Happy New Year!
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2017: A Year In Review
WHUFC.com
The Official Website takes a look back over 12 rollercoaster months in the life of West Ham United...
January
The New Year kicked-off with the visit of Manchester United to London Stadium and West Ham United sitting in a relatively comfortable 13th in the Premier League table. January was a month of highs and lows for the Hammers, with Andy Carroll-fuelled wins over Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough preceded by home defeats by the two Manchester clubs, including a 5-0 FA Cup third-round humbling by City. The first month of 2017 also saw Dimitri Payet's protracted departure confirmed, with the want-away Frenchman returning to former club Marseille in a £25m deal on 29 January.
February
A 4-0 home defeat by Manchester City, this time in the Premier League, proved to be West Ham's only reverse of a productive February. A trip to Southampton produced a third away win in four matches, with Pedro Obiang marking the occasion with his first goal for the Club. Carroll continued his renaissance, too, with another clinical finish. Two draws rounded out the month, albeit in differing circumstances. At home to West Bromwich Albion, the Hammers came from behind to deservedly lead, only for Gareth McAuley to snatch a late leveller. Away at Watford, Andre Ayew popped up to equalise before Michail Antonio was sent-off for the first time in Claret and Blue.
March
The third month of the year was one that West Ham fans will not want to be reminded of. Chelsea visited London Stadium for the second time, but there would be no repeat of West Ham's EFL Cup heroics in the Premier League, Eden Hazard and Diego Costa scoring in a 2-1 away victory. Five days later, the Hammers headed to the Vitality Stadium, where they paid the penalty for an error-strewn performance, despite AFC Bournemouth missing two penalties, and lost 3-2. And that was the same scoreline by which champions Leicester City completed a 'double' over the Hammers, despite Manuel Lanzini's outstanding free-kick.
April
Unfortunately, April picked up where March had left off, results-wise. Fresh from three straight defeats to end the previous month, the Hammers were made to look like fools as struggling Hull City scored a 2-1 victory at the KComm Stadium on 1 April. Three days later, a 3-0 defeat at Arsenal had Slaven Bilic's side looking nervously over their shoulders at the relegation zone, now just five points below them. Swansea City, who occupied 17th spot, were next on the fixture list, and Cheikhou Kouyate's first-half strike thankfully eased London Stadium nerves. Draws with Sunderland, Everton and Stoke City meant West Ham went into May all but mathematically safe.
May
The final three games of West Ham's campaign were a microcosm of their 2016/17 season as a whole, with notable victories bookending a horrific home defeat.
For the second consecutive year, Tottenham's Premier League title aspirations died in east London, where Manuel Lanzini's late goal condemned Spurs to a 1-0 defeat. Nine days later, Liverpool brought the Hammers back down to earth with a comprehensive 4-0 win. However, the season would end on a high as goals from Sofiane Feghouli and Andre Ayew saw Bilic's team come from behind to win at Burnley on the final afternoon.
Transfers
After a busy summer 2016 transfer window, West Ham were more selective in recruiting new players in 2017.
Preaching a message of 'quality over quantity', the Hammers brought in two-time Premier League champions Pablo Zabaleta and Joe Hart from Manchester City and Mexico's all-time leading goalscorer Chicharito from Bayer Leverkusen. The captures of Austrian forward Marko Arnautovic and dynamic Montenegro attacker Sead Haksabanovic completed the first team business. Going the other way were Havard Nordtveit, Enner Valencia, Darren Randolph, Ashley Fletcher, Sofiane Feghouli, Stephen Hendrie and Raphael Spiegel.
Pre-season
As they had been a year previously, West Ham's pre-season results were indifferent. A two-week training camp in Austria climaxed with a goalless draw with amateur side Sturm Graz II and a 2-1 victory over Championship club Fulham – the only win of the summer. The Hammers headed for Germany next, narrowly losing the Betway Cup, 3-2 on aggregate, to Bundesliga side Werder Bremen, although Marko Arnautovic and Toni Martinez both netted well-taken goals. A 3-3 draw at Hamburg-based Altona 93 was followed by a flight to Reykjavik, where the Hammers took part in the first game played between two English Premier League clubs in Iceland. Unfortunately, Manchester City proved too strong, winning 3-0.
August
Logistical work to return London Stadium to 'football mode' following the 2017 IAAF World Champions and World Para Athletics Championships meant West Ham had to play their opening three Premier League fixtures away from home. That proved difficult for Slaven Bilic's side as Manchester United, Southampton and Newcastle United all defeated the Hammers at their own stadiums. The Southampton loss was particularly galling, as West Ham fought back from two goals down with ten men, only for a contentious last-minute penalty to deny them a hard-fought draw. The Carabao Cup provided some relief, as goals from Ayew and Diafra Sakho secured a 2-0 second-round win at League Two Cheltenham Town.
September
A belated first home game of the season also marked West Ham's maiden Premier League victory of 2017/18, as goals from Obiang and Ayew saw off Huddersfield Town. A creditable goalless draw at West Bromwich Albion was followed by a dramatic 3-2 home defeat by Harry Kane-inspired Tottenham Hotspur. The Premier League month was rounded out by another narrow home win, this time 1-0, against struggling Swansea City. Again, the Carabao Cup provided some welcome cheer with the Championship's bottom side, Bolton Wanderers, being brushed aside 3-0 in Stratford, with Arthur Masuaku's late rocket a highlight. Meanwhile, teenager Declan Rice continued to see his stock rise with a series of assured displays.
October
Any optimism that West Ham had enjoyed going into October quickly dissipated during a winless Premier League month. The month actually started positively when Antonio put his side into an early lead at Burnley, but Sam Vokes' late leveller was a sign of things to come. Newly-promoted Brighton & Hove Albion scored a shock 3-0 win at London Stadium, before another last-gasp equaliser, this time at Crystal Palace, saw two more points squandered. There was one bright spot, however, in the shape of a come-from-behind 3-2 Carabao Cup fourth-round win over Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium.
November
Slaven Bilic's final match in charge proved to be a 4-1 home Premier League defeat by Liverpool on 4 November, bringing down the curtain on the Croatian's two-and-a-half year reign. In all, Bilic managed 111 Hammers games, winning 42, drawing 30, and losing 39, while guiding the Club into Europe during the unforgettable final season at the Boleyn Ground. Former Everton boss David Moyes was his replacement. The Scot's reign got off to a losing start at Watford, but a decent performance in the home draw with Leicester City meant there was cause for optimism going into the final month of the year.
December
A trip to runaway Premier League leaders Manchester City was cause for alarm, but the Hammers played well in losing 2-1. And the feeling that things were turning around strengthened during a fine week in which West Ham defeated Chelsea and Stoke City either side of a goalless draw with Arsenal. Club record signing Marko Arnautovic was the star of the show, scoring against both the Blues and the Potters, while the five-man defence gave the side greater solidity at the back. The Carabao Cup run ended in a 1-0 defeat at Arsenal, but there remains optimism that 2018 will bring better things for everyone of a Claret and Blue persuasion.
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2018 - MORE OF THE SAME OR ONWARDS AND UPWARDS ?
By HamburgHammer 1 Jan 2018 at 08:00
WTID
Happy New Year to all my fellow Hammers, readers, authors and posters here on WHTID. I hope 2018 will bring you health, good fortune and happiness for yourself and your families.
As for West Ham thankfully the footballing calendar doesn't leave much time to ponder and reflect too much on points lost and opportunities missed, the West Brom game is already upon us and then there is another little thing to deal with, what was it again ? Ooh, I'm feeling a bit taters, where's the bloody draft coming from ? Oh yes, of course, the transfer window is open once more.
While we are still perched dangerously close to the edge of the Premier League cliff (after recent results we are actually in one of the relegation spots for the time being), it'd be foolish to assume there won't be any transactions for West Ham in the coming weeks. Our squad needs shaking up a bit. Players who haven't quite delivered or are unhappy with their lot at the club are likely to be shipped out.
Of course most of what's following is mild (or wild ?) speculation on my part, but that's all part of the fun of the transfer window, innit ? And God knows, a bit of fun is most welcome at this point, especially when it comes to our cosy little family club/global brand.
So, who will leave ? In my book, quite a few. If we can or will adequately replace them is anyone's guess, but I would expect Hart to leave after seeing his loan terminated early.
The whole point of him coming to us in the first place was establishing himself as the clear cut Number One goalkeeper with us, booking his ticket for the World Cup in Russia in the process.
As it is though he has rarely impressed on the pitch this season. Granted, it's not exactly a picnic having to play between the sticks for West Ham and behind our current defenders these days, but still a goalkeeper who aims to be England's goalkeeper of choice for the World Cup should still be able to win games for his team on the pitch, pulling off unbelievable saves, instilling confidence in his defenders, being a solid rock at the back. Unfortunately Hart hasn't been able to do that and for that reason has lost his position as regular starter and rightly so.
I am sure that both West Ham and Joe Hart thought this loan spell would work out a lot differently, but as things stand the deal is no longer working for the player or the club.
I see a parting of ways as the natural thing to do here. I would also expect Diafra Sakho to leave as obviously his heart is no longer in it and he almost seems destined to go anywhere as long as it's away from West Ham and he finally gets starts (understandably so), be that somewhere else in England or in France.
I also wouldn't be surprised to see Carroll leave should we receive a decent offer for him as quite frankly, like so many other strikers at the club in recent years, he just hasn't delivered the goods. Coupled with his injury record he just doesn't score enough (or create scoring opportunities for others), so he could be out the door as well.
Maybe, just maybe accompanied by Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez.
The Mexican has scored goals like clockwork everywhere he has plied his trade so far, the common denominator being him scoring all his goals from inside the box. So the secret to get the most out of him is to create plenty of movement (and havoc) near and inside the opposition's penalty box. For some reason West Ham don't seem to be able or willing to do that, hence Hernandez is not scoring as often as he'd like to. Also I think he wants and needs more minutes on the pitch and most clubs would be happy to give him just that, knowing what he can do if being played in the right system.
Ayew might be sold as well, but it'd be an exercise in cutting our losses as it sounds impossible that we will recoup anywhere near the fee we paid for him not too long ago.
I am aware that this would require wholesale changes for us upfront and I am also aware that January is a very difficult time to make value for money signings.
In fact, it is difficult to make any signings full stop.
Plus it doesn't really help if you are asking potential signings to join a relegation battle rather than playing for Europa League qualification.
There is also a chance we may lose some defenders, Collins and Ogbonna being the most likely candidates. This would tie in with Reece Oxford being recalled from Borussia Mönchengladbach, apparently against the expressed wishes of the player himself.
I have to say I was caught by surprise hearing that Oxford's loan has been cut short. He was just starting to establish himself over there, finally getting regular starts. It's easy to understand why he would want to stay in the Rhineland for now as there are obviously no guarantees he will get more gametime at West Ham.
All we know so far is that Moyes will take a look at him and then decide. Which also applies to Reece Burke and Josh Cullen as both will be recalled from their loans at Bolton to be assessed by the gaffer.
According to rumours both are likely to not make the grade and get sold in this window to generate some funds to add to our transfer kitty. It is always sad when you see a youngster NOT make it and their spells at West Ham coming to an end. But on the other hand it is just part of the circle of life in football. We all know that the vast majority of prospects don't quite make it in the end, but then again there is still a chance for Burke and Cullen as maybe, just maybe Moyes sees potential and will give them a shot for the remainder of the season. In any case it is cheaper (but also a lot riskier) to play prospects rather than signing new players who already have experience at the top level.
Having watched several transfer windows under our current board already I have come to basically expect nothing from them when it comes to getting deals over the line, especially for players of a certain quality with a pricetag to match. I just don't think they still know how to cope in today's crazy market. Of course from a fan's perspective the current transfer fees are mindboggling, even for average Premier League players. But the prices are what they are and if you are not prepared to pay the price you won't get the player as another club will simply step up and pay if they are really interested in getting that particular player.
There aren't many shrewd deals available anymore out there and the only thing that might push our board towards spending a fair amount of cash is the fear of actually getting relegated. That indeed would be horrible for our club on so many levels. It also would instantly devalue the board's investment significantly and if anything, they won't allow that to happen if they can avoid that.
I will welcome any new signing at the club with wide open arms, a lot of hope and yes, also a modicum of optimism. It's been said before, all it takes is two wins on the bounce and we'd be very much back in business. It's very tight in the table and it's easy to make up or drop several places in the table with just a few results. I am absolutely certain that we will stay up but I am equally certain that it's going to be a struggle for the rest of the season. We will always hover in and around the relegation places, that's just the way the season seems to be shaping up.
West Brom next then. Again, a very winnable game, but as we know that alone should give us plenty of reasons to approach this fixture with caution. There are no easy games for us this season. Have we ever dominated the opposition in a game in the past 18 months, winning at a canter or having the opposition under the kosh for the entire game ?
I don't think so. I expect a tense affair, a scrappy game, but hopefully one we can win regardless, even if it may not be beautiful.
I'm looking forward to the West Brom game, the rollercoaster of emotions that is the January transfer window and of course to writing some more articles for you good people in 2018. I hope they will still be about Premier League football once August 2018 comes around…COYI!!!
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ARNIE FROM AUSTRIA: A WEST HAM LEGEND IN THE MAKING?
By rapidhammer 31 Dec 2017 at 17:00
WTID
I have been to London twice this autumn and Christmas time. Fortunately I was able to watch West Ham on both occasions and to some extent I witnessed history: I was present at Slaven Bilic's last game in charge back in November, and I watched my fellow Austrian Marko Arnautovic's first goal for the Hammers. Having initially thought of writing a post comparing these two games, entitled "A completely different story", I now have left it too late to write a column with this header: West Ham weren't able to pull clear of the drop zone and still find itself in the relegation mire on New Year's Eve.
Having watched the abject and dismal performance against Liverpool on my first visit this autumn, when the Irons were completely unable to string some passes together and trouble a Liverpool side which was far from its best, I couldn't expect a win over last season's champions on my next visit to the London Stadium. But the narrow loss a week ago to the one team that is playing a perfect season so far, Manchester City, had let us raise some hope, despite the results under new manager David Moyes had not been in West Ham's favour so far, and the Irons still were chasing their first win under the new gaffer.
Also the player I am particularly interested this season, fellow Austrian Marko Arnautovic, had not lived up to the expectations before the Chelsea game. He is the best player in Austria's current national team and on his day he can be brilliant, but far too often he has lacked commitment and his work rate on the pitch was poor. When I was asked what I thought about Arnautovic's move from Stoke to West Ham in the summer, I used to reply: "Well, so far Marko has made me angry just some times a year – when I watched him play for Austria – but from now on I will be angered by him every weekend."
And that exactly happened from the beginning of this season with Marko struggling under Slaven Bilic, being red-carded in his second league game, and unable to find the net or providing an assist in a league game until December. When new manager David Moyes came in, Marko Arnautovic's name was the first one to be mentioned in the tabloids as a player the Scotsman would like to sell to generate funds for new signings in the January window.
But West Ham's "number 7" started in three of Moyes's first four games in charge prior to the Chelsea match. And Marko's attitude seemed much improved, he responded well to the gaffer's request to raise his work rate, to track back and defend when West Ham had lost possession, and to play in a more central position than under Bilic who had used him mostly on the wing.
I am not sure if Moyes has really threatened to wield the axe and sell Arnautovic in the January window if his instructions weren't followed, but he surely must have found the right words for the Austrian. It was the 1-1 against Leicester (though still not the first win under the new manager) when things began to look brighter, and it was not only the loud home crowd that impressed the pundits in that match, but also Marko Arnautovic who made such an impression that he was named "man of the match". He received a deserved standing ovation when he was replaced by Andre Ayew after 70 minutes.
This step forward was followed by a cruel setback though: West Ham lost 0-4 to Everton, allowing Wayne Rooney to score four goals, and the next three games were to be played against much stronger opposition: Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal. Would my second live game in the London Stadium this season (against Chelsea) be one of four defeats in a row which were on the cards this December? Therefore when planning the trip to London I had scheduled a Christmas concert by candlelight for Saturday evening after the game in order to prevent my family from starting the pre-Christmas holiday on a low.
Albeit, the good news is that the start to our stay in London was quite the opposite! On a bright and cold Saturday we had a smooth journey to London Stansted and the claret seat belts in the plane showed all the right colours on our flight! Having landed perfectly in time we travelled from the airport to West Ham station where we met the wonderful Paul Turner who stored our luggage in the boot of his car and drove to London Stadium with us. We had time enough before the game to buy me a West Ham Christmas scarf which immediately replaced the blue one I had grabbed thoughtlessly early in the morning when we had left home for Vienna airport.
We were on our seats in time to join in to the singing of "Bubbles" and from the beginning of the game it was very clear that this was a West Ham side very different from the poor XI I had watched five weeks ago. David Moyes had instilled a different attitude into the team, there was commitment, good passing, regained confidence and a lot of skill (especially from Masuaku who was a revelation in his new role on the left wing). The crowd responded well to the pleasing procedures on the pitch and the West Ham supporters were of good voice throughout the game, really being "West Ham's claret and blue army" and outsinging the Chelsea fans by far. I also cheered and sang so much this afternoon that my wife feared I was going to lose my voice and would be unable to sing along to the Christmas carols in the candlelight concert in the evening.
The sunny lunchtime at the London Stadium looked even brighter when just 6 minutes into the game a one-two with Manu Lanzini brought Marko Arnautovic in a good position in the box. Everyone rose to his feet and who wasn't quick enough to jump up immediately, unfortunately missed the very well placed shot into the left bottom corner that put West Ham ahead. It was a beautifully taken first goal for "Arnie" and his jump into the crowd showed the big relief this goal meant to the Austrian! We were sitting in the same stand in which he was hugged by the crowd, but unfortunately our seats weren't in the lower tier, so we couldn't express our delight personally and say "Servus" from face to face. But this fact didn't detract from our pleasure which grew bigger and bigger throughout the game when West Ham showed resilience and also the necessary composure to hold on and in the end beat last season's champions 1-0.
With his goal and his celebration with the fans "Arnie" (as he is called now by the West Ham fans) evoked memories of Carlos Tevez who also jumped into the crowd when he had scored his first goal after a long and tough time back in the 2006-07 season. Well, and Marko Arnautovic's nick name reminds me of someone else – another famous Austrian, the "terminator" Arnold Schwarzenegger, especially as Arnie's goal helped to terminate a winless streak of 8 league games.
