Preview - Southampton
WHUFC.com
When and where
Southampton v West Ham United
Premier League
Saturday 4 February 2017, 3pm GMT
St Mary's Stadium
What's the story?
West Ham United have made a good habit of bouncing back from setbacks in
recent months and they will be looking to revisit the trend when they head
to Southampton on Saturday.
Slaven Bilic's men followed 5-1 and 5-0 defeats against Arsenal and
Manchester City respectively by drawing 2-2 at Liverpool and putting Crystal
Palace to the sword by an emphatic 3-0 scoreline.
Now they will need to summon that spirit again after suffering a 4-0 reverse
at the hands of the Citizens at London Stadium on Wednesday night.
The Hammers have still won five of their last eight league starts and
currently sit eleventh in the Premier League table, one place and one point
ahead of Saturday's opponents.
The Saints also came up short in their midweek fixture, going down 2-1 at
Swansea City. Shane Long brought Claude Puel's side level following Alfie
Mawson's first half opener, but Gylfi Sigurdsson won it for the Swans with
20 minutes remaining.
Southampton made it through to the EFL Cup final with a semi-final victory
over Liverpool last month and will be hoping to use that route in order to
qualify for European football for a third consecutive season.
Team news
Robert Snodgrass will hope for his first start in Hammers colours after
making his debut from the bench in Wednesday's defeat to Manchester City.
Cheikhou Kouayte is back from international duty at the Africa Cup of
Nations, but Andre Ayew was still involved on Thursday in Ghana's semi-final
defeat to Cameroon so is unavailable.
Sam Byram is a doubt after injuring his hamstring in midweek.
For Southampton, Virgil van Dijk is out for three months with an ankle
problem, but Jay Rodriguez and James Ward-Prowse are back. New signing
Manolo Gabbiadini could feature.
Player head-to-head
Maya Yoshida v Winston Reid head-to-head
Any links between the two?
West Ham's January arrival Jose Fonte faces a swift return to St Mary's,
having left the South Coast club to link up with Slaven Bilic's squad.
Fonte spent seven years with the Saints, playing 260 league games and
winning two promotions.
Meanwhile, Michail Antonio also played for Southampton earlier in his
career, turning out for the club on 39 occasions during a loan spell in the
2009/10 campaign.
How do I get to the game?
Click here for information on visiting St Mary's Stadium.
For the latest news on the trains, click here. Up-to-the-minute updates on
the roads can be found here.
How can I watch the game?
Saturday's match is not being broadcast live in the UK. However, you can
follow all the action as it happens live on whufc.com, with live audio
commentary, social media updates, in-running stats, photos and more. Join in
the conversation on social using #SOUWHU
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
From the Boardroom - David Gold
WHUFC.com
It is never easy talking about a big defeat at home and it was very painful
for everyone connected with the football club.
However, we have to move on, we have to stay resolute and we have to stay
strong.
It was even more disappointing as we had played so well going into the game
and the players were full of confidence following the recent wins over
Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough.
But we came up against an outstanding Manchester City side and you could
argue that on the evidence of that display, we were facing one of the best
teams in the world at the moment.
If you make the smallest of mistakes whilst playing against them, they will
punish you.
From time to time we are going to get these setbacks but it is about
bouncing back now.
We obviously need to be upset and angry over what happened in the last game,
but we cannot dwell on what happened and we have to put this behind us.
We need to come out fighting on Saturday and that includes everyone at the
football club.
Our fans are going to play a major role in this and there is no question we
have one of the best away followings in the top flight and they play such a
key role.
We go to Southampton believing we can come away with a victory.
We are boosted by the fact that Cheikhou Kouyate is back from the Africa Cup
of Nations and will be in the squad for the game on Saturday.
He is an important part of the squad and I know Slaven will welcome the
chance to have him back in contention.
Finally, I want to pay tribute to Frank Lampard who announced his retirement
from the game this week.
Frank is the ultimate professional and deserves all the praise he is getting
at the moment.
We cannot forget he is a West Ham boy and came through the famous Academy.
He made his professional debut for the Club back in January 1996 and I
always remember his first game.
After a short period of seeing him in action, you could sense he was going
to be a top player.
I have followed him throughout his career and he has enjoyed a number of
memorable moments.
You can never question the dedication that Frank had towards football and
even from a young age, he would always stay behind after training and try to
improve his game.
We will certainly miss his quality but I hope he enjoys his retirement.
I wish all our fans a safe journey down to the south coast on Saturday and
hope we can get straight back on the winning trail.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Westley - First half was a masterclass
WHUFC.com
Terry Westley praised his PL2 side's first half display in their defeat to
Blackburn Rovers
Westley also praised Noha Sylvestre, Grady Diangana and Joe Powell who came
into the side
The Hammers were beaten 2-1 in Lancashire
Terry Westley labelled West Ham United PL2's first half display a "proper
masterclass" but said silly mistakes cost them in his side's 2-1 defeat to
Blackburn Rovers.
The Hammers went a goal down inside four minutes after a cross from Anthony
Stokes somehow dipped into the top corner but responded when Grady Diangana
finished off a superb team move on his return to the starting eleven.
Josh Pask unfortunately put through his own net ten minutes before
half-time, and that proved to be the decisive goal, but Westley was still
full of praise for his players' performance.
"It was a good performance but probably the wrong result," he said. "You
don't always get what you deserve in this game and I've been in this game
long enough to understand that.
"In terms of development and how we want to play, particularly first half
was a proper masterclass. We were very, very good.
"But if you let two in away from home, you've got to score three to win. The
game got broken up a bit in the second half, we gave away silly free kicks
and their goalkeeper was taking a long time.
"So it was a mixture second half and we weren't as good as we were in the
first half. But we're really disappointed to get back on the bus and not
take any points from the game."
Westley made three changes to the side that drew with Aston Villa last week.
Noha Sylvestre, Grady Diangana and Joe Powell came into the side and
impressed the manager.
"They came in and we still played with the same identity and style," Westley
continued. "All three, particularly Joe Powell playing up front on his own,
were very good. Noha was good and Grady, particularly first half, was very
dangerous as a No10.
"The two goals killed us. But if we continue to play as we do and pass the
ball like we did tonight, we'll come through those games (against Leicester
and Nottingham Forest in the Cup) and come through well."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Southampton v West Ham United
SAT, 04 FEB 2017PREMIER LEAGUE
15:00
Venue: St. Mary's Stadium
BBC.co.uk
West Ham put in one of their worst performances of the season when they were
beaten 3-0 by Southampton at the London Stadium back in September.
TEAM NEWS
Southampton defender Virgil van Dijk has been ruled out for up to three
months with an ankle injury.
Manager Claude Puel is boosted by the return of Jay Rodriguez and James
Ward-Prowse, while new £14m signing Manolo Gabbiadini is also in contention.
West Ham's Andre Ayew remains on Africa Cup of Nations duty but Cheikhou
Kouyate has returned from the competition and is available.
Sam Byram is a doubt after injuring his hamstring against Manchester City.
MOTD COMMENTATOR'S NOTES
John Motson: "This is an interesting tussle between two teams that are in
the bottom half of the table after a season blighted by inconsistency so
far.
"All eyes will be on Jose Fonte on his return to St Mary's just weeks after
giving up the captain's armband at Southampton and moving to West Ham.
"Saints fans will be cursing his departure even more now that his former
central defensive partner Virgil van Dijk faces a lengthy spell on the
sidelines.
"They have been boosted, though, by the arrival of striker Manolo
Gabbiadini, who should invigorate an attack that has struggled slightly
without the injured
Charlie Austin, while West Ham will be hoping Robert Snodgrass can help make
up for the departure of Dimitri Payet."
WHAT THE MANAGERS SAY
Southampton manager Claude Puel on dealing with West Ham striker Andy
Carroll: "It's difficult to take him because he is so strong and we know his
quality.
"It's important to win duels with good presence around the second ball, and
always to defend with good cover.
"But we should not just try to win those duels. We need a good work habit
and not to get just one player in duels."
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic on Southampton: "They've had a great run in
the League Cup. I remembered they played some really good football and
played some good away games - and then I saw they are below us.
"They have some new players and some injuries, and it will be a tough game
for us and for them. It is an important game because we are only one point
above them and we want to make that gap bigger."
LAWRO'S PREDICTION
Just as they did in the FA Cup a few weeks ago, West Ham made it easy for
Manchester City on Wednesday - and paid the price.
Southampton also come into this game on the back of a poor result, losing to
struggling Swansea on Tuesday, but I think they will be much improved here.
Prediction: 2-1
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
West Ham are without a win in their last seven away league games against the
Saints (D4, L3). Their last victory at St Mary's came in November 2000 under
Harry Redknapp.
Southampton have kept a clean sheet in five of their last seven home games
against West Ham.
Southampton
They have won just one of their last six league matches.
Only four teams have conceded fewer goals at home than the 11 Southampton
have let in so far this season.
The Saints have lost two home Premier League games from leading positions
this season - no side has lost more (level with Bournemouth).
Fraser Forster hasn't conceded a league goal against West Ham in 333 minutes
of action, keeping three consecutive clean sheets in that time.
West Ham United
The Hammers have conceded 40 Premier League goals this season from their 23
games - it took them 32 games to concede as many in 2015-16.
West Ham have kept just one clean sheet away from home in the league this
season.
They have conceded a league-high 82.5% of their goals from open play this
season.
Andy Carroll has scored five goals in his last nine Premier League away
games after a run of 10 games without scoring on the road.
SAM's verdict
Most probable score: 1-1 Probability of draw: 26%
Probability of home win: 51% Probability of away win: 23%
SAM (Sports Analytics Machine) is a super-computer created by @ProfIanMcHale
at the University of Salford that is used to predict the outcome of football
matches.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Henry - I'm elated with my form
WHUFC.com
Korrey Henry is pleased with his current form for West Ham United U18s this
season
The versatile 17-year-old is the Hammers' second highest scorer with nine
goals
West Ham are in action at home to Norwich City on Saturday
Korrey Henry is "elated" with his current form and believes the U18s are
confident they can achieve their aim of finishing in the top four. The
Hammers are currently third in U18 Premier League South with just four games
left of the regular season. They host Norwich City at Little Heath this
Saturday (12pm kick-off) and Henry is expecting the team to go into the
match full of confidence. "We are more than confident at the moment. We all
know we have the ability to achieve and it's just about performing well when
we have a game," he said. "It's important not to get complacent though
because every game in this league can be tough, no matter if you play top of
the league or bottom of the league."
Henry is the most versatile player in the U18s setup, having played in
numerous positions this season. He has played in the striker position,
right across the midfield and even at centre-back, leading to praise from
coaches Steve Potts and Mark Phillips. "I like all the positions to be
honest, but my favourite one is playing in the No8 role because I can attack
and defend," Henry continued.
"Steve and Mark give me lots of praise and they're pleased that I understand
how to play in lots of positions. "It's an asset to me and an asset to the
team and I'm very grateful to the coaches for believing in me to do lots of
different roles."
Norwich are the vistors to Little Heath on Saturday, with the Hammers aiming
to make it six unbeaten in the league. Potts's side ran out comprehensive
5-2 winners at the Colney Training Centre in the reverse fixture, with Henry
scoring a hat-trick. "I'm very confident at the moment and if I play, I
fancy myself to score. "We have to treat every game like on its own. As I
said, there is no easy game in this league and we have to be prepared for
whatever challenge."
West Ham U18s' Premier League South match with Norwich City kicks off at
12pm from Little Heath Sports Ground. Parking and admission are both free.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Five Talking Points – Southampton
WHUFC.com
Five big points for discussion ahead of West Ham United's Premier League
trip to St Mary's to face the Saints on Saturday afternoon...
Unhappy hunting ground
West Ham United have NEVER won at St Mary's in five visits to Southampton's
new home, earning two draws and suffering three defeats.
In fact, the Hammers have scored just one goal in those five trips to the
south coast – Andy Carroll's low free-kick in the 1-1 Premier League draw
there in April 2013. Just for the record, West Ham's four other visits ended
in a 1-0 Championship defeat in October 2011, goalless Premier League draws
in September 2013 and February 2015 and a 1-0 top-flight defeat in February
2016.
Former Saints
Two West Ham United players will have extra motivation to help the Hammers
achieve their first-ever victory at Southampton on Saturday.
Jose Fonte played 288 times for the Saints between 2010 and 2016, winning
back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League in 2011 and
2012, before being appointed captain. Michail Antonio spent a much shorter
period on the south coast, being loaned to Southampton from Reading for the
2009/10 season. During his stay, he and Fonte lined up together at Wembley
Stadium in the 2010 Football League Trophy final, in which Antonio scored in
a 4-1 victory over Carlisle United.
Bouncebackability
Both clubs will be eager to bounce back after disappointing midweek Premier
League results. West Ham United were humbled 4-0 by Manchester City at
London Stadium, while Southampton were beaten 2-1 at Swansea City. Those
results left the Hammers and the Saints eleventh and twelfth in the table
respectively, with Slaven Bilic's side holding a one-point advantage over
Claude Puel's men, who have lost five of their last six Premier League
matches. Victory on Saturday could see the winner rise into the top half,
with both ninth-place Stoke City and tenth-place Burnley playing away from
home.
New boy
Italy international Manolo Gabbiadini is set to be named in the Southampton
squad for the first time on Saturday. The £14m striker was snapped up from
Napoli, where he has been used sparingly over the past 18 months, and Saints
manager Claude Puel has admitted he will not rush the 25-year-old into
action this weekend. Having started just 19 games since the start of the
2015/16 season, and completed a full 90 minutes just once this season,
Gabbiadini will likely need time to work his way up to full match-fitness.
However, the former Atalanta and Sampdoria forward has made 158 Serie A
appearances and knows where the goal is, having scored 38 goals in Italy's
top-flight, so West Ham will need to be on their guard should the new boy be
given his debut.
James Ward-Prowse
The 'other' Academy of Football
While West Ham United have been known as 'The Academy of Football' for more
than half a century, Southampton are themselves developing quite a
reputation for producing top-quality home-grown players. England
internationals Martin Chivers, Mick Channon, Matthew Le Tissier and Alan
Shearer all came through the ranks with the Saints. Over the past decade or
so, Southampton have unearthed and developed the likes of Theo Walcott,
Gareth Bale, Adam Lallana, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Calum Chambers, Luke
Shaw.
On Saturday, James Ward-Prowse, Jack Stephens, Sam McQueen and Josh Sims
could all featured against the Hammers. With a large catchment area, expert
recruitment and high-class coaching and education programmes, Southampton's
Academy is rightly considered one of the best in the country.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Calleri seeks advice from Tevez
WHUFC.com
Jonathan Calleri has sought advice from West Ham legend and fellow Argentine
Carlos Tevez about adapting to life in English football.
The 23-year-old forward has so far found first team opportunities hard to
come by, making eight appearances since signing on loan from Uruguayan
outfit Deportivo Maldonado. However, having scored his first goal in Claret
and Blue during the convincing 3-1 victory away at Middlesbrough, Calleri
explained how he's hoping to follow Tevez's footsteps into West Ham
folklore. He said: "Yes, I spoke to Carlos Tevez. When he first arrived here
at West Ham he was in a similar situation to what I'm in. "He said it was
hard for him at first, the coach changed, and there was a time when he
wanted to leave but he stayed and turned the situation around. "Obviously
we're not the same player, I believe Carlos Tevez is an absolutely fantastic
player so I want to take his advice and follow in his footsteps."
Looking back, it's hard to believe it took 'Carlitos', twenty games to first
find the back of the net, before hitting a purple patch that saved the
Hammers from relegation. Now sixth months into life in east London, Calleri
freely admits that his time as a Hammer has been stop start so far. He
continued: "I knew when I arrived it was going to take some time to settle
in. When I signed I was expecting a tough six months, but I've learnt a lot
and it has been a great experience. I am working hard and trying to take the
opportunities when they come."
And it would appear that Calleri's first Hammers' goal which wrapped up the
3-1 victory at the Riverside has done him the world of good. Speaking with
renewed conviction, he said: "Scoring my first goal was a big boost for my
confidence, to score my first goal in the Premier League but also European
football, it is something I was very motivated to do."
His manager, Slaven Bilic, evidently believes in the young striker as he
decided against bolstering his frontline during the transfer window, happy
with Calleri as one of his options alongside Andy Carroll, Andre Ayew,
Ashley Fletcher and Diafra Sakho. During the window, Calleri confirmed that
he had had a full and frank conversation with Bilic, where the boss
reiterated his faith: "Yes, I did speak to the manager. He told me the
truth, he said he had faith in me. He couldn't promise me anything because
it's difficult to do that in football but he said if I work hard and train
well, I will get my chances. "I believe in myself and my ability. I am
looking forward to the second half of the season and excited for the future.
I will take things step by step and learn all I can from the top players we
have here. "I am on a one year loan, now I am very confident that I can give
more to the team and break into the starting XI. It hasn't happened yet but
I know I can do it."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Slav says Lampard is a role model
WHUFC.com
Slaven Bilic pays tribute to 'legend' Frank Lampard following his former
teammate's retirement
Manager and former England midfielder played together at West Ham United
during 1996/97 season
Lampard went on to win 106 England caps and a host of trophies during an
illustrious career
Manager Slaven Bilic has paid a glowing tribute to his former West Ham
United teammate Frank Lampard, who announced his retirement from football at
the age of 38 this week. Bilic was a first-team regular when Lampard broke
into Harry Redknapp's squad 21 years ago, and was in the team when the
midfielder made his full debut at Arsenal in August 1996 - two years after
joining the Club as a full-time scholar. The pair played together 16 times
in Claret and Blue, before the Academy of Football graduate Lampard joined
Chelsea in 2001. The son of Hammers legend Frank Senior netted 303 goals in
1,019 career games for club and country, including 38 in 187 appearances for
his boyhood team, winning the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1999.
"People talk about legends and it's a very common word, but Frank is one of
the ambassadors, one of the biggest legends in the Premier League," Bilic
began. "I know him well, of course, as he started his career here, him and
Rio Ferdinand, when I was playing for West Ham in 1996/97. "I use his
example many, many times in my spell in Croatia as a national-team manager
and in Russia, in Turkey and even here, because what he achieved is purely
unbelievable."
Bilic recalled watching Lampard hone his game for hour after hour on the
training pitch at Chadwell Heath, eking out every last bit of talent in his
pursuit of greatness. The manager revealed that he used the example of his
old teammate when coaching young players aspiring to follow in the footsteps
of the man who was voted the second-best player in the world and Footballer
of the Year in 2005.
"He stayed with his feet on the ground and he's a top gentleman, a top
player, a top….basically everything," he observed. "He didn't rely only on
his talent. I remember him staying after every session, not once, twice or
three times a week, but after every session to have shooting practice or do
little doggies to try to improve his sharpness. "He is the biggest and
greatest example to young players to show what they have to do to be in
position to achieve something in football."
Lampard is now studying for his own coaching qualifications and is
reportedly set to be offered a role with the Football Association.
Bilic said he would welcome the return of the Romford-born player to his
hometown, where the Hammers now train at their new Rush Green base. "Frank
is always very welcome in our Club and I am sure he's gonna be, like he was
serious in his football career, very, very serious in his management
career."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
SIMONE ZAZA: THIS IS WHY I FAILED AT WEST HAM
BY 337HAMMER ON 3 FEBRUARY 2017 AT 2:52PM
TheWestHamWay.co.uk
SIMONE ZAZA admits he's 99 per cent responsible for his failed spell at West
Ham. The Juventus striker arrived on loan at the London Stadium in August
with a view to a permanent £17m deal. Zaza, 25, made 11 appearances in all
competitions for West Ham, but failed to register a single goal during his
lacklustre four-month spell.
He recently joined Valencia for the remainder of the season, but has
reflected on his time at West Ham, and says he didn't think so much could
have gone wrong. Zaza told Gazzetta dello Sport: "Once I realised that I
needed to leave Juve I decided to try an adventure abroad. "West Ham was one
of the teams that I wanted the most. But quickly I didn't feel great in so
many ways – environment, culture, training, nutrition. I'm not being a
victim, I know that plying your trade as a footballer allows you to earn so
much. I'm just trying to explain the causes of my failure. I knew I would
find some difficulties, but I did not think there could be so many. I do not
blame anyone, 99 per cent of it's my fault because I was not able to adapt."
"I was sure that I'd make it but it was probably because I'm set in my ways.
I'm attached to my habits, my things, my points of reference otherwise I'm
lost and I can't find myself. I was not good physically. I had been through
pre-season with Juventus so I was OK. When I got there I found a different
method of training. You exercise less, sometimes the sessions last 40
minutes and almost immediately I didn't feel good."
"I need to train more, for someone to kick my ass. The problem is that on
Sunday other people went to a thousand percent. Not me. I wanted to do
things that come naturally when I'm playing well and I could not do them.
And I became crazy. What went wrong? I've been wondering myself because my
story says that I have always done everything to reverse difficult
situations. Maybe in London I was thinking too much. And maybe this
different personal attitude ended up being counter-productive."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Slaven Bilic: It's impossible for West Ham to compete on quality with
Manchester City and we weren't physical
SLAVEN BILIC
Evening Standard
Let me say first that Manchester City were exceptional against us on
Wednesday. Well done to them but we helped them. We let them play, we gave
them time and made elementary mistakes for which, when you are playing
against top players, you will be punished.
I expected more from us, not based on hope but on recent performances and
results plus the quality I know we have in the squad.
How will Manchester City fare this season? Do they have a chance of the
Premier League title? I was asked these questions after our 4-0 defeat. To
be honest, I don't care. What I've been thinking solely about since
Wednesday night's disappointment, is why it has happened to us three times
already this season?
Some have said the pitch is too big for us, others that we are still
acclimatising to our new home. Well, there are regulations which govern the
size of the pitch and I am fed up with answering questions about the
stadium. No one mentioned either factor when we beat Crystal Palace
recently. I am not one for excuses.
Basically, you cannot make the mistakes like we did which led to their first
and third goals. Sometimes, if you are playing against teams with less
quality, you can get away with it but not against a team as good as City.
They don't miss those opportunities.
It's very frustrating, especially following a period when we have been
improving and moving up the Premier League table. It's a blow, particularly
when it happens at home as it has three times already this season. We
weren't aggressive enough, we gave them time and space, in fact the opposite
of everything we talked about before the match.
When you play them, you have to be complete to have a chance. You have to
have numbers, yes, but you also have to be physical. We weren't and the
question now is, are we a physical team? Against City, we have to admit that
we weren't, so can we do it? I am sure sometimes that we can but, to be
fair, we are not a proper physical team and if you compete purely on quality
against such a team, then it is impossible.
Of course, I am very disappointed. I didn't treat this as a bonus game, I
honestly expected we could get something from it but now we move on. We're
not going to let this ruin everything good that we have produced recently.
