Daily WHUFC News - 12th December 2017

Martinez names seven strikers that have influenced him
WHUFC.com

Toni Martinez has been in inspired form for the West Ham United U23s this
season, netting ten goals in all competitions already this campaign. The
Spaniard's hard work has earned him calls into the senior squad and, as
Martinez eyes a breakthrough, the forward has named the seven strikers that
have inspired him to succeed.

Chicharito
Martinez said:

He is one of the best finishers in the world. He has had an incredible
career, where he has always scored goals wherever he has gone. I talk a lot
with him, and I ask him for advice, because I like to listen to those who
know more, to learn. And he always helps me. He doesn't see youngsters as a
competition but as his heirs. I am very grateful for all his advice. Having
a striker of his level to help you is amazing.

Fernando Torres
Martinez said:

Torres was my childhood idol. When I was a kid and played at Real Murcia, he
had just emigrated to the Premier League, and he was a striker which I took
as a reference. I wanted to be like him. Most kids look up to Messi and
Cristiano Ronaldo, but for me it was always Torres. And I think now I feel a
bit identified. He left Atlético to go to Liverpool and I left Valencia to
come here, I hope to succeed.

Luis Suarez
Martinez said:

He is a fighter. I feel identified with him because he fights for 90
minutes. The match ends and he might have not scored but he carried his team
on his shoulders and his teammates scored two goals. And that is also very
important. I see that he is a club forward, he thinks about the team before
himself and that is great.

Fernando Llorente
Martinez said:

In the end, he ended up coming to the Premier League because I think it's a
league for Spanish forwards like him… or me. He left a legacy at Athletic
Bilbao and he did not stop scoring goals when he arrived here because, with
his qualities, it is a little easier to adapt to England. He is the example
of a striker who shapes his team's future as, at Swansea City, he scored 12
goals thanks to his amazing work-rate.

Sergio Aguero
Martinez said:

He has the goal record at Manchester City, and that says it all. He always
knows where he has to be to put the ball in the net. He is synonymous with
goals.

Marco van Basten
Martinez said:

I think I've seen all the videos of him! After seeing his goals, his
movements and in general how he worked on the pitch, he is the clear example
of the typical Dutch forward, talented but also a fighter. He scored goals
that seemed impossible.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Martinez said:

He's a beast. When we played against Everton I was impressed by how he
fought, the balls he won and the opportunities he generated for his team.
And that's a motivation, to see that a boy a few months older than me doing
so well in the Premier League. If he has done it, why not me? There are
other youngsters that I like. Tammy Abraham, who scored 20 goals in the
Championship, not to talk about Marcus Rashford, who will be a star. It's
not easy to play every week at Manchester United.

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Zabaleta: We need to show the same spirit and commitment against Arsenal
WHUFC.com

Pablo Zabaleta says West Ham United need to keep up the momentum when they
welcome Arsenal to London Stadium on Wednesday evening. The Hammers go into
their second straight derby having gained confidence by pushing Premier
League leaders Manchester City all the way, before beating champions
Chelsea. And right-back Zabaleta, who was in typically determined form in
Saturday's success, says David Moyes need to maintain the same standards
when they face the Gunners. "We didn't start the season the way we expected
but we showed in the last two games that with that spirit and commitment and
discipline, we are a good team" said the Argentina international, who
covered 10.73km against Chelsea. "You need to show that for 90 minutes. We
should have more points so we need to learn from our mistakes and keep
moving forward. "Hopefully we can put another good performance in against
Arsenal on Wednesday night. I'm sure the supporters will be behind us. It's
time to stick together and be positive."

Zabaleta himself is clearly enjoying West Ham's belated renaissance, none
more so than during Saturday's superb victory over Antonio Conte's Blues – a
team he enjoyed so many top-of-the-table battles with during nine seasons
with Manchester City. Now, the 32-year-old faces a different sort of
challenge; inspiring West Ham to the victories they need to steer clear of
the relegation zone. While he may be older, he is also wiser, and his
enthusiasm and passion for the game burn as bright as they ever have.
"Football today is physically so demanding and you need to be a good
professional to keep performing week in and week out," he observed. "Since
I've been here at West Ham I've always tried to give my best and I will
continue to. "I have the experience you need to help the young lads in that
team but also I need to work really hard. My position is to run up and down
for 90 minutes, to support an attack and be ready to track back and defend.
I thought I did quite well. "My love of the game is probably the last thing
I will lose as a football player. I'm so hungry to keep playing in football
and I came to West Ham to enjoy that. It's a great club. "My fighting spirit
makes me feel young. I wake up every morning and go in for training trying
to be a good professional and that will never change!"

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Premier League 2 London derby postponed
WHUFC.com

West Ham United U23s' Premier League 2 London derby against Tottenham
Hotspur on Monday night has been postponed due to the effects of the adverse
weather conditions. Following the falling of snow over the weekend and the
freezing temperatures which have affected the majority of the country over
the last couple of days, the match was postponed following a pitch
inspection on Monday afternoon.
A new date for the game will be announced in due course. Meanwhile, the
Club's next fixture at the Chigwell Construction Stadium is this Friday,
when the U18s begin their FA Youth Cup campaign with a home tie against
Blackpool. Tickets are priced at £3 for adults and £1 concessions at the for
the Blackpool clash – which kicks-off at 7pm – and all tickets will be
available to purchase on the day on the gate.

