing terraces make a lot of noise, often reworking the lyrics of well
known songs. For example, Culture Club's 'Karma Chameleon', and Bonnie
Tyler's 'It's a Heartache' have been reworked into popular terrace chants,
and Velez fans, to the melody of Strawberry Fields sometimes sing,
"na,na,na,na,naaaarrr …. na,na,na,na,naaaaaarrr… Velez Sarsfield, Velez
Sarsfield forever…
If it all works out well for both Zarate and Sam Allardyce at West Ham, if
they are both at West Ham in six months time, with the club halfway up the
league, then David Sullivan is a genius, the footballing equivalent of John
Lennon.
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Richards/Irons update
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on August 20, 2014 in Whispers
Claret & Hugh
West Ham's hopes of signing Manchester City's Micha Richards have been
described as no better than fifty/fifty by ClaretandHugh sources. We broke
the news yesterday (Tues) the Hammers were involved in talks with City but
that there were several hurdles to overcome. We were told, his club are
anxious about letting him out on an extended loan in the final year of his
contract. And this afternoon our source explained: "Talks have been going on
and there has been a lot of reportage on the issue but although we are
talking, we are no closer to an outcome. "The player is on around £70k a
week and there is no real willingness to do a wage sharing scheme. There's
also the problem that to let him out on loan could decrease his value. "Some
media outlets are claiming that a deal is close but it doesn't look that way
from where West Ham are sitting. We will try to thrash something out but
nobody's holding their breath. "And with James Tomkins looking likely to be
available for the weekend there's no massive urgency attached to doing a
deal quickly."
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Ravel nominates Big Sam for Ice bucket challenge
Posted by Sean Whetstone on August 20, 2014 in Whispers
Claret & Hugh
Ravel Morrison posted a video of himself this afternoon completing the ALS
Ice bucket challenge and laid down the challenge to Sam Allardyce, Carlton
Cole and two of his mates to do the same within the next 48 hours. Morrison
completed the challenge after being nominated by Arsenal striker Chupa
Akpom.
The challenge has gone viral on the Internet with Oprah, Justin Bieber,
Britney Spears, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Lady Gaga, Charlie Sheen and
George Bush all taking part in the challenge, which sees a bucket of ice
water dumped over participants' heads. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
is the umbrella term used in the US to describe what we in the UK call Motor
Neurone Disease.
A motor neuron is a nerve cell that makes voluntary muscle movements. MND is
a disease in which these cells stop working properly. Motor neurone disease
(MND) affects a person's ability to move voluntarily. MND stops people
eating, walking and talking, for example, but doesn't stop them from
thinking or feeling, effectively leaving sufferers 'locked in' to their
bodies. There is no known cure at the moment.
When asked whether Sam and Carlton will accept the challenge a source close
to club said 'watch this space!'
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Bojinov for Irons – THE TRUTH
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on August 20, 2014 in Whispers
Claret & Hugh
Reports that former Manchester City and Fiorentina striker Valeri Bojinov is
discussing a free transfer to West Ham are more than a little premature.
National newspaper reports that the Levski Sofia striker is on his way to
the club broke over the last few days with the news last night that he was
now in London.
However, ClaretandHugh has learned that the 28 year old is simply being
given a trial at this stage and that talks on a deal have not been held.
Levski sporting director Georgi Ivanov fueled the belief that a deal was in
prospect when he told Bulgarian national radio: 'We had to let him go
because we have an agreement. I allowed him to travel to England because I
am contractually required to do so." However, a well placed Hammers source
told ClaretandHugh exclusively: "One or two media outlets appear to have got
a little bit ahead of themselves. "It's far too early to tell whether we
will be offering him any kind of deal – we are just giving him a trial. "
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Hammers Wage bill is near maximum limit
Posted by Sean Whetstone on August 20, 2014 in Whispers
Claret & Hugh
Sources close to West Ham have revealed to ClaretandHugh that the players
annual wage bill has reached £57m this summer leaving just £1m in wages
before this season's Premier League Financial Fair Play limit is reached.
West Ham are unlikely to have increased retail or commercial income last
season after a bumper season before so £58m is likely to be the upper limit
this season to comply within the rules.
The release of Joe Cole, Jack Collison, Alou Diarra and George McCartney
released around £7m off the wage bill while the end of loans for Roger
Johnson, Pablo Armero, Antonio Nocerino and Marco Borriello is thought to
have released the equivalent of another £3m off the wage bill.
The seven new Hammers signings have added a combined weekly wage including
employers national insurance of around £244,000 adding over £12.4m to wage
bill.
Although the Financial Fair Play limit was £54m last season West Ham
actually had more than £61m available after Commercial revenue rose from
£7.9m to £13.9m and retail sales were up from £4.8m to £6m in our first
season back in the Premier League. Under Premier League FFP rules this extra
commercial revenue gave the club another £7.2m to spend last season if they
wanted to.
The remaining £1m this season could be used as £19k per week or £38k per
week as part of a six month loan, any outbound players sold would also
release further wages from the wage limit.
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