Martinez names seven strikers that have influenced him
WHUFC.com
Toni Martinez has been in inspired form for the West Ham United U23s this
season, netting ten goals in all competitions already this campaign. The
Spaniard's hard work has earned him calls into the senior squad and, as
Martinez eyes a breakthrough, the forward has named the seven strikers that
have inspired him to succeed.
Chicharito
Martinez said:
He is one of the best finishers in the world. He has had an incredible
career, where he has always scored goals wherever he has gone. I talk a lot
with him, and I ask him for advice, because I like to listen to those who
know more, to learn. And he always helps me. He doesn't see youngsters as a
competition but as his heirs. I am very grateful for all his advice. Having
a striker of his level to help you is amazing.
Fernando Torres
Martinez said:
Torres was my childhood idol. When I was a kid and played at Real Murcia, he
had just emigrated to the Premier League, and he was a striker which I took
as a reference. I wanted to be like him. Most kids look up to Messi and
Cristiano Ronaldo, but for me it was always Torres. And I think now I feel a
bit identified. He left Atlético to go to Liverpool and I left Valencia to
come here, I hope to succeed.
Luis Suarez
Martinez said:
He is a fighter. I feel identified with him because he fights for 90
minutes. The match ends and he might have not scored but he carried his team
on his shoulders and his teammates scored two goals. And that is also very
important. I see that he is a club forward, he thinks about the team before
himself and that is great.
Fernando Llorente
Martinez said:
In the end, he ended up coming to the Premier League because I think it's a
league for Spanish forwards like him… or me. He left a legacy at Athletic
Bilbao and he did not stop scoring goals when he arrived here because, with
his qualities, it is a little easier to adapt to England. He is the example
of a striker who shapes his team's future as, at Swansea City, he scored 12
goals thanks to his amazing work-rate.
Sergio Aguero
Martinez said:
He has the goal record at Manchester City, and that says it all. He always
knows where he has to be to put the ball in the net. He is synonymous with
goals.
Marco van Basten
Martinez said:
I think I've seen all the videos of him! After seeing his goals, his
movements and in general how he worked on the pitch, he is the clear example
of the typical Dutch forward, talented but also a fighter. He scored goals
that seemed impossible.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Martinez said:
He's a beast. When we played against Everton I was impressed by how he
fought, the balls he won and the opportunities he generated for his team.
And that's a motivation, to see that a boy a few months older than me doing
so well in the Premier League. If he has done it, why not me? There are
other youngsters that I like. Tammy Abraham, who scored 20 goals in the
Championship, not to talk about Marcus Rashford, who will be a star. It's
not easy to play every week at Manchester United.
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Zabaleta: We need to show the same spirit and commitment against Arsenal
WHUFC.com
Pablo Zabaleta says West Ham United need to keep up the momentum when they
welcome Arsenal to London Stadium on Wednesday evening. The Hammers go into
their second straight derby having gained confidence by pushing Premier
League leaders Manchester City all the way, before beating champions
Chelsea. And right-back Zabaleta, who was in typically determined form in
Saturday's success, says David Moyes need to maintain the same standards
when they face the Gunners. "We didn't start the season the way we expected
but we showed in the last two games that with that spirit and commitment and
discipline, we are a good team" said the Argentina international, who
covered 10.73km against Chelsea. "You need to show that for 90 minutes. We
should have more points so we need to learn from our mistakes and keep
moving forward. "Hopefully we can put another good performance in against
Arsenal on Wednesday night. I'm sure the supporters will be behind us. It's
time to stick together and be positive."
Zabaleta himself is clearly enjoying West Ham's belated renaissance, none
more so than during Saturday's superb victory over Antonio Conte's Blues – a
team he enjoyed so many top-of-the-table battles with during nine seasons
with Manchester City. Now, the 32-year-old faces a different sort of
challenge; inspiring West Ham to the victories they need to steer clear of
the relegation zone. While he may be older, he is also wiser, and his
enthusiasm and passion for the game burn as bright as they ever have.
"Football today is physically so demanding and you need to be a good
professional to keep performing week in and week out," he observed. "Since
I've been here at West Ham I've always tried to give my best and I will
continue to. "I have the experience you need to help the young lads in that
team but also I need to work really hard. My position is to run up and down
for 90 minutes, to support an attack and be ready to track back and defend.
I thought I did quite well. "My love of the game is probably the last thing
I will lose as a football player. I'm so hungry to keep playing in football
and I came to West Ham to enjoy that. It's a great club. "My fighting spirit
makes me feel young. I wake up every morning and go in for training trying
to be a good professional and that will never change!"
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Premier League 2 London derby postponed
WHUFC.com
West Ham United U23s' Premier League 2 London derby against Tottenham
Hotspur on Monday night has been postponed due to the effects of the adverse
weather conditions. Following the falling of snow over the weekend and the
freezing temperatures which have affected the majority of the country over
the last couple of days, the match was postponed following a pitch
inspection on Monday afternoon.
A new date for the game will be announced in due course. Meanwhile, the
Club's next fixture at the Chigwell Construction Stadium is this Friday,
when the U18s begin their FA Youth Cup campaign with a home tie against
Blackpool. Tickets are priced at £3 for adults and £1 concessions at the for
the Blackpool clash – which kicks-off at 7pm – and all tickets will be
available to purchase on the day on the gate.
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Mark Noble: I love winning derbies!
WHUFC.com
Mark Noble is overjoyed by West Ham United's derby victory against Chelsea
and is hoping for a similar feeling after playing Arsenal later this week.
The Hammers claimed a 1-0 win against the Blues on Saturday thanks to an
early strike from Marko Arnautovic, giving David Moyes his first victory as
West Ham United manager. The result has given Noble – who ran 12.9km in the
contest at London Stadium – a huge smile that doesn't look like fading
anytime soon, and the captain wants the positivity to continue when the
Irons play the Gunners on Wednesday. "It's nice to go home with a smile on
my face," Noble told whufc.com. "I do like winning local derbies! Chelsea,
Spurs, and we've got another one on Wednesday night [against Arsenal]."
Noble and his teammates put in an impressive performance to get the better
of Antonio Conte's Chelsea, with the away side limited to just two shots on
target, both of which came in the first half. The 30-year-old was thrilled
with the defensive display of the team, having kept a clean sheet in the
result. Noble explained: "When you play against these players and you play
against teams like this that have so much money and can buy the best players
in the world, you can't just open up and match them up. "You've got to
realise that and you have to find a way to beat them. We found that way by
defending, by counter-attacking and I don't care if we defended for 90
minutes. We won the game."
The skipper, who made his 298th Premier League appearance on Saturday, also
took time to hail the loyal West Ham supporters for their role in the win
over the Blues. "The fans against Leicester, in the second half, took it
upon themselves to create an atmosphere. At points versus Chelsea I was
trying to take it upon myself to give the boys instructions on what to do
but they couldn't hear me because the crowd was so loud. I'd like that
problem every week!"
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Zoepfl relishing life at West Ham United Ladies
WHUFC.com
The infamous initiation ceremony of new players at new clubs, up and down
the country, traditionally sees the new signing required to sing in front of
their new comrades. Yet Ellie Zoepfl, who moved to West Ham United Ladies
after playing collegiate football for Virginia Tech Hokies and coaching at
Heritage High School in Leesburg, Virginia, is yet to complete her task.
"They told me I was going to have to get up and sing, but it still hasn't
happened!" midfielder Zoepfl admitted in her first interview since joining
the Club. "I'm hoping they've forgotten about it to be honest. I'm a little
nervous about that now. They might read this and remember…"
While Zoepfl is admittedly concerned about clearing her throat in front of
her teammates, the new acquisition had no such hesitation when it came to
making the switch to the Hammers. The signing of Zoepfl coincided with two
other additions – fellow American Zoe Swift and London Bees midfielder
Andria Georgiou – as there Hammers boosted his squad for the remainder of
the season. And the 24-year-old has found the move to the FA Women's Premier
League Southern Division a pleasant one so far, while the different style of
football played on this side of the Atlantic has presented a welcome
challenge. "It's been a really easy transition. I've been provided with so
much support. The other girls have been really welcoming which has made
moving to the club so enjoyable. I'm really enjoying my experience here so
far. "It's a different style of football to what I was used to back in
America. I think, while football is football, the game back in the USA is
focused on athletic ability, how fast you are, and those sorts of qualities.
Over here though it's more focused on technical ability. I'm liking that
aspect and I'm enjoying the competition so far."
Having played in just a handful of matches for the Irons so far, Zoepfl has
made an immediate impact on the home fans at Rush Green, most notably when
she netted an excellent half-volley from the edge of the box against C&K
Basildon. Despite that goal coming in a 7-3 defeat, Zoepfl was delighted to
register her first effort for the Hammers. "It was a relief to get my first
goal. It was a good finish. I was delighted with it and I'm hoping to score
even more."
In that game Zoepfl featured in the middle of the park, but already she has
cropped up in different roles for her new team. Moving around the pitch is
no bother to the recent signing, however. "I will play whatever position the
manager wants me to play. I think I can play a variety of different
positions. I can play on the wing or midfield. Wherever they want me to play
I'll give 100 per cent. "I just want to grow as a player and West Ham is
giving me an amazing platform to do that."
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Moyes: Getting the most out of Marko, Michail's work-rate and scary Stuart!
WHUFC.com
David Moyes was in exuberant mood when he spoke to the daily newspaper
journalists following Saturday's 1-0 Premier League victory over Chelsea.
The West Ham United manager was asked about getting the best out of Marko
Arnautovic, Michail Antonio's amazing work-rate and working with Stuart
Pearce. The Scot's answers were both enlightening and entertaining…
Getting the most out of Marko
I was asked after Saturday's game how I best use Marko Arnautovic if
everyone in the squad is fit. It's a tactical jigsaw puzzle which I will
have to make before and during every game we play. If we play with three at
the back, as we did against Chelsea, it's going to be difficult to play with
Michail Antonio wide on the right, to play Arnautovic wide on the left,
because it would mean we will be 3-4-3, which can be too attacking,
particularly against the top sides. On Saturday we were 3-5-2 for most of
the game, with Michail down the middle and Marko supporting him, with Manuel
Lanzini slightly deeper. We used their power and strength and I thought
those two as forwards could cause problems, and they did. Marko's all-round
work has been really good. I've just said to all the players 'If you don't
do it I won't select you because at the moment I need it'. Football isn't
all about running, it's about or passing the ball as well and other things,
but what the people here want to see is players putting in effort, and
energy. And I think the energy Marko showed is giving the crowd a lift and
they are reacting to see if Marko Arnautovic can do it they all can do it.
Michail ran himself into the ground
Talking of hard work, Michail Antonio literally ran himself into the ground
on Saturday. We wanted him to stay on as long as he could because we thought
he was in the mood. There's getting tired and grinding to a halt. He worked
really hard. He works really hard in every game and is a real handful at
times. It's more important that with him coming back from injury, we don't
overdo it and he gets injured. I wanted to hit them on the break but then he
ran out of steam. We got Andre Ayew on in the end and he used his experience
and his abilities to help us see the game out.
Stuart scares a few people!
The media asked me what I thought of Stuart Pearce being told to sit down
after he kicked the ball into the stand during the second half! I think the
public here know what Stuart Pearce is. And a lot of the people here thought
the defenders played a lot more like Stuart Pearce, putting their foot
through the ball and tackling and that we were more resilient than what we
have seen in other games. Chelsea did have some opportunities but in the
main we did a really good job in defending. Anthony Taylor came over and had
a word, but I think some of the refs are a wee bit frightened of him!
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Four Hammers in team of the week
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 11th December 2017
By: Staff Writer
West Ham United's defeat of Chelsea at the weekend resulted in three Hammers
being selected in ESPN's Team of the Week.
The Team of the Week, chosen by pundits included two defenders - Arthur
Masuaku and Angelo Ogbonna - plus match-winner Marko Arnautovic (even though
he is incorrectly listed as still representing his former club Stoke City).
Additionally, David Moyes was named as manager of the week - resulting in a
third of those nominated being Hammers - whilst at least one member of the
panel also selected Winston Reid.
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Fonte blasts 'ignorant' Sullivan
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 11th December 2017
By: Staff Writer
Jose Fonte has hit back at David Sullivan after the co-chairman revealed
that "my kids begged me not to sign" the Portuguese international. Sullivan,
speaking last week to The Guardian revealed that his sons had implored the
co-owner not to spent £18million on the central defender and Hull City
iwnger Rovert Snodgrass.
And Fonte, speaking to a tabloid newspaper called the 68-year-old "ignorant"
in response to his ill-judged comments. "I'm not going to say anything," -
said Fonte, who is currently sidelined through injury. "It's not going to
change who I am. It's not going to change what I do. "I'm going to keep
being the good professional that I am. I am going to keep working hard to
try and help my team-mates and the manager. What has been said has no effect
on me or who I am."
The other player accused of not being up to scratch, Scottish international
Snodgrass hit back at Sullivan on Friday night, when he sarcastically
thanked Sullivan for his support via social media.
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West Ham allocated three per cent for Spurs trip
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 11th December 2017
By: Staff Writer
West Ham have been allocated just 2,700 seats for the trip to Wembley next
month. Although the stadium holds in the region of 90,000 people, Spurs have
granted West Ham the tiny allocation on the advice of the Wembley Stadium
SAG (Safety Advisory Group). This has led to West Ham putting their away
ticket trial on hold temporarily, meaning season ticket holders and club
members with insufficient points will not be able to apply for match
tickets. The match, originally scheduled for New Year's Eve was postponed on
the advice of the SAG; West Ham will now play three games in six days as a
result.
Ticket Prices
Adults: £30; Over-65s: £19; Under-18s; £17.
Accessibility Prices: Adults: £30; Over-65s: £19; Under-18s: £17.
For both Wheelchair Viewing Spaces and Accessible (AEA) seating please email
accessibility@westhamunited.co.uk or call 0333 030 0174.
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West Ham 1-0 Chelsea (And Other Ramblings)
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 11th December 2017
By: HeadHammerShark
"You're part of the plan
For a new man, to come through"
- Van Morrison, "A New Kind of Man"
Yeah, so Match of the Day hasn't improved much since I last watched it in
2016.
Still, this might not have been a victory hatched hatched in Skokie,
Illinois by a barbershop quartet, or required the services of a lawyer by
the name of Kobayashi but this was a game won with a plan. And I am not used
to that. We are a team that tends to win with the inexpert deployment of
freewheeling chaos and lose with similarly spectacular implosions. What we
have seen in these last two games has been something a bit more akin to
precision engineering, as David Moyes has convinced his men to wed
themselves to the notion of becoming hard to beat, and trusting in moments
of quality to get a foothold in the game.
Five at the back isn't a new idea
And so it came to pass that Moyes established himself as our very own Verbal
Kint. The man with a plan. The Cockney Keyser Soze by way of Glasgow, who
turned to the customary names - Adrian, Reid, Noble and Cresswell, to drive
us through. And maybe at the end of the season it won't be enough and, like
that, he will be gone but for right here and now there is much to admire
about what he is doing, even if you've never seen the seminal The Usual
Suspects and are wondering if the simple act of winning has pushed me into
writing gibberish.
*Stops to pick up Alvaro Morata who has inexplicably just fallen over at my
feet*
Anyway, perhaps the best thing about this victory was that it wasn't an
"event" game. This wasn't Friday night at home to Spurs to end their title
challenge. This wasn't a desperate save-the-bosses-job rearguard action
against some fellow denizens of the depths of the Premier League. Instead,
this was a big game, for sure, but it was more ordinary than the usual games
we've tended to win since moving to the London Stadium. This was a derby,
but not a vitriolic one, played in the low morning sun of a freezing
December Saturday and without that frisson of something that hangs over such
games when the lights are on.
But what happened here was that the team gave us a lift. By scoring early
and then by looking competent, hard to beat and organised they gave us
something to latch on. It's hard to be bang up for a game when you've only
been up for a couple of hours after a heavy Friday night, but it's a whole
other plate of biscuits when Marko Arnatouvic has scored after five minutes,
Arthur Masuaku is pirouetting past their wing backs like Darcey Bussell and
Adrian has brought his wall-shaped gloves.
Above all, what this reminded me of was a game at Upton Park. We arrived
with a bit more hope, by virtue of the Manchester City performance and left
with the cast iron knowledge that this team can actually compete, and with a
bit more trust in the men in the dugout. The crowd were dragged into it, and
stayed with the team even though our second half attacks were little more
than speculative punts in the vague direction of Antonio and akin to lobbing
coins at fighter jets. And when the final whistle went there was a feeling
that, in some strange indefinable way we had got back a little of what we
lost by moving ground. That will mean different things to different people,
of course, but if I had to describe it I would say that by showing us he is
a credible candidate to lead this fight against relegation, Moyes has
successfully united everyone behind him. And that's a pretty good start.
***
"When you're lucid, you're the sweetest thing
I would trade my mother just to hear you sing"
- Camera Obscura, "The Sweetest Thing"
This sort of thing. More often, please.
I don't want to go too far overboard about a single victory, but there was
much to be enthused about there. Certainly, if Moyes can extract this level
of performance in the majority of the remaining games, and instil this level
of discipline into our defensive efforts then we will stay up. If nothing
else, this team should be able to get points at a greater rate than the
likes of Swansea or the freefalling promoted clubs.
We won here by virtue of a lovely effort from Arnautovic, who exchanged
pinpoint passes with Lanzini before curling home delightfully past an
unsighted Courtois. He then jumped in the crowd with a Gene Kelly style
sidekick, which at least reminded us all of the Golden Age of Hollywood
while he was getting booked.
Arnautovic gets a yellow card
The Austrian was perhaps a surprise recall given that the Manchester City
performance was largely built on hard work and defensive endeavour, but he
performed admirably here, and served the important function of giving us an
outlet further up the field. He played just behind Antonio who was the lone
striker and was excellent in harrying the Chelsea back line with his pace
and physicality. It was also a healthy reminder not to write off players too
soon when injuries, illness, confidence and even unwelcome comments from
chairmen might be affecting them.
*Stops to pick up Alvaro Morata who has inexplicably just fallen over at my
feet*
What was so different here to the rest of the season, was that the team had
more than one option when they looked forward. Either Arnautovic was
drifting out left and looking to exploit the space ahead of Masuaku, or
Antonio was running in behind Cahill and Christensen and forcing them to
deal with a mobile threat. The contrast to those long afternoons of watching
Andy Carroll play Musical Statues, or of Chicharito marooned out wide was
stark. Indeed, watching these last two performances against two of the best
teams in Europe should really be hammering home to people just how badly
Bilic did in those first few months of the season.
I sense that while Moyes is determined to build from the back, he has
decided that Arnautovic is a project worth pursuing, and you could see why
today. He didn't have huge amounts of defensive responsibility but worked
hard and, crucially, did enough in advanced areas to keep Chelsea occupied.
What is encouraging is that against weaker teams, you can see how this set
up can be progressive too. Masuaku can be pushed further forward, and
Lanzini can be freed to get closer to the front two and we won't spend
entire second halves frantically bailing water in the face of a continual
onslaught.
Selecting Arnautovic does cause a certain problem for Moyes because he
traditionally hasn't had too many of those mercurial types in his teams, and
seems a bit distrustful of any one who doesn't get up and run five miles
before breakfast, but if he can successfully integrate our record signing
then you sense there may be more days like this ahead.
***
"Did you ever have to finally decide?
And say yes to one, and let the other one ride?"
- The Lovin' Spoonful, "Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind?"
It might have only been a few weeks but Moyes already seems to have made a
few seismic decisions about this squad. His insistence that the players
weren't fit enough might have just been the standard new manager schtick,
but we are five games in and Joe Hart and Andy Carroll are on the bench, and
Aaron Cresswell is a centre back, so I think it's fair to say that he's now
forging his own path.
The goalkeeping decision was straightforward in terms of form, but not in
the sense of the profile of the players involved. Hart's World Cup ambitions
are what led him to us, and with typically short-sighted hubris we lapped
that up and forgot we already had his equal here. Quite apart from the cost
involved, it's not difficult to imagine the raised eyebrows that might have
caused among the strong Spanish speaking contingent in the squad.
