Geoff Hopkins

5 Painful Points from the Old Trafford Sequel

The litany of lacklustre league cup exits just got a little longer.

Yet Another Tame Cup Exit

Yet again a promising cup run comes to an end in the most disappointing way. Not that away to Manchester United was ever going to be easy. And that the cause was helped by having held them to a draw a few days earlier leaving the hosts with a feeling that they had something to prove. No, it wasn’t simply the fact that West Ham are now out of a competition that was probably the best chance of silverware it was the manner of the surrender that has created such disappointment and disquiet. It is difficult to find any positives in the game with the possible exception of Ashley Fletcher’s first goal for West Ham. Otherwise it was a lame, tame, feeble performance.

Look Through Any Window

Much has been said already about the outcome of the terrible summer transfer window and there I was believing that we had poached a hot-shot head of recruitment from Everton. There are possibly one or two for the future in the assorted incomings but none has served ti improve the first team. The only silver lining is that common sense prevailed and that Zaza and Tore ended up as loan deals rather than parting with £30 million plus for theor services. Our stock in being able to attract players before the season would have been reasonably high but now, out of Europe and looking at a relegation battle, it is a much less attractive proposition for potential transfer targets. The worry is that we will need to shell out for short term fire-fighters to get out of a hole at the expense of continued squad improvement. It would be a big surprise to me if Payet is still at the club in January; maybe it would be a good time to cash-in (it’s what Arsenal would do) but the worry is that modern day Rigobert Songs and Titi Camaras would be the type of players bought with the proceeds.

Less Than the Sum of the Parts

We had played reasonably well on Sunday but then so poorly just a few days later. Same ground, same opposition, same formation and with only minor personnel changes. How does a team go from being organised and disciplined to amateur and shambolic in such a short space of time? Bad attitude or bad coaching? The 3 at the back formation was instigated to fix a particular defensive problem, had some initial success but is now looking very unconvincing when taking account of the players that we have at our disposal. It might have looked a good option for the defence but ignored what would happen in front of it. The system/ formation is not a good fit, players do not look comfortable with it and it does not allow some to perform to their strengths. A club that has such blatant gaps in its squad strength (right back and striker) in a multi-million pound industry raises some serious questions as to how it is governed.

Careful What You Wish For

We were careful what we wished for and got ourselves an ex-player as manager who performed commendably well in his first season even though it was characterised by over-performing against big clubs and under-performing against the others. Most of the goodwill earned, however, has dribbled away in the opening months of this campaign. On the evidence of the season to date the coaching staff do not score highly on the team’s motivation, discipline, fitness or organisation. Add to that some bizarre transfers, team selections and substitutions then the level of confidence in their ability is trending relentlessly downwards. Perhaps it is not yet time for hysteria but I’d be removing the glass from the panic button just in case.

Turning Down The Volume

The Owners have come in for a lot of stick about the shortcomings of bringing new players into the club. Personally, I don’t like the way that they appear to do so much of their business in public, giving it large in the press and on Twitter as to who the targets are and how much wedge is in our war chest. On the other hand I don’t think that it’s a case of money not being made available. For a club our size the net spend is significant in circumstances where we have had no big-money exits in many years. If rumour is to be believed it was Sullivan who vetoed the straight transfers of Zaza and Tore which at least shows some good judgement. Overall I still believe that they have done a great job for the club, but wish they would do it more quietly.

Matchday: Episode 2 Mancs versus West Ham

Here we go again with a second consecutive awayday at Old Trafford.

MAN WHU EFL Cup It is relatively rare these days to play the same team twice in successive matches as West Ham visit Old Trafford for the second time in four days. It was a more common phenomenon in the past where home and away fixtures against the same club were scheduled during the Christmas and Easter holidays or when drawn weekend cup matches were replayed on the following Tuesday or Wednesday.