On the other two occasions when we've been beaten heavily at home this
season, we have showed good character in the next match. After losing 5-0 to
Arsenal we drew 2-2 at Liverpool and then, after again conceding five goals
to City in the FA Cup, we beat Crystal Palace 3-0. We can't let this damage
our confidence and I will be expecting a similar response when we play at
Southampton tomorrow — and then at home to West Brom the following weekend.
Ideally, one more day before the Southampton game would have helped — they
played at Swansea on Tuesday — but we can't change that and again, let's not
use that as an excuse.
Of course, there is bound to be criticism after such a defeat, just as there
is praise after a good performance but I know these players will react well,
including our new signings, Jose Fonte and Robert Snodgrass. We wouldn't
have signed them if we didn't believe they will make us much better.
For Southampton, we expect to have Cheikhou Kouyate back in the squad. He's
back from playing for Senegal in the African Cup of Nations, he trained with
us yesterday and should be ready.
Cheikhou is someone who definitely has that kind of physicality which we
lacked against Manchester City. Every time he doesn't play you miss his
physical presence, as was the case in those two previous home defeats, by
Arsenal and then Manchester City in the FA Cup.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Metz shock Marseille as Dimitri Payet returns to Ligue 1
Last Updated: 03/02/17 10:30pm
SSN
Dimitri Payet's Ligue 1 return ended in despair for Marseille as struggling
Metz produced a shock 1-0 win. Metz substitute Yann Jouffre provided the
decisive moment of a dull contest eight minutes from time when goalkeeper
Yohann Pele failed to deal with his 20-yard free-kick. Payet left West Ham
in a £25m move last weekend and made his second Marseille debut as a
substitute in a Coupe de France victory over Lyon on Wednesday. The France
international was again left on the bench until the 55th minute, when he
joined the action along with Marseille's top scorer Bafetimbi Gomis. Within
two minutes, Gomis had the ball in the Metz net after Payet's free-kick had
been flicked on, but the on-loan Swansea striker was correctly ruled
offside. Simon Falette then diverted Payet's teasing ball onto his own
crossbar before Jouffre's finish five minutes later took Metz four points
clear of the relegation zone.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Riz lands new role
KUMB.com
Filed: Friday, 3rd February 2017
By: Staff Writer
Former Hammer Omer Riza has been appointed as the new Assistant Manager at
Leyton Orient. Riza, who was only appointed as Under 18s coach last summer
having previously worked with the Under 14s has been promoted to work as
number two to Danny Webb at Brisbane Road following the departure of Andy
Edwards and his team last weekend. 37-year-old Riza spent three years at
West Ham after making a move from Arsenal in 1999, but failed to make a
single first team appaearance under either Harry Redknapp oor Glenn Roeder
during his time at the club. Following spells on loan with Barnet and
Cambridge, Riza eventually joined the latter on a permanent basis in 2002.
He then spent five years in Turkey, playing for Denizlispor and Trabzonspor
before returning to England where he saw out his playing career in
non-league, having featured briefly for Shrewsbury. Hi sfinal destination
was Harlow Town in 2015.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Help Amos
KUMB.com
Filed: Friday, 3rd February 2017
By: Staff Writer
A JustGiving page has been started on behalf of Amos Nasha after it was
revealed that the former Hammer is struggling to make ends meet. According
to close friend Simon Bywater, Nasha - who was released on a free transfer
by West Ham in June of last year - has been unable to find a new club
laregly because he has to look after his younger brother Mark on a full-time
basis following the death of their parents. And that has left the duo
struggling to make ends meet, as Bywater explains. "Tragically, a few years
ago, they lost their mother,," he said. "It was a shock but they showed
immense unity in dealing with this devastating news. Amos bravely continued
with his football ambitions and Mark pushed on with his studies. "Early
last year their father suffered a heart attack which resulted in him having
to sell his shoe shop in east London while he recovered. In the summer, Amos
Jnr was released by West Ham and like many young lads got on the depressing
treadmill of 'trialling' to find a new club. "A week before Christmas 2016
Amos Snr collapsed and suffered fatal heart failure. This tragic event has
left the lads in a state of shock. Trying to work through this has been
extremely tough on the lads. "Sadly they live in rented accommodation and
now face the real fear of becoming homeless in the months ahead given they
have no current income. "Amos Jnr is now the Guardian of Mark who is
attempting to sit his A levels. Amos Jnr's football has had to take a back
seat while he deals with much more important priorities in his life.
"www.jesushouse.org.uk church have been supporting Amos and Mark through
their faith to deal with their current situation. Sadly they lack
significant funding. What I'm looking at through this article is publicity
and donations to help keep these decent lads moving forward through a very
difficult time in their lives. "They have no immediate family in this
country and need our support. If you are able to send a donation to help
Amos and Mark it will be gratefully received and I will ensure they use it
wisely."
Anyone wishing to contribute to the fund may do so here
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/simon-bywater?utm_id=60&utm_term=qXA
AdKXmk
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham 0-4 Man City (And Other Ramblings)
KUMB.com
Filed: Friday, 3rd February 2017
By: HeadHammerShark
1. Bad Dreams
My poor Dad. February 1st is his birthday, and as a treat I decided to take
him to a West Ham game. I actually bought him a ticket to the Man Utd
fixture as his present, but as that was just ninety minutes of tedious
Mourinhoan pedagogy I felt guilty and bought him another one for this game.
This brings me on nicely to the definition of insanity. Albert Einstein is
credited as describing this as "doing the same thing over and over again and
expecting different results". But Albert Einstein never watched West Ham,
and therefore had no meaningful grasp on the concept of despair, or mental
degradation.
The actual definition of insanity is buying a ticket to watch West Ham play
Man City in the FA Cup, watching them lose 5-0 and then buying a ticket to
watch the same fixture in the league three weeks later even when you know
the outcome will be the same. As my Dad said on the way out - "I'll be fine
with a book next year, thanks".
2. Game Day
This truly was a sh*tshow. A perfect Piers Morgan of a performance as most
of the team took to the field without a spine, and were duly humiliated once
again by a team who can't defend and have conceded four goals against both
Leicester and Everton.
But none of that truly captures the abject, insipid, utterly limp nature of
this display. This was f*cking awful. Most distressingly of all, it was
almost a note for note reproduction of the cup game, right down to the 3-0
half time score, the sh*tty penalty award, the funereal atmosphere and the
overarching feeling of being in a cable car that has just got to the crest
of a mountain but instead of going forward, has suddenly, inexplicably
started falling back down the slope at a dizzying speed.
If you have ever played football at a certain level you will have experience
of being screamed at by an angry coach over "in balls". These are passes
from full backs to central midfielders which are cut out and are described
by The Secret Footballer as being responsible for 40 per cent of all goals
conceded from open play. Angry English youth coaches generally prefer you to
"stick it in the f*ckin' mixer" rather than attempt them.
Anyway, even now I can picture you all nodding along as you think of Aaron
Cresswell and Pedro Obiang paying homage to the art form last night with two
beauties of the genre. The reason that these passes are so dangerous is that
players intercepting them are almost always facing forward, advancing at
pace on to a back pedaling defence, and crucially with no holding
midfielders to worry about. City's first and third goals came from these
mistakes and whilst they were beautifully constructed and finished, there
was the familiar air of self inflicted wounds to the whole affair.
In between this, Leroy Sane had ghosted past debutant Jose Fonte almost as
though he were an ageing 33-year-old rather than the key to all our
defensive problems, before crossing for David Silva to score from about two
yards out. As I said, a note for note remake of the cup game. A bit like
when Gus van Sant recreated Psycho shot for shot, except that this was
actually terrifying to watch and didn't feature Vince Vaughn.
Half time came and went with no discernible difference apart from the fact
that the stadium was emptying quicker than a broken hourglass. Raheem
Sterling capped off a fine display with a superb two-stage dive as he jinked
past Fonte. As we know from the cup game a lack of contact is no impediment
to City players falling over but Toure duly squeezed the penalty home anyway
and, with that, everybody stopped bothering. City stopped trying, the
supporters started to gauge when they needed to leave to best utilise the
world class transport facilities and Guardiola brought on Fabian Delph after
presumably losing a bet to someone.
3. The Detail
Regular readers will know that I am a fan of the xG concept. This looks at
the type and location of the chances created by teams and assigns them an
"expected goal" value. It's a useful tool for reminding ourselves that
whenever somebody (usually Alan Shearer) says "he has to score from there"
it is invariably bullsh*t.
What's remarkable about this game is how little threat we posed. As you can
see here, using the superb xG Maps at @11tegen11, our xG in this game was
0.43 compared to City's 2.07. This feels about right as we generally carried
the same level of threat as the Swiss navy, and this now marks 180 minutes
of complete offensive ineptitude against a team playing John Stones at
centre half like that's a professionally acceptable thing to do.
If you're looking for a comparison, Hull generated chances worth 0.51 and
restricted Man Utd to 1.45 in their game last night. A-f*cking-hem.
Our only chance fell to Cresswell, who was beautifully found in acres of
space by Andy Carroll, but was so surprised by this turn of events that he
promptly forgot how to use his legs. His resulting shot was ballooned miles
over the bar and was so overhit that it almost made it into the seats behind
the goal.
Our wide man Sofiane Feghouli was so useless that the only player to
complete fewer passes in the final third of the pitch was City keeper, Willy
Caballero which, if you're following along at home, means that he managed
less completions than Darren Randolph. That - as the kids say - is f*cked
up.
Aside from this, or perhaps because of it, we looked completely clueless as
to how we were ever going to score. I recall a game against Man City back in
October 2010 when we lost 3-1 and spent the first hour looking totally
inept. This was during the Allardici "no striker" period when Allardyce
played with six midfielders and just said "we won 3-0 at Spurs" when anyone
pointed out that this meant we had stopped scoring. Even that night, when we
had no f*cking strikers, we still eventually scored and had a bit of a go.
Everyone has a different tolerance for losing games, and I'd like to think
mine is pretty high but at the very least I expect my team to have a vague
idea of how they intend to win the match. It is my fearless prediction that
these constant surrenders at home to any team with even a semblance of
something about them, will eventually cost Bilic his job.
4. The Lessons
What was very evident from the first whistle tonight was that there was no
coherence to our defensive play. Forget for a moment the lack of attacking
intent and ponder instead the failure to get even remotely close to City
after they scored their first.
In contrast to the visitors there was no pressure on the ball, and if you
don't press then you must be compact and difficult to break down and we
weren't doing that either. Instead the team operated in some sort of strange
hinterland where nobody marked and nobody hassled and David Silva strolled
around majestically in a Hawaiian shirt and a flip flops like he was playing
on a beach in Brazil. I'm going to be so excited when Sullivan tries to sign
him in five years.
Much of this confusion stems from our formation which, having watched the
game both live and in highlight form, I still can't really fathom out.
Carroll definitely played up front and behind him we had some sort of
interpretive dance movement whereby Michail Antonio and Manuel Lanzini
fluttered around like Puck from A Midsummer Night's Dream whilst Feghouli
stood motionless on the wing as if traumatised by the whole thing.
It's easy to say that the big pitch or our slow players aren't well suited
to pressing but I think this misses the point. It's our defensive structure
that isn't working. Pressing needs to be done at the right time, in the
right situation and with a co-ordinated plan where players aren't too
isolated when they make the decision to go and challenge the ball. What we
currently have is a mishmash, where the immobile Carroll can't really do it
against good ball playing defenders, and as a result our midfielders are
getting pulled all over the place. In turn, when we do manage to break we
can't transition with any pace because players aren't where they need to be,
and generally we're f*cking clueless on the ball unless Lanzini has it. So
against cr*p teams we can get away with it, and against good teams we keep
getting skewered.
This is born out by the fact that in matches against the current bottom half
we have a record of P11 W7 D1 L3 but against the top ten it reads P12 W1 D3
L8. Yowzers. We have become a team for the small occasion, and the only
reason we have a win against a "good" team is because Burnley have somehow
snuck into tenth.
What this tells me is that we have a method which works against weak teams,
and have been unusually clinical in finishing them off, but we have nothing
to offer against anyone half decent. This can't continue - I understand that
we're going to lose more often than not to teams like Man City given the
huge advantages they enjoy, but we've just played them twice in a month and
got schooled both times. We're not getting any closer, we're getting further
away and that, more than anything, is a cause for concern.
5. Corner Boys
Having gone into the transfer window needing a right back and a centre
forward, we bought a winger and a centre half. This is genius stuff from the
Board who have sensibly realised that the way to win football games is to do
what your opponents least expect. Centre halves when you need full backs,
play a lion in goal, have everybody in the ticket office type using their
weaker hand, sell drones instead of food at concession stands. That kind of
thing.
So, for the second consecutive window we failed to get a right back, leaving
Sam Byram a free run at the position for the rest of the season. In truth
I'm not opposed to that, given that this season is a slowly smouldering
bonfire and we are playing for nothing other than prize money, which will
only be wasted on agents fees anyway.
So Byram gets a 15 match audition in which to state his case, and if he gets
injured then we'll be back to asking people to do jobs they aren't qualified
for, which sort of seems normal now that Donald Trump is President of
America.
On the other side, Cresswell is having the worst season of his West Ham
career. He was injured to start the campaign and it's entirely possible that
rushing him back hasn't helped. I have seen a few calls for Arthur Masuaku
to be given a run in his stead, but the last time I saw him he was moving
like he was on smack, so I don't see how that would be an improvement.
Cresswell would probably benefit from having a genuine wide player in front
of him which I suppose Robert Snodgrass is, even if Bilic played him on the
right when he brought him on, because anything else would have been stupid.
The overarching theme is that without functioning full backs, teams can't
survive in modern football. Look at Spurs and Chelsea, who use their wide
defenders in different systems but to very similar effect. Cresswell did
that superbly last season and if he could get back to that form again, and
Byram can start to develop into the player we hope he can be, then we would
have something on which to base the massive summer overhaul that is
required. The genuinely worrying thing is that we have been searching for
additional right sided cover for two windows and Sullivan hasn't been able
to unearth anybody. I suspect I may return to this point.
6. All Due Respect
The only home player to really emerge with much credit from tonight was
Antonio who played in his odd new position, flitting between the wing and
the second striker role, and worked gamely in the most lost of causes.
I would love to say something positive about Reid and Fonte, who at least
kept working until the and but we conceded four goals in a defensive
clusterf*ck that would have been startling if it wasn't for the fact that
this was the sixth time we've conceded at least four this season, and the
fourth time at home. At some point we might need to accept that shuffling
keepers, recruiting new centre halves and praying to St Christopher might
not be the answer to our problems. Our defensive structure isn't working but
it would probably also help us immensely if our back four could tackle.
7. The Buys
Alright, you knew this was coming. I'm about to go off on one about our
January transfer window. Stop me if you think that you've heard this one
before.
How to assess our January work, then? Well, in isolation the players we
brought in will probably improve the team. Snodgrass is not a patch on
Payet, but the latter wanted out so he will probably provide better results
than the uninterested Frenchman would have done. Likewise Fonte will replace
the injured Ogbonna and is undoubtably a better player than the alternative,
James Collins.
But, between them they set us back £18m and will stay on the payroll for the
next three seasons despite Fonte being 33 and Snodgrass being 29. My
apologies if you follow me on Twitter and saw me rant about this last week
but I think it bears repeating. I did a little research and decided to
compare our transfer policy to Southampton and Spurs.
Both are loosely similar to us in that they don't win much but have some
money, are well established Premier League teams and are looking to break
into the upper echelons of the league. Spurs have surged ahead in this
latter regard, but these were the gaps that the stadium move was supposed to
help bridge.
Well, here's how many players that each of them have signed in the last four
years who are as old as either Snodgrass or Fonte:
Spurs - none
Southampton - none
One has to go back to 2012 to find Spurs signing outfield players as old as
29 (Clint Dempsey) or 33 (Ryan Nelson). For Southampton it's 2011 (Hooiveld)
and 2009 (Jaidi) respectively.
Those statistics don't have to mean anything, but they do. Our competitors
do not make signings of this type anymore, and instead we've made three this
season alone. I actually don't mind the idea that we might be doing
something contrary to popular thinking if I thought it was because our
brains trust had hit upon some market inefficiency that others had yet to
exploit. But of course that's not what this is - it's a case of David
Sullivan getting the life scared out of him by our summer disasters and
instantly reverting back to a market he thinks he knows. And lo and behold,
two wildly over the top transfer fees later, we have two ageing players we
may not need beyond the end of this season and around £30m committed to
buying and paying them.
You know how there is always a team around that everybody else just points
at, laughs and wonders what on earth they're doing? Congratulations - you
support them.
Sullivan then followed up his latest masterstrokes with the quote: "Robert
is British and is proven in the Premier League and I must say we'd like to
sign a few more British players".
This makes perfect sense to me having watched multiple World Cups, European
Championships, Champions Leagues and Europa Leagues the overriding feeling
that I am always left with is that British players are by some distance the
best on the planet.
Sure, the only world class one plays in Spain but if you get the opportunity
to snap up a guy who has played for Leeds, Norwich and Hull then you bloody
well take it.
I despair. I despair of the short sightedness of this bullsh*t policy that
Sullivan is now espousing. Being British and having Premier League
experience wasn't required for Kouyate or Payet. They were good buys because
they were good players. Alli, Arnatouvic, Van Dijk, Tadic, Rondon - all were
brought into the Premier League from elsewhere and all hit the ground
running. Each of them were affordable and would have improved our team.
That said, tragically, he actually had it right for a couple of years when
he let Tony Henry have free reign and we signed players from overseas and
the lower leagues and largely steered clear of paying over the odds for
domestic players. That all changed this summer when our recruitment went
awry and Andre Ayew was signed in a deadline beating frenzy for a mystifying
£20.5m and has now been supplemented by these new buys. £40m on Ayew,
Snodgrass and Fonte, two of whom play in the same position. You have to get
up pretty early to outsmart Sullivan, yessiree.
Rather than look at their recruitment process and decide that the thinking
was right, but the execution was poor we have now instead reverted back to
the old Sullivan Birmingham mantra. New signings have a huge whiff of "Ooh,
I've heard of him" about them and as a result we're getting screwed on fees.
Consequently we're getting older, slower and more expensive just as everyone
else is getting younger, fitter and cheaper.
If you're doing something different to everybody else in your field then
you're either leading it or you are trailing behind. I know where I think we
are.
8. Moral Midgetry
This is horrendously inappropriate and just confirms the long held suspicion
that we are a joke club. It may have got four thousand likes from the
Megabantz crowd but it's an awful reflection on our club. I'll say no more -
I already feel like a bully.
9. Storm Warnings
Er, let's just back the f*ck up here a minute shall we?
We sold our soul for this. I'm not getting into the rights or wrongs of the
move, but nobody can deny the irrevocable change that has been visited upon
our club. We gave up our spiritual home, our history and our distinct home
pitch advantage to come to the London Stadium.
Somehow there seems to be this misconception that because we've got this
bright new stadium and a huge digital wrap, and 60,000 seats that now it's
time to pay our side of the bargain. The board gave us a new house - and now
we have to turn up and make it a home.
Well, I'm sorry, but that's the wrong way round. We allowed them to move us
and now they need to repay us with a team worthy of that sacrifice. The
house might be bigger but it's an athletics stadium, and it comes with a lot
of problems. As I took twenty minutes to walk from one side of the ground to
the other last night due to the bottlenecks, as I saw the biblical queues
for the concessions stand, as I sat on the broken down, ancient TFL train at
Stratford, the very furthest thing from my mind was the phrase "world
class".
However, I'd accept all of that if I saw progress. If I saw cutting edge,
industry leading thinking that was putting a young, dynamic, fearless team
on the pitch. I'd accept the sh*t food, the cr*p acoustics and the lousy
view if only I could see the team was actually taking that mythical next
step.
But I don't. I see a board that haven't got the self awareness to see their
own failings on the football side of the business, doomed to continue
repeating them, wasting millions as they go.
And losing 5-1 at home to Arsenal and now 5-0 and 4-0 to City is shameful.
We were risible in those games, and the thought of what Spurs and Liverpool
will do to us at season end terrifies me.
The only way this stadium move will work is if the team takes a step
forward. If we're just going to meekly roll over for the bigger boys and
just point to their annual turnover when asked why, then we might as well
have stayed put. At least Upton Park had an atmosphere.
The board might not be prepared to accept this, but I see a lot of fans as
still being in "wait and see" mode. This is a dead season, so they had
better be planning for the summer with the intention of looking to
drastically improve rather than just supplement this team.
And this weeks peerless setting up of Bilic has been incredibly obvious too.
Everything was publicly declared to be the choice of the manager. No
striker, no right back, no turning down the ear splitting PA? All down to
Bilic. Keep an eye on Rafa Benitez at Newcastle - there is previous, he's
unhappy and they're targeting Bilic. I wonder.....
10. The Wire
You might recall that last week I (correctly) pointed out that the second
series of seminal US crime drama The Wire was the best in the run. Indeed,
the eagle eyed among you may have recognised the theme for this weeks
article as a result. In any case, several people disagreed with me, leading
me to run a poll on Twitter to establish once and for all that I was correct
the will of the people.
As you can see from the embedded tweet above, it's impossible to tell how
many people voted, but I gotta tell you folks it looked like maybe a
million, a million and a half took part. And as you can see, the correct
answer is Season 2.
And that, is the nearest I have come to a victory in the last week.
A Plea
I don't usually do this sort of thing as it's fraught with danger but I saw
something while researching this article and thought West Ham fans would
want to know. Former youth team player Amos Nasha faces being made homeless
as a result of losing both his parents.
Details are here and there is a JustGiving page here if you wanted to donate
anything to the cause.
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.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Southampton v West Ham preview: Jose Fonte makes swift return
Last Updated: 03/02/17 12:22pm
SSN
West Ham United will be aiming to pick up their first ever win league win at
St Mary's when they travel to face Southampton on Saturday. The Hammers are
winless in their last seven away league games against Saints (D4 L3), last
winning in Southampton in November 2000 under Harry Redknapp. Slaven Bilic's
men will fancy their chances of ending the barren run on the south-coast as
the hosts have lost five of their last six Premier League games, including
four straight defeats. West Ham were showing that life without Dimitri
Payet, who joined Marseille after a messy fallout, was looking rosy after
winning back-to-back Premier League games before losing 4-0 to Man City on
Wednesday night.
Southampton defender Virgil van Dijk has been ruled out for up to three
months with an ankle injury. Jay Rodriguez and James Ward-Prowse are back in
training after spells out and could be added to the squad. New striker
Manolo Gabbiadini will also be involved, although manager Claude Puel has
yet to decide whether to hand him a place in the starting line-up.