Pashun, or PASHUN as we yell on the Costa del Sol
So Adrian deservedly kept his place here while Winston Reid undeservedly
reclaimed his, and both were excellent in repelling an off colour but still
dangerous Chelsea. In fact, calling them off colour is probably unfair to us
- it's weird how both City and Chelsea both had off days when confronted
with our well drilled back four isn't it?
In front of them Mark Noble returned at the expense of Edimilson Fernandes,
which I initially thought was a mistake as the latter's mobility was a
crucial factor last week, but once the game started and it became clear that
Chelsea don't play at the pace of City you could see the merit.
Noble may be slowing like Damian Green's computer, but he still possesses
the experience to manage games like these. Even in the first half when he
misplaced a few passes and the crowd began to "weerrrrrr" he still kept
playing, because he realised the crucial value of getting out of your own
box and stretching these sort of teams. So it was that most of our better
moves had Noble involved somewhere, and in the dying moments it was he who
did most to keep the team from exposing our backline to the kind of rapier
quick counter attack that did for us here last season, as astutely observed
by Michael Cox at ESPN.
While Chelsea dominated the ball they really didn't do a huge amount with
it, instead choosing to pass it round a lot before losing patience at our
surprisingly resilient defending and attempting something extravagant. Kind
of like when your local decides to become a gastropub and then googles the
price of quinoa and admits defeat.
*Stops to pick up Alvaro Morata who has inexplicably just fallen over at my
feet*
What was also noticeable was how differently referee Anthony Taylor treated
the fouling of the two sides. Like Manchester City last week, Chelsea are
the masters of the sly foul to prevent teams breaking on them quickly. They
tend to allow four or five seconds to recover the ball and if they don't
they foul. The likes of Cahill and Fabregas have it down to a fine art.
What's really interesting is that because these transgressions are generally
so far from the goal and so innocuous, referees rarely book players for
them, especially if the team in question is trailing. However, when a team
is defending a lead, then it seems to me that players will almost certainly
be booked immediately for any kind of foul, as officials seem to view these
all as cynical attempts to slow down play. And so it was that while both
teams committed ten fouls, we picked up six bookings and Chelsea managed
just one. Must be nice.
But despite that we held firm for 95 minutes, and should even have had a
penalty when an Arnautovic flick was fairly obviously handled by
Christensen. As it is, we are now a team who have conceded twice as many
goals in our games against Watford and Everton as we did against Manchester
City, Chelsea and Leicester. Welcome to East London, Moyesy, it's mad here.
Reid and Ogbonna were in their element today, however, as Chelsea started
looking to hit Morata with crosses, and whenever they were absent then
Cresswell was there to help out, as his positioning and passing were
excellent. It is noticeable how much better we look when we pass out through
the left with Cresswell and Masuaku then when it goes the other side through
the Hit'n'Hope twins Zabaleta and Reid, who combined to make less accurate
passes in this game than Cresswell on his own.
But for all that, the system worked and we funnelled plenty of attacks out
wide and away from goal, and that showed up in the fact that Chelsea
mustered just two shots on goal all day and both were in the first half. And
so the Caley Graphics xG map might show a slightly fortuitous win, that
doesn't tell the whole story. We battled, blocked and battered our way to a
win, and what a feeling it was.
This was genuinely the first time I have a left a game all year where I
couldn't really identify a poor performer in claret and blue. I could have
picked any of them as Man of the Match and not been wrong. Drink up these
days, for they don't come often enough.
***
"Get on yer dancing shoes
You sexy little swine"
- Arctic Monkeys, "Dancing Shoes"
On a day of claret cheeks and blue fingers, it was a bit of a surprise that
our best performer was a twinkle-toed African left wing back, but Arthur
Masuaku has been defying expectations quite a bit recently. He has always
looked comfortable on the ball but has generally displayed all the energy
and drive of a traffic warden in his previous performances. But, somewhere
at the end of last season he began to run with the ball, and he hasn't
looked back - quite possibly because if he did he'd just see a massive wide
open gap and Aaron Cresswell on his knees, weeping.
*Stops to pick up Alvaro Morata who has inexplicably just fallen over at my
feet*
In this game Masuaku was exceptional, as his runs repeatedly gave us an
option and a way out of from Chelsea pressure. Most fans were purring at his
dragbacks and turns, but I just enjoyed seeing one of our players look like
he could carry the ball into those rarefied advanced positions without
getting a nosebleed, and his quick interplay with Lanzini and Arnautovic was
a big part of our first half performance.
Call me after, yeah?
He also did his bit defensively, especially after Victor Moses came on, and
it is to the credit of Moyes and his team that he didn't choose to make the
Creswell/Masuaku decision a binary one and instead found a way to
accommodate both. I could do with Masuaku toning it down a little bit in his
own half, but given then he successfully went past 11 opponents in this game
- a season high for the anyone in the Premier League - it's probably
churlish to argue.
What I have also enjoyed about Moyes is that he seems to have got the team
to buy into a concept bigger than themselves. We fans tend to view games as
single, discrete events but there is little doubt that the confidence from
the Manchester City performance bled across here. Now the players had some
belief in what they were doing and that was never more evident than when
Masuaku had the ball and we were going forward. With Antonio running the
channels, and Noble and Obiang intelligently covering behind him we just
looked so much more solid as a unit. This must have been what it was like
when they finally fixed the Hyperdrive on the Millenium Falcon.
And as much as I'm loathe to say it loud, we have done most of this without
Cheikhou Kouyate, who is perhaps the best example of a player who had
deteriorated physically and tactically under Bilic, and seemingly has so
much more to give then we have seen lately. I'll never not believe in the
Senegal captain, in the same way as I will never accept that TJ Hooker was
anything other than world class television programming, but when he comes
back he is going to have to match this level of work and decision making to
hold down his spot. Which is as it should be.
*Stops to pick up Alvaro Morata who has inexplicably just fallen over at my
feet*
***
"Do you remember when the ship went down, you left me on the deck?
The Captain's corpse jumped up
And threw his arms around my neck"
- The Pogues, "The Turkish Song of the Damned"
There are other things I could talk about here - that very bizarre Antonio
substitution, the general tendency Moyes is showing to make his replacements
too late or the bird that literally died half way through the first half and
fell from the roof to the athletics track after a particularly wayward
Fabregas effort. But no, instead I'll address the elephant in the room -
David Sullivan has given an interview, everyone!
And so here we go - an H List within an H List. Kind of like Inception and
dreams within dreams, except that Tom Hardy isn't riding around on a
snowmobile shooting anyone and maybe you'll be able to understand this after
just one viewing. Although I'm not promising anything.
"Oh excellent - the Chairman has been speaking to the Press. I foresee no
issues at all"
If you haven't read the interview, you simply must stop what you are doing
right now and click on the above link to do so. It is by The Guardian
journalist, West Ham fan and friend of The H List, Jacob Steinberg, and I
think it's a brilliant piece because it isn't confrontational but draws so
much out of Sullivan.
Some might feel that focusing on this after a victory isn't the done thing,
but it's timely and in some respects, more relevant to our long term future
than any single game. Perhaps the easiest thing to do might be to take some
of the comments and explore them in a little more detail. I accept that we
can't be entirely privy to the tone or context of each of these statements,
but I keep hearing about how Sullivan's spent thirty years in football, and
therefore I'm going to assume that he understands how dictaphones and, you
know, interviews work. Albeit, that's not a conclusion you would draw from
actually reading any of it.
"I work my socks off, but sometimes it's not good enough"
It starts like every bad appraisal meeting I've ever had to take. It is such
a common thread among poorly performing professionals that they equate how
hard and how long they work with being good at their job. This isn't unique
to Sullivan, by any stretch, but when you're in your office at 2am and all
your peers are home in bed there's a reasonable chance it's not because
they're less dedicated than you and far more likely that they are simply
better at their job than you.
I should add here that the overriding feeling I had when I read this piece
was one of sympathy. It's never fun to watch somebody try and do a job they
care a great deal about, but don't really have any idea how to do. But
sympathy can only go so far - I wouldn't be that understanding of a surgeon
who was stood in an operating theatre quickly reciting "...the knee bone's
connected to the thigh bone, the thigh bone's connected to the hip bone!..."
before cutting open my patella. And so my empathy for Sullivan only
stretches so far - he might be finding it harder than he imagined and he
might be at a loss as to how he's ended up here but that's tough. There is
another option available to him whereby he steps aside for someone
competent, and every day he doesn't do that harms our club a little more.
"David Gold is 81, it's is whole life. He has nothing in his life except
West Ham. He has no hobbies. He has a family but he has one granddaughter"
Excuse me a moment while I load up my shotgun and just blow a few of these
fish out of this barrel.
(fires)
*In the distance Alvaro Morata falls over*
I have to imagine some of this has been lost in the translation. To talk so
dismissively of an old friend and business partner is just odd. To
insinuate, even unintentionally, that having a granddaughter is somehow
worse than having boys is also a bit of a misstep, shall we say. The
following morning Gold then "liked" a Tweet from a fan commenting that he
felt sorry for Gold having Sullivan as a business partner.
(sighs)
*Loads up shotgun again*
"Jack's learning his trade, he was desperate to do it. He worked in every
department at West Ham for a week. He knows everyone. He has opinions on
everyone... He or Dave could possibly be chairmen in the future"
Leaving aside the rather obvious point that nepotism isn't generally a great
trait for any business, this is still such a bizarre thing to say. I don't
have any particular issue with Sullivan's two boys wanting to follow him
into the family business, but I certainly have an issue with them doing it
in such a public way. Wouldn't be nice if they were instead sent off
overseas for a year or two to learn their trade at progressive, well run
clubs overseas? He could find them internships at Bundesliga or MLS clubs
and they could learn how different organisations operate, and gain crucial
knowledge of overseas markets while they do it.
Instead they've done a week putting names on the back of shirts in the Club
Shop and now Jack has just fired his first manager. Get up Morata, I want to
shoot you again.
Perhaps even more galling is that Gold's two daughters - Vanessa and
Jacqueline run large multinational, successful companies already. Giving
people jobs because of who they are related to isn't generally ever a good
thing, but we can't even get the bloody nepotism right.
"We're about £10m a year better off - it's not going to change our lives...I
just think we feel like a big club. Not a tinpot club."
So, in the week that the Mayor set his sights on West Ham for having a
one-sided deal involving public finances, our owner decided to announce that
a £10m a year profit wasn't all it's cracked up to be. I get that the
context was probably vastly different, but it does rather highlight the
constantly tone deaf nature of Sullivan's public utterances. E20 - who run
the stadium - have a best projected annual return in the next decade of a
£10m loss. The tabloids are circling. The mayor is fuming. Your local
council are out £40m in a time of eye watering austerity. There's a time and
a fucking place, man.
But even that pales next to the notion that our Chairman feels like we are a
big club. It inadvertently says so much about where we are now that our
owner, presiding over a team with the 13th highest wage bill in Europe and
the largest season ticket holder group in the country only "feels" like he's
in charge of a big club.
"I'm sure there's a hundred things I've said that I regret"
Today? In this interview? Have you ever considered not saying them? No? OK,
as you were.
"If we go down, we'll come straight back up. We always do...(but)...I should
have got rid of him in the summer, but beating Tottenham in the last home
game and beating Burnley was just enough. My family gave me such grief for
not doing it"
So. Many. Things.
Going down and coming straight back up isn't a skill you want to acquire.
Spurs wasn't the last home game - we played Liverpool and lost 4-0
immediately after. We beat Burnley at a fancy dress funfare where a game of
Premier League football broke out. Sofiane Feghouli played the whole game in
a mankini and still scored. Basing any decisions off that result would be
like deciding to hire me to direct the next Star Wars film because I did a
great job capturing the cake cutting at a wedding on my iPhone.
Your two teenage boys were giving you grief? And you care? And you think we
care?
Where's that gun? Morata you better get back up again cos I'm definitely
going to put one in your right foot, son.
"I'm not really the Director of Football...I'm not involved in the strategy.
The manager said he wanted Fonte and Snodgrass. My kids begged me not to
sign them"
What's really noticeable at this point is how little the interview is really
about West Ham, and how it's much more about Sullivan. Here, in two
sentences, he throws five people under that bus we parked at Chelsea a few
years ago. Bilic, Fonte, Snodgrass and his kids - all traduced in order to
preserve the image of Sullivan as an innocent bystander. So, while he may
have started by saying that he hadn't done well enough personally, we have
really arrived at the meat of it here. Now he is upset that he's given Bilic
too much rope, and is blaming Fonte and Snodgrass, two men he still employs,
for the simple sin of accepting his stupidly bloated contract offers. You
know, I begged you not to sign them too David, but once they joined I kind
of expected that we would at least give them a chance to show what they
could do before trashing them in a national paper.
I wonder if the Board will ever be able to draw a straight line from
comments such as these to their constant failure to hire the people they
want to hire as managers, coaches or indeed players?
As for Sullivan not being Director of Football, let's just gloss over the
incorrect statement from our Vice Chair in her annual report for the
accounts, and simply gaze in wonder at the fact that we apparently have a
huge gap at the centre of the club structure. Who is dealing with all those
things that don't include coaching or recruitment? Who is looking at
analytics and youth development? What about the link into the sports science
department? Remember when Allardyce led that initiative to check the players
teeth a couple of years ago? Or how about making sure there is sufficient
language support for new foreign players?
Maybe all of the above is moot and all that stuff happens seamlessly, but
the very strong signal from these type of comments is that perhaps they no
longer happen at all, or if they do, then nobody is tying it all together.
I'd just like to point out at this stage that if they need someone to cover
the position until Jack has finished his week in the ticket office, then I
am available.
(On a Director of Football) "There is one very good one in the Premier
League. I would seriously think about taking him on in due course and I know
he would come because he's approached me"
I won't lie - I'm deeply suspicious of anyone who has grown sick of the
constant competence at another club and wants to work in our Looney Toons
setup. On the other hand, perhaps the West Ham job is the ultimate goal
because there is so much demonstrable opportunity.
Where Sullivan does deserve credit here is for seemingly having the
intellectual flexibility to think beyond what hasn't been working so far. Of
course, the difference between talk and action is substantial, but perhaps
there is a glimmer of hope here. He'd better hope we're still in the Premier
League when he finally comes blinking into the modern age, however, or he'll
find his options are far less appetising than than they might otherwise be.
***
"I'm movin' on up now
Gettin' out of the darkness. My love shines on"
- Primal Scream, "Movin' On Up"
So on to Arsenal we go. I feel for Moyes because after Manchester City and
Chelsea, he deserved something easier like Brighton or Newcastle but Bilic
already wasted those games. Perhaps Wednesday will tell us a lot about the
direction of our travel, or perhaps it will simply be a little detour before
we crash into reality at Stoke on Saturday.
But what he has done is instil something in all of the team and the crowd,
and Moyes deserves credit for that. Maybe it won't last long, but so far the
signs seem to point at us having Everton era Moyes rather than the Grim
Reaper who turned up at Sunderland. Indeed, it feels like he's already
achieved more here in a month than he did in an entire season in the North
East. So, I continue to be cautiously impressed because, if nothing else, he
seems to be a man with a plan.
Please note that the opinions expressed in this article are those of the
author and do not necessarily represent the views of, nor should be
attributed to, KUMB.com.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Jose Fonte labels West Ham owner David Sullivan's transfer claims
'ignorance'
Last Updated: 11/12/17 7:25am
SSN
West Ham owner David Sullivan's claim his kids begged him not to sign Jose
Fonte has been labelled as "ignorance" by the player. Fonte initially
struggled to impress since making his £8m move from Southampton in January,
but his performances had improved before an injury in November ruled him out
for up to three months. Sullivan's comments came on the eve of West Ham's
1-0 victory over Chelsea, telling The Guardian he is not involved in the
club's transfer strategy and that then manager Slaven Bilic had told him he
wanted to sign Fonte along with Robert Snodgrass from Hull. "My kids begged
me not to sign them," Sullivan said.
Asked for a response, Fonte told: "It's ignorance. I'm not going to say
anything. It's not going to change who I am. It's not going to change what I
do. "I'm going to keep being the good professional that I am. I am going to
keep working hard to try and help my team-mates and the manager. What has
been said has no effect on me or who I am."
David Moyes swerved commenting on whether or not he will be looking to keep
Fonte at the club after taking over from Bilic, saying he had not spoken to
the defender since Sullivan's interview was published. Fonte insists his
future at the club lies in other people's hands, but defended his
credentials. "That decision is not for me," he added. "I am 33 years of age.
I have 500 or 600 appearances. I know what I have done in football. I know
how hard I have to work to be in this position "It makes no difference to
me. I will still continue to be the same guy I have always been."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
COLIN MAFHAM: How West Ham actually SAVED London by moving into the Olympic
Stadium
YOU may have noticed that West Ham played Chelsea at what started life as
the much vaunted Olympic Stadium, but which now goes under the title of the
rather less loved London Stadium.
By COLIN MAFHAM
PUBLISHED: 00:28, Sun, Dec 10, 2017
Express.co.uk
Around 50,000 people turned up for that one, paying good money and keeping
the turnstiles turning. Goodness knows what would have happened if they
hadn't.
Like some other Olympic stadiums around the world it would have been dead as
a dodo, not too many souls in sight, weeds sprouting all over the place, and
literally haemorrhaging money by the millions. Whether the Mayor of London
likes it or not, if West Ham hadn't moved in and taken a 99-year lease on
the place that 'old' Olympic stadium would have been an acutely embarrassing
- and very costly - white elephant which the Government would have found
very difficult to explain or justify. The millions squandered are nowhere
near as much as we're apparently willing to hand over to the European Union,
but it's a heckuva lot nonetheless. In fact the bill nudged nearly
£500million before they ever realised they had spent so much on what was
effectively a one horse pony. For all the talk about an Olympic legacy no
one seems to have worked out precisely how such a legacy was going to work
long term, what it would cost, and who would be in overall charge on a day
to day basis. There would appear to have been no real financial Plan B . . .
Until West Ham came to the rescue.
Rather than the football club getting the deal of the century as Mayor Sadiq
Khan calls it, the Hammers saved London, the Government, and his
predecessor, Boris Johnson, from a financial disaster that could still cost
taxpayers up to £1BILLION. The bill potentially went up another £50million
last week with plans to replace the retractable seats with an improved
hydraulic system which has to be installed manually and could threaten the
viability of the already cash guzzling stadium because of the time and
labour that will take. Now, it may suit the Labour Mayor to embarrass Boris
and Mr Khan's other political rivals as much as possible, and one could
argue he'd have a point on this one. The simple truth is that our present
Foreign Secretary and financially profligate advisers were sucked in by Lord
Seb Coe's romantic dream of a cathedral for athletics. And all at OUR
expense!
But his stadium of dreams was built in such a barmy way, and at such an
incredibly crazy cost, that the only people it appears to have provided a
legacy for are athletes who only need it for a handful of meetings a year!
All at a time when it would probably have cost considerably less to update
the i rundown, but fit for purpose, athletics stadium at Crystal Palace. As
I recall the Olympic cum London Stadium was supposed to stage all sorts of
other events, but the truth is it was never actually fit for most, bar one,
of those purposes. Forget not that such was the clueless thinking of those
who first ran the show that essentials like toilets, as well as catering
facilities and executive boxes all had to be built - afterwards.
Enter West Ham United and Baroness Karren Brady, a lady with more commercial
nous and commonsense in her little fingers than Boris and Lord Coe would
appear to possess in their entire bodies. Given that her club needed a new
place to expand in, it wasn't West Ham's fault that despite all the
political shenanigans that went on for some time they were the only ones who
wanted the place on a financially realistic basis. And, more importantly,
with the potential earnings and infrastructure to make it pay. Me thinks
that if they had appeared on The Apprentice TV show in which she stars with
Lord Sugar Messrs Johnson and Coe would have been told: You're fired! You
will recall Coe and co complaining bitterly that the Hammers involvement,
and any other alternative move for that matter, would be a betrayal of the
athletics legacy they held so dear, if you excuse the pun.