It feels as if the Austrian forward has not stopped scoring since the game against Chelsea! David Moyes was right to praise Arnautovic lately for responding well to his challenge to raise his work rate or face being dropped. Arnie hit the back of the net in the 3-0 win against his former club Stoke and in the annoying 2-3 defeat against Newcastle, and now he has scored his first brace in the dramatic 3-3 against Bournemouth on Boxing Day (a game which West Ham would have won if the ref had not given the Cherries' controversial equalizer in stoppage time!). Although West Ham is back in the relegation zone on New Year's Eve: the Cherries have beaten Everton on Saturday moving up from 18th to 13th in the table and the Irons have played one game less due to the postponement of their match against Tottenham.
Let's hope the new year will bring a bright start with a win over West Brom on the 2nd of January in the London Stadium – maybe with some more exploits of our Arnie from Austria! I am very happy that last summer's record signing finally has become a real asset of West Ham's squad. When he continues to play (and score) like he has done since Moyes's managerial takeover at West Ham he could be a West Ham legend in the making!
After the first game of the year West Ham have to play three games away vs. Spurs, Shrewsbury (FA Cup) and Huddersfield. Though I know that getting results in the Premier League is most important for the club, the weekend in January which is most important to me is the one we play Shrewsbury in the FA Cup: if the Irons win and the draw brings them a home game in the next round, this could be my third West Ham game this season, because we are going to be back in London by the end of January when the 4th round of the FA Cup is played.
So come on you Irons, let this January be a success for claret and blue – on the pitch and with a good transfer window, too! I hope David Moyes will not only have been able to find the right words to instill a new attitude into the squad, but also to find the right players to bolster this squad. Especially in midfield I think the team needs to be strengthened …
But one thing is for sure: West Ham player Marko Arnautovic is not for sale in this window, he's one to watch on the pitch this January!
Happy New Year everybody! COYI!
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THE HIGHS, THE LOWS AND ROBERT MADLEY
By Tony Hanna 31 Dec 2017 at 08:00
WTID
The past year has certainly been a big disappointment for West Ham fans. The highlights from January to May in the season prior included two excellent performances beating Palace 3-0 at home and Southampton 3-1 away, but the topping on the cake was that barmy night under the lights beating Tottenham 1-0 with a significantly understrength team. Had Spurs won that night they would have finished the season with 13 consecutive wins but a loss pretty much ensured they would not be Champions. The second half of the year into this current season has not been much better with again just three games that got us really excited. The marvellous comeback in the League Cup game which saw a 2-0 deficit against Spurs (again) turned around for a 3-2 win; the brave 1-0 defeat of last season's champions Chelsea, and the footballing display we dished out at Stoke in a 3-0 drubbing were for me the main highlights. In November we parted company with the 15th full time manager in our history as Slaven Bilic made way for David Moyes.
Supporting West Ham for over five decades has never been easy but it has been far less rewarding since the inception of the Premier League era. Take the past 12 months, six highlights for the whole year. No major trophy since 1980 – thirty seven bloody years! Let's face it, we are not going to win the PL any time soon, if ever, but at least we used to give the domestic Cups a fair crack. I saw us win three in the first two decades supporting the club – and a European trophy. Our League campaigns were almost always disappointing but for the most we saw some great players and at times some wonderful football. Even in division two we saw some of our best players of all time. Trevor Brooking, Alan Devonshire, Billy Bonds, Alvin Martin, Frank Lampard , Phil Parkes and Ray Stewart. How could a team with these players be playing in the second flight – but there again our highest league position with Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters all in the side was eighth! However, in most of those years there were a lot more than six highlights. Since then the title challenge of 1986 and the Payet season are like a comfort blanket to a child – something to cling on to with all our might. I really feel we missed a trick by not fielding our best eleven at Arsenal in the LC quarter final. Not only did we surrender any cup ambition that night, but also the confidence and momentum that was starting to build. Those two ingredients are worth their weight in gold to any sporting team and I feel we lost more than a football match at the Emirates.
Some of the hidings we have taken, some of the train wrecks we have witnessed, well we can never be accused of being plastic can we? Back to the Payet season, sorry if I offend anyone by calling it that, I realise there were many more factors that led to that great season, but towards the end of that season we had a run of three games where poor refereeing decisions possibly cost us 4th place. On March 19th 2016 Robert Madley awarded a penalty to Chelsea in injury time for an incident that took place outside the box which once converted saw three points turned to a solitary one. He had earlier turned his back on Cesc Fabregas moving the ball back several yards to his advantage at a free kick which he duly converted from a more advantageous position. In our next match Kouyates red card against Palace (which was later rescinded) tipped a comfortable win into another draw whilst a fortnight later the softest of late penalties at Leicester forced yet another 2-2 draw from the jaws of victory. These were all notable incidents where the officials got it wrong at our expense. However, what we witnessed at Bournemouth last week was an absolute disgrace. It has been done to death now but Robert Madley is one fella I never ever want to see referee a West Ham match again.
I have never been one for New Year's resolutions. Being strong willed if I want to change something in my life I don't need any special day of the year to do it. However, it is a tradition for some and I know many people who do like to partake. If David Moyes is looking to make one or two what would your suggestions be? I think I would start by making it an absolute must that we bring in a top quality holding midfielder in the January transfer window.
I wrote in my article last week that Sakho, Ayew, Carroll and Kouyate may be players we may listen to offers for in the January window. Nothing has happened to change my mind there but what of incoming targets? Reece Oxford has been recalled from Germany despite only playing a handful of games. I would be surprised if the youngster is not given a run in the Cup against Shrewsbury to give the boss an idea as to whether he has improved any? Meanwhile, transfer targets mentioned in the press include;
Alfie Mawson Swansea centre back who will be 24 years old later in January. Can't say I have watched a lot of him to be honest but what I have seen he looks pretty decent. It is always hard to appraise a defender who is playing for a team that is bottom of the league and in Mawson's case hasn't played in the top flight for very long. Moyes is looking for a central defender and the bookies make him 4/6 (a 60% chance) to join the Hammers.
Steven N'Zonzi French midfielder who is out of favour at current club Sevilla. I was impressed with the player when he was at Stoke – his ball retention and distribution was very good. He is a big lad and in 2011 when playing for Blackburn he elbowed Ryan Shawcross in the face and received a four match ban for his efforts – so he has a bit about him. His form at past clubs has often tapered off after bright starts and at 29 he may be a risk considering he would demand a large fee. Despite the paper talk saying we are interested, Skybet don't even have us listed as a club chasing him. Arsenal are currently even money favourites (50%) for his signature.
Marouane Fellaini David Moyes would have plenty of knowledge on this player from his time at Everton. Out of favour at Manchester United in a World Cup year usually means where there is smoke there is fire. However, despite the rumours West Ham are 18/1 (5%) to sign the Belgian this window and he is 1-2 (66%) to stay in Manchester.
Jonjo Shelvey There has been a sprinkling of money in the past 24 hours for the Newcastle midfielder to join the Hammers. We are quoted at 4/1 (20%) whilst he is priced at 1/3 (75%) to stay put which at this point seems the most likely outcome.
Other players muted to be on our radar are Jack Wilshere and Daniel Sturridge who are both quoted at 5/1 (16%) which seem way under the odds as both seem unlikely at this point in time.
Happy New Year to you all and stay SAFE
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STILL FOLLOWING THE WHITE LINE – AN UPDATE FROM THE INFIRM CITY FIRM
By Tony Hanna 30 Dec 2017 at 08:00
WTID
Guest post by Voice of Reason
Despite all of the obstacles that have been put in our path, the Infirm City Firm has limped its way to the end of 2017 and is still alive (just) and kicking (very weakly).
The other members of the Executive Board (me, BSB and Russ) are rather concerned about the Big Fella (Safehands) who has missed a few matches. We thought it was due to filming and location issues but a pattern seems to be emerging and the games that are missed are all north of Watford.
A strange situation which we need to get to the bottom of. Although Safehands managed to come to West Brom, absence was recorded in the register for Burnley and Stoke and it will be a similar situation for the Cup game at Shrewsbury and for Huddersfield.
Anyway, in a sort of diarised format, this is what has happened over the past three months.
Sat 17th Sept – West Brom away
2 cars needed as the attendance figures go up!
BSB & Safehands took Irons 1959 whilst Russ drove CRB and myself. Also met Dan Coker in the pub and Carlinsir and his missus, who we managed to get tickets for, before the game which was a "turgid" (Russ's description) goalless draw. I have never seen a home team set up as blatantly for a draw as West Brom did. And it's not as if they were playing a top team. It's very easy to understand their fans thoughts about Tony Pulis and his negative, old school football. That man sure does love a central defender. Or about six of them to be honest.
Not a lot else to say.
Sat 14th October – Burnley away
VoR, BSB and CRB in attendance and we also met David Murray there having managed to get him a ticket, plus a ticket for Nigel's nephew Billy who lives oop north.
We went into Burnley Cricket Club which is adjacent to the football ground. They open up their car park and bars for away fans and is a great location for a pre-match pint. Some of our youngsters were a total embarrassment with some really fouls songs about Karren Brady. She's far from my favourite person but these were not funny and not clever – that's both the songs and the kids. This was all in front of families and female staff at the Cricket Club. We really do have our share of pillocks.
Going to Burnley shows that modern football does not have to be completely sanitised. Their ground has been upgraded in recent years but is still a "proper" football ground in the centre of town with a great atmosphere and a good bunch of fans. Would prefer to watch games there every week rather than at our mausoleum.
BSB's in-car catering included Scotch Eggs and Pork Pies as well as ham and beef rolls. In a chill box. This is almost at corporate catering level now!
A 1-1 draw – which we would have all taken before the game – could (and should) have been 3 points. Only Andy Carroll's sending off in the first half when we were one up stopped that happening. Officially he was sent off for two yellow cards but in reality it was for being stupid.
Bonus points for BSB for the catering but a yellow card for forgetting to take the flag.
Sat 28th October – Crystal Palace away.
VoR, BSB, Safehands, Nigel, Russ all rolled up for this one and we finally got the flag into the ground and hung on the railings, although I'm not sure it was very visible. Getting it in took some time as there were West Ham stewards demanding to see every flag. They were looking for the "Board Out" one that had been at Wembley for the Spurs Caribou Cup game and it still got in and was unfurled at the end of the game.
2-0 up at half time (a touch flattering) with two great goals from Hernandez and Ayew but we gave away a needless penalty early in the second half (Ogbonna) and then came under the cosh. Hart showed that he is still a very good keeper with a string of saves. They hit the woodwork twice and then scored in the 97th minute (even though Bobby Madman had only added 6 minutes – see later comments about this clown) due to Antonio's lack of football intelligence. He could have kept the ball in the corner but gave it away with a weak cross and Palace went up the other end and scored.
A very disappointing finale but a neutral would have said that Palace deserved at least a point.
Beer in plastic bottles and rubbish food in Selhurst Park and, as always seems to happen at Palace, every West Ham 'erbert decided to go. We really to have some twats follow us.
But we also have some very considerate people like a Mr Nigel Kahn, formerly of Canning Tahn who is always happy to help.
Sun 19th November – Watford away.
Following the long drawn out will he go / won't he go Slaven Bilic saga, VoR, BSB, Safehands and Nigel were in attendance for the first game of the Davis Moyes reign and we deservedly lost. 2-0.
No heart, no pace, no difference really. Even Andy Carroll was still throwing his arms into opposition faces and could have been sent off in the first minute. He wasn't even booked for that but got a yellow card later in the first half and it was a surprise that he came out in the second half as seemed like a red card waiting to happen. He was eventually replaced by Sakho.
For the first time this season the away fans really turned on the club – in the form of the owners and, to a lesser extent, the players generally and Carroll in particular. The "offensive" flag managed to breach security and duly appeared to be followed by a "debate" between the flag's owners and the West Ham stewards.
We had our flag but decided against showing it. I hid behind Safehands for safety's sake.
For the first time relegation seemed like a distinct possibility but Safehand's Ginger Shortbread was the highlight of the day and we did "stay til the end" which was more than Carroll did.
I'm afraid that inappropriate behaviour by one of our number has to be reported. Comments like that to 15 year old girls manning the car park at the Girls Grammar School will not be tolerated. This person knows who he is and we all hope he has learned his lesson. You are not an MP or a film producer and you will do well to remember that.
Sat 16th December – Stoke away
BSB, VoR, Russ and Barney travelled up without Safehands as Stoke is a bit of a way up the M6.
We met Carlinsir and his wife at Longton Rugby Club having picked Dan Coker up from Stoke station first.
As usual, the rugby club was most welcoming. £5 to park, cheap beer and a burger. No complaints there.
Our first away game since Watford as we decided to give Everton (midweek, cold, crap ground) and Man City (decided to hide behind the sofa instead) a miss. Everton was a good decision (4-0 loss) but we did well at City and were unlucky no to get something from the game.
So, following home games against Chelsea (1-0 win) and Arsenal (0-0 draw) this, in some ways was a test of how we would play against a lesser team.
But the first test was for Stoke's electrician as a complete power outage meant the game kicked off an hour late. Waiting outside in the cold wasn't the greatest way to spend an hour but even that did not justify the moron who shouted "open the fu***ng gates you c**ts". Amazingly, despite being told by a bloke with a megaphone, he was too bereft of brain to understand that the turnstiles were not working and it was pitch dark inside the ground and therefore dangerous. Plus, of course, there was no football. This was all from a middle aged man with a small boy. What a role model. (Thinking later, I wonder whether it was the same small boy who sat behind me at Bournemouth who is mentioned further down the article. Probably not, as there are a lot of them around).
Any road up, excellent performance ending in a 3-0 win. Arnautovic baited the Stoke crowd and the laughingly misnamed "Sparky" Hughes and the whole team played well including the Ginger Pele, back from injury and revelling in a game where the opposition just lumped it into our penalty area for him to head away.
There was the first full away airing of "Arthurs Song" (Arthur Masuaku, he's better than Lukaku"). Genius. And Lanzini got a retrospective ban for diving when winning the penalty that led to the opening goal.
A reasonable car boot buffet was produced by Barney (Mrs Barney?) although it has been noted that there were no pork pies, resulting in the fully deserved "must do better" comment on Mr McGrew's end of year report.
The flag couldn't make it due to Christmas shopping.
Tues 19th December – Arsenal away (Caribou Cup)
A worse game than West Brom away. Concentrate on the league. That's it.
Tuesday 26th December (Boxing Day) – Bournemouth away
VoR, BSB, Safehands and Russ gave up the armchairs, turkey sandwiches and mulled wine to travel to one of Britain's premier holiday resorts in the dead of winter.
Good News and Bad News
Good: Car Park still only £1, we got a point although, on overall play, we didn't deserve it, Arnie scored two more goals, the IFCF Secret Santa thingy at the Services on the way home (next year I'm going to get Safehands a whippet or a ferret), giving a mince pie to a complete stranger in the Services and leaving another one on the table for the first homeless person / greedy bastard to help himself to.
Bad: Accidents on the M25 and M3, non-stop rain, high winds, a kid of about 10 years old behind me (with his father!) who shouted "You F***ing C**t" at least 100 times over the course of the game in his high pitched voice and, worst of all, the Bobby Madley Show.
We've been on the wrong end of some of this idiot's decisions a few times (see Palace game above) but this time he excelled himself by allowing a 93rd minute "equaliser" to stand despite it being offside and handball both of which he gave from his position on the edge of the penalty area.
I've watched him on TV against other teams and this wasn't isolated bad refereeing. The Madman is just not a good referee. This time he seemed to take a perverse pleasure in allowing the goal and his smirking face has invaded my dreams ever since. If referees were allowed to speak to the media, and explain some of their more contentious decisions, there would be a far greater appreciation of them from sensible fans at least. I doubt it would change that horrible little 'erbert who sat behind me.
I would love to hear Madley's explanation of his decision at Bournemouth as I can't imagine what he could possible say to justify his actions. So we lose 2 points and he will probably rock up at a match in a few days and spoil another few thousand peoples day.
So it will be a new year when we next venture to fields far away, more in hope than expectation. We are off to Shrewsbury and Huddersfield (first time for both those grounds) in January to watch the start of our run to Wembley and our climb to safety.
Thanks to all of the Infirm City Firm for their company and their catering skills and particular thanks to both BSB and Russ for their driving.
And a very Happy New Year to you all.
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West Ham "fighting for our lives" admits Javier Hernandez before 3 tough games in less than a week
Third-bottom Hammers face 19th-placed West Brom, a derby trip to Spurs and then a tough away tie in the FA Cup
The Mirror
ByNeil McLeman
Sports Writer
22:30, 31 DEC 2017
Javier Hernandez says West Ham will be "fighting for our lives" against West Brom at the start of three huge New Year matches in six days. David Moyes' side go to Wembley for a London derby with Tottenham on Thursday, before a potential FA Cup banana-skin away to League One promotion chasers Shrewsbury three days later. But the first and biggest clash is at the Olympic Stadium against former manager Alan Pardew and his relegation-threatened Baggies side, who are one rung below them on the top flight ladder. "They are all very important games for the club," said the striker known Chicharito . "First, we play West Brom and we are fighting for our lives so we want to get the three points. "Then, we have a derby match — and it's a nice one, with Tottenham. The last time we went to Wembley, we were very happy with the result in the League Cup, coming back from 2-0 down to win 3-2, so we have good memories of playing against Spurs there. "Then the week ends with the FA Cup, which is a competition I'd love to win."
The former Manchester United star started the first 11 Premier League matches after his summer transfer from Bayer Leverkusen, scoring four times, but suffered a hamstring injury on international duty in early November. The Mexican has come off the bench in the last four games and is now ready to start again. "I am very happy and glad to be back," he said. "If you ask all footballers, they will tell you they don't want to be on the bench. "They all want to play and I'm trying to prove I want to be involved with more minutes, with more starts, and then we'll see what happens. "I'm always going to give everything for the team, whenever I am on the pitch. "I love football and I want to be as professional as I can, on and off the pitch, if I am given one minute or 90 minutes, and I will try to do my best."
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West Ham fans are saying the same thing following Wilfried Zaha's "dive" against Manchester City
Hammers fans aren't happy with Crystal Palace winger
Football London
ByTashan Deniran-Alleyne
09:30, 1 JAN 2018
Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha irked a number of West Ham United supporters for his involvement in winning a penalty against Manchester City yesterday afternoon. As the Eagles became only the second team to take points off the Premier League leaders so far this season - as well as becoming the first team to prevent them from scoring since April 2017 - the result could have been much better had Luka Milivojevic not seen his poor last minute penalty saved by Ederson.