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Mark Noble: I love winning derbies!
WHUFC.com

Mark Noble is overjoyed by West Ham United's derby victory against Chelsea
and is hoping for a similar feeling after playing Arsenal later this week.
The Hammers claimed a 1-0 win against the Blues on Saturday thanks to an
early strike from Marko Arnautovic, giving David Moyes his first victory as
West Ham United manager. The result has given Noble – who ran 12.9km in the
contest at London Stadium – a huge smile that doesn't look like fading
anytime soon, and the captain wants the positivity to continue when the
Irons play the Gunners on Wednesday. "It's nice to go home with a smile on
my face," Noble told whufc.com. "I do like winning local derbies! Chelsea,
Spurs, and we've got another one on Wednesday night [against Arsenal]."
Noble and his teammates put in an impressive performance to get the better
of Antonio Conte's Chelsea, with the away side limited to just two shots on
target, both of which came in the first half. The 30-year-old was thrilled
with the defensive display of the team, having kept a clean sheet in the
result. Noble explained: "When you play against these players and you play
against teams like this that have so much money and can buy the best players
in the world, you can't just open up and match them up. "You've got to
realise that and you have to find a way to beat them. We found that way by
defending, by counter-attacking and I don't care if we defended for 90
minutes. We won the game."

The skipper, who made his 298th Premier League appearance on Saturday, also
took time to hail the loyal West Ham supporters for their role in the win
over the Blues. "The fans against Leicester, in the second half, took it
upon themselves to create an atmosphere. At points versus Chelsea I was
trying to take it upon myself to give the boys instructions on what to do
but they couldn't hear me because the crowd was so loud. I'd like that
problem every week!"

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Zoepfl relishing life at West Ham United Ladies
WHUFC.com

The infamous initiation ceremony of new players at new clubs, up and down
the country, traditionally sees the new signing required to sing in front of
their new comrades. Yet Ellie Zoepfl, who moved to West Ham United Ladies
after playing collegiate football for Virginia Tech Hokies and coaching at
Heritage High School in Leesburg, Virginia, is yet to complete her task.
"They told me I was going to have to get up and sing, but it still hasn't
happened!" midfielder Zoepfl admitted in her first interview since joining
the Club. "I'm hoping they've forgotten about it to be honest. I'm a little
nervous about that now. They might read this and remember…"

While Zoepfl is admittedly concerned about clearing her throat in front of
her teammates, the new acquisition had no such hesitation when it came to
making the switch to the Hammers. The signing of Zoepfl coincided with two
other additions – fellow American Zoe Swift and London Bees midfielder
Andria Georgiou – as there Hammers boosted his squad for the remainder of
the season. And the 24-year-old has found the move to the FA Women's Premier
League Southern Division a pleasant one so far, while the different style of
football played on this side of the Atlantic has presented a welcome
challenge. "It's been a really easy transition. I've been provided with so
much support. The other girls have been really welcoming which has made
moving to the club so enjoyable. I'm really enjoying my experience here so
far. "It's a different style of football to what I was used to back in
America. I think, while football is football, the game back in the USA is
focused on athletic ability, how fast you are, and those sorts of qualities.
Over here though it's more focused on technical ability. I'm liking that
aspect and I'm enjoying the competition so far."

Having played in just a handful of matches for the Irons so far, Zoepfl has
made an immediate impact on the home fans at Rush Green, most notably when
she netted an excellent half-volley from the edge of the box against C&K
Basildon. Despite that goal coming in a 7-3 defeat, Zoepfl was delighted to
register her first effort for the Hammers. "It was a relief to get my first
goal. It was a good finish. I was delighted with it and I'm hoping to score
even more."

In that game Zoepfl featured in the middle of the park, but already she has
cropped up in different roles for her new team. Moving around the pitch is
no bother to the recent signing, however. "I will play whatever position the
manager wants me to play. I think I can play a variety of different
positions. I can play on the wing or midfield. Wherever they want me to play
I'll give 100 per cent. "I just want to grow as a player and West Ham is
giving me an amazing platform to do that."

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Moyes: Getting the most out of Marko, Michail's work-rate and scary Stuart!
WHUFC.com

David Moyes was in exuberant mood when he spoke to the daily newspaper
journalists following Saturday's 1-0 Premier League victory over Chelsea.
The West Ham United manager was asked about getting the best out of Marko
Arnautovic, Michail Antonio's amazing work-rate and working with Stuart
Pearce. The Scot's answers were both enlightening and entertaining…

Getting the most out of Marko

I was asked after Saturday's game how I best use Marko Arnautovic if
everyone in the squad is fit. It's a tactical jigsaw puzzle which I will
have to make before and during every game we play. If we play with three at
the back, as we did against Chelsea, it's going to be difficult to play with
Michail Antonio wide on the right, to play Arnautovic wide on the left,
because it would mean we will be 3-4-3, which can be too attacking,
particularly against the top sides. On Saturday we were 3-5-2 for most of
the game, with Michail down the middle and Marko supporting him, with Manuel
Lanzini slightly deeper. We used their power and strength and I thought
those two as forwards could cause problems, and they did. Marko's all-round
work has been really good. I've just said to all the players 'If you don't
do it I won't select you because at the moment I need it'. Football isn't
all about running, it's about or passing the ball as well and other things,
but what the people here want to see is players putting in effort, and
energy. And I think the energy Marko showed is giving the crowd a lift and
they are reacting to see if Marko Arnautovic can do it they all can do it.