Senegal midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate is back in the West Ham squad, having
returned from the African Cup of Nations. Right-back Sam Byram felt his
hamstring after the midweek 4-0 defeat by Manchester City and will be
assessed. Robert Snodgrass could make his full debut after coming on as a
substitute against City.
Opta stats
Southampton have won their last two matches against the Hammers; they last
won a third consecutive match against them in April 1998.
Southampton have kept a clean sheet in five of their last seven home games
against West Ham (W3 D4 L0).
Fraser Forster hasn't conceded a Premier League goal against West Ham in 333
minutes of action, keeping three consecutive clean sheets.
The Saints have lost two home Premier League games from leading positions
this season - no side has lost more (level with Bournemouth).
Only Sunderland (0) have kept fewer away Premier League clean sheets than
West Ham (1) this season.
The Hammers have conceded 40 Premier League goals this season after 23 games
- it took them 32 games to concede this many in 2015-16.
Andy Carroll has had a hand in six goals in his last nine away Premier
League games (five goals, one assist) after a run of 10 games without
scoring or assisting away from home.
West Ham have conceded a league-high 82.5% of their goals from open play
this season (33/40).
Van Dijk has the best aerial duel success rate of any defender to have been
involved in 100+ aerial duels (75%).
Only Sam Vokes (19.2 per game) has been involved in more aerial duels per 90
minutes on average than Carroll (18.5) this season in the Premier League.
Merson's prediction
It's difficult to know what you are going to get from these sides.
Southampton beat Liverpool over two legs to reach the EFL Cup final but were
then thrashed by Arsenal in the FA Cup. To be honest, I thought what Puel
did by putting out a lot of youngsters against the Gunners was not good.
They then lost to Swansea in midweek and it's really difficult to know which
Southampton team will turn up.
It's the same with West Ham. They put back-to-back wins together against
Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough but are then thumped by Manchester City -
but Pep Guardiola's side always seem to save their best football for the
Hammers. I think home advantage will play a part here so that's why I'm
going with a slender Southampton win.
PAUL PREDICT: 2-1 (7/1 with Sky Bet)
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham boss Slaven Bilic reveals admiration for Joe Hart
By Nick Lustig
Last Updated: 03/02/17 12:05pm
SSN
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic has revealed his admiration for Joe Hart, but
has insisted he is not currently thinking about making a move for the
England goalkeeper. Sky sources understand the Hammers are interested in
signing the 29-year-old in the summer once his season-long loan spell with
Serie A side Torino comes to an end. Hart told Sky Sports in December that
he saw his long-term future away from parent club Manchester City, having
been quickly frozen out following the arrival of manager Pep Guardiola at
the Etihad last summer. However, Bilic claimed signing a goalkeeper is not a
top priority for him, citing current stoppers Darren Randolph and Adrian as
the reason why. "We are heavily linked with every player looking for a move.
I rate Joe Hart really highly as a great goalkeeper and personality," Bilic
said. "On the other hand, if there is one position that I am not even
thinking of changing it is goalkeeper because I have two great ones."
West Ham face Southampton at St Mary's on Saturday aiming to bounce back
from their emphatic 4-0 home defeat to Manchester City in midweek. Central
defender Jose Fonte left the Saints to join West Ham in January and is
expected to start against his former side, despite having a debut to forget
against City. Fonte, who gave away a penalty in the loss at London Stadium,
has received the backing of Bilic ahead of the trip down to south-coast.
"Fonte is a very experienced player and is focused," Bilic said. "He has
nothing but good memories of Southampton and is looking forward to it.
"Injury-wise, we had a recover day on Thursday and we have nothing serious.
Sam Byram has a hamstring but we hope he will be okay."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Jonathan Calleri: Carlos Tevez told me to stay at West Ham
By Nick Lustig
Last Updated: 03/02/17 7:37am
SSN
Jonathan Calleri has revealed a phone call from West Ham cult hero Carlos
Tevez convinced him to remain with the club. Argentine forward Calleri has
endured a difficult spell at West Ham since joining on a season-long loan
from Deportivo Maldonado last summer, finding the net only once in 10
appearances. Tevez also struggled to adapt during his first few months in
England during the 2006-07 campaign, taking 20 games to open his Hammers
account before going on to score a further six goals to help the club avoid
relegation.
Calleri, who turned down the chance to join La Liga side Las Palmas in
January, has vowed to follow in the footsteps of his compatriot by making
his spell at West Ham a success. "I did speak to him a few months ago. When
he arrived at West Ham, he was in a similar situation that I found myself
in," the 23-year-old, who scored in the 3-1 success at Middlesbrough in
January, told Sky Sports News HQ. "It was hard for him and it was also hard
for me. I am staying here, I want to battle, I have taken his advice on
board and I want to be successful and follow in his footsteps." Calleri also
insisted West Ham can cope without Dimitri Payet, who completed a £25m
return to Marseille in January. Prior to his departure, Payet had been
training with the U23s after informing manager Slaven Bilic that he would no
longer play for the club. "Yes, it's true that a great player in Dimitri
Payet has left the club, but there is no player more important than the
whole squad and having a united dressing room and a united team," Calleri
said.
"So, if we are all united and pulling in the same direction, we won't miss
Dimitri Payet." West Ham travel to face Southampton in the Premier League on
Saturday, with just one point and one place separating the two sides in
mid-table.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Simone Zaza says he failed to adapt to life at West Ham
By Nick Lustig
Last Updated: 03/02/17 10:12am
SSN
Simone Zaza has claimed his unsuccessful loan spell with West Ham was down
to a failure to adapt to life in England. The Italy forward joined the
Hammers on a season-long loan from Juventus in August, but endured a
terrible time and failed to score in 11 appearances for the club. West Ham
agreed to cut Zaza's spell at the London Stadium short in January, enabling
the 25-year-old to join La Liga side Valencia on loan for the remainder of
the season. "I didn't feel great in so many ways: environment, culture,
training, nutrition," Zaza told Gazzetta dello Sport. "I'm not being a
victim, I know that plying your trade as a footballer allows you to earn so
much. "I'm just trying to explain the causes of my failure. I knew I'd find
some difficulties, but I did not think there could be so many. I do not
blame anyone: 99 per cent of it's my fault because I was not able to adapt.
"I was sure that I'd make it, but it was probably because I'm set in my
ways. I'm attached to my habits, my things, my points of reference otherwise
I'm lost and I can't find myself. "I was not good physically. I had been
through pre-season with Juventus so I was okay. When I got there I found a
different method of training: you exercise less, sometimes the sessions last
40 minutes and almost immediately I didn't feel good. "I need to train more,
for someone to kick my ass. The problem is that on Sunday other people went
to a thousand percent. Not me. I wanted to do things that come naturally
when I'm playing well and I could not do them. And I became crazy. "It was
not easy. Be left in a sense of being a loser bothers me. It will remain a
blot on the landscape that this story that did not go as I hoped."
A clause in the loan agreement meant West Ham would have had to sign Zaza
permanently for £17m if he played 14 matches for the club.
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic opted against the deal following the return of
forward Andy Carroll to form and fitness in December, leaving Zaza free to
join Valencia where he has since appeared twice but is yet to score.
"Already in early October I received calls from several teams. And I said no
because I wanted to do well in London," Zaza added. "Up until West Ham gave
me the news that they wouldn't buy me. Then I started to listen to offers.
After what I'd been through in England I was afraid to change country again,
I preferred to return to Italy, but it was very complicated. "Valencia was
always been the team I wanted most, and then there was [Cesare] Prandelli. I
showed interest and it took time. I wanted to know how they live here. Among
others I heard from Nicola Sansone, who lives here."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Southampton vs West Ham: Prediction, team news, line-ups, start time, live,
TV, head to head, odds - Premier League preview
ALEX YOUNG
Evening Standard
West Ham will be looking to make immediate amends for another home thrashing
when they travel to face Southampton on Saturday. Manchester City hit four
without reply at the London Stadium on Wednesday, adding to the 5-0
hammering handed out in the FA Cup third round less than a month previous.
It was another sobering result for Slaven Bilic & Co. following a run of
five wins in their previous seven Premier League games, and anything less
than three points on Saturday will see West Ham leapfrogged by Southampton
in the standings. Claude Puel's side, though, are struggling themselves
having taken just three points from the previous 18 on offer, and captain
Jose Fonte jumped ship to the Hammers during the transfer window.
START TIME
West Ham travel to St. Mary's with kick-off scheduled for 3pm on Saturday,
February 4.
LIVE COVERAGE
The match will not be televised live in the UK, but you can follow all the
build-up and action from 2pm with Standard Sport's London Football live
blog. Enter your email address below to be informed when coverage begins.
TEAM NEWS
Jose Fonte and Robert Snodgrass made their West Ham debuts against
Manchester City on Wednesday, with the latter coming off the bench, so both
are expected to start at the weekend. Fonte will be facing the club he left
in January. Elsewhere, Slaven Bilic has no new injuries concerns beyond
current absentees Havard Nordtveit, Angelo Ogbonna, Diafra Sakho, Arthur
Masuaku, Gokhan Tore and Alvaro Arbeloa.
It is less positive news for Southampton with Claude Puel confirming on
Thursday that Virgil van Dijk will be sidelined for two to three months with
an ankle injury picked up in Janury. The commanding centre-back joins a long
list of sidelined Saints players, but fitness concerns James Ward-Prowse and
James Rodriguez could return.
Manolo Gabbiadini is available to make his debut after completing a £17
million deadline-day switch from Napoli, though is lacking in match fitness
after nearly a month without first-team action.
POSSIBLE LINE-UPS
Southampton starting XI: Forster; Soares, Stephens, Yoshida, Bertrand;
Davis, Romeu, Clasie; Tadic, Gabbiadini, Redmond
West Ham starting XI: Randolph; Byram, Fonte, Reid, Cresswell; Obiang,
Noble; Snodgrass, Lanzini, Antonio; Carroll
BETTING ODDS (via 888 Sport)
Southampton to win: 19/25
Draw: 14/5
West Ham to win: 41/10
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Slaven Bilic admits West Ham United miss Cheikhou Kouyate every time he
doesn't play
HITC
John Verrall
West Ham United midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate has been away with Senegal
recently. Slaven Bilic has admitted in the London Evening Standard that West
Ham United miss Cheikhou Kouyate every time he doesn't play. West Ham have
been without Kouyate recently, as he has been representing Senegal at the
Africa Cup of Nations. And Bilic his hinted that the powerful midfielder
could return to West Ham's starting line-up this weekend, when they take on
Southampton. "For Southampton, we expect to have Cheikhou Kouyate back in
the squad," Bilic said. "He's back from playing for Senegal in the African
Cup of Nations, he trained with us yesterday and should be ready. "Cheikhou
is someone who definitely has that kind of physicality which we lacked
against Manchester City. "Every time he doesn't play you miss his physical
presence, as was the case in those two previous home defeats, by Arsenal and
then Manchester City in the FA Cup."
Whether Kouyate will start for West Ham against Southampton remains to be
seen. The Hammers need to bounce back in the contest, after what was a poor
display against City. Pep Guardiola's side tore the Hammers apart on Tuesday
evening, in what was another frustrating night at the London Stadium. West
Ham are currently in 11th place in the Premier League table, after what has
been a disappointing campaign so far.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham forward Andre Ayew tells Ghana team-mates to 'shut up and go home'
after AFCON exit
Andre Ayew bemoaned side's performance in 2-0 defeat but wants to move on
He scored twice in tournament but admitted Cameroon deserved win
Ghanaian insisted his team should now 'shut up and go home' after loss
Ayew believes preparations should now begin for next two years
By Jonny Singer for MailOnline
PUBLISHED: 10:33, 3 February 2017 | UPDATED: 10:36, 3 February 2017
West Ham forward Andre Ayew told his team-mates to 'shut up and go home'
after they were put out of the Africa Cup of Nations by Cameroon on Thursday
night. Ayew, who scored two penalties on the way to the semi-final, was
unable to contribute on the night, as Ghana froze in their sixth consecutive
Cup of Nations semi-final. But the former Swansea star was eager to move on,
accepting the defeat and already looking ahead to two years time, when he
insisted the Black Stars would be back. 'We have to be honest, Cameroon
deserved the victory today, we didn't do what we had to do,' said Ayew. 'We
are very disappointed, but there's not much to say. We just need to shut up,
go home, and prepare for the next two years. It is now 35 years since Ghana,
who have a talented squad but rarely performed at their best in Gabon, won a
title, but Ayew was adamant that this group can still hit the heights they
were always tipped to reach. 'We've got to work hard, and sooner or later we
will get this title. 'It's football. We are trying, we want to, and we will
win it one day. I know it. I believe it. 'But this is not our time. We want
to go, work hard, and one day it will be our time.
'We know our country will be difficult, they're not going to be happy,
because they expect the cup, which is normal when you have players like you
have in the Ghana team. 'So we are going to go home, keep quiet, work hard,
and we'll see you in two years.'
Manager Avram Grant claimed his side did not deserve to lose, and suggested
that the loss of captain Asamoah Gyan to injury was a big factor in their
semi-final exit. 'I think, except the start of the game, things went well
for us. 'We dominated the game, in the second half we created chances to win
the game, and then the first attack of Cameroon in the second half, a set
piece, they scored a goal. This is football. 'Asamoah Gyan is a great
player. He's good for us. He played the first game 60 minutes, the second
game 60 minutes, he won one penalty and scored one goal. 'He's a big miss
for us. He didn't train. I'm very impressed by the way he recovered, but we
couldn't use him. No doubt that with him things would be better for this
team.'
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Exclusive: Arsenal, Tottenham and West Ham singled out for not ensuring
staff are paid 'a fair wage'
Ben Rumsby
3 FEBRUARY 2017 • 12:01AM
Telegraph.co.uk
Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United were on Thursday night
singled out by living-wage campaigners after being accused of failing to
ensure everyone who works for them was paid "a fair wage". The chairmen of
the three London clubs were sent open letters by Citizens UK – which has
long lobbied for the living wage – calling on them to join Chelsea and
Everton in becoming a so-called 'Living Wage club'. The letter followed one
sent to Arsenal, Spurs, West Ham and Crystal Palace last month by London
Mayor Sadiq Khan urging the quartet to pay the London living wage as part of
a drive to ensure all employers across the capital do so.
In 2015, a month after securing a record £5.14 billion domestic television
deal, Premier League clubs committed en masse to paying their full-time
staff the living wage – which is now £9.75 inside London (19,012.50 per
year) and £8.45 (£16,477.50 per year) elsewhere.
But that did not extend to subcontracted staff such as match-day stewards
and catering staff, who it has been claimed make up the majority of their
employees.
The intervention by Citizens UK comes as the UK broadcast rights for the
Champions League and Europa League are being sold. Their value is expected
to exceed the £897 million paid by BT Sport under the existing deal, which
would make Premier League teams, and their players, even richer.
Citizens UK said: "Despite the Premier League announcing in 2015 that their
clubs must pay all of their directly employed staff a living wage, that is
not extended to many of the sub-contracted staff on match days, who are
often on low pay.
"Clubs often claim the responsibility for pay lies with the contractors
themselves, such as Delaware North, who provide much of the catering
services at Arsenal, and Vinci Facilities, who operate the stadium at West
Ham.
"However, Citizens UK believe it's the responsibility of the clubs
themselves to ensure all staff who work on their site, and are so vital to
the match-day experience, are paid a fair wage."
Arsenal responded by stating that, as well as paying all their employees
more than the London living wage, they went "beyond the commitment" made by
all Premier League clubs and said their match day stewards earned £10 per
hour or more.
A spokesman told the Daily Telegraph pay conditions also formed part of
their negotiations with third-party contractors, with their most recently
signed deal implementing the living wage.
Tottenham said they held "positive discussions" with their contractors on
progressing the living wage and were committed to reviewing this during any
renegotiations.
West Ham said they paid their permanent full-time and part-time staff the
living wage, although that is not the case for all of the workers at their
London Stadium home, which is publicly owned and the operation of which
falls under the jurisdiction of City Hall.
Khan vowed on Thursday night to ensure those not currently receiving the
living wage would do so in future.
A spokesman for the mayor said: "Sadiq is extremely unhappy with this
position and has given instructions for this to be put right immediately.
Sadiq is wholly committed to the London living wage and is leading by
example."
Katherine Chapman, director of the Living Wage Foundation, which accredits
employers that pay the independently-calculated living wage, said: "It would
be great if more Premier League clubs joined the nearly 3,000 living wage
employers who are choosing to go further than the legal minimum on pay and
invest in staff at the lower end of the pay scale."
Chelsea became the first Premier League club to be accredited two years ago,
with Everton following suit in October.
Outside the top flight, only Derby County, Luton Town, FC United and Heart
of Midlothian are accredited Living Wage clubs.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Demolition firm salvages Upton Park bricks and supporters are urged to claim
theirs
HITC
Damien Lucas
West Ham United fans will always treasure their memories of Upton Park but
now have a chance to reclaim a keepsake. The Hammers brought the curtain
down on 112 years at their beloved former Boleyn Ground home in the summer
as they departed for the 60,000 seater Olympic Stadium in Stratford. While
many fans did not want to leave their famous East London home, the majority
signed up to the new era with the club boasting 52,000 season ticket holders
- second only to Manchester United. After the unforgettable 3-2 farewell win
over the Red Devils last May some supporters took souvenirs from the ground
while others purchased items from a club auction and even bought their
season ticket seat. Something that could not be relocated or handed back to
supporters though, were the personalised bricks in the wall of Upton Park's
redeveloped West Stand. Fans were disappointed and with the ground currently
being demolished, they had accepted they would never be seen again. But
there could be hope than lots of fans will get theirs back after the
demolition firm salvaged around 200 of them. And they have arranged to hand
them over to popular young West Ham fundraiser Jonjo Heuerman to be
distributed to their rightful owners. In a message posted on Twitter
supporters were urged to spread the word. "Share the hell out of this...
copy and paste and post in as many groups as you can," the message says.
"The demolition company has salvaged around 200 bricks from Upton Park. The
bricks bear the name of lost loved ones, names of supporters, messages etc.
"Matt WestHam has kindly arranged for them to be passed on to Jonjo/BMF to
sort and list so that he can help find the owners of the bricks and pass
them onto them. A couple of JJ's helpers will visit the site to sort the
bricks into alphabetical order and make a list so that we can share the
messages/names on the bricks and help find the owners. "Hoping to arrange a
collection point on Saturday February 11th but need to make the final
arrangements with the company. Please do not turn up at the site in the
meantime. "If you know that your family/loved one had a memorial brick at
Upton Park please post the message on the brick or their name in a comment
on this post (see Twitter post below). This may help speed up the process.
Please note that not all the bricks could be saved. "Alternatively you can
email jonjo@fornannyandbobby.com and we will do our best."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham United to make £15m bid for Joe Hart
HITC
Subhankar Mondal
Reported West Ham United target Joe Hart is on loan at Torino from
Manchester City at the moment. West Ham United will make a £15 million bid
for Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart in the summer transfer window,
according to The Sun. Hart is on a season-long loan deal at Torino at the
moment, having joined the Italian club from Premier League giants City in
the summer of 2016. "Hart is understood to demand wages of around
£100,000-a-week to join West Ham, which would make him their highest-paid
player," states the report in The Sun. "And London Stadium chiefs want to
offload Adrian, 30, for £5m in the summer, and give his £40,000-a-week money
to the England goalkeeper." Hart is a good goalkeeper, and he would prove to
be a good signing for West Ham. But would the England international be
willing to join the London club? The 29-year-old is used to challenging for
Premier League titles and playing in the Champions League. Joining Torino in
the summer was a step down for Hart, but it was a rushed decision and there
was no space available for him at one of the bigger clubs in England. West
Ham are a big club in their own rights, but there could be a situation where
Hart would have offers from other teams. While the Hammers would be wise to
make a move for the Englishman in the summer, they should have other options
as back-ups.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
http://vyperz.blogspot.com
Friday, February 3
Daily WHUFC News - 3rd February 2017
Antonio - We're feeling the pain
WHUFC.com
Michail Antonio said he is feeling the pain after Wednesday's 4-0 defeat to
Manchester City
The winger was full of praise, however, for West Ham United's tough
opponents
Antonio admitted it was always likely to be tough against Pep Guardiola's
team
Michail Antonio admitted he is feeling the pain after Wednesday night's
Premier League defeat to Manchester City at London Stadium.
West Ham United were comfortably humbled at home by Pep Guardiola's outfit
for the second time this year when the visitors ran away with a 4-0 victory.
Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva, Gabriel Jesus and Yaya Toure all found the
back of the net during an extremely frustrating evening for the Hammers and
Antonio expressed his hurt after the final whistle. He said: "Right now,
that result is painful and it's really hurting us but we have another game
in three days and we just need to make sure we get things right against
Southampton on Saturday. "It's definitely hard to take but you just have to
give it to them; they're a quality team and they showed today that they're
lethal on the counter attack. "We made a couple of mistakes today but we
have just got to learn from it and pick ourselves up. Luckily we don't have
to play them again this season!"
Slaven Bilic's team lost out in early January against City when the Sky
Blues were 5-0 winners in the FA Cup third round and Antonio was full of
praise for the side who grabbed another win in east London on Wednesday.
"Man City are a quality team and if we make mistakes and give them
opportunities, they're lethal on the counter attack. It's just one of those
things for us today and we need to pick ourselves up. "In the Premier
League, there are tough teams every week when you play and we've had some
quality results. But we played Man City and they're a quality team and you
make mistakes in game like this, they will punish you. "We've lost today but
three days later we have another chance to pick up some points."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Makasi - We are all motivated
WHUFC.com
Midfielder Moses Makasi says everyone is motivated to achieve promotion from
Premier League 2 Division 2 this season
Makasi came close to departing the Hammers on loan on deadline day
The 21-year-old is happy to continue his consistent from for the U23s
Moses Makasi believes everyone in the U23s setup is highly motivated to
achieve promotion to Division One this season. Makasi has been a mainstay in
Terry Westley's side this year, and came close to departing the club on loan
on deadline day. The 21-year-old admits he was disappointed that a temporary
transfer did not come to fruition, but he is keen to "kick on" in Premier
League 2 and the Cup. "Obviously I was disappointed not to go out on loan
because it would have helped me develop further," admitted Makasi.
"But now I just want to kick on and help the team achieve good things this
season. We can still get promoted and everyone is motivated to do so. "I'm
very pleased with the way this season has gone. The philosophy the team
plays with has improved me as a player."
Despite Makasi not achieving a loan move of his own, he was pleased to see
PL2 teammates Toni Martinez and Marcus Browne perform brilliantly in the FA
Cup 4th round at the weekend. Martinez scored on his Oxford United debut in
the 3-0 win over Newcastle United and Browne played the last 20 minutes of
Wigan Athletic's defeat at Manchester United. "The way our loan players are
playing gives all of us hope back at West Ham. Toni and Marcus both deserved
it at the weekend," "Toni is our top scorer and Marcus has had a great
season in the U23 league and they both got nominated for Player of the Month
(in December). "Their performances show to us that anyone can do and it
gives us motivation."