The awarding of the spot-kick was rather controversial as Zaha skipped past both Raheem Sterling and Danilo before going down in the box following contact from the former. However, replays did show that contact was fairly minimal and that's prompted suggestions that the Ivory Coast international - not for the first time during his career - went down too easily in a bid to deceive the officials by winning a penalty.
Some may say that justice was served when the Eagles midfielder, who is normally so reliable from the spot, was denied by the City keeper and the result also means that the Irons are just a point behind their London rivals in the table as the fight for survival heats up. Understandably, supporters of the East Londonders don't want to see Palace pick up three points and it would appear that many feared the worst when Jonathan Moss pointed to the spot after Zaha went down in the area as some opted to vent their anger over the decision on social media.
West Ham Central
@WestHam_Central
Zaha is getting a ban so it isn't really a high for them is it? https://twitter.com/premierleague/status/947467554855014400 …
2:04 PM - Dec 31, 2017
13 13 Replies 1 1 Retweet 19 19 likes
Robbie Lawther
@RLawther94
@FA when will Zaha be banned for diving for the second time this season?? Disgusting
1:57 PM - Dec 31, 2017
Replies Retweets 1 1 like
Weѕt Hαm Sociαl
@WestHamSocial
Zaha is quality player, the diving is absolutely disgraceful though. Yet again he has deceived a referee, good to see that penalty saved.
1:55 PM - Dec 31, 2017
8 8 Replies 32 32 Retweets 193 193 likes
Azza
@CoachAzza
Finally, Zaha should be punished for his dive to win that penalty - regardless of whether it was missed in the end.
The FA have to remain consistent in their recent punishments over Lanzini and others.
2:10 PM - Dec 31, 2017
1 1 Reply Retweets likes
Lewis West
@L8wis
So Lanzini gets a ban for 'diving' despite contact but Zaha does it 5/6 times per game and has never been punished?! 🏊🤦♂️keep up the good work @FA
2:04 PM - Dec 31, 2017
Replies Retweets 2 2 likes
West Ham Geezer ⚒
@WHUFCGeezer
Justice......another dive from zaha
2:00 PM - Dec 31, 2017
Replies Retweets 2 2 likes
West_Ham_COYI
@West_Ham_COYI
Honestly don't think I've seen a player dive as much as Zaha. Everyone used to crucify players like Suarez but Zaha is non stop all game. Runs alongside someone and then drops to the floor like he's been shot throwing his arms around
2:15 PM - Dec 31, 2017
Replies 2 2 Retweets 15 15 likes
James Hart
@JamesHart6WHU
Another Zaha dive 😴
1:53 PM - Dec 31, 2017
Replies Retweets likes
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http://vyperz.blogspot.com
Monday, January 1
Sunday, December 31
Daily WHUFC News - 31st December 2017
Chicharito: I'm always going to give everything for the team
WHUFC.com
Chicharito is hoping to start 2018 on a high with West Ham United. The Hammers face three important fixtures in the first seven days of the New Year – Premier League meetings with West Bromwich Albion and Tottenham Hotspur and an Emirates FA Cup third-round tie at Shrewsbury Town. And, with such a busy schedule in place, the Mexico striker is eager to make his mark in Claret and Blue. "We have three games this week and they are all very important for the Club, and I hope there will be opportunities for all the players to help the team," the No17 told whufc.com. "First, we play West Brom and we are fighting for our lives here, so we want to get the three points as well. Then, after that we have a derby match and it's a nice one with Tottenham. The last time we went to Wembley, we were very happy with the result in the Carabao Cup, coming back from 2-0 down to win 3-2, so we have good memories of playing against Spurs there. "Then the week ends with the FA Cup, which is a competition I would love to win in my career."
After starting West Ham's opening eleven Premier League matches following his summer switch from Bayer Leverkusen, Chicharito was sidelined with a hamstring injury suffered on international duty in early November. Since returning to fitness, he has appeared as a substitute in the Hammers' last four games, and now feels ready to be included from the kick-off again. "Not only for footballers, but for everybody, the most important thing in life is to be healthy and to enjoy it and to do what you love most, which in my case is football. I am very happy and glad to be back. "I'm always going to give everything for the team, whenever I am on the pitch. I love football and I want to be as professional as I can, both inside and outside the pitch, if I am given one minute or 90 minutes, and I will try to do my best. "If you ask all footballers all over the world, they will tell you they don't want to be on the bench, and that's a normal thing. They all want to play and I'm trying to prove that I want to be involved with more minutes, with more starts, and then we'll see what happens [when I'm on the pitch]."
But while he would naturally love to play every single minute of every single game, a true team player like Chicharito knows it will need contributions from every single squad member to help West Ham climb away from trouble in the Premier League. "I'm never one to talk about a single player, be it myself or other players, as all the goals, all the results and all the points we get are because everybody is giving 100 per cent to help the team in the way we want to do it. "That's the only thing on our minds at the moment, to give our best to try to get into a better position."
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Lewin explains how recovery will be key during busy week
WHUFC.com
West Ham United's Head of Medical Services Gary Lewin explains how his department will carefully manage the physical condition of the players through next week's hectic schedule of three matches in the space of six days…
The busy Christmas and New Year period has been complicated further this year by the fact that we had a full midweek Premier League programme scheduled in mid-December. Historically, in the two weeks leading up to Christmas, any team not in European competition or not playing in the quarter-final of the League Cup would simply be playing weekend to weekend and then have a full clear week to prepare for the rush of fixtures over the holiday period. This year, we had the midweek Premier League game against Arsenal on December 13 and then the League Cup tie against them a week later – and so our preparation time has been reduced. The holy grail throughout this period is recovery. Because we are playing Tuesday-Thursday-Sunday this coming week, there is very little time to follow the schedules and processes that we work to in a regular week. It really is a testing time for the entire squad and there are so many variables that come into play.
You also have the accumulative load from the games, which you simply can't gauge beforehand. For example, players picking up minor knocks that, ordinarily, take three or four days to recover from, would now face missing the next match.
When it comes to planning for the week ahead, it is a case of setting up both a training group and a recovery group, so that there is a strategy in place for how we ensure we get every player ready for the next game, based on whether they have played or not in the previous match. For example, on the Wednesday between the West Brom and Tottenham games, those who have played the night before will need simple recovery, those who haven't played but might be in contention to play the following night at Wembley will need a light training session, while those not playing in either game will need to work a bit harder. That is without taking into account the added burden of the fact that the manager needs time to prepare the team tactically for the next game, which in this case mean that goes into the day of the game on Thursday. The medical team will have everything in place to assist recovery – a mobile cryotherapy unit that we bring in, additional masseurs, the plunge pools, compression garments, plus our regular recovery programme involving exercise bikes and stretching.
Cryotherapy is something that is obviously fairly modern in terms of recovery tools for players – we have used the unit five times during the course of this period. However, the three main elements of recovery haven't changed in all the years I have been working in football – sleep, nutrition and hydration. After a game, players have to eat properly, get lots of sleep and rehydrate with lots of fluids. The following day, we reinforce that with physical recovery – stretching, massage, cryo-units, plunge pools and compression garments.
We have also been affected by the fact that the New Year programme has been shifted late on, with the Tottenham game only very recently moved to the Thursday. That has meant we have had to rearrange a lot of our planning, some of which was booked up at the start of the season. Having a full week to recover from the Bournemouth game before facing West Brom is helpful from a physical point of view, of course. However, around Christmas players are usually in the mindset and rhythm of playing a match every three to four days and, with the rearrangements this week, that balance has been removed. I don't think it is particularly fair – physically it is it not a level playing field for all clubs, as some are playing every few days, some have a longer break between matches and some have a week off before playing twice in three days. But that is how it is and we have to deal with it.
All we can do is be as flexible as possible with our planning and prepare for every possible eventuality. Everything we do will be geared towards ensuring that the players are in the best physical condition when playing a number of matches during a short space of time.
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Masuaku aims to keep West Ham supporters in good voice
WHUFC.com
"Oh-eh-oh, Arthur Masuaku. Oh-eh-oh, he's better than Lukaku! Oh-eh-oh, Arthur Masuaku. Oh-eh-oh, he never gives the ball away!" If you attended a West Ham United match in December, you will have heard the Claret and Blue Army's new favourite chant again and again – and chances are it will be stuck in your head well into the New Year! At the Emirates Stadium, the 7,000 Hammers' fans made up for the disappointment of losing a Carabao Cup quarter-final by singing the song – to the tune of Earth, Wind & Fire's 1971 hit September – virtually non-stop from 30 minutes before kick-off until the final whistle was blown.
Masuaku himself appreciates the supporters singing in tribute to him and is aiming to repay their choral backing in 2018. "I can hear it all the time!" said the left wing-back. "At the beginning of the game against Bournemouth, they were singing it, and then again during the game, so I appreciate that. I understand the song and I love the words and hope they can be true! "I can feel the crowd when I get the ball. As soon as I have the ball, they expect something from me. It's a good feeling. "It's important for me to have this relationship with the fans because it means they like me and want something from me. Not many players are lucky enough to have this, so I'd like to thank them."
Masuaku's attraction comes from the freedom with which he plays, collecting the ball in tight areas, anywhere on the pitch, before dribbling and driving forward at speed and delivering dangerous crosses into the opposition penalty area. The 24-year-old's style is a throwback to the days when football was less functional, less focused on results and more on wide players expressing themselves whenever they got the opportunity. It all stems from his formative years in the northern French city of Lille, where his first instinct during playground matches was to collect the ball and run at the opposition. Fifteen years on, that same approach is now terrorising Premier League defences. "I play with joy because football is just a game. When I was younger, I played without any pressure. I was just happy to touch the ball and dribble and all this stuff. Nothing has changed for me. For me, I take football just like a game and try to have fun and that's it. "When I was at school I was lucky that I was always the first pick! There was one other guy in my class who was also strong, so they didn't want me to be on the same team as him. We had to be the captains and choose the rest of the guys! "I was a forward when I was younger and I just used to love having the ball at my feet. I used to say 'The ball is my baby' and as soon as I touched the ball I felt good."
David Moyes, who has described Masuaku as 'a little bit special', has deployed the No26 in a more advanced role, with Aaron Cresswell playing behind him as a left centre-half. The combination has, in the most part, worked well. "It's a different position and I feel good in it. I can go forward and Cress is behind me, covering me, so I don't have to think so much about the space behind, which is good. "When I get the ball, I go forward because we need to score. I don't play to go back. This is how I play and my mentality on the pitch. "I use my pace and power to go forward. The manager told me just to play my football and he's given me confidence, so I'm trying to give him back on the pitch."
Masuaku has two Premier League assists to his name already this season, plus a memorable Carabao Cup goal against Bolton Wanderers in September, while he has also been involved in three goals in recent matches – his cross led to Marko Arnautovic's second at Bournemouth, he won the corner which Andre Ayew converted against Newcastle and sent Manuel Lanzini away to win a penalty at Stoke. The Frenchman wants to contribute even more, though…
"I'm feeling good. I'll always try to do my best and I'm doing quite well at the moment, but I'd rather we were winning matches, so hopefully I can stay in good form and help win some games for the team, because we need it. "I always knew what I was capable of. Last season I was injured and frustrated. Now, I am fit and playing like I was playing in Olympiacos. Maybe people are surprised, but I'm not surprised! "There is room for improvement, though. I would say I need to keep going and get more assists and goals. As I can go forward, I need to be able to be more important for the team and score more." If Arthur Masuaku meets those targets, the chances are we will be hearing plenty more choruses of a certain song, too!
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'Gloating' Police under fire
KUMB.com
Filed: Saturday, 30th December 2017
By: Staff Writer
Dorset Police's football unit have been accused of gloating after boasting about the number of arrests they made during West Ham United's Premier League match against Bournemouth on Boxing Day. Yesterday (Friday) the 'DorPolFootball' twitter account posted a tweet in which they referred to having made several arrests before, during and after the match, which ended 3-3.
However the message appeared to backfire spectacularly after the south coast force were accused of "gloating" about having made the arrests, which led to some amusing - and a whole lot more abusive - responses. "I was at that match, I travel all around the country, and got to say the policing there was the most over the top pathetic display I have seen for some time," replied West Ham supporter Lee Hendle. "You will be pleased to know I won't rush back."
Whilst fellow Hammer Peter Caton wrote: "Is gloating now official police policy or just unwise tweeting? Hardly the way to get cooperation of fans. Don't forget who pays for your hats."
And it wasn't just West Ham supporters who were angered by Dorset Police's message; Sunderland fan JL73 added: "Gloating on twitter is definitely a good idea. Total muppets. Great example of fan engagement. Embarrassing." You may see all responses to the ill-advised tweet below.
Its been a really busy month for football fans - West Ham was a busy one - sadly a few ended up with us for a while and will be going to court in January - Happy New Year! One more to follow - he knows who he is and we look forward to meeting next week @afcbournemouth #afcb
— DorPolFootball (@DorPolFootball) December 29, 2017
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Brady criticises Snodgrass signing
KUMB.com
Filed: Saturday, 30th December 2017
By: Staff Writer
Karren Brady has become the latest member of West Ham's Board to criticise the signing of £10million Scottish international Robert Snodgrass.
Hot on the heels of co-Chairman David Sullivan, who recently told a newspaper that his sons "begged me not to sign" Robert Snodgrass and fellow Hammer Jose Fonte last January, Brady used her weekly column in a tabloid newspaper to similarly slam the capture of the former Hull City winger.
Speaking about the forthcoming transfer window, that opens this coming Monday (New Year's Day), Brady wrote: "We've tried to have a successful January transfer window before and sometimes it's worked.
"Other times, there has been an element of 'we must do something, anything' - and we've paid for ill-fitting players. Robert Snodgrass wasn't exactly a triumph, while Hammers fans could name several foreign players who added little.
"The obvious fact is we need one or two who the manager believes will be a real plus. But no bargains that fall apart under the Prem's pressure."
Brady, 49, also used her latest column to congratulate Spurs striker Harry Kane for his goalscoring record in 2017 - "not because of Tottenham but because what is good for the No 10 is even better for England in the World Cup".
She also praised Burnley manager Sean Dyche for possessing "a trim goatee" and a "well-razored hairline" - which, according to West Ham's vice-chair, suggests "the air of a man in complete control".
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http://vyperz.blogspot.com
WHUFC.com
Chicharito is hoping to start 2018 on a high with West Ham United. The Hammers face three important fixtures in the first seven days of the New Year – Premier League meetings with West Bromwich Albion and Tottenham Hotspur and an Emirates FA Cup third-round tie at Shrewsbury Town. And, with such a busy schedule in place, the Mexico striker is eager to make his mark in Claret and Blue. "We have three games this week and they are all very important for the Club, and I hope there will be opportunities for all the players to help the team," the No17 told whufc.com. "First, we play West Brom and we are fighting for our lives here, so we want to get the three points as well. Then, after that we have a derby match and it's a nice one with Tottenham. The last time we went to Wembley, we were very happy with the result in the Carabao Cup, coming back from 2-0 down to win 3-2, so we have good memories of playing against Spurs there. "Then the week ends with the FA Cup, which is a competition I would love to win in my career."
After starting West Ham's opening eleven Premier League matches following his summer switch from Bayer Leverkusen, Chicharito was sidelined with a hamstring injury suffered on international duty in early November. Since returning to fitness, he has appeared as a substitute in the Hammers' last four games, and now feels ready to be included from the kick-off again. "Not only for footballers, but for everybody, the most important thing in life is to be healthy and to enjoy it and to do what you love most, which in my case is football. I am very happy and glad to be back. "I'm always going to give everything for the team, whenever I am on the pitch. I love football and I want to be as professional as I can, both inside and outside the pitch, if I am given one minute or 90 minutes, and I will try to do my best. "If you ask all footballers all over the world, they will tell you they don't want to be on the bench, and that's a normal thing. They all want to play and I'm trying to prove that I want to be involved with more minutes, with more starts, and then we'll see what happens [when I'm on the pitch]."
But while he would naturally love to play every single minute of every single game, a true team player like Chicharito knows it will need contributions from every single squad member to help West Ham climb away from trouble in the Premier League. "I'm never one to talk about a single player, be it myself or other players, as all the goals, all the results and all the points we get are because everybody is giving 100 per cent to help the team in the way we want to do it. "That's the only thing on our minds at the moment, to give our best to try to get into a better position."
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Lewin explains how recovery will be key during busy week
WHUFC.com
West Ham United's Head of Medical Services Gary Lewin explains how his department will carefully manage the physical condition of the players through next week's hectic schedule of three matches in the space of six days…
The busy Christmas and New Year period has been complicated further this year by the fact that we had a full midweek Premier League programme scheduled in mid-December. Historically, in the two weeks leading up to Christmas, any team not in European competition or not playing in the quarter-final of the League Cup would simply be playing weekend to weekend and then have a full clear week to prepare for the rush of fixtures over the holiday period. This year, we had the midweek Premier League game against Arsenal on December 13 and then the League Cup tie against them a week later – and so our preparation time has been reduced. The holy grail throughout this period is recovery. Because we are playing Tuesday-Thursday-Sunday this coming week, there is very little time to follow the schedules and processes that we work to in a regular week. It really is a testing time for the entire squad and there are so many variables that come into play.
You also have the accumulative load from the games, which you simply can't gauge beforehand. For example, players picking up minor knocks that, ordinarily, take three or four days to recover from, would now face missing the next match.
When it comes to planning for the week ahead, it is a case of setting up both a training group and a recovery group, so that there is a strategy in place for how we ensure we get every player ready for the next game, based on whether they have played or not in the previous match. For example, on the Wednesday between the West Brom and Tottenham games, those who have played the night before will need simple recovery, those who haven't played but might be in contention to play the following night at Wembley will need a light training session, while those not playing in either game will need to work a bit harder. That is without taking into account the added burden of the fact that the manager needs time to prepare the team tactically for the next game, which in this case mean that goes into the day of the game on Thursday. The medical team will have everything in place to assist recovery – a mobile cryotherapy unit that we bring in, additional masseurs, the plunge pools, compression garments, plus our regular recovery programme involving exercise bikes and stretching.