To the best of my knowledge West Ham meeting the same opponents in successive cup and league fixtures has occurred 5 times previously this century: January 2002 v Chelsea (Lost, Draw); April 2006 v Middlesbro (Lost, Won in FA Cup semi-final); December 2007 v Everton (Lost, Lost); January 2008 v Manchester City (Lost, Draw) and March 2011 v Stoke City (Won, Lost). History suggests that by not winning on Sunday we have given ourselves a better chance tonight.

Head to Head

The head to head record is little changed since the weekend.

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Sequence
Home	62	26	21	15	103	90	WLDLDD
Away	66	13	12	41	61	149	DDDLLL
	128	39	33	56	164	239

Team News

Predicting lineups for League Cup games has become very difficult with selection contingent on how seriously the respective managers view the competition in the context of their overall season. It is a potential route into Europe; probably the most promising one for the Hammers while Mourinho’s hubris will ensure his mind remains confident of Champion’s League qualification.

“If we change a few players like United will, it doesn’t mean we are going there just to play a game.It is a quarter-final and to reach the semis is a big thing and we are just a couple of games from the final.”

– Slaven Bilic

Diafro Sakho is back in the treatment room with a hamstring injury while Winston Reid is available again after a one match suspension. Once more an Andy Carroll return has been rumoured but my instinct is that the Arsenal game is a more realistic target for him. The alternating goalkeeper’s rule should mean Adrian between the sticks and I would guess at starts for Reid, Fernandes, Ayew and Fletcher.

Pogba and Fellaini are suspended for Manchester United following their yellow cards in Sunday’s encounter.

The Man in the Middle

A first meeting of the season with referee Mike Jones from Chester. Jones was in charge of two West Ham away fixtures last season at Norwich (D 2-2) and Stoke (L 1-2). Jones has officiated 10 games this season issuing 36 yellow cards and 2 red ones – an impressive 9 of these yellows coming in last weekend’s Arsenal versus Bournemouth game.

5 Reflections from West Ham @ Old Trafford

Trying to make sense of the encouraging improvement at Old Trafford.

Performance & Selection

Taking everything into account the performance on Sunday was a pleasing one. Manchester United may not be the greatest team at the moment but they have a squad of very talented (and expensive) players. Whether Mourinho can mould them into a great team remains to be seen. West Ham gave a good account of themselves and were ahead before a Manchester player had taken a meaningful touch of the ball. The fatalist in me felt that we had scored too early and when Ibrahimović was allowed a soft equaliser it was easy to imagine the floodgates opening. But we stuck to the task and despite their dominance of possession were restricted to a few cut and dried goal-scoring opportunities. Some fine performances where my standout players were Randolph, Kouyate, Obiang, Payet and Sakho. Yet again Obiang was excellent and the delay in him being given the chance to secure a regular start leaves me scratching my head.

A Deserved Result

Football reporting is largely presented in black and white terms with a narrative that big club should beat little club and if they don’t it is because of big club’s shortcomings rather than the small club’s skill, resilience or determination. Allied to this there is the concept of the ‘deserved result’ which has been debated on social media in the aftermath of our game. MOTD pundits Martin Keown and Trevor Sinclair had declared the result a fair one while Twittering Robbie Savage disagreed stating that the outcome was due solely to Manchester’s wastefulness in front of goal. The Mourinho spin for Manchester United’s mid table position is that they are the unluckiest team in the history of the game. There could be a case to argue if incorrect refereeing decisions kept going against you (as they did with West Ham last season) that you have been the victim of misfortune; but if it is simply your players not being able to do there job effectively (e.g. by converting goal-scoring opportunities) then this is a reflection of ability or coaching rather than luck. As Mourinho seems to believe that every decision given against his team is an incorrect one then he will never be able to accept that he gets what he deserves.

