Author: Richard Bennett

A look ahead to West Ham at Molineux this afternoon and memories of games against Wolves (mainly November ones!)

Thank heavens that is the last of the early season pointless international breaks finished. I get it that we have to play for World Cup qualification but surely someone can devise a better way to do it. I don’t wish to deny San Marino, Andorra or any other minor nation of their opportunity to take part but surely there should be some kind of pre-qualification among lesser teams and then the top teams from pre-qualification leagues can then progress to face the bigger teams. Our very own FA Cup is an example of how this can happen. The top teams don’t enter the competition until the third round proper. There are a number of qualification rounds to win through before the non-league teams who are successful in those get to face the big boys.

Albania aren’t exactly a minor footballing nation, picking up quite a few points in the group, but San Marino? I watched some of this and quite frankly it was a farce. The commentators and pundits did their best to talk up the England team and Harry Kane, but it was nonsensical as a game of football, it was really just attack versus defence. I got no pleasure from the twenty minutes or so that I watched.

This was in contrast to the last Premier League game I saw where we denied Liverpool the opportunity to extend their long unbeaten record any further. I thought it was a magnificent performance that saw us leapfrog the Merseysiders to reach the dizzy heights of third place in the table. Unlike Mr Klopp I saw nothing wrong with our first goal. Goalkeepers have been a protected species for too long and I don’t see anything that says you can’t jump in front of them to put them off. And as for suggesting Cresswell should have been sent off I don’t agree with that either. His tackle clipped the top of the ball which lifted his leg to foul Henderson. To his credit the Liverpool captain made nothing of it and was soon back on his feet. A foul yes but anything more? Not for me. Perhaps I am a biased Hammer but others I have spoken to who support Arsenal, Fulham and Norwich didn’t agree with Mr Klopp either.

We have lost Angelo Ogbonna for a long period now, but personally I am happy with Craig Dawson alongside Zouma at the heart of our defence. There have been reports that we might renew our interest in Tarkowski in the forthcoming window. He is certainly a quality player, but do we need strengthening elsewhere first? Perhaps with our new Czech shareholder there will be an injection of finance to boost the transfer kitty? We’ve never been in a better position to challenge the top teams but the addition of two or three quality players would do us no harm in our endeavour to maintain that challenge in the league and the three cups that we can still aim for.

We visit Molineux today to take on a Wolves team that are in eighth place in the chasing pack where sixth to thirteenth positions in the table are separated by just three points. When I began to watch football as a young boy in the late 1950s Wolves were probably the best team in the country at the time, and were league champions in 1957-58 and 1958-59. One of my earliest football memories was our first home game following promotion to face the champions in our first home game of the 1958-59 season. I wasn’t there but I was excited to wake up on the Tuesday morning following the Monday night game to be told the result by my dad and to read of our 2-0 win in the morning paper.

The following season I was at our game against the champions – Saturday November 21st – so this weekend’s game is almost on the same date. My first favourite footballer Johnny Dick scored a hat trick in our 3-2 victory that retained our position at the top of the league. The following Thursday I went into St Mary’s hospital in Paddington to have my adenoids removed. And then in typical West Ham fashion we lost 7-0 at Sheffield Wednesday the following Saturday! How many times has a team at the top of the league lost their next game 7-0? Only West Ham could do that. That was a season when we went down with the Christmas decorations and finished in fourteenth place just four points above the relegation places.

Wolves went on to finish second in the table that season finishing a point below champions Burnley. They won the FA Cup too beating Blackburn 3-0 in the final and were so close to being the first team to achieve the league and cup double. If only they hadn’t lost to West Ham!

Other highlights from games against Wolves include an entertaining 3-3 draw in November 1970. Apart from surrendering a 3-1 lead my main reason for remembering this game was a Bobby Moore headed clearance that hit the referee square in the face that knocked him out cold. Moore picked up his whistle and blew it to stop the game. Bobby Gould, who five years later played for us tapped in the late Wolves equaliser in that game.