Cryotherapy is something that is obviously fairly modern in terms of recovery tools for players – we have used the unit five times during the course of this period. However, the three main elements of recovery haven't changed in all the years I have been working in football – sleep, nutrition and hydration. After a game, players have to eat properly, get lots of sleep and rehydrate with lots of fluids. The following day, we reinforce that with physical recovery – stretching, massage, cryo-units, plunge pools and compression garments.
We have also been affected by the fact that the New Year programme has been shifted late on, with the Tottenham game only very recently moved to the Thursday. That has meant we have had to rearrange a lot of our planning, some of which was booked up at the start of the season. Having a full week to recover from the Bournemouth game before facing West Brom is helpful from a physical point of view, of course. However, around Christmas players are usually in the mindset and rhythm of playing a match every three to four days and, with the rearrangements this week, that balance has been removed. I don't think it is particularly fair – physically it is it not a level playing field for all clubs, as some are playing every few days, some have a longer break between matches and some have a week off before playing twice in three days. But that is how it is and we have to deal with it.
All we can do is be as flexible as possible with our planning and prepare for every possible eventuality. Everything we do will be geared towards ensuring that the players are in the best physical condition when playing a number of matches during a short space of time.
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Masuaku aims to keep West Ham supporters in good voice
WHUFC.com
"Oh-eh-oh, Arthur Masuaku. Oh-eh-oh, he's better than Lukaku! Oh-eh-oh, Arthur Masuaku. Oh-eh-oh, he never gives the ball away!" If you attended a West Ham United match in December, you will have heard the Claret and Blue Army's new favourite chant again and again – and chances are it will be stuck in your head well into the New Year! At the Emirates Stadium, the 7,000 Hammers' fans made up for the disappointment of losing a Carabao Cup quarter-final by singing the song – to the tune of Earth, Wind & Fire's 1971 hit September – virtually non-stop from 30 minutes before kick-off until the final whistle was blown.
Masuaku himself appreciates the supporters singing in tribute to him and is aiming to repay their choral backing in 2018. "I can hear it all the time!" said the left wing-back. "At the beginning of the game against Bournemouth, they were singing it, and then again during the game, so I appreciate that. I understand the song and I love the words and hope they can be true! "I can feel the crowd when I get the ball. As soon as I have the ball, they expect something from me. It's a good feeling. "It's important for me to have this relationship with the fans because it means they like me and want something from me. Not many players are lucky enough to have this, so I'd like to thank them."
Masuaku's attraction comes from the freedom with which he plays, collecting the ball in tight areas, anywhere on the pitch, before dribbling and driving forward at speed and delivering dangerous crosses into the opposition penalty area. The 24-year-old's style is a throwback to the days when football was less functional, less focused on results and more on wide players expressing themselves whenever they got the opportunity. It all stems from his formative years in the northern French city of Lille, where his first instinct during playground matches was to collect the ball and run at the opposition. Fifteen years on, that same approach is now terrorising Premier League defences. "I play with joy because football is just a game. When I was younger, I played without any pressure. I was just happy to touch the ball and dribble and all this stuff. Nothing has changed for me. For me, I take football just like a game and try to have fun and that's it. "When I was at school I was lucky that I was always the first pick! There was one other guy in my class who was also strong, so they didn't want me to be on the same team as him. We had to be the captains and choose the rest of the guys! "I was a forward when I was younger and I just used to love having the ball at my feet. I used to say 'The ball is my baby' and as soon as I touched the ball I felt good."
David Moyes, who has described Masuaku as 'a little bit special', has deployed the No26 in a more advanced role, with Aaron Cresswell playing behind him as a left centre-half. The combination has, in the most part, worked well. "It's a different position and I feel good in it. I can go forward and Cress is behind me, covering me, so I don't have to think so much about the space behind, which is good. "When I get the ball, I go forward because we need to score. I don't play to go back. This is how I play and my mentality on the pitch. "I use my pace and power to go forward. The manager told me just to play my football and he's given me confidence, so I'm trying to give him back on the pitch."
Masuaku has two Premier League assists to his name already this season, plus a memorable Carabao Cup goal against Bolton Wanderers in September, while he has also been involved in three goals in recent matches – his cross led to Marko Arnautovic's second at Bournemouth, he won the corner which Andre Ayew converted against Newcastle and sent Manuel Lanzini away to win a penalty at Stoke. The Frenchman wants to contribute even more, though…
"I'm feeling good. I'll always try to do my best and I'm doing quite well at the moment, but I'd rather we were winning matches, so hopefully I can stay in good form and help win some games for the team, because we need it. "I always knew what I was capable of. Last season I was injured and frustrated. Now, I am fit and playing like I was playing in Olympiacos. Maybe people are surprised, but I'm not surprised! "There is room for improvement, though. I would say I need to keep going and get more assists and goals. As I can go forward, I need to be able to be more important for the team and score more." If Arthur Masuaku meets those targets, the chances are we will be hearing plenty more choruses of a certain song, too!
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'Gloating' Police under fire
KUMB.com
Filed: Saturday, 30th December 2017
By: Staff Writer
Dorset Police's football unit have been accused of gloating after boasting about the number of arrests they made during West Ham United's Premier League match against Bournemouth on Boxing Day. Yesterday (Friday) the 'DorPolFootball' twitter account posted a tweet in which they referred to having made several arrests before, during and after the match, which ended 3-3.
However the message appeared to backfire spectacularly after the south coast force were accused of "gloating" about having made the arrests, which led to some amusing - and a whole lot more abusive - responses. "I was at that match, I travel all around the country, and got to say the policing there was the most over the top pathetic display I have seen for some time," replied West Ham supporter Lee Hendle. "You will be pleased to know I won't rush back."
Whilst fellow Hammer Peter Caton wrote: "Is gloating now official police policy or just unwise tweeting? Hardly the way to get cooperation of fans. Don't forget who pays for your hats."
And it wasn't just West Ham supporters who were angered by Dorset Police's message; Sunderland fan JL73 added: "Gloating on twitter is definitely a good idea. Total muppets. Great example of fan engagement. Embarrassing." You may see all responses to the ill-advised tweet below.
Its been a really busy month for football fans - West Ham was a busy one - sadly a few ended up with us for a while and will be going to court in January - Happy New Year! One more to follow - he knows who he is and we look forward to meeting next week @afcbournemouth #afcb
— DorPolFootball (@DorPolFootball) December 29, 2017
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Brady criticises Snodgrass signing
KUMB.com
Filed: Saturday, 30th December 2017
By: Staff Writer
Karren Brady has become the latest member of West Ham's Board to criticise the signing of £10million Scottish international Robert Snodgrass.
Hot on the heels of co-Chairman David Sullivan, who recently told a newspaper that his sons "begged me not to sign" Robert Snodgrass and fellow Hammer Jose Fonte last January, Brady used her weekly column in a tabloid newspaper to similarly slam the capture of the former Hull City winger.
Speaking about the forthcoming transfer window, that opens this coming Monday (New Year's Day), Brady wrote: "We've tried to have a successful January transfer window before and sometimes it's worked.
"Other times, there has been an element of 'we must do something, anything' - and we've paid for ill-fitting players. Robert Snodgrass wasn't exactly a triumph, while Hammers fans could name several foreign players who added little.
"The obvious fact is we need one or two who the manager believes will be a real plus. But no bargains that fall apart under the Prem's pressure."
Brady, 49, also used her latest column to congratulate Spurs striker Harry Kane for his goalscoring record in 2017 - "not because of Tottenham but because what is good for the No 10 is even better for England in the World Cup".
She also praised Burnley manager Sean Dyche for possessing "a trim goatee" and a "well-razored hairline" - which, according to West Ham's vice-chair, suggests "the air of a man in complete control".
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http://vyperz.blogspot.com
Saturday, December 30
Daily WHUFC News - 30th December 2017
Oxford to return from Monchengladbach loan
WHUFC.com
Reece Oxford is to return from his loan spell with German Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach, manager David Moyes confirmed in his Friday press conference. Oxford spent the first half of the season in Germany, featuring in three top flight and one German Cup matches during his loan spell. The 19-year-old became the Hammers' youngest-ever player when he made his debut aged just 16 in a UEFA Europa League tie against Andorran side Lusitans in July 2015. He has gone on to make 14 senior appearances to date in Claret and Blue and Moyes is looking forward to working with the England U20 international. "Reece Oxford will come back. We will take a look at him and see how he is," the manager confirmed. "I hope we can help improve him - I've only just met him, but I know he is well thought of here and we will work with him."
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Ayew: Every game is crucial when you are in our position
WHUFC.com
While Andre Ayew refused to use the term 'six-pointer' when asked about next Tuesday's Premier League meeting with West Bromwich Albion, the forward appreciates the importance of beating the struggling Baggies. West Brom go into their New Year's Eve fixture at home to Arsenal 19th in the table, three points and two places behind West Ham United, who have a free weekend after their own trip to Tottenham Hotspur was moved to 4 January on police advice. Ayew, who has three top-flight goals and two assists to his name this term, knows victory over Alan Pardew's side would not only keep the Hammers above West Brom in the standings, but also potentially see them move up the standings and away from the bottom three. "In the Premier League, every game is different, so we will see what happens," said the Ghanaian. "It's hard to predict what is going to happen in the game, but what I can say is that we will do everything we can to get the three points in front of our fans. "West Brom is going to be a tough one, but we've got the players and staff for it and the fans behind us, so we need to try and get three points at home and it will be very important for us to start the New Year on a good note. "Every game is crucial when you are in our position. We're not the only ones in this position, either, as there are a lot of teams in that position, so we need to try and get out of there and make some room and to do that we need to breathe, play our game, get points and win games. "We all know their quality on set pieces, it's been there for years. They also have good players in their squad like Krychowiak and Chadli, so we need to do our job and, if everyone sticks to their job, everything will hopefully be OK."
Ayew believes West Ham have shown improvement under new manager David Moyes, but insists there is still room to perform much better, particularly when in possession of the ball. "We've been a bit up and down and inconsistent, but we have shown that we're hard to beat [in recent weeks]. We've shown a lot of character and determination offensively and defensively and we need to keep working hard. "We know we can still progress in the way we play and the way we pass the ball around, so we're going to work on that until the end of the season. We've worked hard technically, tactically and physically and our results have improved. We need to stick to that. "When you're in a situation like this, when there is a change of manager, everyone is in a new situation. The gaffer has put his words in and those words touched a lot of players, so we need to follow what he wants us to do and how he wants us to do it, as we can see it is paying off. We need to believe in him, and get him to believe in us. "We have played a lot of games in the last few weeks, so we need to rest well, recover well, train hard and go again at home. That's football, because the next game is always the most important one. We're going to prepare for that."
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Team news: Noble closing in on return, Antonio update
WHUFC.com
Mark Noble is closing in on a return to first team action ahead of the Hammers' London Stadium clash with West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday evening. The West Ham United skipper has missed the last three matches after suffering a hamstring injury in the 3-0 victory at Stoke City in mid-December, but has resumed training and is almost ready to join manager David Moyes' full sessions again. The boss confirmed he is making good progress, but says it is too early to know whether Michail Antonio would be ready for a return in midweek after he picked up a groin problem which forced him to miss Boxing Day's 3-3 draw with Bournemouth.
"Mark Noble is making progress," Moyes said. "He's trained for a couple of days. He's not joined us yet, but he's making progress. "Michail Antonio has not joined us for training yet, he's recovering. His groin isn't as bad as we first thought, but will he make the game? It's probably just a bit too soon to say."
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Moyes: West Brom, Arnautovic's hot streak and the January window
WHUFC.com
David Moyes faced the press on Friday afternoon ahead of Tuesday's Premier League meeting with West Bromwich Albion. Following the 3-3 draw with AFC Bournemouth on Boxing Day, the manager was asked about the challenge of the Baggies as the Hammers look to climb the table, Marko Arnautovic's fine form, the upcoming January transfer window and more. Here's what Moyes had to say.
The challenge of West Brom…
The most important thing is to focus on ourselves and how we can get away from the bottom end of the Premier League table. I don't like harking back to it, but I think we might have been up to 13th if the decision on Callum Wilson's equaliser had gone for us at Bornemouth. That would have made us feel a lot better, but all we can do is focus on ourselves, and keep our home form as good as possible.
Marko Arnautovic's hot streak
Marko was a big signing for the Club and everybody was expecting something from him. He wasn't a new recruit to the Premier League so you hope he hits the ground running. He's done really well for us in the games, he's helped the team greatly. His energy and effort has rubbed off on the supporters and he's doing a good job for us. That needs to continue because we need him so I hope his form continues.
Reece Oxford's return
Reece will come back from his loan at Borussia Monchengladbach. I've never worked with Reece, so I'll take the time to have a look at him and see how he does. I know that he's been talked of very highly, and he's gone out on loan, so we'll get him back in and see how he is. I hope we could help improve him because he's a young player and we hope the work we will give him will help him. I've not worked with him before and I don't know the boy – I've only just met him, actually.
From that point of view it's going to take a little while to know exactly what he does but I know he's well thought of here, so we'll work with him and see what he's up to.
Transfer window
If I believe everything that's said [in the press], we must be signing 15 players in this window by all accounts! We've made it known that if we can bring in one or two reinforcements to the team we will do so. I think every manager will say the same, but it's not a particularly good time and it's not that easy to do business. It's also probably an expensive month in the year as well. We'll try and do it but there's no guarantee.
The manager is the one who will always take the final say because if you bring the players in you will be judged by them. If I wasn't the one bringing them in I wouldn't have come to the club in the first place, because I want to be judged by my team and by the players I bring in. I've not known anything different, the owners have told me that it will always be my decision.
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TIME TO ACT DECISIVELY IN THE TRANSFER WINDOW WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT
AUTHOR: EXWHUEMPLOYEE. PUBLISHED: 29 DECEMBER 2017 AT 9:18PM
TheWesTHaMWay.co.uk
Written by @farehamhammer
Yes! Bob Madley robbed us of three points. But to be truthful that would have just glossed over the stark reality, that we were very poor. It's clear to everybody, that our midfield needs a massive overhaul. The Board have got to cough up, no spin from their Choirboy about "Moyes being happy with what he has got" and the next minute saying the manager had a 20m "war chest". Twenty million is peanuts in today's transfer market and The Board know it, time to cough up gentleman! We are playing catch up due to the lack of serious investment for the last few windows. No phantom bids, haggling over £200 with the selling Club. Offering a player far less than they are on at present, time for gimmicks are long gone, the days of hanging managers out to dry does not wash anymore, either invest or we get relegated it is as simple as that.
It's not as though we have just suffered this season due to having a poor midfield, this has been the case for a long time. No pace, creativity or movement, even the simple task of retaining possession has been beyond our midfield. Slow pedestrian passes in the middle of the park, then when closed down quickly by the opposition, the ball is shovelled back in a hurry to our under pressured defence, resulting in the ball getting hoofed forward to anywhere. This has been the case under Allardyce, Bilic, Moyes and even Zola at least. Try as we might but we have never really replaced Yossi Benayoun, although Manuel Lanzini has certainly done the business in patches. As seen against Arsenal and Bournemouth, when Lanzini doesn't play West Ham don't play. The big problem with Lanzini is that he is inconsistent, which is frustrating as one senses there is so much more to come from the jewel that he is! Lanzini is also paying the price for a lack of quality in the middle of the park to assist him.
With a midfield like ours is anyone surprised our strikers have struggled? Our strikers have had to drop so deep, they have been almost on the half way line when they have been receiving the ball. Not even Messi could make an impact if he had been playing for us. Christ on a bike it is not bloody rocket science! You need the ball carried forward by the midfield, the opposition retreating. Resulting in space opening for the strikers and the goals come! Another way is for the midfield to feed tricky and pacey wingers, they go around the defence, and hey presto the strikers receive the ball on the front foot and the goals come! The defence have also suffered due to having no protection from the midfield. Let it sink in! Little Bournemouth, relegation threatened Bournemouth, cut through our midfield like a knife through butter. Launching attack after attack on our defence, under such constant pressure even the best of defences would wilt. True Zabaleta and Collins do get done for pace, but a clever holding midfielder directing the midfield would offer them protection, allowing the likes of Zabaleta to roam forward from time to time.
There has been a lot of slating of Kouyate and Obiang by some fans who suddenly believe Noble is the answer again. On the back of what? At the best of times Noble, Obiang don't work anyway as they are basically the same type of player, as for Kouyate never the brightest player offensively or defensively, he simply couldn't care two hoots. Walking back when the defence is under pressure, the language of someone who does not want to be at The Club. I don't know what has happened to Obiang since Bilic left, but he is a shadow of the player he had been under Slaven Bilic, when for a long period he had been our stand out player.
Depends on who we manage to bring in, I could see both Obiang and Kouyate leaving. The trouble is we are really going to battle to attract top players with the position we are in. Managers and players don't want relegation on their C/V for starters, forget about William Carvalho, there is more chance of me Sh****** Kate Middleton with Prince William watching than that happening! As for Steven N'Zonzi, the player has always blown hot and cold wherever he has played, so coughing out that sort of dough would be a big risk, even if we were prepared to cough up that sort of dough, Everton would be able to offer him a better salary and our league position would count against us. So, what of the other name being mention as a potential target, Ki Sung-Yueng the South Korean central midfielder who plays for Swansea City. He would be a shrewd signing, great vision, technique, can play a variety of passes and good at set pieces, certainly capable of lifting a ball over the defence, he would be a big help in the middle of the park. Stoke City's Joe Allen, is another player being mentioned. Again, a good player and like Ki a big upgrade on what we have! Allen is a playmaker, good defensively and attacking wise, a lovely passer of the ball. Some will turn their nose up at the likes of Ki and Allen because they are not 'next' level players.
Well people need to get real! All hands-on deck we are fighting a relegation battle! That is the reality! It is going to be an extremely tough window; the January window is always a tough one to deal with. Money is tight all round, gone are the days of players going for £30m! £40m! £50m! with minutes to spare before the window closes. Clubs don't want to part with their best players mid-season, not just West Ham, but loans are the one in January but there are good permanent deals out there. Still Gold and Sullivan have known the short comings for a long time, and have had more than enough time to have deals in place for the first week of January. Time to correct your wrongs, if you don't… we will be relegated. That will be your FIFTH relegation, IF that were to happen you will find out what Armageddon is all about!
We are more than a football Club, we're a way of life!!
