Daily WHUFC News - 14th February 2017

Manager on Monday
WHUFC.com

Slaven Bilic was pleased with how his West Ham United team overcame Andy
Carroll's absence on Saturday – even if the London Stadium clash with West
Bromwich Albion didn't yield the maximum point haul it deserved. West Ham
had to settle for a point after Gareth McAuley's last-gasp header wiped out
the advantage given to them by Sofiane Fehgouli and Manuel Lanzini, and it
was the fact the Hammers hit the net twice which pleased Bilic the most.
Carroll was absent with a minor groin injury – he is expected back for the
trip to Watford next up – but West Ham still carried a major threat
throughout. He said: "We got a point, you know, but we didn't deserve less
than three points. It was a great performance, a great comeback, with style.
The crowd were enjoying it – it was not just in one dimension, across
everything the guys were amazing. "They did everything that I asked of them
and that's why it's even more frustrating [not to win]. "Andy is one of
those key players for us. We played really good without him, with him it
would have been even better. "But what pleased me is that we don't depend on
one player, we have a team who can compensate when one of the players isn't
playing, even if it Andy Carroll."

Another player who will be back for the game at Vicarage Road in two
Saturdays time is Andre Ayew, who has just returned from Ghana's Africa Cup
of Nations campaign which saw them claim fourth place in Equatorial Guinea.
Bilic added: "Andre Ayew came back on Friday. He had a long Africa Cup of
Nations – they didn't play more games than we played here so it's not
physical, but psychologically it means a lot to them and it drained him.
"They were there until the end – they played for third place – so we gave
him a few days off and he came back on Friday. That's why he was not in the
squad on Saturday."

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Loanee round-up
WHUFC.com

It was a largely frustrating weekend for West Ham United's band of loanees.

In the Premier League, Ecuador international Enner Valencia was introduced
after 62 minutes of Everton's goalless draw at Middlesbrough, where he found
his efforts frustrated by Aitor Karanka's resilient side.

In the EFL, Toni Martinez was handed another start for League One side
Oxford United, with the Spaniard being substituted for match-winner Kane
Hemmings with 17 minutes of the U's 1-0 victory over MK Dons remaining.
Academy of Football graduate Rob Hall provided the cross for Hemmings' goal
at the Kassam Stadium.

Norway international Martin Samuelsen had only a few minutes to impress for
Peterborough United in the same division, but the winger could not conjure
an equaliser in the Posh's 1-0 home defeat by leaders Sheffield United.

Alex Pike was handed a start for struggling Cheltenham Town in League Two,
but a tactical switch by Robins' manager Gary Johnson saw the full-back
replaced after 43 minutes at Kevin Nolan's Notts County. Cheltenham lost the
game 2-1, with former Hammer Manny Onariase scoring a late consolation for
the visitors.

Jaanai Gordon was introduced as a half-time substitute for League Two's
bottom side Newport County on Friday evening, but he could not quite break
the deadlock in a goalless home draw with Doncaster Rovers at Rodney Parade.

Elsewhere, Marcus Browne was an unused substitute for Wigan Athletic in
their 3-2 Championship defeat at Fulham. Fellow Latics loanee Reece Burke
missed the game through injury.

Josh Cullen was also missing for Bradford City in their 1-1 League One draw
at Bristol Rovers, having tweaked a thigh muscle in training. George Dobson
was not involved for Walsall in their 4-1 defeat at Bolton Wanderers in the
same division.

Finally, goalkeeper Sam Howes helped Hampton & Richmond Borough to a 1-0
home victory over Margate in National League South, a result which keeps the
Beavers sixth in the table.

A pair of Academy of Football youngsters have also been in action for
Republic of Ireland at age-group level. Anthony Scully featured for the U19s
in a 2-1 National Team Tournament defeat in La Manga, while Conor Coventry
helped the U17s to 2-0 victories over Hungary and Romania at a warm-weather
training camp in Spain.

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London Stadium Family Fun Day details released
WHUFC.com

Up to 10,000 supporters will descend on London Stadium on Wednesday 15
February for the first West Ham United Family Fun Day at London Stadium.

The half-term event, the largest of its kind in Hammers history, is just one
of many Club initiatives thanking our loyal and faithful supporters in our
maiden season at our new home.

The West Ham United Fan Zone, situated on the London Marathon Community
Track, will open from 11am, with a host of inflatable activities, face
painting and a penalty shootout competition, whilst mascots Hammerhead and
Bubbles will be there to add to the fun.

London Stadium turnstiles A and J will also open from 11am, ahead of the
first team training session which will begin at midday. If your print at
home e-ticket states Turnstiles A and C, please enter via A, and if it
states J and K, please enter via J.

Slaven will be putting his side through their paces ahead of their warm
weather training camp in Dubai, and is looking forward to putting on a show
for all those in attendance.

The session is expected to finish before 2pm, but not before we attempt to
create the largest team photo in West Ham United history! The photo will be
made available online for all attendees to download in the following days.

Kiosks will be open inside the concourse with a host of refreshments and
food options for all families attending the Fun Day.

Due to the large number of supporters at West Ham United's historic Family
Fun Day, the players won't be able to sign individual autographs on the day,
but will be distributing a number of signed footballs.

Please remember that this event is all ticket, so please don't come to the
stadium unless you have yours. There are still a very small number of
tickets remaining, so please click here if you would like to attend.

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Ladies denied late on
WHUFC.com

West Ham United Ladies denied second league victory of the season by late
Portsmouth equaliser
Hammers had taken the lead through Molly Peters' goal five minutes after
half-time at Thurrock FC
Point takes Ladies level on points with Swindon Town Ladies, who they face
next on 26 February

West Ham United Ladies were denied just their second victory of the FA
Women's Premier League Southern Division season by a late Portsmouth Ladies
equaliser. The Hammers looked set to secure a morale-boosting three points
at Ship Lane when Molly Peters put the hosts ahead five minutes after
half-time. However, mid-table Portsmouth snatched a draw with just five
minutes remaining through Gemma Miller's low shot into the corner. Despite
the frustration of seeing two points slip away, manager Greg de Carnys was
upbeat about the improvements his team have made in recent weeks and months.
"We're focussing on trying to get better as a team and better as players,"
said the manager. "I'm here to make footballers better and by making those
players better the results will come. "I'm pleased because what we saw on
Sunday was progress, but there are still things we still need to improve
on."

With new signing Jodie Jacobs adding resilience to the defence, where she
formed a strong partnership with Hannah Wheeler, West Ham gave it their all
in an eventful game played in cold conditions at Thurrock FC. Pompey had the
first chance of the game, hitting the post in the second minute, but the
Hammers soon took control. Peters put a shot just wide after a great solo
run, followed by another good ball over the top from new signing Tia Bailey
which Peters gathered well before seeing her shot deflected wide for a
corner.
Hammers goalkeeper Latoya Smith made a great save to prevent the visitors
taking the lead on the 30th minute, and the game reached half-time goalless.
West Ham started the second half very well, getting the ball up the pitch
and into dangerous areas. De Carnys' team were rewarded for their efforts in
the 50th minute as Dayna Chong played a great through ball to Peters, who
produced a great finish to give her side a deserved lead. Substitute Antonia
Gregoriou had a great chance to make it 2-0 as the ball fell to her in the
box with only the keeper to beat, but her shot was saved. Having escaped,
Portsmouth pressed for an equaliser and, on 85 minutes, got their reward as
Miller slotted the ball into Smith's bottom right-hand corner. The point
gained from Sunday's draw took the Hammers level on points with Swindon Town
Ladies ahead of West Ham's trip to face the Robins at Shrivenham FC on
Sunday 26 February.

*Report provided by Robert Wheeler.

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Leicester Tickets available on Ticket Exchange
WHUFC.com

Tickets are available for Hammers supporters to purchase for the Premier
League visit of Leicester City on the Ticket Exchange.

The fixture against the Foxes is a sell-out, but tickets become available to
purchase as Season Ticket Holders who cannot attend relist their seats.

Claret Members currently have a priority window in which to purchase tickets
on the Ticket Exchange

Buy your Leicester ticket on the Ticket Exchange here

If you can't make the game, you could help a fellow Hammer watch the game by
relisting your seat on the Ticket Exchange.

Thousands of Hammers are clamouring for tickets at London Stadium, with
52,000 Season Ticket Holders and the same again on the Waiting List, and by
putting your seat up for sale not only would you be helping them, but you
would also earn money to use against your Season Ticket renewal.