West Ham's bid to take over the stadium was challenged in the courts by
Tottenham Hotspur - who wanted to knock the whole place down and start again
- and Leyton Orient, whose interests and intentions were never totally
clear. As a result the whole plan had to be scrapped, subject to a bruising
war of words in front of the European Commission. Some sort of sense
eventually prevailed, West Ham's 99-year agreement was finally confirmed in
2013, and then the real work began to make the stadium fit for footy and, so
the plan went, for athletics, concerts and other events in the summer. But
then came the cost, more costs, and even more crippling costs. The naivety
and inefficiency bordered on the criminal. Because only two-thirds of the
seats were covered the initial cost of a new roof and retractable seats to
help fans get closer to the action was a whopping £160million. Basically, a
so called state of the art stadium that had already cost £700million
(without proper loos) had to be almost rebuilt to ditch the Coe dream and
convert the stadium into a 54,000 capacity dual-use arena (with proper
loos).
West Ham agreed to pay £15m towards the overall conversion costs, plus a
basic £2.5m a year in rent, including extra payments if they are successful
and a rent reduction if, God forbid, they are relegated. The rest of the
conversion budget is funded by the London Legacy Development Corporation
(LLDC), whoever they might be. So, here we are again, with politicians
wrangling over how to spend - and waste - other people's money. You would
have thought they would have learned from old mistakes (remember what the O2
used to be before it was a soaraway success?) and got the hang of balancing
the books like the rest of us have to. Wouldn't it be nice if, instead of
meddling in businesses they know nothing about, they deferred to proper
professionals to do the job - and let West Ham run the lot! Their players
might be struggling on the field right now, but Baroness Brady and club
owners David Gold and Sullivan have been running businesses successfully for
years. They, at least, know what they're doing - and they don't cost us
taxpayers a penny we don't want to spend.
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http://vyperz.blogspot.com
Monday, December 11
Daily WHUFC News - 11th December 2017
Adrian: We have shown that we are a good team
WHUFC.com
Adrian has waited four months for his chance in the Premier League this
season, but has shown he was ready to grasp it with both hands after helping
the Hammers to victory over Chelsea on Saturday. A week after producing six
saves in the Hammers' creditable rearguard effort at Manchester City, he
retained his place for this weekend's London derby and vindicated the
manager's selection with the clean sheet which paved the way for a 1-0
victory. In truth, a magnificent display team defending meant the No13 was
not overworked, being called into action to make first half saves from
N'Golo Kante and Davide Zappacosta – but none after 28 minutes of the game.
Chelsea had almost 70 per cent of the ball, but were unable to break through
the lines and Adrian had praise for all ten players in front of him – and
the 55,000 Hammers in the crowd. "It's a massive result," he beamed. "The
three points is really, really important because of the position we're in
and also because we've won at home in front of our fans, playing very well
and front of a top team like Chelsea. "Always, I need to say thank you to
the fans for the support they give for the whole 90 minutes because we feel
it on the pitch. Everyone enjoyed it on Saturday and now we start preparing
for the next game against Arsenal. "The whole team defended really well,
very compact and all together. We showed we are a good team when defending
and also attacking, because we created some chances to score aside from
Marko's goal. "It's not easy to play against these top teams because they
have many attacking players on the pitch, but we did well against Manchester
City and were unlucky with the result. We did the same work against Chelsea
and we got a massive three points. "It's one of the top results I've had at
this ground. To beat Chelsea at home, on Saturday in the early game on TV,
was really important for us and for me to keep the clean sheet in my second
Premier League game of the season. Thank you to the team for helping me get
that. "The manager gave me the opportunity to play on Saturday, so I have to
show that I am ready for every game, and also I have to repay the confidence
that he has given to me to put me in the starting eleven.
"We have good goalkeepers at the Club and I have to keep working hard every
day with Joe. For now I am very happy because of the result and the clean
sheet, but we have done nothing and have to keep going like this. "If we
show the same performance as this we can beat any team in the Premier
League. It's very competitive, and if you are doing well and doing your
basics, you will have your chance."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Junior Hammers Christmas Party postponed
WHUFC.com
Today's Junior Hammers Christmas Party has been postponed due to adverse
weather conditions and safety concerns. Club officials at Chadwell Heath
have been assessing the situation this morning after heavy snowfall
overnight, and the difficult decision has now been taken for the safety of
all who were due to attend.
Junior Hammers who had tickets for today's party will have first refusal for
the rearranged event, the date of which will be announced in due course. We
sincerely apologise for any disappointment caused by the postponement and
look forward to welcoming all our young supporters to an alternative event
with the first team squad very soon.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Marvellous Masuaku: Analysing Arthur's action-packed performance
WHUFC.com
While West Ham United's 1-0 Premier League win over Chelsea was undoubtedly
based on a whole team effort, Arthur Masuaku produced one of the most
eye-catching individual performances in London Stadium's brief history. The
left wing-back was a jack of all trades on Saturday, repeatedly driving the
Hammers forward in attack and helping his colleagues in defence whenever
required. With David Moyes' side focusing nearly two-thirds of their play
down the left flank, Masuaku was particularly to the fore, using his close
control, pace and elusiveness to regularly skip past his man, drive into the
final third and put Chelsea on the back foot.
West Ham United attacked down the left flank nearly two-thirds of the
timeAfter the break, in particular, his defensive attributes were more
apparent as West Ham successfully blunted Antonio Conte's champions to
record a first top-flight win and clean sheet in ten matches. The No24 ran
10.39km in total at an average of 6.42km/h, placing him fifth in distance
covered behind Mark Noble, Manuel Lanzini, Pedro Obiang and Pablo Zabaleta,
making 41 sprints and reaching a top speed of 32.03km/h. Only Michail
Antonio and Marko Arnautovic reached higher top speeds in a West Ham shirt.
Technically, Masuaku completed just 24 of his 32 pass attempts, but 23 of
those 32 attempts were made inside the Chelsea half, where space is at a
premium.
It was when he chose to run at the Chelsea defence that he really took full
effect. No player has completed more dribbles in a Premier League fixture
this season than the 23-year-old's eleven. Time and time again, the
Frenchman collected possession and his first thought was to get his head
down and drive forward into space, repeatedly testing right wing-back Davide
Zappacosta, his replacement Victor Moses and right centre-half Cesar
Azpilicueta. One such foray ended with a shot that zipped low and wide of
Thibaut Courtois' goal, while a succession of second-half dribbles relieved
the growing pressure on the home defence.
Like his compatriot Dimitri Payet before him, Masuaku has an ability to
carry the ball out of danger and turn the game around on his own, flipping
defence into attack in seconds. Further, no West Ham player had more touches
of the ball than Masuaku's 85. In fact, it was not even close, with Lanzini
a distant second with 63, and only two other Hammers touching the ball more
than 50 times.
Just before half-time, the former Olympiacos player was central to a
delightful passage of play featuring flicks, one-touch passing and movement
that ended with a chorus of 'Ole! Ole!' from the Claret and Blue Army.
Defensively, he was also important, winning 16 of his 22 duels, making five
clearances and two blocks, often doubling up with left centre-back Aaron
Cresswell to stifle Chelsea's attempts to break through the stubborn,
compact and disciplined West Ham defence. Moyes explained his decision to
draft him into the team was based on Masuaku's pace and ability to carry the
ball forward. On Saturday, against one of the best teams in Europe, he
justified his manager's decision fully. And then some.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
THE REAL WEST HAM FANS ACTION GROUP
AUTHOR: EXWHUEMPLOYEE. PUBLISHED: 10 DECEMBER 2017 AT 7:55PM
TheWestHamWay.co.uk
Written by RWHAG
So, who are we?
We are exactly what our title says we are, The Real West Ham Fans Action
Group and we are here because we are sick of how the club is being run. We
want change and we are not stopping until we get the changes the fans want,
deserve and need. We left our home with a lot of promises being made, a lot
of which have not been lived up to. We can go on and on about the things
promised but most of you know what they were. When we moved to the London
Stadium a lot of fans were on such a high following the final year at the
Boleyn Ground that we lost track of what really is happening and what
exactly is going on at our great club. Many thought the day we left Upton
Park would never come but it has and many now wish that it never happened.
Why did we form and who formed us?
The reason we formed is because, as stated above, we want change and we want
our club back. We feel that as fans, we do not get the respect from the
board that we deserve. We want to watch football inside a football stadium,
not an athletics stadium. We have been branded as 'customers' over and over
again when all we are is passionate and loyal supporters who just want the
very best for the club. The action group was formed by Andy Swallow, Bill
Gardner, Micky Morgan and 'Moose' (not Ian Abrahams from Talksport radio!):
Four of the most passionate and loyal supports you could want at your club.
Since then we have been joined by Paul Laws who will be looking at the
provisions that the club make for disabled and elderly supporters as we do
not feel that these are currently of a sufficient standard. We have also
been joined by Harry Hamilton who will provide a voice for the younger
generation of supporters as they are the future of our club and we value
their views just as much as anyone else's. We feel that it is important to
reiterate that the Action Group is not in any way associated to the ICF or
FLA. We are our own group simply looking to make things happen for the
benefit of West Ham supporters.
When were we formed?
We formed in the last two to three weeks and the ever-growing support we
have received on Facebook and Twitter has been fantastic so we would like to
thank everyone for their support and offers to help out as and when they
can. We have gone from strength to strength and we intend keep growing and
growing: This is just the beginning. We will keep pushing for change and
once we are satisfied with the changes that have been made we intend to keep
the group going as a voice for the fans to get any problems we may face
ironed out nice and quickly.
Balloon protest
The balloon protest has been called off as confirmed by Andy Swallow on the
live video on Friday night. The suggestion was originally made as it was
felt that it would be a visible demonstration of how many fans are unhappy
with the way that the club is being run: Not a small group of fans, but
thousands of individuals. We decided to use black balloons as the colour
signifies to the board that we as fans feel that the club has died. We
selected the Newcastle game as we felt it would give us time to spread the
word and get our name out there to fans who do not use social media and do
not know who we are or what we are here for and give them a chance to show
their frustration and voice their opinion. However, we have since decided to
call of the protest as we feel that we will need more time to get the word
out. An announcement about the first plan of action will be made soon.
Harry Hamilton: Why I decided to get involved
When I was growing up the thing I always loved being told was that I was to
going West Ham on Saturday with my Dad. It meant everything to me. Getting
off the tube at Upton Park, walking down Green Street and smelling the
freshly-cooked burgers, walking past the bakery outside the station, hearing
'Bubbles' ring around the Queens, nothing ever made me happier. Now my Dad,
like a lot of people, is hating it at the new stadium, finding it a chore
and has effectively been priced out. This is the case for numerous
supporters. There are no concession prices for 'Category A' games: All
tickets are priced at between £50 and £80. When travel, food and drink are
included parents are looking at a bill of between £250 and £300 simply to
take their children to watch a game of football. Many people cannot afford
that. When we moved stadium, a big promise made by the club was the
provision of 'affordable football'. This clearly is not the case: Another
lie, another broken promise.
Another thing that has saddened many supporters has been the disappearance
of the vendors who used to operate on Green Street: The scarves, hats and
badges, the burger vans and the 'two for a pound' sweet stall. These are
people who fans had made friends with over the years. All of these
businesses were told they would receive help moving to the new stadium:
No-one would be left behind. So, where are they? None of them were given the
chance to make the move; in their place we have much more expensive, high
street brands. A burger and chips, for example, now costs £9. It is because
of things like this that I got involved.
During our meeting at the Boleyn pub on Monday numerous people told us that,
like my Dad, they now found going to watch West Ham a chore. Many said they
simply could not be bothered with the hassle because the club no longer
feels like West Ham. Hearing this hurt me: If the parents and grandparents
cannot be bothered anymore or find it a chore, what chance do the younger
generation have? The last thing the club needs is to be abandoned by the
younger generation in favour of other clubs. Without the fans, we have no
club. I cannot wait for the day I have a child of my own and I can take them
to watch West Ham but at the moment I do not think I would want to. This is
not the West Ham I want my child growing up knowing. I grew up loving West
Ham not because we were an amazing team on the pitch – let's be honest, we
never have been – I fell in love with this club because of the fans, the
ground and everything that came with it. Going into the Boleyn with my Dad
and his mates was a brilliant experience and I always came out smiling
having heard the songs and experienced the party atmosphere. To me, that was
what it was all about and at the moment I have never felt so far away from
the club, as have many other people I know who are of a similar age – and I
am only 20 years old.
Some people will agree with us, others may not. One thing we all must
remember is that everyone is entitled to their opinion, all of which must be
respected. When all is said and done, we are still West Ham United and we
all will always be united as one when we support the club.
COYI
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Marko Arnautovic feels David Moyes' tough approach is helping West Ham
Last Updated: 10/12/17 12:05pm
SSN
Marko Arnautovic says the no-nonsense approach of new manager David Moyes is
helping West Ham to turn a corner. Arnautovic scored his first goal for the
club in Saturday's 1-0 win over Chelsea to seal Moyes' first win since
taking over from Slaven Bilic. "Every day we have to work hard under this
coach and there are no excuses," said Arnautovic. "Everybody needs to do his
main job and do two or three more jobs on the pitch. "We are working hard as
a team and I think you could see that in the game and if we continue to do
that, we will be hard to beat."
The victory was West Ham's first in the league since September, halting a
run of eight games without a win (three draws, five defeats). But the
Hammers remain in relegation trouble, sitting 18th in the table with 13
points from 16 matches, and Arnautovic acknowledges the busy festive period
will be crucial to their survival hopes. Arnautovic added: "We need to keep
up this level. It's a busy month and we're going to have a game every three
days so it's going to be hard, so we need to recover well and go again
against Arsenal on Wednesday."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
MOYES IS LEARNING
By Blind Hammer 10 Dec 2017 at 17:00
WTID
Blind Hammer reflects on Moyes' new coaching setup
It was weird this morning. On the day after a West Ham game I woke up
feeling quite serene. For the first time for ages I felt there was a
steadying hand at the tiller of the West Ham defensive coaching setup.
After the Everton defeat I wrote that Moyes was not only a man in a hurry
but one who needed to learn fast in what direction he wanted to go.
Before and after his appointment there were despairing references to Moyes
as a "dinosaur that was going to rely solely on the long ball and parking
the bus. In particular his instant recourse to and reliance on the strengths
of Andy Carroll seemed ominous for the sort of football we could expect.
Yet after only a month in charge we find the guardian describing West Ham in
the following terms.
"Chelsea was deservedly beaten by opponents who were simply more organised,
more determined, and more athletic and who found a sting when on top."
Even a couple of weeks ago the notion that West Ham could be more organised
and athletic than a top four side seemed a pipe dream.
In complete contradiction to some of the early negative perspective Moyes is
showing early signs of intellectual flexibility and insight. He swiftly
identified our present vulnerability with a flat back 4, so easily exposed
in the Everton game. He responded by having the insight to move Creswell
into the left of a defensive 3. Cresswell responded by providing his best
performance of the season. This solidity provided the platform for Masuaku
to provide a rampaging man of the match performance at left wing back. He
stressed the Chelsea defence all afternoon. Conte tried to counter Masuaku
by introducing Moses to occupy and reduce his threat. In the event Moses
spent more time chasing Masuaku than the other way around. On the right,
Zabeleta had arguably his best performance in a West Ham shirt.
Moyes also seems able to unlock the mercurial talents of Arnautovic in a new
look forward line up. Moyes stressed post match that Carroll still had an
important role at the club but these were talents that would be needed for
some but not all games. Yesterday he wanted the pace and mobility of both
Arnautovic and Antonio. Even when Arnautovic was withdrawn he wanted the
greater mobility that Sakho offered. Moyes provided blunt
straightforwardness by criticising Antonio's physical collapse after the
game. He made it clear that he needed forwards who could play for 90 and not
65 minutes. MOYES IS SHOWING ABILITY TO GRAPS SOME uncomfortable NETTLES.
THIS WAS HUGELY DEMONSTRATED BY HIS RETENTION OF Adrian in goal. Adrian must
feel vindicated now after Sullivan's description of Hart as the best
goalkeeper he has ever worked with.
Above all what was encouraging for me was the evidence of intelligent
coaching. My in-stadium commentator told us that behind him were Alan Irvine
who was in constant communication on a mobile link to Moyes' earpiece. From
his high viewpoint he provided feedback on patterns of play and development
that Moyes would have found difficult to see from the touchline. On the
touchline the presence of Pearce which is vast amount of international and
club management and coaching experience was so much more reassuring to see
than Julian Dicks, legendary as a player but sadly not as a coach.
Last night when I got home I re-listened to the game on iPlayer. Pat Nevins
thought that all over the park Moyes had out thought Conte tactically.
Specifically he thought West Ham had trained to disrupt the previously
successful hazard Morata combination and link up play. Morata was also
nullified in the box through defenders ganging up on him. He praised how
generally West Ham's midfield quashed Chelsea's threat by not just effort
but also intelligence.
For me personally, I was gratified that we did not, every time we won a
corner, then concede an effort on our goal on the break. Special praise is
due to Obiang, who provided this covering security.
Finally yet again the Stadium provided an atmosphere to be proud of. The
nonsense that the arena is a soulless bowl was yet again disproven. The
atmosphere is dreadful when we are playing badly and do not appear to have a
clue. The same was true for Upton Park actually.
One Swallow does not make a summer but at last there is some reason for
optimism.
COYI
David Griffith
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
'They're wrong': David Moyes responds to accusation made at West Ham fans
HITC
Antony Martin
The London Stadium was bouncing during West Ham United's home win over
Chelsea yesterday. Hammers boss David Moyes spoke to reporters in the
aftermath of his side's superb 1-0 win over Chelsea, and praised the home
fans for creating an atmosphere that helped his team win the game, as quoted
by the club's official website. West Ham desperately needed all three points
yesterday, and their victory took them level on points with 17th placed West
Bromwich Albion.
The Scot will be delighted with not only the manner in which his players
approached the game, but also with the part that the home crowd played in
the match.
There have been questions raised over the sometimes toxic atmosphere at the
London Stadium this season, but the Hammers faithful were in full voice
yesterday, cheering their side on from the very first whistle until the
last. Moyes addressed the media after the game, and suggested that anyone
who says there is a poor atmosphere at West Ham's stadium is wrong, as
quoted by WHUFC.com: "For anybody to say there is not a good atmosphere
here, they're wrong. They'd have to be here today to see the great
atmosphere inside the stadium. The supporters knew the game was on the edge.
We were fighting to not concede and the crowd were great and they played a
big part. They appreciated the effort the players are putting in, and if
they're putting that effort in, then supporters will cheer them. Ultimately,
we want to play our football better, but it can only be one step at a time."
Next up for the Hammers is a home game against Arsenal on Wednesday, and
they will have every chance of turning Arsene Wenger's men over if they
display the same determination and conviction they showed against Chelsea
yesterday.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham star explains how London Stadium is starting to become a fortress
for David Moyes
He also revealed his friendly rivalry with Joe Hart
Football London
ByTashan Deniran-Alleyne
18:15, 10 DEC 2017
West Ham United goalkeeper Adrian has said the 1-0 win over Chelsea is one
of the best results he's experienced at the London Stadium and revealed his
happiness at repaying David Moyes' faith. The form book was turned upside
down as a Hammers side which had failed to win a single league game since
the end of September toppled a Blues outfit which had been unbeaten in seven
top flight games prior to kick-off in East London. Marko Arnautovic's sixth
minute goal - his first since arriving for a club record fee from Stoke City
in the summer - proved to be the difference between the two rivals as United
moved level on points with West Brom in the table. Since moving into their
new surroundings at the start of last season, United suffered more
high-profile losses than they have victories and Adrian believes it doesn't
get much better than the success against the reigning champions of English
football top tier. "The whole team defended really well, very compact and
all together. We showed we are a good team when defending and also
attacking, because we created some chances to score aside from Marko's
goal," he told the club's official website. "It's not easy to play against
these top teams because they have many attacking players on the pitch, but
we did well against Manchester City and were unlucky with the result. We did
the same work against Chelsea and we got a massive three points. "It's one
of the top results I've had at this ground. To beat Chelsea at home, on
Saturday in the early game on TV, was really important for us and for me to
keep the clean sheet in my second Premier League game of the season. Thank
you to the team for helping me get that."
