Ladies host home opener
Liverpool 0-3 West Ham United
West Ham United secured their second historic win of the season with a dominant 3-0 win at Anfield.
In a terrific display from every Hammer out there, goals from Manuel Lanzini, Mark Noble and Diafra Sakho broke the 62 year barren run. Added to that a red card apiece and this game really had a bit of everything.
The players walked out to a terrific atmosphere which by kick off was reaching fever pitch and the game that unfolded more than lived up to the pre-match atmosphere.
Slaven Bilic made two changes to the side that lost to Bournemouth a week earlier, James Tomkins replaced the suspended Carl Jenkinson while Manuel Lanzini made his first Premier League start.
Bilic's decision to blood the young Argentinian paid dividends immediately as the winger latched onto Aaron Cresswell's cross-come-shot, rolling it past Simon Mignolet from close range after just three minutes. The already boisterous away support was sent into near delirium.
The hosts refused to be cowed and responded strongly. Roberto Firmino forced Darren Randolph into a smart save with a curling effort before Christian Benteke's appeal for a penalty was turned down.
Buoyed by taking the lead the Hammers continued to press. Twice arrowed crosses toward Sakho were headed away just as the Senegalese was about to pounce.
Much like at Arsenal, Liverpool enjoyed the majority of possession, however the Hammers stood firm, staying compact, happy to soak up the pressure. Much like at Arsenal, West Ham won.
Bilic's tactics appeared to work as the Hammers almost caught the Reds out with a sucker-punch counter attack. Payet raced away with Kouyate offering support down the left wing. The ball eventually fell to Aaron Cresswell, on the edge of the box however his effort flew narrowly over the bar.
The Claret and Blues doubled their lead just shy of the half hour mark as Lanzini robbed a backpedalling Dejan Lovren, he burst into the box and tried to lay off Sakho. A desperate block presented Mark Noble with a golden opportunity; the captain kept his composure to place in it the far corner, triggering scenes of pure pandemonium in the away end.
A dogged and determined display by the boys in electric blue maintained their lead into the midway point.
The second half was just as high octane. Brendan Rodgers shuffled his pack by switching to 3-5-2. The Reds started with much more intent and purpose however their wings were somewhat clipped when Philippe Coutinho received a second booking for an ill-judged challenge on Payet. The Anfield crowd booed and brayed but the Brazilian's reaction told its own story.
Rodgers responded by bringing on Danny Ings yet Liverpool's never-say-die-attitude could do nothing to ware away at the Hammers' resolve. To a man they were simply superb.
Almost unrecognisable from the defeat to the Cherries a week ago, Reid and Ogbonna were titans at the back while Pedro Obiang the unsung hero.
Bilic's men pressed and harried, making good use of their extra man. Cresswell and Reid went close to putting the game to bed, the left-back's effort stung Mignolet's palms while the New Zealand international was inches away with a towering header.
With ten minutes remaining Noble was controversially given a straight red card for a fulsome tackle. Neither he nor his teammates could believe their eyes.
Nevertheless, the Hammers carried on unperturbed. Reece Oxford and Josh Cullen, making his Premier League bow, reinforced tiring legs. Initially a doubt before the match, Sakho put the Hammers into dreamland by netting a third, slotting coolly past Mignolet.
3-0 away at Anfield. A day no one connected to West Ham will ever forget.
Liverpool: Mignolet, Clyne, Lovren, Milner ©, Benteke, Coutinho, Firmino (Ings 60), Gomez (Ibe 78), Lucas, Can (Moreno 46), Skrtel
Subs: Bogdan, Sakho, Origi, Rossiter
Bookings: Coutinho, Lucas
Sent Off: Coutinho
West Ham United: Randolph, Reid, Cresswell, Tomkins, Kouyate, Obiang, Sakho (Cullen 93), Noble ©, Ogbonna, Payet (Jarvis 88), Lanzini (Oxford 82)
Subs: Spiegel, Lee, Samuelsen, Knoyle
Bookings: Noble, Lanzini
Goals: Lanzini 3, Noble 29, Sakho 90+2
Sent Off: Noble
Referee: Kevin Friend
Attendance: 43,680
Doctor Who, JFK & Beatlemania - West Ham's last win at Anfield
Before this weekend, the last time West Ham won at Liverpool in the league The Beatles were top of the charts, You'll Never Walk Alone was just a Broadway musical number and President John F Kennedy was drawing up plans for a fateful trip to Texas.