Click here to see how much you can earn back by listing your seat now.

Relisting your seat is easy to do - simply follow the instructions here.

The Ticket Exchange will close three hours before kick-off on the day of the
fixture. Ticket Exchange terms and conditions can be found here.

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Antonio - Hopefully I will get my opportunity
WHUFC.com

Michail Antonio is determined to maintain his impressive form in the West
Ham attack and would love the chance to win back his place in the England
squad for the double header against Germany and Lithuania at the end of
March. Antonio has been one of the star performers for the east London Club
this season and is top scorer with eight goals. The 26-year-old showed his
versatility once again when he led the West Ham attack on Saturday after
Andy Carroll was ruled out with a groin injury and was unlucky not to get
his name on the scoresheet. Antonio received his first call-up to the
England squad for the World Cup Qualifier against Slovakia back in
September, but was an un-used substitute. Despite his lack of action,
Antonio loved being part of the set-up and with new England manager Gareth
Southgate in attendance at London Stadium during the 2-2 draw with West Brom
on Saturday, he hopes his impressive performance would have caught his eye
once again. Antonio said: "I am going to keep playing my game and if I get
called up it will be great. I am not going to let it affect me and if the
manager feels I have done enough he will name me in the squad. "I have been
part of the set-up before but I didn't get to play. I just need to keep
doing what I have at West Ham and hopefully I will get my opportunity. "I
played in two different positions against West Brom and I have the
versatility."

Antonio is hoping to renew his successful partnership with Andy Carroll in
the next Premier League game against Watford and says he is enjoying the
chance to play in a more attacking role. Carroll has also been linked with a
call-up to the England squad and Antonio has no doubts he is good enough to
play for his country once again. He added: "We have a good understanding
playing together and things are going smoothly. He is a quality player and I
definitely feel he should get a call-up. "We missed Andy. West Brom are a
big team and it would have been good to have his physicality on the pitch,
but we have to make sure he is ready for the next game. If Andy keeps
playing the way he is, he deserves a place in the England squad."

Antonio was frustrated that the Hammers could not come away with all three
points after they looked to have won the game late on with Manuel Lanzini's
impressive strike. The Hammers forward felt a number of key decision went
against his side and felt it could have been a different outcome if he had
managed to get on the scoresheet in the first half. "We had to keep battling
and had a lot of opportunities but it wasn't meant to be our day. "I feel
there were a couple of opportunities where the decision could have gone our
way but that is part and parcel of football. "I had a couple of
opportunities and looked back at the one when I was two-yards out and I
missed the ball, but we just have to move on and prepare for the next game
at Watford and keep going."

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Stat's A Fact - Classy Lanzini
WHUFC.com

Manuel Lanzini looked a different class as West Ham United were unlucky to
draw 2-2 at home to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday afternoon. The
Argentinian bagged the fans Man of the Match award on Twitter, an assist and
the 86th minute goal, before late-heartbreak struck when Gareth McAuley
headed home in stoppage time for the visitors. Without a recognised striker,
Lanzini superbly shared the responsibility of leading West Ham's attacks
along with Antonio, Snodgrass and Feghouli. The four were a constant threat
to West Brom's back-line throughout the second half. Sofiane Feghouli
eventually got the equaliser in the 63rd minute as the Hammers enjoyed a
host of second half chances, with Lanzini at the heart of most attacks. By
full-time, Manu had topped the Hammers' successful dribbles charts with
four, had made the third most touches of the ball (80) and had more shots on
goal than any other player on the pitch (four).
As West Ham enjoyed over 65 per cent possession on the day, the man making
things tick was of course Lanzini. His pass completion rate eventually stood
at an outstanding 93 per cent. As time ran down, the only thing missing from
his near-flawless performance was a goal; and with less than four minutes
remaining, Manu stepped up to deliver the game's best finish. Cutting in on
to his weaker left foot, he struck the ball powerfully and low in to the
bottom corner leaving goalkeeper Ben Foster rooted to the spot. It was
Lanzini's fifth Premier League goal this season and his second against West
Brom, having scored at The Hawthorn's in September as well. In total, the
23-year-old has created 27 key chances this season – more than any other
Hammers player.

For West Bromwich Albion, they spent much of the game without the ball (34.8
per cent possession) and had half as many shots as West Ham United (eight).
Nacer Chadli and Solomon Rondon shared four shots between them, while Gareth
McAuley's nine defensive clearances was the most by any player. Unlucky to
draw, but there were still plenty of positives to take from Saturday's
performance – not least that of Manuel Lanzini. The Hammers are now not in
action until 25 February when they visit Watford's Vicarage Road. Slaven
Bilic's side will hope to continue the form which has seen them take ten
points from a possible fifteen since early January.

For more stats from Saturday's draw, or any game this season, visit our
Match Centre!

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FT - West Ham United PL2 3-0 Nottingham Forest
WHUFC.com

FT: That's it! The Hammers have comfortably beaten Nottingham Forest by
three goals to nil. Holland's late third puts extra gloss on what was a
terrific result and performance - the Hammers are now through to the
knockout phase of the Premier League Cup! Next week, they're in action of
the first time at London Stadium - stay tuned on our media channels for info
on next Monday's match with Fulham! Good night!

90: THE HAMMERS HAVE A THIRD! Holland has been excellent and plays a one-two
with Parfitt-Williams before tapping past Wright. 3-0!

88: So close to a third. A lovely, sweeping move - Holland crosses for
Parfitt-Williams who dummies and Diangana shoots just over.

86: Not long left now and the Hammers have looked comfortable so far in this
second half. Terry Westley will be pleased with what he has seen.

82: Quina again produces one of his signatures turns. He bursts forward but
shoots just wide.

78: Great shift by Joe Powell tonight. He's replaced by Djair
Parfitt-Williams. Forest make two subs - Coleman and Otim come off for
Taylor and Johnson.

77: Good chance for Forest. Otim lets fly from 25 yards and Trott produces a
wonderful acrobatic save.

73: A long ball over the top of the defence almost finds Holland sprinting
through by Nielsen manages to steal in with an interception.

70: Forest work it to their right hand side and a deep side isn't able to be
brought down by Edser. The visitors are yet to worry the home side tonight.

63: The Hammers make their second change of the evening with Noha Sylvestre
replacing Dan Kemp. Quina will now play in behind Powell, with Diangana
moving to the right hand side of midfield.

61: A lovely flowing move by the Hammers. It's worked to Neufville whose
cross just evades everyone in the box. Forest make a sub with Kyle McClean
replacing James Thorne.

54: Looks as if Elvis Otim is on his last warning. A foul on Kemp and he's
already been booked - the referee calls the No7 and the Forest skipper over
for a final talking to.

51: Late challenge by Toby Edser earns him a booking for a foul on Quina.
Strangely, Quina is then booked for trying to pull the referee out the way
because he wanted to take a quick free-kick. Bizarre!

49: Diangana tries to slide a pass through for Powell bit it's slightly
overhit. The Hammers striker seems keen to complete his hat-trick.

46: We are back underway at the CCS. No changes for either side at the
break. 2-0 the score.

HT: Solid first half by the boys. Two Joe Powell goals have the home side in
cruise control at the break. More of the same in the second half please!
West Ham 2-0 Notts Forest

45+4: Crookes floats a header towards goal but it's easily caught by Trott.
Forest have rarely threatened in this first 45.

45: I wasn't far off my guess! We'll have 7 minutes of stoppage time at the
end of this first half.

44: It's been a very good 15 minutes for the Hammers, since the injury to
Pask. That will mean we'll have around eight minutes additional time to
play.

40: It's 2!! Shoddy backpass by Nielsen allows Joe Powell acres of space to
pick his spot and slot home! And almost a third as I type as Holland cracks
a strike against the woodwork. The Hammers have been dominant. 2-0

34: It's a GOAL for the Hammers. Patient play on the right by Kemp and
Knoyle ends in the latter crossing for Joe Powell to loop a header over
Wright and into the net. That's followed by a brilliant run and strike by
Diangana, whose effort flies just wide. 1-0

31: Good chance and it was almost Dec Rice again. The skipper got his first
of the season last time out and again made a similar run to the near post
from a Quina corner. Rice used his head this time but the ball looped just
over.

26: First booking of the game goes to Forest. Elvis Otim scythes down Joe
Powell, who was away and clear. Deserved yellow.