Michail ran himself into the ground

Talking of hard work, Michail Antonio literally ran himself into the ground
on Saturday. We wanted him to stay on as long as he could because we thought
he was in the mood. There's getting tired and grinding to a halt. He worked
really hard. He works really hard in every game and is a real handful at
times. It's more important that with him coming back from injury, we don't
overdo it and he gets injured. I wanted to hit them on the break but then he
ran out of steam. We got Andre Ayew on in the end and he used his experience
and his abilities to help us see the game out.

Stuart scares a few people!

The media asked me what I thought of Stuart Pearce being told to sit down
after he kicked the ball into the stand during the second half! I think the
public here know what Stuart Pearce is. And a lot of the people here thought
the defenders played a lot more like Stuart Pearce, putting their foot
through the ball and tackling and that we were more resilient than what we
have seen in other games. Chelsea did have some opportunities but in the
main we did a really good job in defending. Anthony Taylor came over and had
a word, but I think some of the refs are a wee bit frightened of him!

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Four Hammers in team of the week
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 11th December 2017
By: Staff Writer

West Ham United's defeat of Chelsea at the weekend resulted in three Hammers
being selected in ESPN's Team of the Week.

The Team of the Week, chosen by pundits included two defenders - Arthur
Masuaku and Angelo Ogbonna - plus match-winner Marko Arnautovic (even though
he is incorrectly listed as still representing his former club Stoke City).

Additionally, David Moyes was named as manager of the week - resulting in a
third of those nominated being Hammers - whilst at least one member of the
panel also selected Winston Reid.

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Fonte blasts 'ignorant' Sullivan
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 11th December 2017
By: Staff Writer

Jose Fonte has hit back at David Sullivan after the co-chairman revealed
that "my kids begged me not to sign" the Portuguese international. Sullivan,
speaking last week to The Guardian revealed that his sons had implored the
co-owner not to spent £18million on the central defender and Hull City
iwnger Rovert Snodgrass.
And Fonte, speaking to a tabloid newspaper called the 68-year-old "ignorant"
in response to his ill-judged comments. "I'm not going to say anything," -
said Fonte, who is currently sidelined through injury. "It's not going to
change who I am. It's not going to change what I do. "I'm going to keep
being the good professional that I am. I am going to keep working hard to
try and help my team-mates and the manager. What has been said has no effect
on me or who I am."

The other player accused of not being up to scratch, Scottish international
Snodgrass hit back at Sullivan on Friday night, when he sarcastically
thanked Sullivan for his support via social media.

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West Ham allocated three per cent for Spurs trip
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 11th December 2017
By: Staff Writer

West Ham have been allocated just 2,700 seats for the trip to Wembley next
month. Although the stadium holds in the region of 90,000 people, Spurs have
granted West Ham the tiny allocation on the advice of the Wembley Stadium
SAG (Safety Advisory Group). This has led to West Ham putting their away
ticket trial on hold temporarily, meaning season ticket holders and club
members with insufficient points will not be able to apply for match
tickets. The match, originally scheduled for New Year's Eve was postponed on
the advice of the SAG; West Ham will now play three games in six days as a
result.

Ticket Prices
Adults: £30; Over-65s: £19; Under-18s; £17.
Accessibility Prices: Adults: £30; Over-65s: £19; Under-18s: £17.
For both Wheelchair Viewing Spaces and Accessible (AEA) seating please email
accessibility@westhamunited.co.uk or call 0333 030 0174.

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West Ham 1-0 Chelsea (And Other Ramblings)
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 11th December 2017
By: HeadHammerShark

"You're part of the plan
For a new man, to come through"
- Van Morrison, "A New Kind of Man"

Yeah, so Match of the Day hasn't improved much since I last watched it in
2016.

Still, this might not have been a victory hatched hatched in Skokie,
Illinois by a barbershop quartet, or required the services of a lawyer by
the name of Kobayashi but this was a game won with a plan. And I am not used
to that. We are a team that tends to win with the inexpert deployment of
freewheeling chaos and lose with similarly spectacular implosions. What we
have seen in these last two games has been something a bit more akin to
precision engineering, as David Moyes has convinced his men to wed
themselves to the notion of becoming hard to beat, and trusting in moments
of quality to get a foothold in the game.

Five at the back isn't a new idea

And so it came to pass that Moyes established himself as our very own Verbal
Kint. The man with a plan. The Cockney Keyser Soze by way of Glasgow, who
turned to the customary names - Adrian, Reid, Noble and Cresswell, to drive
us through. And maybe at the end of the season it won't be enough and, like
that, he will be gone but for right here and now there is much to admire
about what he is doing, even if you've never seen the seminal The Usual
Suspects and are wondering if the simple act of winning has pushed me into
writing gibberish.

*Stops to pick up Alvaro Morata who has inexplicably just fallen over at my
feet*

Anyway, perhaps the best thing about this victory was that it wasn't an
"event" game. This wasn't Friday night at home to Spurs to end their title
challenge. This wasn't a desperate save-the-bosses-job rearguard action
against some fellow denizens of the depths of the Premier League. Instead,
this was a big game, for sure, but it was more ordinary than the usual games
we've tended to win since moving to the London Stadium. This was a derby,
but not a vitriolic one, played in the low morning sun of a freezing
December Saturday and without that frisson of something that hangs over such
games when the lights are on.