The PL2 Hammers make the long journey to Lancashire on Friday evening to
face Blackburn Rovers in Premier League 2. Terry Westley's men are still
battling on two fronts – promotion from Division 2 and the Premier League
Cup – and Makasi says the PL2 side are keen to end the season on a high.
"The long journeys do play a part but Blackburn had to do it when they came
down here to play us. "It's part of football and we just need to put in a
good performance and get the three points. "If we win most of our games,
we'll definitely go up through the play-offs so everyone it motivated to
achieve that."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Oxford prepared for promotion push
WHUFC.com
Reece Oxford says he is fit and ready to help Championship team Reading make
a push for promotion this season
The defender joined the Royals on deadline day for the remainder of the
season
Oxford, who came through the Club's Academy of Football, can't wait to learn
from his new boss Jaap Stam
Reece Oxford declared he is ready to help Sky Bet Championship side Reading
with their push for promotion to the Premier League having secured a
deadline day loan move to the Madejski Stadium. The centre-back, who in
December penned a new four-and-a-half-year contract with West Ham United,
has teamed up with the Royals to gain more valuable first team experience.
Jaap Stam's outfit, who have won 12 or their last 16 league matches,
currently sit third in the second tier, just four points below the automatic
promotion spots. Teenager Oxford missed a large chunk of the first half of
the campaign through injury but, now fit and with a number of Premier League
2 appearances under his belt, is now prepared to hit the ground running in
Berkshire. "I'm fit, ready and looking forward to getting in front of a good
crowd and showing them what I've got," said the defender. "Hopefully I can
be part of an exciting season. "I heard a couple of days after I had played
a reserve game for West Ham that Reading were interested. I was thinking in
my head 'I want to get the deal done, they are one of the teams fighting for
promotion', so hopefully the loan can help both me and the club. "I just
wanted to get here as soon as possible really. You have to step out of your
comfort zone to grow up and play men's football. It's an exciting step being
at this Championship club and hopefully I can get some senior games under my
belt. I'm ready for it."
Oxford came through West Ham's famous Academy and made his first team league
debut on the opening day of the 2015/16 term, starring as the Hammers were
2-0 winners against Arsenal away from home. Hammers boss Slaven Bilic stated
on Tuesday that Reading's former Dutch international boss played a big part
in the decision to send Oxford to the Madejski, and the 18-year-old
concurred after joining the side for the rest of the season. "One of the big
reasons why I wanted to join Reading was Jaap Stam. Like Slaven Bilic said,
he was one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League and the world, so
hopefully I can come here and he can teach me a few things. "It is a bit out
of my comfort zone. I've never been on loan! But it's good. I've been
speaking to the boys and they're helping me get to know the club. Hopefully
I can get in the team and help the boys push up the table. "I've played in
midfield a few times for West Ham. They've tried to help improve with
playing football, and hopefully I can come here now, sharpen up my game and
smooth out rough edges."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Fonte - I am prepared to put the work in
WHUFC.com
Jose Fonte insists the players are determined to make amends for their
disappointing display against Manchester City and hopes there will be a big
improvement when they face his former club Southampton on Saturday. Fonte
suffered a frustrating start to his Hammers career on Wednesday night as his
side failed to produce the same level of performance they have shown in
recent games. The Portuguese defender is refusing to dwell on the defeat and
is already looking to put things right as he prepares to make a quick return
to St Mary's Stadium this weekend. Fonte played over 250 games for the
Saints, but is now focused on helping his side get straight back on the
winning trail. Fonte said: "We are prepared to work and get it right. It was
not a good day against Manchester City and we started the game badly. "When
you give a team like City a head start normally there is no way back. It is
not what I want but I am prepared to put the work in and and improve. "We
worked on a game plan during the week and when the game started we did not
apply it. We tried to over play in areas that the manager said not to. "We
should have gone with a game plan that would be to explore the play behind
and in the flanks and we need to improve. "I am experienced enough that when
the team has a bad day it is difficult for everyone not only me, but it is
not a problem for me as I am still breathing and I am prepared to put the
work in. I am looking forward to the next one as I want to win."
Fonte also wants to put things right for the fans who stayed behind the team
despite a disappointing evening at London Stadium. Fonte added: "What can we
can say? We lost when we are at home. No one likes it. The fans are
disappointed and we apologise and we want to put it right for them. "They
deserve everything and all our sacrifices. That is what we are going to do."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
LUNCHTIME ROUND UP: BIG SIGNINGS PROMISED, PAYET GRAPHIC REMOVED, FONTE
READY TO FACE SAINTS
BY DAN CHAPMAN ON 2 FEBRUARY 2017 AT 12:41PM
TheWestHamWay.co.uk
David Gold has made a pledge to sign more players in the upcoming transfer
window. (Express)
That's good of him, but I think he needs reminding that we needed to sign
players in the window just gone too!
The graphic of Dimitri Payet outside the London Stadium has been removed.
(Mirror)
Good. I'm glad the club are removing things associated with him from the
stadium.
David Sullivan has explained why he did not spend much money in the January
transfer window. (Essex Live)
It may be a bad time to buy players, but if your club need signings then you
need to spend the money.
Robert Snodgrass says he is unfazed about replacing Dimitri Payet at West
Ham. (Standard)
Snodgrass impressed me when he came on last night, and hopefully he can
become an important player for us.
Jose Fonte says he is ready for his return to Southampton this weekend.
(Mail)
I hope he is. He will need to be better than what he was last night, but
then again so will everyone else.
Slaven Bilic says West Ham must improve, following last night's heavy loss
to Man City. (Sky Sports)
I think that is a given Slav. I love Bilic as our manager, but I believe he
will be gone in the summer. I hate to say it, but I think the board are
saving funds for a new manager.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Ex-Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini ready to replace under-pressure
Slaven Bilic at West Ham
The Hammers are to review their manager's position in the summer and Italian
seen at their midweek match is believed to be keen on a return to England
The Mirror
COMMENTS
BYDARREN LEWIS
22:30, 2 FEB 2017
Roberto Mancini is waiting in the wings to take over at West Ham if Slaven
Bilic fails to turn it around. Manager Mancini was at the London Stadium to
see the Hammers lose 4-0 to his old club Manchester City on Wednesday, and
he is understood to be keen on a return to the Premier League. It was the
third time this season Pep Guardiola's men have been easy winners against
Bilic's side, winning the three games by a combined 12 goals to one. There
is an acceptance at West Ham that despite being poor on the night, they were
beaten by an impressive display from the Blues. But the onus is now on boss
Bilic to to inspire the players to respond with improved performances for
the remainder of the campaign. The Croat's bosses at the London Stadium
will review his position in the summer when he'll have just a year left on
his contract. This season's slump appears to vindicate the Hammers board's
decision not to rush into giving him a new deal during his impressive debut
campaign a year ago. Mancini, 52, who was also at Arsenal's shock defeat to
Watford the previous evening, steered City to their first league title for
44 years back in 2012 and also lifted the FA Cup 12 months previously. He is
currently a free agent after spells at Galatasaray and Inter Milan,
following his dramatic Etihad axing shortly after losing to Wigan in the
2013 FA Cup final. The former Italy international steered Inter to three
Serie A title, has lifted the Coppa Italia four times as a coach with them,
Lazio and Fiorentina and also won the Turkish Cup at Galatasaray.
West Ham's owners David Sullivan and David Gold prefer to back their
managers and point to the patience they showed towards Bilic's predecessor,
Sam Allardyce, despite his inability to bond with the fans and concerns over
his preferred style of play. And there is genuine disappointment that the
club were unable to build on last season's heroics, which saw them challenge
for the top four. Hammers fans are particularly disappointed by the poor
signings made last summer, and the club will look to overhaul the squad once
again at the end of the season with a new goalkeeper, a central midfielder
and another striker wanted. "What an awful chant!" West Ham fans react as
Marseille celebrate Payet's return The decision by Dimitri Payet to down
tools is not seen as an excuse for the team's failings. Injuries to key
players such as record-signing Andre Ayew, however, are considered to be a
factor. Although ex-Southampton defender Jose Fonte endured a nightmare
debut on Wednesday following his £8million move from St Mary's, the club are
confident he will prove an asset, along with £10.2m winger Robert Snodgrass,
who was signed from Hull last month.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Jose Fonte insists players are to blame for West Ham's slump, not boss
Slaven Bilic
Hammers boss Slaven Bilic is under increasing pressure
The Mirror
BYJOHN CROSS
12:29, 2 FEB 2017UPDATED12:30, 2 FEB 2017
Jose Fonte has insisted the players must take full responsibility for West
Ham 's latest humiliation. Hammers boss Slaven Bilic is under increasing
pressure after another mauling by Manchester City which has seen them
concede 12 goals in three games to Pep Guardiola's men this season. But West
Ham's new £8m signing says the blame must be laid firmly at the players
because they did not follow Bilic's instructions as he also issued an
apology to the fans. Ex-Southampton defender Fonte, 33, said: "We worked on
a game plan during the week and when the game started we did not apply it.
We tried to over play in areas that the manager said not to. "We should have
gone with a game plan that would be to explore the play behind and in the
flanks and we need to improve. "But I am and we are prepared to work and to
get it right. We started bad and when you give a team, like Man City a head
start normally there is no way back. "It is not what I want but I am
prepared to put the work in, prepared to work and improve so we need to
focus and improve.
"The fans are disappointed and we apologise and we want to put it right for
them. They deserve everything and all our sacrifices and that is what we are
going to do."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Mark Noble: West Ham had to sell Dimitri Payet and now it's time to move on
31 minutes
ES Sport
Mark Noble has urged West Ham to put the Dimitri Payet saga behind them.
Payet completed his £25million move to Marseille on Monday and Noble
believes West Ham had to sell the 29-year-old after he had asked to leave.
The captain says it is now time for the club to move on. "As I have always
said the year Dimi had here was a fantastic season and people are going to
have amazing memories of that," said Noble today. "He made his decision to
want to go and he got that. Let's just put it to bed and move on."
Asked whether West Ham had to let Payet leave after he effectively went on
strike, Noble said: "In my opinion, yes. As the captain of the club I would
not want somewhere here who does not want to play for the club. "Dimi is a
fantastic player, an unbelievable talent but he had his reasons why he
wanted to go home. None of us know them. Only he knows them."
Meanwhile, Jose Fonte has vowed to bounce back from his nightmare debut
against Manchester City last night. Fonte, who joined for £8million from
Southampton, struggled against Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Leroy
Sane, and gave away a penalty when he brought down Sterling in the second
half. He said: "It was obviously not the start I would have imagined. "But
there is another day tomorrow and I am prepared to put the work in to get it
right — I am experienced enough."
Fonte goes back to his former club Southampton on Saturday. The defender
added: "It was only the first game and I am looking forward to the next one
because I want to win it."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Reading FC: West Ham teenager Reece Oxford turned down a host of offers to
become a 'better player' under Royals manager Jaap Stam
29 mins ago / Courtney Friday, Reporter / @cfriday1992
REECE Oxford revealed he turned down several Championship clubs to sign for
Reading FC until the end of the season. The highly-rated teenager arrived
from West Ham on transfer deadline day after boss Slavan Bilic said he was
keen for his rising star to learn under Royals manager Jaap Stam. And
Oxford, 18, wants Stam to "smooth out the edges" and make him a better
player. "I had a few teams after me," declared Oxford, who can play as a
centre-back or defensive midfielder. "But when I heard Reading were
interested I didn't think about other teams. "I just wanted to get into a
team that is fighting for promotion. "At my last Under 23s game I heard
Reading were interested. I knew I had to push for that deal with a top three
club fighting for promotion. "It's a great move for me and hopefully I can
get some senior football now."
Oxford admitted he was too young to remember Stam as a player, but said he
has enjoyed watching clips of the ex-Manchester United and Netherlands
centre-back in a bid to improve his own game. "Stam was a massive influence
in me coming here," admitted Oxford. "He was one of the best in the Premier
League and the world in his time. With him as manager it didn't take much of
a push for me to join this club. Hopefully I can learn from him."
Oxford could make his debut at Ipswich Town this Saturday (3pm), with Tiago
Ilori and Joey van den Berg ruled out through injury, though it is though
Paul McShane could return having missed Tuesday's 1-0 win at Birmingham
City. "Passing the ball is a big part of my game," he continued. "I've
watched a few games. Liam Moore is a good player and hopefully they can all
teach me and help me improve.
"All the boys have welcomed me, I'm ready now to get involved and play."
Stam could face a selection dilemma this weekend as he tries to fit his new
signing into Saturday's starting XI as Royals go hunting for a fourth
straight league victory. Yann Kermorgant is available again after missing
the trip to St Andrew's and could play alongside his former Bournemouth
strike partner, Lewis Grabban, who joined on deadline day for the rest of
the season. Jordon Mutch, another loanee who made a short-term move from
Crystal Palace on Tuesday, is also in contention, as is Romania midfielder
Adrian Popa, signed from Steaua Bucharest for around £500,000 on a
three-and-a-half year contract on Monday. But finding a place for the new
arrivals including Oxford could be tricky given the current form of Garath
McCleary, John Swift, Roy Beerens and Liam Kelly, who are regular starters
under Stam.
Oxford, Mutch and Grabban wasted no time in settling in and took part in
their first Royals training session yesterday before a behind-closed-doors
friendly against Brentford at Hogwood Park. Meanwhile, Dominic Samuel is not
allowed to play against Reading this weekend as a condition of his loan move
to Ipswich for the rest of the season. However, Manchester City and Wales
midfielder Emyr Huws could made his debut for Mick McCarthy's Tractor Boys
after signing a loan deal late in the window. Ipswich are currently 17th in
the table, with Reading third and four points behind Newcastle United who
drew 2-2 with QPR last night.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham's Premier League record against top six shows how far they have
fallen this season
JAMES OLLEY
Evening Standard
This season was supposed to be one of growth and development under Slaven
Bilic but West Ham's record against the best Premier League teams underlines
how far they have to travel to join them. It has been a tough campaign to
date given the difficulties of relocating to London Stadium and the
destabilising effect of losing the club's star player in a protracted and
reluctant mid-season sale. Injuries have compounded the effects of an
underwhelming summer transfer window and Bilic deserves credit for restoring
a semblance of order in such a tumultuous period to the extent relegation is
no longer a serious consideration. West Ham are in the relative safety of
mid-table despite this thrashing by Manchester City but after finishing
seventh last season — just four points behind last night's opponents in
fourth — there was an ambition to join the group of clubs attempting to
shoehorn themselves into the top four.
To do so, the Hammers would have to replicate their form against the
League's finest teams. The current top six comprises Chelsea, Tottenham,
Arsenal, Liverpool, City and Manchester United. In 12 League matches
against those teams last season, the Hammers won seven, lost just once and
picked up 25 points. They have played the same opposition eight times so far
this season. Their record reads: played eight, won none, drawn two, lost
six, points: two. Perhaps West Ham over-achieved in these games last term
but Bilic insists his team should not divide their season into winnable and
unwinnable matches. "Somebody was saying that these kind of games are like
bonus games for the club of our size but I didn't see that or treat it as a
bonus game," he told Standard Sport. "This was a 'three points' game. I
know that they are a better side — their quality is unbelievable — but I
expected we were going to get something out of this game. Now we have to
make it up on Saturday against Southampton. "It looks like away we are
coping with big teams much better than at home but why? Against City we gave
the ball away in areas that we didn't last year. That's maybe the
explanation. "After 3-0, it is very hard to play against them and stay
compact because you get frustrated and they gain even more confidence and if
you give that to those kind of players… sometimes you can turn the game
around like we did last year against Arsenal [coming from 2-0 down to draw
3-3] but it is more likely to be like this."
The ground was not full at kick-off despite high-profile opposition and,
although such things are always difficult to quantify, it appeared as though
many home supporters did not return after half-time. Their team were already
3-0 down at that stage as Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and Gabriel Jesus
took it in turns to almost walk the ball into West Ham's net with some
sublime combination play aided by dreadful defending. Yaya Toure's
67th-minute penalty was the cue for thousands more to leave and as Bilic
stood on the touchline shaking two clenched fists at his players urging them
to fight, it felt as though his was a lone voice.
Co-chairman David Gold claimed on television prior to kick-off that Dimitri
Payet's departure had at least improved team morale but that will have taken
a damaging blow after another one-sided defeat. Payet was obviously
influential last season and his underwhelming form since returning from Euro
2016 was another contributing factor in West Ham's slump; wins against
Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough offered a vision of life after Payet but
here was proof that picture is not yet refined.
New signings Jose Fonte and Robert Snodgrass made their debuts last night —
the latter off the bench — and both should be capable of giving the squad a
much-needed lift in the coming weeks. "It is a very heavy defeat for us,"
said Bilic. "It is not the first this season. But after every one we bounced
back: after the Arsenal defeat, the City defeat in the FA Cup and we have to
do it now.
"The good thing about football is we have an opportunity in three days'
time. We can't say this game doesn't matter but we can't let it affect our
work rate and everything good we have done recently. We have to give them
credit but we helped them. It was kind of a copy and paste game like a few
weeks ago in the FA Cup. "It sounds crazy but we started well again and we
didn't have many problems when they had the ball. "But when we had it, for
the first and the third goals, instead of playing the ball behind them,
getting the pace using the space when they keep a high line, we tried to
play square balls. "And when you give the ball away in those areas,
sometimes you get away with that if you are playing against teams with less
quality than them."
But the best sides punish those mistakes. Bilic knows that only too well.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Michail Antonio insists West Ham are determined to bounce back after
'painful' Manchester City defeat
SAM LONG
Evening STadnard
Michail Antonio says West Ham are determined to bounce back after last
night's "painful" 4-0 defeat to Manchester City. Slaven Bilic's side were
put to the sword by City, who ran out comfortable winners thanks to goals
from Kevin de Bruyne, David Silva, debutant Gabriel Jesus and Yaya Toure.
West Ham were at fault for all three of City's first-half goals and the
Hammers have now suffered heavy defeats to Pep Guardiola's men twice in
recent weeks, having crashed out of the FA Cup following a 5-0 loss at
London Stadium earlier this month. But Antonio is keen for West Ham to put
their latest poor result behind them and focus on Saturday's trip to
Southampton. "That result is painful and it's really hurting us but we have
another game in three days and we just need to make sure we get things right
against Southampton on Saturday," he told West Ham's official website. "It's
definitely hard to take but you just have to give it to them; they're a
quality team and they showed today that they're lethal on the counter
attack. "Luckily we don't have to play them again this season!"
Bilic has echoed Antonio's sentiments and has urged his players to pick
themselves up after coming out second best against a team battling for a
top-four finish. "It's just one of those things for us today and we need to
pick ourselves up," said the Croatian. "You make mistakes in game like this,
they will punish you."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
David Gold opens up on Payet, why Scott Hogan move fell through and West Ham
summer transfer plans
The Hammers owner was speaking on BT Sport ahead of last night's defeat to
Manchester City
London.Football
BYTOM MARSHALL-BAILEY
07:55, 2 FEB 2017
West Ham owner David Gold gave a candid interview with BT Sport yesterday
ahead of his side's 4-0 home defeat to Manchester City in which he opened up
on Dimitri Payet's move to Marseille. Payet completed a £25m move to his
former side at the tail end of January after refusing to play for the
Hammers ever again in an ugly transfer saga. The Frenchman was eventually
granted his wish as West Ham accepted an offer which Gold deems to be a
cut-price one, given his exploits at Euro 2016.
Gold discussed a range of topics in the interview, including how Payet
impacted on the mood in the dressing room, the reasons behind the aborted
move for Brentford striker Scott Hogan and gave a brief insight into West
Ham's plans for the summer transfer window.
Why West Ham should have got more money for Payet
"Part of the reason the fans are angry as we had to sell him below his
value. "In the Euros you could say he was worth between £40million and £50m
– everyone was talking about him at that value – we got £25m unfairly, as
there was only one bidder as he only wanted to go to Marseille. "But in an
open market, he would have got £35m. The fans are angry as they have lost
their hero and they didn't get a fair price for him."
How Payet affected team morale before his move
"There was a period of time over a couple of months when the morale was
reducing. "We didn't want him to leave, the manager wanted to build the team
around Dimitri - but sometimes it becomes impossible. "You do everything you
can and sometimes we realise it will not work and you have to bite the
bullet - it was like a deteriorating relationship. "He has let the fans
down, the football clubs down and the fans down and I am hugely
disappointed. "The morale at the training ground having lost Dimitri, you
can see without him we have won five out of the last seven. The decision to
let him go has been a good one - if the chemistry collapses, what can you
do?"
Why the deal for Scott Hogan failed to happen
"We were looking at Hogan, but we were looking for senior international
players and seasoned professionals, not someone who is taking a risk. "It is
better to get into the summer to bring in a striker then. You can't rely
totally on Andy so we will do everything we can to bring in another striker
then."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham failed with last hour deadline day move for £8m Jonathan Cafu, plan
summer return
HITC
Dan Coombs
West Ham considered adding winger. West Ham failed in a last hour move for
winger Jonathan Cafu, according to Tuttomercatoweb.
Cafu made a name for himself this season by starring in the Champions League
for Ludogorets, who gave Arsenal a scare in the group stages and managed a
draw away to Paris Saint-Germain. The Mail reported early in January that
Lyon, Roma and Leicester City were all interested in the defender, who ended
the transfer window remaining a Ludogorets player. Tuttomercatoweb's report
claims West Ham failed with an £8 million approach - but adds crucially that
the Hammers plan to return in the summer to sign the winger. Cafu, 25, could
have had a move complicated by a work permit, making any late deal more
difficult for West Ham to conclude. This season he has scored 11 goals
already for Ludogorets, where he has been since joining from Sao Paolo in
2015. West Ham sold winger Dimitri Payet in January and signed Robert
Snodgrass from Hull City.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
http://vyperz.blogspot.com
WHUFC.com
Michail Antonio said he is feeling the pain after Wednesday's 4-0 defeat to
Manchester City
The winger was full of praise, however, for West Ham United's tough
opponents
Antonio admitted it was always likely to be tough against Pep Guardiola's
team
Michail Antonio admitted he is feeling the pain after Wednesday night's
Premier League defeat to Manchester City at London Stadium.
West Ham United were comfortably humbled at home by Pep Guardiola's outfit
for the second time this year when the visitors ran away with a 4-0 victory.
Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva, Gabriel Jesus and Yaya Toure all found the
back of the net during an extremely frustrating evening for the Hammers and
Antonio expressed his hurt after the final whistle. He said: "Right now,
that result is painful and it's really hurting us but we have another game
in three days and we just need to make sure we get things right against
Southampton on Saturday. "It's definitely hard to take but you just have to
give it to them; they're a quality team and they showed today that they're
lethal on the counter attack. "We made a couple of mistakes today but we
have just got to learn from it and pick ourselves up. Luckily we don't have
to play them again this season!"
Slaven Bilic's team lost out in early January against City when the Sky
Blues were 5-0 winners in the FA Cup third round and Antonio was full of
praise for the side who grabbed another win in east London on Wednesday.
"Man City are a quality team and if we make mistakes and give them
opportunities, they're lethal on the counter attack. It's just one of those
things for us today and we need to pick ourselves up. "In the Premier
League, there are tough teams every week when you play and we've had some
quality results. But we played Man City and they're a quality team and you
make mistakes in game like this, they will punish you. "We've lost today but
three days later we have another chance to pick up some points."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Makasi - We are all motivated
WHUFC.com
Midfielder Moses Makasi says everyone is motivated to achieve promotion from
Premier League 2 Division 2 this season
Makasi came close to departing the Hammers on loan on deadline day
The 21-year-old is happy to continue his consistent from for the U23s
Moses Makasi believes everyone in the U23s setup is highly motivated to
achieve promotion to Division One this season. Makasi has been a mainstay in
Terry Westley's side this year, and came close to departing the club on loan
on deadline day. The 21-year-old admits he was disappointed that a temporary
transfer did not come to fruition, but he is keen to "kick on" in Premier
League 2 and the Cup. "Obviously I was disappointed not to go out on loan
because it would have helped me develop further," admitted Makasi.
"But now I just want to kick on and help the team achieve good things this
season. We can still get promoted and everyone is motivated to do so. "I'm
very pleased with the way this season has gone. The philosophy the team
plays with has improved me as a player."
Despite Makasi not achieving a loan move of his own, he was pleased to see
PL2 teammates Toni Martinez and Marcus Browne perform brilliantly in the FA
Cup 4th round at the weekend. Martinez scored on his Oxford United debut in
the 3-0 win over Newcastle United and Browne played the last 20 minutes of
Wigan Athletic's defeat at Manchester United. "The way our loan players are
playing gives all of us hope back at West Ham. Toni and Marcus both deserved
it at the weekend," "Toni is our top scorer and Marcus has had a great
season in the U23 league and they both got nominated for Player of the Month
(in December). "Their performances show to us that anyone can do and it
gives us motivation."
The PL2 Hammers make the long journey to Lancashire on Friday evening to
face Blackburn Rovers in Premier League 2. Terry Westley's men are still
battling on two fronts – promotion from Division 2 and the Premier League
Cup – and Makasi says the PL2 side are keen to end the season on a high.
"The long journeys do play a part but Blackburn had to do it when they came
down here to play us. "It's part of football and we just need to put in a
good performance and get the three points. "If we win most of our games,
we'll definitely go up through the play-offs so everyone it motivated to
achieve that."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Oxford prepared for promotion push
WHUFC.com
Reece Oxford says he is fit and ready to help Championship team Reading make
a push for promotion this season
The defender joined the Royals on deadline day for the remainder of the
season
Oxford, who came through the Club's Academy of Football, can't wait to learn
from his new boss Jaap Stam
Reece Oxford declared he is ready to help Sky Bet Championship side Reading
with their push for promotion to the Premier League having secured a
deadline day loan move to the Madejski Stadium. The centre-back, who in
December penned a new four-and-a-half-year contract with West Ham United,
has teamed up with the Royals to gain more valuable first team experience.
Jaap Stam's outfit, who have won 12 or their last 16 league matches,
currently sit third in the second tier, just four points below the automatic
promotion spots. Teenager Oxford missed a large chunk of the first half of
the campaign through injury but, now fit and with a number of Premier League
2 appearances under his belt, is now prepared to hit the ground running in
Berkshire. "I'm fit, ready and looking forward to getting in front of a good
crowd and showing them what I've got," said the defender. "Hopefully I can
be part of an exciting season. "I heard a couple of days after I had played
a reserve game for West Ham that Reading were interested. I was thinking in
my head 'I want to get the deal done, they are one of the teams fighting for
promotion', so hopefully the loan can help both me and the club. "I just
wanted to get here as soon as possible really. You have to step out of your
comfort zone to grow up and play men's football. It's an exciting step being
at this Championship club and hopefully I can get some senior games under my
belt. I'm ready for it."
Oxford came through West Ham's famous Academy and made his first team league
debut on the opening day of the 2015/16 term, starring as the Hammers were
2-0 winners against Arsenal away from home. Hammers boss Slaven Bilic stated
on Tuesday that Reading's former Dutch international boss played a big part
in the decision to send Oxford to the Madejski, and the 18-year-old
concurred after joining the side for the rest of the season. "One of the big
reasons why I wanted to join Reading was Jaap Stam. Like Slaven Bilic said,
he was one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League and the world, so
hopefully I can come here and he can teach me a few things. "It is a bit out
of my comfort zone. I've never been on loan! But it's good. I've been
speaking to the boys and they're helping me get to know the club. Hopefully
I can get in the team and help the boys push up the table. "I've played in
midfield a few times for West Ham. They've tried to help improve with
playing football, and hopefully I can come here now, sharpen up my game and
smooth out rough edges."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Fonte - I am prepared to put the work in
WHUFC.com
Jose Fonte insists the players are determined to make amends for their
disappointing display against Manchester City and hopes there will be a big
improvement when they face his former club Southampton on Saturday. Fonte
suffered a frustrating start to his Hammers career on Wednesday night as his
side failed to produce the same level of performance they have shown in
recent games. The Portuguese defender is refusing to dwell on the defeat and
is already looking to put things right as he prepares to make a quick return
to St Mary's Stadium this weekend. Fonte played over 250 games for the
Saints, but is now focused on helping his side get straight back on the
winning trail. Fonte said: "We are prepared to work and get it right. It was
not a good day against Manchester City and we started the game badly. "When
you give a team like City a head start normally there is no way back. It is
not what I want but I am prepared to put the work in and and improve. "We
worked on a game plan during the week and when the game started we did not
apply it. We tried to over play in areas that the manager said not to. "We
should have gone with a game plan that would be to explore the play behind
and in the flanks and we need to improve. "I am experienced enough that when
the team has a bad day it is difficult for everyone not only me, but it is
not a problem for me as I am still breathing and I am prepared to put the
work in. I am looking forward to the next one as I want to win."
Fonte also wants to put things right for the fans who stayed behind the team
despite a disappointing evening at London Stadium. Fonte added: "What can we
can say? We lost when we are at home. No one likes it. The fans are
disappointed and we apologise and we want to put it right for them. "They
deserve everything and all our sacrifices. That is what we are going to do."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
LUNCHTIME ROUND UP: BIG SIGNINGS PROMISED, PAYET GRAPHIC REMOVED, FONTE
READY TO FACE SAINTS
BY DAN CHAPMAN ON 2 FEBRUARY 2017 AT 12:41PM
TheWestHamWay.co.uk
David Gold has made a pledge to sign more players in the upcoming transfer
window. (Express)
That's good of him, but I think he needs reminding that we needed to sign
players in the window just gone too!
The graphic of Dimitri Payet outside the London Stadium has been removed.
(Mirror)
Good. I'm glad the club are removing things associated with him from the
stadium.
David Sullivan has explained why he did not spend much money in the January
transfer window. (Essex Live)
It may be a bad time to buy players, but if your club need signings then you
need to spend the money.
Robert Snodgrass says he is unfazed about replacing Dimitri Payet at West
Ham. (Standard)
Snodgrass impressed me when he came on last night, and hopefully he can
become an important player for us.
Jose Fonte says he is ready for his return to Southampton this weekend.
(Mail)
I hope he is. He will need to be better than what he was last night, but
then again so will everyone else.
Slaven Bilic says West Ham must improve, following last night's heavy loss
to Man City. (Sky Sports)
I think that is a given Slav. I love Bilic as our manager, but I believe he
will be gone in the summer. I hate to say it, but I think the board are
saving funds for a new manager.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Ex-Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini ready to replace under-pressure
Slaven Bilic at West Ham
The Hammers are to review their manager's position in the summer and Italian
seen at their midweek match is believed to be keen on a return to England
The Mirror
COMMENTS
BYDARREN LEWIS
22:30, 2 FEB 2017
Roberto Mancini is waiting in the wings to take over at West Ham if Slaven
Bilic fails to turn it around. Manager Mancini was at the London Stadium to
see the Hammers lose 4-0 to his old club Manchester City on Wednesday, and
he is understood to be keen on a return to the Premier League. It was the
third time this season Pep Guardiola's men have been easy winners against
Bilic's side, winning the three games by a combined 12 goals to one. There
is an acceptance at West Ham that despite being poor on the night, they were
beaten by an impressive display from the Blues. But the onus is now on boss
Bilic to to inspire the players to respond with improved performances for
the remainder of the campaign. The Croat's bosses at the London Stadium
will review his position in the summer when he'll have just a year left on
his contract. This season's slump appears to vindicate the Hammers board's
decision not to rush into giving him a new deal during his impressive debut
campaign a year ago. Mancini, 52, who was also at Arsenal's shock defeat to
Watford the previous evening, steered City to their first league title for
44 years back in 2012 and also lifted the FA Cup 12 months previously. He is
currently a free agent after spells at Galatasaray and Inter Milan,
following his dramatic Etihad axing shortly after losing to Wigan in the
2013 FA Cup final. The former Italy international steered Inter to three
Serie A title, has lifted the Coppa Italia four times as a coach with them,
Lazio and Fiorentina and also won the Turkish Cup at Galatasaray.
West Ham's owners David Sullivan and David Gold prefer to back their
managers and point to the patience they showed towards Bilic's predecessor,
Sam Allardyce, despite his inability to bond with the fans and concerns over
his preferred style of play. And there is genuine disappointment that the
club were unable to build on last season's heroics, which saw them challenge
for the top four. Hammers fans are particularly disappointed by the poor
signings made last summer, and the club will look to overhaul the squad once
again at the end of the season with a new goalkeeper, a central midfielder
and another striker wanted. "What an awful chant!" West Ham fans react as
Marseille celebrate Payet's return The decision by Dimitri Payet to down
tools is not seen as an excuse for the team's failings. Injuries to key
players such as record-signing Andre Ayew, however, are considered to be a
factor. Although ex-Southampton defender Jose Fonte endured a nightmare
debut on Wednesday following his £8million move from St Mary's, the club are
confident he will prove an asset, along with £10.2m winger Robert Snodgrass,
who was signed from Hull last month.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Jose Fonte insists players are to blame for West Ham's slump, not boss
Slaven Bilic
Hammers boss Slaven Bilic is under increasing pressure
The Mirror
BYJOHN CROSS
12:29, 2 FEB 2017UPDATED12:30, 2 FEB 2017
Jose Fonte has insisted the players must take full responsibility for West
Ham 's latest humiliation. Hammers boss Slaven Bilic is under increasing
pressure after another mauling by Manchester City which has seen them
concede 12 goals in three games to Pep Guardiola's men this season. But West
Ham's new £8m signing says the blame must be laid firmly at the players
because they did not follow Bilic's instructions as he also issued an
apology to the fans. Ex-Southampton defender Fonte, 33, said: "We worked on
a game plan during the week and when the game started we did not apply it.
We tried to over play in areas that the manager said not to. "We should have
gone with a game plan that would be to explore the play behind and in the
flanks and we need to improve. "But I am and we are prepared to work and to
get it right. We started bad and when you give a team, like Man City a head
start normally there is no way back. "It is not what I want but I am
prepared to put the work in, prepared to work and improve so we need to
focus and improve.
"The fans are disappointed and we apologise and we want to put it right for
them. They deserve everything and all our sacrifices and that is what we are
going to do."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Mark Noble: West Ham had to sell Dimitri Payet and now it's time to move on
31 minutes
ES Sport
Mark Noble has urged West Ham to put the Dimitri Payet saga behind them.
Payet completed his £25million move to Marseille on Monday and Noble
believes West Ham had to sell the 29-year-old after he had asked to leave.
The captain says it is now time for the club to move on. "As I have always
said the year Dimi had here was a fantastic season and people are going to
have amazing memories of that," said Noble today. "He made his decision to
want to go and he got that. Let's just put it to bed and move on."
Asked whether West Ham had to let Payet leave after he effectively went on
strike, Noble said: "In my opinion, yes. As the captain of the club I would
not want somewhere here who does not want to play for the club. "Dimi is a
fantastic player, an unbelievable talent but he had his reasons why he
wanted to go home. None of us know them. Only he knows them."
Meanwhile, Jose Fonte has vowed to bounce back from his nightmare debut
against Manchester City last night. Fonte, who joined for £8million from
Southampton, struggled against Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Leroy
Sane, and gave away a penalty when he brought down Sterling in the second
half. He said: "It was obviously not the start I would have imagined. "But
there is another day tomorrow and I am prepared to put the work in to get it
right — I am experienced enough."
Fonte goes back to his former club Southampton on Saturday. The defender
added: "It was only the first game and I am looking forward to the next one
because I want to win it."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Reading FC: West Ham teenager Reece Oxford turned down a host of offers to
become a 'better player' under Royals manager Jaap Stam
29 mins ago / Courtney Friday, Reporter / @cfriday1992
REECE Oxford revealed he turned down several Championship clubs to sign for
Reading FC until the end of the season. The highly-rated teenager arrived
from West Ham on transfer deadline day after boss Slavan Bilic said he was
keen for his rising star to learn under Royals manager Jaap Stam. And
Oxford, 18, wants Stam to "smooth out the edges" and make him a better
player. "I had a few teams after me," declared Oxford, who can play as a
centre-back or defensive midfielder. "But when I heard Reading were
interested I didn't think about other teams. "I just wanted to get into a
team that is fighting for promotion. "At my last Under 23s game I heard
Reading were interested. I knew I had to push for that deal with a top three
club fighting for promotion. "It's a great move for me and hopefully I can
get some senior football now."
Oxford admitted he was too young to remember Stam as a player, but said he
has enjoyed watching clips of the ex-Manchester United and Netherlands
centre-back in a bid to improve his own game. "Stam was a massive influence
in me coming here," admitted Oxford. "He was one of the best in the Premier
League and the world in his time. With him as manager it didn't take much of
a push for me to join this club. Hopefully I can learn from him."
Oxford could make his debut at Ipswich Town this Saturday (3pm), with Tiago
Ilori and Joey van den Berg ruled out through injury, though it is though
Paul McShane could return having missed Tuesday's 1-0 win at Birmingham
City. "Passing the ball is a big part of my game," he continued. "I've
watched a few games. Liam Moore is a good player and hopefully they can all
teach me and help me improve.
"All the boys have welcomed me, I'm ready now to get involved and play."
Stam could face a selection dilemma this weekend as he tries to fit his new
signing into Saturday's starting XI as Royals go hunting for a fourth
straight league victory. Yann Kermorgant is available again after missing
the trip to St Andrew's and could play alongside his former Bournemouth
strike partner, Lewis Grabban, who joined on deadline day for the rest of
the season. Jordon Mutch, another loanee who made a short-term move from
Crystal Palace on Tuesday, is also in contention, as is Romania midfielder
Adrian Popa, signed from Steaua Bucharest for around £500,000 on a
three-and-a-half year contract on Monday. But finding a place for the new
arrivals including Oxford could be tricky given the current form of Garath
McCleary, John Swift, Roy Beerens and Liam Kelly, who are regular starters
under Stam.
Oxford, Mutch and Grabban wasted no time in settling in and took part in
their first Royals training session yesterday before a behind-closed-doors
friendly against Brentford at Hogwood Park. Meanwhile, Dominic Samuel is not
allowed to play against Reading this weekend as a condition of his loan move
to Ipswich for the rest of the season. However, Manchester City and Wales
midfielder Emyr Huws could made his debut for Mick McCarthy's Tractor Boys
after signing a loan deal late in the window. Ipswich are currently 17th in
the table, with Reading third and four points behind Newcastle United who
drew 2-2 with QPR last night.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham's Premier League record against top six shows how far they have
fallen this season
JAMES OLLEY
Evening Standard
This season was supposed to be one of growth and development under Slaven
Bilic but West Ham's record against the best Premier League teams underlines
how far they have to travel to join them. It has been a tough campaign to
date given the difficulties of relocating to London Stadium and the
destabilising effect of losing the club's star player in a protracted and
reluctant mid-season sale. Injuries have compounded the effects of an
underwhelming summer transfer window and Bilic deserves credit for restoring
a semblance of order in such a tumultuous period to the extent relegation is
no longer a serious consideration. West Ham are in the relative safety of
mid-table despite this thrashing by Manchester City but after finishing
seventh last season — just four points behind last night's opponents in
fourth — there was an ambition to join the group of clubs attempting to
shoehorn themselves into the top four.
To do so, the Hammers would have to replicate their form against the
League's finest teams. The current top six comprises Chelsea, Tottenham,
Arsenal, Liverpool, City and Manchester United. In 12 League matches
against those teams last season, the Hammers won seven, lost just once and
picked up 25 points. They have played the same opposition eight times so far
this season. Their record reads: played eight, won none, drawn two, lost
six, points: two. Perhaps West Ham over-achieved in these games last term
but Bilic insists his team should not divide their season into winnable and
unwinnable matches. "Somebody was saying that these kind of games are like
bonus games for the club of our size but I didn't see that or treat it as a
bonus game," he told Standard Sport. "This was a 'three points' game. I
know that they are a better side — their quality is unbelievable — but I
expected we were going to get something out of this game. Now we have to
make it up on Saturday against Southampton. "It looks like away we are
coping with big teams much better than at home but why? Against City we gave
the ball away in areas that we didn't last year. That's maybe the
explanation. "After 3-0, it is very hard to play against them and stay
compact because you get frustrated and they gain even more confidence and if
you give that to those kind of players… sometimes you can turn the game
around like we did last year against Arsenal [coming from 2-0 down to draw
3-3] but it is more likely to be like this."
The ground was not full at kick-off despite high-profile opposition and,
although such things are always difficult to quantify, it appeared as though
many home supporters did not return after half-time. Their team were already
3-0 down at that stage as Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and Gabriel Jesus
took it in turns to almost walk the ball into West Ham's net with some
sublime combination play aided by dreadful defending. Yaya Toure's
67th-minute penalty was the cue for thousands more to leave and as Bilic
stood on the touchline shaking two clenched fists at his players urging them
to fight, it felt as though his was a lone voice.
Co-chairman David Gold claimed on television prior to kick-off that Dimitri
Payet's departure had at least improved team morale but that will have taken
a damaging blow after another one-sided defeat. Payet was obviously
influential last season and his underwhelming form since returning from Euro
2016 was another contributing factor in West Ham's slump; wins against
Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough offered a vision of life after Payet but
here was proof that picture is not yet refined.
New signings Jose Fonte and Robert Snodgrass made their debuts last night —
the latter off the bench — and both should be capable of giving the squad a
much-needed lift in the coming weeks. "It is a very heavy defeat for us,"
said Bilic. "It is not the first this season. But after every one we bounced
back: after the Arsenal defeat, the City defeat in the FA Cup and we have to
do it now.
"The good thing about football is we have an opportunity in three days'
time. We can't say this game doesn't matter but we can't let it affect our
work rate and everything good we have done recently. We have to give them
credit but we helped them. It was kind of a copy and paste game like a few
weeks ago in the FA Cup. "It sounds crazy but we started well again and we
didn't have many problems when they had the ball. "But when we had it, for
the first and the third goals, instead of playing the ball behind them,
getting the pace using the space when they keep a high line, we tried to
play square balls. "And when you give the ball away in those areas,
sometimes you get away with that if you are playing against teams with less
quality than them."
But the best sides punish those mistakes. Bilic knows that only too well.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Michail Antonio insists West Ham are determined to bounce back after
'painful' Manchester City defeat
SAM LONG
Evening STadnard
Michail Antonio says West Ham are determined to bounce back after last
night's "painful" 4-0 defeat to Manchester City. Slaven Bilic's side were
put to the sword by City, who ran out comfortable winners thanks to goals
from Kevin de Bruyne, David Silva, debutant Gabriel Jesus and Yaya Toure.
West Ham were at fault for all three of City's first-half goals and the
Hammers have now suffered heavy defeats to Pep Guardiola's men twice in
recent weeks, having crashed out of the FA Cup following a 5-0 loss at
London Stadium earlier this month. But Antonio is keen for West Ham to put
their latest poor result behind them and focus on Saturday's trip to
Southampton. "That result is painful and it's really hurting us but we have
another game in three days and we just need to make sure we get things right
against Southampton on Saturday," he told West Ham's official website. "It's
definitely hard to take but you just have to give it to them; they're a
quality team and they showed today that they're lethal on the counter
attack. "Luckily we don't have to play them again this season!"
Bilic has echoed Antonio's sentiments and has urged his players to pick
themselves up after coming out second best against a team battling for a
top-four finish. "It's just one of those things for us today and we need to
pick ourselves up," said the Croatian. "You make mistakes in game like this,
they will punish you."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
David Gold opens up on Payet, why Scott Hogan move fell through and West Ham
summer transfer plans
The Hammers owner was speaking on BT Sport ahead of last night's defeat to
Manchester City
London.Football
BYTOM MARSHALL-BAILEY
07:55, 2 FEB 2017
West Ham owner David Gold gave a candid interview with BT Sport yesterday
ahead of his side's 4-0 home defeat to Manchester City in which he opened up
on Dimitri Payet's move to Marseille. Payet completed a £25m move to his
former side at the tail end of January after refusing to play for the
Hammers ever again in an ugly transfer saga. The Frenchman was eventually
granted his wish as West Ham accepted an offer which Gold deems to be a
cut-price one, given his exploits at Euro 2016.
Gold discussed a range of topics in the interview, including how Payet
impacted on the mood in the dressing room, the reasons behind the aborted
move for Brentford striker Scott Hogan and gave a brief insight into West
Ham's plans for the summer transfer window.
Why West Ham should have got more money for Payet
"Part of the reason the fans are angry as we had to sell him below his
value. "In the Euros you could say he was worth between £40million and £50m
– everyone was talking about him at that value – we got £25m unfairly, as
there was only one bidder as he only wanted to go to Marseille. "But in an
open market, he would have got £35m. The fans are angry as they have lost
their hero and they didn't get a fair price for him."
How Payet affected team morale before his move
"There was a period of time over a couple of months when the morale was
reducing. "We didn't want him to leave, the manager wanted to build the team
around Dimitri - but sometimes it becomes impossible. "You do everything you
can and sometimes we realise it will not work and you have to bite the
bullet - it was like a deteriorating relationship. "He has let the fans
down, the football clubs down and the fans down and I am hugely
disappointed. "The morale at the training ground having lost Dimitri, you
can see without him we have won five out of the last seven. The decision to
let him go has been a good one - if the chemistry collapses, what can you
do?"