23: Pask is stretchered off and on comes U18s captain Tunji Akinola. Fingers
crossed that the injury to Pasky is no too serious! We're back underway.

20: Pask is still down on the pitch with several medical staff attending to
him. Let's hope he'll be okay and that the injury is not too serious! We can
expect plenty of stoppage time at the end of this first half.

16: The stretcher is on and Pask will play no further part in this one.
Tunji Akinola is warming up and looks certain to come on.

14: Nasty collision between Trott and Pask. A long ball was played forward
and Trott was forced to come and clear. Unfortunately, he followed through
and collided with Pask. Hopefully, Pask will be okay but it looks as if he
won't be fit enough to continue.

10: Penalty shout for Forest. Pereira goes down under the challenge of Pask,
but the Hammers centre-back clearly won the ball and the referee waves away
the protests.

8: Neufville's pings a cross in from the left and it's fumbled by Wright in
the Forest goal. Luckily for him, the away side could clear their lines.

7: Brilliant pressing by the home side in the opening exchanges. Diangana,
Kemp and Powell are all working very hard to retrieve possession.

4: Almost an early goal! Quina surges forward and beats a couple of
challenges before sending a strike whistling just over the bar. Bright start
by the Hammers.

2: Late challenge by Pereira on Makasi and the Forest midfielder doesn't
like the fact his was dispossessed, so swings an arm at Makasi. The referee
will want to nip that in the bud early on.

1: The Hammers get the game underway! COYI!

6.45pm: So not long to go now until kick-off. It's a chilly night in
Dagenham this evening, but both sets of players have almost finished their
warm-ups and are raring to go for this crucial Premier League Cup fixture.

6:30pm: So just the one change from Terry Westley this evening. Dan Kemp
returns for Noha Sylvestre who drops to the bench. Domingos Quina drops
deeper into the midfield, with Grady Diangana moving into the No10 position
behind striker Joe Powell.

West Ham: Trott; Knoyle; Pask (Akinola, 23), Rice, Neufville; Makasi, Quina;
Kemp (Sylvestre, 63), Diangana, Holland; Powell (Parfitt-WIlliams, 78).

Subs not used: Matrevics, Parfitt-Williams, Hector-Ingram.

Goals: Powell 34 and 40, Holland, 89.

Bookings: Kemp, Quina.

Notts Forest: Wright, Charlesworth, Crookes, Edser, Nielsen, Iacovitti, Otim
(Johnson, 78), Coleman (Taylor, 78), Smith, Pereira, Thorne (McClean, 61).

Subs not used: Re, Marques.

Bookings: Otim, Edser.

6pm: Good evening and welcome to the Chigwell Construction Stadium for West
Ham United PL2's Cup fixture with Nottingham Forest. The Hammers can qualify
from Group E tonight, after drawing with Leicester City on Thursday. Their
opponents Forest play in the league below the home side, so Terry Westley
will be expecting his team to pick up maximum points tonight. Team news to
follow!

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Commemorative Bricks returned to supporters
WHUFC.com

West Ham United has joined forces with the Bobby Moore Fund to re-unite
supporters with their treasured commemorative bricks from the Boleyn Ground.

Dozens of volunteers have managed to salvage many of the bricks from the
memorial wall on the Sir Trevor Brooking Stand and are now working in
partnership with the Club to locate the individual or family who
commissioned them.

West Ham United was originally advised in 2015 that there was no guarantee
the bricks could be saved as part of the demolition process and arranged for
every message to be reproduced on a stone at Champions Place at London
Stadium as a lasting memorial.

However, the demolition company has managed to keep many of the bricks
intact and is now working with West Ham United and the Bobby Moore Fund to
return them to their owners with more than 100 bricks handed back to people
this Saturday.

Donna Heuerman, who raises money for the Bobby Moore Fund, said: "We are
delighted to be working with West Ham United to ensure as many commemorative
bricks as possible are returned to their owners.

"It was an emotional day at the Supporters' Club as people came from far and
wide to collect their treasured bricks. This is all about re-uniting people
with these sentimental items and we would also like to take the opportunity
to thank people for the generous donations they have chosen to make to
support the Bobby Moore Fund as part of this process."

Fifteen-year-old Jonjo Heuerman, with the help of his family and fellow West
Ham supporters, has raised more than £300,000 for the Bobby Moore Fund for
Cancer Research UK.

He was inspired to start fundraising in 2009 following the death of his
beloved nanny, Lyn, to bowel cancer and in recognition of Club legend Bobby
Moore who passed away of the same illness. Jonjo's fundraising achievements
have gained national recognition and he became the youngest ever recipient
of the British Empire Medal in the 2016 New Year's Honours list.

Not all the commemorative bricks have been recovered yet as the demolition
process is still ongoing but once they have all been removed from the West
Stand there will be further opportunities to reclaim them later this year.
Due to the nature of the process, although every care is taken, not all
bricks will be able to be salvaged.

If you had a commemorative brick at the Boleyn Ground the Club would be
delighted to hear from you to help you locate it please contact:
supporterservices@westhamunited.co.uk, or www.fornannyandbobby.com where you
can search a log of the recovered bricks.

You will also be able to register the inscription of the brick you are
trying to trace in the event that it is recovered in the next phase of
reclamation. Alternatively you can search via Facebook group Boleyn Brick
Salvage at https://www.facebook.com/groups/2047807192112530/.

For a step by step guide on how to find your stone in Champions Place at
London Stadium contact supporterservices@westhamunited.co.uk.

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Westley – We're through in style
WHUFC.com

West Ham United's U23 boss Terry Westley was delighted as his team
progressed to the last-16 of the Premier League Cup
With a Group E game left to spare, the Hammers secured their place in the
next round with a 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest
West Ham won the match in style with three fantastic goals

A place in the last-16 of the Premier League Cup for West Ham United's U23s
was secured in style on Monday night as Terry Westley's men beat Nottingham
Forest 3-0.

The boss was delighted as his youngsters played their opponents off the park
at Dagenham and Redbridge's Victoria Road to book their spot in the knockout
rounds with one Group E match to spare.

Joe Powell's first half brace gave the hosts the initiative and Nathan
Holland rounded off a fine evening for the Hammers with a 89th minute third.

Westley and his staff were thrilled as their players gave them everything
that was demanded.

He said: "We told the lads that a win will put you through, and we're
holders and we want to try and hang onto the competition, and we played with
some style tonight too.

"Both those boxes got massive ticks tonight so we're absolutely delighted.
When you look at our team, with seven youth team players on the pitch at the
end and we've got through to the last-16, the boys deserve great credit.

"It's one game, we've said, and you need to roll your sleeves up and win
this. We did that in style and we had some outstanding performers.

"The captain Declan Rice was outstanding, a nine out of ten, Nathan Holland;
what a signing that looks to be. And Domingos Quina, for a first year
scholar, lightens the pitch up every time he plays."

Powell's first half double was particularly pleasing for the manager to see,
given the winger has not been playing his natural position recently.

"We've had to play with a loose nine and so between Nathan Holland and Joe
Powell, Grady Diangana, Dan Kemp at times…we've had to mix it up," Westley
continued.

"One will go into that position and one will come short and for young
players, we've done that very effectively. We got a goal at Blackburn, two
against Leicester and tonight we've got three. That's pleasing and we've
looked a threat at the top despite not playing with a recognised number
nine.

"The manner in which we played, the organisation we showed; Liam Manning
deserves great credit, because he's come to the Club and the work he does
shows on the pitch."

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West Ham 2-2 West Brom (And Other Ramblings)
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 13th February 2017
By: HeadHammerShark

1. Institutional Memory

Music is a funny thing. It is entirely subjective and I think most people
understand that, yet if you don't get an artist it is unlikely that you will
ever be objective enough to consider changing your mind.

As an example, I cannot even remotely understand the attraction of Muse and
yet will look at you with great incredulity if you suggest that The Stone
Roses debut album is anything other than a work of staggering genius.
Subjectivity and all that.

And so I come, reluctantly, to Tony Pulis and West Brom. At home. In the
freezing cold. With no fit strikers. In February. I wanna, I wanna, I wanna
be abroad.

Nothing can convince me that Tony Pulis is good for football. I have seen
too many games involving his teams, and had too many days ruined by the grim
fare he offers up in the name of pragmatism. As such, I accept that this was
a ninety minute exercise in confirmation bias, and I also have to accept
that - in this regard alone - Tony Pulis is my Muse.