But what happened here was that the team gave us a lift. By scoring early
and then by looking competent, hard to beat and organised they gave us
something to latch on. It's hard to be bang up for a game when you've only
been up for a couple of hours after a heavy Friday night, but it's a whole
other plate of biscuits when Marko Arnatouvic has scored after five minutes,
Arthur Masuaku is pirouetting past their wing backs like Darcey Bussell and
Adrian has brought his wall-shaped gloves.

Above all, what this reminded me of was a game at Upton Park. We arrived
with a bit more hope, by virtue of the Manchester City performance and left
with the cast iron knowledge that this team can actually compete, and with a
bit more trust in the men in the dugout. The crowd were dragged into it, and
stayed with the team even though our second half attacks were little more
than speculative punts in the vague direction of Antonio and akin to lobbing
coins at fighter jets. And when the final whistle went there was a feeling
that, in some strange indefinable way we had got back a little of what we
lost by moving ground. That will mean different things to different people,
of course, but if I had to describe it I would say that by showing us he is
a credible candidate to lead this fight against relegation, Moyes has
successfully united everyone behind him. And that's a pretty good start.

***

"When you're lucid, you're the sweetest thing
I would trade my mother just to hear you sing"
- Camera Obscura, "The Sweetest Thing"

This sort of thing. More often, please.

I don't want to go too far overboard about a single victory, but there was
much to be enthused about there. Certainly, if Moyes can extract this level
of performance in the majority of the remaining games, and instil this level
of discipline into our defensive efforts then we will stay up. If nothing
else, this team should be able to get points at a greater rate than the
likes of Swansea or the freefalling promoted clubs.

We won here by virtue of a lovely effort from Arnautovic, who exchanged
pinpoint passes with Lanzini before curling home delightfully past an
unsighted Courtois. He then jumped in the crowd with a Gene Kelly style
sidekick, which at least reminded us all of the Golden Age of Hollywood
while he was getting booked.

Arnautovic gets a yellow card

The Austrian was perhaps a surprise recall given that the Manchester City
performance was largely built on hard work and defensive endeavour, but he
performed admirably here, and served the important function of giving us an
outlet further up the field. He played just behind Antonio who was the lone
striker and was excellent in harrying the Chelsea back line with his pace
and physicality. It was also a healthy reminder not to write off players too
soon when injuries, illness, confidence and even unwelcome comments from
chairmen might be affecting them.

*Stops to pick up Alvaro Morata who has inexplicably just fallen over at my
feet*

What was so different here to the rest of the season, was that the team had
more than one option when they looked forward. Either Arnautovic was
drifting out left and looking to exploit the space ahead of Masuaku, or
Antonio was running in behind Cahill and Christensen and forcing them to
deal with a mobile threat. The contrast to those long afternoons of watching
Andy Carroll play Musical Statues, or of Chicharito marooned out wide was
stark. Indeed, watching these last two performances against two of the best
teams in Europe should really be hammering home to people just how badly
Bilic did in those first few months of the season.

I sense that while Moyes is determined to build from the back, he has
decided that Arnautovic is a project worth pursuing, and you could see why
today. He didn't have huge amounts of defensive responsibility but worked
hard and, crucially, did enough in advanced areas to keep Chelsea occupied.
What is encouraging is that against weaker teams, you can see how this set
up can be progressive too. Masuaku can be pushed further forward, and
Lanzini can be freed to get closer to the front two and we won't spend
entire second halves frantically bailing water in the face of a continual
onslaught.

Selecting Arnautovic does cause a certain problem for Moyes because he
traditionally hasn't had too many of those mercurial types in his teams, and
seems a bit distrustful of any one who doesn't get up and run five miles
before breakfast, but if he can successfully integrate our record signing
then you sense there may be more days like this ahead.

***

"Did you ever have to finally decide?
And say yes to one, and let the other one ride?"
- The Lovin' Spoonful, "Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind?"

It might have only been a few weeks but Moyes already seems to have made a
few seismic decisions about this squad. His insistence that the players
weren't fit enough might have just been the standard new manager schtick,
but we are five games in and Joe Hart and Andy Carroll are on the bench, and
Aaron Cresswell is a centre back, so I think it's fair to say that he's now
forging his own path.

The goalkeeping decision was straightforward in terms of form, but not in
the sense of the profile of the players involved. Hart's World Cup ambitions
are what led him to us, and with typically short-sighted hubris we lapped
that up and forgot we already had his equal here. Quite apart from the cost
involved, it's not difficult to imagine the raised eyebrows that might have
caused among the strong Spanish speaking contingent in the squad.

Pashun, or PASHUN as we yell on the Costa del Sol

So Adrian deservedly kept his place here while Winston Reid undeservedly
reclaimed his, and both were excellent in repelling an off colour but still
dangerous Chelsea. In fact, calling them off colour is probably unfair to us
- it's weird how both City and Chelsea both had off days when confronted
with our well drilled back four isn't it?

In front of them Mark Noble returned at the expense of Edimilson Fernandes,
which I initially thought was a mistake as the latter's mobility was a
crucial factor last week, but once the game started and it became clear that
Chelsea don't play at the pace of City you could see the merit.