COYI!!
Farehamhammer!!!
(Edited by Danny Twigg)
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Oxford returned against his wishes, insist Gladbach
KUMB.com
Filed: Friday, 29th December 2017
By: Staff Writer
Borussia Monchengladbach have confirmed that Reece Oxford has returned to West Ham - but insist that the player would rather remain in Germany. Hammers boss David Moyes, speaking to the media earlier today confirmed that Oxford was on his way back to West Ham for the second half of the campaign after his season-long loan spell with Gladbach was cut short. However in a news article appearing on the Bundesliga club's own website this afternoon (Friday), Sporting Director Max Eberl claimed that Oxford had been recalled to West Ham against his wishes - and confirmed that they were still attempting to clinch a permanent deal for the England youth international. "We were informed of West Ham's decision to activate the clause and recall him this morning," said Eberl. "However, we continue to be in talks with West Ham regarding Reece Oxford completing a permanent move to Borussia. It is also the player's wish to stay at Gladbach."
Oxford, who made just four first team appearances during his six months in Germany is yet to comment publicly since returning to London. West Ham were able to recall him due to an appearance clause in his loan contract not being met.
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Hammers eye Argentine midfielder
KUMB.com
Filed: Friday, 29th December 2017
By: Staff Writer
West Ham are one of several clubs being linked with a January move for Argentine international Nicolas Gaitan. The 29-year-old midfielder is currently out of favour at his current club Atletico Madrid, for whom he has started just six La Liga matches this campaign, and is set to be sold next month according to AS.
And whilst Colchoneros are seeking a fee in the region of £15million for a player signed last year from Benfica for €25 million, a short-term loan move to England may be of interest to Gaitan who has failed to settle at the Wanda Metropolitano. The 5'8" midfielder, who began his career in his home country with Boca Juniors can also operate as a winger, offering the kind of versatility that could be of interest to Hammers boss David Moyes.
* Diafra Sakho could be set to leave West Ham in the next few days - after receiving a bumper offer from China. The wantaway striker has been looking for a way of of the club for some considerable time and could be set to become the latest Premier League player to move to the Far East, according to a piece in the Express. Shanghai Shenhua, who play in the 33,000 capacity Hongkou Football Stadium and only became a professional outfit 24 years ago are seeking to land the Senegal international. West Ham are likley to ask around £15million for the 28-year-old.
* West Ham are keeping tabs on the situation regarding Borussia Dortmund winger Andre Schürrle. The former Chelsea player, 27, is seeking a new challenge for the second half of the 2017/18 campaign having featured less frequently than he would have liked for his current club. And with the World Cup Finals just six months away, agent Ingo Haspel insists that he could be tempted by a temporary switch. "Basically Andre wants to play as much as possible," said Haspel. "If the playing time is not guaranteed then it would be downright negligent not to think about what the future might look like and where to get more."
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Moyes seeking to 'improve' returning Reece
KUMB.com
Filed: Friday, 29th December 2017
By: Staff Writer
David Moyes says he is looking forward to working with teenage defender Reece Oxford, after it was confirmed that the defender would be returning to West Ham.
The 19-year-old spent the opening half of the 2017/18 campaign on loan at Borussia Monchengladbach, for whom he made just a handful of first team appearances. However Oxford is likely to be thrown straight in at the deep end upon his return to London, with fellow defender Jose Fonte still some way from reaching full fitness and Winston Reid struggling for form and benched for United's most recent outing at Bournemouth. Speaking during a press conference today, Moyes admitted that is looking forward to working with the England youth international, who has already returned to London. "Reece Oxford will come back", said Moyes. "We will take a look at him and see how he is. I hope we can help improve him - I've only just met him, but I know he is well thought of here and we will work with him."
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Bournemouth 3-3 West Ham (And Other Ramblings)
KUMB.com
Filed: Friday, 29th December 2017
By: HeadHammerShark
"Night, night after day
Black flowers blossom"
- Massive Attack, "Teardrop"
There is a universal truth about being a sports fan, which is that when we pay our money to enter an arena and watch our event, we believe the encounter we are about to watch will be fair. We have to believe the fight won't be rigged, or that the race is straight or the competitors aren't cheating, otherwise the whole thing is a waste of time.
Now, let me state here and now that I don't believe that a game between Bournemouth and West Ham would be worth fixing. Of all the things the Bilderberg Group are doing, I have to imagine this would be quite a long way down the list. We have again been the victim of more poor officiating, and because our minds are conditioned to remember negative things more than positive, it feels like such an overwhelming weight of misfortune that we then begin to wonder if it truly is bad luck or something more sinister. For when a player who is offside scores a last minute equaliser with his hand, and a referee seemingly overrules his linesman to award that goal, then it's hard not to do a double take.
Brown envelope out of sight
So let me invoke Hanlon's Razor here - never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence. It is bizarre to suggest that referee Bobby Madley was bribed to turn this game in Bournemouth's favour, but I equally don't have any qualms in saying that his performance here was appalling. His first error was to fail to send off Simon Francis for a head high, studs up challenge on Cheikhou Kouyate. I don't think Francis was intending to catch Kouyate, and had his eyes firmly on the ball, but when you raise your studs to that height you also have a responsibility to ensure you don't land them on a fellow professionals face. Rather than consult another official or take his time and weigh the decision up, Madley instead brandished a yellow card immediately, which has the added effect of ensuring Francis won't even get the retrospective ban he deserves. And for anyone who hasn't seen it, and thinks perhaps I'm being a little melodramatic - you can judge for yourself here:
Just a yellow - nothing to see here
Similarly, Madley chose not to act on Josh King accidentally elbowing Pedro Obiang in the face off the ball. That probably sounds crazy, but the Norwegian flung his arms out in frustration at a decision and caught Obiang unaware, knocking him to the ground. I don't think there was any intent in the actions of King either, and that is more relevant in his case because the laws clearly state that a player must be dismissed for "deliberately striking an opponent". It doesn't seem unreasonable to me that players should refrain from throwing their elbows around, but they are also people and if we try to remove all joy and human emotion from football then we run the risk of turning this whole thing into BBC1 on Christmas night.
But where Madley fatally impacted this game was in the dying moments. We had floundered and fluked our way to a 3-2 lead, and with just seconds remaining a hopeful ball was pumped into our box. In truth, we hadn't dealt with that line of attack very well all day, and true to form Nathan Ake won the header. He looped the ball back across goal and a marginally offside Callum Wilson diverted the ball in with this arm.
The referee's assistant (oh the irony of that title) immediately raised his flag, and the goal was all set to be disallowed. At that point Madley trotted over to the sidelines. That, in itself, is fairly unusual given that he has a radio link with his assistants and I'm not sure I've ever really seen a referee do that for a straightforward offside decision. After a lengthy enough deliberation for a video referee to have reviewed the incident in real time and made the correct decision, Madley awarded the goal, because of course he fucking did.
Delving into the world of conjecture for a moment I have to suspect that the following happened: the assistant flagged for offside, Madley intimated that he didn't think Wilson touched the ball, the assistant pointed out that this couldn't really be true as the ball wasn't going in until Wilson used his arm to push it in, Madley disagreed because Callum Wilson is a theoretical concept and awarded the goal and the stadium announcer promptly told the world that Callum Wilson has just scored the equaliser. Some fucking magic, that.
In the end, I don't believe this was anything more than poor officiating but it's easy to get drawn into thinking otherwise. After all, I believe that there is an institutional corruption that sits at the heart of most sport. Had this happened against Manchester United, for example, I think that Madley would have disallowed the goal purely because human beings typically do the things that allow them the easiest lives. Referees know that they can make a decision like this against West Ham and be in the news cycle for one night. Do it against Mourinho and you're infamous for months.
So there you go: I think that elite level football is ludicrously tilted towards the rich; I believe that pretty much every high level athlete is using performance enhancing drugs and just because it started with track and field, swimming and cycling doesn't mean it won't be football and rugby soon enough; I believe that cup draws are probably at least partially fixed to satisfy the demands of television, sponsors and Vladimir Putin; and I think that one reason that governing bodies in football are so reluctant to introduce measures to help referees get more decisions correct is that big clubs don't want that to happen - why, after all, would you give up one of the inherent advantages of being a big club - namely that you can rely on most line decisions going your way?
But for all that might make me a tin foil hatted conspiracy theorist in your eyes, I can honestly say that I don't think referees are biased against West Ham for the simple reason that there would be no point. So when you boil all of that down, the reality is probably just that Bobby Madley is a bit of a shit referee.
***
"This is the highlight of your miserable life
A pessimist is never disappointed"
- Theaudience, "A Pessimist is Never Disappointed"
I could write yet more about the decisions in this game, and how I can't see any difference between the "deception" of Manuel Lanzini and the "magic" of Callum Wilson, but fixating too much on officiating would detract away from yet another disappointing performance. It may seem strange to say that when we scored three goals, but we spent most of this game clinging on to the coattails of a decidedly poor Bournemouth team and were particularly fortunate to pull level at 2-2, when Marko Arnautovic took advantage of Asmir Begovic wearing clown shoes in the driving rain.
We started well enough, with James Collins celebrating his recall by thumping home a trademark near post header from an Aaron Cresswell corner. I especially enjoyed this because Bournemouth placed a man on the post to specifically prevent this and he moved far enough from his spot to allow the ball in. It is worth remembering stuff like this when we question how managers can't organise their teams to defend properly - some footballers are so poor at concentrating that they can't even stand still when they're told to.
God bless men who can't stand still
That early lead didn't look particularly secure, however, as our back line seemed to have over indulged at Christmas, and the home team flooded forward in search of an equaliser, creating plenty of opportunities. King should have scored from one such chance, before Dan Gosling latched on to a weak Collins clearing header and rifled home the leveller. Oddly, we really should have been two ahead by this stage as Arthur Masuaku produced another trademark run before picking out Andre Ayew, who put the ball narrowly wide. On such slender threads can satisfactory Boxing Nights hang.
By this stage the rain was hammering down like Blade Runner, although even Roy Batty might have seen some new things here. After Ake scrambled home another shittily defended set piece to give the home side the lead their pressure warranted, it looked as though we would have yet another disappointing trip to the coast. Enter Begovic, who casually controlled a backpass before falling over his own feet, allowing Arnautovic - who hadn't stopped running - to capitalise with a neat left footed finish. Score one for the Moyes school of sergeant majoring the fuck out players.
Better was to come when Masuaku again went roaming with just a minute to go and picked out Chicharito who made a complete Benteke of it, but was saved when Begovic again lost control of his limbs and Arnautovic poked home his fifth goal in as many games. With just injury time to come, it seemed as though we had done enough to steal a win we didn't really deserve - a trait that Moyes would be very welcome to bring with him from all those years at Goodison.
Unfortunately, there was still some Truly, Madley, Deeply action to come and as it was we are left to ponder what kind of world we live in where we can take four points from Arsenal and Chelsea but just one from Newcastle and Bournemouth, and that the only consistent thing about this team is that you don't ever know what they are going to do.
The worry is that these were two games where we could reasonably have expected to have shown a little more in attack. Sitting back and soaking up constant pressure is fine against the teams with several hundred million more to spend on their squads, but these were supposed to the games where we showed we could punch back against our fellow strugglers. And so we scored five and conceded six and the only thing we know is that we know nothing.
***
"Am I moving back in time? Just standing still?"
- The War on Drugs, "Pain"
High up on my list of concerns is the way in which our team seem to be ageing in front of our eyes. Pablo Zabaleta had to replaced here because Bournemouth targeted him in much the same way as Newcastle did, and got nearly as much joy from it. He gets a light ride from the London Stadium crowd because he's enthusiastic and runs around like a toddler on Fanta, but the truth is that his positional play still leaves a lot to be desired and we are forced to expose him as a wing back because we can't defend without playing three in the middle. The chances of him being able to play twice in three days strikes me as minimal, meaning that I suspect we'll see Rice at Wembley against Spurs, and seriously - are Sam Byram's hamstrings made out of spaghetti?
Zaba's going on a run again!
Zabaleta has also been booked seven times already this season, opening him up to red cards, and when players like Ryan Fraser can give him the kind of torrid afternoon that he did here, it bodes poorly for the remaining eighteen months of that characteristically stupid contract. Likewise, Winston Reid didn't even make the team here as he dropped out for Collins and we are now reduced to hoping that he didn't injure himself in doing so.
With Fonte also out long term, it would explain the apparent interest in Alfie Mawson who might cost £25m but can at least still go on an 18-30 holiday if he wants to. I don't know much about Mawson, but it would be lovely if Moyes could target a centre back who can actually pass the ball rather than hoof it in the general direction of Andy Carroll irrespective of whether he is on the pitch or not.
In front of them, Cheikhou Kouyate had another afternoon to forget, as his Catherine Wheel impression continued to have little impact on the game. Pedro Obiang has attracted a lot of opprobrium for his performances in these last couple of games, but I thought it was noticeable how much better he played alongside a proper central midfielder - Mark Noble - than we saw here. There is quite a lot of pressure on that central midfield area in this formation, given that we are giving up a body to play in the back three, and it asks a lot of the defensive midfielder.
After a promising start, in which Obiang looked like he might actually improve a little under Moyes, he has regressed and was replaced here by Carroll - our Goliath for all seasons. I'm not quite ready to judge the Spaniard in this system until we see him get a run out alongside a better midfield partner, but I don't think it was a coincidence that we looked much better when Lanzini went deeper and started our attacks. Either way, I predict some reinforcements will be arriving soon.
The double substitution of Carroll and Chicharito was supposed to galvanise us, but in reality just highlighted the paucity of attacking options that we currently seem to have. With only Lanzini and Masuaku able to create from deeper areas, we have to either rely on the mobile physicality of Antonio and Arnautovic or resort to the long range bombing approach and launch mortars at Fort Carroll and hope for something to land at the feet of Chicharito. And while we do that, the plan was that the sturdy defensive setup constructed by Moyes would allow us to keep clean sheets.
If we can't maintain any defensive structure while being more expansive, then Moyes will have to apply the handbrake and revert to a less attacking style to try and give us a chance of winning games like this 1-0. It might not be pretty, but relegation scraps never are. In the driving rain of the South Coast, we dropped two very precious points because of some awful refereeing, but also because we were defensively all over the place.
***
"Someone's got it in for me, they're planting stories in the press
Whoever it is, I wish they'd cut it out quick, but when they will I can only guess"
- Bob Dylan, "Idiot Wind"
It's nearly January everyone, and that means that David Sullivan is going to be staying up really late ringing agents in South America and furiously flicking through YouTube highlight reels in search of the next Nene. As every West Ham fan knows, the New Year generally brings yet more stupidity in the boardroom, and with the team waist deep in relegation trouble, this time will be no different. Brilliantly, someone in the West Ham/Sullivan PR team decided that a great way to kick off this particular transfer window would be to carry a story in the Mail about how Dave Sullivan Jr lives in a £40m luxury flat and "works harder than anyone he knows".
Another heart warming Christmas story
In fairness to the kid, I'd hate to be judged on things I said and did at the age of twenty, and so I'll choose to ignore the generally crass theme of the article and the incredibly tone deaf decision to celebrate unfathomable, undeserved wealth at a time when so many people in the country are suffering in a stagnant economy. But, honestly, who the hell thinks this stuff is a good idea? Why do these kids keep getting repeatedly exposed to public scrutiny of their lives and activities when it is such a red rag to a fanbase who already think their father is tight and screwing money out of the club? None of this is complicated - but when we're about to enter a month of transfer activity which will define our season, why would you be in the media boasting about your wealth...
...if you're going to do things like this?
Can you see how these two pictures cause problems, Dave? It doesn't matter whether the N'Zonzi story is true, or the fact that I agree that a loan approach is better, because the account that carried it has over sixty thousand followers and this cheap looking style fits a club who seem to have no money.
There were also lots of rumours today about Reece Oxford moving permanently to Germany, although we may now apparently recall him to play for us instead. The rumour there was that Moyes was keen to move the kid on in order to get some cash in for new signings. Quite why we should need cash given that we spent such a low sum in the summer is an issue in itself, but beyond that it also highlights the total stupidity of allowing a potentially temporary manager to make such decisions. Ask yourself whether you would want the substitute teacher expelling your kid, and that will give you an idea of how good a decision making set up this would be.
Moyes doesn't need to worry about what our squad will look like in 2020 because he knows that if we go down this summer he won't be here to worry about it. Once again a Director of Football would be best placed to make such a decision, and once again we don't have one. Let's therefore hope that the Oxford recall is with a view to turning him into a better West Ham player, rather than with a view to turning him into enough cash to buy declining 29 year old players for a relegation battle. We already have a squad full of them.
It's unimportant that one of these can get you a Mirallas
Yes, Oxford might have an attitude problem, and maybe he has a difficult agent, but those things are true of lots of teenage players. In the end, this is a chance for us to get a potentially high quality player for nothing, and flogging him to allow Sullivan to waste yet more funds on his idea of good footballers doesn't do anything for me. Oxford will mature one day, and we'll regret it immensely if he does so somewhere outside East London. Ultimately, when teams who are better than you want your players, that should tell you something about the asset you have. If we truly don't think we can get the best from an eighteen year old then I guess we should move him on, but in turn I would be asking some questions about exactly why that was the case.
So, who should we target? Well, I've outlined above how I'd like a centre back - although that is a slightly difficult assessment to make given that we don't really know how highly the club rate any of Reece Oxford, Reece Burke or Not Reece Declan Rice. A right sided defender to cover Zabaleta and Byram's incredible Chinese noodle hamstrings would also be useful. But we also clearly need a central midfielder who can get about the pitch and create something, while a striker that Moyes can trust to do some Diafra Sakho type things without being Diafra Sakho would really be helpful too.
There is absolutely no chance of us getting all of those players in January, so to my mind they absolutely have to target the midfield as we are currently only playing a three man midfield and still had to play strikers in there for the Arsenal cup game. N'Zonzi wouldn't have been a bad short term acquisition but at 29 he would be yet another to add to the phalanx of ageing one-last-contract types that clutter up our squad.
A better approach, for this season only, might be to target the big clubs and look at non playing member of their squads who are borderline choices for their countries and taking them on short loans. Anyone wanting to play at the World Cup will need game time between now and May, and we would be the ideal place for someone to stage a revival, provided we don't introduce them to Joe Hart.
