Daily WHUFC News - 23rd February 2018

Arnautovic: I'm not at my maximum
WHUFC.com

Marko Arnautovic says there is even more to come from him as West Ham United prepare to face high-flying Liverpool on Saturday. The Austrian will likely lead the line at Anfield, where he will seek to add to a record of seven goals and three assists in his last nine Premier League appearances. But Arnautovic says he will not be the only Hammer who can cause damage to the Reds, with Chicharito and Joao Mario in form and Manuel Lanzini on the road to recovery from a hamstring injury. "I said when I came, in the beginning, that we have an amazing group of players and players with so much quality," said the No7. "We know that Liverpool have an amazing front three, but they need to be careful about our forwards as well, as everyone is in good form, like Chicha, Manu and Joao. "It's the same for the people behind us like Mark [Noble] and Cheik [Kouyate] and the work they do for us in the midfield, which is amazing and has impressed me. I can add everybody because all the defenders always try to keep a clean sheet and expect us to score goals. "It's going to be an interesting game. Of course, it's going to be hard, but we want to keep a clean sheet and then it's up to us to score goals."

Arnautovic himself is looking forward to testing himself against Liverpool's £75m centre-half Virgil van Dijk, who has helped Jurgen Klopp's team keep two clean sheets in their last three Premier League matches. "I'm a football player and I have respect for every opponent, every defender and every team, but I'm not afraid of anyone and I'm not afraid to take them on and to make things happen. I'm fit and I will do my best like I always do. "I played at Anfield twice when I was with Stoke and it's a hard place to go, we all know that Liverpool is one of the best teams in the Premier League, especially now with the players they have and the run they have been on. "But I think we have also done well in the last few games and you can always make something happen. It's not going to be easy, as it's another Premier League game and we know football can be crazy, as we saw on Monday night with Wigan beating Manchester City. It's going to be hard, but they are all hard and we will go there and try to take something out of the game. "It doesn't motivate me only because it is against one of the top teams, as I try to do my best to be at my maximum in every game but, in this game, we need not just one man to perform, but all eleven men to perform."

While Arnautovic has been in outstanding individual form, he is not resting on his laurels, and insists his game can reach an even higher level over the closing eleven games of the 2017/18 season. "I am never happy. Of course, it feels good when you win a game or when you score goals, but after the second day, you focus on the next one and you want to try to be better. "And I always want to be better. I never in my life said I was at my maximum and I couldn't do more. Of course, I can do more, but this is also about putting hard work in, having a bit of luck and when all these things come together, I think I can perform at a really high level. "I'm not at my maximum. I can try to do more and I think I can do more."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
It was always a joy to play behind 'outstanding' Collins - Hislop
WHUFC.com

Shaka Hislop's may have last pulled on the West Ham United shirt almost twelve years ago, but two members of that 2005/06 squad are still going strong in Claret and Blue today. Hislop, who celebrates his 49th birthday today, took to the field with James Collins on eleven occasions, while Mark Noble and the Trinidad & Tobago goalkeeper were both named in the starting XI for the Hammers' 4-2 League Cup win at Sheffield Wednesday in September 2005. Noble and Collins have 34 appearances between them this season and Hislop is delighted to see them playing such a strong role for the Club he served with distinction in two spells from 1998-2002 and 2005-06. "It's incredible to see them still going strong, Ginge in particular," Hislop said. "Nobes was just coming through when I was there. He was a young player coming up with a lot of talent and he was a huge prospect. I like Mark Noble a lot. "You could tell he was going to be a big player for the club and to see him play an entire career at West Ham is simply outstanding.
"Ginge, he was a bigger part of the first team squad at the time and of course, we had a strong relationship in that he is a centre-half and invariably goalkeepers have close relationships with their centre-halves. "I remember how reliable he was. That was one thing you could always say about Ginge, that he was reliable. You knew exactly what you were going to get out of him, it was always going to be 100% every single time and that, for me, was a joy to play behind. "It was very easy to play behind him and to see him still going now when I can barely get out of bed most mornings, and still putting in the performances that he is now is outstanding and always brings a smile to my face. "The hair has all gone but it's still the same Ginge!"