A Passing Conundrum

Leicester won the league last year in a manner where they invariably had less possession than the opposition during games. A misinterpretation of this statistic might lead the foolish coach to instruct his side to lose possession as soon as possible in order to improve the chances of winning the game. It would be a comical tactic and yet our attempts at keeping the ball frequently appear as if this is something we strive for. It is difficult to decide if this sorry state is due to poor technique and decision making by the passer or insufficient movement in providing options by potential receivers. Perhaps I view West Ham through a more critical lens but I don’t believe any other Premier League side has such difficulty in ball retention or ends up playing it back to the keeper so often. It is one thing to use the keeper under pressure but not because you have run out of ideas. Experience tells us that it is rare for a punt up field from the keeper, or even a central defender for that matter, leading to anything constructive. If we are going to pick up the points we need from games against the less glamorous clubs (an issue both this and last season) then we have to greatly improve ball retention.

One Up Front

It had been an encouraging return for Diafra Sakho up until his latest injury setback and he finally provided an opportunity to celebrate a goal from a striker when he headed home Dimitri Payet’s free kick. The striker situation at West Ham has been a perplexing one where the supposed no-stone-unturned search for a goal scoring forward has been confounded by not having a clear profile of the type of player sought. Our current style of play is based upon one up front and in the modern game that ‘one’ needs to have pace, energy, strength and mobility. Sakho is by far our best option for this role at the moment. If we are really on the lookout for reinforcement up front it needs someone with his attributes but with a more reliable fitness and goal scoring record. It is difficult to see how an Andy Carroll fits into such a system; it brings with it a far more predictable style of play and for optimum effectiveness requires the presence of a second striker to pick up the pieces. This is precisely the reason why Benteke was seen as surplus to requirements at Liverpool given the fluid style now being successfully employed by Klopp; and it was very worrying to hear Bilic say that he was an admirer of the Belgian.

As for Sakho it was impossible to tell from his demeanour if fences have been mended and he is now back committed to the West Ham cause or whether his efforts were an advertisement to potential suitors.

Good is the Enemy of Great

There is a saying that ‘good is the enemy of great’. It alludes to the fact that people are often prepared to accept competence rather than always working harder and striving for better. We are good, we are not the worst, what is there to worry about? It is a state of mind long associated with West Ham particularly as the self-styled family club more at home with ex-players in the dugout and local lads on the pitch. A number of times in our history we have been on the verge of great but decided to stick. In some ways it is admirable to display loyalty but is not a good fit with success in the modern game where sentiment is a thing of the past. This is how I view the Mark Noble situation. He is a good player but could never be great due to several significant limitations. I don’t dislike him in any way (and have always loved his passion and commitment) but those limitations are becoming more apparent the more intense the game becomes. I would love him to prove me wrong but, on current form, he is very fortunate to get a starting berth; local lad or not.

This Week in Hammer’s History

Re-living some special League Cup memories from the week 28 November to 4 December.

This Week Hammers History This week we are going to gloss over a 7-0 defeat at Hillsborough by Sheffield Wednesday in 1959 and a 5-2 reverse at Tranmere in 1992 to focus our attention on famous League Cup exploits that have taken place between 28 November and 4 December in Hammer’s history. It’s your own cut out and keep League Cup supplement.

The 1980/81 season was one of the most memorable and successful ever for the Hammers. Although consigned to the second division at the time West Ham boasted a top flight team and were well on course for promotion when they came up against Tottenham in a quarter final tie on a frosty evening in early December. West Ham had won each or their last 13 home games and after a slow start to the match began to get the better of their close neighbours whose lineup included Hoddle, Ardiles and Villa. With less than 10 minutes left and still scoreless Brooking was put through on goal but his shot was blocked by out-rushing keeper Barry Daines in the Spurs goal. The ball broke loose to the right hand side of the penalty area where running away from goal David Cross chipped the ball delightfully in at the far post to score his 21^st goal of the season. Cue pandemonium and one more famous victory over the north Londoners.

Parkes, Stewart, Bonds, Martin, Lampard, Holland, Pike, Brooking, Devonshire, Cross, Goddard

On 30 November 1988, second from bottom West Ham entertained high flying current champions Liverpool at Upton Park in a 4^th round tie. It turned out to be another memorable occasion under the floodlights and, in particular, for Paul Ince who scored two first half goals (an excellent volley and a deft header) to set the Hammers on their way. Liverpool pulled one back from the penalty spot (how else could they beat Allen McKnight) before half time but a bizarre Steve Staunton headed own goal restored West Ham’s two goal advantage. The scoring was then completed courtesy of a Tony Gale Payet-esque free kick that had been awarded after Nigel Spackman tried to remove Julian Dicks head with his boot. The Hammers securing an unlikely 4-1 victory on the night.