As such, the link to Andre Schurrle makes sense, as would a return for Andre Gomes - a rumoured target around the time of the William Carvalho debacle. I like the idea of getting these hungry, motivated players, who can arrive and have an immediate impact. Of course, historically this has never worked for us but if the alternative is buying another Robert Snodgrass, then I'm happy to give it another whirl.
***
"But the drumbeat strains of the night remain
In the rhythm of the new born day"
- Al Stewart, "The Year of the Cat"
Some of you may have noticed that I didn't post an article for the Newcastle game. This wasn't a fit of pique but more because I decided to spend Christmas Eve with the family rather than spewing out 3,000 words on how our midfield was overrun by Mo Diame. I did, however, vent a little on Twitter which you can find here.
I've also been asking for some recollections from fans on Frank Lampard Jr, for a retro piece I'm writing at the moment. Any contributions would be gratefully accepted.
And with that, all that remains is for me to wish you all a very Happy New Year and to thank you for reading The H List in 2017. See you in 2018 - it's West Brom to start, so that's bound to be hugely entertaining.
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.
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Allen going nowhere, says Stoke boss Hughes
KUMb.com
Filed: Friday, 29th December 2017
By: Staff Writer
Stoke City manager Mark Hughes says he has no intention of selling Joe Allen to West Ham during next month's transfer window. The Potters boss spoke out after a report in today's tabloids claimed that West Ham were showing an interest in the Welsh international and wanted him to link up once again with former team mate Marko Arnautovic. "It is the first I have heard of that," said Hughes, when asked about the possibility of a deal being done, "but it wouldn't surprise me because he has been impressive this year. "We can't afford to lose a player of Joe's quality - he is working exceptionally hard for us and we are really pleased with what he is producing for us at the moment." And rather than weaken his existing squad further, Hughes insisted that he is seeking to expand his selection pool.
It's clear that we are too stretched and ideally we would like to rectify that," he added. "We all know that January isn't the ideal time to get deals done, but there are opportunities and we feel there are areas that we need to strengthen." Allen, 27, was signed by Stoke from Liverpool in a £13million deal during the 2016 summer transfer window. The Welsh international began his career at Swansea, before making a £15million move to Anfield in 2012.
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Reece Oxford could feature for West Ham after David Moyes confirms defender's return
By Lyall Thomas
Last Updated: 29/12/17 5:52pm
SSN
Reece Oxford is set to assist West Ham's relegation fight after manager David Moyes confirmed they will "work with" the defender on his return from a loan spell at Borussia Monchengladbach. The Hammers have recalled the 19-year-old from a season-long loan in Germany despite Monchengladbach being one of two Bundesliga clubs keen to sign him on a permanent deal. Moyes, whose side are a point above the relegation zone ahead of a crucial clash against fellow strugglers West Brom on January 2, confirmed Oxford "will come back". "We will take a look at him and see how he is," he said. "I hope we can help improve him. I've only just met him, but I know he is well thought of here and we will work with him."
Oxford, who can also play in defensive-midfield, played only four times for Monchengladbach this season but Sky Sports News understands they like what they have seen and expect the England U20 to develop into a top player. Monchengladbach want to sign the defender on a permanent deal worth £5.5m, and RB Leipzig also harbour an interest, having attempted to sign him when he was just 17 in 2016. West Ham value Oxford highly too, however, and would not let him leave unless they received an exceptional offer, according to Sky sources. Oxford, who signed a new West Ham contract last year that tied him to the club until 2021, has made 14 senior appearances for the Hammers.
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David Moyes says there are 'no guarantees' West Ham will make January signings
By Andy Swales
Last Updated: 29/12/17 3:35pm
SSN
David Moyes is keen to add a couple of players to his West Ham squad during the January transfer window. However, the Hammers boss admits it is traditionally a difficult time to do business and says "there are no guarantees". The Scot also played down media reports that the east London club have a long shopping list of potential targets. He joked: "We must be signing 15 players at the moment - by all accounts. "I would like to bring in one or two reinforcements, but every manager will tell you it's not an easy time to do business. "It's also an expensive month. We'll try and do it but there's no guarantee."
Moyes was quick to confirm that he alone would decide which players - if any - will move to the club over the next few weeks. He added: "The manager will have the final say. You'll be judged by the players you bring in. "So, if I wasn't the one bringing the players in, I wouldn't have come here in the first place. "I've not known anything different and the owners have told me it will always be my decision."
West Ham do not play again until January 2 when they take on West Brom at the London Stadium. Long-serving midfielder Mark Noble has missed three matches through injury, while Michail Antonio was ruled out of their Boxing Day game with Bournemouth. Regarding injury news ahead of next week's Premier League fixture against the Baggies, Moyes said: "Mark has trained a couple of days, but not with us, and is making progress. It's his hamstring. "Michail has also not joined us but we don't think his groin is as bad as we first thought. "Whether he will be fit for Tuesday, it's too early to tell."
Moyes confirmed on Friday that Reece Oxford will be returning to the club from Borussia Monchengladbach, having spent the first half of the season in the Bundesliga. Speaking about the teenager, he went on: "He's been talked of very highly. We'll get him back in, take a look, because I've never worked with him before, and spend the time to get to know him."
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SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO – DIAFRA SAKHO
By Goatygav 29 Dec 2017 at 09:21
WTID
Following BlindHammer's excellent post of Jim McWeeny's 'Songs From A Sleepless Night' I thought I'd add a further suggestion with an old Classic from The Clash.
Early October HamburgHammer asked if Diafra Sakho was worth a contract extension. Now the January transfers are about to commence I thought it the appropriate time to debate the 'Should He Stay Or Should He Go' question.
He's currently 28 years of age so if he does move on then another club will gain the benefit of Sakho in his prime. His contribution to the team often goes unsung. The options that he gives, his work in the channels and the way he pulls defences around are all tremendous contributors in matches. I'm not sure everyone appreciates just how good Diafra's movement really is. Defence is another area he mucks in with. Over the last couple of seasons he's not, really, had a decent run of games. For many players this would be a huge setback – one from which it would be difficult to get back up to full match capacity. When Diafra is called upon after a lay off he seems to, almost immediately, look like he is 5 games back in to his stride. Conversely Diafra has been on the scoresheet regularly when getting a run in the team. In his first season he broke West Ham's Premier League record, and equalled Micky Quinn's, when he struck six from six in his first half dozen starts – becoming the Premier League Player Of The Month in October 2014. Overall his strike rate is favourable compared to other forwards.
Sakho's injury list is, relatively speaking, a long one. Although not as prolific as Andy Carroll he first spent time on the side-lines following an injury against West Brom before, controversially, pulling out of the ACON with Senegal. When his national team officials wanted him to fly to Senegal for a medical West Ham refused on the grounds of him being unfit to travel. Subsequently the club were fined 100K Swiss Francs after Diafra was played and scored the only goal of the game in the FA Cup victory against Bristol City – travelling to Ashton Gate in a Limousine. That said when my boys and I attended an open training session at Upton Park in 2015 it was Diafra who was the most charming and engaging player my boys encountered. He was already my older lad's favourite so when reports of Diafra being questioned by Police following an alleged night club incident of assault on a woman it was a hard one for my son to get his head around – although I did explain to him that they were not necessarily true but were just allegations at that stage.
Earlier in 2017-18, during the open transfer window, Diafra was reported to have been attempting to force a move by taking it upon himself to travel to Rennes for a medical, which he passed, without the consent of West Ham. After returning to England, instead of attending training, he went to Chelmsford races to see one of his agent's horses run in the 3.20. Wherever he goes there appear to be reports of behaviour less than exemplary. Some of it many would consider disruptive and unforgiveable. I can fully understand that but, as fans, we have to swallow a lot a rubbish. Having Diafra Sakho still playing for the club after the window closes would be nowhere near as big a load to bear than so many others we've had to put up with – counting this season alone if not over the last few.
If the dressing room was being negatively affected by Diafra's actions then I'd be all for him being offloaded as quickly as possible. But by all accounts there's no conflict or disharmony arising so I'm not convinced by any argument based that he should be moved on for this reason.
From a playing perspective, with what Diafra offers us on the pitch, it's an overwhelming 'Stay' from me. From that perspective alone I just can't see the sense in letting him leave and creating a gaping hole in our squad – which will cost quite a considerable amount to fill. Things happen in people's lives so I'm not going to be one to judge Diafra on his off field antics down the years and, more recently, his reported actions to engineer a move away from the club. He's a slightly better striker than Andy Carroll, in terms of goals per game, and contributes a great deal to the team in other areas. Whatever my opinion is, and even if the club want him to stay, player power generally rules when it comes to influencing transfers. Sadly he appears to want away so I suspect he'll be moving on in January.
Perhaps I have it wrong and there are many better replacements lined up to take Diafra's place. On one of the popular Vlogger sites I recently watched a suggestion that we should offload Sakho, Carroll and Ayew in January. Even if we brought through Toni Martinez we'd still be very light for striking options, should that come to pass, and I wonder how much we'd need to pay out to secure replacements. I'm not sure who David Moyes and David Sullivan might have in mind but, in West Ham's current position, I'm not convinced it will be easy to bring quality replacements in. I really don't see the sale of three strikers in one pop a sensible tactic so, out of the the three of them, I'd retain Diafra. He's just better than one in three, whereas the other two are not quite one in four, and certainly offers more to the team than Andrew Ayew IMO. All boiled down it really does depend who the club can bring in. If Carroll and Ayew do move on perhaps Diafra can be made to feel a major part of the manager's plans for the rest of the season and we'll see him at his, excellent, best again.
On to the West Brom game I'm hopeful of a decent performance as I'm bringing both my lads for their first game of the season along with one of my darts team and his lad of a similar age to mine. On paper it's a game we should win but, as one of the managerial greats of the game once pointed out, it's a game played on grass.
COYI! West Ham 4 The Cup!
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WEST HAM TARGET SURPRISE MOVE FOR SHELVEY
ELLIOTT CUFF @CuffWrites
ReadWestHam
David Moyes is lining up a shock move for Newcastle's mercurial midfielder Jonjo Shelvey, according to a Mirror exclusive. Moyes is believed to be desperate to strengthen his midfield in the January transfer window as he looks to boost the Hammers' chances of survival this season. Despite Shelvey's numerous attitude and temperament issues, the former Swansea midfielder finds himself on Moyes' wish-list for his January rebuild. Shelvey has been sent off twice already this season, and is no longer considered a guaranteed starter at St James Park. However, his passing ability and aggression in the middle of the park would prove to be valuable for the Hammers.
With Amanda Staveley's takeover still not having gone through for Newcastle just yet, the Magpies could be tempted to sell Shelvey in order to raise funds for transfers. Newcastle would presumably want to make back much of the £12million that they paid Swansea for him two years ago, especially if they do consider selling to a direct rival. Shelvey has shown that he has untapped potential throughout his career, and maybe David Moyes could be the man to break through.
The Hammers' have also looked at Bournemouth's Harry Arter and Stoke's Joe Allen as potential long term replacements for Mark Noble.
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Everton landing Steven N'Zonzi could let West Ham sign Morgan Schneiderlin
HITC
Danny Owen
Everton look set to beat West Ham United to Sevilla star Steven N'Zonzi - which could ironically present an alternative option to David Moyes. Reports on Steven N'Zonzi's return to the Premier League had grown cold in recent days. But The Mail (live transfer blog, 13.55pm) reports that Everton are now set to step up their chase in the next 48 hours for the Sevilla midfielder. N'Zonzi fell out with the La Liga side's manager Eduardo Berizzo and, despite his recent sacking, it is understood that the relationship between player and club is beyond repair. And the report states that the £35 million-rated France international is keen to again link up with Sam Allardyce at Goodison Park – having worked with the 63-year-old during his first spell in England at Blackburn Rovers.
Bad news, then, for West Ham; The Mail adds that David Moyes' side had a loan bid for N'Zonzi rejected. But, ironically, missing out on N'Zonzi could put an alternative option immediately within their grasp. Because it is understood that the former Stoke enforcer's arrival at Goodison Park will pave the way for a departure with Morgan Schneiderlin among those whose future at Everton is now at risk. And, strangely enough, West Ham are also interested in bringing the former Manchester United ace to the London Stadium, having made an enquiry about the 28-year-old's availability recently, as reported by The Sun. Schneiderlin hasn't really established himself since his £24 million move to Everton almost a year ago but a move to West Ham could help get his career back on track. But will missing out on one France intentional midfielder pave the way for West Ham to sign another?
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Oxford returns to West Ham United
Oxford returns to West Ham United
www.borussia.de
Reece Oxford has returned to Premier League side West Ham United. The 19-year-old defensive all-rounder had originally been loaned to Borussia for one season, but the Hammers have activated a clause to recall Oxford. "We were informed of their decision to activate the clause and recall him this morning," said sporting director Max Eberl. "However, we continue to be in talks with West Ham regarding Reece Oxford completing a permanent move to Borussia. It is also the player's wish to stay at Gladbach."
Reece Oxford signed on loan at the start of the season and has so far featured in three Bundesliga games and a DFB-Pokal tie. He had started each of the last three matches against Freiburg, HSV and Leverkusen.
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http://vyperz.blogspot.com
WHUFC.com
Reece Oxford is to return from his loan spell with German Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach, manager David Moyes confirmed in his Friday press conference. Oxford spent the first half of the season in Germany, featuring in three top flight and one German Cup matches during his loan spell. The 19-year-old became the Hammers' youngest-ever player when he made his debut aged just 16 in a UEFA Europa League tie against Andorran side Lusitans in July 2015. He has gone on to make 14 senior appearances to date in Claret and Blue and Moyes is looking forward to working with the England U20 international. "Reece Oxford will come back. We will take a look at him and see how he is," the manager confirmed. "I hope we can help improve him - I've only just met him, but I know he is well thought of here and we will work with him."
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Ayew: Every game is crucial when you are in our position
WHUFC.com
While Andre Ayew refused to use the term 'six-pointer' when asked about next Tuesday's Premier League meeting with West Bromwich Albion, the forward appreciates the importance of beating the struggling Baggies. West Brom go into their New Year's Eve fixture at home to Arsenal 19th in the table, three points and two places behind West Ham United, who have a free weekend after their own trip to Tottenham Hotspur was moved to 4 January on police advice. Ayew, who has three top-flight goals and two assists to his name this term, knows victory over Alan Pardew's side would not only keep the Hammers above West Brom in the standings, but also potentially see them move up the standings and away from the bottom three. "In the Premier League, every game is different, so we will see what happens," said the Ghanaian. "It's hard to predict what is going to happen in the game, but what I can say is that we will do everything we can to get the three points in front of our fans. "West Brom is going to be a tough one, but we've got the players and staff for it and the fans behind us, so we need to try and get three points at home and it will be very important for us to start the New Year on a good note. "Every game is crucial when you are in our position. We're not the only ones in this position, either, as there are a lot of teams in that position, so we need to try and get out of there and make some room and to do that we need to breathe, play our game, get points and win games. "We all know their quality on set pieces, it's been there for years. They also have good players in their squad like Krychowiak and Chadli, so we need to do our job and, if everyone sticks to their job, everything will hopefully be OK."
Ayew believes West Ham have shown improvement under new manager David Moyes, but insists there is still room to perform much better, particularly when in possession of the ball. "We've been a bit up and down and inconsistent, but we have shown that we're hard to beat [in recent weeks]. We've shown a lot of character and determination offensively and defensively and we need to keep working hard. "We know we can still progress in the way we play and the way we pass the ball around, so we're going to work on that until the end of the season. We've worked hard technically, tactically and physically and our results have improved. We need to stick to that. "When you're in a situation like this, when there is a change of manager, everyone is in a new situation. The gaffer has put his words in and those words touched a lot of players, so we need to follow what he wants us to do and how he wants us to do it, as we can see it is paying off. We need to believe in him, and get him to believe in us. "We have played a lot of games in the last few weeks, so we need to rest well, recover well, train hard and go again at home. That's football, because the next game is always the most important one. We're going to prepare for that."
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Team news: Noble closing in on return, Antonio update
WHUFC.com
Mark Noble is closing in on a return to first team action ahead of the Hammers' London Stadium clash with West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday evening. The West Ham United skipper has missed the last three matches after suffering a hamstring injury in the 3-0 victory at Stoke City in mid-December, but has resumed training and is almost ready to join manager David Moyes' full sessions again. The boss confirmed he is making good progress, but says it is too early to know whether Michail Antonio would be ready for a return in midweek after he picked up a groin problem which forced him to miss Boxing Day's 3-3 draw with Bournemouth.
"Mark Noble is making progress," Moyes said. "He's trained for a couple of days. He's not joined us yet, but he's making progress. "Michail Antonio has not joined us for training yet, he's recovering. His groin isn't as bad as we first thought, but will he make the game? It's probably just a bit too soon to say."
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Moyes: West Brom, Arnautovic's hot streak and the January window
WHUFC.com
David Moyes faced the press on Friday afternoon ahead of Tuesday's Premier League meeting with West Bromwich Albion. Following the 3-3 draw with AFC Bournemouth on Boxing Day, the manager was asked about the challenge of the Baggies as the Hammers look to climb the table, Marko Arnautovic's fine form, the upcoming January transfer window and more. Here's what Moyes had to say.
The challenge of West Brom…
The most important thing is to focus on ourselves and how we can get away from the bottom end of the Premier League table. I don't like harking back to it, but I think we might have been up to 13th if the decision on Callum Wilson's equaliser had gone for us at Bornemouth. That would have made us feel a lot better, but all we can do is focus on ourselves, and keep our home form as good as possible.
Marko Arnautovic's hot streak
Marko was a big signing for the Club and everybody was expecting something from him. He wasn't a new recruit to the Premier League so you hope he hits the ground running. He's done really well for us in the games, he's helped the team greatly. His energy and effort has rubbed off on the supporters and he's doing a good job for us. That needs to continue because we need him so I hope his form continues.
Reece Oxford's return
Reece will come back from his loan at Borussia Monchengladbach. I've never worked with Reece, so I'll take the time to have a look at him and see how he does. I know that he's been talked of very highly, and he's gone out on loan, so we'll get him back in and see how he is. I hope we could help improve him because he's a young player and we hope the work we will give him will help him. I've not worked with him before and I don't know the boy – I've only just met him, actually.
From that point of view it's going to take a little while to know exactly what he does but I know he's well thought of here, so we'll work with him and see what he's up to.