Why the deal for Scott Hogan failed to happen
"We were looking at Hogan, but we were looking for senior international
players and seasoned professionals, not someone who is taking a risk. "It is
better to get into the summer to bring in a striker then. You can't rely
totally on Andy so we will do everything we can to bring in another striker
then."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham failed with last hour deadline day move for £8m Jonathan Cafu, plan
summer return
HITC
Dan Coombs
West Ham considered adding winger. West Ham failed in a last hour move for
winger Jonathan Cafu, according to Tuttomercatoweb.
Cafu made a name for himself this season by starring in the Champions League
for Ludogorets, who gave Arsenal a scare in the group stages and managed a
draw away to Paris Saint-Germain. The Mail reported early in January that
Lyon, Roma and Leicester City were all interested in the defender, who ended
the transfer window remaining a Ludogorets player. Tuttomercatoweb's report
claims West Ham failed with an £8 million approach - but adds crucially that
the Hammers plan to return in the summer to sign the winger. Cafu, 25, could
have had a move complicated by a work permit, making any late deal more
difficult for West Ham to conclude. This season he has scored 11 goals
already for Ludogorets, where he has been since joining from Sao Paolo in
2015. West Ham sold winger Dimitri Payet in January and signed Robert
Snodgrass from Hull City.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
http://vyperz.blogspot.com
Thursday, February 2
Daily WHUFC News - 2nd February 2017
Slaven unhappy with 'mistakes'
WHUFC.com
Slaven Bilic laments 'mistakes' after West Ham United went down 4-0 to
Manchester City
Two of visitors' three first-half goals came directly from misplaced passes
Hammers' defeat ended a run of two consecutive Premier League victories
Slaven Bilic was making no excuses after watching his West Ham United help
bring about their own downfall against Manchester City.
Four weeks on from a 5-0 Emirates FA Cup drubbing by the same opposition at
London Stadium, the Hammers were humbled again on home turf, going down to a
4-0 Premier League defeat. Two of City's three first-half goals came from
misplaced passes and manager Bilic admitted his team all but gifted Pep
Guardiola's side victory. "We started well and then they were very dangerous
especially when we had the ball," he began, before going onto lament the
goals scored by Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva midway through the first
period, before teenager Gabriel Jesus added a third before the break. "We
gave the ball away for their first and third goals and we made mistakes.
It's hard to go so quickly 2-0 down and then we make another mistake and
then after that we weren't aggressive enough and we didn't close them down.
"We can say that it's playing Man City and not every team is like Man City
and that's true but we have to get over this game and we have to prepare for
the game against Southampton. "They beat us 5-0 in the cup and then 4-0
tonight and make no mistake, we have to give them credit but it was also
about us. We gave those kind of players too much space and time on the ball
and space between the lines. When you give them space like that they just
slaughter you. "It was very frustrating and it's like what happened in the
cup. We again started well but when you make mistakes like we did for some
of their goals and if you give the ball away in those areas then they punish
you. After that, it's very difficult to play against them."
The home side did improve after the interval, with debutant Robert Snodgrass
showing why he was brought in from Hull City in January, and Michail Antonio
having a sweetly-struck 'goal' disallowed for offside. However, when
another debutant, Jose Fonte, was penalised for a trip on Raheem Sterling 23
minutes from time, Yaya Toure rubbed salt in the Hammers' wounds by firing a
penalty past Darren Randolph. Bilic knows his players need to perform better
if they are to return to winning ways at Southampton on Saturday, and has
demanded an improvement at St Mary's. "When you are 3-0 down you are hoping
to turn it around if you score a goal but to be fair it's more you don't
want to concede more as you know the quality they have," he admitted. "It's
a heavy defeat for us and it's hurting us a lot but we can't let it affect
us a lot and we need to bounce back like we did after the defeat in the FA
Cup. We need to show how we can bounce back against Southampton."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Frustrating night for Hammers
WHUFC.com
West Ham United failed to build on their recent good run of form as
Manchester City recorded a comfortable 4-0 victory at London Stadium.
Slaven Bilic's side came into the game full of confidence following
consecutive victories over Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough which saw them
move into the top half of the table.
But the Hammers failed to reach the same standards and could do nothing to
stop Pep Guardiola's side recording another victory in east London,
following their FA Cup victory at the start of January.
Goals from Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva. Gabriel Jesus and a second half
penalty from Yaya Toure helped City record an emphatic victory.
Bilic made one change from the team that recorded a 3-1 win over
Middlesbrough in the last game as he handed a Premier League debut to new
signing Jose Fonte following his £8million from Southampton.
But the Portuguese defender suffered a frustrating evening in his first
start for the club and could do nothing to stop a rampant Manchester City
side.
The away side opened the scoring on 17 minutes after Aaron Cresswell lost
possession on the halfway line.
De Bruyne burst clear into the West Ham and played a neat interchange with
Jesus before slotting the ball past Darren Randolph into the corner of the
net.
City doubled their lead on 20 minutes when Leroy Sane nutmegged Sam Byram
and raced towards the byeline before cutting the ball back for Silva who had
the easy task of knocking the ball home from close-range.
The Hammers blew a golden chance to get back into the game on 32 minutes
when Andy Carroll played the perfect ball into the path of Aaron Cresswell
who was through on goal.
The Hammers full-back took a great first touch but with just Willy Caballero
to beat in the City goal he fired his shot high over the bar.
City made the home side pay as they made it three on 39 minutes as new
signing Jesus grabbed his first goal following his move at the start of
January.
Sane was involved in the build-up once again as he picked out Raheem
Sterling and the City winger squared the ball for new signing Jesus who made
no mistake tapping the ball home.
City completed the rout on 65 minutes after Fonte brought down Sterling
inside the area.
Toure slotted the spot kick past Randolph into the corner of the net.
Bilic will be hoping his players can bounce straight back when they travel
to play Southampton at St Mary's Stadium on Saturday.
West Ham: Randolph; Byram, Fonte, Reid, Cresswell; Obiang (Snodgrass 64),
Noble; Feghouli (Fernandes 64), Lanzini, Antonio; Carroll (Fletcher 79)
Subs not used: Adrian, Collins, Calleri, Quina.
Bookings: Obiang, Lanzini, Carroll
Manchester City: Cabellero; Sagna, Stones, Otamendi, Kolarov; Toure; Silva
(Delph 80), Sane, De Bruyne (Fernandinho 67), Sterling (Aguero 73); Jesus
Subs not used: Bravo, Zabaleta, Kompany, Navas
Bookings: De Bruyne, Sterling, Jesus
Referee: Kevin Friend
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Slaven Bilic demands West Ham response after heavy Manchester City defeat
By Patrick Surlis
Last Updated: 02/02/17 12:10am
SSN
Slaven Bilic has demanded a response from his West Ham players after they
slumped to a second heavy defeat to Man City inside a month.
The Hammers, who lost 5-0 at home to Pep Guardiola's side in the FA Cup
third round in January, were soundly beaten 4-0 by the same opponents in the
Premier League on Wednesday. West Ham have suffered several one-sided
defeats at the London Stadium this season, also losing 5-1 to Arsenal, but
have the chance to get back to winning ways at Southampton on Saturday.
"It's a heavy defeat for us but after every one of them we bounce back,"
Bilic said. "After the Arsenal defeat, we bounced back, after the City
defeat in the cup we bounced back. We have to do it now. "The good thing
about football is that there is an opportunity in three days' time. "We
cannot say it doesn't matter and let's forget about it. But on the other
hand, we cannot let this affect our game and everything good that we have
done recently. "In a way we are coping better away than at home. Why? In
tonight's game we just gave the ball away and did things we didn't do last
year. "We are down. People say to treat these games like a bonus game but,
no, this was a three points' game. I expected that we would get something
out of this game. Now we need to make it up on Saturday."
Mistakes by Aaron Cresswell and Pedro Obiang contributed to two of City's
three first-half goals, and Bilic admitted his side gifted opportunities to
their opponents. "It's hard to find positive things from these games," the
West Ham boss added. "First and foremost, we have to give them credit but we
helped them. "It was kind of a copy and paste game from two weeks ago in the
FA Cup. "It sounds crazy but we started well. We didn't have too many
problems when we were behind the ball or when they had the ball. When we had
the ball they scored the first goal and the third goal. "When you give the
ball to players like David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne and they have players
with pace like (Gabriel) Jesus and (Leroy) Sane, then they punish you. And
that's exactly what happened. "After 3-0 you are hoping to turn the game
around but it is mission impossible to get back."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
http://vyperz.blogspot.com
WHUFC.com
Slaven Bilic laments 'mistakes' after West Ham United went down 4-0 to
Manchester City
Two of visitors' three first-half goals came directly from misplaced passes
Hammers' defeat ended a run of two consecutive Premier League victories
Slaven Bilic was making no excuses after watching his West Ham United help
bring about their own downfall against Manchester City.
Four weeks on from a 5-0 Emirates FA Cup drubbing by the same opposition at
London Stadium, the Hammers were humbled again on home turf, going down to a
4-0 Premier League defeat. Two of City's three first-half goals came from
misplaced passes and manager Bilic admitted his team all but gifted Pep
Guardiola's side victory. "We started well and then they were very dangerous
especially when we had the ball," he began, before going onto lament the
goals scored by Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva midway through the first
period, before teenager Gabriel Jesus added a third before the break. "We
gave the ball away for their first and third goals and we made mistakes.
It's hard to go so quickly 2-0 down and then we make another mistake and
then after that we weren't aggressive enough and we didn't close them down.
"We can say that it's playing Man City and not every team is like Man City
and that's true but we have to get over this game and we have to prepare for
the game against Southampton. "They beat us 5-0 in the cup and then 4-0
tonight and make no mistake, we have to give them credit but it was also
about us. We gave those kind of players too much space and time on the ball
and space between the lines. When you give them space like that they just
slaughter you. "It was very frustrating and it's like what happened in the
cup. We again started well but when you make mistakes like we did for some
of their goals and if you give the ball away in those areas then they punish
you. After that, it's very difficult to play against them."
The home side did improve after the interval, with debutant Robert Snodgrass
showing why he was brought in from Hull City in January, and Michail Antonio
having a sweetly-struck 'goal' disallowed for offside. However, when
another debutant, Jose Fonte, was penalised for a trip on Raheem Sterling 23
minutes from time, Yaya Toure rubbed salt in the Hammers' wounds by firing a
penalty past Darren Randolph. Bilic knows his players need to perform better
if they are to return to winning ways at Southampton on Saturday, and has
demanded an improvement at St Mary's. "When you are 3-0 down you are hoping
to turn it around if you score a goal but to be fair it's more you don't
want to concede more as you know the quality they have," he admitted. "It's
a heavy defeat for us and it's hurting us a lot but we can't let it affect
us a lot and we need to bounce back like we did after the defeat in the FA
Cup. We need to show how we can bounce back against Southampton."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Frustrating night for Hammers
WHUFC.com
West Ham United failed to build on their recent good run of form as
Manchester City recorded a comfortable 4-0 victory at London Stadium.
Slaven Bilic's side came into the game full of confidence following
consecutive victories over Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough which saw them
move into the top half of the table.
But the Hammers failed to reach the same standards and could do nothing to
stop Pep Guardiola's side recording another victory in east London,
following their FA Cup victory at the start of January.
Goals from Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva. Gabriel Jesus and a second half
penalty from Yaya Toure helped City record an emphatic victory.
Bilic made one change from the team that recorded a 3-1 win over
Middlesbrough in the last game as he handed a Premier League debut to new
signing Jose Fonte following his £8million from Southampton.
But the Portuguese defender suffered a frustrating evening in his first
start for the club and could do nothing to stop a rampant Manchester City
side.
The away side opened the scoring on 17 minutes after Aaron Cresswell lost
possession on the halfway line.
De Bruyne burst clear into the West Ham and played a neat interchange with
Jesus before slotting the ball past Darren Randolph into the corner of the
net.
City doubled their lead on 20 minutes when Leroy Sane nutmegged Sam Byram
and raced towards the byeline before cutting the ball back for Silva who had
the easy task of knocking the ball home from close-range.
The Hammers blew a golden chance to get back into the game on 32 minutes
when Andy Carroll played the perfect ball into the path of Aaron Cresswell
who was through on goal.
The Hammers full-back took a great first touch but with just Willy Caballero
to beat in the City goal he fired his shot high over the bar.
City made the home side pay as they made it three on 39 minutes as new
signing Jesus grabbed his first goal following his move at the start of
January.
Sane was involved in the build-up once again as he picked out Raheem
Sterling and the City winger squared the ball for new signing Jesus who made
no mistake tapping the ball home.
City completed the rout on 65 minutes after Fonte brought down Sterling
inside the area.
Toure slotted the spot kick past Randolph into the corner of the net.
Bilic will be hoping his players can bounce straight back when they travel
to play Southampton at St Mary's Stadium on Saturday.
West Ham: Randolph; Byram, Fonte, Reid, Cresswell; Obiang (Snodgrass 64),
Noble; Feghouli (Fernandes 64), Lanzini, Antonio; Carroll (Fletcher 79)
Subs not used: Adrian, Collins, Calleri, Quina.
Bookings: Obiang, Lanzini, Carroll
Manchester City: Cabellero; Sagna, Stones, Otamendi, Kolarov; Toure; Silva
(Delph 80), Sane, De Bruyne (Fernandinho 67), Sterling (Aguero 73); Jesus
Subs not used: Bravo, Zabaleta, Kompany, Navas
Bookings: De Bruyne, Sterling, Jesus
Referee: Kevin Friend
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Slaven Bilic demands West Ham response after heavy Manchester City defeat
By Patrick Surlis
Last Updated: 02/02/17 12:10am
SSN
Slaven Bilic has demanded a response from his West Ham players after they
slumped to a second heavy defeat to Man City inside a month.
The Hammers, who lost 5-0 at home to Pep Guardiola's side in the FA Cup
third round in January, were soundly beaten 4-0 by the same opponents in the
Premier League on Wednesday. West Ham have suffered several one-sided
defeats at the London Stadium this season, also losing 5-1 to Arsenal, but
have the chance to get back to winning ways at Southampton on Saturday.
"It's a heavy defeat for us but after every one of them we bounce back,"
Bilic said. "After the Arsenal defeat, we bounced back, after the City
defeat in the cup we bounced back. We have to do it now. "The good thing
about football is that there is an opportunity in three days' time. "We
cannot say it doesn't matter and let's forget about it. But on the other
hand, we cannot let this affect our game and everything good that we have
done recently. "In a way we are coping better away than at home. Why? In
tonight's game we just gave the ball away and did things we didn't do last
year. "We are down. People say to treat these games like a bonus game but,
no, this was a three points' game. I expected that we would get something
out of this game. Now we need to make it up on Saturday."
Mistakes by Aaron Cresswell and Pedro Obiang contributed to two of City's
three first-half goals, and Bilic admitted his side gifted opportunities to
their opponents. "It's hard to find positive things from these games," the
West Ham boss added. "First and foremost, we have to give them credit but we
helped them. "It was kind of a copy and paste game from two weeks ago in the
FA Cup. "It sounds crazy but we started well. We didn't have too many
problems when we were behind the ball or when they had the ball. When we had
the ball they scored the first goal and the third goal. "When you give the
ball to players like David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne and they have players
with pace like (Gabriel) Jesus and (Leroy) Sane, then they punish you. And
that's exactly what happened. "After 3-0 you are hoping to turn the game
around but it is mission impossible to get back."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
http://vyperz.blogspot.com
Wednesday, February 1
Daily WHUFC News - II - 1st February 2017
Manager on Matchday
WHUFC.com
Good morning everybody.
We have been preparing for tonight's game against Manchester City for ten
days now, since our fantastic win over Middlesbrough, and we'd love to
continue our good form. Of course the last time we lost was against
tonight's opponents, so we under no illusions that it will be a difficult
game. They beat us heavily in that FA Cup game, although we were good for
half an hour. We crumbled after that and we can't let that happen again.
Manchester City are a team who have their ups and downs. But I consider them
a very unlucky team. In every game they play, they are the better side and
create more chances. I'm not talking about possession; they are there and
around your box creating chances. In some games they've been unlucky.
Hopefully they will be unlucky tonight, too! We will have to be on top of
our game. There is a great atmosphere around our squad at the moment and on
the training pitches, so we are looking forward to the game. I've talked
about City's manager Pep Guardiola before, but I will say again, sometimes
it's hard and it takes time to come to a new country and for your philosophy
and ideas to work straight away. You need more time than that. They play in
a way where they create lots of chances and dominate games. It's a difficult
league here and there are no easy games and there is not one pattern the
whole league plays – managers change things even during matches. I think he
knew that when he came over, too. Some of the games they've played have been
amazing. Long-term, it will be a success for Pep at Manchester City.
In the 5-0 game, we started to chase them all over the pitch and that's
exactly what they want you to do. They can use that space behind and
in-between your lines with pace and quality and they don't miss the
opportunities and chances they get from that. The game was over in ten
minutes – from 1-0 to 3-0 so quickly. We have spoken about tactics and we
can't give them that space in-between the lines again. If we give them
space, we give it to them in front of us and we have talked about that. If
we do that tonight, we have a chance.
In terms of team news, there are no fresh injuries to be concerned with
other than Havard Nordveit, who has picked up a knock on his ankle. He will
miss tonight's game, but it's nothing to worry about and he should be back
in contention for the Southampton game.
Arthur Masuaku is getting closer to being back, while Diafra Sakho, who had
that operation on his back, is looking at something like mid-March before he
returns.
As I've said, let's hope we can get a good result from tonight game, and I
hope everyone enjoys the occasion.
Slaven Bilic
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Snoddy - We can beat one of the big guns
WHUFC.com
Robert Snodgrass targeting debut victory over Manchester City
New No11 set for Hammers bow at London Stadium on Wednesday
Scotland winger joined West Ham United for £10.2m from Hull City last week
Having tasted Championship Play-Off final success with Hull and represented
Scotland against England in London last year, Robert Snodgrass is looking
forward to returning to the capital. However, West Ham United's £10.2m
signing is more likely to be visiting London Zoo than London's nightclubs!
"People speak about the bright lights of London, but I'm a family man with
three kids, so I'll be moving my family down here and getting settled," he
smiled, speaking to West Ham TV after joining from Premier League rivals
Hull City on Friday evening, becoming the Club's second January capture
after Southampton captain Jose Fonte. "I'll also be looking to build my
relationship with my teammates and the fans and this is what I'm looking
forward to over the next few weeks."
Robert SnodgrassThe 29-year-old is also hoping for more capital gains when
he makes his West Ham debut against Manchester City in midweek. The creating
midfielder faced Pep Guardiola's Sky Blues as recently as Boxing Day, when
his former club Hull City were beaten 3-0 at the KCOM Stadium. The No11's
new side were also defeated by City recently, going down to a heavy Emirates
FA Cup third round reverse in east London earlier this month. "One thing in
that game for Hull, we worked really hard and did well, but we still got
beat three-nil, so that just shows you the sort of level you're up against,"
he observed. "They've got really good players who can punish you if you take
your eye off the ball and lose concentration, and that was probably the same
when West Ham lost five-nil.
"So, I think that the lads will have that feeling in their stomachs that
they don't want it to happen again and will be right up for it, especially
off the back of a few good results. Hopefully we can beat one of the big
guns and keep looking forward.
"There's half of the season still to go, so I'm ready for the challenge."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Everton wanted Adrian
KUMB.com
Filed: Tuesday, 31st January 2017
By: Staff Writer
Everton were keen on signing West Ham's current reserve goalkeeper Adrian
during the January transfer window, it has been revealed.
The Spanish stopper has been relegated to the subs bench at the Olympic
Stadium since losing his place to Darren Randolph earlier in the season and
is out of contract this summer - although the club retain the option to
extend his contract by another two years.
Adrian's situation had alerted Toffees boss Ronald Koeman, who is understood
to have been seeking an additional goalkeeper since last summer. However the
Dutchman is said to have had a late change of heart and decided instead to
reassess the situation at the end of the season. When asked about the Adrian
link and the possibility of signing another goalkeeper, Koeman replied:
"Maybe for next season; it's too early to take those kind of decisions."
Everton's current number one is Joel Robles, who had fallen out with Koeman
earlier in the season after losing his place at Goodison Park to Maarten
Stekelenburg. The former's recent good form is the main factor behind
Koeman's decision, reports the Liverpool Echo.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Board win Jordan backing
KUMB.com
Filed: Wednesday, 1st February 2017
By: Staff Writer
Former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan says his former rivals at West
Ham handled the Dimitri Payer situation perfectly. Jordan, who left Palace
six years ago after the club were forced into administration referred to the
French international as a "weasal" via his twitter timeline - before backing
the stance taken by David Sullivan. Referring to a comment by Payet upon
returning to Marseille in which he claimed he felt "chills" having rejoined
the club, Jordan retorted: "Maybe those chills are an ill wind that will
blow over this irksome disingenuous weasel and others like him. "West Ham
United handled it well."
And when pushed to explain how he would have handled the situation, Jordan
added: "Exactly probably as Dave Sullivan. Prob made a few more soundbytes
about the French Revolution and the French always being revolting. "I think
holding his wages is about right, although I am sure Marseille will pay it
to him."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham v Man City preview: Robert Snodgrass and Jose Fonte set for debuts
Last Updated: 01/02/17 12:46pm
SSN
New signings West Ham signings Robert Snodgrass and Jose Fonte are in Slaven
Bilic's squad for the visit of Manchester City on Wednesday. Portugal
defender Fonte is in line for an immediate debut as a replacement for Angelo
Ogbonna, who is out for the season after a knee operation.
City midfielder Fernandinho returns from suspension and Pep Guardiola has
welcomed the return of the Brazilian midfielder ahead of the trip to the
London Stadium "He's so important," the City boss said at his pre-match
press conference. "We've played a lot of games without him, and I'm happy
he's back. "He's not an aggressive player. He's tough. He's one of the
nicest guys I've ever met. We accept the ban and don't complain."
Team news
Cheikhou Kouyate is back from the Africa Cup of Nations but will not be
considered for selection against City. Havard Nordtveit misses out with an
ankle knock and joins Diafra Sakho (back) and Arthur Masuaku (knee) on the
sidelines.
Man City's Top scorer Sergio Aguero is also back in contention after being
rested at Crystal Palace at the weekend because of a knock.
Aguero's return alongside Fernandinho means City are only missing long-term
injury victim Ilkay Gundogan, who is out for the season after a knee
operation.
Opta stats
Manchester City have enjoyed two wins over West Ham already this season,
with an aggregate score of 8-1 (3-1 in the Premier League, 5-0 in the FA
Cup).