Noble may be slowing like Damian Green's computer, but he still possesses
the experience to manage games like these. Even in the first half when he
misplaced a few passes and the crowd began to "weerrrrrr" he still kept
playing, because he realised the crucial value of getting out of your own
box and stretching these sort of teams. So it was that most of our better
moves had Noble involved somewhere, and in the dying moments it was he who
did most to keep the team from exposing our backline to the kind of rapier
quick counter attack that did for us here last season, as astutely observed
by Michael Cox at ESPN.

While Chelsea dominated the ball they really didn't do a huge amount with
it, instead choosing to pass it round a lot before losing patience at our
surprisingly resilient defending and attempting something extravagant. Kind
of like when your local decides to become a gastropub and then googles the
price of quinoa and admits defeat.

*Stops to pick up Alvaro Morata who has inexplicably just fallen over at my
feet*

What was also noticeable was how differently referee Anthony Taylor treated
the fouling of the two sides. Like Manchester City last week, Chelsea are
the masters of the sly foul to prevent teams breaking on them quickly. They
tend to allow four or five seconds to recover the ball and if they don't
they foul. The likes of Cahill and Fabregas have it down to a fine art.
What's really interesting is that because these transgressions are generally
so far from the goal and so innocuous, referees rarely book players for
them, especially if the team in question is trailing. However, when a team
is defending a lead, then it seems to me that players will almost certainly
be booked immediately for any kind of foul, as officials seem to view these
all as cynical attempts to slow down play. And so it was that while both
teams committed ten fouls, we picked up six bookings and Chelsea managed
just one. Must be nice.

But despite that we held firm for 95 minutes, and should even have had a
penalty when an Arnautovic flick was fairly obviously handled by
Christensen. As it is, we are now a team who have conceded twice as many
goals in our games against Watford and Everton as we did against Manchester
City, Chelsea and Leicester. Welcome to East London, Moyesy, it's mad here.

Reid and Ogbonna were in their element today, however, as Chelsea started
looking to hit Morata with crosses, and whenever they were absent then
Cresswell was there to help out, as his positioning and passing were
excellent. It is noticeable how much better we look when we pass out through
the left with Cresswell and Masuaku then when it goes the other side through
the Hit'n'Hope twins Zabaleta and Reid, who combined to make less accurate
passes in this game than Cresswell on his own.

But for all that, the system worked and we funnelled plenty of attacks out
wide and away from goal, and that showed up in the fact that Chelsea
mustered just two shots on goal all day and both were in the first half. And
so the Caley Graphics xG map might show a slightly fortuitous win, that
doesn't tell the whole story. We battled, blocked and battered our way to a
win, and what a feeling it was.

This was genuinely the first time I have a left a game all year where I
couldn't really identify a poor performer in claret and blue. I could have
picked any of them as Man of the Match and not been wrong. Drink up these
days, for they don't come often enough.

***

"Get on yer dancing shoes
You sexy little swine"
- Arctic Monkeys, "Dancing Shoes"

On a day of claret cheeks and blue fingers, it was a bit of a surprise that
our best performer was a twinkle-toed African left wing back, but Arthur
Masuaku has been defying expectations quite a bit recently. He has always
looked comfortable on the ball but has generally displayed all the energy
and drive of a traffic warden in his previous performances. But, somewhere
at the end of last season he began to run with the ball, and he hasn't
looked back - quite possibly because if he did he'd just see a massive wide
open gap and Aaron Cresswell on his knees, weeping.

*Stops to pick up Alvaro Morata who has inexplicably just fallen over at my
feet*

In this game Masuaku was exceptional, as his runs repeatedly gave us an
option and a way out of from Chelsea pressure. Most fans were purring at his
dragbacks and turns, but I just enjoyed seeing one of our players look like
he could carry the ball into those rarefied advanced positions without
getting a nosebleed, and his quick interplay with Lanzini and Arnautovic was
a big part of our first half performance.

Call me after, yeah?

He also did his bit defensively, especially after Victor Moses came on, and
it is to the credit of Moyes and his team that he didn't choose to make the
Creswell/Masuaku decision a binary one and instead found a way to
accommodate both. I could do with Masuaku toning it down a little bit in his
own half, but given then he successfully went past 11 opponents in this game
- a season high for the anyone in the Premier League - it's probably
churlish to argue.

What I have also enjoyed about Moyes is that he seems to have got the team
to buy into a concept bigger than themselves. We fans tend to view games as
single, discrete events but there is little doubt that the confidence from
the Manchester City performance bled across here. Now the players had some
belief in what they were doing and that was never more evident than when
Masuaku had the ball and we were going forward. With Antonio running the
channels, and Noble and Obiang intelligently covering behind him we just
looked so much more solid as a unit. This must have been what it was like
when they finally fixed the Hyperdrive on the Millenium Falcon.

And as much as I'm loathe to say it loud, we have done most of this without
Cheikhou Kouyate, who is perhaps the best example of a player who had
deteriorated physically and tactically under Bilic, and seemingly has so
much more to give then we have seen lately. I'll never not believe in the
Senegal captain, in the same way as I will never accept that TJ Hooker was
anything other than world class television programming, but when he comes
back he is going to have to match this level of work and decision making to
hold down his spot. Which is as it should be.

*Stops to pick up Alvaro Morata who has inexplicably just fallen over at my
feet*

***

"Do you remember when the ship went down, you left me on the deck?
The Captain's corpse jumped up
And threw his arms around my neck"
- The Pogues, "The Turkish Song of the Damned"

There are other things I could talk about here - that very bizarre Antonio
substitution, the general tendency Moyes is showing to make his replacements
too late or the bird that literally died half way through the first half and
fell from the roof to the athletics track after a particularly wayward
Fabregas effort. But no, instead I'll address the elephant in the room -
David Sullivan has given an interview, everyone!