Transfer window
If I believe everything that's said [in the press], we must be signing 15 players in this window by all accounts! We've made it known that if we can bring in one or two reinforcements to the team we will do so. I think every manager will say the same, but it's not a particularly good time and it's not that easy to do business. It's also probably an expensive month in the year as well. We'll try and do it but there's no guarantee.
The manager is the one who will always take the final say because if you bring the players in you will be judged by them. If I wasn't the one bringing them in I wouldn't have come to the club in the first place, because I want to be judged by my team and by the players I bring in. I've not known anything different, the owners have told me that it will always be my decision.
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TIME TO ACT DECISIVELY IN THE TRANSFER WINDOW WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT
AUTHOR: EXWHUEMPLOYEE. PUBLISHED: 29 DECEMBER 2017 AT 9:18PM
TheWesTHaMWay.co.uk
Written by @farehamhammer
Yes! Bob Madley robbed us of three points. But to be truthful that would have just glossed over the stark reality, that we were very poor. It's clear to everybody, that our midfield needs a massive overhaul. The Board have got to cough up, no spin from their Choirboy about "Moyes being happy with what he has got" and the next minute saying the manager had a 20m "war chest". Twenty million is peanuts in today's transfer market and The Board know it, time to cough up gentleman! We are playing catch up due to the lack of serious investment for the last few windows. No phantom bids, haggling over £200 with the selling Club. Offering a player far less than they are on at present, time for gimmicks are long gone, the days of hanging managers out to dry does not wash anymore, either invest or we get relegated it is as simple as that.
It's not as though we have just suffered this season due to having a poor midfield, this has been the case for a long time. No pace, creativity or movement, even the simple task of retaining possession has been beyond our midfield. Slow pedestrian passes in the middle of the park, then when closed down quickly by the opposition, the ball is shovelled back in a hurry to our under pressured defence, resulting in the ball getting hoofed forward to anywhere. This has been the case under Allardyce, Bilic, Moyes and even Zola at least. Try as we might but we have never really replaced Yossi Benayoun, although Manuel Lanzini has certainly done the business in patches. As seen against Arsenal and Bournemouth, when Lanzini doesn't play West Ham don't play. The big problem with Lanzini is that he is inconsistent, which is frustrating as one senses there is so much more to come from the jewel that he is! Lanzini is also paying the price for a lack of quality in the middle of the park to assist him.
With a midfield like ours is anyone surprised our strikers have struggled? Our strikers have had to drop so deep, they have been almost on the half way line when they have been receiving the ball. Not even Messi could make an impact if he had been playing for us. Christ on a bike it is not bloody rocket science! You need the ball carried forward by the midfield, the opposition retreating. Resulting in space opening for the strikers and the goals come! Another way is for the midfield to feed tricky and pacey wingers, they go around the defence, and hey presto the strikers receive the ball on the front foot and the goals come! The defence have also suffered due to having no protection from the midfield. Let it sink in! Little Bournemouth, relegation threatened Bournemouth, cut through our midfield like a knife through butter. Launching attack after attack on our defence, under such constant pressure even the best of defences would wilt. True Zabaleta and Collins do get done for pace, but a clever holding midfielder directing the midfield would offer them protection, allowing the likes of Zabaleta to roam forward from time to time.
There has been a lot of slating of Kouyate and Obiang by some fans who suddenly believe Noble is the answer again. On the back of what? At the best of times Noble, Obiang don't work anyway as they are basically the same type of player, as for Kouyate never the brightest player offensively or defensively, he simply couldn't care two hoots. Walking back when the defence is under pressure, the language of someone who does not want to be at The Club. I don't know what has happened to Obiang since Bilic left, but he is a shadow of the player he had been under Slaven Bilic, when for a long period he had been our stand out player.
Depends on who we manage to bring in, I could see both Obiang and Kouyate leaving. The trouble is we are really going to battle to attract top players with the position we are in. Managers and players don't want relegation on their C/V for starters, forget about William Carvalho, there is more chance of me Sh****** Kate Middleton with Prince William watching than that happening! As for Steven N'Zonzi, the player has always blown hot and cold wherever he has played, so coughing out that sort of dough would be a big risk, even if we were prepared to cough up that sort of dough, Everton would be able to offer him a better salary and our league position would count against us. So, what of the other name being mention as a potential target, Ki Sung-Yueng the South Korean central midfielder who plays for Swansea City. He would be a shrewd signing, great vision, technique, can play a variety of passes and good at set pieces, certainly capable of lifting a ball over the defence, he would be a big help in the middle of the park. Stoke City's Joe Allen, is another player being mentioned. Again, a good player and like Ki a big upgrade on what we have! Allen is a playmaker, good defensively and attacking wise, a lovely passer of the ball. Some will turn their nose up at the likes of Ki and Allen because they are not 'next' level players.
Well people need to get real! All hands-on deck we are fighting a relegation battle! That is the reality! It is going to be an extremely tough window; the January window is always a tough one to deal with. Money is tight all round, gone are the days of players going for £30m! £40m! £50m! with minutes to spare before the window closes. Clubs don't want to part with their best players mid-season, not just West Ham, but loans are the one in January but there are good permanent deals out there. Still Gold and Sullivan have known the short comings for a long time, and have had more than enough time to have deals in place for the first week of January. Time to correct your wrongs, if you don't… we will be relegated. That will be your FIFTH relegation, IF that were to happen you will find out what Armageddon is all about!
We are more than a football Club, we're a way of life!!
COYI!!
Farehamhammer!!!
(Edited by Danny Twigg)
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Oxford returned against his wishes, insist Gladbach
KUMB.com
Filed: Friday, 29th December 2017
By: Staff Writer
Borussia Monchengladbach have confirmed that Reece Oxford has returned to West Ham - but insist that the player would rather remain in Germany. Hammers boss David Moyes, speaking to the media earlier today confirmed that Oxford was on his way back to West Ham for the second half of the campaign after his season-long loan spell with Gladbach was cut short. However in a news article appearing on the Bundesliga club's own website this afternoon (Friday), Sporting Director Max Eberl claimed that Oxford had been recalled to West Ham against his wishes - and confirmed that they were still attempting to clinch a permanent deal for the England youth international. "We were informed of West Ham's decision to activate the clause and recall him this morning," said Eberl. "However, we continue to be in talks with West Ham regarding Reece Oxford completing a permanent move to Borussia. It is also the player's wish to stay at Gladbach."
Oxford, who made just four first team appearances during his six months in Germany is yet to comment publicly since returning to London. West Ham were able to recall him due to an appearance clause in his loan contract not being met.
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Hammers eye Argentine midfielder
KUMB.com
Filed: Friday, 29th December 2017
By: Staff Writer
West Ham are one of several clubs being linked with a January move for Argentine international Nicolas Gaitan. The 29-year-old midfielder is currently out of favour at his current club Atletico Madrid, for whom he has started just six La Liga matches this campaign, and is set to be sold next month according to AS.
And whilst Colchoneros are seeking a fee in the region of £15million for a player signed last year from Benfica for €25 million, a short-term loan move to England may be of interest to Gaitan who has failed to settle at the Wanda Metropolitano. The 5'8" midfielder, who began his career in his home country with Boca Juniors can also operate as a winger, offering the kind of versatility that could be of interest to Hammers boss David Moyes.
* Diafra Sakho could be set to leave West Ham in the next few days - after receiving a bumper offer from China. The wantaway striker has been looking for a way of of the club for some considerable time and could be set to become the latest Premier League player to move to the Far East, according to a piece in the Express. Shanghai Shenhua, who play in the 33,000 capacity Hongkou Football Stadium and only became a professional outfit 24 years ago are seeking to land the Senegal international. West Ham are likley to ask around £15million for the 28-year-old.
* West Ham are keeping tabs on the situation regarding Borussia Dortmund winger Andre Schürrle. The former Chelsea player, 27, is seeking a new challenge for the second half of the 2017/18 campaign having featured less frequently than he would have liked for his current club. And with the World Cup Finals just six months away, agent Ingo Haspel insists that he could be tempted by a temporary switch. "Basically Andre wants to play as much as possible," said Haspel. "If the playing time is not guaranteed then it would be downright negligent not to think about what the future might look like and where to get more."
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Moyes seeking to 'improve' returning Reece
KUMB.com
Filed: Friday, 29th December 2017
By: Staff Writer
David Moyes says he is looking forward to working with teenage defender Reece Oxford, after it was confirmed that the defender would be returning to West Ham.
The 19-year-old spent the opening half of the 2017/18 campaign on loan at Borussia Monchengladbach, for whom he made just a handful of first team appearances. However Oxford is likely to be thrown straight in at the deep end upon his return to London, with fellow defender Jose Fonte still some way from reaching full fitness and Winston Reid struggling for form and benched for United's most recent outing at Bournemouth. Speaking during a press conference today, Moyes admitted that is looking forward to working with the England youth international, who has already returned to London. "Reece Oxford will come back", said Moyes. "We will take a look at him and see how he is. I hope we can help improve him - I've only just met him, but I know he is well thought of here and we will work with him."
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Bournemouth 3-3 West Ham (And Other Ramblings)
KUMB.com
Filed: Friday, 29th December 2017
By: HeadHammerShark
"Night, night after day
Black flowers blossom"
- Massive Attack, "Teardrop"
There is a universal truth about being a sports fan, which is that when we pay our money to enter an arena and watch our event, we believe the encounter we are about to watch will be fair. We have to believe the fight won't be rigged, or that the race is straight or the competitors aren't cheating, otherwise the whole thing is a waste of time.
Now, let me state here and now that I don't believe that a game between Bournemouth and West Ham would be worth fixing. Of all the things the Bilderberg Group are doing, I have to imagine this would be quite a long way down the list. We have again been the victim of more poor officiating, and because our minds are conditioned to remember negative things more than positive, it feels like such an overwhelming weight of misfortune that we then begin to wonder if it truly is bad luck or something more sinister. For when a player who is offside scores a last minute equaliser with his hand, and a referee seemingly overrules his linesman to award that goal, then it's hard not to do a double take.
Brown envelope out of sight
So let me invoke Hanlon's Razor here - never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence. It is bizarre to suggest that referee Bobby Madley was bribed to turn this game in Bournemouth's favour, but I equally don't have any qualms in saying that his performance here was appalling. His first error was to fail to send off Simon Francis for a head high, studs up challenge on Cheikhou Kouyate. I don't think Francis was intending to catch Kouyate, and had his eyes firmly on the ball, but when you raise your studs to that height you also have a responsibility to ensure you don't land them on a fellow professionals face. Rather than consult another official or take his time and weigh the decision up, Madley instead brandished a yellow card immediately, which has the added effect of ensuring Francis won't even get the retrospective ban he deserves. And for anyone who hasn't seen it, and thinks perhaps I'm being a little melodramatic - you can judge for yourself here:
Just a yellow - nothing to see here
Similarly, Madley chose not to act on Josh King accidentally elbowing Pedro Obiang in the face off the ball. That probably sounds crazy, but the Norwegian flung his arms out in frustration at a decision and caught Obiang unaware, knocking him to the ground. I don't think there was any intent in the actions of King either, and that is more relevant in his case because the laws clearly state that a player must be dismissed for "deliberately striking an opponent". It doesn't seem unreasonable to me that players should refrain from throwing their elbows around, but they are also people and if we try to remove all joy and human emotion from football then we run the risk of turning this whole thing into BBC1 on Christmas night.
But where Madley fatally impacted this game was in the dying moments. We had floundered and fluked our way to a 3-2 lead, and with just seconds remaining a hopeful ball was pumped into our box. In truth, we hadn't dealt with that line of attack very well all day, and true to form Nathan Ake won the header. He looped the ball back across goal and a marginally offside Callum Wilson diverted the ball in with this arm.
The referee's assistant (oh the irony of that title) immediately raised his flag, and the goal was all set to be disallowed. At that point Madley trotted over to the sidelines. That, in itself, is fairly unusual given that he has a radio link with his assistants and I'm not sure I've ever really seen a referee do that for a straightforward offside decision. After a lengthy enough deliberation for a video referee to have reviewed the incident in real time and made the correct decision, Madley awarded the goal, because of course he fucking did.
Delving into the world of conjecture for a moment I have to suspect that the following happened: the assistant flagged for offside, Madley intimated that he didn't think Wilson touched the ball, the assistant pointed out that this couldn't really be true as the ball wasn't going in until Wilson used his arm to push it in, Madley disagreed because Callum Wilson is a theoretical concept and awarded the goal and the stadium announcer promptly told the world that Callum Wilson has just scored the equaliser. Some fucking magic, that.
In the end, I don't believe this was anything more than poor officiating but it's easy to get drawn into thinking otherwise. After all, I believe that there is an institutional corruption that sits at the heart of most sport. Had this happened against Manchester United, for example, I think that Madley would have disallowed the goal purely because human beings typically do the things that allow them the easiest lives. Referees know that they can make a decision like this against West Ham and be in the news cycle for one night. Do it against Mourinho and you're infamous for months.
So there you go: I think that elite level football is ludicrously tilted towards the rich; I believe that pretty much every high level athlete is using performance enhancing drugs and just because it started with track and field, swimming and cycling doesn't mean it won't be football and rugby soon enough; I believe that cup draws are probably at least partially fixed to satisfy the demands of television, sponsors and Vladimir Putin; and I think that one reason that governing bodies in football are so reluctant to introduce measures to help referees get more decisions correct is that big clubs don't want that to happen - why, after all, would you give up one of the inherent advantages of being a big club - namely that you can rely on most line decisions going your way?
But for all that might make me a tin foil hatted conspiracy theorist in your eyes, I can honestly say that I don't think referees are biased against West Ham for the simple reason that there would be no point. So when you boil all of that down, the reality is probably just that Bobby Madley is a bit of a shit referee.
***
"This is the highlight of your miserable life
A pessimist is never disappointed"
- Theaudience, "A Pessimist is Never Disappointed"
I could write yet more about the decisions in this game, and how I can't see any difference between the "deception" of Manuel Lanzini and the "magic" of Callum Wilson, but fixating too much on officiating would detract away from yet another disappointing performance. It may seem strange to say that when we scored three goals, but we spent most of this game clinging on to the coattails of a decidedly poor Bournemouth team and were particularly fortunate to pull level at 2-2, when Marko Arnautovic took advantage of Asmir Begovic wearing clown shoes in the driving rain.
We started well enough, with James Collins celebrating his recall by thumping home a trademark near post header from an Aaron Cresswell corner. I especially enjoyed this because Bournemouth placed a man on the post to specifically prevent this and he moved far enough from his spot to allow the ball in. It is worth remembering stuff like this when we question how managers can't organise their teams to defend properly - some footballers are so poor at concentrating that they can't even stand still when they're told to.
God bless men who can't stand still
That early lead didn't look particularly secure, however, as our back line seemed to have over indulged at Christmas, and the home team flooded forward in search of an equaliser, creating plenty of opportunities. King should have scored from one such chance, before Dan Gosling latched on to a weak Collins clearing header and rifled home the leveller. Oddly, we really should have been two ahead by this stage as Arthur Masuaku produced another trademark run before picking out Andre Ayew, who put the ball narrowly wide. On such slender threads can satisfactory Boxing Nights hang.
By this stage the rain was hammering down like Blade Runner, although even Roy Batty might have seen some new things here. After Ake scrambled home another shittily defended set piece to give the home side the lead their pressure warranted, it looked as though we would have yet another disappointing trip to the coast. Enter Begovic, who casually controlled a backpass before falling over his own feet, allowing Arnautovic - who hadn't stopped running - to capitalise with a neat left footed finish. Score one for the Moyes school of sergeant majoring the fuck out players.
Better was to come when Masuaku again went roaming with just a minute to go and picked out Chicharito who made a complete Benteke of it, but was saved when Begovic again lost control of his limbs and Arnautovic poked home his fifth goal in as many games. With just injury time to come, it seemed as though we had done enough to steal a win we didn't really deserve - a trait that Moyes would be very welcome to bring with him from all those years at Goodison.
Unfortunately, there was still some Truly, Madley, Deeply action to come and as it was we are left to ponder what kind of world we live in where we can take four points from Arsenal and Chelsea but just one from Newcastle and Bournemouth, and that the only consistent thing about this team is that you don't ever know what they are going to do.
The worry is that these were two games where we could reasonably have expected to have shown a little more in attack. Sitting back and soaking up constant pressure is fine against the teams with several hundred million more to spend on their squads, but these were supposed to the games where we showed we could punch back against our fellow strugglers. And so we scored five and conceded six and the only thing we know is that we know nothing.
***
"Am I moving back in time? Just standing still?"
- The War on Drugs, "Pain"
High up on my list of concerns is the way in which our team seem to be ageing in front of our eyes. Pablo Zabaleta had to replaced here because Bournemouth targeted him in much the same way as Newcastle did, and got nearly as much joy from it. He gets a light ride from the London Stadium crowd because he's enthusiastic and runs around like a toddler on Fanta, but the truth is that his positional play still leaves a lot to be desired and we are forced to expose him as a wing back because we can't defend without playing three in the middle. The chances of him being able to play twice in three days strikes me as minimal, meaning that I suspect we'll see Rice at Wembley against Spurs, and seriously - are Sam Byram's hamstrings made out of spaghetti?
Zaba's going on a run again!
Zabaleta has also been booked seven times already this season, opening him up to red cards, and when players like Ryan Fraser can give him the kind of torrid afternoon that he did here, it bodes poorly for the remaining eighteen months of that characteristically stupid contract. Likewise, Winston Reid didn't even make the team here as he dropped out for Collins and we are now reduced to hoping that he didn't injure himself in doing so.
With Fonte also out long term, it would explain the apparent interest in Alfie Mawson who might cost £25m but can at least still go on an 18-30 holiday if he wants to. I don't know much about Mawson, but it would be lovely if Moyes could target a centre back who can actually pass the ball rather than hoof it in the general direction of Andy Carroll irrespective of whether he is on the pitch or not.
In front of them, Cheikhou Kouyate had another afternoon to forget, as his Catherine Wheel impression continued to have little impact on the game. Pedro Obiang has attracted a lot of opprobrium for his performances in these last couple of games, but I thought it was noticeable how much better he played alongside a proper central midfielder - Mark Noble - than we saw here. There is quite a lot of pressure on that central midfield area in this formation, given that we are giving up a body to play in the back three, and it asks a lot of the defensive midfielder.