It was before an iconic anthem became famous
Top five songs in the UK charts on 14 Sept 1963 |
|---|
1. She Loves You - The Beatles |
2. It's All In The Game - Cliff Richard |
3. Bad To Me - Billy J Kramer & The Dakotas |
4. I'll Never Get Over You - Johnny Kidd & The Pirates |
5. I'm Telling You Now - Freddie and the Dreamers |
It was before a time-travelling police box
It was before a major moment in world history
It was before Liverpool ended a title drought
Filed: Sunday, 30th August 2015
By: Staff Writer
Hull City forward Nikica Jelavic is expected to complete a move to West Ham within the next 24 hours.
The 30-year-old striker has arrived in London for talks and a medical ahead of his proposed move to West Ham ahead of Tuesday night's transfer window, KUMB has learned.
Jelavic's arrival also means that West Ham's move for Tottenham's out-of-favour forward Emmanuel Adebayor may not now go ahead as planned.
West Ham and are Tottenham chiefs are currently wrangling over who will pay what percentage of Adebayor's extortionate £100,000-per-week wages.
Whilst the Hammers are willing to pay around half of that to secure the 31-year-old on loan for the season, Spurs are unwilling to do business unless a club takes on all - or most - of the Togo international's salary.
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Filed: Saturday, 29th August 2015
By: Staff Writer
James Collins missed today's 3-0 win at Liverpool not because he's on his way out of the club - but because his wife was giving birth to their second child.
Rumours that the 32-year-old was set to depart the Boleyn Ground spread like wildfire this afternoon when it was revealed that Collins had not been included in Slaven Bilic's 18-man match day squad.
However instead of rejoicing with the rest of his team mates on the day West Ham's Anfield hoodoo was finally laid to rest, the centre half was celebrating twice over at home.
The Welsh international had planned to dash from hospital to Liverpool in time to take his place in today's record-breaking match day squad, but unfortunately nature decreed that that particular opportunity was not available.
And that meant a mad dash up the motorway this morning for Academy full-back Kyle Knoyle - who featured for the Under 21s in last night's 5-0 thrashing by Arsenal at the Emirates - so that he could take Collins' place on the bench at Anfield.
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A GREAT VICTORY AT ANFIELD, NOW FOR UNFINISHED TRANSFER BUSINESS!
By S J Chandos 30 Aug 2015 at 08:00 223 commentsWell, what a great feeling, the 52 year hoodoo has finally been laid to rest and West Ham fans are thoroughly enjoying the moment. It was a formidable display of defensive solidarity and counter-attacking play. The nature of the job that we did on Liverpool is reflected in the fact that although they had the lion's share of possession, they could only muster one decent goal scoring opportunity. Make no mistake. this was a thoroughly well deserved three points. But we can not rest on our laurels or allow this victory to make us in the slightest bit complacent in the transfer window.
There are outstanding issues with the strength in-depth of the squad and they need to be resolved before Tuesday's transfer deadline. It appears to me that, as a minimum, we need to sign two strikers (x1 permanent and x1 on loan), a wide player and probably another midfielder. If we could manage to sign Hernandez from Man Utd, Matri from AC Milan (on loan), Victor Moses from Chelsea and Alex Song (on a free) from Barca, I think that would probably see the squad sorted.
We do not need another keeper. Randolph has proven himself a perfectly adequate deputy. However, I would ideally like to see us sign additional cover at right-back, with Sam Byram of Leeds Utd being my preferred option. But if transfer monies are tight, I am sure that Jenkinson and O'Brien will suffice, with Hendrie, Chambers and Tomkins as additional cover. Augmenting the strike force is the single most pressing imperative. With Valencia, Carroll and Zarate not available, and Maiga sold on, our position precariously relies on Sakho's continuing form and fitness. Hernandez is definitely the type of quality striker that I would like to see join the club. Failing that, I would not turn my nose up at the acquisition of Jelavic from Hull City. Jelavic is a good striker and could excel with better players around him. However, I am also clear that we need an extra loan striker. And acquiring Matri from AC Milan would be a perfectly good one year loan option. Of course there is also talk of the impending loan signing of Adebayor, but in truth it is unclear whether that move is ever likely to happen, considering Spur's hostility and intransigence?
