Daily WHUFC News - 21st December 2017

Reid: We'll move forward from Carabao Cup exit
WHUFC.com

Winston Reid says the Hammers will move on quickly from their Carabao Cup
defeat to Arsenal as they look to keep their fine run of Premier League form
going.
The Hammers came up short at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday, going down to
Danny Welbeck's solitary goal, but have the comfort of seven points from
their last three league fixtures against Chelsea, the Gunners and Stoke City
to fall back on. Reid, who was back in the team in midweek after missing out
at Stoke due to a suspension, says it is imperative that the good run
continues with important games coming up against Newcastle United and AFC
Bournemouth before the year is out. "The positive from Tuesday is that we
limited Arsenal's chances," he explained. "We kept hold of what we have been
doing well in the last few games, which is filling areas in front of the
box, getting men behind the ball, getting blocks in and making things
difficult for the opposition. "We do need to be better with the ball once we
have it, and give the ball to each other in better situations, but we'll
take the positives from the game and move forward. We know what we need to
work on. "We wanted to do well at Arsenal, but our priority is the league
and we need to get further up in the table and continue the form that we've
been in.
"We've got some important games coming up before the New Year and we need to
focus 100 per cent on those."

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Oxford set to start in last-16 cup clash
WHUFC.com

Reece Oxford's Borussia Monchengladbach side take on Bayer Leverkusen in a
DFB Pokal last-16 tie on Wednesday evening and Academy Director Terry
Westley has backed the centre-back to shine. The 19-year-old has started his
loan club's last two matches – both in the Bundesliga – helping them beat
Hamburg 3-1 on Friday after a 1-0 defeat to Freiburg four days earlier. The
two appearances followed 15 in which he played just a minute for Borussia,
however the Academy of Football graduate looks to have broken into the
German team's starting XI and Westley is confident that is where he will
remain. He said: "Reece has hung on when he wasn't playing and now he is
beginning to show them what he is all about. He's carried on working hard in
training and he's getting those rewards now.
"He's made two starts on the spin and he's set to play on Wednesday against
Leverkusen for a chance to get into the quarter-finals, so it's a big game
for the team and for him. "It shows the determination Reece has got. The
perseverance that he has shown, it's admirable and he's settling down now
and starting to reap the rewards for all that work he did in the first half
of this season."

Oxford joined Monchengladbach in the summer and netted his first goal for
the side in a pre-season friendly against Spanish outfit Malaga in July. But
the youngster has had to bide his time having mostly been utilised as a
substitute for the club, who currently sit eighth in the Bundesliga. And
given his age and the destination of his loan deal, Westley admitted that
has not been surprising. "It would take any player going to a new country
time to settle, let alone a young player," the U23 boss continued. "Reece
was 19 at the weekend. So he's arrived there as an 18-year-old, he's got a
new language, a new place to live, on his own, and fair play to him. "Like
over here at West Ham, he's very highly-rated there. I went over to watch
the team's match in the round before Wednesday's tie (a 1-0 victory at
Dusseldorf) and I saw Reece and met their staff. "Everyone knows the ability
he has. He's now in the starting XI and he'll want to continue like that.
They have their Christmas break after this game but he'll just want to keep
improving and working hard. "What he has shown is that he is able to get
into that team now. He's played for England U20s this year and that's a
continued upward curve that everyone here is very pleased with."

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Ayew: We're disappointed we couldn't make the fans happy
WHUFC.com

Andre Ayew has hailed the West Ham United fans for their support and is sad
he and his teammates couldn't send them home happy, after a 1-0 defeat to
Arsenal. The Hammers were eliminated from the Carabao Cup quarter-finals by
a Danny Welbeck finish just moments before half-time, putting the Gunners
through at West Ham's expense. Around 7,000 West Ham supporters packed into
the Emirates Stadium for the contest and constantly cheered on their team,
and Ayew has praised them for their backing of the side. The forward Is
disappointed he and the rest of the team couldn't get through and thank the
supporters with a place in the semi-finals. "We're quite disappointed to be
out of the cup because I think we could have gone a step further," Ayew told
whufc.com: "The fans were unbelievable. My friends, they sent me a message
afterwards saying West Ham fans are on fire! "I'm disappointed we couldn't
make them happy, like we did at Wembley, but we want to thank them for
coming and for their support. We're going to keep running and playing and
trying to give them better football to make them happy."

The 28-year-old admits he is frustrated West Ham were unable to break down
Arsenal and feels there are now opportunities for improvement ahead of the
next contest, on Saturday. He continued: "Arsenal had more possession and
played the game, but we defended well and they didn't really have any clear,
clear chances. I think they got the one where they scored but in the second
half there was no clear chance. "We didn't manage to play our game or come
out with the ball on the ground from the back, but there are things that are
positive but also negative things we need to work on to be better in the
league. "We're going to use this game to become better and work and be
better for Saturday because that's what important at the moment."

David Moyes made six changes to the starting XI for Tuesday's match, with
Doningos Quina making his first start for the senior side, and Ayew reckons
such an experience will only benefit the Club going forward. He added: "I
think we have players who have the desire, players who want to run and play
for the Club. We are getting better and better. We lose maybe 1-0 at the
Emirates, with young lads also playing, it's good for them, it's good for
the Club, for the future. "Like I said, I'm disappointed because I'm a
competitor and I always want to go further, but I think we can learn a lot
from this and we can become a better squad and hopefully we can get good
results before the end of the year."