Two years later (yes in November once again!) we were 2-1 down at Upton Park in the last seconds of the game when a Bobby Moore cross was headed across the edge of the area by Clyde Best, and Trevor Brooking equalised with a stunning diving header from fully 15 yards. It’s always said that Trevor never scored with his head, but I can remember quite a few, including an important one in the European Cup Winners Cup in 1976 against Eintracht Frankfurt, and perhaps the most famous of all, the Wembley header in the 1980 FA Cup final.

Two years later once again in the month of November (are you picking up the pattern here?) we gave Wolves quite a thrashing (5-2) with five different goalscorers. The best goal of the lot, and one of the best free kicks I’ve ever seen was a result of Trevor Brooking flicking the ball in the air and Frank Lampard (senior of course) smashing a half volley into the bottom corner of the net.

I’ll deviate from the month of November with a final memory from the past to remember Liam Brady’s final game before retirement. After a fantastic career he spent his final three seasons at West Ham. Although he wasn’t quite the player he was at his peak, he was still great to watch with wonderful skill on the ball and magnificent passing ability. On as a substitute late in the game he picked the ball up midway in the Wolves half, moved forward, and unleashed a trademark left footed stunner that rocketed into the net, a fitting goal in his final ever game.

Last season we did the double over Wolves winning 4-0 at home and 3-2 at Molineux. What with our 3-2 win over Liverpool in our last game too, that seems to be the score of the moment and I’ll predict a win by that score today. We are around 7/5 favourites to win the game and around 22/1 to repeat last season’s score in the corresponding fixture. Jarrod Bowen scored in both games against Wolves last season, and is around 13/2 to score the first goal (same price for the last goal too) in the game, or 5/2 to score at anytime. One of those will be my fun bet. I might even combine Bowen scoring the first goal with a 3-2 win at odds approaching 200/1. With 12 points from our last 4 league games we are the form team in the Premier League. No other team matches that recent record. If Leicester can beat Chelsea in the lunchtime fixture, and if we can win at Wolves, then we would be level on points with Chelsea at the top of the table on Saturday evening. That would be good, wouldn’t it? What are the chances?

Congratulations David Moyes – 1000 up! A brief history of West Ham managers.

How can we judge whether or not a manager is successful? There are a number of indicators that spring to mind; win percentage must be one factor, the number of trophies won, the number of finals and perhaps even semi-finals reached, league positions attained, qualification for Europe or success in gaining promotion. Is a manager successful if when he leaves a club it is in a stronger position financially, or attracting bigger crowds, if he has developed a playing style that entertains the fans, or if the team are holding a higher league position than when he came? Longevity in the role, the era they managed in, and the resources available to the manager, and influence of the owners / directors are important factors too. I’m sure there are others.

West Ham have only had 17 permanent managers in the whole of our 119 years existence since 1902, plus another three or so caretakers (Keen, Boyce and Brooking). As I have knowledge of all but two of them it either says something about my age or more likely about the longevity in post of the early managers in particular. I’ve listed them below to bring back memories of those who have managed our club with highlights of their stay. I’ve listed David Moyes twice of course. Win percentages are in brackets.

  1. Syd King (39%)
  2. Charlie Paynter (41%)
  3. Ted Fenton – promotion to Division 1 (41%)
  4. Ron Greenwood – see text (35%)
  5. John Lyall – see text (39%)
  6. Lou Macari – 7 months then resigned (37%)
  7. Billy Bonds – promotion / relegation / promotion (44%)
  8. Harry Redknapp – 7 seasons – top half 4 times, 5th in 1998-99 (37%)
  9. Glenn Roeder – 7th then relegation (31%)
  10. Alan Pardew – promotion / FA Cup final / the sack (41%)
  11. Alan Curbishley – 10th / resigned (39%)
  12. Gianfranco Zola – 9th / the sack (29%)
  13. Avram Grant – relegation (32%)
  14. Sam Allardyce – 4 seasons / promotion / then consolidation (38%)
  15. Slaven Bilić – initial success in final season at Upton Park (38%)
  16. David Moyes – short term – kept us up (29%)
  17. Manuel Pellegrini – big reputation (38%)
  18. David Moyes – kept us up twice from difficult positions / 6th in 2020-21. (48%) (overall 2 periods 43%)

The outstanding caretaker record belongs to Trevor Brooking who, in 14 games in charge, won 9 and only lost 1, managing a team that were relegated!