Adrian retained his place in between the sticks following an impressive
showing in the 2-1 loss at the hands of Manchester City as Moyes opted
against the option to recall Joe Hart to his starting XI and the Spaniard
admits he's grateful for the opportunity. "The manager gave me the
opportunity to play on Saturday, so I have to show that I am ready for every
game, and also I have to repay the confidence that he has given to me to put
me in the starting eleven," he added.
"We have good goalkeepers at the Club and I have to keep working hard every
day with Joe. For now I am very happy because of the result and the clean
sheet, but we have done nothing and have to keep going like this. "If we
show the same performance as this we can beat any team in the Premier
League. It's very competitive, and if you are doing well and doing your
basics, you will have your chance."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Joe Hart should not go to the World Cup if he can't keep West Ham place,
says Chris Sutton
TOM DUTTON
ES Sport
Joe Hart should not go to the World Cup if he can't win back his place at
West Ham, according to Chris Sutton. Hart was ineligible against parent club
City last week when stand-in goalkeeper Adrian seized his chance to impress.
The Spaniard made a string of fine saves despite defeat at the Etihad and
kept his place in the starting XI for the visit of Chelsea on Saturday.
Moyes revealed Hart 'encouraged' Adrian ahead of his first League appearance
at the London Stadium this season and the Hammers went on to keep their
first clean sheet since September and seal a shock victory over the
champions. But Sutton expects Hart to slip out of Gareth Southgate's World
Cup squad if he can't win back his spot. "That leaves him struggling for
England's World Cup squad, for me," he told BT Sport. "He has to play games.
How can Gareth Southgate take him to the World Cup if he doesn't play games?
"David Moyes has stumbled across it because of what happened at Manchester
City but there's not going to be a way back. "If David Moyes thought so much
of Joe Hart he would have played."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
David Moyes: Joe Hart gave Adrian 'encouragement' before West Ham's derby
game against Chelsea
VAISHALI BHARDWAJ
ES Sport
David Moyes has revealed that Joe Hart reacted well to being replaced in the
West Ham side by Adrian, with the on-loan Manchester City goalkeeper giving
the Spaniard "encouragement" before the Hammers' London derby clash with
Chelsea on Saturday. Since arriving from City on a season-long loan deal in
the summer, Hart has started every Premier League game for West Ham but has
conceded 16 goals in his last six appearances for the Hammers. The England
international was ineligible to play against his parent club City last
weekend, which handed Adrian the chance to impress new West Ham manager
Moyes. The 30-year-old did just that as the Hammers were only narrowly
beaten 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium, which encouraged Moyes to keep Adrian in
goal for the visit of champions Chelsea on Saturday. And after Adrian made a
handful of fine saves in the 1-0 home win for West Ham, Moyes praised his
performance and admitted Hart had taken the Spaniard's inclusion in his
starting line-up positively. Moyes told reporters on Saturday: "I thought he
[Adrian] played very well. "Joe has been a great professional and took it
very well. He gave Adrian encouragement. "I have to praise Joe. I have two
really good goalkeepers. It was based on Adrian's performance against
Manchester City."
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http://vyperz.blogspot.com
WHUFC.com
Adrian has waited four months for his chance in the Premier League this
season, but has shown he was ready to grasp it with both hands after helping
the Hammers to victory over Chelsea on Saturday. A week after producing six
saves in the Hammers' creditable rearguard effort at Manchester City, he
retained his place for this weekend's London derby and vindicated the
manager's selection with the clean sheet which paved the way for a 1-0
victory. In truth, a magnificent display team defending meant the No13 was
not overworked, being called into action to make first half saves from
N'Golo Kante and Davide Zappacosta – but none after 28 minutes of the game.
Chelsea had almost 70 per cent of the ball, but were unable to break through
the lines and Adrian had praise for all ten players in front of him – and
the 55,000 Hammers in the crowd. "It's a massive result," he beamed. "The
three points is really, really important because of the position we're in
and also because we've won at home in front of our fans, playing very well
and front of a top team like Chelsea. "Always, I need to say thank you to
the fans for the support they give for the whole 90 minutes because we feel
it on the pitch. Everyone enjoyed it on Saturday and now we start preparing
for the next game against Arsenal. "The whole team defended really well,
very compact and all together. We showed we are a good team when defending
and also attacking, because we created some chances to score aside from
Marko's goal. "It's not easy to play against these top teams because they
have many attacking players on the pitch, but we did well against Manchester
City and were unlucky with the result. We did the same work against Chelsea
and we got a massive three points. "It's one of the top results I've had at
this ground. To beat Chelsea at home, on Saturday in the early game on TV,
was really important for us and for me to keep the clean sheet in my second
Premier League game of the season. Thank you to the team for helping me get
that. "The manager gave me the opportunity to play on Saturday, so I have to
show that I am ready for every game, and also I have to repay the confidence
that he has given to me to put me in the starting eleven.
"We have good goalkeepers at the Club and I have to keep working hard every
day with Joe. For now I am very happy because of the result and the clean
sheet, but we have done nothing and have to keep going like this. "If we
show the same performance as this we can beat any team in the Premier
League. It's very competitive, and if you are doing well and doing your
basics, you will have your chance."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Junior Hammers Christmas Party postponed
WHUFC.com
Today's Junior Hammers Christmas Party has been postponed due to adverse
weather conditions and safety concerns. Club officials at Chadwell Heath
have been assessing the situation this morning after heavy snowfall
overnight, and the difficult decision has now been taken for the safety of
all who were due to attend.
Junior Hammers who had tickets for today's party will have first refusal for
the rearranged event, the date of which will be announced in due course. We
sincerely apologise for any disappointment caused by the postponement and
look forward to welcoming all our young supporters to an alternative event
with the first team squad very soon.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Marvellous Masuaku: Analysing Arthur's action-packed performance
WHUFC.com
While West Ham United's 1-0 Premier League win over Chelsea was undoubtedly
based on a whole team effort, Arthur Masuaku produced one of the most
eye-catching individual performances in London Stadium's brief history. The
left wing-back was a jack of all trades on Saturday, repeatedly driving the
Hammers forward in attack and helping his colleagues in defence whenever
required. With David Moyes' side focusing nearly two-thirds of their play
down the left flank, Masuaku was particularly to the fore, using his close
control, pace and elusiveness to regularly skip past his man, drive into the
final third and put Chelsea on the back foot.
West Ham United attacked down the left flank nearly two-thirds of the
timeAfter the break, in particular, his defensive attributes were more
apparent as West Ham successfully blunted Antonio Conte's champions to
record a first top-flight win and clean sheet in ten matches. The No24 ran
10.39km in total at an average of 6.42km/h, placing him fifth in distance
covered behind Mark Noble, Manuel Lanzini, Pedro Obiang and Pablo Zabaleta,
making 41 sprints and reaching a top speed of 32.03km/h. Only Michail
Antonio and Marko Arnautovic reached higher top speeds in a West Ham shirt.
Technically, Masuaku completed just 24 of his 32 pass attempts, but 23 of
those 32 attempts were made inside the Chelsea half, where space is at a
premium.
It was when he chose to run at the Chelsea defence that he really took full
effect. No player has completed more dribbles in a Premier League fixture
this season than the 23-year-old's eleven. Time and time again, the
Frenchman collected possession and his first thought was to get his head
down and drive forward into space, repeatedly testing right wing-back Davide
Zappacosta, his replacement Victor Moses and right centre-half Cesar
Azpilicueta. One such foray ended with a shot that zipped low and wide of
Thibaut Courtois' goal, while a succession of second-half dribbles relieved
the growing pressure on the home defence.
Like his compatriot Dimitri Payet before him, Masuaku has an ability to
carry the ball out of danger and turn the game around on his own, flipping
defence into attack in seconds. Further, no West Ham player had more touches
of the ball than Masuaku's 85. In fact, it was not even close, with Lanzini
a distant second with 63, and only two other Hammers touching the ball more
than 50 times.
Just before half-time, the former Olympiacos player was central to a
delightful passage of play featuring flicks, one-touch passing and movement
that ended with a chorus of 'Ole! Ole!' from the Claret and Blue Army.
Defensively, he was also important, winning 16 of his 22 duels, making five
clearances and two blocks, often doubling up with left centre-back Aaron
Cresswell to stifle Chelsea's attempts to break through the stubborn,
compact and disciplined West Ham defence. Moyes explained his decision to
draft him into the team was based on Masuaku's pace and ability to carry the
ball forward. On Saturday, against one of the best teams in Europe, he
justified his manager's decision fully. And then some.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
THE REAL WEST HAM FANS ACTION GROUP
AUTHOR: EXWHUEMPLOYEE. PUBLISHED: 10 DECEMBER 2017 AT 7:55PM
TheWestHamWay.co.uk
Written by RWHAG
So, who are we?
We are exactly what our title says we are, The Real West Ham Fans Action
Group and we are here because we are sick of how the club is being run. We
want change and we are not stopping until we get the changes the fans want,
deserve and need. We left our home with a lot of promises being made, a lot
of which have not been lived up to. We can go on and on about the things
promised but most of you know what they were. When we moved to the London
Stadium a lot of fans were on such a high following the final year at the
Boleyn Ground that we lost track of what really is happening and what
exactly is going on at our great club. Many thought the day we left Upton
Park would never come but it has and many now wish that it never happened.
Why did we form and who formed us?
The reason we formed is because, as stated above, we want change and we want
our club back. We feel that as fans, we do not get the respect from the
board that we deserve. We want to watch football inside a football stadium,
not an athletics stadium. We have been branded as 'customers' over and over
again when all we are is passionate and loyal supporters who just want the
very best for the club. The action group was formed by Andy Swallow, Bill
Gardner, Micky Morgan and 'Moose' (not Ian Abrahams from Talksport radio!):
Four of the most passionate and loyal supports you could want at your club.
Since then we have been joined by Paul Laws who will be looking at the
provisions that the club make for disabled and elderly supporters as we do
not feel that these are currently of a sufficient standard. We have also
been joined by Harry Hamilton who will provide a voice for the younger
generation of supporters as they are the future of our club and we value
their views just as much as anyone else's. We feel that it is important to
reiterate that the Action Group is not in any way associated to the ICF or
FLA. We are our own group simply looking to make things happen for the
benefit of West Ham supporters.
When were we formed?
We formed in the last two to three weeks and the ever-growing support we
have received on Facebook and Twitter has been fantastic so we would like to
thank everyone for their support and offers to help out as and when they
can. We have gone from strength to strength and we intend keep growing and
growing: This is just the beginning. We will keep pushing for change and
once we are satisfied with the changes that have been made we intend to keep
the group going as a voice for the fans to get any problems we may face
ironed out nice and quickly.
Balloon protest
The balloon protest has been called off as confirmed by Andy Swallow on the
live video on Friday night. The suggestion was originally made as it was
felt that it would be a visible demonstration of how many fans are unhappy
with the way that the club is being run: Not a small group of fans, but
thousands of individuals. We decided to use black balloons as the colour
signifies to the board that we as fans feel that the club has died. We
selected the Newcastle game as we felt it would give us time to spread the
word and get our name out there to fans who do not use social media and do
not know who we are or what we are here for and give them a chance to show
their frustration and voice their opinion. However, we have since decided to
call of the protest as we feel that we will need more time to get the word
out. An announcement about the first plan of action will be made soon.
Harry Hamilton: Why I decided to get involved
When I was growing up the thing I always loved being told was that I was to
going West Ham on Saturday with my Dad. It meant everything to me. Getting
off the tube at Upton Park, walking down Green Street and smelling the
freshly-cooked burgers, walking past the bakery outside the station, hearing
'Bubbles' ring around the Queens, nothing ever made me happier. Now my Dad,
like a lot of people, is hating it at the new stadium, finding it a chore
and has effectively been priced out. This is the case for numerous
supporters. There are no concession prices for 'Category A' games: All
tickets are priced at between £50 and £80. When travel, food and drink are
included parents are looking at a bill of between £250 and £300 simply to
take their children to watch a game of football. Many people cannot afford
that. When we moved stadium, a big promise made by the club was the
provision of 'affordable football'. This clearly is not the case: Another
lie, another broken promise.
Another thing that has saddened many supporters has been the disappearance
of the vendors who used to operate on Green Street: The scarves, hats and
badges, the burger vans and the 'two for a pound' sweet stall. These are
people who fans had made friends with over the years. All of these
businesses were told they would receive help moving to the new stadium:
No-one would be left behind. So, where are they? None of them were given the
chance to make the move; in their place we have much more expensive, high
street brands. A burger and chips, for example, now costs £9. It is because
of things like this that I got involved.
During our meeting at the Boleyn pub on Monday numerous people told us that,
like my Dad, they now found going to watch West Ham a chore. Many said they
simply could not be bothered with the hassle because the club no longer
feels like West Ham. Hearing this hurt me: If the parents and grandparents
cannot be bothered anymore or find it a chore, what chance do the younger
generation have? The last thing the club needs is to be abandoned by the
younger generation in favour of other clubs. Without the fans, we have no
club. I cannot wait for the day I have a child of my own and I can take them
to watch West Ham but at the moment I do not think I would want to. This is
not the West Ham I want my child growing up knowing. I grew up loving West
Ham not because we were an amazing team on the pitch – let's be honest, we
never have been – I fell in love with this club because of the fans, the
ground and everything that came with it. Going into the Boleyn with my Dad
and his mates was a brilliant experience and I always came out smiling
having heard the songs and experienced the party atmosphere. To me, that was
what it was all about and at the moment I have never felt so far away from
the club, as have many other people I know who are of a similar age – and I
am only 20 years old.
Some people will agree with us, others may not. One thing we all must
remember is that everyone is entitled to their opinion, all of which must be
respected. When all is said and done, we are still West Ham United and we
all will always be united as one when we support the club.
COYI
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Marko Arnautovic feels David Moyes' tough approach is helping West Ham
Last Updated: 10/12/17 12:05pm
SSN
Marko Arnautovic says the no-nonsense approach of new manager David Moyes is
helping West Ham to turn a corner. Arnautovic scored his first goal for the
club in Saturday's 1-0 win over Chelsea to seal Moyes' first win since
taking over from Slaven Bilic. "Every day we have to work hard under this
coach and there are no excuses," said Arnautovic. "Everybody needs to do his
main job and do two or three more jobs on the pitch. "We are working hard as
a team and I think you could see that in the game and if we continue to do
that, we will be hard to beat."
The victory was West Ham's first in the league since September, halting a
run of eight games without a win (three draws, five defeats). But the
Hammers remain in relegation trouble, sitting 18th in the table with 13
points from 16 matches, and Arnautovic acknowledges the busy festive period
will be crucial to their survival hopes. Arnautovic added: "We need to keep
up this level. It's a busy month and we're going to have a game every three
days so it's going to be hard, so we need to recover well and go again
against Arsenal on Wednesday."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
MOYES IS LEARNING
By Blind Hammer 10 Dec 2017 at 17:00
WTID
Blind Hammer reflects on Moyes' new coaching setup
It was weird this morning. On the day after a West Ham game I woke up
feeling quite serene. For the first time for ages I felt there was a
steadying hand at the tiller of the West Ham defensive coaching setup.
After the Everton defeat I wrote that Moyes was not only a man in a hurry
but one who needed to learn fast in what direction he wanted to go.
Before and after his appointment there were despairing references to Moyes
as a "dinosaur that was going to rely solely on the long ball and parking
the bus. In particular his instant recourse to and reliance on the strengths
of Andy Carroll seemed ominous for the sort of football we could expect.
Yet after only a month in charge we find the guardian describing West Ham in
the following terms.
"Chelsea was deservedly beaten by opponents who were simply more organised,
more determined, and more athletic and who found a sting when on top."
Even a couple of weeks ago the notion that West Ham could be more organised
and athletic than a top four side seemed a pipe dream.
In complete contradiction to some of the early negative perspective Moyes is
showing early signs of intellectual flexibility and insight. He swiftly
identified our present vulnerability with a flat back 4, so easily exposed
in the Everton game. He responded by having the insight to move Creswell
into the left of a defensive 3. Cresswell responded by providing his best
performance of the season. This solidity provided the platform for Masuaku
to provide a rampaging man of the match performance at left wing back. He
stressed the Chelsea defence all afternoon. Conte tried to counter Masuaku
by introducing Moses to occupy and reduce his threat. In the event Moses
spent more time chasing Masuaku than the other way around. On the right,
Zabeleta had arguably his best performance in a West Ham shirt.
Moyes also seems able to unlock the mercurial talents of Arnautovic in a new
look forward line up. Moyes stressed post match that Carroll still had an
important role at the club but these were talents that would be needed for
some but not all games. Yesterday he wanted the pace and mobility of both
Arnautovic and Antonio. Even when Arnautovic was withdrawn he wanted the
greater mobility that Sakho offered. Moyes provided blunt
straightforwardness by criticising Antonio's physical collapse after the
game. He made it clear that he needed forwards who could play for 90 and not
65 minutes. MOYES IS SHOWING ABILITY TO GRAPS SOME uncomfortable NETTLES.
THIS WAS HUGELY DEMONSTRATED BY HIS RETENTION OF Adrian in goal. Adrian must
feel vindicated now after Sullivan's description of Hart as the best
goalkeeper he has ever worked with.
Above all what was encouraging for me was the evidence of intelligent
coaching. My in-stadium commentator told us that behind him were Alan Irvine
who was in constant communication on a mobile link to Moyes' earpiece. From
his high viewpoint he provided feedback on patterns of play and development
that Moyes would have found difficult to see from the touchline. On the
touchline the presence of Pearce which is vast amount of international and
club management and coaching experience was so much more reassuring to see
than Julian Dicks, legendary as a player but sadly not as a coach.
Last night when I got home I re-listened to the game on iPlayer. Pat Nevins
thought that all over the park Moyes had out thought Conte tactically.
Specifically he thought West Ham had trained to disrupt the previously
successful hazard Morata combination and link up play. Morata was also
nullified in the box through defenders ganging up on him. He praised how
generally West Ham's midfield quashed Chelsea's threat by not just effort
but also intelligence.
For me personally, I was gratified that we did not, every time we won a
corner, then concede an effort on our goal on the break. Special praise is
due to Obiang, who provided this covering security.
Finally yet again the Stadium provided an atmosphere to be proud of. The
nonsense that the arena is a soulless bowl was yet again disproven. The
atmosphere is dreadful when we are playing badly and do not appear to have a
clue. The same was true for Upton Park actually.
One Swallow does not make a summer but at last there is some reason for
optimism.
COYI
David Griffith
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'They're wrong': David Moyes responds to accusation made at West Ham fans
HITC
Antony Martin
The London Stadium was bouncing during West Ham United's home win over
Chelsea yesterday. Hammers boss David Moyes spoke to reporters in the
aftermath of his side's superb 1-0 win over Chelsea, and praised the home
fans for creating an atmosphere that helped his team win the game, as quoted
by the club's official website. West Ham desperately needed all three points
yesterday, and their victory took them level on points with 17th placed West
Bromwich Albion.
The Scot will be delighted with not only the manner in which his players
approached the game, but also with the part that the home crowd played in
the match.
There have been questions raised over the sometimes toxic atmosphere at the
London Stadium this season, but the Hammers faithful were in full voice
yesterday, cheering their side on from the very first whistle until the
last. Moyes addressed the media after the game, and suggested that anyone
who says there is a poor atmosphere at West Ham's stadium is wrong, as
quoted by WHUFC.com: "For anybody to say there is not a good atmosphere
here, they're wrong. They'd have to be here today to see the great
atmosphere inside the stadium. The supporters knew the game was on the edge.
We were fighting to not concede and the crowd were great and they played a
big part. They appreciated the effort the players are putting in, and if
they're putting that effort in, then supporters will cheer them. Ultimately,
we want to play our football better, but it can only be one step at a time."
Next up for the Hammers is a home game against Arsenal on Wednesday, and
they will have every chance of turning Arsene Wenger's men over if they
display the same determination and conviction they showed against Chelsea
yesterday.