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
'He was one of those top players who it was great to be around' - Brooking on Pop Robson
WHUFC.com

Just ten players have scored 100 or more goals in a West Ham United shirt – one of them is Pop Robson. The centre forward, who became the Hammers' club-record signing when he joined from Newcastle United for £120,000 on 22 February 1971, went on to top the goalscoring charts in no fewer than four seasons during the 1970s. Playing alongside the likes of Billy Bonds, Trevor Brooking, Frank Lampard and Clyde Best, Robson scored 104 times in 255 appearances across two spells, earning the respect of his teammates for his ability to lead the line and hit the back of the net with unerring regularity. Brooking lined up with the striker throughout both parts of his West Ham career and did not hesitate to name the Sunderland-born star in his all-time Five-a-Side Dream Team (see video, above).
"Pop Robson would have to be in my team," said the five-time Hammer of the Year. "Pop was just a fantastic player, person, a great trainer and a great finisher.
"We often used to play three-against-three [in training] and Billy Bonds, Pop and myself were unbeatable! We were just fantastic, on the same wavelength and they just couldn't get the ball off us. "So, he was one of those top players who it was great to be around." For the record, Brooking's other selections were Phil Parkes, Bonds, Alvin Martin and Alan Devonshire.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Moyes preparing for season two
KUMB.com
Filed: Thursday, 22nd February 2018
By: Staff Writer

David Moyes is eyeing a number of summer transfer targets - despite being out of contract this May. The Scottish manager has been credited with transforming West Ham's season since replacing Slaven Bilic last November. And despite his short-term deal set to expire just three months from now, Moyes has been involved with the scouting of several potential arrivals. One of his key targets appears to be Scottish midfielder John McGinn, who Moyes was reported to have watched in person last weekend when the 23-year-old's current club Hibs faced Aberdeen.
Midfielder McGinn, who made his full international debut two years ago next month is a regular in the Scotland squad and was part of the Hibernian team that won the Scottish League Cup in 2015/16 for the first time ever. He was the subject of a £750,000 bid from Championship outfit Nottingham Forest last August, an offer that was instantly rejected by the Easter Road-based side.
This week Moyes has also been linked with moves for FC Twente's Joel Drommel - a 6'4" goalkeeper to potentially replace the on-loan Joe Hart - and Metz's Luxembourg midfielder Vincent Thill, who made his full international debut at the age of just 16.
In other transfer news, West Ham are hoping to lure highly-rated French midfielder Jonathan Bamba across the channel at the end of the current campaign.
The 21-year-old, who currently features for Ligue 1 club Saint Etienne is out of contract this summer. And according to sources in France, his decision not to sign an extension at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard arena has alerted a string of Premier League clubs. Unsurprisingly perhaps West Ham are one of the clubs cited as having expressed an interest in the soon-to-be-free Bamba, who emerged through the Les Verts youth system before breaking into the first team earlier in the campaign. Prior to his breakthrough at Saint Etienne, the 5'9" midfielder spent time on loan with Ligue 2 side Paris FC, Belgian side Sint-Truiden and Ligue 1 Angers SCO. Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Huddersfield are also reported to have expressed interest in landing Bamba.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
The best is yet to come
KUMB.com
Filed: Thursday, 22nd February 2018
By: Staff Writer

Marko Arnautovic has been in excellent form for West Ham since teaming up with new manager David Moyes - but insists he is yet to peak as a player. The club record signing, who moved south from Stoke last summer in an eye-watering £25million transfer initially struggled to settle at West Ham under former manager Slaven Bilic, but has been a revelation in recent months. However the Austrian international, who was described by former manager Mark Hughes as "frustrating, because he doesn't seem to want to score as much as he should do" believes he has much more to show West Ham supporters. "I'm not at my maximum; I think I can do more," he told whufc.com. "Of course, it feels good when you win a game or when you score goals, but after the second day you focus on the next one and you want to try to be better. And I always want to be better. "I never in my life said I was at my maximum and couldn't do more. Of course, I can do more, but this is also about putting hard work in, having a bit of luck and when all these things come together, I think I can perform at a really high level."

One of the hot favourite's for this year's KUMB Player of the Year award, 'Arnie' - as he has been affectionately dubbed by Hammers fans - has recently shown glimpses of what could prove to be a promising partnership with Javier Hernandez. And the pair's next opportunity to shine comes at Anfield this weekend - not a ground where West Ham traditionally fare well. "I played at Anfield twice when I was with Stoke and it's a hard place to go," he added. But I think we have also done well in the last few games and you can always make something happen. "It's not going to be easy, as it's another Premier League game. It's going to be hard, but they are all hard and we will go there and try to take something out of the game. We need not just one man to perform, but all eleven men to perform.
"We know that Liverpool have an amazing front three, but they need to be careful about our forwards as well, as everyone is in good form, like Chicha, Manu [Lanzini] and Joao [Mario]."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Fonte set for the Orient?
KUMB.com
Filed: Thursday, 22nd February 2018
By: Staff Writer