The only two I know nothing much about are the first two on the list who were in charge from 1902 until 1950 when Ted Fenton became our third manager. I have a soft spot for Ted Fenton as he was responsible for filling the very first page of my first autograph book, aged 5, but also getting the players at the time to fill page two. And not just that – he achieved promotion in the 1957-58 season so that when I first became interested in the game and began to support West Ham aged 4, we were a first division team.

Ted Fenton
Harry Obeney, John Dick, Noel Dwyer, Andy Malcolm, Malcolm Musgrove, Phil Woosnam, Ken Brown, Vic Keeble, Mike Grice, John Bond and Noel Cantwell

Ron Greenwood took over in 1961 and was a talented coach. He was one of the first to recognise that football was played beyond these shores. He was in charge for our first FA Cup trophy in 1964 and the successful European Cup Winners Cup campaign the following year. John Lyall took over from his mentor Greenwood in 1974 and had a topsy-turvy 15 years in charge with a lot of success (in West Ham terms) with FA Cup wins in 1975 and 1980, European Cup Winners Cup losing finalists in 1976, League Cup losing finalists in 1981, an outstanding and record breaking promotion season in 1980-81, and guiding us to third place in 1985-86 when we came so close to winning the league title. In addition there were two relegations. He managed us in 708 games, the most of any Hammers manager.

David Moyes has not yet been here for two years yet in his second spell in charge. In that short space of time he has turned around the fortunes of our club, and once again revised his reputation as a first class manager that he initially earned over 11 seasons at Everton with a string of top eight finishes before he left the club for Manchester United where many feel he wasn’t given sufficient time at the helm.

It was a surprise to me when our owners let him go after he saved us from relegation in his first spell in charge, but perhaps they just looked at bare statistics such as win percentages rather than taking all aspects of successful management into account.

To save us from relegation a second time, then to achieve sixth place in his first full season in charge, and then follow it up with the superb start to this season is a terrific achievement in itself. Fourth in the Premier League (victory against Liverpool on Sunday would take us even higher), in the Quarter Final of the League Cup (having defeated both Manchester clubs on the way) and top of the Europa League Group with 10 points from 4 games. I think we would have taken that (wouldn’t we?) at this stage of the season!

But even more than that he has recognised that the team needed some young, hungry, talented players, and instilled in the squad a way of playing that makes us proud to support the team. He has also recognised the best way to use the players at his disposal in a positional sense, and has got everyone playing near the peak of their ability consistently. The team spirit is something we can all see clearly, the work ethic is beyond anything I have ever seen in a West Ham team in 60 years, and we are finding ways to win games when we are not at our best. We play long, we play short, and we counter-attack at pace with skill.

Against Genk on Thursday evening he achieved the milestone of 1000 games as a manager (112 for West Ham, overtaking Slaven Bilic to move into the top 10 in terms of games). He fully deserves all the plaudits that are coming his way, and long may they continue. I loved his comments prior to the game. “If it had taken West Ham six years to get to this point (instead of two), West Ham supporters would probably have accepted it. Now we have to keep it going, keep chipping away at it. We’re on the fast train to the top and I don’t want to get off.”

Unfortunately we weren’t at our best on the night, partly because of the changes made to the team, and a lethargic first half performance. Diop was slow to react which led to the first Belgian goal, and we could even have been further behind at the break. The substitutions on the hour changed the game and thanks to Benrahma’s two goals we looked on course for another European victory before Soucek’s unfortunate own goal close to the end. Once again we found a way not to lose a game when we hadn’t played particularly well.