McKnight, Potts, Dicks, Gale, Martin, Devonshire, Brady, Kelly, Rosenior, Dickens, Ince

On the very same day but 22 years later it was top versus bottom as Manchester United were the visitors to Upton Park for a 5^th round tie against Avram Grant’s erratic side. Manchester United were the holders of the then Carling Cup and came into the match unbeaten in domestic competition that season and off the back of a 7-1 annihilation of Blackburn Rovers the previous weekend. The match was played in what journalists like to call ‘arctic conditions’ and after some early scares Super Jonny Spector took centre stage to notch a first half brace (the American’s first goals in English football) against his former club. In the second half two well take goals from Carlton Cole made it a wonderful 4-0 humiliation of Sir Alex Ferguson’s side and leaving Sir Alex even more red in the face than usual through embarrassment and cold.

Green, Faubert, Tomkins (Reid), Upson, Ben Haim, Barrera (Hines), Kovac, Spector, Boa Morte, Cole (Stanislas), Obinna

So maybe 30 November is an auspicious date for successful League Cup encounters as we prepare for episode two of the Old Trafford series on Wednesday. Just bear in mind that West Ham were relegated in both the 1988/89 and 2010/11 seasons.

A more personal memory was one where I failed to observe my unwritten rule of never attending matches with supporters of the opposing team. This was in November 2000 when I took two work colleagues from Sheffield to watch second division Wednesday play West Ham at Upton Park. This was the first home game after the sale of Rio to Leeds and featured the debut of cut-price replacement Rigobert Song. With Di Canio in full flow against his former employers we started as if we were going to murder them but the footballing gods had other ideas and we lost the game 2-1 to prompt much mickey-taking.

This week’s birthdays.

1 December Francois Ven Der Elst (62)

Matchday: West Ham at Old Trafford

Is there to be any relief for the beleaguered Hammers and their manager at Old Trafford this afternoon?

Man Utd West Ham The West Ham fixture list of death rolls onto Old Trafford today for the first of two games in a week against Manchester United; a Premier League clash followed by the League Cup quarter final tie on Wednesday. When points are at a premium any old straw is suitable for clutching and a Sunday game against opponents recovering from Thursday night European action can offer a glimmer of hope. Disappointingly this was no many thousand mile round-trip to an outpost in far-eastern Europe and a bruising encounter with uncompromising opposition but a stroll in the park at home against Feyenoord. In many ways the worst possible result for West Ham’s hopes that will give an unconvincing Manchester side renewed sense confidence before returning to today’s league action. The Hammers on the other hand have had a whole week to dwell on the late, late surrender of three points at White Hart Lane last weekend.

There were some positives to take from the Tottenham game even if there was no reward at the end of it. As a minimum we need to see the same level of intensity, organisation, pace and energy that was shown for much of last week’s performance. Otherwise it is likely to end up as just another frustrating and barren trip to this particular north-west graveyard of dreams. Playing two games at Old Trafford in four days the chances of getting something from both would look to be very slim. In different circumstances I might be happy to trade defeat today for victory in the cup clash but the desperation for points, in a game where an 8-0 defeat would see the Hammers drop into the bottom 3, leaves the league game as the top priority.

Head to Head

Although West Ham’s record at Old Trafford is quite poor it is nowhere near as unprofitable as visits to Anfield have been and there have been some notable victories over the years; the most recent being the Tevez match on the last day of the 2006/07 great escape season. Before that there were two wins at either end of 2001 including the famous PDC/ Barthez goal, a memorable victory in the opening week of the 1986/87 season and exactly 40 years ago today West Ham ran out 2-0 victors with goals from Trevor Brooking and Billy Jennings.