West Ham United's Portuguese central defender Jose Fonte has been linked with a move to China. According to a report by the Daily Record's Duncan Castles, the 33-year-old Hammer has agreed to join Chinese Super League outfit Dalian Yifang in a deal worth in the region of €5.5million. And the story adds that Fonte is due to travel to China next week in order to put pen to paper on a three-year contract with the Blue Hawks. Fonte's long-term future at West Ham has been in doubt since co-owner David Sullivan told a newspaper that "my kids begged me not to sign them", in refernce to the former Southampton player and fellow 2017 recruit Robert Snodgrass. Snodgrass - who left West Ham just six months after moving from Hull in a £10million switch - is currently enjoying a thoroughly successful season in the Championship with Aston Villa, where he is spending the season on loan.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham's Jose Fonte closing in on move to Chinese Super League side Dalian Yifang
By Sky Sports News
Last Updated: 22/02/18 8:42pm
SSN

West Ham defender Jose Fonte is closing in on a move to Chinese Super League side Dalian Yifang, according to Sky sources. Fonte joined the Hammers in an £8m deal from Southampton in January 2017. The Portugal international has struggled during the current campaign, however, making just eight appearances and is currently recovering from ankle surgery. The decision by former boss Slaven Bilic to sign Fonte from Southampton and Robert Snodgrass from Hull was publicly ridiculed by West Ham co-owner David Sullivan, who told The Guardian: "My kids begged me not to sign them." That provoked an angry response from the 34-year-old, who now looks set to join Dalian Yifang. West Ham play Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
YELLOW CARDS AND VICTIMISATION - THE HIDDEN COST OF WEST HAM SUFFERING MOST FOULS.
By Blind Hammer 22 Feb 2018 at 08:00
WTID

In part 2 of his analysis Blind Hammer investigates how referees are failing to protect West Ham.

Last week I discussed how West Ham were, by a massive margin the most fouled against team in the league. The disparity is startling and not at all marginal. You can look at the post here
In essence West Ham is not only the most fouled team, they attract more fouls by a huge total. West Ham in first place suffers 33 more fouls than Bournemouth in second. This is the biggest gap between teams. In contrast Bournemouth leads a pack with similar records. They have suffered only 4 more fouls than Manchester United, whilst Chelsea is only 7 further behind. In fact the gap between West Ham and the rest is astonishing. To reproduce the gap between West ham and Bournemouth you need to cover a further 10 Clubs, ironically then arriving at the often complaining Manchester city and Arsenal who suffered 66-and 67 less fouls than West Ham. Liverpool who also make similar complaints suffer a staggering 117 less fouls than West ham.

Given the sheer torrent of fouls being executed against West Ham you would thought that referees would be interested in providing protection. Not a bit of it. Across the country referees are not only standing by whilst West Ham suffer foul play more than any other, they are also, bizarrely, in an apparent classic case of blaming the victims, taking disproportionately punitive action against West ham.

West ham not only suffer the most targeted foul abuse, but also suffer disproportionately from referees punishment. Taken Together, the toleration of foul play, and superficially, the apparent disproportionate level of referee discrimination represents A SERIOUS ISSUE. On first analysis it seems that before a ball is kicked the club has a mountain to climb. Not only can West Ham expect their opponents to foul them but also they can expect bizarrely to suffer more from referees punishments.

Here is the table of yellow cards as it stood last weekend.
West Ham are again at the top of the table.
Pos Team Yellow Cards
1. West Ham United 58
2. West Bromwich Albion 54
3. Burnley 51
4. Crystal Palace 50
5. Manchester United 47
6. Watford 44
7. AFC Bournemouth 43
8. Huddersfield Town 43
9. Manchester City 43
10. Arsenal 42
11. Everton 42
12. Southampton 39
13. Brighton and Hove Albion 38
14. Newcastle United 37
15. Stoke City 36
16. Swansea City 36
17. Liverpool 35
18. Tottenham Hotspur 35
19. Leicester City 34
20. Chelsea 30

Whilst the margins are not as dramatic as for the foul table, the appearance of West Ham at the top of both the Yellow Card and fouls suffered tables cannot be coincidence.