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West Ham star explains how London Stadium is starting to become a fortress
for David Moyes
He also revealed his friendly rivalry with Joe Hart
Football London
ByTashan Deniran-Alleyne
18:15, 10 DEC 2017
West Ham United goalkeeper Adrian has said the 1-0 win over Chelsea is one
of the best results he's experienced at the London Stadium and revealed his
happiness at repaying David Moyes' faith. The form book was turned upside
down as a Hammers side which had failed to win a single league game since
the end of September toppled a Blues outfit which had been unbeaten in seven
top flight games prior to kick-off in East London. Marko Arnautovic's sixth
minute goal - his first since arriving for a club record fee from Stoke City
in the summer - proved to be the difference between the two rivals as United
moved level on points with West Brom in the table. Since moving into their
new surroundings at the start of last season, United suffered more
high-profile losses than they have victories and Adrian believes it doesn't
get much better than the success against the reigning champions of English
football top tier. "The whole team defended really well, very compact and
all together. We showed we are a good team when defending and also
attacking, because we created some chances to score aside from Marko's
goal," he told the club's official website. "It's not easy to play against
these top teams because they have many attacking players on the pitch, but
we did well against Manchester City and were unlucky with the result. We did
the same work against Chelsea and we got a massive three points. "It's one
of the top results I've had at this ground. To beat Chelsea at home, on
Saturday in the early game on TV, was really important for us and for me to
keep the clean sheet in my second Premier League game of the season. Thank
you to the team for helping me get that."
Adrian retained his place in between the sticks following an impressive
showing in the 2-1 loss at the hands of Manchester City as Moyes opted
against the option to recall Joe Hart to his starting XI and the Spaniard
admits he's grateful for the opportunity. "The manager gave me the
opportunity to play on Saturday, so I have to show that I am ready for every
game, and also I have to repay the confidence that he has given to me to put
me in the starting eleven," he added.
"We have good goalkeepers at the Club and I have to keep working hard every
day with Joe. For now I am very happy because of the result and the clean
sheet, but we have done nothing and have to keep going like this. "If we
show the same performance as this we can beat any team in the Premier
League. It's very competitive, and if you are doing well and doing your
basics, you will have your chance."
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Joe Hart should not go to the World Cup if he can't keep West Ham place,
says Chris Sutton
TOM DUTTON
ES Sport
Joe Hart should not go to the World Cup if he can't win back his place at
West Ham, according to Chris Sutton. Hart was ineligible against parent club
City last week when stand-in goalkeeper Adrian seized his chance to impress.
The Spaniard made a string of fine saves despite defeat at the Etihad and
kept his place in the starting XI for the visit of Chelsea on Saturday.
Moyes revealed Hart 'encouraged' Adrian ahead of his first League appearance
at the London Stadium this season and the Hammers went on to keep their
first clean sheet since September and seal a shock victory over the
champions. But Sutton expects Hart to slip out of Gareth Southgate's World
Cup squad if he can't win back his spot. "That leaves him struggling for
England's World Cup squad, for me," he told BT Sport. "He has to play games.
How can Gareth Southgate take him to the World Cup if he doesn't play games?
"David Moyes has stumbled across it because of what happened at Manchester
City but there's not going to be a way back. "If David Moyes thought so much
of Joe Hart he would have played."
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David Moyes: Joe Hart gave Adrian 'encouragement' before West Ham's derby
game against Chelsea
VAISHALI BHARDWAJ
ES Sport
David Moyes has revealed that Joe Hart reacted well to being replaced in the
West Ham side by Adrian, with the on-loan Manchester City goalkeeper giving
the Spaniard "encouragement" before the Hammers' London derby clash with
Chelsea on Saturday. Since arriving from City on a season-long loan deal in
the summer, Hart has started every Premier League game for West Ham but has
conceded 16 goals in his last six appearances for the Hammers. The England
international was ineligible to play against his parent club City last
weekend, which handed Adrian the chance to impress new West Ham manager
Moyes. The 30-year-old did just that as the Hammers were only narrowly
beaten 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium, which encouraged Moyes to keep Adrian in
goal for the visit of champions Chelsea on Saturday. And after Adrian made a
handful of fine saves in the 1-0 home win for West Ham, Moyes praised his
performance and admitted Hart had taken the Spaniard's inclusion in his
starting line-up positively. Moyes told reporters on Saturday: "I thought he
[Adrian] played very well. "Joe has been a great professional and took it
very well. He gave Adrian encouragement. "I have to praise Joe. I have two
really good goalkeepers. It was based on Adrian's performance against
Manchester City."
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http://vyperz.blogspot.com
Saturday, December 9
Daily WHUFC News - 10th December 2017
Magnificent Hammers shut out Chelsea for derby win
WHUFC.com
West Ham United 1 – 0 Chelsea
Premier League
West Ham United gave David Moyes their first victory as manager with a magnificent defensive effort against Chelsea on Saturday. Marko Arnautovic's early goal was enough to see off the Premier League champions and end a two-month wait for victory in the Premier League. The Hammers had to repel an enormous amount of Chelsea possession, but did a fine job of restricting their visitors largely to efforts from range. After a testing period for the Hammers, it was just the tonic they needed following on from a similarly resolute performance at Manchester City last week, and sets them up for the busy festive period on a stronger footing.
Moyes has a big call to make in goal following Adrian's fine performance at Manchester City last week and he opted to retain the No13 in his starting XI, alongside bringing Winston Reid, Mark Noble and Arnautovic back. It was the latter who had an immediate impact, firing the hosts into the lead with just six minutes on the clock. It was a lovely goal too, as the Austrian exchanged passes with Manuel Lanzini before dropping a shoulder to see off Cesar Azpilicueta and shoot into the corner. The Hammers led at the league leaders a week ago and then held the advantage again here, giving them something to hold onto as Chelsea searched for a foothold in the contest. They certainly gained it in terms of possession – going into the break with 66 per cent of the ball – but West Ham were doing a sturdy job of defending against it.
Chelsea's threat was largely coming from shots from outside the box, and Adrian had to be alert to touch a N'Golo Kante curler around the pitch on 28 minutes.
The danger wasn't over, and from the resulting corner Davide Zappacosta's low drive needed another smart stop from the Hammers keeper. West Ham's problem in the opening 35 minutes was that they were not winning enough of the second balls in midfield, but they improved in that aspect in the closing stages of the opening period and began to pose questions again. Arthur Masuaku looked to use his dribbling skills to good effect in attacking areas and he ghosted past his man before dragging a shot wide from outside the area.
West Ham had penalty shouts early in the second period when Arnautovic ran at Andreas Christiansen and the ball skipped up onto his arm, but referee Anthony Taylor waved play on. The visitors wasted no time in using their attacking options, bringing all of Pedro, Willian and former Hammers loanee Victor Moses on inside the first 19 minutes of the second period, and the Hammers were being pushed deeper and deeper. Like the first half, though, Chelsea were having difficulty in cutting through the Hammers though, with Zappacosta's flashed shot across goal on 58 typical of their threat. As the Hammers tired, the Blues' sights of goal got slightly clearer, and Alvaro Morata cracked a shot just wide of the mark after Masuaku couldn't get up in time and played the Spaniard onside. It was a clear opportunity – the clearest the visitors had – but they didn't take it as the Hammers held on for the points.
West Ham United: Adrian, Zabaleta, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Noble (c), Obiang, Arnautovic (Sakho 69), Lanzini, Masuaku, Antonio (Ayew 78)
Subs: Hart, Rice, Fernandes, Carroll, Chicharito
Goal: Arnautovic 6
Booked: Arnautovic, Adrian, Reid, Cresswell, Obiang, Masuaku
Chelsea: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Christiansen, Cahill (c), Zappacosta (Willian 64), Kante, Bakayoko (Pedro 46), Alonso (Moses 55), Fabregas, Hazard, Morata
Subs: Caballero, Rudiger, Ampadu, Batshuay
Booked: Alonso
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Attendance: 56,953
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Moyes hails 'fantastic spirit and effort'
WHUFC.com
David Moyes praised his team's spirit and effort after his West Ham United side battled hard at London Stadium to claim a 1-0 victory over London rivals Chelsea. The Hammers were forced to defend for large parts of the game after Marko Arnautovic had given them the lead in the sixth-minute of the Premier League derby. However, Moyes' men limited the Blues to just a couple of meaningful chances and the hosts could have stretched their lead even further on the break in the second half on a number of occasions.
On the back of last week's battling performance which eventually yielded no points at Manchester City, the boss was delighted as this time, the east Londoners were able to hold onto their first half lead. He said: "What a great result it is for us. We needed to find a result and we've done that. We came close against Manchester City and for long periods, we thought we were going to get it. "But today, the spirit of the team, how we stuck together and our effort was fantastic. The basics were done very well today. "Don't get me wrong, it was really tough today, Chelsea kept us under pressure. But we played well, we scored a good goal in the first half and if we'd been better with the ball in the second half we'd have got another goal."
With Michail Antonio leading the line and Arnautovic and Manuel Lanzini in just behind the 27-year-old, the Hammers packed the midfield and prevented last year's Premier League champions from causing too much danger in and around the penalty area. And a back five, consisting of wing-backs Pablo Zabaleta and Arthur Masuaku and Winston Reid, Angelo Ogbonna and Aaron Cresswell playing more centrally, stood strong and cleared everything that came their way.
Along with goalkeeper Adrian who kept his place after last week's Man of the Match performance at the Etihad Stadium, the manager was thrilled with his defence who helped keep a first clean sheet in eleven games. "We are having to try and stop conceding goals," he continued. "I think we have people who can score and cause problems, but we need to stop conceding goals. "We did better last week with that, we didn't get a result but we were better and again we were better today. "I have two really good goalkeepers. Joe's professional when I told him he wasn't playing, and Adrian played very well last week. We have kept a clean sheet today, so at the moment Adrian's done well and played well again today."
As ever, the West Ham supporters stuck behind their team and were a huge influence in the second half as the eleven on the pitch put in a backs-to-the-wall display, and Moyes admitted they played a big part. "For anybody to say there is not a good atmosphere here, they're wrong. They'd have to be here today to see the great atmosphere inside the stadium. The supporters knew the game was on the edge. "We were fighting to not concede and the crowd were great and they played a big part. "They appreciated the effort the players are putting in, and if they're putting that effort in, then supporters will cheer them. Ultimately, we want to play our football better, but it can only be one step at a time. "We need our season to turn now. We've beaten the champions today, it's a great achievement for us and a great three points."
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Arnautovic: When the team and fans combine, we can be unbeatable
WHUFC.com
When Marko Arnautovic scored West Ham United's Premier League match-winner against Chelsea at London Stadium, his first reaction was to head for the East Stand Lower to celebrate with the Claret and Blue Army. The Austrian celebrated his first goal for the Club on Saturday by racing to the touchline, hurdling the advertising hoarding and burying himself in a mass of happy Hammers. It was a gesture not just of joy, but of thanks to the supporters who have stuck by the team through a difficult start to the season and were rewarded with a valuable victory over their London rivals on Saturday. "I can do everything better, but I'm improving now and I'm enjoying playing football," said the No7, who steered the ball past Thibaut Courtois at the end of a superb move involving Pablo Zabaleta, Michail Antonio and Manuel Lanzini. "I'm feeling fit and I trained hard and try to get the best out of myself and then, when I take that into the game and it works out, I feel good. "It felt great for our fans because they deserve it and for us, as a team, it's amazing to get a win. For myself, I scored and we beat them, so it's an amazing feeling that I cannot describe. I don't want this to be my last goal. I want it to be the first one of many. "I just wanted to celebrate with them and I want to give back to them because, when the fans get behind us and cheer us for 90 minutes, they are unbeatable, I think. Nobody can beat them. When they are behind us and we are on the front foot, nobody can beat us as well. "We're going to enjoy this today, but when we wake up we're going to concentrate on Arsenal, because we have three important games this week, not just one."
Arnautovic and his teammates matched Premier League champions Chelsea stride for stride on Saturday, with the Austrian himself covering nearly 9km in just 69 minutes on the pitch. The 29-year-old said the Hammers' improving physical output statistics were down to the intense work the players were putting in under new manager David Moyes and his staff. The squad will rest and recover on Sunday before returning to the training pitch on Monday morning ahead of the midweek visit of Arsenal. "Every day, we need to work hard under this coach and there are no excuses. Everybody needs to do his main job and do two or three more jobs on the pitch. We are working hard as a team and I think you could see this in the game and if we continue to do that, we will be hard to beat.
"We need to keep up the level. Now is a busy month and we're going to have a game every three days so it's going to be hard, so we need to recover well and go again on Wednesday. "I'm really tired, I'm going to go to sleep tonight and then tomorrow I'm going to work hard to make sure I'm ready for Wednesday!"
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Chicharito is at his best playing as a centre forward - Moyes
WHUFC.com
David Moyes says Chicharito's best position is centre forward and he is working out a system to best utilise the Mexico international's goal poaching talents.
The 29-year-old has netted at a prolific rate for Guadalajara, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen and his national side throughout his career.
However, Moyes admits he needs to find a way of getting the best out of Chicharito in a West Ham United shirt. "Going back to when I started, I think the squad was a group of players where we had a lot of centre forwards, a lot of left wingers," he explained. "If you going to play three at the back you can't really fit in wide players and wingers and if you are going to play 4-3-3 you can only play one striker, so I feel as if there was a group of players who were made for a couple of systems. "So it has not always been that easy to just do that one job, and you are trying to get your best players in the team, so I can understand why Chicharito has had to play in certain roles because there are other centre forwards like Andy Carroll and Andre Ayew here. "We have got to try and find a way of getting the best balance. We are still working towards getting to that."
When asked if the No17, who returns to the squad for Saturday's Premier League derby with Chelsea after a month out with a hamstring injury, is at his most potent when playing as a centre forward, Moyes was in no doubt. "I do think that is his best position," he confirmed. "My memories of him are his finishing and his nearly being on the last shoulder."What he needs then is lots of balls in the box and a team that is going to give him that service."
Carroll is also back in the squad after overcoming his own injury problems, albeit a less serious issue than Chicharito.However, it sounds like both may begin Saturday's lunchtime kick-off on the substitutes' bench."Andy started training yesterday so probably in better condition than the likes of Chicharito, who is not long back."He has only been out a week or two, while Chicharito has not played for three or four weeks. So I think with match fitness Andy is a little bit closer. But both are not quite ready yet."
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West Ham Ladies part company with manager
WHUFC.com
West Ham United Ladies have parted company with manager Greg De Carnys. General manager Karen Ray will take temporary charge of first team duties while the Hammers finalise the appointment of a new manager.West Ham United would like to place on record its sincere gratitude to Greg for everything he achieved over his short but significant tenure at the helm.
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Lanzini: Manager got the tactics spot on against Chelsea
WHUFc.com
Manuel Lanzini says David Moyes' tactical approach was spot on as the Hammers stifled Premier League champions Chelsea to claim a 1-0 win over the Blues on Saturday. West Ham United were magnificent in defence against their visitors, soaking up Chelsea's 69 per cent of possession to only allow them two shots on target in the match, and none in the second half. At the other end Lanzini laid on Marko Arnautovic's sixth-minute winner - the goal giving the Hammers a platform from which to repel Chelsea's attacking threat. He said: "We really needed the win, especially given our situation in the table. We knew that it was going to be an extremely hard match but we had the right system, like we did against City, where we could also have got a point, but this time luckily everything clicked. "We played great in defence and we converted the chance we had, which was really important and we played a great match. "Obviously we know the situation we're in, and we need to win. It's essential to us. Every match is a final from now on and we need to play every match like today. "We won against one of the best teams in the league and we hope we can play like that for the rest of the season."
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West Ham United 1-0 Chelsea
By Jack Skelton
BBC Sport
West Ham won for the first time under David Moyes as Marko Arnautovic's first goal for the club proved enough to beat a disjointed Chelsea at London Stadium. The Hammers scored the only goal after just six minutes when Arnautovic curled a deft strike into the bottom corner after exchanging passes with Manuel Lanzini on the edge of the area. Chelsea responded well before the break but were repelled by an organised West Ham defence and two solid saves from Adrian, retaining his spot in place of the dropped Joe Hart. Both sides became increasingly ragged in the second half but West Ham desperately held on, with Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata firing wide when clean through late on.
Despite victory, the hosts remain in the bottom three, though they have drawn level on points with 17th-placed West Brom, who lost 1-0 to fellow strugglers Swansea later on Saturday. Defeat means champions Chelsea will finish the weekend 14 points behind leaders Manchester City if Pep Guardiola's side beat rivals Manchester United on Sunday.
Having ultimately failed to hang on in a vastly improved performance against Manchester City last weekend, West Ham took the next step in proving they could be revitalised under Moyes by this time beating superior opposition. Their new endeavour was epitomised by Arnautovic, the often frustrating Austria international exchanging positions with his fellow forwards to routinely test Chelsea's defence. When makeshift centre-forward Michail Antonio drifted out right early on, Arnautovic cleverly moved inside, collecting Antonio's pass and playing a quick one-two with Lanzini to leave Andreas Christensen behind, before calmly finishing low past Thibaut Courtois. He remained a threat even when West Ham dropped deeper and was denied a decent penalty shout when he tried to go past Christensen and the ball hit the Danish defender's outstretched hand.
At the other end, the Hammers showed greater resolve in defence, largely due to Moyes' organisation of the central back three and wing-backs, with Arthur Masuaku particularly impressive down the left. It could also be a result of Adrian's more measured presence in goal, exuding more calm to his defence perhaps than the erratic Hart, who could not play against his parent club last week and has now lost his place. "I have two really good goalkeepers - Joe's professionalism when I told him he wasn't playing was excellent, Adrian has done well again and kept the clean sheet so we're happy," said Moyes.
Whatever the main reason, Moyes will surely stick with Adrian going forward and England's number one Hart could find himself short of first-team football before next summer's World Cup.The next test for West Ham is to replicate these performances against the teams around them and drag themselves away from danger.
Man of the match - Marko Arnautovic (West Ham)
The mercurial Marko Arnautovic had his best game since joining West Ham in the summer, scoring his first goal for the club and testing Chelsea's defence throughout
Is Chelsea's title defence over?
Even before the halfway mark in the season, it already looks like a second successive Premier League title is beyond Chelsea, who trail the imperious Manchester City by 11 points with the leaders still to play this weekend. Antonio Conte's side have now dropped 16 points in as many games, having dropped just 21 in the whole of last season. As with defeats by Burnley and Crystal Palace, they were poor against less-gifted opposition and the Blues attack was largely innocuous throughout.
Adrian made two fine saves low to his left to keep out N'Golo Kante and David Zappacosta, but both efforts were somewhat speculative and Eden Hazard displayed none of his recent stellar form as he was unable to exploit West Ham's deep line. It took a momentary lapse in concentration by Masuaku to create Chelsea's best chance, as the wing-back played Morata onside only for the Spain striker to pull his shot wide, before Hazard struck over in the closing stages.
Nothing Chelsea did was particularly bad, but neither was it that inspiring - a microcosm of a uneven season in which they look set to be left fighting for second at best.
'The fans know West Ham are on the way back' - manager reaction
West Ham manager David Moyes, speaking to BBC Sport: "We're having to stop conceding goals - we have a terrible goals against record - but we've also got people here who can score and cause problems and we've done much better again "The supporters showed they know West Ham are on their way back and they're showing that the players are putting in the effort."I'd love to play the way Chelsea play but we can only do so much at a time. We've beaten the champions so it's a great achievement for us and a great three points."
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte, speaking to BBC Sport: "When you lose a game you must be disappointed. Our start was bad but we played a bit tired. To face one game every two days always with the same players is very difficult. And we have just started this period. "We created many chances but were not able to score. We have to go and to play game by game, to be focused. Don't forget in this league it is very difficult. There are six top teams and four go to the Champions League. We have to fight and do our best."
Five of Conte's nine Premier League defeats as Chelsea manager have been in London derbies (Crystal Palace twice, Arsenal, Tottenham and West Ham).
Moyes secured his first Premier League home victory in just under a year since Sunderland beat Watford on 17 December 2016, ending a run of 11 successive league home games without a win (D5 L6).
Arnautovic became the 140th different player to score a Premier League goal for West Ham - only Tottenham (142) have had a higher number of players score for them in the competition.
Arnautovic became the 43rd different player to both score for and against West Ham United in the Premier League - a higher tally than any other club in the competition.
Courtois has conceded 100 goals in the Premier League for Chelsea in 107 appearances in the competition. It took Petr Cech 172 Premier League appearances to concede 100 goals for the Blues.