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Sequence
Home	62	26	21	15	103	90	WLDLDD
Away	65	13	11	41	60	148	DDLLLL
	127	39	32	56	163	238

Team News

Winston Reid is suspended following the late sending off at White Hart Lane and there is a rumour that Andy Carroll is fit, although this is likely to be more of that fake news that we have been hearing about lately. Of course, Andy is our joint top scoring striker with 0 goals to his name and so the bar is not set too high for his return. I imagine that Sakho will start up front again following his energetic performance last week and maybe Carroll will be on the bench with Fletcher. It will be very disappointing if West Ham have bothered to pay Zaza’s train fare up to Manchester as surely even the most blind optimist knows by now that he is a lost cause; it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to continue to involve him.

“But I see the improvement. Against Spurs I saw a team hungry and alive, the points were there for us in a difficult away game, so that’s what I’m confident about.”

Slaven Bilic

With no right back available it is probable that the 3 at the back experiment will persist with Collins coming in for Reid and meaning that Antonio’s defending will open again to scrutiny this time by Mourinho’s men. One of the positives from last Saturday was the speed with which we broke but that is all likely to change with the re-introduction of skipper Mark ‘Sideways’ Noble into the midfield.

Bailly and Smalling are out for Manchester United who otherwise have no further injury or suspension concerns. Wayne Rooney requires two more goals to overtake fellow baldy Bobby Charlton as all-time Manchester United top scorer and who better than West Ham to oblige in such circumstances.

Man in the Middle

The referee today is Jonathan “Jon” Moss from West Yorkshire (why do so many referees seem to come from Yorkshire?). This is West Ham’s second encounter with Mr Moss this season; the first being the 3-0 home defeat by Southampton in September. Moss has officiated is 12 games so far this season issuing 57 yellow cards and 2 reds. Guaranteed that he will award Manchester United a penalty today (probably for some Ogbonna grappling).

Counting Sheep – 11 – The Letters R & T

Do You Remember A Keeper With A Surname Beginning With T?

Counting Sheep For the eleventh article in my feature selecting West Ham footballers that I have seen whose surnames begin with the same letter or combined letters I now move on to R & T. I have to admit that trying to remember players whose surname begins with T has been harder than I thought and despite thinking for some time I have been unable to come up with a goalkeeper. It is for this reason that I have combined R & T for my penultimate team.

So far I’ve picked ten teams, “B”, “C”, “D”, “F”, “S”, a combined “G” and “H”, a combined “J”, “K” and “L”, a combined “M” and “N”, a combined “P” and “Q”, and “Vowels”. So here is the result of my “R” plus “T” team:

Randolph
Tompkins
Taylor (T)
Reid
Ruddock
Reo Coker
Redknapp
Robson (K)
Robson (B)
Taylor (A)
Tevez

Players left out include Rhodes, Reiper, Repka, Rat, Robson (M), Robson (S), Rowland, Rush, Radford, Rosenior, Raducioiu, Thomas (M), Tihinen, Taylor (M), Tyler, Tore, Todorov, Tristan

I’ve probably missed someone who I should have remembered. Would you have selected any of the players that I left out of my final XI?

And who would manage the R & T team? My only choices would be Redknapp or Roeder.

This Week in Hammer’s History

The week 21 – 27 November in Hammer’s History features defeats at Spurs and Millwall and victory at Old Trafford.

This Week Hammers History It is not often that you score 4 goals away from home but still end up losing but that was the case in the Second Division game against Blackburn Rover on 25 November 1989 where goals from Dicks, Brady, Slater and Ward could not prevent the Hammers suffering a 5-4 defeat. In the Hammer’s lineup that day was Justin Fashanu making one of just two of his starts in the claret and blue as he attempted to resurrect his career.

From a long list of games played in the week 21 – 27 November there were not too many stand out games and so it is the high scoring ones that catch the eye.