Arguably We also need to add another wide player to the squad. We will presumably retain Matt Jarvis, but we could do with another option There has been a lot of talk about a £6m bid for Chelsea's Victor Moses. Moses is a player with a lot of talent, but he needs stability and a club where he can settle and play his best football. West Ham and Moses are a good fit and I would accordingly welcome the move. Another wide player linked with West Ham is Aaron Lennon, but I think his final destination is more likely to be Goodison.
Finally, with Poyet placed out on loan, there is a need for another defensive midfielder. I think that the preferred option is to sign Alex Song from Barca on a three year deal. As we all know, the complicating factor is the fact that Song is currently recovering from knee surgery. This means that there are problems with him passing a medical and the club are waiting until 1 September 2015 before conducting the medical. Personally, I rate Song and would welcome us signing him permanently. He may not be fit to play until November 2015, but a player of his quality is well worth the wait.
So, the key questions to be posed are: do you agree with the stated transfer priorities and the preferred targets identified? Or are there other priorities/targets that you think should be pursued?
SJ Chandos.
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We are going to feast out on this for months and you know what …so we should.
A new manager, a new team, virtually untried teenagers on the bench after several injuries and players being forced out of position – notably the outstanding James Tomkins who had an astounding game at right back.
Darren Randolph looked as safe as houses, both Winston Reid and Angelo Ogbonna were superb and Aaron Cresswell was right back to his best.
Mark Noble had perhaps his best ever game for us until being so wronglyu sent off, Pedro Obiang was seriously competitive, Cheik Kouyate was an all action hero, Dimitri Payet is a total star and Diafra Sakho was excellent.
No praise is high enough for manager Slaven Bilic!
Randolph 10
Tomkins 10
Reid 10
Ogbonna 10
Cresswell 10
Noble 10
Kouyate 10
Lanzini 10
Payet 10
Obiang 10
Sakho 10
SLAVEN BILIC 11
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Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren has deleted his Instagram account after reportedly receiving death threats from own fans following the 3-0 defeat to West Ham yesterday.
One Liverpool Blog after yesterday's historic result wrote "Lovren's calamitous defending in Saturday's 3-0 home defeat to hot-and-cold West Ham United has put not only his first-team place in jeopardy, but could also derail his chance at salvaging a career in the red half of Merseyside"
The Croatian international has failed to make the impact at Liverpool following his £20m move from Southampton last summer.
It appears a small minority of Liverpool fans disappointed at Lovren's calamitous performance against the Hammers yesterday took to their keyboards to abuse the Croatian defender on Instagram.
One Liverpool fan, Martin Richmond, wrote on his twitter account "Those who sent Lovren and his wife death threats are no true fans of LFC fans, no matter how bad a player performs, that's just unacceptable"
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Bilic in nonsense tapping up row
Liverpool fans clearly upset at yesterday 3-0 defeat by West Ham at Anfield have accused Slaven Bilic of tapping up one of their players after the Hammers' historic win final whistle blew. Slaven Bilic is clearly seen on video footage (below) having a deep conversation with Belgian forward Divock Origi after full time.
Football blog 'The Thick Accent' have suggested it was a 'blatant case of player-tapping'
But transfer business in the glare of TV cameras beamed LIVE to millions of football fans worldwide. OH PLEASE!
Mark Lawrenson deserves every bit of abuse he receives from Hammers fans this morning after a new attack on the team.
He has followed up his patronising : " I worry a little about West Ham " with something far worse.
The deadly dull pundit had added in a BBC interview: "They are under pressure and, with the goals they conceded in their defeat by Bournemouth, they did not look like a team.
"So the Hammers have got to sort themselves out – I just don't think Anfield is the place to do it."
Despite being proved conclusively wrong via a top class Irons performance yesterday the former Kop player has shown himself to be a graceless, charmless individual and a very bad loser.
Here's a section of what he has to say for himself in today's Liverpool Echo!
"West Ham are going to finish down towards the bottom of the league, they're not a particularly good team.
This is the guy who has shown himself to be a 'no mark'manager and pundit.I probably pay him too much attention but this can't be allowed to pass without comment.
His managerial career extended to Oxford in 1988 when resigned following the sale of Dean Saunders before a brief playing comeback in the Conference with Barnet!