And so here we go - an H List within an H List. Kind of like Inception and
dreams within dreams, except that Tom Hardy isn't riding around on a
snowmobile shooting anyone and maybe you'll be able to understand this after
just one viewing. Although I'm not promising anything.

"Oh excellent - the Chairman has been speaking to the Press. I foresee no
issues at all"

If you haven't read the interview, you simply must stop what you are doing
right now and click on the above link to do so. It is by The Guardian
journalist, West Ham fan and friend of The H List, Jacob Steinberg, and I
think it's a brilliant piece because it isn't confrontational but draws so
much out of Sullivan.

Some might feel that focusing on this after a victory isn't the done thing,
but it's timely and in some respects, more relevant to our long term future
than any single game. Perhaps the easiest thing to do might be to take some
of the comments and explore them in a little more detail. I accept that we
can't be entirely privy to the tone or context of each of these statements,
but I keep hearing about how Sullivan's spent thirty years in football, and
therefore I'm going to assume that he understands how dictaphones and, you
know, interviews work. Albeit, that's not a conclusion you would draw from
actually reading any of it.

"I work my socks off, but sometimes it's not good enough"

It starts like every bad appraisal meeting I've ever had to take. It is such
a common thread among poorly performing professionals that they equate how
hard and how long they work with being good at their job. This isn't unique
to Sullivan, by any stretch, but when you're in your office at 2am and all
your peers are home in bed there's a reasonable chance it's not because
they're less dedicated than you and far more likely that they are simply
better at their job than you.

I should add here that the overriding feeling I had when I read this piece
was one of sympathy. It's never fun to watch somebody try and do a job they
care a great deal about, but don't really have any idea how to do. But
sympathy can only go so far - I wouldn't be that understanding of a surgeon
who was stood in an operating theatre quickly reciting "...the knee bone's
connected to the thigh bone, the thigh bone's connected to the hip bone!..."
before cutting open my patella. And so my empathy for Sullivan only
stretches so far - he might be finding it harder than he imagined and he
might be at a loss as to how he's ended up here but that's tough. There is
another option available to him whereby he steps aside for someone
competent, and every day he doesn't do that harms our club a little more.

"David Gold is 81, it's is whole life. He has nothing in his life except
West Ham. He has no hobbies. He has a family but he has one granddaughter"

Excuse me a moment while I load up my shotgun and just blow a few of these
fish out of this barrel.

(fires)

*In the distance Alvaro Morata falls over*

I have to imagine some of this has been lost in the translation. To talk so
dismissively of an old friend and business partner is just odd. To
insinuate, even unintentionally, that having a granddaughter is somehow
worse than having boys is also a bit of a misstep, shall we say. The
following morning Gold then "liked" a Tweet from a fan commenting that he
felt sorry for Gold having Sullivan as a business partner.

(sighs)

*Loads up shotgun again*

"Jack's learning his trade, he was desperate to do it. He worked in every
department at West Ham for a week. He knows everyone. He has opinions on
everyone... He or Dave could possibly be chairmen in the future"

Leaving aside the rather obvious point that nepotism isn't generally a great
trait for any business, this is still such a bizarre thing to say. I don't
have any particular issue with Sullivan's two boys wanting to follow him
into the family business, but I certainly have an issue with them doing it
in such a public way. Wouldn't be nice if they were instead sent off
overseas for a year or two to learn their trade at progressive, well run
clubs overseas? He could find them internships at Bundesliga or MLS clubs
and they could learn how different organisations operate, and gain crucial
knowledge of overseas markets while they do it.

Instead they've done a week putting names on the back of shirts in the Club
Shop and now Jack has just fired his first manager. Get up Morata, I want to
shoot you again.

Perhaps even more galling is that Gold's two daughters - Vanessa and
Jacqueline run large multinational, successful companies already. Giving
people jobs because of who they are related to isn't generally ever a good
thing, but we can't even get the bloody nepotism right.

"We're about £10m a year better off - it's not going to change our lives...I
just think we feel like a big club. Not a tinpot club."

So, in the week that the Mayor set his sights on West Ham for having a
one-sided deal involving public finances, our owner decided to announce that
a £10m a year profit wasn't all it's cracked up to be. I get that the
context was probably vastly different, but it does rather highlight the
constantly tone deaf nature of Sullivan's public utterances. E20 - who run
the stadium - have a best projected annual return in the next decade of a
£10m loss. The tabloids are circling. The mayor is fuming. Your local
council are out £40m in a time of eye watering austerity. There's a time and
a fucking place, man.

But even that pales next to the notion that our Chairman feels like we are a
big club. It inadvertently says so much about where we are now that our
owner, presiding over a team with the 13th highest wage bill in Europe and
the largest season ticket holder group in the country only "feels" like he's
in charge of a big club.

"I'm sure there's a hundred things I've said that I regret"

Today? In this interview? Have you ever considered not saying them? No? OK,
as you were.

"If we go down, we'll come straight back up. We always do...(but)...I should
have got rid of him in the summer, but beating Tottenham in the last home
game and beating Burnley was just enough. My family gave me such grief for
not doing it"

So. Many. Things.