Starting with the most painful memory first it is a year ago tomorrow that Harry Kane scored two as West Ham slid to a humbling 4-1 defeat at White Hart Lane (at least the manner and margin of defeat were different this time even if the pain is the same). It was the same score when Glenn Roeder took his doomed eleven to Villa Park in November 2002 to reclaim bottom spot in the league.

High scoring successes include 5-2 against Coventry in 1981 (Stewart, Martin (2), Neighbour and Brooking); 5-3 against Oxford in 1992 (Breacker, Dicks (2), Morley and C Allen); and 4-3 against Sheffield Wednesday in 1999 (Foe, Wanchope, Di Canio and Lampard). Extended highlights of the last of these matches, an incident filled encounter in what was Wednesday’s last season in the top flight to date, can be seen below and includes Marc-Vivien Foe’s solitary league goal for the Hammers.

In European competition, West Ham opened their defence of the ECWC on 24 November 1965 with a routine 4-0 first leg victory over Olympiakos of Greece with goals from Brabrook, Byrne and Hurst (2). The return leg the following week ended all square at 2-2 as the Hammers progressed to a third round tie with FC Magdeburg.

A rare, although not high scoring, phenomenon was victory at Old Trafford on 27 November 1976; the match which had a West Ham debut for Anton Otulakowski saw the Hammers win by 2 goals to nil (Jennings and Brooking). What chance a repeat exactly 40 years later?

Finally a return to a painful derby defeat this time against arch-villains Millwall in 2004 when Danny Dichio grabbed the only goal of the game against 10 man West Ham. In a typical fiery encounter at the New Den Marlon Harewood was sent off for a second bookable offence just after the hour with the score at 0-0. It was a largely uninspiring Hammer’s team at the time and this game featured the one and only Mauricio Taricco appearance; a career which lasted just 27 minutes before a torn hamstring led to his retirement from professional football. Strange to think now that the season eventually ended with promotion through the Play-Offs; it was a classic scraping through the back door in a campaign where we were never a threat for automatic promotion.

Manager Alan Pardew comments on the Millwall match make interesting reading “I am not so stupid not to realise that (the fans) were unhappy with my substitution (taking Luke Chadwick off when Harewood was sent off). But I will always be strong enough to make the decision that I think is right. Our fans want promotion at all costs. There is not much room for sympathy: we are desperately trying to get up, we have had a tough week and we are still missing some key players.”

So missing players and poor substitutions are nothing new. Bywater, Taricco (A Ferdinand ), Chris Powell, Darren Powell, Repka, Reo-Coker, Lomas, Fletcher, Etherington, Chadwick (Zamora), Harewood

Notable birthdays during this week:

22 November Frank McAvennie (57)
24 November Dean Ashton (33)
25 November Ted Hufton (d. 1967)
26 November Junior Stanislas (27)
27 November Freddie Sears (27)

5 Things We Learned From Broken Heart Lane

Where do I begin, to tell the story………..?

From the Jaws of Victory

There is never a good way to lose to Tottenham but if you were to write a script to illustrate the totally worst case scenario it might be one where your team is desperate for points, are playing away to your fiercest rival (the league’s only unbeaten team), are leading with just two minutes of normal time remaining only to end up conceding two late goals and having your captain sent off. Disappointed, deflated and dejected. A neutral may well have enjoyed the game which in the first half had the hallmarks of one of last season’s famous away victories at unlikely venues. West Ham had taken the lead and Tottenham looked short on ideas. Early in the second half, however, sloppy play allowed the hosts back level and for a while it looked like the floodgates might open; but the ship was steadied and a penalty saw the Hammers restore their lead and recover their composure. It stayed that way until the the frantic finale and a West Ham implosion in the final act that turned a potential thriller into a tragedy.

A Formation Too Rigid

I have strong reservations about 3 at the back as the default formation. It can work in some instances and against some oppositions. From the outset I thought it was high risk against a team like Tottenham who do much of their attacking down the flanks, particularly through their full-backs. Having said that the set-up worked well enough in the first half and Antonio and Cresswell were able to get forward in support of our uncharacteristically swift counter attacking play. After the break though Rose and Walker were pushed further up leaving our own wing backs neutralised as an attacking force and ultimately exposing Antonio’s defensive limitations. If the wing backs effectively become full backs then the 3 centre- backs are surplus to requirements and leave the midfield shorthanded. It would seems obvious but a formation cannot be so rigid that it is unable to adapt to changing circumstances. That is a sign of a good team and good coaching.