He then lasted from September 6, 1989 until November 1990 with Peterborough United where he experienced another unsuccessful spell.
He was as poor as a manager as he is as a pundit. Ok that's off my chest. Let's move on.
West Ham have been alerted about the availability of 30 year old Newcastle striker, Papiss Cisse.
Cisse's agent Madou Diene has been quoted by The Newcastle Chronicle as saying "If the right offer comes I will ask Papiss to consider it. Nobody wants to be at a club where you don't feel wanted"
Recently, Cisse was linked with a move to Galatasaray, but Diene says there is no truth in these rumours.
"There has been no offer from Galatasaray yet, it is only talk in the media. But there has been nothing concrete. Perhaps if there was it would be considered because at Papiss' age he wants to play regular football. No matter which team he plays for he needs service because he will score goals."
"During his time at Newcastle, he's never had proper service which makes his goal tally even more remarkable."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::West Ham are claimed to have submitted an official for FC Midtjylland's Danish wonderkid Pione Sisto after Hammers scouts have written glowing reports on the rising star.
Reports suggest that Super League's most coveted player Sisto may be on the way out the door in FC Midtjylland in the next few days if the right deal can be struck.
According to Danish Newspaper Ekstra Bladet, West Ham overtaken other admirers of the player with a bid of just over 50 million Danish Krone which converts to around £4.9m. The offer includes certain sell on conditions and performance related bonuses to the increase the amount on offer to FC Midtylland.
The report also suggests another unnamed Premier League club has joined the race in the past days and could also be ready to put a bid for Sisto.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::NIGEL KAHN has been silent on this website for a long time!
Describing Nige as prickly is a bit like saying September will be here in a couple of days. Light the Olympic Stadium or Allardyce years fuse and stand well back.
But Nigel was at Anfield yesterday as a slice of Hammers history was written in the largest possible letters and we asked him: "So how exactly did that feel mate?"
Follow West Ham away Рparticularly to Anfield Рand your head is telling you the obvious so you utter the well worn clich̩: "I'll take the point" and fill in the fixed odds coupon putting the team you love with a passion down to lose!
Our 115 year history of three victories there and not a single win in 52 years insists there is no other course – it's the only sensible thing to do unless you enjoy waving money goodbye!.
The best result I can remember in my 45 years on this planet was a 2-2 draw back in 1999 but I watched that game on a live beam back to the Boleyn. In my four previous visits to Anfield I had seen us score one goal (Bobby Zamora, 2006).
For all that over 2,500 Hammers fans yesterday still made the pilgrimage back to Anfield hoping that this would be the year, hoping that they could say: "I was there."
In September 1963 West Ham had still to win a trophy; the Beatles were telling us "She Loves You." Moore, Hurst and Peters were no more than Hammers favourites – not World Beaters.
But on that great day Martin and Geoff scored the goals to give West Ham victory ending a nine year wait since the previous win with another 'soon to be' English World Cup hero, Roger Hunt scoring the Liverpool consolation goal.
To put that victory in context, Liverpool had lost their two previous games provoking Bill Shankley to proclaim after his team collapsed to the claret and blue: "I can assure the board that Liverpool will win a home game this season"
I doubt Brendan Rogers could ever match the wit of the Reds greatest manager in defeat.
The game yesterday is now totally etched in my mind's eye, to be replayed to myself at will; the sight of Lanzini scoring the first can be seen in an instant, Noble slotting home the second in front of the silenced Kop and Sakho hitting the 3rd in front of the mass-ranked Hammers fans to seal the win.
It was a victory I never really believed could be, not even during the game.
Even at 2-0 I expected some sort of Liverpool reaction! All I could think about was that we were two up in the Cup Final nine years ago and we all know that outcome.
But this year there was no Stevan Gerrard to inspire a Reds fightback and in the end this was pure unbridled joy.
In the 4 years under Allardyce the arguments raged about the 'West Ham Way!' and what it was/is.
In just four games it is plainly evident in Billic's team, it is the ability to lose to those we think we should beat while triumphing over those we think we have no chance against. As Hugh wrote last night that in a nutshell is the West Ham way.
So a week after Liverpool buried their Queen Cilla, West Ham bury their 52 years of hurt in Liverpool.
Never has an away day been sweeter.
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