So what is going on here? How can this extraordinary correlation of statistics be explained? Now I don't personally think there is a nationwide conspiracy by referees to discriminate against West Ham. However I do believe there is, in effect, a tactical consensus if not conspiracy by other PL clubs who have commonly subscribe to a specific fouling tactic. I believe this is widely subscribed to as the most effective theory to nullify West Ham. It is difficult to understand the sheer level of inequality in the amount of fouls West ham players experience without some context and explanation of this kind. The margins are far too great for this to be explained by randomness and chance. I discussed the possible tactical rationale and scenarios underlying this in my column last week.

However it is also clear that this unfair tactic is reaping unexpected rewards for opponents. Understandably West Ham players are reacting to being fouled more. Referees are choosing to interpret these battles in each game in what they think is a "fair way". So in any particular game it is likely that yellow cards will be evenly distributed amongst West Ham and their opponents. The problem becomes apparent though if most if not every game West Ham compete in results in a physical battle. What this means is that over a season West Ham players will be engaged in more confrontations regularly , week in and week out. This would mean that they are not only consistently more at disproportionate risk of injury, West ham are also often at the top of the injury table, but also at more consistent disproportionate risk of picking up yellow cards.
When viewed in this light the appearance of West Ham at the head of the fouled against table, and also the yellow cards table ceases to be coincidence and instead becomes entirely predictable and expected. it is completely logical that West Ham should not only lead by a large margin the table of teams that suffer most from fouls, but simultaneously also lead the table for players picking up yellow cards in retaliation to this physical onslaught.

Picking up yellow cars disadvantages our players by inhibiting their tackling options, and of course also leads to worries of suspension for key games.

Some Sceptics will try dismiss or ignore these objective facts but will also struggle to provide any other convincing explanation of why West Ham should appear at the head of both tables. One thing is indisputable. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that if Manchester United or City were suffering from the tactics revealed by these bald and incontrovertible statistics Mourinho and Guardiola would be making more of this. They would insist on making it a focus of national football discussion across all media. This scandal would not be hidden and invisible but shouted from the rooftops. As it is West Ham suffering nobody really cares or is interested. Starting with complaints from David Moyes I think it is about time that West Ham did far more to expose and reveal the this disadvantage that they have endured all season. When all is said and done they are suffering from what is, in the end, a blatantly unfair fouling tactic.
COYI
David Griffith
NB. Source for yellow card table.
https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/clubs/total_yel_card

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Bobby Moore died 25 years ago... here, Jeff Powell pays a poignant tribute to his much-missed friend and national hero: 'Just imagine how we'd party if the captain was still around'
Can it really be a quarter of a century since Bobby and I said our goodbyes?
Sixty-two hours after we last saw each other his life would be lost to cancer
Bobby recounted tales that I will never forget during our last lunch together
It's fifty-two years since that almighty day at the grand old Wembley in 1966
We will always remember him in his prime... handsome and forever young
By Jeff Powell for the Daily Mail
PUBLISHED: 22:30, 22 February 2018 | UPDATED: 22:32, 22 February 2018

Can it really be a quarter of a century since Bobby Moore and I stood on the nostalgic steps of the Royal Garden Hotel and said our goodbyes? Twenty-five years since he walked away, still upright with that blond head high, despite the cancer which would take his life 62 hours later? He had chosen the venue for our last lunch. This place in Kensington where he and his England team-mates had wined and dined in celebration of this country's only winning of the World Cup.

Not that he could eat much now. Just pick at a salad. Nor was he supposed to drink. But he took one lager, then another: 'What the hell?' We both knew what this was about. But not a single maudlin word passed our lips. Never once since the fatal diagnosis had he asked: 'Why me?' He wasn't about to start now. We talked of the good times. Of West Ham days and London nights. Of running on holiday beaches. Of dinners with Pele and Beckenbauer, Best and Cruyff, Eusebio and Carlos Alberto, Venables and Menotti. Of family and friends. And of World Cups won and lost. 'Always thought we could win it in '66,' he said. 'Never thought we might lose it in '70.'

Where have the years all gone? If not quite yesterday it seems like only last year that he was pulling on the long red-leather coat he prized as a gift from Malcolm Allison, to keep out the February chill. Fifty-two years since that almighty day at the grand old Wembley. Twenty-five years this football Saturday since the day the captain died. And still only that one World Cup. Now it's another World Cup year. Again, we ponder the odds against history finally repeating itself. Again, the legend of Bobby Moore will be revisited. In sepia hues. At the foot of his imposing statue as he stands guard at the portals of the new Wembley Stadium. Horatius at the bridge. The morning after we unveiled that monument to the greatest No 6 of all time his partner at the crux of England's defence, Jack Charlton, went back on his own. 'To talk to Mooro,' he explained. 'I miss our chats.' In that, Big Jack is not alone.