Oh No, Angelo!

A game of two penalties and you couldn’t really argue about either. Tottenham could well have been awarded a penalty earlier in the game when Ogbonna was all over a Tottenham player in much the same way that Janssen impeded Reid for our own penalty. I have lost a lot of patience with Ogbonna and the goodwill from the last minute goal against Liverpool has almost run out. He mixes sound defending with all too often inexplicable casualness as he did when giving the ball away in the build up to the first Tottenham equalizer. He can also be seen grappling at almost every defensive corner or set piece. A shame that Reid was sent off as I though he had an excellent game. The backchat interpretation has become as inconsistent as the grappling and simulations one.

Bizarre Substitution Watch

The first substitutions after the hour mark were well timed and helped to stem the threatened Tottenham tide. Ayew has continued to disappoint so far both in effort and contribution and his replacement by Fernandes, who was unfortunate not to start, was the correct move. It was no surprise to see Sakho replaced after 60 minutes in what was his first start of the season. He did a lot of good work without the ball but not much with it. His replacement Zaza did nothing with or without it apart from playing the most delayed pass of all time when Payet was well placed. Quite why Bilic perseveres with the Italian is a mystery as he serves no purpose as either a short or long term option. Fletcher would have been a far better choice. The final substitution was nonsensical in terms of both player coming on and player going off. Without the presence of Payet there was no threat for Tottenham to worry about and they were free to press forward en masse. Nordtveit has done nothing to promote any confidence in his abilities and coming on cold at that point contributed significantly to our ultimate undoing.

A Nod’s as good as a Winks

I don’t understand why Tottenham didn’t give Winks the number 40 shirt.

Matchday: Spurs versus West Ham

Preparing the sparrow’s wings and the crow’s arse for the annual visit to White Hart Lane.

Tottenham West Ham To the combatants and the committed a West Ham versus Spurs derby is one of the biggest games of the season. To the outsider it is simply another Premier League fixture. Tottenham may pretend that it is not so important to them but losing to their noisy neighbour always hits them hard. They regard West Ham with the same self-appointed conceit and arrogance that Arsenal view them with; as the Gunners pursue their main London rivalry with Chelsea.

In wider footballing circles the two clubs meeting in today’s late kick-off are, at best, part of the chasing pack that occasionally threaten but ultimately disappoint. They are like two old actors who love to reminisce about past glories and the good old days. If you took the combined trophy room silverware from the last 50 or so years to a car boot sale then it would barely fill a couple of carrier bags.

Against all the evidence, however, both clubs have lofty ambitions; a future where super-sized stadia thrust them into the big time of perpetual Champion’s League qualification. That both sets of owners and supporters see themselves as pretenders to the crown of ‘top team in London’ ensures that tensions are kept on simmer and that success in this fixture remains a priority of the highest order.

They are solid, they are electric, but we have improved and if we play good, we have a chance.

– Slaven Bilic

Tottenham’s unwarranted and overblown opinion of themselves has frequently been the source of great amusement but the fly in that particular ointment is current manager Mauricio Pochettino. The Argentine has elected to follow a build an effective team route of management over the long standing tradition of assembling a squad of expensive misfiring prima donnas. The sooner that Mauricio is poached by a proper big club the better.

Head to Head

One of our longest running rivalries, the following statistics exclude meetings in the Southern League and war-time cups. Our record at White Hart Lane is not good with only one league win in the last 14 visits. Slaven Bilic made his West Ham debut at White Hart Lane in February 1996 – a 1-0 victory courtesy of a Dani goal.