Anti-football, thy name is Pulis

Whilst it might be true that not all superheroes wear capes, it's also
equally true that not all supervillains wear a tracksuit, white trainers,
baseball cap and look like an angry British tourist on a Mediterranean
cruise complaining to the purser that he can't get his Only Fools and Horses
DVD's to work on the TV in his cabin. BUT SOME DO.


2. Posse Comitatus

If playing against a Pulis side is torture, then playing against them when
they've taken an early lead is positively horrific. Just two games had
passed since we chose not to recruit a right back or centre forward in the
transfer window, and the footballing gods decided that was quite enough of
that and thus we started this game with both Andy Carroll and Sam Byram
missing from the starting line up, in a development as predictable as that
new Pirates of the Caribbean film being shit.

We actually started this game fairly brightly but that all turned to shit
when, on five minutes, Noble needlessly played Feghouli into trouble outside
the box. The Algerian went down far too easily, although he was probably
fouled, and the resulting loose ball was picked up by Nacer Chadli, who
skipped past a static Kouyate and fired the visitors ahead.

It was a dreadful goal to concede in every sense, and condemned us to the
most fruitless hour of attacking since Piers Morgan took on JK Rowling on
Twitter and got roasted like a Jersey Royal. There was no lack of effort but
we resembled a wave trying to crest a sea wall as we tried repeatedly to
broach the huge line of Northern Irish Goliaths that Pulis strung across his
penalty area like lighthouses.

The primary requirement to play for West Brom isn't really to have any
football skill, but if you can't enter a Tube carriage without ducking then
you're in. Having taken the lead, the Baggies made no noticeable attempt to
add to their lead, which made it all the more galling when Salomon Rondon
nearly did exactly that by crashing a fine twenty yard volley against the
bar.

Pulis was so infuriated by Rondon needlessly getting himself into such an
advanced position that he immediately withdrew his other "attacking" players
and had them stand on the half way line pointing and laughing as the
Venezuelan fruitlessly chased after the myriad long balls aimlessly booted
over his head for the rest of the afternoon.

As the xG map above from @11tegen11 shows, we created plenty of chances and
on another day could have won this game comfortably, but that is not how
football works. The best chance of all doesn't even appear here, when
Antonio challenged Ben Foster for a goal line header and when the ball fell
at his feet, Foster abandoned all pretence at being a footballer and
executed a Stone Cold Stunner to make Steve Austin proud. Like everything
else in this game, the decision didn't go our way.

For all our bluster, we never looked like getting anywhere until the match
turned in the 53rd minute. Chadli made the mistake of attempting to get the
ball into the box, which was quite enough for Pulis who hauled him off
immediately and replaced him with centre half Jonny Evans, and getting
closer to his life long dream of fielding a 1-10-0 formation.

With all pretence at attacking now abandoned by West Brom, we flooded
forwarded with no fear of retaliation. With Cresswell having gone off at
half time, we were nominally playing 3-5-2, but it was much closer to
2-4-3-1 as Fonte and Reid minded the store while everyone else charged
forward.

Thus, with an hour gone Lanzini thumped a long range effort goalward, which
Foster brilliantly tipped on to the bar, and God finally revealed himself to
have a sense of decency as the rebound was tucked in by Feghouli. On the
touchline Pulis fell to his knees, crestfallen at not having enough central
defenders on the pitch.

We continued to attack but without the necessary guile to open up a well
drilled and, frankly, enormous West Brom back four. At this stage I couldn't
stop my mind wandering to the exotic port of Marseille, but before I could
yearn too lustily, Lanzini was at it again as he cut inside and smashed a
swirling left footer past a static Foster from outside the box, with only
three minutes remaining. The keeper didn't move a muscle because - and this
is so glorious it gets it's own line -

He was unsighted by all the fucking centre halves on the edge of his box.

But it's not that kind of season for us, and having lollygagged from the 6th
minute West Brom got the point they didn't deserve when Evans outjumped
everyone to head in a 95th minute corner, in time added on due to West Brom
timewasting. And Pulis turned to me and gave me the wanker sign, because he
might be the death of football but if you can't defend a corner then he'll
kill you all the same.


3. Guns Not Butter

On the point of time wasting, I read an interesting suggestion the other day
that matches should last only 60 minutes, but that the ball must be in play
for the entirety of that period. Thus, when the ball goes out of play the
clock is simply stopped and even if the keeper from - and let's just pick a
team at fucking random here - oooooh, let's say West Brom, decides to retie
his boots, adjust his socks, scrape non existent mud off his studs, ring his
wife to check he has locked the back door and have a shave, before taking a
goal kick it would make no difference.

I especially enjoyed the moment after Lanzini's goal when a disconsolate
Foster wandered to his post and scraped some mud off his boots like a
footballing Wall-E. Unable to process what had just happened, he simply
reverted to his core programming and did something he hoped would waste some
time.

West Brom did this shit all day, and whilst I accept and appreciate a bit of
professionalism I actually felt that referee Michael Oliver's biggest
failing on the day was to do nothing about it. Foster should have been
booked in the first half, as could any of the back four, including right
back Allan Nyom who didn't even bother doing it properly, instead just
standing inert with the ball at throw ins until Oliver was forced to blow
the whistle to hurry him up.

Now, you probably shudder at the idea of a 60 minute game, but a 2013 study
by Soccermetrics found that the ball was effectively in play during the
2011/12 season for only 55 minutes per game. This will have moved about a
bit, but I have yet to see any study putting that figure above an hour. And
fair enough too - modern players are being asked to gegenpress their little
hearts out and in game recovery is vital. By the way, that study found Stoke
to be the Premier League team with the lowest average. See if you can
remember who their manager was in 2012.

I may sound like I'm being ungracious, so I should say that the West Brom
team carried out their managers instructions to a tee. No opportunity was
passed up to waste time, disrupt play, and generally chisel out a tiny
portion of the still barely beating heart of modern football. And their fans
no doubt love it, riding high as they are in eighth place.

Fair play to them, but there is a price to pay for this bullshit. It eats
away at your soul. There is that horrible feeling of being in that famous
Mitchell and Webb sketch where they suddenly see the skulls and Nazi
memorabilia and realise they might be the bad guys.

Alternatively, this feels like a Dorian Gray situation. Somewhere in Adrian
Chiles's loft there is a slowly decaying portrait of West Brom, crumbling
with every feigned injury and delayed throw in. I've read that book, and I'm
telling you now that I cannot fucking wait for the end of this particular
version.


4. Game On

We attempted 28 crosses in this game, completing just 7 of them, and never
really looking dangerous in doing so. This is partially because the West
Brom defence is populated by Easter Island statues, but also because crosses
aren't a particularly effective way of scoring goals. A study by Liverpool
blogger Bass Tuned To Red showed that when teams amass lots of crosses, it
is generally as a result of being behind and falling into a desperate
pattern attempting to recover the game. You should read the piece, but a
relevant couple of quotes are shown here:

"What is clear when reviewing the matches in question is that there has
often been an air of desperation about the team doing all the
crossing.....if your team is struggling in a match and sending in a truck
load of crosses, don't be too surprised if they fail to win."

What was clear in the second half especially, was how West Brom were happy
to let us shovel the ball out wide. Our two most frequent pass combinations
were Fonte to Kouyate, and Kouyate to Feghouli, which accorded with my
recollection of us attacking frequently down the right to little avail.

On another day, when Andy Carroll was on the pitch and Jonathan Calleri was
on the beach, we might have capitalised but as it was, cross after cross
bounced off the Blackpool Towers in the middle and we had to rely on Lanzini
for inspiration.

This is actually a little unfair on Calleri, who I thought showed flickers
of decency in his cameo. The trouble is that he is on a loan-to-buy
arrangement and won't have the time or opportunity to prove himself (Does
that sound familiar, folks?). He'll be good somewhere, but it won't be here.
You know it, I know it, he knows it. Just brace yourself - he's going to be
that guy that your mates ask you about in a year or two and say "Hang on a
minute - didn't he used to play for you?".


5. Evidence Of Things Not Seen

Seeing the line up for this game had me wondering about Bilic. This was a
Redknappian selection, where players were crowbarred into positions they
weren't suited for simply to get them in the team. Steve Lomas at right
back, Trevor Sinclair in central midfield, Ian Pearce at right wing back.
This was Bilic's version of I Am The Resurrection.