Bobby's daughter Roberta recently commissioned half a dozen three-foot bronze sculptures of her father to commemorate this poignant anniversary, the sixth and thus by number the most meaningful of which will shortly go on display and for sale at a Bobby Moore exhibition opening soon at the National Portrait Gallery. The Bobby Moore bowel cancer fund started by his widow Stephanie hopes to reach the £25million mark in this World Cup summer.

We will always remember him in his prime... handsome and forever young - Jeff Powell on his friend Bobby Moore
These few words of mine are a personal memoir. The story of Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore has been told a million times.

It is embedded in the folklore of the greatest game. Even more deeply than the time capsule buried years ago beneath the entrance to the Royal Garden which contains the history of mankind as we know it, to be unearthed by a curious generation in some future century after the books have been burned by the internet.

'Do you think we're in there?' Bobby asked. 'Us boys of '66?' 'Big mistake if not,' I answered.

Football is the greatest sporting drama of our times, Moore one of the leading players on that global stage. It is the people's game, and he was a man of the people even though he looked like a god.

Similarly, the lady who used to live next door to where we were talking. The hotel sits beside the gates to Diana's palace. They share in the only conceivable consolation for dying too young, that of being always remembered as in their prime. She beautiful, he handsome. Forever young. This was where he had led the lads out on to the balcony that halcyon night long ago to show the Jules Rimet Trophy to the throng in the street below.

What will not be recorded in that capsule are some of his lines most familiar to those who knew him.

When told by a fan who engaged him in conversation in an East End pub how surprised he was that a hero portrayed as aloof could be so polite and modest, Bobby put an arm around his shoulders and said quietly: 'If you are quite good at something, you don't have to tell everybody.'

In our single days, when this chronic insomniac telephoned in the early hours he would say what he always used to when heading from leafy Chingford to central London: 'Coming through.'

When he arrived we would watch the dawn come up from my flat's tiny balcony, glass in hand.

As I watched him leave the Royal Garden that final time I glanced at my watch. It was just gone four in the afternoon. He would pass away three mornings later at six minutes past six. That No 6, again.

Bobby invariably opened conversation with this enquiry as to your health and circumstances: 'All is well?' This time it was a not a question, but a statement. The reassuring of a friend that he was ready for what lay ahead, as ever.

But for heaven's sake, he was only 51. Hell, what would we have got up to in the last 25 years?

Details of the National Portrait Gallery exhibition and sale of the sculpture at www.robertamoore.co.uk

News of the bowel cancer fund at www.bobbymoorefund.org

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham's Reece Oxford courts attention from Atletico Madrid
Sam Wallace, chief football writer
22 FEBRUARY 2018 • 8:00PM
The Telegraph

The West Ham prospect Reece Oxford is the subject of interest from Atletico Madrid who are looking at the England Under-20 international as a potential signing for this summer, should his development in the Bundesliga continue.

The 19-year-old is back on his second spell on loan at Borussia Monchengladbach after a brief return to the West Ham first team over January. He struggled to get in the side at the Bundesliga club in the early part of the season but won a place just before his return, and last Sunday started at right-back against Borussia Dortmund.

Atletico have looked at Oxford, whose best position is a centre-back, over a long period and feel that he could be a good long-term prospect with his immediate development path likely to be further loan spells. Oxford was the subject of a £8 million bid from Monchengladbach in January which was rejected by West Ham with the club valuing the player at around £12 million.

The teenager may yet be moved up into the England Under-21s squad come next month, and is keen to play regular football even if that means leaving West Ham. David Moyes did originally bring him back in January with the intention of looking at the teenager as a potential first team player but decided to opt for more experience in the club's relegation battle.

Oxford's willingness to move abroad to seek games has attracted the interest of clubs who see a shortage of potentially top-level centre-backs across Europe and prices rising accordingly. The £75 million fee Liverpool paid for Virgil Van Dijk demonstrated the value of a leading centre-back. There has also been interest from RB Leipzig in Oxford but he favours a move to Spain if he leaves West Ham.

He will have three years left on his contract come the summer and his value is likely to rise if he plays regularly in the Bundesliga. Thus far West Ham's valuation of the player has tended to rise each time there has been an enquiry.

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

http://vyperz.blogspot.com