After a promising start, in which Obiang looked like he might actually improve a little under Moyes, he has regressed and was replaced here by Carroll - our Goliath for all seasons. I'm not quite ready to judge the Spaniard in this system until we see him get a run out alongside a better midfield partner, but I don't think it was a coincidence that we looked much better when Lanzini went deeper and started our attacks. Either way, I predict some reinforcements will be arriving soon.
The double substitution of Carroll and Chicharito was supposed to galvanise us, but in reality just highlighted the paucity of attacking options that we currently seem to have. With only Lanzini and Masuaku able to create from deeper areas, we have to either rely on the mobile physicality of Antonio and Arnautovic or resort to the long range bombing approach and launch mortars at Fort Carroll and hope for something to land at the feet of Chicharito. And while we do that, the plan was that the sturdy defensive setup constructed by Moyes would allow us to keep clean sheets.
If we can't maintain any defensive structure while being more expansive, then Moyes will have to apply the handbrake and revert to a less attacking style to try and give us a chance of winning games like this 1-0. It might not be pretty, but relegation scraps never are. In the driving rain of the South Coast, we dropped two very precious points because of some awful refereeing, but also because we were defensively all over the place.
***
"Someone's got it in for me, they're planting stories in the press
Whoever it is, I wish they'd cut it out quick, but when they will I can only guess"
- Bob Dylan, "Idiot Wind"
It's nearly January everyone, and that means that David Sullivan is going to be staying up really late ringing agents in South America and furiously flicking through YouTube highlight reels in search of the next Nene. As every West Ham fan knows, the New Year generally brings yet more stupidity in the boardroom, and with the team waist deep in relegation trouble, this time will be no different. Brilliantly, someone in the West Ham/Sullivan PR team decided that a great way to kick off this particular transfer window would be to carry a story in the Mail about how Dave Sullivan Jr lives in a £40m luxury flat and "works harder than anyone he knows".
Another heart warming Christmas story
In fairness to the kid, I'd hate to be judged on things I said and did at the age of twenty, and so I'll choose to ignore the generally crass theme of the article and the incredibly tone deaf decision to celebrate unfathomable, undeserved wealth at a time when so many people in the country are suffering in a stagnant economy. But, honestly, who the hell thinks this stuff is a good idea? Why do these kids keep getting repeatedly exposed to public scrutiny of their lives and activities when it is such a red rag to a fanbase who already think their father is tight and screwing money out of the club? None of this is complicated - but when we're about to enter a month of transfer activity which will define our season, why would you be in the media boasting about your wealth...
...if you're going to do things like this?
Can you see how these two pictures cause problems, Dave? It doesn't matter whether the N'Zonzi story is true, or the fact that I agree that a loan approach is better, because the account that carried it has over sixty thousand followers and this cheap looking style fits a club who seem to have no money.
There were also lots of rumours today about Reece Oxford moving permanently to Germany, although we may now apparently recall him to play for us instead. The rumour there was that Moyes was keen to move the kid on in order to get some cash in for new signings. Quite why we should need cash given that we spent such a low sum in the summer is an issue in itself, but beyond that it also highlights the total stupidity of allowing a potentially temporary manager to make such decisions. Ask yourself whether you would want the substitute teacher expelling your kid, and that will give you an idea of how good a decision making set up this would be.
Moyes doesn't need to worry about what our squad will look like in 2020 because he knows that if we go down this summer he won't be here to worry about it. Once again a Director of Football would be best placed to make such a decision, and once again we don't have one. Let's therefore hope that the Oxford recall is with a view to turning him into a better West Ham player, rather than with a view to turning him into enough cash to buy declining 29 year old players for a relegation battle. We already have a squad full of them.
It's unimportant that one of these can get you a Mirallas
Yes, Oxford might have an attitude problem, and maybe he has a difficult agent, but those things are true of lots of teenage players. In the end, this is a chance for us to get a potentially high quality player for nothing, and flogging him to allow Sullivan to waste yet more funds on his idea of good footballers doesn't do anything for me. Oxford will mature one day, and we'll regret it immensely if he does so somewhere outside East London. Ultimately, when teams who are better than you want your players, that should tell you something about the asset you have. If we truly don't think we can get the best from an eighteen year old then I guess we should move him on, but in turn I would be asking some questions about exactly why that was the case.
So, who should we target? Well, I've outlined above how I'd like a centre back - although that is a slightly difficult assessment to make given that we don't really know how highly the club rate any of Reece Oxford, Reece Burke or Not Reece Declan Rice. A right sided defender to cover Zabaleta and Byram's incredible Chinese noodle hamstrings would also be useful. But we also clearly need a central midfielder who can get about the pitch and create something, while a striker that Moyes can trust to do some Diafra Sakho type things without being Diafra Sakho would really be helpful too.
There is absolutely no chance of us getting all of those players in January, so to my mind they absolutely have to target the midfield as we are currently only playing a three man midfield and still had to play strikers in there for the Arsenal cup game. N'Zonzi wouldn't have been a bad short term acquisition but at 29 he would be yet another to add to the phalanx of ageing one-last-contract types that clutter up our squad.
A better approach, for this season only, might be to target the big clubs and look at non playing member of their squads who are borderline choices for their countries and taking them on short loans. Anyone wanting to play at the World Cup will need game time between now and May, and we would be the ideal place for someone to stage a revival, provided we don't introduce them to Joe Hart.
As such, the link to Andre Schurrle makes sense, as would a return for Andre Gomes - a rumoured target around the time of the William Carvalho debacle. I like the idea of getting these hungry, motivated players, who can arrive and have an immediate impact. Of course, historically this has never worked for us but if the alternative is buying another Robert Snodgrass, then I'm happy to give it another whirl.
***
"But the drumbeat strains of the night remain
In the rhythm of the new born day"
- Al Stewart, "The Year of the Cat"
Some of you may have noticed that I didn't post an article for the Newcastle game. This wasn't a fit of pique but more because I decided to spend Christmas Eve with the family rather than spewing out 3,000 words on how our midfield was overrun by Mo Diame. I did, however, vent a little on Twitter which you can find here.
I've also been asking for some recollections from fans on Frank Lampard Jr, for a retro piece I'm writing at the moment. Any contributions would be gratefully accepted.
And with that, all that remains is for me to wish you all a very Happy New Year and to thank you for reading The H List in 2017. See you in 2018 - it's West Brom to start, so that's bound to be hugely entertaining.
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.
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Allen going nowhere, says Stoke boss Hughes
KUMb.com
Filed: Friday, 29th December 2017
By: Staff Writer
Stoke City manager Mark Hughes says he has no intention of selling Joe Allen to West Ham during next month's transfer window. The Potters boss spoke out after a report in today's tabloids claimed that West Ham were showing an interest in the Welsh international and wanted him to link up once again with former team mate Marko Arnautovic. "It is the first I have heard of that," said Hughes, when asked about the possibility of a deal being done, "but it wouldn't surprise me because he has been impressive this year. "We can't afford to lose a player of Joe's quality - he is working exceptionally hard for us and we are really pleased with what he is producing for us at the moment." And rather than weaken his existing squad further, Hughes insisted that he is seeking to expand his selection pool.
It's clear that we are too stretched and ideally we would like to rectify that," he added. "We all know that January isn't the ideal time to get deals done, but there are opportunities and we feel there are areas that we need to strengthen." Allen, 27, was signed by Stoke from Liverpool in a £13million deal during the 2016 summer transfer window. The Welsh international began his career at Swansea, before making a £15million move to Anfield in 2012.
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Reece Oxford could feature for West Ham after David Moyes confirms defender's return
By Lyall Thomas
Last Updated: 29/12/17 5:52pm
SSN
Reece Oxford is set to assist West Ham's relegation fight after manager David Moyes confirmed they will "work with" the defender on his return from a loan spell at Borussia Monchengladbach. The Hammers have recalled the 19-year-old from a season-long loan in Germany despite Monchengladbach being one of two Bundesliga clubs keen to sign him on a permanent deal. Moyes, whose side are a point above the relegation zone ahead of a crucial clash against fellow strugglers West Brom on January 2, confirmed Oxford "will come back". "We will take a look at him and see how he is," he said. "I hope we can help improve him. I've only just met him, but I know he is well thought of here and we will work with him."
Oxford, who can also play in defensive-midfield, played only four times for Monchengladbach this season but Sky Sports News understands they like what they have seen and expect the England U20 to develop into a top player. Monchengladbach want to sign the defender on a permanent deal worth £5.5m, and RB Leipzig also harbour an interest, having attempted to sign him when he was just 17 in 2016. West Ham value Oxford highly too, however, and would not let him leave unless they received an exceptional offer, according to Sky sources. Oxford, who signed a new West Ham contract last year that tied him to the club until 2021, has made 14 senior appearances for the Hammers.
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David Moyes says there are 'no guarantees' West Ham will make January signings
By Andy Swales
Last Updated: 29/12/17 3:35pm
SSN
David Moyes is keen to add a couple of players to his West Ham squad during the January transfer window. However, the Hammers boss admits it is traditionally a difficult time to do business and says "there are no guarantees". The Scot also played down media reports that the east London club have a long shopping list of potential targets. He joked: "We must be signing 15 players at the moment - by all accounts. "I would like to bring in one or two reinforcements, but every manager will tell you it's not an easy time to do business. "It's also an expensive month. We'll try and do it but there's no guarantee."
Moyes was quick to confirm that he alone would decide which players - if any - will move to the club over the next few weeks. He added: "The manager will have the final say. You'll be judged by the players you bring in. "So, if I wasn't the one bringing the players in, I wouldn't have come here in the first place. "I've not known anything different and the owners have told me it will always be my decision."
West Ham do not play again until January 2 when they take on West Brom at the London Stadium. Long-serving midfielder Mark Noble has missed three matches through injury, while Michail Antonio was ruled out of their Boxing Day game with Bournemouth. Regarding injury news ahead of next week's Premier League fixture against the Baggies, Moyes said: "Mark has trained a couple of days, but not with us, and is making progress. It's his hamstring. "Michail has also not joined us but we don't think his groin is as bad as we first thought. "Whether he will be fit for Tuesday, it's too early to tell."
Moyes confirmed on Friday that Reece Oxford will be returning to the club from Borussia Monchengladbach, having spent the first half of the season in the Bundesliga. Speaking about the teenager, he went on: "He's been talked of very highly. We'll get him back in, take a look, because I've never worked with him before, and spend the time to get to know him."
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SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO – DIAFRA SAKHO
By Goatygav 29 Dec 2017 at 09:21
WTID
Following BlindHammer's excellent post of Jim McWeeny's 'Songs From A Sleepless Night' I thought I'd add a further suggestion with an old Classic from The Clash.
Early October HamburgHammer asked if Diafra Sakho was worth a contract extension. Now the January transfers are about to commence I thought it the appropriate time to debate the 'Should He Stay Or Should He Go' question.
He's currently 28 years of age so if he does move on then another club will gain the benefit of Sakho in his prime. His contribution to the team often goes unsung. The options that he gives, his work in the channels and the way he pulls defences around are all tremendous contributors in matches. I'm not sure everyone appreciates just how good Diafra's movement really is. Defence is another area he mucks in with. Over the last couple of seasons he's not, really, had a decent run of games. For many players this would be a huge setback – one from which it would be difficult to get back up to full match capacity. When Diafra is called upon after a lay off he seems to, almost immediately, look like he is 5 games back in to his stride. Conversely Diafra has been on the scoresheet regularly when getting a run in the team. In his first season he broke West Ham's Premier League record, and equalled Micky Quinn's, when he struck six from six in his first half dozen starts – becoming the Premier League Player Of The Month in October 2014. Overall his strike rate is favourable compared to other forwards.
Sakho's injury list is, relatively speaking, a long one. Although not as prolific as Andy Carroll he first spent time on the side-lines following an injury against West Brom before, controversially, pulling out of the ACON with Senegal. When his national team officials wanted him to fly to Senegal for a medical West Ham refused on the grounds of him being unfit to travel. Subsequently the club were fined 100K Swiss Francs after Diafra was played and scored the only goal of the game in the FA Cup victory against Bristol City – travelling to Ashton Gate in a Limousine. That said when my boys and I attended an open training session at Upton Park in 2015 it was Diafra who was the most charming and engaging player my boys encountered. He was already my older lad's favourite so when reports of Diafra being questioned by Police following an alleged night club incident of assault on a woman it was a hard one for my son to get his head around – although I did explain to him that they were not necessarily true but were just allegations at that stage.
Earlier in 2017-18, during the open transfer window, Diafra was reported to have been attempting to force a move by taking it upon himself to travel to Rennes for a medical, which he passed, without the consent of West Ham. After returning to England, instead of attending training, he went to Chelmsford races to see one of his agent's horses run in the 3.20. Wherever he goes there appear to be reports of behaviour less than exemplary. Some of it many would consider disruptive and unforgiveable. I can fully understand that but, as fans, we have to swallow a lot a rubbish. Having Diafra Sakho still playing for the club after the window closes would be nowhere near as big a load to bear than so many others we've had to put up with – counting this season alone if not over the last few.
If the dressing room was being negatively affected by Diafra's actions then I'd be all for him being offloaded as quickly as possible. But by all accounts there's no conflict or disharmony arising so I'm not convinced by any argument based that he should be moved on for this reason.
From a playing perspective, with what Diafra offers us on the pitch, it's an overwhelming 'Stay' from me. From that perspective alone I just can't see the sense in letting him leave and creating a gaping hole in our squad – which will cost quite a considerable amount to fill. Things happen in people's lives so I'm not going to be one to judge Diafra on his off field antics down the years and, more recently, his reported actions to engineer a move away from the club. He's a slightly better striker than Andy Carroll, in terms of goals per game, and contributes a great deal to the team in other areas. Whatever my opinion is, and even if the club want him to stay, player power generally rules when it comes to influencing transfers. Sadly he appears to want away so I suspect he'll be moving on in January.
Perhaps I have it wrong and there are many better replacements lined up to take Diafra's place. On one of the popular Vlogger sites I recently watched a suggestion that we should offload Sakho, Carroll and Ayew in January. Even if we brought through Toni Martinez we'd still be very light for striking options, should that come to pass, and I wonder how much we'd need to pay out to secure replacements. I'm not sure who David Moyes and David Sullivan might have in mind but, in West Ham's current position, I'm not convinced it will be easy to bring quality replacements in. I really don't see the sale of three strikers in one pop a sensible tactic so, out of the the three of them, I'd retain Diafra. He's just better than one in three, whereas the other two are not quite one in four, and certainly offers more to the team than Andrew Ayew IMO. All boiled down it really does depend who the club can bring in. If Carroll and Ayew do move on perhaps Diafra can be made to feel a major part of the manager's plans for the rest of the season and we'll see him at his, excellent, best again.
On to the West Brom game I'm hopeful of a decent performance as I'm bringing both my lads for their first game of the season along with one of my darts team and his lad of a similar age to mine. On paper it's a game we should win but, as one of the managerial greats of the game once pointed out, it's a game played on grass.
COYI! West Ham 4 The Cup!
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WEST HAM TARGET SURPRISE MOVE FOR SHELVEY
ELLIOTT CUFF @CuffWrites
ReadWestHam
David Moyes is lining up a shock move for Newcastle's mercurial midfielder Jonjo Shelvey, according to a Mirror exclusive. Moyes is believed to be desperate to strengthen his midfield in the January transfer window as he looks to boost the Hammers' chances of survival this season. Despite Shelvey's numerous attitude and temperament issues, the former Swansea midfielder finds himself on Moyes' wish-list for his January rebuild. Shelvey has been sent off twice already this season, and is no longer considered a guaranteed starter at St James Park. However, his passing ability and aggression in the middle of the park would prove to be valuable for the Hammers.
With Amanda Staveley's takeover still not having gone through for Newcastle just yet, the Magpies could be tempted to sell Shelvey in order to raise funds for transfers. Newcastle would presumably want to make back much of the £12million that they paid Swansea for him two years ago, especially if they do consider selling to a direct rival. Shelvey has shown that he has untapped potential throughout his career, and maybe David Moyes could be the man to break through.
The Hammers' have also looked at Bournemouth's Harry Arter and Stoke's Joe Allen as potential long term replacements for Mark Noble.
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Everton landing Steven N'Zonzi could let West Ham sign Morgan Schneiderlin
HITC
Danny Owen
Everton look set to beat West Ham United to Sevilla star Steven N'Zonzi - which could ironically present an alternative option to David Moyes. Reports on Steven N'Zonzi's return to the Premier League had grown cold in recent days. But The Mail (live transfer blog, 13.55pm) reports that Everton are now set to step up their chase in the next 48 hours for the Sevilla midfielder. N'Zonzi fell out with the La Liga side's manager Eduardo Berizzo and, despite his recent sacking, it is understood that the relationship between player and club is beyond repair. And the report states that the £35 million-rated France international is keen to again link up with Sam Allardyce at Goodison Park – having worked with the 63-year-old during his first spell in England at Blackburn Rovers.
Bad news, then, for West Ham; The Mail adds that David Moyes' side had a loan bid for N'Zonzi rejected. But, ironically, missing out on N'Zonzi could put an alternative option immediately within their grasp. Because it is understood that the former Stoke enforcer's arrival at Goodison Park will pave the way for a departure with Morgan Schneiderlin among those whose future at Everton is now at risk. And, strangely enough, West Ham are also interested in bringing the former Manchester United ace to the London Stadium, having made an enquiry about the 28-year-old's availability recently, as reported by The Sun. Schneiderlin hasn't really established himself since his £24 million move to Everton almost a year ago but a move to West Ham could help get his career back on track. But will missing out on one France intentional midfielder pave the way for West Ham to sign another?
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Oxford returns to West Ham United
Oxford returns to West Ham United
www.borussia.de
Reece Oxford has returned to Premier League side West Ham United. The 19-year-old defensive all-rounder had originally been loaned to Borussia for one season, but the Hammers have activated a clause to recall Oxford. "We were informed of their decision to activate the clause and recall him this morning," said sporting director Max Eberl. "However, we continue to be in talks with West Ham regarding Reece Oxford completing a permanent move to Borussia. It is also the player's wish to stay at Gladbach."
Reece Oxford signed on loan at the start of the season and has so far featured in three Bundesliga games and a DFB-Pokal tie. He had started each of the last three matches against Freiburg, HSV and Leverkusen.
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