The player most under pressure as a result of all this is Mark Noble, with
Pedro Obiang a suddenly consensus pick for Hammer of the Year as a result of
scoring and playing well at Southampton. Weirdly, this didn't seem to
generate the same credit for Noble who did the exact same thing.

In the event, both did well. Obiang had his passing boots on and was
instrumental in slicing open the West Brom rearguard on multiple occasions
with pinpoint, searching through balls. Noble did his bit too, attempting
more tackles than any other Hammer and generally getting on the ball plenty.
There is courage in that, when you are 1-0 down at home to the footballing
Antichrist and the fans are getting antsy.

As @11tegen11 shows in his pass map, both Noble and Obiang got on the ball,
but neither were as influential as Lanzini, who had a marvellous game and
continues to be the new partner giving us all a reason to smile after
divorce from our glamorous French spouse. His movement and vision here was
several levels above that of his opponents, and many of his team mates.

All up, I haven't really got any complaints about our performance in this
game. We dominated West Brom everywhere and when the initial stuff failed,
Bilic gave Pulis a massive tactical fuck you and stopped bothering to defend
altogether. That overloading of attacking players eventually wore down the
resilience of the visiting automatons and should have got us more than a
point.

My issue is not with the performance of this team, but whether this is the
best team we could have fielded.

6. Internal Displacement

Sam Byram was actually on the bench for this game but Bilic simply avoided
the decision around dropping Noble or Obiang by playing his best central
midfielder - Kouyate - at right back. If Byram is truly not a better right
back than Kouyate then we need to give up on that experiment now and move
him on. Alternatively, if Bilic just doesn't want to make a tough decision
and drop an established player then maybe it is he who needs to be moved on.
That's a nonsense, of course, but man - this selection was a mess.

It's a cliche, and cliches are rarely true, but at present it's unlikely
that our best eleven contains our best eleven players. The ludicrously
unbalanced nature of our squad means we have lots of midfielders and barely
any full back or striking cover, and the comparison isn't just whether
Kouyate is a better right back than Byram, but also whether he is a better
central midfielder than either Obiang or Noble.

To my mind, the answer to that latter question is demonstrably "Yes" and as
such, we are weakening ourselves each week we don't play him there. His five
goals last season are more than Obiang and Noble have scored between them so
far this year, and with our near constant struggle to get advanced support
to Carroll in games against better teams, we badly need his athleticism
further up the pitch.

I have no real answer to the dilemma, but playing players out of position
eventually always goes wrong. They grow resentful of their lack of
opportunity, they hate being exposed for failing to do things they aren't
good at - Antonio, Nordtveit and now Kouyate have all given away goals in
that area - and it can't be great for Byram to be behind his supposedly
temporary replacement, especially as he was found out the first time he had
to do any actual defending in this game.

Devoted fans will remember the episode of The Simpsons when the bosses at
the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant replaced Homer with a chicken, and I
might have actually reached the point where I would be fine with us trying
this.


7. Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc

So, how badly exactly is the lack of a right back costing us this season? I
mean, it should be said that the lack of any acting ability has never
stopped Sean Bean earning a living. After an, admittedly very brief,
analysis I listed the goals conceded that I think were the fault of the
temporary right back of the day, and have cost us points. I held myself to a
couple of simple rules;

- any game started by Byram is excluded on the grounds of him being a right
back
- any game where we got battered is also excluded, as it feels like losing
5-1 at home can't really be blamed on one single player

Chelsea (a) - Antonio - 1 point
Spurs (a) - Antonio/Nordtveit - 3 points
Liverpool (a) - Nordtveit - 2 points
Man Utd (h) - Nordtveit - 1 point
West Brom (h) - Kouyate - 2 points

OK, so let's start with the flaws in this analysis. Nobody can determine
with any certainty the impact of a single player, or of one single moment in
a game. Well, nobody except Lord Griffiths, Henry Winter and Sheffield
United fans, but sadly they weren't available to me as I think they were
otherwise occupied posting online abuse of Jessica Ennis-Hill for not
wanting to be associated with a rapist.

So, please don't tell me that what I have done here is ludicrous, as I
already know that. I'm like the grown men who go on Soccer AM and sit in the
"stand". I know I look stupid, but I'm carrying on regardless.

What this excludes is any mistakes made by Byram, as he is human and allowed
to make them, and crucially he is actually a right back. It also ignores
games like Arsenal and Southampton at home where we gave up goals down our
right side, but were getting creamed anyway so I can't say it really cost us
any points.

But - and this is tenuous but reasonable - it has cost us something. I've
suggested nine points above, which is way too high in reality, but there are
points lost this season caused by the ridiculous hubris of thinking we
didn't need a full back. I don't know who is to blame for that, but whoever
it is needs to look at these numbers and weep. Whatever method you use, and
whatever number you come up with, our season would look a whole lot better
if we hadn't inflicted ourselves with such a brain numbingly stupid wound
entirely of our own making.


8. A Change Is Gonna Come

So Slaven Bilic finally lost his shit today. This has been coming for quite
some time, and in fairness, I'm amazed he has lasted this long. We missed
out on the Champions League last season at least partially because we had no
right back (Jesus fucking Christ, Sullivan) but also due to a run of awful,
horrendous decisions in huge late season games.

That continued into this season, with the records now showing that any West
Ham player getting sent off these days has a fifty percent chance of having
it overturned. All teams feel they are hard done by, and maybe they are -
who knows, I don't give a shit about what happens to Leicester or Sunderland
or Everton. Well, except for the fact that I wish bad things upon Koeman's
whinging thugs, so maybe that's not entirely true.

Anyway, the point is that all football fans see injustice everywhere and
we're no different, but I'd be happy to put the officiating of West Ham
games in the last two season up against anyone's and see who has lost more
points due to incompetent officiating.

Which makes it all the more galling that Bilic chose today to go nuts.
Because, there really wasn't that much wrong with the officiating. The
Antonio foul was egregious, but that happened right in front of me and I
didn't see it until I got home.

I felt for Bilic, as I left the ground feeling most decisions had gone
against us, but in the end most were right. Feghouli had a goal disallowed
in the first half whilst Craig Dawson lay prone in the box having been
floored by his own keeper. I'm pretty sure the linesman flagged for a foul
initially, but once Oliver confirmed it wasn't a foul they changed their
mind and disallowed it for offside and hoped for the best. Replays proved
them correct as Antonio was offside and interfered with Foster as he tried
to save the shot. In the end, you have to say that was a fine decision.

All the while, Dawson lay on the ground and did what any other 6"2 centre
half coached by Tony Pulis would do - he feigned injury.

Billie also got himself in a lather about the throw that led to the corner
from which West Brom equalised, but that looked wrong as well. He should
have aimed his ire at Obiang who needlessly conceded the corner that West
Brom were so desperately seeking and couldn't have scored without.

I feel sorry for Bilic, as by blowing his top so spectacularly will undo his
previous 18 months of reasoned pragmatism after games. The truly sad thing
is that if he just did it every week no one would pay any attention. In
fact, they'd give him a cute nickname like "The Special One", "The
Professor" or "Mark Hughes".


9. The Long Goodbye

It is worth noting that Adrian's contract is up this summer, although we
have a two year extension option. I sincerely hope they exercise this, if
for no other reason than they could get good money for him on the transfer
market.

Better yet would be Adrian regaining his place. I have nothing particularly
against Darren Randolph who has performed ably since taking over, but I'm
not really seeing anything in his performance to explain why he is ahead of
the Spaniard. Their league records this season are as follows:

Randolph - Played 14 Goals Against 23 Clean Sheets 3

Adrian - Played 11 Goals Against 20 Clean Sheets 3

This conveniently ignores a couple of Cup spankings for Adrian, but I'm not
penalising him for the fact that we played Man Utd away while under
hypnosis.

If this is the upper limit of Randolph's ability then the reality is that it
is barely better than the form Adrian showed this season which got him
dropped. Players deserve a chance and all that, but you also play your best
players, and Adrian seems to me to be a visibly better keeper than Randolph.

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.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Here comes the sun
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 13th February 2017
By: Staff Writer

West Ham's first team squad are off to Dubai this week for a spot of 'warm
weather' training. It has become almost as traditional at the winter and
summer transfer windows in recent years, as the Hammers once again jet off
to warmer climes ahead of their next fixture in a fortnight's time. Starting
five years ago, when Sam Allardyce was at the helm, the first team squad has
jetted to the United Arab Emirates every winter for the chance to train in
clement conditions in a relaxed atmosphere. Last year the travelling party
stayed at the luxurious JA Jebel Ali Beach Hotel in Dubai, although they
have also used the equally grand Palm Dubai in previous years as a base.
Meanwhile, during the days the squad will be heading for the FIFA-approved
Sports City complex, which contains a full-sized indoor pitch (to ensure
privacy) and two further full-size outdoor surfaces.