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Button it, Hammers legend tells Board
KUMB.com
Filed: Wednesday, 20th December 2017
By: Staff Writer

Frank McAvennie has criticised West Ham's Board of Directors, accusing them
of undermining the playing staff with comments published on social media.
Former Scottish international McAvennie, a cult hero at West Ham hit out
after fellow Scot Robert Snodgrass was targeted by co-chairman David
Sullivan. The club's co-owner claimed in a recent newspaper interview that
his two sons had "begged" him not to sign Snodgrass from relegated Hull City
or Jose Fonte from Southampton last January. West Ham eventually paid
£18million for the pair. The two players have already responded, of course,
but McAvennie has now added support for their case - insisting that West
Ham's poor opening half to the campaign can be partly attributed to
unwelcome outbursts from their employees. "How do you expect players to give
you 100 per cent when you make comments like this?" he wrote via his twitter
timeline. "And especially about players still signed to the club! "I think
the board should stop using social media, it seems every time they post
something it's totally wrong."

McAvennie, who played for West Ham during two spells in the 1980s and 1990s
was also highly disappointed by the team's display in their Carabao Cup
quarter final at Arsenal last night - which he watched from a hotel in
Granada. "Probably the worse game I've seen for while," he concluded. "A
scrappy goal for Arsenal with their first shot on target, I'm going back to
the pool bar."

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Moyes chasing La Liga midfielder
KUMB.com
Filed: Wednesday, 20th December 2017
By: Staff Writer

West Ham are reported to be in two-horse race to sign former Blackburn
midfielder Steven Nzonzi. David Moyes is understood to have identified the
29-year-old, currently at Seville and formerly linked with Chelsea and
Arsenal, as one of his key January transfer targets as he seeks to improve
his squad ahead of the second half of what has already proved to be a
particularly difficult campaign for West Ham. However he is thought to face
stiff opposition from former Hammers boss Sam Allardyce, who worked
previously with Nzonzi at Ewood Park during his brief spell as manager there
and is keen to take him to Everton. Moyes' predecessor, Slaven Bilic, had
already identified the position as one in urgent need of a boost but his
attempts to sign William Carvalho fell through after the Portuguese
international's current club, Sporting, entered into a very public row with
West Ham co-chairman David Sullivan. Speaking last night following the
Carabao Cup defeat at Arsenal, Moyes admitted that he was short in certain
areas. "The club know. We need to add quality and you can see that
tonight," he said. "We had to start with two 18-year-olds in midfield and
against Arsenal that is always going to be difficult. At this moment in time
we are short on midfield players."
Seville paid Stoke City £7million to sign the twice-capped 6'3" French
international in the summer of 2015.

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James Collins has claimed the West Ham players have taken "responsibility"
and worked harder since the appointment of David Moyes.
The Mirror

The new Hammers boss applied shock therapy on his arrival in East London and
publically criticised performances under Slaven Bilic. Now, after three
games unbeaten in the Premier League – including wins over champions Chelsea
and away at Stoke – the Irons look to climb up to 12th place against
struggling Newcastle on Saturday. And Wales international defender Collins
said: "We are miles different from where we were. Performances have got
better and there have been a few clean sheets. That has bred confidence. "I
thought we were magnificent up at Stoke on Saturday and we going into a big
game on Saturday now. We didn't disgrace ourselves at Arsenal [in Tuesday's
1-0 Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat] by any stretch of the imagination, so
the confidence is still high. "It is not one thing the manager has done. He
has freshened it up. As a group of players, we probably had to look at
ourselves and work a bit harder and that is what we have done. "I think the
boys are professional enough to know we weren't performing enough. Results
certainly weren't good enough — it was there for all to see. "I think we
took a bit of responsibility on ourselves because we weren't performing well
and we have turned it around with the help of the gaffer."

Collins, who has suffered from an ankle injury this season, added: "Things
can turn around quickly. Just look at Everton. They were in it a couple of
weeks ago and they have got three or four wins and moved right up. "We have
got a couple of wins and a draw in the last few weeks and we have moved away
from it with another really good chance to get three more points on
Saturday. We could probably go to 12th on Saturday with a win, which seems
mad from where we were. That is how tight it is. "Anyone from probably from
ninth can be dragged into it."
The Welshman played in the 3-0 defeat at St James' Park in August's reverse
fixture. That was the start of three consecutive wins for promoted
Newcastle, but Rafa Benitez's team are now on a run of eight defeats in nine
games. "Yes they are struggling a bit," added the former Cardiff and Aston
Villa defender. "We know what that is like – we were similar at the start of
the season. We have got to take advantage of that."

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Diafra Sakho has edged closer to the West Ham exit door after an alleged
bust-up with manager David Moyes.
The Mirror

The striker, according to the Daily Mail, was expecting to start in
Tuesday's Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat by Arsenal as a reward for his
Premier League goal against Stoke. West Ham, however, have insisted there
are no problems playing down claims of a reported '£50,000 appearance bonus'
row. Sakho has made no secret of his desire to leave West Ham and was
understood to be expecting to start in Tuesday's Carabao Cup defeat by
Arsenal as a reward for his recent Premier League goal against Stoke. Javier
Hernandez was given the nod instead. Moyes insisted post-game that his
discussions with Sakho had been 'only positive' with the club denying that
Sakho, 27, had to be persuaded to remain at the ground. "The allegations in
this story, including the suggestion of a 'row' ahead of the Arsenal game
and team selection being dictated by a player's contract are categorically
untrue," a club spokesperson told Mirror Football. Sakho has made 14 league
appearances under the Scot and predecessor Slaven Bilic, but all have been
as a substitute. After seeing a summer move to West Brom, and later Rennes,
fall through due to a back injury, Sakho inked a new deal at the London
Stadium, paying him £40,000-per-week basic. West Ham are likely to seek
around £15million for Sakho, who cost £4.5m in 2014. He has since scored 24
goals in 71 games for the club.

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