Going down and coming straight back up isn't a skill you want to acquire.
Spurs wasn't the last home game - we played Liverpool and lost 4-0
immediately after. We beat Burnley at a fancy dress funfare where a game of
Premier League football broke out. Sofiane Feghouli played the whole game in
a mankini and still scored. Basing any decisions off that result would be
like deciding to hire me to direct the next Star Wars film because I did a
great job capturing the cake cutting at a wedding on my iPhone.

Your two teenage boys were giving you grief? And you care? And you think we
care?

Where's that gun? Morata you better get back up again cos I'm definitely
going to put one in your right foot, son.

"I'm not really the Director of Football...I'm not involved in the strategy.
The manager said he wanted Fonte and Snodgrass. My kids begged me not to
sign them"

What's really noticeable at this point is how little the interview is really
about West Ham, and how it's much more about Sullivan. Here, in two
sentences, he throws five people under that bus we parked at Chelsea a few
years ago. Bilic, Fonte, Snodgrass and his kids - all traduced in order to
preserve the image of Sullivan as an innocent bystander. So, while he may
have started by saying that he hadn't done well enough personally, we have
really arrived at the meat of it here. Now he is upset that he's given Bilic
too much rope, and is blaming Fonte and Snodgrass, two men he still employs,
for the simple sin of accepting his stupidly bloated contract offers. You
know, I begged you not to sign them too David, but once they joined I kind
of expected that we would at least give them a chance to show what they
could do before trashing them in a national paper.

I wonder if the Board will ever be able to draw a straight line from
comments such as these to their constant failure to hire the people they
want to hire as managers, coaches or indeed players?

As for Sullivan not being Director of Football, let's just gloss over the
incorrect statement from our Vice Chair in her annual report for the
accounts, and simply gaze in wonder at the fact that we apparently have a
huge gap at the centre of the club structure. Who is dealing with all those
things that don't include coaching or recruitment? Who is looking at
analytics and youth development? What about the link into the sports science
department? Remember when Allardyce led that initiative to check the players
teeth a couple of years ago? Or how about making sure there is sufficient
language support for new foreign players?

Maybe all of the above is moot and all that stuff happens seamlessly, but
the very strong signal from these type of comments is that perhaps they no
longer happen at all, or if they do, then nobody is tying it all together.

I'd just like to point out at this stage that if they need someone to cover
the position until Jack has finished his week in the ticket office, then I
am available.

(On a Director of Football) "There is one very good one in the Premier
League. I would seriously think about taking him on in due course and I know
he would come because he's approached me"

I won't lie - I'm deeply suspicious of anyone who has grown sick of the
constant competence at another club and wants to work in our Looney Toons
setup. On the other hand, perhaps the West Ham job is the ultimate goal
because there is so much demonstrable opportunity.

Where Sullivan does deserve credit here is for seemingly having the
intellectual flexibility to think beyond what hasn't been working so far. Of
course, the difference between talk and action is substantial, but perhaps
there is a glimmer of hope here. He'd better hope we're still in the Premier
League when he finally comes blinking into the modern age, however, or he'll
find his options are far less appetising than than they might otherwise be.

***

"I'm movin' on up now
Gettin' out of the darkness. My love shines on"
- Primal Scream, "Movin' On Up"

So on to Arsenal we go. I feel for Moyes because after Manchester City and
Chelsea, he deserved something easier like Brighton or Newcastle but Bilic
already wasted those games. Perhaps Wednesday will tell us a lot about the
direction of our travel, or perhaps it will simply be a little detour before
we crash into reality at Stoke on Saturday.

But what he has done is instil something in all of the team and the crowd,
and Moyes deserves credit for that. Maybe it won't last long, but so far the
signs seem to point at us having Everton era Moyes rather than the Grim
Reaper who turned up at Sunderland. Indeed, it feels like he's already
achieved more here in a month than he did in an entire season in the North
East. So, I continue to be cautiously impressed because, if nothing else, he
seems to be a man with a plan.

Please note that the opinions expressed in this article are those of the
author and do not necessarily represent the views of, nor should be
attributed to, KUMB.com.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Jose Fonte labels West Ham owner David Sullivan's transfer claims
'ignorance'
Last Updated: 11/12/17 7:25am
SSN

West Ham owner David Sullivan's claim his kids begged him not to sign Jose
Fonte has been labelled as "ignorance" by the player. Fonte initially
struggled to impress since making his £8m move from Southampton in January,
but his performances had improved before an injury in November ruled him out
for up to three months. Sullivan's comments came on the eve of West Ham's
1-0 victory over Chelsea, telling The Guardian he is not involved in the
club's transfer strategy and that then manager Slaven Bilic had told him he
wanted to sign Fonte along with Robert Snodgrass from Hull. "My kids begged
me not to sign them," Sullivan said.
Asked for a response, Fonte told: "It's ignorance. I'm not going to say
anything. It's not going to change who I am. It's not going to change what I
do. "I'm going to keep being the good professional that I am. I am going to
keep working hard to try and help my team-mates and the manager. What has
been said has no effect on me or who I am."
David Moyes swerved commenting on whether or not he will be looking to keep
Fonte at the club after taking over from Bilic, saying he had not spoken to
the defender since Sullivan's interview was published. Fonte insists his
future at the club lies in other people's hands, but defended his
credentials. "That decision is not for me," he added. "I am 33 years of age.
I have 500 or 600 appearances. I know what I have done in football. I know
how hard I have to work to be in this position "It makes no difference to
me. I will still continue to be the same guy I have always been."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
COLIN MAFHAM: How West Ham actually SAVED London by moving into the Olympic
Stadium
YOU may have noticed that West Ham played Chelsea at what started life as
the much vaunted Olympic Stadium, but which now goes under the title of the
rather less loved London Stadium.
By COLIN MAFHAM
PUBLISHED: 00:28, Sun, Dec 10, 2017
Express.co.uk