This was the 100th Premier League win that Mark Noble has played in for the Hammers - the first player to reach this landmark for the club.
What's next?
Chelsea travel to Huddersfield on Tuesday, with kick-off at 20:00 GMT, before hosting Southampton on 16 December at 15:00.
West Ham host Arsenal on Wednesday at 20:00 and are away to Stoke next Saturday at 15:00.
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WEST HAM 1-0 CHELSEA – MATCH REPORT
AUTHOR: BRIAN KNOX. PUBLISHED: 9 DECEMBER 2017 AT 4:00PM
TheWestHamWay.co.uk
Match Report by @WestHamAmerican
Christmas came early for West Ham's downtrodden supporters today as the Hammers took three points from the defending league champions in a 1-0 London derby against Chelsea at the London Stadium. The lone goal, from Marko Arnautovic, happened early on and was the West Ham record signing's first goal in claret. The remaining 85 minutes of play were nerve racking for a near capacity crowd almost conditioned to watch their club surrender goals late in the match. But on this cold East London day, a mixture of smart defending and crisp ball movement gave the hosts their first league victory since September.
The goal came in the 7th minute when Manuel Lanzini found Arnautovic at short range. The Austrian was able to fight off two defenders to get a shot across the goal, well away from Courtois' reach. With the early goal, the London Stadium established a more festive atmosphere.
Adrian, making a second start after his solid showing against Manchester City, had an active afternoon, blocking early shots from Kante and Zappacosta. The entire back line for West Ham put in a great 90 minutes both preserving the clean sheet and also not giving up the foolish penalties in the box, which had doomed them in previous outings.
Once again, Moyes began with Michael Antonio in the forward position. While Antonio had his opportunities, by the second half he was truly "out of steam" and Andre Ayew was brought on. Ayew actually suffered what appeared to be a hamstring injury only minutes after he entered the match. His pace was definitely affected; however he did finish out the match.
By the final 15 minutes of play, West Ham devolved into a purely defensive squad. All eleven players were behind the ball and no real attacking threat on their minds other than a few Diafra Sakho counter attacks that were short lived.
Despite the five added minutes and a swath of bookings (six West Ham players found their way to Anthony Taylor's book, and Stuart Pierce was almost ejected for launching the ball into the stands as it rolled through the technical area) but the hosts were able to find that elusive win versus a top six club in the London Stadium.
Hopefully this momentum will carry forward as West Ham will see Arsenal on Wednesday and finish the week with a visit to Stoke. The Gunners have been on a good run as of late both in the Premier League and the Europa League, and will still come to East London as the favourites. West Ham sit one point from safety. If the Hammers can play the next two like the last two, then 2018 could be a much less depressing year than West Ham's supporters had feared.
West Ham: Adrian, Zabaleta, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Noble, Obiang, Masuaku, Lanzini, Arnautovic, Antonio.
Subs: Hart, Rice, Fernandes, Carroll, Sakho (69'), Herandez, Ayew (79')
Chelsea: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Christensen, Zappacosta, Kante, Fabregas, Bakayoko, Alonso, Hazard, Morata.
Subs: Caballero, Rudiger, Ampadu, Moses (55'), Willian (64'), Pedro (45'), Batshuayi
Referee: Anthony Taylor
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West Ham 1-0 Chelsea: Marko Arnautovic seals first win of David Moyes tenure
By Jack Wilkinson
Last Updated: 09/12/17 6:43pm
SSn
Antonio Conte's dismal London derby form continued as West Ham beat Chelsea 1-0 to hand David Moyes his first victory as Hammers boss. Moyes' landmark victory was sealed by Marko Arnautovic, who fired his first goal for the club with just six minutes on the clock at the London Stadium. Alvaro Morata and Eden Hazard spurned chances to rescue a point but the hosts clung on as Conte suffered his ninth league defeat at Chelsea - five of which have now come at the hands of London rivals. West Ham remain in the relegation zone but a first win in nine gives them a timely boost ahead of the busy festive period. Just as they did in last week's encouraging defeat at Manchester City, West Ham took the lead as Arnautovic played a one-two with Manuel Lanzini and slotted his first Hammers goal beyond Thibaut Courtois on six minutes.
Player ratings
West Ham: Adrian (8), Zabaleta (7), Reid (8), Ogbonna (7), Cresswell (7), Lanzini (8), Noble (7), Obiang (7), Masuaku (8), Arnautovic (8), Antonio (8).
Subs: Sakho (5), Ayew (5).
Chelsea: Courtois (6), Azpilicueta (6), Cahill (5), Christensen (5), Zappacosta (5), Kante (6), Fabregas (5), Bakayoko (5), Alonso (5), Hazard (5), Morata (5).
Subs: Moses (5), Willian (5), Pedro (5).
Man of the Match: Marko Arnautovic.
Chelsea went on to dominate possession but had to wait until 29 minutes to register their first substantial attempts on goal as N'Golo Kante and Davide Zappacosta drew saves in quick succession from Adrian. Conte wasted no time in changing his misfiring attack as Pedro, Victor Moses and Willian came on within 19 minutes of the restart. But it was West Ham came close to finding the net as Arnautovic and the relentless Michail Antonio posed the greater threat on the counter. A fatigued Hammers side dropped deeper and deeper as the game wore on, inviting pressure as Chelsea pushed for an equaliser.
Team news
David Moyes made four changes, bringing in goalkeeper Adrian, Winston Reid, Mark Noble and Marko Arnautovic. Antonio Conte, meanwhile, made three as Gary Cahill, Davide Zappacosta and Tiemoue Bakayoko returned. But, having been played in by Kante, Morata fired a glorious chance wide on 84 minutes before Hazard shot over a minute later as the Blues failed to keep pace with the two Manchester clubs.
Opta stats
Chelsea have already dropped 16 points in their 16 Premier League games this season - they only dropped 21 in the whole of 2016/17 season.
This was David Moyes' first Premier League home victory as a manager in just under a year (December 17, 2016; Sunderland 1-0 Watford) and ended a run of 11 successive league home games without a win (W0 D5 L6).
Five of Antonio Conte’s nine Premier League defeats at Chelsea have been in London derbies (Crystal Palace x2, Arsenal, Tottenham & West Ham)
Five of Antonio Conte's nine Premier League defeats at Chelsea have been in London derbies (Crystal Palace x2, Arsenal, Tottenham & West Ham)
Marko Arnautovic became the 140th different player to score a Premier League goal (excl. own goals) for West Ham; only Spurs (142) have seen a higher number of players score for them in the competition.
Arnautovic also became the 43rd different player to both score for and against West Ham in the Premier League; a higher tally than any other club in the competition.
This was the 100th Premier League win that Mark Noble has played in for West Ham; the first player to reach this landmark for the club.
The managers
David Moyes: "The win was the biggest thing. To get a win in the Premier League is really hard especially against the champions. After that, I would say the spirit of the team, how they stuck together, their work-rate and their effort pleased me. The basics were, in the main, done well today."
Antonio Conte: "This is the fourth defeat in 16 games. In my previous experience, when you lose four games in a season, it's impossible to stay and fight for the title. "In 16 games and to lose four, it means that a target must be another. If you want to stay in the race for the title in the first part of the season you can only lose once or twice."
The Pundit
Jamie Redknapp: "They [West Ham] should be playing like this week in, week out. When you have a bench with people like Andy Carroll, Javier Hernandez and Diafra Sakho, it is a bench that teams at the bottom of the league would love to have. "Now they have to adhere to this every week because some of the performances haven't been good enough. To be on 10 points before today with that group of players and performing like that against Chelsea, they have to do this week in, week out."
Man of the Match - Marko Arnautovic
Arnautovic looks unrecognisable compared to the player that was operating under former boss Slaven Bilic earlier this season, and showed his class as his superb maiden goal for the club clinched victory against the champions.
What's next?
It's a second London derby on the spin for West Ham as they host Arsenal at the London Stadium on Wednesday. Before that, Chelsea travel north to take on Huddersfield on Tuesday.
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West Ham look harder to beat after Chelsea win, says David Moyes
Last Updated: 09/12/17 5:39pm
SSN
David Moyes says West Ham are starting to looking harder to beat after their 1-0 win against Chelsea, whose style of football he praised after the game.
The former Everton and Manchester United manager picked up his first victory since replacing Slaven Bilic just over a month ago, with Marko Arnautovic's sixth-minute strike sealing a vital three points for the Hammers. It comes a week after they made life difficult for the Premier League leaders Manchester City, and Moyes says his side are improving, targeting the style of Chelsea as a benchmark for his West Ham team. "We look harder to beat at the moment, which has been a big problem here. We have people who can create and score goals so if we can get the back end sorted we might give ourselves a chance of earning some points," he told Sky Sports. "The win was the biggest thing. To get a win in the Premier League is really hard especially against the champions. After that, I would say the spirit of the team, how they stuck together, their work-rate and their effort pleased me. The basics were, in the main, done well today. "We wanted to try and cause Chelsea some problems as well. We knew once they got a grip of the ball, their possession would be far greater than ours so that also meant us being good defensively, being organised and I thought we were for long periods. "I'd like to play my football like Chelsea played today, I thought some of their football at times was stunning. I hope in time that my team here at West Ham will play in a good fashion like they did."
Arnautovic has come in for criticism since his summer move to West Ham but has been showing signs of improvement in recent weeks, and rounded off a fine performance on Saturday with his first goal for the club. "I think Marko has been a good player. West Ham signed him with the idea that he can help by creating goals and scoring goals and he did that today," Moyes added. "I think he is starting to contribute in the couple of games I've had with him. I thought Marko and also Antonio up front were always a handful."
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West Ham 1-0 Chelsea: Talking points from Hammers' surprise win
Last Updated: 09/12/17 3:40pm
SSN
Marko Arnautovic was the match-winner for a determined West Ham who pulled off a surprise victory over Chelsea at the London Stadium. The forward found the net after just seven minutes and the home side then held the defending Premier League champions at bay for the remainder of the contest.
West Ham step up
From front to back, West Ham were excellent against Chelsea. From Arnautovic's clinical finish early on, to the entire team's determined defence and the relentless running from Michail Antonio, David Moyes' men gave him everything he would have demanded against their London rivals. Jose Fonte, the injured West Ham defender, praised his teammates' intensity from the first whistle from the Sky Sports studio, and their early aggression set the tone for the afternoon. There were nine blocked Chelsea shots in all, as West Ham reproduced the resolve they showed against the waves of Manchester City attacks last weekend.
Moyes v champions
David Moyes has won five of his last six Premier League home games against the reigning champions. He was won all four matches against Italian managers in charge of the reigning champions (Carlo Ancelotti, Roberto Mancini, Claudio Ranieri and Antonio Conte). Winston Reid produced 10 clearances, Angelo Ogbonna came up with six interceptions. They were game-high numbers from two standout defensive performances. But the Hammers defended fantastically as a team. It wasn't all backs to the wall - West Ham fans rolled out the 'oles' during first-half stoppage time as Manuel Lanzini and Arthur Masuaku teased the Chelsea players with tricks and flicks on the touchline - but the home side's second-half stand against near relentless pressure will have fuelled Moyes' hope this side can fight their way to survival.
Chelsea blow chance to close on Manchester clubs
If Chelsea fail to retain their Premier League title, it will be days like these they look back on ruefully. Coming into the game on a fine run of league form, they knew victory would have allowed them to close the gap on one, if not both, of the Manchester clubs, given United and City's derby on Sunday. They squandered that chance. There was a penalty appeal which could have gone their way and a bad miss from Alvaro Morata late on when he should have hit the net when unmarked 10 yards out, but no shots on target in the second-half (despite 10 efforts at goal) summed up the lack of cutting edge Chelsea showed at the London Stadium.
Chelsea remaining December fixtures
Huddersfield (a), Southampton (h), Everton (a), Brighton (h), Stoke (h).
A Sky Sports study at the start of the month revealed Chelsea had the easiest December fixtures on paper. After this unexpected slip-up they cannot afford to make any more mistakes. The problem for Antonio Conte and his players is that they may now have already left themselves too much ground to make up.
Penalty for Morata?
Perhaps this game would have panned out differently had Chelsea been awarded a penalty on 15 minutes. At 1-0 down, they can count themselves a little unfortunate not to have been thrown an immediate way back into the match by referee Anthony Taylor. As Morata battled Reid in the box, the New Zealand international grabbed the Chelsea striker's shirt at the shoulder - but the Spaniard's theatrical fall didn't convince Taylor, whose position obscured his view of the tangle. "I think they could [have had a penalty]," said Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp. "Reid definitely gets a bit of his shirt, he grabs it, he pulls it… the problem is the ref can't see it."
Arnautovic stars
It had been an underwhelming start to life at West Ham for the club's record signing Arnautovic since his £20m switch from Stoke in the summer. Booed off against Brighton and questioned for his teamwork by boss Moyes, the Austrian had struggled to recreate the quality he showed last season. However, he made his mark here, opening his West Ham account with a fine goal just seven minutes in, and then producing a battling performance which set the tone for his teammates. A one-two on the edge of the box with Lanzini created space and a cool, left-foot shot into the far corner left Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois no chance as West Ham made the breakthrough early on. It was the first time Arnautovic had hit the net since April and his jubilant celebrations, which saw him jump into the crowd, earned him a yellow card. But that booking was the only blot on his copy book on Saturday afternoon. He bullied Andreas Christensen throughout, winning the ball off the Dane in the first-half and then having a driving run into the area stopped by the hand of the Chelsea defender, which was considered unintentional by referee Taylor. Christensen will have been pleased to see the back of him when he was subbed off on 68 minutes, but it wasn't just his attacking contributions which stood out. The 28-year-old weighed in defensively too, regularly dropping back into West Ham's third to help out his colleagues. It was an all-round performance Moyes will expect - and need - more of.
What now for Hart?
While West Ham celebrated an unlikely win, Joe Hart may well have left the London Stadium wondering what his future holds. Moyes gave the goalkeeper his backing on Friday, insisting he wouldn't be cancelling the player's loan deal this January. However, he stuck with Adrian for this clash with Chelsea, after the Spaniard impressed at Manchester City last time out, and Hart's replacement didn't put a foot wrong. It was a damaging call for Hart, who had shipped 16 goals in his previous six league games. While England boss Gareth Southgate has also given his backing to the shot-stopper, there's no doubt sitting on West Ham's bench will do little to boost Hart's prospects of being his country's number one at the World Cup next summer
Hart's England place under threat
Jamie Redknapp says Joe Hart's England place is under serious threat if he can't force his way back into West Ham's starting 11. The 30-year-old has a battle on his hands to dislodge Adrian now, though. His replacement was handed a couple of physical blows from Marcos Alonso and Morata but dealt with Chelsea's barrage of crosses into his box and saved well from N'Golo Kante and Davide Zappacosta in the first-half.
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TEN TALKING POINTS FROM WEST HAM 1 CHELSEA 0
By Iain Dale 9 Dec 2017 at 14:24
WTID
So proud. It's the first time for ages, and going back to last season, that we have put in a performance that lasted ninety minutes. Credit to every player. They were a team, not just a team of individuals. Let's crack on from this!
1. Cracking Man of the Match performance from Arthur Masuaku.
2. Arnautovic finally broke his duck and played superbly.
3. Brilliant, rocking atmosphere for the second Chelsea home game in a row!
4. Excellent midfield performance in the first half especially.
5. Excellent defensive performance throughout the game with the back three looking solid throughout.
6. Great return for Winston Reid.
7. Andre Ayew put in a real defensive shift when he came on to replace the tired out Antonio.
8. David Moyes set the team up perfectly to frustrate Chelsea. Credit to him.
9. Adrian did everything that was asked of him and must now retain his place for Arsenal on Wednesday.
10. Let's hope this sets up the rest of our season and isn't a flash in the pan.
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WEST HAM 1, CHELSEA 0. MUCH, MUCH BETTER.
By David Hautzig 9 Dec 2017 at 18:00
WTID
I was non stop yesterday. Two school concerts, one in the afternoon and then one in the evening. Work and other life requirements were squeezed in between those two lovely events, so I was easily able to keep my promise from last week not to let West Ham take up unnecessary space in my brain. So I was blissfully unaware of Jacob Steinberg's interview with David Sullivan in The Guardian until this morning. I was amazed, almost awed, by the abject stupidity I read. To start, admitting you had said things and made promises you should not have made in the very forum you should avoid for the rest of your life was irony personified. But the bit that left my mouth open almost long enough to dribble like an infant was his bragging about always coming straight back up when relegated. Uhhhhh, sir. Were you so out of touch with reality that you didn't realize you were bragging about your many failures as football owners? Having to constantly fix repeated screw ups is not a measure of success. It's a measure of neurological malfunctions. I'm guessing Steinberg used a lot of energy not to throw up on his laptop.
If there has been one positive about the Moyes reign thus far it has been the running. There has been a lot more of it. More pressing, more questions of the opposition. That was on display from the opening kick, but unlike recent matches there was an end product to go with it. In the sixth minute, Antonio and Lanzini combined near the top of the Chelsea eighteen yard box. Arnautovic broke into the center of the box and Lanzini rolled a pass perfectly into his path. The Austrian cut to his left and curled a shot around Courtois. I won't lie, but my joy at the goal was tempered by the yellow shown for his Tevez like celebration. He's not what we would call a level headed dude, know what I mean? What he has been is a changed player since Moyes arrival. Why? Don't know, don't care.
West Ham 1
Chelsea 0
The goal did not lead to West Ham complacency. The home side kept the pressure on, but that pressure did not lead to another attempt on goal. The next goal scoring opportunity fell, quite literally, to Hazard in the 20th minute when a high deflection fell to him ten yards in front of Adrian. He tried to volley it but didn't quite connect and his shot went wide. Chelsea dominated possession and tested Adrian in the 28th minute when Kante sent a hard low shot that Adrian had to dive to his left to push out for a corner. It continued to be all Chelsea, but West Ham showed impressive resilience and shape and kept the Blue wave at bay. But if you wondered how long they could keep that up, I doubt you were in the minority. West Ham dropped deeper and deeper, and that sense of inevitability grew.
West Ham won three corners in the final minutes of the half, and Masuaku played a direct part in two of them. It might not be a stretch to say it was the best 45 minutes of his West Ham career. Conversely, and I know I will be accused of bias here, Noble felt like the weakest link. More than a few bad passes that led directly to Chelsea counters, and generally looked a half step behind everyone else. Hey. I'm 52. Doing laundry takes energy now. Age happens
Halftime
West Ham 1
Chelsea 0
Chelsea began the second half with one change that anyone with a computer welcomed. Pedro on for Bakayoko, the latter of which was a typo waiting to happen. I would have liked to see one change in the midfield for West Ham, but I won't belabor the point.
In the 50th minute, Cresswell made the kind of play he made every few minutes in his first year when he cleared a Fabregas pass from the byline back into the box. Without that touch the match would have been level. Minutes later, West Ham had a shout for a penalty when Arnautovic cut into the box and tried to get the ball around a charging Christensen. The ball clearly hit the defenders hand, but Anthony Taylor judged it to be accidental and waved play on.
The Hammers had a few mini opportunities that they wasted. Arnautovic and Antonio broke on a counter but the pass to Arnautovic was a second late and put the lone goal scorer offside. Masuaku showed more endeavor and won another corner, but Lanzini wasted it. The fight was there. The quality was not.
Cresswell made his first mistake of the match in the 68th minute when he allowed Willian to beat him on the edge of the area. Cresswell had to bring him down just outside the box, which gave Chelsea a great opportunity from a set piece. But Reid got a crucial block in West Ham weathered yet another storm.
Moyes made his first change in the 69th minute, and while I welcomed the addition of Sakho I did not like the removal of Arnautovic. Antonio looked utterly gassed, and a few minutes later when he completely ignored a pass from Noble while talking to Moyes on the sideline it was clear his time was done and Ayew's began. Although it didn't take him long to look like a mistake when he wasted a precious opportunity to at least run some clock by sending a truly useless pass attempt into the lower atmosphere. He also grabbed his hamstring, which brought back terrifying memories of Kieron Dyer.
Chelsea had a glorious chance in the 83rd minute when Kante found Morata in front of Adrian. Morata tried to one time it but sent his point blank shot wide. Moments later Hazard an opportunity but sent his curling attempt over the bar.