The Hammers' 5-0 FA Cup defeat to Manchester City at the London Stadium on
January 6th was their biggest margin of defeat at home in a competitive
fixture since May 1967 (1-6 v Man Utd in Division 1).
Sergio Agüero has attempted four shots on target and scored one goal in the
two games versus West Ham this season; the exact same tally that West Ham
have v Man City overall in 2016-17.
In the Premier League, Aguero has six goals and two assists in nine
appearances against the Hammers.
Since the start of 2014-15, Manchester City have won just four of their 13
Premier League away games in London (W4 D4 L5).
Since December 31 2016, Claudio Bravo has faced nine shots on target and
saved only one of them (conceding eight goals). He hasn't made a save since
January 2nd in the Premier League, having conceded his last six shots faced
on target.
Merson's prediction
City embarrassed West Ham a couple a few weeks ago in the FA Cup but West
Ham look a different prospect now, with the Dimitri Payet saga behind them.
Andy Carroll is back in form and will be licking his lips ahead of taking on
the City defence. However, I see City winning at the London Stadium. They
were outstanding against Tottenham and followed that with a good result at
Palace in the cup. West Ham were a little fortunate at Middlesbrough and
were pretty even with Palace in the game before that. Palace aren't a patch
on this City team.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-3 (10/1 with Sky Bet)
Betting
West Ham are 9/2 with Sky Bet to pick up all three points from their home
clash with Manchester City on Wednesday. The visitors are odds-on at 4/7 and
the draw is on offer at 16/5.
City to win 3-0, 3-1 or 3-2 is a 7/2 chance in the correct score group
betting, while Sergio Aguero is 3/1 favourite to be the game's first
goalscorer.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Reading chief Jaap Stam hoping to unleash Reece Oxford's potential after
taking 18-year-old starlet on loan
The Dutchman has been lent the West Ham youngster by Slaven Bilic, in order
to aid his development with games in the Championship
The Mirror
BYJAMES NURSEY
15:19, 1 FEB 2017
Jaap Stam aims to make West Ham starlet Reece Oxford "great" and fulfil his
potential as one of England's top talents. Ex-Manchester United ace Stam,
44, is pushing for promotion this season with his Royals after three
straight wins. He beat off competition from rival Championship clubs to snap
up Hammers' teenager Oxford,18, on loan for the rest of the season. West Ham
boss Slaven Bilic says former centre-back Stam can help Oxford's development
into a top defender. The Dutchman responded: "I am, I was and I will do.
Everybody knows he is a great prospect, a lot of teams wanted to sign him
within the league. "I am not saying it is because of me but with the
experience that I have, and the level I played myself, hopefully I can turn
things around and make young players better.
"You can see the progress players make in our team. "Instead of launching
balls forward, they can build up the play and be an extra man in midfield
sometimes. That makes it difficult for the opposition. "Hopefully the young
players you get in the team, you can help them out, guide them and give them
handouts as well which make it easier for themselves. "They have all got the
ability to become a great player but by coaching them in a certain way and
telling them things, you can make it a bit easier for them."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Will Slaven Bilic regret not moving for Gylfi Sigurdsson on deadline day?
HITC
Antony Martin
The Swansea City man would have been the ideal signing for West Ham United.
On the whole, Hammers fans would have been fairly satisfied with their
club's transfer business throughout the January transfer window. They
brought proven quality into the club in the shape of Jose Fonte and Robert
Snodgrass, and finally got rid of Dimtir Payet for two-and-a-half times the
amount they paid for him 18 months ago. There is one player, however, who
could have genuinely taken West Ham to the next level - Swansea City's Gylfi
Sigurdsson. The 27-year-old would have been the ideal addition to Slaven
Bilic's squad, and the Croatian should have made a play for the Iceland
international on deadline day. Sigurdsson has been in sensational form this
season. In 23 Premier League games for the Swans he has scored seven goals
and registered seven assists. He has fantastic technical ability, wonderful
vision, and has a keen eye for goal. He is also a set-piece specialist. The
Icelandic midfielder could have been deployed in the number 10 role, just
behind Andy Carroll, or in a more deep-lying midfield position from where he
would have been able to dictate the tempo of the game. The Swansea man would
arguably have been an upgrade on Mark Noble, whose performance levels have
plummeted this season. Depending on where the Welsh side finish in the
Premier League, Sigurdsson could be available again in the summer, however.
And West Ham should seriously consider going back in for the influential
playmaker then.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham replace Dimitri Payet mural with Andy Carroll wondergoal tribute at
the London Stadium
West Ham have replaced a tribute to Dimitri Payet at the London Stadium
They had to have security next to it in order to stop it from being
vandalised
The Hammers have put an image of Andy Carroll scoring his sensational
bicycle kick against Crystal Palace in its place
By Pete South For Mailonline
PUBLISHED: 13:16, 1 February 2017 | UPDATED: 13:29, 1 February 2017
West Ham stationed a security guard outside the Dimitri Payet mural at the
London stadium to prevent vandalism when news broke of his attempts to leave
the club earlier this month. Now, they've come up with a more permanent
solution. Payet has of course left the Hammers to re-join Marseille in a
transfer worth £25million, leaving more than a few critics back in east
London despite his assertion that he didn't owe fans an apology for his
behaviour. The club have moved swiftly to replace the tribute to their
former French playmaker, using a graphic of striker Andy Carroll's
wondergoal against Crystal Palace in its place, while surrounding it with
accolades from fans. The striker's sensational strike, an acrobatic bicycle
kick from Michail Antonio's cross, helped the Hammers to a 2-0 lead against
Palace before Manuel Lanzini rounded off a 3-0 victory. And Carroll himself
put his ability to get into position to score such a good goal down to his
wife, former reality TV star Billi Mucklow, persuading him to take up yoga.
'It's helped me a lot, especially when I've been injured,' Carroll said.
'I've been doing a lot of work up here (Billi's yoga studio), it's been
great.'
While West Ham were erasing Payet from the London Stadium, the 29-year-old
was busy making his debut for his new club. Payet was cheered before making
his debut by the home fans at the Stade Veledrome and admitted afterwards he
felt chills as he prepared to come on in the cup win over Lyon. 'I found
the Velodrome as I had left it,' he said. 'What did I feel when I returned
to the field? Chills.'
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Robert Snodgrass unfazed about replacing Dimitri Payet at West Ham because
'the lads have done great without him'
EXCLUSIVE
DAN LUDLAM
Evening Standard
Replacing a talent like Dimitri Payet is a big ask but Robert Snodgrass is
not fazed. Then again, West Ham's newest signing — brought in 48 hours
before the Payet to Marseille saga finally ended — knows all about being the
team's heartbeat. The 29-year-old has emerged as a key figure for club and
country over the past 12 months, securing a return to the top flight with
Hull and netting his first Scotland hat-trick in September. Hull are
propping up the Premier League but would have had far fewer points without
Snodgrass. The winger, with a sweet left foot, has seven League goals this
season — more than double the next best Hull player — and also betters his
former team-mates in assists (three) and shots (39). It is why West Ham
pursued Snodgrass when it became clear Payet would be on his way this month.
Payet was a hero to the Hammers fans before he downed tools to force the
move but the new era begins tonight when Snodgrass makes his debut against
Manchester City. Asked if he feels any extra pressure, he says: "No, I
don't think so. The lads have been doing great without Payet. They've won a
lot of games over the past few weeks and have got some big results. "There
are players here that can win games. They have a good core of lads that have
a winning desire which breeds confidence. You end up just fitting into that.
That's the way I am. I want to win every game so I'm delighted to be a part
of it."
Payet was given a standing ovation by the Marseille fans on his second debut
for the club at the Stade Velodrome last night, coming off the bench in
extra-time in a 2-1 French Cup win over Lyon. "I found the Velodrome as I
had left it," said the £25million signing. "What did I feel when I returned
to the field? Chills."
Snodgrass's first taste of the London Stadium is unlikely to be as emotional
but he is relishing the prospect of walking out in front of a crowd of
nearly 60,000 tonight. Burnley and Middlesbrough were also in for Snodgrass
but the Hammers sealed a £10.2m move with the player impressed by the club's
ambition. "When I saw there was interest from West Ham I wanted to become a
part of what they are building here," he says. "I played against West Ham a
few weeks back and lost 1-0 but we played very well. When you turn up to the
stadium it's got a great feel about it — that big stadium feel. The
supporters want us to restore the atmosphere created at Upton Park.
"When you're scoring goals the way Andy Carroll is and you're getting good
results, you will get that atmosphere back because these fans are terrific.
"You just want to be a part of it and I'm delighted it got done and I look
forward to the next few weeks. "I wanted to move first and foremost to try
and get security for my family and to have the opportunity to play at a club
like West Ham is terrific."
A win for the Hammers would lift them into the top half of the table,
showing how things can change quickly in football. Within the space of a
week at the turn of the year, the Hammers were beaten by Leicester and
Manchester United before being hammered 5-0 by tonight's opponents in the FA
Cup. Then came Payet's public fall-out with West Ham. Without the France
international, the squad pulled together and rattled off back-to-back wins
with Carroll bagging three goals, including a stunning scissor-kick in the
3-0 victory over Crystal Palace. Snodgrass is eager to help the Hammers
build on those performances and also his own this season. "As soon as you
lose that desire to keep on improving, then there's no point of even playing
football to be honest because you need to keep driving to be better every
day," he said. "That extra one per cent on a day-to-day basis drives you
forward and this is why these lads are at the top level. They have got that
burning feeling in them. They want to win football matches and become better
players. "The manager has stressed that we are off the back of some good
results so why not? "Why not try and believe that we can go and win the
game. So I'm looking forward to it and will be ready for when I'm called
upon. "If everybody has got that same attitude then I think it will take us
a very long way."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
James Olley: Let's tear March out of the West Ham calendar and move on from
Dimitri Payet saga
JAMES OLLEY
Evening Standard
The player selected for March in West Ham's official calendar is Dimitri
Payet. That always felt a little optimistic. Rumours of his unhappiness
stretched back as far as last summer and the situation gradually unravelled
in acrimonious fashion prior to him finally completing a £25million move
back to Marseille earlier this week. The loss of a star player rarely has
any positives for the selling club but West Ham should take solace from how
they handled themselves during the saga. They rewarded Payet for a
remarkable start in English football with a new contract last February and
privately sought to assuage his concerns by paying him a £1m loyalty bonus
in September. The 29-year-old continues to stress his motives for returning
to France were based on family issues but sympathy is in short supply given
he took West Ham's money in recognition of his faithfulness only to force
his way out four months later.
He was made to repay his January salary before co-chairman David Sullivan
and David Gold would sanction his departure, effectively arguing that once
he went on strike, he was not entitled to his weekly wage. If he had any
affinity for the club, Payet should have returned his loyalty bonus, too.
Slaven Bilic emerges from the whole affair with tremendous credit. It is
perhaps easy to forget the pressure he was under during the first half of
the season, when bookmakers had him heading their sack race markets as West
Ham won just six of their first 22 matches in all competitions.
Payet's betrayal will have hurt him deeply. I was fortunate to spend time in
the Croatian's office on several occasions last season, talking on and off
the record about various aspects of the club's campaign. While some managers
usually eschew highlighting individuals in favour of promoting the
collective, Bilic never once played down Payet's importance. It would not
have been easy to ostracise him but Bilic knew the corrosive effect Payet
could have on team unity once he had shown his hand. Bilic went public with
the breakdown in relations, ensuring West Ham controlled the agenda on the
deal as best they could and Sullivan maintained that position in a difficult
negotiation with Marseille. He wanted to make an example of Payet but
accepted a modest £25m sum to achieve closure for the benefit of Bilic and
his team. Wishing him well yesterday was the final class act from Bilic in a
transfer that reflects badly on Payet and no one else. Come March,
poster-boy Payet will be a distant memory.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham are 'a proper team' without Dimitri Payet, claims boss Slaven Bilic
Dimitri Payet left West Ham at the end of the transfer window for Marseille
Slaven Bilic says West Ham lost a great player but gained a stronger team
West Ham entertain Manchester City at the London Stadium on Wednesday
By Oliver Todd for MailOnline
PUBLISHED: 10:02, 1 February 2017 | UPDATED: 10:02, 1 February 2017
Slaven Bilic says West Ham are better off and 'a proper team' now, having
dumped Dimitri Payet. The £25million Frenchman finally moved on to Marseille
this week after falling out with his manager and his team-mates earlier this
month. But having watched his men step through the Payet-shaped cloud over
West Ham, Bilic says the loss of his best player has been transformative —
in a positive way.
Manchester City visit the London Stadium tonight and will find a different
outfit to the one they demolished 5-0 at the same venue in the FA Cup just
26 days ago. Back then, the biggest transfer drama of the January window had
just started to engulf West Ham before Payet refused to play or train. The
29-year-old was a substitute that night and in his absence since West Ham
have won back-to-back games. Bilic expects a result against City this time
around after discovering his group 'worship the obligation' they have to
perform in Payet's absence. 'We are a stronger team,' the Hammers boss
declared. 'The way that the team reacted after that was amazing. Not only in
games but in training as well, in the camp. 'During breakfast, before
training, in the gym: we are a proper team. We are now in a much better
situation than we were before the (previous) Man City game. 'Make no
mistake, we lost a great player. But sometimes you gain. The way the team
reacted and the atmosphere it's buzzing, it's great. We have enough quality
on the pitch to replace him in a different way. 'After what happened in the
last three months this is really a new start and it feels like every
individual in the team and the team itself is taking responsibility. 'But
they like to take responsibility. They worship that obligation that they
have now without Payet.'
West Ham supporters will find all Payet branding covered up at London
Stadium tonight and the name of the man they once worshipped is likely to be
widely derided. But Bilic would rather they remember the good times. His
memories will be of one of the greatest players to wear claret and blue
rather than a Judas figure. 'I have no hard feelings over him,' he said.
'The fans are now angry at him — of course they are angry. But I think after
some time, when they think about Payet, they will not think about what
happened at the end.
'Time heals everything. They will forget. They will remember him as one of
the greatest.'
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
WEST HAM V MAN CITY: PEP HAS IT ALL TO DO IF HE'S TO CLOSE GAP ON TOP 4
Ladbrokes.com
Both West Ham and Manchester City ended up having quiet Deadline Days, as
Slaven Bilic and Pep Guardiola instead opted to prepare for a vital clash at
the London Stadium. But having won five of their last eight matches, the
home side will prove a difficult nut to crack this evening.
In fact, that's the same number of recent victories as their opponents, who
head into this one as the 4/7 favourites, while the Hammers are 9/2 to take
all three points off City for the third time in six Premier League meetings.
This one did finish 5-0 to the Citizens last time the pair met – and 20/1
says we see a repeat of that scoreline, although it looks unlikely given
West Ham's recent resurgence.
Were City to get three points in east London, they'd leapfrog Liverpool into
fourth place – at least for a few days.
Meanwhile, a West Ham victory could see them climb up to ninth place.
And if you're looking for a form player heading into this one, you'd do well
to find anyone better than Andy Carroll.
The former Liverpool and Newcastle forward has bagged himself three goals in
two games for the Hammers, and 9/4 says he finds the net at any time in this
one.
Meanwhile, City's Germany international Leroy Sane is beginning to find his
feet in the Premier League, having scored two goals in as many games in all
competitions. He's 12/5 to get on the scoresheet.
For all of their attacking prowess, City have conceded in 10 of their last
12 top-flight matches, while the hosts have conceded in 10 of their last 13.
For that reason it's easy to see why it's as short as 8/13 for both teams to
find the net.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham win against Manchester City would bury toxic Dimitri Payet saga and
make London Stadium start to feel like home
JOHN DILLON
Evening Standard
West Ham now need one more thing to complete the healing process which has
followed the acrimonious departure of Dimitri Payet. Now they need a proper
performance and a result against Manchester City on Wednesday to bury the
acrid memory of the 5-0 thrashing inflicted on them by Pep Guardiola in the
FA Cup on January 6. It should be a new-look Hammers team which lines up at
the London Stadium. Robert Snodgrass and Jose Fonte are excellent transfer
window signings. So let's not have any of that modern day ritual whereby new
players sit in the stand for the first game after their arrival awaiting the
gaze of the TV cameras while their lack of match sharpness is earnestly
discussed.
Okay, Fonte last played for Southampton on January 2 before his £8 million
switch to east London. But he's a defender. He'll handle it. Turn the
equations of modern-day sports science on their head and you could argue
he'll have benefitted from the break. Snodgrass last played for Hull on
January 14. But his £7 million move to the Hammers is the biggest
opportunity of his career. He will be champing at the bit. The presence of
both men in this game might underline the sense that West Ham have dealt
with some major troubles and are ready to move on from the toxic events of
recent months. The humiliation by City in that FA Cup tie was the nadir of
those events on the pitch. Slaven Bilic's team were pitiful. They have since
beaten Crystal Palace at home and Middlesbrough away in the Premier League.
But City's win followed successive league defeats by Leicester and
Manchester United, which tore apart the feel-good factor which had been
building around the team when they beat Burnley, Hull and then Swansea, 4-1
away, in December. Five wins in seven league games is good form, of course.
But the memory of the abject performance against City still requires erasing
just to confirm that something has changed for the better around the place.
There is a sense that even the disgruntlement and unhappiness of many fans
with the nature of the new stadium might now be set aside for the rest of
the season.
A revenge win against Guardiola and his lavishly assembled team could
re-kindle the sense of optimism which filled the ground after the win
against Chelsea in the League Cup - but which then vanished again amid a
series of stultifying displays and bad home defeats during the remainder of
the Autumn.
The concerns of many supporters about the ground - its lack of atmosphere
and awkward unsuitability for football – are valid. But the club are going
nowhere else. At some point, the new surroundings have to be accepted.
Perhaps this will be the night. Certainly, the departure of the now-despised
Payet has provided a point around which the supporters feelings about the
season have crystallised.
Judging by the garish awfulness of the track suit he wore when he emerged on
the tarmac at Marseille after his private plane landed in France, the
Hammers are well rid of him for his dreadful fashion sense alone. The
co-chairman, David Sullivan, has revealed how troublesome Payet had become
behind the scenes, refusing to eat alongside his team-mates after training.
Sullivan is often commendably frank. But this revelation is a PR win-winner,
anyway. The club's official condemnation of the player's attitude chimes
perfectly with the supporters intensely hostile view of their former idol.
However, suggestions that the behaviour of the Frenchman soured the mood
around the club so much that they explain away the rancid form of the Autumn
should not be countenanced. The rest of the squad should have just got on
with things, anyway, in such circumstances. You can imagine how Billy Bonds
might have dealt with such a situation during his days as captain.
Certainly, though, the end of the saga will help. At the same time, the
resurgent form of Andy Carroll – and his own frankness in an interview this
week in which he confessed to boozing too much earlier in his career – have
added to the sense that there is a new mood at the club.
Yes, yes. It won't have stunned too many people to discover this about
Carroll. But it will have been refreshing for the supporters to learn of his
renewed focus. All he has to do now is stay fit. There is a vacancy now for
Number One hero at the London Stadium. The frustrating, stuttering nature of
Carroll's time at West Ham means he has never quite filled the role. Now is
his chance – starting against City.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
http://vyperz.blogspot.com
WHUFC.com
Good morning everybody.
We have been preparing for tonight's game against Manchester City for ten
days now, since our fantastic win over Middlesbrough, and we'd love to
continue our good form. Of course the last time we lost was against
tonight's opponents, so we under no illusions that it will be a difficult
game. They beat us heavily in that FA Cup game, although we were good for
half an hour. We crumbled after that and we can't let that happen again.
Manchester City are a team who have their ups and downs. But I consider them
a very unlucky team. In every game they play, they are the better side and
create more chances. I'm not talking about possession; they are there and
around your box creating chances. In some games they've been unlucky.
Hopefully they will be unlucky tonight, too! We will have to be on top of
our game. There is a great atmosphere around our squad at the moment and on
the training pitches, so we are looking forward to the game. I've talked
about City's manager Pep Guardiola before, but I will say again, sometimes
it's hard and it takes time to come to a new country and for your philosophy
and ideas to work straight away. You need more time than that. They play in
a way where they create lots of chances and dominate games. It's a difficult
league here and there are no easy games and there is not one pattern the
whole league plays – managers change things even during matches. I think he
knew that when he came over, too. Some of the games they've played have been
amazing. Long-term, it will be a success for Pep at Manchester City.
In the 5-0 game, we started to chase them all over the pitch and that's
exactly what they want you to do. They can use that space behind and
in-between your lines with pace and quality and they don't miss the
opportunities and chances they get from that. The game was over in ten
minutes – from 1-0 to 3-0 so quickly. We have spoken about tactics and we
can't give them that space in-between the lines again. If we give them
space, we give it to them in front of us and we have talked about that. If
we do that tonight, we have a chance.
In terms of team news, there are no fresh injuries to be concerned with
other than Havard Nordveit, who has picked up a knock on his ankle. He will
miss tonight's game, but it's nothing to worry about and he should be back
in contention for the Southampton game.
Arthur Masuaku is getting closer to being back, while Diafra Sakho, who had
that operation on his back, is looking at something like mid-March before he
returns.
As I've said, let's hope we can get a good result from tonight game, and I
hope everyone enjoys the occasion.
Slaven Bilic
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Snoddy - We can beat one of the big guns
WHUFC.com
Robert Snodgrass targeting debut victory over Manchester City
New No11 set for Hammers bow at London Stadium on Wednesday
Scotland winger joined West Ham United for £10.2m from Hull City last week
Having tasted Championship Play-Off final success with Hull and represented
Scotland against England in London last year, Robert Snodgrass is looking
forward to returning to the capital. However, West Ham United's £10.2m
signing is more likely to be visiting London Zoo than London's nightclubs!
"People speak about the bright lights of London, but I'm a family man with
three kids, so I'll be moving my family down here and getting settled," he
smiled, speaking to West Ham TV after joining from Premier League rivals
Hull City on Friday evening, becoming the Club's second January capture
after Southampton captain Jose Fonte. "I'll also be looking to build my
relationship with my teammates and the fans and this is what I'm looking
forward to over the next few weeks."
Robert SnodgrassThe 29-year-old is also hoping for more capital gains when
he makes his West Ham debut against Manchester City in midweek. The creating
midfielder faced Pep Guardiola's Sky Blues as recently as Boxing Day, when
his former club Hull City were beaten 3-0 at the KCOM Stadium. The No11's
new side were also defeated by City recently, going down to a heavy Emirates
FA Cup third round reverse in east London earlier this month. "One thing in
that game for Hull, we worked really hard and did well, but we still got
beat three-nil, so that just shows you the sort of level you're up against,"
he observed. "They've got really good players who can punish you if you take
your eye off the ball and lose concentration, and that was probably the same
when West Ham lost five-nil.