Around 50,000 people turned up for that one, paying good money and keeping
the turnstiles turning. Goodness knows what would have happened if they
hadn't.
Like some other Olympic stadiums around the world it would have been dead as
a dodo, not too many souls in sight, weeds sprouting all over the place, and
literally haemorrhaging money by the millions. Whether the Mayor of London
likes it or not, if West Ham hadn't moved in and taken a 99-year lease on
the place that 'old' Olympic stadium would have been an acutely embarrassing
- and very costly - white elephant which the Government would have found
very difficult to explain or justify. The millions squandered are nowhere
near as much as we're apparently willing to hand over to the European Union,
but it's a heckuva lot nonetheless. In fact the bill nudged nearly
£500million before they ever realised they had spent so much on what was
effectively a one horse pony. For all the talk about an Olympic legacy no
one seems to have worked out precisely how such a legacy was going to work
long term, what it would cost, and who would be in overall charge on a day
to day basis. There would appear to have been no real financial Plan B . . .
Until West Ham came to the rescue.

Rather than the football club getting the deal of the century as Mayor Sadiq
Khan calls it, the Hammers saved London, the Government, and his
predecessor, Boris Johnson, from a financial disaster that could still cost
taxpayers up to £1BILLION. The bill potentially went up another £50million
last week with plans to replace the retractable seats with an improved
hydraulic system which has to be installed manually and could threaten the
viability of the already cash guzzling stadium because of the time and
labour that will take. Now, it may suit the Labour Mayor to embarrass Boris
and Mr Khan's other political rivals as much as possible, and one could
argue he'd have a point on this one. The simple truth is that our present
Foreign Secretary and financially profligate advisers were sucked in by Lord
Seb Coe's romantic dream of a cathedral for athletics. And all at OUR
expense!

But his stadium of dreams was built in such a barmy way, and at such an
incredibly crazy cost, that the only people it appears to have provided a
legacy for are athletes who only need it for a handful of meetings a year!
All at a time when it would probably have cost considerably less to update
the i rundown, but fit for purpose, athletics stadium at Crystal Palace. As
I recall the Olympic cum London Stadium was supposed to stage all sorts of
other events, but the truth is it was never actually fit for most, bar one,
of those purposes. Forget not that such was the clueless thinking of those
who first ran the show that essentials like toilets, as well as catering
facilities and executive boxes all had to be built - afterwards.

Enter West Ham United and Baroness Karren Brady, a lady with more commercial
nous and commonsense in her little fingers than Boris and Lord Coe would
appear to possess in their entire bodies. Given that her club needed a new
place to expand in, it wasn't West Ham's fault that despite all the
political shenanigans that went on for some time they were the only ones who
wanted the place on a financially realistic basis. And, more importantly,
with the potential earnings and infrastructure to make it pay. Me thinks
that if they had appeared on The Apprentice TV show in which she stars with
Lord Sugar Messrs Johnson and Coe would have been told: You're fired! You
will recall Coe and co complaining bitterly that the Hammers involvement,
and any other alternative move for that matter, would be a betrayal of the
athletics legacy they held so dear, if you excuse the pun.

West Ham's bid to take over the stadium was challenged in the courts by
Tottenham Hotspur - who wanted to knock the whole place down and start again
- and Leyton Orient, whose interests and intentions were never totally
clear. As a result the whole plan had to be scrapped, subject to a bruising
war of words in front of the European Commission. Some sort of sense
eventually prevailed, West Ham's 99-year agreement was finally confirmed in
2013, and then the real work began to make the stadium fit for footy and, so
the plan went, for athletics, concerts and other events in the summer. But
then came the cost, more costs, and even more crippling costs. The naivety
and inefficiency bordered on the criminal. Because only two-thirds of the
seats were covered the initial cost of a new roof and retractable seats to
help fans get closer to the action was a whopping £160million. Basically, a
so called state of the art stadium that had already cost £700million
(without proper loos) had to be almost rebuilt to ditch the Coe dream and
convert the stadium into a 54,000 capacity dual-use arena (with proper
loos).

West Ham agreed to pay £15m towards the overall conversion costs, plus a
basic £2.5m a year in rent, including extra payments if they are successful
and a rent reduction if, God forbid, they are relegated. The rest of the
conversion budget is funded by the London Legacy Development Corporation
(LLDC), whoever they might be. So, here we are again, with politicians
wrangling over how to spend - and waste - other people's money. You would
have thought they would have learned from old mistakes (remember what the O2
used to be before it was a soaraway success?) and got the hang of balancing
the books like the rest of us have to. Wouldn't it be nice if, instead of
meddling in businesses they know nothing about, they deferred to proper
professionals to do the job - and let West Ham run the lot! Their players
might be struggling on the field right now, but Baroness Brady and club
owners David Gold and Sullivan have been running businesses successfully for
years. They, at least, know what they're doing - and they don't cost us
taxpayers a penny we don't want to spend.

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

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