Co-chairman David Sullivan said: With a two-week break until our next game
the squad are flying to Dubai this week for a warm-weather training camp.
"It is an important trip that will provide the opportunity for the players
to work hard in beneficial conditions, and I am sure they will come back
refreshed, re-energised and ready for the Premier League run-in."

* How beneficial have the mid-season breaks been to West Ham in the past?
Take a look below to find out.

First five back
How a rejuvenated West Ham performed after returning from Dubai.

2011/12 (February 2012): 7/15 Pts
Spurs (h) 2-3
Stoke (a) 1-0
Chelsea (a) 0-2
West Brom (h) 3-1
Liverpool (a) 0-0

2012/13 (February 2013): 7/15 Pts
Cardiff (a) 2-0
Watford (h) 1-1
Doncaser (h) 1-1
Leeds Utd (a) 1-1
Middlesbrough (h) 1-1

2013/14 (February 2014): 9/15 Pts
Southampton (h) 3-1
Everton (a) 0-1
Stoke City (a) 3-1
Man Utd (h) 0-2
Hull City (h) 2-1

2014/15 (March 2015): 4/15 Pts
Arsenal (a) 0-3
Sunderland (h) 1-0
Leicester (a) 1-2
Stoke (h) 1-1
Man City (a) 0-2

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Antonio backing Carroll for England spot
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 13th February 2017
By: Staff Writer

Michail Antonio says he believes team mate Andy Carroll is ready for an
England recall. And despite missing Saturday's 2-2 draw with West Bromwich
Albion, Antonio thinks West Ham's in-form striker "deserves" a recall to the
national squad - despite five years having passed since his last call-up.
"He is a quality player and I definitely feel he should get a call-up," he
told West Ham's website. "If Andy keeps playing the way he is, he deserves a
place in the England squad."

Antonio, who endured a frustrating afternoon against Albion also suggested
that had the big striker been fit to play, the game may well have seen a
more positive outcome. "We missed Andy," he admitted. "West Brom are a big
team and it would have been good to have his physicality on the pitch, but
we have to make sure he is ready for the next game."

The 26-year-old has himself been linked with a recall, despite being left
out of new England boss Gareth Southgate's most recent selection. However
Antonio maintains that either way, for him it will be business as usual. I'm
going to keep playing my game and if I get called up, it will be great," he
added. "I am not going to let it affect me; if the manager feels I have done
enough he will name me in the squad. "I just need to keep doing what I have
at West Ham and hopefully I will get my opportunity."

Antonio - who has scored eight times for the Hammers so far this season -
was included in Sam Allardyce's first England squad back in August, but
subsequently dropped by Southgate when he named his in November. Speaking at
the time Southgate said: "It was very difficult to make the call to Alex
Oxlade-Chamberlain and Michail Antonio because I've seen them all playing in
recent weeks and they've had good performances. "But we have strength in
depth and competition for places and any of these guys could force their way
into the squad."

Carroll's last appearance for England came under Roy Hodgson in a 5-0 win
against San Marino at Wembley back in October 2012. He was a 73rd minute
substitute for Wayne Rooney. His last goal for his country was this
following bullet header against Sweden, a Euro 12 group match that England
won 3-2...

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Monday morning reflections: getting over a 2-2 defeat
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 13th February 2017
By: Adam Smith

A day or two have gone by, but the sting is still there. A 94th-minute
equaliser takes the absolute elation out of a crowd that was celebrating the
home squad, and replaced it with utter heartbreak. But how can a draw and a
point from a team the Hammers are chasing hurt so bad?

Because we deserved three.

The quality of the match was not represented in the box score, but it surely
was in the statistics. Before the match, West Bromwich Albion sat one
position higher on the table than West Ham and held a five-point advantage.
However, watching the match unfold told a completely different tale.

The run-and-gun game plan put in place by manager Slaven Bilic was risky,
but was executed to near perfection by the squad. West Ham marched at will
up the wings of the West Bromwich Albion side and were able to cut inside to
create offensively.

Sofiane Feghouli, Robert Snodgrass, Manuel Lanzini and Michail Antonio were
powerful yet precise through the midfield and were collectively responsible
for the statistical domination.

One of the most impressive numbers from the match was the 65 per cent
possession that West Ham worked towards. The Hammers opted to hold the ball
rather than force runs inside, risking turnover in hopes of a quick scoring
opportunity.

Patience was key as crossing balls were bending through the Baggies box for
the majority of the match by picking their spots and allowing the play to
develop.

The two most impressive players of the match for West Ham were undoubtedly
Lanzini and Feghouli. Both players ended with a goal and an assist on the
day. Both goals were explosive plays off the wing, pushed into Ben Foster's
area, and brilliantly finished.

The equalising goal coming in the 63rd minute was a rebound after a Foster
push onto the crossbar from a screamer courtesy of the right boot of
Lanzini. The impressive cut inside saw Lanzini create enough space to get
the blistering shot away, a result of the pressure the home side had been
able to sustain.

Feghouli followed up on the play by Lanzini, and deposited the ball under
the 'keeper.

Feghouli's goal was a bit of redemption from earlier in the match. On a
broken play from a set-piece Feghouli had nudged in a passing ball to
seemingly level the scores. However, whether by foul, offside, or divine
intervention the 'goal' was disallowed and West Ham would head into the
break one down.

The Algerian midfielder has made an impact on his side, taking advantage of
the midfield openings provided by the departure of Payet, and the African
Cup of Nations nabbing the likes of Kouyate and Ayew.

Lanzini's goal was simply class and skill on display. Having created
Feghouli's goal off a cut inside and the release of a blazing shot, Lanzini
opted for a similar play albeit from the opposite side of the pitch. Foster
could only have hoped to have Lanzini curl it wide but with no mistake made,
the Argentine put the home side ahead in the 86th minute.

Lanzini's superb game should have a credit to Bilic who had to get creative
in his approach to formation with striker Andy Carroll sidelined with a
groin injury. Lanzini who started in the wing with Snodgrass in the center
appeared to switch roles with the Scot, taking charge in the midfield and
pivoting inward multiple times to create offensively.

The malleability of Bilic's formation can be described as a gamble as he
pressed on the offensive pressure, freeing up Lanzini by moving him to the
center. With a substitution at half taking Aaron Cresswell out and putting
in yet-to-emerge striker Jonathan Calleri, Bilic doubled down on this
gamble.

With the numerous positives in this game, what is possibly more important
are the few negatives. Regardless of referee decisions, in a game where West
Ham dominated both possession and shots there should have been no reason to
not take three points from this game.

However, on the first goal conceded, while it was a bit of magnificence from
West Brom midfielder Nacer Chadli, the team refused to press him hard,
including captain Mark Noble.

Despite the early defensive softness, the largest misstep of the West Ham
squad was their inability to close out the match, surrendering an equalising
goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

With a fourth defender on in James Collins, neither the back line nor
'keeper Darren Randolph could manage to win the ball and quell the final
attempt against. Since outplaying Adrian for the role of starting 'keeper
Randolph has looked strong and could rarely be faulted for goals against,
but a misread in such a crucial game invited blame and criticism.

Nabbing points is never a negative, and West Ham provided a wealth of
positives in this 2-2 gut-wrenching draw that certainly felt like a loss. A
major positive is in the patience shown by the attacking forwards in the
match.

The crosses and passes that littered the Baggies 18-yard box most certainly
had ailing Andy Carroll's eyes widen. If nothing else this game showed
commitment to an offensive game plan and regardless if their skyscraping
striker was in or not, West Ham continue to stick to their identity as a
team that attacks through the air.

Getting over such a promising performance that failed to show the desired
result would be much easier if the impending match with table-place peer
Watford was slated for a midweek match up. However, the Hammers must wait
until the 25th of February to get back on pace and show their fans and
themselves that they can build from such an impressive performance.