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Sequence
Home	66	27	19	20	97	88	WLWLWL
Away	66	15	17	34	85	120	LDWWLD
	132	42	36	54	182	208

Team News

No fresh injury concerns reported for West Ham although Mark Noble is suspended. Winston Reid has recovered the hamstring injury that prevented him travelling to play in New Zealand’s world cup games with New Caledonia and supposedly Diafra Sakho is finally fit, at least physically, and may well find a place on the bench.

I guess it will be 3 at the back again with Antonio and Cresswell as wing-backs, Fernandes coming in for Noble and Ayew up front. This formation raises concerns given the way Tottenham like to get their full-backs forward.

Every time we play and compete in the Premier League, the opponent takes the game like a derby or a final. That is good. This is another derby, another final for us.

– Mauricio Pochettino

Tottenham have a number of injury concerns with Alderweireld and Lamela out and late fitness tests for Alli, Denbele, Rose and Eriksen. A Champion’s League fixture on Tuesday may influence how many are risked today.

Arguably a good time to play them and end their unbeaten start to the season as Tottenham do not have strength in depth but similar injury-hit opposition situations have worked against us in the past.

Man in the Middle

A first encounter of the season today with referee Mike Dean from The Wirral. Dean has 49 Yellows and 2 Reds from 11 games in this year’s account and was most recently involved with West Ham in the final Boleyn Ground match against Manchester United.

England Expects

Can Aaaron Cresswell become the 40th Hammer to earn an England cap?

1962 World Cup Squad

If Aaron Cresswell earns his first international cap tonight he will become the 40^th player to play for England as a West Ham player. The odds have improved for a Cresswell cap with an injury to Ryan Bertrand adding to Southgate’s intention to rest Danny Rose so that he is fresh to face us on Saturday.

It would be a tremendous achievement by Cresswell to represent his country and it always provides added incentive for following an England game when there is a Hammer in the team. Otherwise England matches have simply become a chore and an unwelcome interruption to the club season.

My first recollection of an England game was an international against Mexico in 1961. The game played on a Wednesday afternoon was being shown live on TV and can remember excitedly hurrying home from junior school to watch the closing stages as England romped to an 8-0 victory. I wouldn’t bother to cross the road and watch the game in Radio Rentals window nowadays. There were no West Ham players in the England team at that time but starting with the 1962 World Cup finals Bobby Moore became a fixture in an England shirt for the next decade. A fascinating newsreel report of the Mexico game below:

Of the 39 players winning England caps while at West Ham only 12 pre-dated Bobby Moore and, of these, Len Goulden was the only player to win more than 10 caps. Goulden had become established in the England team in the late 1930’s with 14 caps only for his career to be interrupted by the Second World War. Goulden featured in the infamous May 1938 friendly against Germany in Berlin in front of a watching Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess and Joseph Goebbels (Hitler was due to attend but Ticketmaster messed up his booking!) Despite Germany invading Austria in order to strengthen their squad and sending their players off for an unprecedented two week training camp (as the England players marked the end of the season with a pint of mild and 10 Woodbines) the game ended in a 6-3 victory for England. Before the match the English players had been encouraged by the British Ambassador to give a Nazi salute during the German national anthem as a mark of respect. Goulden broke the net when scoring the last of the six English goals and is alleged to have remarked “Let ’em salute that one!” After the war Goulden moved to Chelsea and received no further international calls.

Moore (108), Hurst (49), Brooking (47) and Peters (33) are the only players to have earned more than 20 caps while at West Ham while a further 9 players have won 10 or more caps: Martin (17), James (17), Goulden (14), Upson (14), Sinclair (11), Green (11), Byrne (10), Ferdinand (10), J Cole (10). There have been 12 one-cap wonders and then there are the criminally overlooked Billy Bonds and Julian Dicks.

If Cresswell gets the deserved nod tonight in what is likely to be a fairly tame encounter I hope he gives a good account of himself and remains injury free.

It is looking increasingly like Gareth Southgate will be the uninspired choice as England manager heralding a golden era of mediocrity. It is a Roederesque appointment whereby those in charge appear to have no clue and so appoint the guy holding the parcel. At least England can’t get relegated.