"So, I think that the lads will have that feeling in their stomachs that
they don't want it to happen again and will be right up for it, especially
off the back of a few good results. Hopefully we can beat one of the big
guns and keep looking forward.
"There's half of the season still to go, so I'm ready for the challenge."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Everton wanted Adrian
KUMB.com
Filed: Tuesday, 31st January 2017
By: Staff Writer
Everton were keen on signing West Ham's current reserve goalkeeper Adrian
during the January transfer window, it has been revealed.
The Spanish stopper has been relegated to the subs bench at the Olympic
Stadium since losing his place to Darren Randolph earlier in the season and
is out of contract this summer - although the club retain the option to
extend his contract by another two years.
Adrian's situation had alerted Toffees boss Ronald Koeman, who is understood
to have been seeking an additional goalkeeper since last summer. However the
Dutchman is said to have had a late change of heart and decided instead to
reassess the situation at the end of the season. When asked about the Adrian
link and the possibility of signing another goalkeeper, Koeman replied:
"Maybe for next season; it's too early to take those kind of decisions."
Everton's current number one is Joel Robles, who had fallen out with Koeman
earlier in the season after losing his place at Goodison Park to Maarten
Stekelenburg. The former's recent good form is the main factor behind
Koeman's decision, reports the Liverpool Echo.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Board win Jordan backing
KUMB.com
Filed: Wednesday, 1st February 2017
By: Staff Writer
Former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan says his former rivals at West
Ham handled the Dimitri Payer situation perfectly. Jordan, who left Palace
six years ago after the club were forced into administration referred to the
French international as a "weasal" via his twitter timeline - before backing
the stance taken by David Sullivan. Referring to a comment by Payet upon
returning to Marseille in which he claimed he felt "chills" having rejoined
the club, Jordan retorted: "Maybe those chills are an ill wind that will
blow over this irksome disingenuous weasel and others like him. "West Ham
United handled it well."
And when pushed to explain how he would have handled the situation, Jordan
added: "Exactly probably as Dave Sullivan. Prob made a few more soundbytes
about the French Revolution and the French always being revolting. "I think
holding his wages is about right, although I am sure Marseille will pay it
to him."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham v Man City preview: Robert Snodgrass and Jose Fonte set for debuts
Last Updated: 01/02/17 12:46pm
SSN
New signings West Ham signings Robert Snodgrass and Jose Fonte are in Slaven
Bilic's squad for the visit of Manchester City on Wednesday. Portugal
defender Fonte is in line for an immediate debut as a replacement for Angelo
Ogbonna, who is out for the season after a knee operation.
City midfielder Fernandinho returns from suspension and Pep Guardiola has
welcomed the return of the Brazilian midfielder ahead of the trip to the
London Stadium "He's so important," the City boss said at his pre-match
press conference. "We've played a lot of games without him, and I'm happy
he's back. "He's not an aggressive player. He's tough. He's one of the
nicest guys I've ever met. We accept the ban and don't complain."
Team news
Cheikhou Kouyate is back from the Africa Cup of Nations but will not be
considered for selection against City. Havard Nordtveit misses out with an
ankle knock and joins Diafra Sakho (back) and Arthur Masuaku (knee) on the
sidelines.
Man City's Top scorer Sergio Aguero is also back in contention after being
rested at Crystal Palace at the weekend because of a knock.
Aguero's return alongside Fernandinho means City are only missing long-term
injury victim Ilkay Gundogan, who is out for the season after a knee
operation.
Opta stats
Manchester City have enjoyed two wins over West Ham already this season,
with an aggregate score of 8-1 (3-1 in the Premier League, 5-0 in the FA
Cup).
The Hammers' 5-0 FA Cup defeat to Manchester City at the London Stadium on
January 6th was their biggest margin of defeat at home in a competitive
fixture since May 1967 (1-6 v Man Utd in Division 1).
Sergio Agüero has attempted four shots on target and scored one goal in the
two games versus West Ham this season; the exact same tally that West Ham
have v Man City overall in 2016-17.
In the Premier League, Aguero has six goals and two assists in nine
appearances against the Hammers.
Since the start of 2014-15, Manchester City have won just four of their 13
Premier League away games in London (W4 D4 L5).
Since December 31 2016, Claudio Bravo has faced nine shots on target and
saved only one of them (conceding eight goals). He hasn't made a save since
January 2nd in the Premier League, having conceded his last six shots faced
on target.
Merson's prediction
City embarrassed West Ham a couple a few weeks ago in the FA Cup but West
Ham look a different prospect now, with the Dimitri Payet saga behind them.
Andy Carroll is back in form and will be licking his lips ahead of taking on
the City defence. However, I see City winning at the London Stadium. They
were outstanding against Tottenham and followed that with a good result at
Palace in the cup. West Ham were a little fortunate at Middlesbrough and
were pretty even with Palace in the game before that. Palace aren't a patch
on this City team.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-3 (10/1 with Sky Bet)
Betting
West Ham are 9/2 with Sky Bet to pick up all three points from their home
clash with Manchester City on Wednesday. The visitors are odds-on at 4/7 and
the draw is on offer at 16/5.
City to win 3-0, 3-1 or 3-2 is a 7/2 chance in the correct score group
betting, while Sergio Aguero is 3/1 favourite to be the game's first
goalscorer.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Reading chief Jaap Stam hoping to unleash Reece Oxford's potential after
taking 18-year-old starlet on loan
The Dutchman has been lent the West Ham youngster by Slaven Bilic, in order
to aid his development with games in the Championship
The Mirror
BYJAMES NURSEY
15:19, 1 FEB 2017
Jaap Stam aims to make West Ham starlet Reece Oxford "great" and fulfil his
potential as one of England's top talents. Ex-Manchester United ace Stam,
44, is pushing for promotion this season with his Royals after three
straight wins. He beat off competition from rival Championship clubs to snap
up Hammers' teenager Oxford,18, on loan for the rest of the season. West Ham
boss Slaven Bilic says former centre-back Stam can help Oxford's development
into a top defender. The Dutchman responded: "I am, I was and I will do.
Everybody knows he is a great prospect, a lot of teams wanted to sign him
within the league. "I am not saying it is because of me but with the
experience that I have, and the level I played myself, hopefully I can turn
things around and make young players better.
"You can see the progress players make in our team. "Instead of launching
balls forward, they can build up the play and be an extra man in midfield
sometimes. That makes it difficult for the opposition. "Hopefully the young
players you get in the team, you can help them out, guide them and give them
handouts as well which make it easier for themselves. "They have all got the
ability to become a great player but by coaching them in a certain way and
telling them things, you can make it a bit easier for them."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Will Slaven Bilic regret not moving for Gylfi Sigurdsson on deadline day?
HITC
Antony Martin
The Swansea City man would have been the ideal signing for West Ham United.
On the whole, Hammers fans would have been fairly satisfied with their
club's transfer business throughout the January transfer window. They
brought proven quality into the club in the shape of Jose Fonte and Robert
Snodgrass, and finally got rid of Dimtir Payet for two-and-a-half times the
amount they paid for him 18 months ago. There is one player, however, who
could have genuinely taken West Ham to the next level - Swansea City's Gylfi
Sigurdsson. The 27-year-old would have been the ideal addition to Slaven
Bilic's squad, and the Croatian should have made a play for the Iceland
international on deadline day. Sigurdsson has been in sensational form this
season. In 23 Premier League games for the Swans he has scored seven goals
and registered seven assists. He has fantastic technical ability, wonderful
vision, and has a keen eye for goal. He is also a set-piece specialist. The
Icelandic midfielder could have been deployed in the number 10 role, just
behind Andy Carroll, or in a more deep-lying midfield position from where he
would have been able to dictate the tempo of the game. The Swansea man would
arguably have been an upgrade on Mark Noble, whose performance levels have
plummeted this season. Depending on where the Welsh side finish in the
Premier League, Sigurdsson could be available again in the summer, however.
And West Ham should seriously consider going back in for the influential
playmaker then.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham replace Dimitri Payet mural with Andy Carroll wondergoal tribute at
the London Stadium
West Ham have replaced a tribute to Dimitri Payet at the London Stadium
They had to have security next to it in order to stop it from being
vandalised
The Hammers have put an image of Andy Carroll scoring his sensational
bicycle kick against Crystal Palace in its place
By Pete South For Mailonline
PUBLISHED: 13:16, 1 February 2017 | UPDATED: 13:29, 1 February 2017
West Ham stationed a security guard outside the Dimitri Payet mural at the
London stadium to prevent vandalism when news broke of his attempts to leave
the club earlier this month. Now, they've come up with a more permanent
solution. Payet has of course left the Hammers to re-join Marseille in a
transfer worth £25million, leaving more than a few critics back in east
London despite his assertion that he didn't owe fans an apology for his
behaviour. The club have moved swiftly to replace the tribute to their
former French playmaker, using a graphic of striker Andy Carroll's
wondergoal against Crystal Palace in its place, while surrounding it with
accolades from fans. The striker's sensational strike, an acrobatic bicycle
kick from Michail Antonio's cross, helped the Hammers to a 2-0 lead against
Palace before Manuel Lanzini rounded off a 3-0 victory. And Carroll himself
put his ability to get into position to score such a good goal down to his
wife, former reality TV star Billi Mucklow, persuading him to take up yoga.
'It's helped me a lot, especially when I've been injured,' Carroll said.
'I've been doing a lot of work up here (Billi's yoga studio), it's been
great.'
While West Ham were erasing Payet from the London Stadium, the 29-year-old
was busy making his debut for his new club. Payet was cheered before making
his debut by the home fans at the Stade Veledrome and admitted afterwards he
felt chills as he prepared to come on in the cup win over Lyon. 'I found
the Velodrome as I had left it,' he said. 'What did I feel when I returned
to the field? Chills.'
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Robert Snodgrass unfazed about replacing Dimitri Payet at West Ham because
'the lads have done great without him'
EXCLUSIVE
DAN LUDLAM
Evening Standard
Replacing a talent like Dimitri Payet is a big ask but Robert Snodgrass is
not fazed. Then again, West Ham's newest signing — brought in 48 hours
before the Payet to Marseille saga finally ended — knows all about being the
team's heartbeat. The 29-year-old has emerged as a key figure for club and
country over the past 12 months, securing a return to the top flight with
Hull and netting his first Scotland hat-trick in September. Hull are
propping up the Premier League but would have had far fewer points without
Snodgrass. The winger, with a sweet left foot, has seven League goals this
season — more than double the next best Hull player — and also betters his
former team-mates in assists (three) and shots (39). It is why West Ham
pursued Snodgrass when it became clear Payet would be on his way this month.
Payet was a hero to the Hammers fans before he downed tools to force the
move but the new era begins tonight when Snodgrass makes his debut against
Manchester City. Asked if he feels any extra pressure, he says: "No, I
don't think so. The lads have been doing great without Payet. They've won a
lot of games over the past few weeks and have got some big results. "There
are players here that can win games. They have a good core of lads that have
a winning desire which breeds confidence. You end up just fitting into that.
That's the way I am. I want to win every game so I'm delighted to be a part
of it."
Payet was given a standing ovation by the Marseille fans on his second debut
for the club at the Stade Velodrome last night, coming off the bench in
extra-time in a 2-1 French Cup win over Lyon. "I found the Velodrome as I
had left it," said the £25million signing. "What did I feel when I returned
to the field? Chills."
Snodgrass's first taste of the London Stadium is unlikely to be as emotional
but he is relishing the prospect of walking out in front of a crowd of
nearly 60,000 tonight. Burnley and Middlesbrough were also in for Snodgrass
but the Hammers sealed a £10.2m move with the player impressed by the club's
ambition. "When I saw there was interest from West Ham I wanted to become a
part of what they are building here," he says. "I played against West Ham a
few weeks back and lost 1-0 but we played very well. When you turn up to the
stadium it's got a great feel about it — that big stadium feel. The
supporters want us to restore the atmosphere created at Upton Park.
"When you're scoring goals the way Andy Carroll is and you're getting good
results, you will get that atmosphere back because these fans are terrific.
"You just want to be a part of it and I'm delighted it got done and I look
forward to the next few weeks. "I wanted to move first and foremost to try
and get security for my family and to have the opportunity to play at a club
like West Ham is terrific."
A win for the Hammers would lift them into the top half of the table,
showing how things can change quickly in football. Within the space of a
week at the turn of the year, the Hammers were beaten by Leicester and
Manchester United before being hammered 5-0 by tonight's opponents in the FA
Cup. Then came Payet's public fall-out with West Ham. Without the France
international, the squad pulled together and rattled off back-to-back wins
with Carroll bagging three goals, including a stunning scissor-kick in the
3-0 victory over Crystal Palace. Snodgrass is eager to help the Hammers
build on those performances and also his own this season. "As soon as you
lose that desire to keep on improving, then there's no point of even playing
football to be honest because you need to keep driving to be better every
day," he said. "That extra one per cent on a day-to-day basis drives you
forward and this is why these lads are at the top level. They have got that
burning feeling in them. They want to win football matches and become better
players. "The manager has stressed that we are off the back of some good
results so why not? "Why not try and believe that we can go and win the
game. So I'm looking forward to it and will be ready for when I'm called
upon. "If everybody has got that same attitude then I think it will take us
a very long way."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
James Olley: Let's tear March out of the West Ham calendar and move on from
Dimitri Payet saga
JAMES OLLEY
Evening Standard
The player selected for March in West Ham's official calendar is Dimitri
Payet. That always felt a little optimistic. Rumours of his unhappiness
stretched back as far as last summer and the situation gradually unravelled
in acrimonious fashion prior to him finally completing a £25million move
back to Marseille earlier this week. The loss of a star player rarely has
any positives for the selling club but West Ham should take solace from how
they handled themselves during the saga. They rewarded Payet for a
remarkable start in English football with a new contract last February and
privately sought to assuage his concerns by paying him a £1m loyalty bonus
in September. The 29-year-old continues to stress his motives for returning
to France were based on family issues but sympathy is in short supply given
he took West Ham's money in recognition of his faithfulness only to force
his way out four months later.
He was made to repay his January salary before co-chairman David Sullivan
and David Gold would sanction his departure, effectively arguing that once
he went on strike, he was not entitled to his weekly wage. If he had any
affinity for the club, Payet should have returned his loyalty bonus, too.
Slaven Bilic emerges from the whole affair with tremendous credit. It is
perhaps easy to forget the pressure he was under during the first half of
the season, when bookmakers had him heading their sack race markets as West
Ham won just six of their first 22 matches in all competitions.
Payet's betrayal will have hurt him deeply. I was fortunate to spend time in
the Croatian's office on several occasions last season, talking on and off
the record about various aspects of the club's campaign. While some managers
usually eschew highlighting individuals in favour of promoting the
collective, Bilic never once played down Payet's importance. It would not
have been easy to ostracise him but Bilic knew the corrosive effect Payet
could have on team unity once he had shown his hand. Bilic went public with
the breakdown in relations, ensuring West Ham controlled the agenda on the
deal as best they could and Sullivan maintained that position in a difficult
negotiation with Marseille. He wanted to make an example of Payet but
accepted a modest £25m sum to achieve closure for the benefit of Bilic and
his team. Wishing him well yesterday was the final class act from Bilic in a
transfer that reflects badly on Payet and no one else. Come March,
poster-boy Payet will be a distant memory.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham are 'a proper team' without Dimitri Payet, claims boss Slaven Bilic
Dimitri Payet left West Ham at the end of the transfer window for Marseille
Slaven Bilic says West Ham lost a great player but gained a stronger team
West Ham entertain Manchester City at the London Stadium on Wednesday
By Oliver Todd for MailOnline
PUBLISHED: 10:02, 1 February 2017 | UPDATED: 10:02, 1 February 2017
Slaven Bilic says West Ham are better off and 'a proper team' now, having
dumped Dimitri Payet. The £25million Frenchman finally moved on to Marseille
this week after falling out with his manager and his team-mates earlier this
month. But having watched his men step through the Payet-shaped cloud over
West Ham, Bilic says the loss of his best player has been transformative —
in a positive way.
Manchester City visit the London Stadium tonight and will find a different
outfit to the one they demolished 5-0 at the same venue in the FA Cup just
26 days ago. Back then, the biggest transfer drama of the January window had
just started to engulf West Ham before Payet refused to play or train. The
29-year-old was a substitute that night and in his absence since West Ham
have won back-to-back games. Bilic expects a result against City this time
around after discovering his group 'worship the obligation' they have to
perform in Payet's absence. 'We are a stronger team,' the Hammers boss
declared. 'The way that the team reacted after that was amazing. Not only in
games but in training as well, in the camp. 'During breakfast, before
training, in the gym: we are a proper team. We are now in a much better
situation than we were before the (previous) Man City game. 'Make no
mistake, we lost a great player. But sometimes you gain. The way the team
reacted and the atmosphere it's buzzing, it's great. We have enough quality
on the pitch to replace him in a different way. 'After what happened in the
last three months this is really a new start and it feels like every
individual in the team and the team itself is taking responsibility. 'But
they like to take responsibility. They worship that obligation that they
have now without Payet.'
West Ham supporters will find all Payet branding covered up at London
Stadium tonight and the name of the man they once worshipped is likely to be
widely derided. But Bilic would rather they remember the good times. His
memories will be of one of the greatest players to wear claret and blue
rather than a Judas figure. 'I have no hard feelings over him,' he said.
'The fans are now angry at him — of course they are angry. But I think after
some time, when they think about Payet, they will not think about what
happened at the end.
'Time heals everything. They will forget. They will remember him as one of
the greatest.'
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
WEST HAM V MAN CITY: PEP HAS IT ALL TO DO IF HE'S TO CLOSE GAP ON TOP 4
Ladbrokes.com
Both West Ham and Manchester City ended up having quiet Deadline Days, as
Slaven Bilic and Pep Guardiola instead opted to prepare for a vital clash at
the London Stadium. But having won five of their last eight matches, the
home side will prove a difficult nut to crack this evening.
In fact, that's the same number of recent victories as their opponents, who
head into this one as the 4/7 favourites, while the Hammers are 9/2 to take
all three points off City for the third time in six Premier League meetings.
This one did finish 5-0 to the Citizens last time the pair met – and 20/1
says we see a repeat of that scoreline, although it looks unlikely given
West Ham's recent resurgence.
Were City to get three points in east London, they'd leapfrog Liverpool into
fourth place – at least for a few days.
Meanwhile, a West Ham victory could see them climb up to ninth place.
And if you're looking for a form player heading into this one, you'd do well
to find anyone better than Andy Carroll.
The former Liverpool and Newcastle forward has bagged himself three goals in
two games for the Hammers, and 9/4 says he finds the net at any time in this
one.
Meanwhile, City's Germany international Leroy Sane is beginning to find his
feet in the Premier League, having scored two goals in as many games in all
competitions. He's 12/5 to get on the scoresheet.
For all of their attacking prowess, City have conceded in 10 of their last
12 top-flight matches, while the hosts have conceded in 10 of their last 13.
For that reason it's easy to see why it's as short as 8/13 for both teams to
find the net.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham win against Manchester City would bury toxic Dimitri Payet saga and
make London Stadium start to feel like home
JOHN DILLON
Evening Standard
West Ham now need one more thing to complete the healing process which has
followed the acrimonious departure of Dimitri Payet. Now they need a proper
performance and a result against Manchester City on Wednesday to bury the
acrid memory of the 5-0 thrashing inflicted on them by Pep Guardiola in the
FA Cup on January 6. It should be a new-look Hammers team which lines up at
the London Stadium. Robert Snodgrass and Jose Fonte are excellent transfer
window signings. So let's not have any of that modern day ritual whereby new
players sit in the stand for the first game after their arrival awaiting the
gaze of the TV cameras while their lack of match sharpness is earnestly
discussed.
Okay, Fonte last played for Southampton on January 2 before his £8 million
switch to east London. But he's a defender. He'll handle it. Turn the
equations of modern-day sports science on their head and you could argue
he'll have benefitted from the break. Snodgrass last played for Hull on
January 14. But his £7 million move to the Hammers is the biggest
opportunity of his career. He will be champing at the bit. The presence of
both men in this game might underline the sense that West Ham have dealt
with some major troubles and are ready to move on from the toxic events of
recent months. The humiliation by City in that FA Cup tie was the nadir of
those events on the pitch. Slaven Bilic's team were pitiful. They have since
beaten Crystal Palace at home and Middlesbrough away in the Premier League.
But City's win followed successive league defeats by Leicester and
Manchester United, which tore apart the feel-good factor which had been
building around the team when they beat Burnley, Hull and then Swansea, 4-1
away, in December. Five wins in seven league games is good form, of course.
But the memory of the abject performance against City still requires erasing
just to confirm that something has changed for the better around the place.
There is a sense that even the disgruntlement and unhappiness of many fans
with the nature of the new stadium might now be set aside for the rest of
the season.
A revenge win against Guardiola and his lavishly assembled team could
re-kindle the sense of optimism which filled the ground after the win
against Chelsea in the League Cup - but which then vanished again amid a
series of stultifying displays and bad home defeats during the remainder of
the Autumn.
The concerns of many supporters about the ground - its lack of atmosphere
and awkward unsuitability for football – are valid. But the club are going
nowhere else. At some point, the new surroundings have to be accepted.
Perhaps this will be the night. Certainly, the departure of the now-despised
Payet has provided a point around which the supporters feelings about the
season have crystallised.
Judging by the garish awfulness of the track suit he wore when he emerged on
the tarmac at Marseille after his private plane landed in France, the
Hammers are well rid of him for his dreadful fashion sense alone. The
co-chairman, David Sullivan, has revealed how troublesome Payet had become
behind the scenes, refusing to eat alongside his team-mates after training.
Sullivan is often commendably frank. But this revelation is a PR win-winner,
anyway. The club's official condemnation of the player's attitude chimes
perfectly with the supporters intensely hostile view of their former idol.
However, suggestions that the behaviour of the Frenchman soured the mood
around the club so much that they explain away the rancid form of the Autumn
should not be countenanced. The rest of the squad should have just got on
with things, anyway, in such circumstances. You can imagine how Billy Bonds
might have dealt with such a situation during his days as captain.
Certainly, though, the end of the saga will help. At the same time, the
resurgent form of Andy Carroll – and his own frankness in an interview this
week in which he confessed to boozing too much earlier in his career – have
added to the sense that there is a new mood at the club.
Yes, yes. It won't have stunned too many people to discover this about
Carroll. But it will have been refreshing for the supporters to learn of his
renewed focus. All he has to do now is stay fit. There is a vacancy now for
Number One hero at the London Stadium. The frustrating, stuttering nature of
Carroll's time at West Ham means he has never quite filled the role. Now is
his chance – starting against City.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
http://vyperz.blogspot.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