The thirteen-day break has positives for a squad as banged up as the West
Ham side. Andy Carroll should certainly be fit for action against Watford,
while clarity on the condition of defenders Sam Byram and Arthur Masuaku
should be received during the break.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham boss Slaven Bilic charged with improper conduct
BBC.co.uk

West Ham manager Slaven Bilic has been charged with improper conduct by the
Football Association following Saturday's 2-2 draw with West Brom. Bilic,
48, was sent off by referee Michael Oliver after throwing a TV microphone to
the ground in reaction to Gareth McAuley's injury-time equaliser for the
visitors at London Stadium. Hammers assistant boss Nikola Jurcevic has also
been charged with misconduct. Both have until 18:00 GMT on Thursday, 16
February to respond.

Jurcevic's charge relates to an incident in the 19th minute where he was
sent to the stands after leaving the technical area to protest against
Sofiane Feghouli's strike being disallowed for offside. Both Bilic and
Jurcevic could be handed touchline bans, as well as fines, if found guilty
of the charges.

West Ham's next match is away to Watford in the Premier League on 25
February, before a London derby at home to Chelsea on 6 March.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Slaven Bilic backing West Ham striker Andy Carroll for England call-up
Last Updated: 13/02/17 12:30am
SSN

Slaven Bilic has backed Andy Carroll to earn a recall to the England squad,
even though injury denied him the chance to impress Gareth Southgate on
Saturday. The England manager had attended West Ham's 2-2 Premier League
draw with West Brom to judge the striker's form, as he prepares to announce
his next squad for fixtures with Germany and Lithuania. Carroll instead
missed out because of a groin injury, perhaps reminding Southgate of a wider
concern surrounding the West Ham striker's fitness, despite him scoring four
goals in his past four games. The Hammers' exit from the FA Cup means they
do not play again until February 25 against Watford, denying Carroll another
potential opportunity to push for his first England appearance since 2012.
However, his club manager is convinced he will still earn his chance. "He
was disappointed [to miss out in front of Southgate] but he is a mature
man," said Bilic. "He knows it's not that he has had a great few games and
now he needs Gareth Southgate to be here. "He is a good player and he is
going to show him in March, April, whenever, that he is a good player. He is
not doing anything that he did not do last year. "It is only that he is
doing it more regularly because he is playing and available, apart from this
game, for the majority of the games. He has enough time and Gareth also has
enough time to come again and watch him. "I want him to get picked for
England. It's a great thing for him. It would be a great thing for him and a
great thing for the club. "The positiveness and the confidence that every
player gets when he gets a call-up for the national team is much more than
the couple of days that he loses, or that he would use to rest. On the
scale, the positives are much bigger. "What also pleased me [against West
Brom] is we don't depend on one player. We have a team that can compensate
when one of those players is not playing, even if it is Andy Carroll."

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Bilic and Jurcevic facing FA rap
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 13th February 2017
By: Staff Writer

Slaven Bilic and Assistant Manager Nikola Jurcevic have both been charged by
the FA with improper conduct. Both Bilic and his number two Jurcevic were
banished to the stands during Saturday's 2-2 with West Bromwich Albion
following their individual protests against separate incidents during the
match.
And now the pair have been given until 6pm on Thursday (16 February) to
answer the charge. A short statement on the FA's website read: "West Ham
United manager Slaven Bilic has been charged by The FA following the game
against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday. It is alleged that his behaviour
in or around the 90th minute of the fixture amounted to improper conduct.
"His assistant manager Nikola Jurcevic has also been charged for alleged
misconduct following an incident in the 19th minute."

Jurcevic saw red moments after Dofiane Feghouli's first half effort was
disallowed by the officials for offisde. Bilic followed him into the stands
during added-on time, immediately following Albion's equaliser.

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West Ham boss Slaven Bilic could face FA touchline ban following outburst
during West Brom match
KEN DYER
Evening Standard

West Ham boss Slaven Bilic could be hit with a touchline ban and a fine
following his outburst at the end of his side's 2-2 draw with West Brom.
Bilic described referee Michael Oliver's performance at the London Stadium
as "awful", after being banished from the touchline following West Brom's
late equaliser. The Croat felt all the major decisions had gone against his
team and his anger boiled over at the end when he threw down a TV microphone
in frustration.
Assistant manager Nikola Jurcevic faces similar sanctions to Bilic after
being sent from the touchline earlier in the match, having left the
technical area to complain about a West Ham 'goal' which was disallowed for
offside. The FA were today expected to study Oliver's report and Bilic can
anticipate a minimum one-match ban plus a fine. West Ham defender Jose
Fonte, meanwhile, underlined his frustration at the result when he said: "It
does feel like a defeat because if there was one team who deserved to win it
was West Ham.
"We played really good football but somehow we didn't win." Andy Carroll,
who missed the match with a groin injury, is expected to be fit to face
Watford a week on Saturday.

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Robert Snodgrass hails West Ham's 'magic' man Manuel Lanzini
SAM LONG
Evening Standard

Robert Snodgrass has hailed West Ham's "magic" man Manuel Lanzini as a key
player for Slaven Bilic's side. Lanzini appeared to have given the Hammers a
crucial victory against West Brom on Saturday afternoon, courtesy of a
rasping left-footed strike. But Gareth McAuley netted an injury-time
equaliser to deny the east Londoners all three points, which left the London
Stadium crowd deflated.
January signing Snodgras was disappointed not to see the game out but
believes Lanzini's contribution was one of plenty of positives for his new
side. "Lanzini is terrific and he's a game changer," Snodgrass told West
Ham's official website. "We need to always get him on the ball in those
areas and let him do what he does best and that's pull out moments of magic
like that. "We're gutted, but as I say, the lads battled so hard to get
ourselves in front and get the three points and it's a devastating way to
lose them."
Lanzini has scored five goals in 22 top-flight appearances this season, just
one less than his total for the entire previous campaign.
West Ham currently occupy 10th place in the table and are set to travel to
Dubai for a warm-weather training camp this week. Snodgrass has made a solid
start to his Hammers career and is relishing the hard work needed to cement
his place in the starting line up. "Personally, it was never going to be
easy for me coming here, it's tough and you have to work as hard as you
possibly can to try and get in the team. "I've managed to do that and the
team are very unlucky not to have got six points from my two starts," he
added.

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Could Domingos Quina get a head-start over other West Ham prospects this
season?
HITC
Vincent Ralph

The West Ham United teenager is supremely talented and is clearly rated by
his manager. West Ham United have so many exciting young players coming
through the ranks right now that it would be easy to forget some of them.
With the likes of Toni Martinez, Martin Samuelsen and Reece Oxford all
expected to be future first-team stars at the London Stadium, things are
looking bright long-term for Slaven Bilic's side. But could the pick of the
bunch get a head-start in the coming months?
Domingos Quina may only be 17, but the Portuguese midfielder is a superstar
in the making and he has already become a regular on the first-team bench. A
couple of Europa League matches aside, Quina has had to bide his time, but
with West Ham now pulling clear of the relegation zone there could be
chances for the teenager in the final few months of the campaign. He
continues to impress for West Ham's under-23s and it is only a matter of
time before he steps off the bench in the league. Whenever that comes,
expect the first chapter of a story that could run and run for the Hammers.

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Manchester City's Bacary Sagna targeted by West Ham - sources
ESPN

West Ham United are considering a move for Manchester City defender Bacary
Sagna in the summer on a free transfer, sources close to the London club
have told ESPN FC. Sagna's contract at City expires this summer and there
have been no talks over a new deal with Pep Guardiola expected to bring in a
new right-back for next season as he has made full-backs one of his top
priorities when the transfer window reopens. The France international joined
City on a free transfer from Arsenal in 2014 and has made 78 appearances in
all competitions so far for the club. The 33-year-old has struggled to hold
down a regular place in the City side since Guardiola's arrival, making just
11 starts in the Premier League this campaign. West Ham have identified a
new right-back as one of their key signings in the summer as it has proved
to be a problematic position for them Michail Antonio and Havard Nordtveit
have both been forced to play there out of position on several occasions,
while Sam Byram and Alvaro Arbeloa have struggled to make an impact.
Sources have told ESPN FC that Sagna is among West Ham's list of targets to
fill the right-back role, but that they are no prepared not break their wage
structure to land the defender especially with the player turning 34 on
Tuesday.