"It's coming" said a text from my best mate, Jon.
I agreed. I could not see a way for us to hold on. But Cresswell blocked shots. Reid blocked passes. Ogbonna cleared the area. Zabaleta ran his socks off. Noble left everything on a few blades of grass. Even Ayew tracked back and made a good touch. It all topped off with Willian being so flustered he was whistled for an illegal throw, effectively ending the match.
Final Score
West Ham 1
Chelsea 0
Even if we had given up a late equalizer, it would have been another spirited performance from the squad. They did things I don't think we had seen in quite a long time, such as close out a match. The three points may be the most impressive of the season if we do in fact survive. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We are still in the bottom three, and I have no illusions that our board will ever learn from past mistakes. But today was a day to feel good again about our club.
Yeah, our club. Not theirs.
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Matthew Etherington sums up West Ham United performance in one tweet
HITC
Subhankar Mondal
West Ham United won against Chelsea at the London Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday. Matthew Etherington has taken to social networking site Twitter to give his reaction to West Ham United's win against Chelsea. West Ham got the better of Chelsea 1-0 at the London Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon. Marko Arnautovic's goal in the sixth minute proved to be the difference between the sides in the London derby. Former West Ham winger Etherington was following the game, and the 36-year-old has revelled in the win for David Moyes's win. Etherington has pretty much summed up the Hammers' performance against Chelsea in one tweet. Former West Ham striker John Hartson has also taken to Twitter to give his reaction to the win for the London club.
Matthew Etherington
✔
@mattyethers
Best team performance I've seen for a long time from @WestHamUtd Disciplined and defended well in numbers, so much desire throughout!! What a brilliantly worked goal as well, buzzing! #COYI #WHUCHE
2:23 PM - Dec 9, 2017
John Hartson
✔
@JohnHartson10
Huge 3 points for the Hammers ! 👍🏻
2:26 PM - Dec 9, 2017
West Ham defended brilliantly against Chelsea and showed great discipline at the back. True, the Hammers defended deep, but there was no other way for them to win against Antonio Conte's side. West Ham fans should be pleased with Moyes's side's performance against Chelsea, especially at the back.
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http://vyperz.blogspot.com
WHUFC.com
West Ham United 1 – 0 Chelsea
Premier League
West Ham United gave David Moyes their first victory as manager with a magnificent defensive effort against Chelsea on Saturday. Marko Arnautovic's early goal was enough to see off the Premier League champions and end a two-month wait for victory in the Premier League. The Hammers had to repel an enormous amount of Chelsea possession, but did a fine job of restricting their visitors largely to efforts from range. After a testing period for the Hammers, it was just the tonic they needed following on from a similarly resolute performance at Manchester City last week, and sets them up for the busy festive period on a stronger footing.
Moyes has a big call to make in goal following Adrian's fine performance at Manchester City last week and he opted to retain the No13 in his starting XI, alongside bringing Winston Reid, Mark Noble and Arnautovic back. It was the latter who had an immediate impact, firing the hosts into the lead with just six minutes on the clock. It was a lovely goal too, as the Austrian exchanged passes with Manuel Lanzini before dropping a shoulder to see off Cesar Azpilicueta and shoot into the corner. The Hammers led at the league leaders a week ago and then held the advantage again here, giving them something to hold onto as Chelsea searched for a foothold in the contest. They certainly gained it in terms of possession – going into the break with 66 per cent of the ball – but West Ham were doing a sturdy job of defending against it.
Chelsea's threat was largely coming from shots from outside the box, and Adrian had to be alert to touch a N'Golo Kante curler around the pitch on 28 minutes.
The danger wasn't over, and from the resulting corner Davide Zappacosta's low drive needed another smart stop from the Hammers keeper. West Ham's problem in the opening 35 minutes was that they were not winning enough of the second balls in midfield, but they improved in that aspect in the closing stages of the opening period and began to pose questions again. Arthur Masuaku looked to use his dribbling skills to good effect in attacking areas and he ghosted past his man before dragging a shot wide from outside the area.
West Ham had penalty shouts early in the second period when Arnautovic ran at Andreas Christiansen and the ball skipped up onto his arm, but referee Anthony Taylor waved play on. The visitors wasted no time in using their attacking options, bringing all of Pedro, Willian and former Hammers loanee Victor Moses on inside the first 19 minutes of the second period, and the Hammers were being pushed deeper and deeper. Like the first half, though, Chelsea were having difficulty in cutting through the Hammers though, with Zappacosta's flashed shot across goal on 58 typical of their threat. As the Hammers tired, the Blues' sights of goal got slightly clearer, and Alvaro Morata cracked a shot just wide of the mark after Masuaku couldn't get up in time and played the Spaniard onside. It was a clear opportunity – the clearest the visitors had – but they didn't take it as the Hammers held on for the points.
West Ham United: Adrian, Zabaleta, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Noble (c), Obiang, Arnautovic (Sakho 69), Lanzini, Masuaku, Antonio (Ayew 78)
Subs: Hart, Rice, Fernandes, Carroll, Chicharito
Goal: Arnautovic 6
Booked: Arnautovic, Adrian, Reid, Cresswell, Obiang, Masuaku
Chelsea: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Christiansen, Cahill (c), Zappacosta (Willian 64), Kante, Bakayoko (Pedro 46), Alonso (Moses 55), Fabregas, Hazard, Morata
Subs: Caballero, Rudiger, Ampadu, Batshuay
Booked: Alonso
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Attendance: 56,953
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Moyes hails 'fantastic spirit and effort'
WHUFC.com
David Moyes praised his team's spirit and effort after his West Ham United side battled hard at London Stadium to claim a 1-0 victory over London rivals Chelsea. The Hammers were forced to defend for large parts of the game after Marko Arnautovic had given them the lead in the sixth-minute of the Premier League derby. However, Moyes' men limited the Blues to just a couple of meaningful chances and the hosts could have stretched their lead even further on the break in the second half on a number of occasions.
On the back of last week's battling performance which eventually yielded no points at Manchester City, the boss was delighted as this time, the east Londoners were able to hold onto their first half lead. He said: "What a great result it is for us. We needed to find a result and we've done that. We came close against Manchester City and for long periods, we thought we were going to get it. "But today, the spirit of the team, how we stuck together and our effort was fantastic. The basics were done very well today. "Don't get me wrong, it was really tough today, Chelsea kept us under pressure. But we played well, we scored a good goal in the first half and if we'd been better with the ball in the second half we'd have got another goal."
With Michail Antonio leading the line and Arnautovic and Manuel Lanzini in just behind the 27-year-old, the Hammers packed the midfield and prevented last year's Premier League champions from causing too much danger in and around the penalty area. And a back five, consisting of wing-backs Pablo Zabaleta and Arthur Masuaku and Winston Reid, Angelo Ogbonna and Aaron Cresswell playing more centrally, stood strong and cleared everything that came their way.
Along with goalkeeper Adrian who kept his place after last week's Man of the Match performance at the Etihad Stadium, the manager was thrilled with his defence who helped keep a first clean sheet in eleven games. "We are having to try and stop conceding goals," he continued. "I think we have people who can score and cause problems, but we need to stop conceding goals. "We did better last week with that, we didn't get a result but we were better and again we were better today. "I have two really good goalkeepers. Joe's professional when I told him he wasn't playing, and Adrian played very well last week. We have kept a clean sheet today, so at the moment Adrian's done well and played well again today."
As ever, the West Ham supporters stuck behind their team and were a huge influence in the second half as the eleven on the pitch put in a backs-to-the-wall display, and Moyes admitted they played a big part. "For anybody to say there is not a good atmosphere here, they're wrong. They'd have to be here today to see the great atmosphere inside the stadium. The supporters knew the game was on the edge. "We were fighting to not concede and the crowd were great and they played a big part. "They appreciated the effort the players are putting in, and if they're putting that effort in, then supporters will cheer them. Ultimately, we want to play our football better, but it can only be one step at a time. "We need our season to turn now. We've beaten the champions today, it's a great achievement for us and a great three points."
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Arnautovic: When the team and fans combine, we can be unbeatable
WHUFC.com
When Marko Arnautovic scored West Ham United's Premier League match-winner against Chelsea at London Stadium, his first reaction was to head for the East Stand Lower to celebrate with the Claret and Blue Army. The Austrian celebrated his first goal for the Club on Saturday by racing to the touchline, hurdling the advertising hoarding and burying himself in a mass of happy Hammers. It was a gesture not just of joy, but of thanks to the supporters who have stuck by the team through a difficult start to the season and were rewarded with a valuable victory over their London rivals on Saturday. "I can do everything better, but I'm improving now and I'm enjoying playing football," said the No7, who steered the ball past Thibaut Courtois at the end of a superb move involving Pablo Zabaleta, Michail Antonio and Manuel Lanzini. "I'm feeling fit and I trained hard and try to get the best out of myself and then, when I take that into the game and it works out, I feel good. "It felt great for our fans because they deserve it and for us, as a team, it's amazing to get a win. For myself, I scored and we beat them, so it's an amazing feeling that I cannot describe. I don't want this to be my last goal. I want it to be the first one of many. "I just wanted to celebrate with them and I want to give back to them because, when the fans get behind us and cheer us for 90 minutes, they are unbeatable, I think. Nobody can beat them. When they are behind us and we are on the front foot, nobody can beat us as well. "We're going to enjoy this today, but when we wake up we're going to concentrate on Arsenal, because we have three important games this week, not just one."
Arnautovic and his teammates matched Premier League champions Chelsea stride for stride on Saturday, with the Austrian himself covering nearly 9km in just 69 minutes on the pitch. The 29-year-old said the Hammers' improving physical output statistics were down to the intense work the players were putting in under new manager David Moyes and his staff. The squad will rest and recover on Sunday before returning to the training pitch on Monday morning ahead of the midweek visit of Arsenal. "Every day, we need to work hard under this coach and there are no excuses. Everybody needs to do his main job and do two or three more jobs on the pitch. We are working hard as a team and I think you could see this in the game and if we continue to do that, we will be hard to beat.
"We need to keep up the level. Now is a busy month and we're going to have a game every three days so it's going to be hard, so we need to recover well and go again on Wednesday. "I'm really tired, I'm going to go to sleep tonight and then tomorrow I'm going to work hard to make sure I'm ready for Wednesday!"
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Chicharito is at his best playing as a centre forward - Moyes
WHUFC.com
David Moyes says Chicharito's best position is centre forward and he is working out a system to best utilise the Mexico international's goal poaching talents.
The 29-year-old has netted at a prolific rate for Guadalajara, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen and his national side throughout his career.
However, Moyes admits he needs to find a way of getting the best out of Chicharito in a West Ham United shirt. "Going back to when I started, I think the squad was a group of players where we had a lot of centre forwards, a lot of left wingers," he explained. "If you going to play three at the back you can't really fit in wide players and wingers and if you are going to play 4-3-3 you can only play one striker, so I feel as if there was a group of players who were made for a couple of systems. "So it has not always been that easy to just do that one job, and you are trying to get your best players in the team, so I can understand why Chicharito has had to play in certain roles because there are other centre forwards like Andy Carroll and Andre Ayew here. "We have got to try and find a way of getting the best balance. We are still working towards getting to that."
When asked if the No17, who returns to the squad for Saturday's Premier League derby with Chelsea after a month out with a hamstring injury, is at his most potent when playing as a centre forward, Moyes was in no doubt. "I do think that is his best position," he confirmed. "My memories of him are his finishing and his nearly being on the last shoulder."What he needs then is lots of balls in the box and a team that is going to give him that service."
Carroll is also back in the squad after overcoming his own injury problems, albeit a less serious issue than Chicharito.However, it sounds like both may begin Saturday's lunchtime kick-off on the substitutes' bench."Andy started training yesterday so probably in better condition than the likes of Chicharito, who is not long back."He has only been out a week or two, while Chicharito has not played for three or four weeks. So I think with match fitness Andy is a little bit closer. But both are not quite ready yet."
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West Ham Ladies part company with manager
WHUFC.com
West Ham United Ladies have parted company with manager Greg De Carnys. General manager Karen Ray will take temporary charge of first team duties while the Hammers finalise the appointment of a new manager.West Ham United would like to place on record its sincere gratitude to Greg for everything he achieved over his short but significant tenure at the helm.
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Lanzini: Manager got the tactics spot on against Chelsea
WHUFc.com
Manuel Lanzini says David Moyes' tactical approach was spot on as the Hammers stifled Premier League champions Chelsea to claim a 1-0 win over the Blues on Saturday. West Ham United were magnificent in defence against their visitors, soaking up Chelsea's 69 per cent of possession to only allow them two shots on target in the match, and none in the second half. At the other end Lanzini laid on Marko Arnautovic's sixth-minute winner - the goal giving the Hammers a platform from which to repel Chelsea's attacking threat. He said: "We really needed the win, especially given our situation in the table. We knew that it was going to be an extremely hard match but we had the right system, like we did against City, where we could also have got a point, but this time luckily everything clicked. "We played great in defence and we converted the chance we had, which was really important and we played a great match. "Obviously we know the situation we're in, and we need to win. It's essential to us. Every match is a final from now on and we need to play every match like today. "We won against one of the best teams in the league and we hope we can play like that for the rest of the season."
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West Ham United 1-0 Chelsea
By Jack Skelton
BBC Sport
West Ham won for the first time under David Moyes as Marko Arnautovic's first goal for the club proved enough to beat a disjointed Chelsea at London Stadium. The Hammers scored the only goal after just six minutes when Arnautovic curled a deft strike into the bottom corner after exchanging passes with Manuel Lanzini on the edge of the area. Chelsea responded well before the break but were repelled by an organised West Ham defence and two solid saves from Adrian, retaining his spot in place of the dropped Joe Hart. Both sides became increasingly ragged in the second half but West Ham desperately held on, with Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata firing wide when clean through late on.
Despite victory, the hosts remain in the bottom three, though they have drawn level on points with 17th-placed West Brom, who lost 1-0 to fellow strugglers Swansea later on Saturday. Defeat means champions Chelsea will finish the weekend 14 points behind leaders Manchester City if Pep Guardiola's side beat rivals Manchester United on Sunday.
Having ultimately failed to hang on in a vastly improved performance against Manchester City last weekend, West Ham took the next step in proving they could be revitalised under Moyes by this time beating superior opposition. Their new endeavour was epitomised by Arnautovic, the often frustrating Austria international exchanging positions with his fellow forwards to routinely test Chelsea's defence. When makeshift centre-forward Michail Antonio drifted out right early on, Arnautovic cleverly moved inside, collecting Antonio's pass and playing a quick one-two with Lanzini to leave Andreas Christensen behind, before calmly finishing low past Thibaut Courtois. He remained a threat even when West Ham dropped deeper and was denied a decent penalty shout when he tried to go past Christensen and the ball hit the Danish defender's outstretched hand.
At the other end, the Hammers showed greater resolve in defence, largely due to Moyes' organisation of the central back three and wing-backs, with Arthur Masuaku particularly impressive down the left. It could also be a result of Adrian's more measured presence in goal, exuding more calm to his defence perhaps than the erratic Hart, who could not play against his parent club last week and has now lost his place. "I have two really good goalkeepers - Joe's professionalism when I told him he wasn't playing was excellent, Adrian has done well again and kept the clean sheet so we're happy," said Moyes.
Whatever the main reason, Moyes will surely stick with Adrian going forward and England's number one Hart could find himself short of first-team football before next summer's World Cup.The next test for West Ham is to replicate these performances against the teams around them and drag themselves away from danger.
Man of the match - Marko Arnautovic (West Ham)
The mercurial Marko Arnautovic had his best game since joining West Ham in the summer, scoring his first goal for the club and testing Chelsea's defence throughout
Is Chelsea's title defence over?
Even before the halfway mark in the season, it already looks like a second successive Premier League title is beyond Chelsea, who trail the imperious Manchester City by 11 points with the leaders still to play this weekend. Antonio Conte's side have now dropped 16 points in as many games, having dropped just 21 in the whole of last season. As with defeats by Burnley and Crystal Palace, they were poor against less-gifted opposition and the Blues attack was largely innocuous throughout.
Adrian made two fine saves low to his left to keep out N'Golo Kante and David Zappacosta, but both efforts were somewhat speculative and Eden Hazard displayed none of his recent stellar form as he was unable to exploit West Ham's deep line. It took a momentary lapse in concentration by Masuaku to create Chelsea's best chance, as the wing-back played Morata onside only for the Spain striker to pull his shot wide, before Hazard struck over in the closing stages.
Nothing Chelsea did was particularly bad, but neither was it that inspiring - a microcosm of a uneven season in which they look set to be left fighting for second at best.
'The fans know West Ham are on the way back' - manager reaction
West Ham manager David Moyes, speaking to BBC Sport: "We're having to stop conceding goals - we have a terrible goals against record - but we've also got people here who can score and cause problems and we've done much better again "The supporters showed they know West Ham are on their way back and they're showing that the players are putting in the effort."I'd love to play the way Chelsea play but we can only do so much at a time. We've beaten the champions so it's a great achievement for us and a great three points."
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte, speaking to BBC Sport: "When you lose a game you must be disappointed. Our start was bad but we played a bit tired. To face one game every two days always with the same players is very difficult. And we have just started this period. "We created many chances but were not able to score. We have to go and to play game by game, to be focused. Don't forget in this league it is very difficult. There are six top teams and four go to the Champions League. We have to fight and do our best."
Five of Conte's nine Premier League defeats as Chelsea manager have been in London derbies (Crystal Palace twice, Arsenal, Tottenham and West Ham).
Moyes secured his first Premier League home victory in just under a year since Sunderland beat Watford on 17 December 2016, ending a run of 11 successive league home games without a win (D5 L6).
Arnautovic became the 140th different player to score a Premier League goal for West Ham - only Tottenham (142) have had a higher number of players score for them in the competition.
Arnautovic became the 43rd different player to both score for and against West Ham United in the Premier League - a higher tally than any other club in the competition.
Courtois has conceded 100 goals in the Premier League for Chelsea in 107 appearances in the competition. It took Petr Cech 172 Premier League appearances to concede 100 goals for the Blues.
This was the 100th Premier League win that Mark Noble has played in for the Hammers - the first player to reach this landmark for the club.
What's next?
Chelsea travel to Huddersfield on Tuesday, with kick-off at 20:00 GMT, before hosting Southampton on 16 December at 15:00.
West Ham host Arsenal on Wednesday at 20:00 and are away to Stoke next Saturday at 15:00.
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WEST HAM 1-0 CHELSEA – MATCH REPORT
AUTHOR: BRIAN KNOX. PUBLISHED: 9 DECEMBER 2017 AT 4:00PM
TheWestHamWay.co.uk
Match Report by @WestHamAmerican
Christmas came early for West Ham's downtrodden supporters today as the Hammers took three points from the defending league champions in a 1-0 London derby against Chelsea at the London Stadium. The lone goal, from Marko Arnautovic, happened early on and was the West Ham record signing's first goal in claret. The remaining 85 minutes of play were nerve racking for a near capacity crowd almost conditioned to watch their club surrender goals late in the match. But on this cold East London day, a mixture of smart defending and crisp ball movement gave the hosts their first league victory since September.
The goal came in the 7th minute when Manuel Lanzini found Arnautovic at short range. The Austrian was able to fight off two defenders to get a shot across the goal, well away from Courtois' reach. With the early goal, the London Stadium established a more festive atmosphere.
Adrian, making a second start after his solid showing against Manchester City, had an active afternoon, blocking early shots from Kante and Zappacosta. The entire back line for West Ham put in a great 90 minutes both preserving the clean sheet and also not giving up the foolish penalties in the box, which had doomed them in previous outings.
Once again, Moyes began with Michael Antonio in the forward position. While Antonio had his opportunities, by the second half he was truly "out of steam" and Andre Ayew was brought on. Ayew actually suffered what appeared to be a hamstring injury only minutes after he entered the match. His pace was definitely affected; however he did finish out the match.
By the final 15 minutes of play, West Ham devolved into a purely defensive squad. All eleven players were behind the ball and no real attacking threat on their minds other than a few Diafra Sakho counter attacks that were short lived.