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Slaven Bilic explains why West Ham player is psychologically drained
HITC
Antony Martin

West Ham United have Andre Ayew available for selection again, now he has
returned from the African Cup of Nations. When speaking to reporters,
Hammers boss Slaven Bilic explained why Andre Ayew was not in the match-day
squad for his side's game against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, citing
mental exhaustion a the main contributing factor behind his omission, as
quoted by the cub's official website. The Croatian was forced to play
Michail Antonio as an auxiliary centre-forward, after Andy Carroll was ruled
out through injury, and with Ayew back in England, many fans questioned why
he wasn't included in the squad, at least as part of Bilic's substitutes
bench. And the West Ham manager spoke to reporters in the aftermath of the
game, explaining why the Ghanaian was not selection, highlighting emotional
fatigue as the main reason why he was given some more rest time, as quoted
by WHUFC.com: "Andre Ayew came back on Friday. He had a long Africa Cup of
Nations – they didn't play more games than we played here so it's not
physical, but psychologically it means a lot to them and it drained him.
They were there until the end – they played for third place – so we gave him
a few days off and he came back on Friday. That's why he was not in the
squad on Saturday."

The 27-year-old forward moved to the London Stadium in the summer, for a fee
believed to be in the region of £20.5 million, but has failed to establish
himself as an important member of Bilic's side, although he was forced to
endure a lengthy spell on the sidelines through injury. But with two weeks
until the Hammers' next game, Ayew has plenty of time to ensure he is ready
to play when his side travel to Vicarage Road to take on Watford on February
25th.

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Former West Ham star Dimitri Payet labeled a "flop" by French paper L'Equipe
The former Hammers midfielder was anonymous as Marseille slumped to defeat
Football London
BYSAM INKERSOLE
12:30, 13 FEB 2017

French newspaper L'Equipe has torn into Dimitri Payet, naming him one of the
"flops of the match" as Marseille slumped to defeat against Nantes in Ligue
1 on Sunday.Marseille were beaten 3-2 in an up and down game by Nantes as
they remain sixth in the table - 22 points behind leaders Monaco with just
13 games remaining. And despite the hype surrounding his arrival from West
Ham, Payet could not inspire his new club to victory over the
relegation-threatened Nantes. The spotlight has been on Payet since he
refused to play for West Ham back in January and was eventually sold back to
his old side for £25m. It's not been a good start for the 29-year-old since
his return, though he did get on the scoresheet in Marseille's 2-0 win over
Guingamp last week with a deflected free kick.
The Frenchman set up a goal for his new club against Nantes but that wasn't
enough for L'Equipe, who handed him a paltry 4/10 rating for his
performance, with the newspaper taking particular aim at Payet's set piece
delivery. Still, Payet was not the worst player on the pitch as L'Equipe
refused to even give a rating to his teammate Remy Cabella.

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CAN WE HAVE SOME BALANCE PLEASE ?
By HamburgHammer 13 Feb 2017 at 08:00 1 comment
WTID

Proud. Gutted. Angry. Confused. Confident. This is just a sample of the
rollercoaster of emotions I went through during and in the immediate
aftermath of the West Brom game. (And it wasn't much different for the
Concordia game the day after.)

Our best striker was out. So we started the game with no outright striker on
the pitch. But we had a lot going for us. We had passion, endeavour, spirit,
sparen, especially in the second half. We even made good use of the length
and breadth of the pitch. The atmosphere in the stadium was, from what I
could gather at home, rocking.

Even though we didn't get the win, it was a hugely entertaining game, well
worth the price for a ticket.

There were quite a few major incidents all of which were, when in doubt,
decided in West Brom's favour, albeit most of those rightly so. There's no
need for me to go into detail as that has been discussed at length in
previous threads. I am sick and tired of having to mention game-defining
(bad) calls from the referees every other week. Once again it has cost us
points or at least contributed to us losing points. Plus our manager and his
assistant who are likely to get some sort of touchline ban for the upcoming
games.

I don't blame Bilic and Nikola Jurcevic, his assistant, for losing their
composure. Don't get me wrong: We battled back, we took the lead with only a
few minutes to go and we failed to hang on and bring the points home. That
is the responsibility of our players who simply need to show better focus
and professionalism. Then again we shouldn't have been behind in the first
place, their player clearly fouling Feghouli in the buildup to their goal in
my opinion, you see those given quite regularly.

A first half equaliser for us was waived off by way of a controversial
offside call (watching the replay it was still a pretty close call, but
maybe the right one actually, still harsh on us) and even their second goal
came from a dubious throw in decision a few moments earlier.

Thankfully video referees will eventually arrive and it won't be a moment
too soon and I'll leave it at that. As for our team I cannot name a single
player who didn't put in a shift and performance. I will write the same now
as I would have done if we had indeed won the game as for me that draw was
undeserved on West Brom's part, I very much see West Ham as the morale
winners here which doesn't give us th three points of course but at least we
can all be proud of a very decent performance under testing circumstances.

In terms of defending Reid was, as usual, the rock we could depend on, it
wasn't a perfect performance, but a very creditable one again. Noble was my
personal MotM.
For all his detractors he was in the middle of everything, covering every
blade of grass, driving the team on and without bothering to look up the
official stats there can't have been another player out there touching the
ball more often than he did.
Feghouli seems to lack a fanclub at West Ham for the time being, but I
reckon he is slowly beginning to win the Hammers faithful over. He did a lot
of things against West Brom, and he did a lot of things right, being a
constant nuisance to West Brom.

And Lanzini is stepping up beautifully and wearing those Payet boots very
well indeed – and I mean that purely in footballing terms. Another class
goal. He is our creative outlet and we will hopefully see a lot more from
Manuel in the next few years, preferably in a West Ham shirt.
An honourable mention goes to Calleri who showed a lot of effort but looks
decidedly lightweight and is unlikely to be a long term fix for us anyway.

Which brings me to the headline of my column. We need some balance here –
and not just in terms of calling for Bilic's head (in some quarters at
least) or calling West Ham players mingers after one or two underwhelming
performances. No, we definitely need some balance to our squad and that will
need to be addressed and sorted out in the summer. No more deluded hoping
that our players will not suffer injuries next season. No resting easy in
the knowledge that certain players may fill in at RB or upfront for half a
season or so.

Right now we have a plethora of midfielders, jostling for gametime in
various positions, DM, winger, wingback, attacking midfielder, makeshift
striker, but not enough reliable experienced strikers. We have Carroll who
is a monster of a forward when he plays, but as we all know he cannot relied
upon staying fit and he cannot even train regularly for fear of straining
his delicate bones and muscles. Ankle issues, groin niggles, thigh strains,
you name it, he gets it. So we cannot and shouldn't build our team around
Carroll next season.

Same goes for the defending positions, especially the RB spot. Yes, we have
players who can fill in there like Kouyate or Nordtveit. But when you
consider injuries and off-field issues, we only have Byram who himself is
injury prone. At LB Masuaku is only just coming back (from injury, what
else?) providing some welcome competition for Cresswell who just hasn't been
the same confident player ever since being kicked heavily into the new
season in that summer "friendly" against Karlsruhe.

So I would just like to ask our board to make sure we have all positions in
our squad covered adequately next season. Even if that costs money. Proper
RBs playing at RB for starters.

Proper strikers who can convert the opportunities we create and who can also
stay fit for the vast majority of the season. Preferably players who can
grow and develop with the club, not stop gaps filling in for a season or two
before retiring.

If we had started the West Brom game with a proper striker, I am convinced
we would have won. Our season is now drifting further towards midtable
insignificance.
We are too far away to catch the likes of Everton and we won't be involved
in a relegation dogfight. 10th or 9th is where we will finish which, on
paper, is fine for a team moving to a new home stadium and losing their
superstar creative player midseason in the process as well.

But the question is: Have our board seriously done enough on their part to
give our team the best chance and a conducive environment to succeed this
season?
I'm really not sure…

Finally, for those of you interested, the Concordia game, kicking off the
second half of the season after the end of the winter break, was
unfortunately another scissor kick in the guts for yours truly. The lads
could have earned themselves a significant cushion at the top of the
Oberliga Hamburg table with a win or at least a draw as our fiercest
promotion rival unexpectedly lost to a so called lesser side on Friday.

Cordi, however, subsequently failed to do their bit yesterday, losing 2:1 to
a lesser side as well, after taking a one goal lead late in the second half,
only to see the home team score two late goals in heartbreaking fashion,
pouncing on some shocking defensive and goalkeeping blunders on Concordia's
part.
Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, are Concordia West Ham in
disguise ? At least Hamburg SV and St.Pauli won their games, so it's not all
bad…COYI!

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http://vyperz.blogspot.com