Despite the five added minutes and a swath of bookings (six West Ham players found their way to Anthony Taylor's book, and Stuart Pierce was almost ejected for launching the ball into the stands as it rolled through the technical area) but the hosts were able to find that elusive win versus a top six club in the London Stadium.
Hopefully this momentum will carry forward as West Ham will see Arsenal on Wednesday and finish the week with a visit to Stoke. The Gunners have been on a good run as of late both in the Premier League and the Europa League, and will still come to East London as the favourites. West Ham sit one point from safety. If the Hammers can play the next two like the last two, then 2018 could be a much less depressing year than West Ham's supporters had feared.
West Ham: Adrian, Zabaleta, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Noble, Obiang, Masuaku, Lanzini, Arnautovic, Antonio.
Subs: Hart, Rice, Fernandes, Carroll, Sakho (69'), Herandez, Ayew (79')
Chelsea: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Christensen, Zappacosta, Kante, Fabregas, Bakayoko, Alonso, Hazard, Morata.
Subs: Caballero, Rudiger, Ampadu, Moses (55'), Willian (64'), Pedro (45'), Batshuayi
Referee: Anthony Taylor
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West Ham 1-0 Chelsea: Marko Arnautovic seals first win of David Moyes tenure
By Jack Wilkinson
Last Updated: 09/12/17 6:43pm
SSn
Antonio Conte's dismal London derby form continued as West Ham beat Chelsea 1-0 to hand David Moyes his first victory as Hammers boss. Moyes' landmark victory was sealed by Marko Arnautovic, who fired his first goal for the club with just six minutes on the clock at the London Stadium. Alvaro Morata and Eden Hazard spurned chances to rescue a point but the hosts clung on as Conte suffered his ninth league defeat at Chelsea - five of which have now come at the hands of London rivals. West Ham remain in the relegation zone but a first win in nine gives them a timely boost ahead of the busy festive period. Just as they did in last week's encouraging defeat at Manchester City, West Ham took the lead as Arnautovic played a one-two with Manuel Lanzini and slotted his first Hammers goal beyond Thibaut Courtois on six minutes.
Player ratings
West Ham: Adrian (8), Zabaleta (7), Reid (8), Ogbonna (7), Cresswell (7), Lanzini (8), Noble (7), Obiang (7), Masuaku (8), Arnautovic (8), Antonio (8).
Subs: Sakho (5), Ayew (5).
Chelsea: Courtois (6), Azpilicueta (6), Cahill (5), Christensen (5), Zappacosta (5), Kante (6), Fabregas (5), Bakayoko (5), Alonso (5), Hazard (5), Morata (5).
Subs: Moses (5), Willian (5), Pedro (5).
Man of the Match: Marko Arnautovic.
Chelsea went on to dominate possession but had to wait until 29 minutes to register their first substantial attempts on goal as N'Golo Kante and Davide Zappacosta drew saves in quick succession from Adrian. Conte wasted no time in changing his misfiring attack as Pedro, Victor Moses and Willian came on within 19 minutes of the restart. But it was West Ham came close to finding the net as Arnautovic and the relentless Michail Antonio posed the greater threat on the counter. A fatigued Hammers side dropped deeper and deeper as the game wore on, inviting pressure as Chelsea pushed for an equaliser.
Team news
David Moyes made four changes, bringing in goalkeeper Adrian, Winston Reid, Mark Noble and Marko Arnautovic. Antonio Conte, meanwhile, made three as Gary Cahill, Davide Zappacosta and Tiemoue Bakayoko returned. But, having been played in by Kante, Morata fired a glorious chance wide on 84 minutes before Hazard shot over a minute later as the Blues failed to keep pace with the two Manchester clubs.
Opta stats
Chelsea have already dropped 16 points in their 16 Premier League games this season - they only dropped 21 in the whole of 2016/17 season.
This was David Moyes' first Premier League home victory as a manager in just under a year (December 17, 2016; Sunderland 1-0 Watford) and ended a run of 11 successive league home games without a win (W0 D5 L6).
Five of Antonio Conte’s nine Premier League defeats at Chelsea have been in London derbies (Crystal Palace x2, Arsenal, Tottenham & West Ham)
Five of Antonio Conte's nine Premier League defeats at Chelsea have been in London derbies (Crystal Palace x2, Arsenal, Tottenham & West Ham)
Marko Arnautovic became the 140th different player to score a Premier League goal (excl. own goals) for West Ham; only Spurs (142) have seen a higher number of players score for them in the competition.
Arnautovic also became the 43rd different player to both score for and against West Ham in the Premier League; a higher tally than any other club in the competition.
This was the 100th Premier League win that Mark Noble has played in for West Ham; the first player to reach this landmark for the club.
The managers
David Moyes: "The win was the biggest thing. To get a win in the Premier League is really hard especially against the champions. After that, I would say the spirit of the team, how they stuck together, their work-rate and their effort pleased me. The basics were, in the main, done well today."
Antonio Conte: "This is the fourth defeat in 16 games. In my previous experience, when you lose four games in a season, it's impossible to stay and fight for the title. "In 16 games and to lose four, it means that a target must be another. If you want to stay in the race for the title in the first part of the season you can only lose once or twice."
The Pundit
Jamie Redknapp: "They [West Ham] should be playing like this week in, week out. When you have a bench with people like Andy Carroll, Javier Hernandez and Diafra Sakho, it is a bench that teams at the bottom of the league would love to have. "Now they have to adhere to this every week because some of the performances haven't been good enough. To be on 10 points before today with that group of players and performing like that against Chelsea, they have to do this week in, week out."
Man of the Match - Marko Arnautovic
Arnautovic looks unrecognisable compared to the player that was operating under former boss Slaven Bilic earlier this season, and showed his class as his superb maiden goal for the club clinched victory against the champions.
What's next?
It's a second London derby on the spin for West Ham as they host Arsenal at the London Stadium on Wednesday. Before that, Chelsea travel north to take on Huddersfield on Tuesday.
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West Ham look harder to beat after Chelsea win, says David Moyes
Last Updated: 09/12/17 5:39pm
SSN
David Moyes says West Ham are starting to looking harder to beat after their 1-0 win against Chelsea, whose style of football he praised after the game.
The former Everton and Manchester United manager picked up his first victory since replacing Slaven Bilic just over a month ago, with Marko Arnautovic's sixth-minute strike sealing a vital three points for the Hammers. It comes a week after they made life difficult for the Premier League leaders Manchester City, and Moyes says his side are improving, targeting the style of Chelsea as a benchmark for his West Ham team. "We look harder to beat at the moment, which has been a big problem here. We have people who can create and score goals so if we can get the back end sorted we might give ourselves a chance of earning some points," he told Sky Sports. "The win was the biggest thing. To get a win in the Premier League is really hard especially against the champions. After that, I would say the spirit of the team, how they stuck together, their work-rate and their effort pleased me. The basics were, in the main, done well today. "We wanted to try and cause Chelsea some problems as well. We knew once they got a grip of the ball, their possession would be far greater than ours so that also meant us being good defensively, being organised and I thought we were for long periods. "I'd like to play my football like Chelsea played today, I thought some of their football at times was stunning. I hope in time that my team here at West Ham will play in a good fashion like they did."
Arnautovic has come in for criticism since his summer move to West Ham but has been showing signs of improvement in recent weeks, and rounded off a fine performance on Saturday with his first goal for the club. "I think Marko has been a good player. West Ham signed him with the idea that he can help by creating goals and scoring goals and he did that today," Moyes added. "I think he is starting to contribute in the couple of games I've had with him. I thought Marko and also Antonio up front were always a handful."
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West Ham 1-0 Chelsea: Talking points from Hammers' surprise win
Last Updated: 09/12/17 3:40pm
SSN
Marko Arnautovic was the match-winner for a determined West Ham who pulled off a surprise victory over Chelsea at the London Stadium. The forward found the net after just seven minutes and the home side then held the defending Premier League champions at bay for the remainder of the contest.
West Ham step up
From front to back, West Ham were excellent against Chelsea. From Arnautovic's clinical finish early on, to the entire team's determined defence and the relentless running from Michail Antonio, David Moyes' men gave him everything he would have demanded against their London rivals. Jose Fonte, the injured West Ham defender, praised his teammates' intensity from the first whistle from the Sky Sports studio, and their early aggression set the tone for the afternoon. There were nine blocked Chelsea shots in all, as West Ham reproduced the resolve they showed against the waves of Manchester City attacks last weekend.
Moyes v champions
David Moyes has won five of his last six Premier League home games against the reigning champions. He was won all four matches against Italian managers in charge of the reigning champions (Carlo Ancelotti, Roberto Mancini, Claudio Ranieri and Antonio Conte). Winston Reid produced 10 clearances, Angelo Ogbonna came up with six interceptions. They were game-high numbers from two standout defensive performances. But the Hammers defended fantastically as a team. It wasn't all backs to the wall - West Ham fans rolled out the 'oles' during first-half stoppage time as Manuel Lanzini and Arthur Masuaku teased the Chelsea players with tricks and flicks on the touchline - but the home side's second-half stand against near relentless pressure will have fuelled Moyes' hope this side can fight their way to survival.
Chelsea blow chance to close on Manchester clubs
If Chelsea fail to retain their Premier League title, it will be days like these they look back on ruefully. Coming into the game on a fine run of league form, they knew victory would have allowed them to close the gap on one, if not both, of the Manchester clubs, given United and City's derby on Sunday. They squandered that chance. There was a penalty appeal which could have gone their way and a bad miss from Alvaro Morata late on when he should have hit the net when unmarked 10 yards out, but no shots on target in the second-half (despite 10 efforts at goal) summed up the lack of cutting edge Chelsea showed at the London Stadium.
Chelsea remaining December fixtures
Huddersfield (a), Southampton (h), Everton (a), Brighton (h), Stoke (h).
A Sky Sports study at the start of the month revealed Chelsea had the easiest December fixtures on paper. After this unexpected slip-up they cannot afford to make any more mistakes. The problem for Antonio Conte and his players is that they may now have already left themselves too much ground to make up.
Penalty for Morata?
Perhaps this game would have panned out differently had Chelsea been awarded a penalty on 15 minutes. At 1-0 down, they can count themselves a little unfortunate not to have been thrown an immediate way back into the match by referee Anthony Taylor. As Morata battled Reid in the box, the New Zealand international grabbed the Chelsea striker's shirt at the shoulder - but the Spaniard's theatrical fall didn't convince Taylor, whose position obscured his view of the tangle. "I think they could [have had a penalty]," said Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp. "Reid definitely gets a bit of his shirt, he grabs it, he pulls it… the problem is the ref can't see it."
Arnautovic stars
It had been an underwhelming start to life at West Ham for the club's record signing Arnautovic since his £20m switch from Stoke in the summer. Booed off against Brighton and questioned for his teamwork by boss Moyes, the Austrian had struggled to recreate the quality he showed last season. However, he made his mark here, opening his West Ham account with a fine goal just seven minutes in, and then producing a battling performance which set the tone for his teammates. A one-two on the edge of the box with Lanzini created space and a cool, left-foot shot into the far corner left Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois no chance as West Ham made the breakthrough early on. It was the first time Arnautovic had hit the net since April and his jubilant celebrations, which saw him jump into the crowd, earned him a yellow card. But that booking was the only blot on his copy book on Saturday afternoon. He bullied Andreas Christensen throughout, winning the ball off the Dane in the first-half and then having a driving run into the area stopped by the hand of the Chelsea defender, which was considered unintentional by referee Taylor. Christensen will have been pleased to see the back of him when he was subbed off on 68 minutes, but it wasn't just his attacking contributions which stood out. The 28-year-old weighed in defensively too, regularly dropping back into West Ham's third to help out his colleagues. It was an all-round performance Moyes will expect - and need - more of.
What now for Hart?
While West Ham celebrated an unlikely win, Joe Hart may well have left the London Stadium wondering what his future holds. Moyes gave the goalkeeper his backing on Friday, insisting he wouldn't be cancelling the player's loan deal this January. However, he stuck with Adrian for this clash with Chelsea, after the Spaniard impressed at Manchester City last time out, and Hart's replacement didn't put a foot wrong. It was a damaging call for Hart, who had shipped 16 goals in his previous six league games. While England boss Gareth Southgate has also given his backing to the shot-stopper, there's no doubt sitting on West Ham's bench will do little to boost Hart's prospects of being his country's number one at the World Cup next summer
Hart's England place under threat
Jamie Redknapp says Joe Hart's England place is under serious threat if he can't force his way back into West Ham's starting 11. The 30-year-old has a battle on his hands to dislodge Adrian now, though. His replacement was handed a couple of physical blows from Marcos Alonso and Morata but dealt with Chelsea's barrage of crosses into his box and saved well from N'Golo Kante and Davide Zappacosta in the first-half.
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TEN TALKING POINTS FROM WEST HAM 1 CHELSEA 0
By Iain Dale 9 Dec 2017 at 14:24
WTID
So proud. It's the first time for ages, and going back to last season, that we have put in a performance that lasted ninety minutes. Credit to every player. They were a team, not just a team of individuals. Let's crack on from this!
1. Cracking Man of the Match performance from Arthur Masuaku.
2. Arnautovic finally broke his duck and played superbly.
3. Brilliant, rocking atmosphere for the second Chelsea home game in a row!
4. Excellent midfield performance in the first half especially.
5. Excellent defensive performance throughout the game with the back three looking solid throughout.
6. Great return for Winston Reid.
7. Andre Ayew put in a real defensive shift when he came on to replace the tired out Antonio.
8. David Moyes set the team up perfectly to frustrate Chelsea. Credit to him.
9. Adrian did everything that was asked of him and must now retain his place for Arsenal on Wednesday.
10. Let's hope this sets up the rest of our season and isn't a flash in the pan.
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WEST HAM 1, CHELSEA 0. MUCH, MUCH BETTER.
By David Hautzig 9 Dec 2017 at 18:00
WTID
I was non stop yesterday. Two school concerts, one in the afternoon and then one in the evening. Work and other life requirements were squeezed in between those two lovely events, so I was easily able to keep my promise from last week not to let West Ham take up unnecessary space in my brain. So I was blissfully unaware of Jacob Steinberg's interview with David Sullivan in The Guardian until this morning. I was amazed, almost awed, by the abject stupidity I read. To start, admitting you had said things and made promises you should not have made in the very forum you should avoid for the rest of your life was irony personified. But the bit that left my mouth open almost long enough to dribble like an infant was his bragging about always coming straight back up when relegated. Uhhhhh, sir. Were you so out of touch with reality that you didn't realize you were bragging about your many failures as football owners? Having to constantly fix repeated screw ups is not a measure of success. It's a measure of neurological malfunctions. I'm guessing Steinberg used a lot of energy not to throw up on his laptop.
If there has been one positive about the Moyes reign thus far it has been the running. There has been a lot more of it. More pressing, more questions of the opposition. That was on display from the opening kick, but unlike recent matches there was an end product to go with it. In the sixth minute, Antonio and Lanzini combined near the top of the Chelsea eighteen yard box. Arnautovic broke into the center of the box and Lanzini rolled a pass perfectly into his path. The Austrian cut to his left and curled a shot around Courtois. I won't lie, but my joy at the goal was tempered by the yellow shown for his Tevez like celebration. He's not what we would call a level headed dude, know what I mean? What he has been is a changed player since Moyes arrival. Why? Don't know, don't care.
West Ham 1
Chelsea 0
The goal did not lead to West Ham complacency. The home side kept the pressure on, but that pressure did not lead to another attempt on goal. The next goal scoring opportunity fell, quite literally, to Hazard in the 20th minute when a high deflection fell to him ten yards in front of Adrian. He tried to volley it but didn't quite connect and his shot went wide. Chelsea dominated possession and tested Adrian in the 28th minute when Kante sent a hard low shot that Adrian had to dive to his left to push out for a corner. It continued to be all Chelsea, but West Ham showed impressive resilience and shape and kept the Blue wave at bay. But if you wondered how long they could keep that up, I doubt you were in the minority. West Ham dropped deeper and deeper, and that sense of inevitability grew.
West Ham won three corners in the final minutes of the half, and Masuaku played a direct part in two of them. It might not be a stretch to say it was the best 45 minutes of his West Ham career. Conversely, and I know I will be accused of bias here, Noble felt like the weakest link. More than a few bad passes that led directly to Chelsea counters, and generally looked a half step behind everyone else. Hey. I'm 52. Doing laundry takes energy now. Age happens
Halftime
West Ham 1
Chelsea 0
Chelsea began the second half with one change that anyone with a computer welcomed. Pedro on for Bakayoko, the latter of which was a typo waiting to happen. I would have liked to see one change in the midfield for West Ham, but I won't belabor the point.
In the 50th minute, Cresswell made the kind of play he made every few minutes in his first year when he cleared a Fabregas pass from the byline back into the box. Without that touch the match would have been level. Minutes later, West Ham had a shout for a penalty when Arnautovic cut into the box and tried to get the ball around a charging Christensen. The ball clearly hit the defenders hand, but Anthony Taylor judged it to be accidental and waved play on.
The Hammers had a few mini opportunities that they wasted. Arnautovic and Antonio broke on a counter but the pass to Arnautovic was a second late and put the lone goal scorer offside. Masuaku showed more endeavor and won another corner, but Lanzini wasted it. The fight was there. The quality was not.
Cresswell made his first mistake of the match in the 68th minute when he allowed Willian to beat him on the edge of the area. Cresswell had to bring him down just outside the box, which gave Chelsea a great opportunity from a set piece. But Reid got a crucial block in West Ham weathered yet another storm.
Moyes made his first change in the 69th minute, and while I welcomed the addition of Sakho I did not like the removal of Arnautovic. Antonio looked utterly gassed, and a few minutes later when he completely ignored a pass from Noble while talking to Moyes on the sideline it was clear his time was done and Ayew's began. Although it didn't take him long to look like a mistake when he wasted a precious opportunity to at least run some clock by sending a truly useless pass attempt into the lower atmosphere. He also grabbed his hamstring, which brought back terrifying memories of Kieron Dyer.
Chelsea had a glorious chance in the 83rd minute when Kante found Morata in front of Adrian. Morata tried to one time it but sent his point blank shot wide. Moments later Hazard an opportunity but sent his curling attempt over the bar.
"It's coming" said a text from my best mate, Jon.
I agreed. I could not see a way for us to hold on. But Cresswell blocked shots. Reid blocked passes. Ogbonna cleared the area. Zabaleta ran his socks off. Noble left everything on a few blades of grass. Even Ayew tracked back and made a good touch. It all topped off with Willian being so flustered he was whistled for an illegal throw, effectively ending the match.
Final Score
West Ham 1
Chelsea 0
Even if we had given up a late equalizer, it would have been another spirited performance from the squad. They did things I don't think we had seen in quite a long time, such as close out a match. The three points may be the most impressive of the season if we do in fact survive. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We are still in the bottom three, and I have no illusions that our board will ever learn from past mistakes. But today was a day to feel good again about our club.
Yeah, our club. Not theirs.
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Matthew Etherington sums up West Ham United performance in one tweet
HITC
Subhankar Mondal
West Ham United won against Chelsea at the London Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday. Matthew Etherington has taken to social networking site Twitter to give his reaction to West Ham United's win against Chelsea. West Ham got the better of Chelsea 1-0 at the London Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon. Marko Arnautovic's goal in the sixth minute proved to be the difference between the sides in the London derby. Former West Ham winger Etherington was following the game, and the 36-year-old has revelled in the win for David Moyes's win. Etherington has pretty much summed up the Hammers' performance against Chelsea in one tweet. Former West Ham striker John Hartson has also taken to Twitter to give his reaction to the win for the London club.
Matthew Etherington
✔
@mattyethers
Best team performance I've seen for a long time from @WestHamUtd Disciplined and defended well in numbers, so much desire throughout!! What a brilliantly worked goal as well, buzzing! #COYI #WHUCHE
2:23 PM - Dec 9, 2017
John Hartson
✔
@JohnHartson10
Huge 3 points for the Hammers ! 👍🏻
2:26 PM - Dec 9, 2017
West Ham defended brilliantly against Chelsea and showed great discipline at the back. True, the Hammers defended deep, but there was no other way for them to win against Antonio Conte's side. West Ham fans should be pleased with Moyes's side's performance against Chelsea, especially at the back.
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