I’ll go back to my opening paragraph. How do we judge success? Billy Bonds stands out with the highest percentage of wins (although this is now coming under threat by David Moyes) and the lowest percentage of defeats, but a high proportion of his games were in the second tier. Trophy success and narrow misses have Lyall and Greenwood at the top of the tree. Our sole European success was under Greenwood, although Lyall came close as a runner up. Greenwood was also a losing European semi-finalist and led us to FA Cup success, as did Lyall twice. King and Pardew were runners-up. Greenwood and Lyall were also losing finalists in the League Cup, and Redknapp won the Inter-Toto Cup. King, Fenton, Lyall, Bonds (twice), Pardew and Allardyce all achieved promotion. Most goals per game were scored under Fenton, the least under Zola. Most goals conceded per game were also under Fenton, the least under Bonds.

You cannot really compare different eras but if I had to pick my top four based on statistics, trophies and overall impression, then (in no particular order) Greenwood, Lyall, Bonds and Moyes would have to be my favourites. I’ll let you choose the order, or indeed make your own choice of best managers. It’s just an opinion, and perhaps a good debate. My hope is that when David Moyes eventually leaves us he stands out as the best West Ham manager ever. I hope that day is a long way off.

An in-form Liverpool team are visiting the London Stadium on Sunday. Will it be a game too far for West Ham? I hope not but I am concerned when we play on Thursday evenings prior to a Sunday game. Our only two league defeats this season have followed Thursday Europa League fixtures. Can we find a way to win this one? For the first time in a while we are not favourites in a Premier League game – the odds on a West Ham victory are around 18/5. Can we defy the odds? What are the chances?

What next West Ham? Carabao Cup reflections and a look ahead to Villa

I am old enough to remember when the League Cup was called the League Cup. Of course it’s now called the EFL Cup or is currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons. For the first 20 years or so there was no sponsor but since then there has been a succession of them, Rumbelows, Coca Cola etc. Back in the early days teams used to put out their strongest sides, but in recent times it has been considered the least important of the trophies on offer, and managers make wholesale changes, even in the latter stages of the competition.

On Wednesday night Guardiola made nine changes from the side that started their last game, but he was still able to field ten full internationals plus Cole Palmer, a top prospect who has already featured and scored in the Champions League and as an under 21 international, such is the quality of the strength in depth of the Manchester City squad.

Not to be outdone David Moyes made eight changes himself which is an indicator of how far West Ham have come in the last year or so. The game itself was described by some as one of the best 0-0 draws they had seen. It says something when perhaps our two most influential players, Declan Rice and Michail Antonio were rested completely and not even on the bench. I loved a tweet from Rodney Marsh before the game that would have come back to haunt him. It was along the lines of ‘No Rice, No Antonio, No Chance’.

It was no surprise that City had the greater possession and shots etc., but we gave them a good game and defended relatively comfortably to deny them a goal. We had our chances too, but when the game ended at 0-0 I feared the worst, knowing that City had not lost a penalty shootout for 13 years, which was seven successful ones in that time.

But our penalties were superb, Foden dragged his one wide, and as a result we progressed to the quarter-finals. One thing that came out of the penalties for me was that Aaron Cresswell, who I have long advocated should be high on our list of potential penalty takers, should definitely be on the shortlist, as should Craig Dawson if he is on the pitch.

23 different teams have won the League Cup but we are not one of them. We’ve been in the final twice, in 1966 (the last season that the final was a two-legged affair) and 1981, but runners-up is the best we’ve managed, although we were unlucky in 1981 in particular, when as a second-tier side we took Liverpool to a replay. Will this be our year?

It’s back to Premier League action this weekend when we visit Villa Park. Villa, who cashed in on Grealish in the summer, have made a disappointing start to this campaign and currently sit in 13th place, having lost their last three games. On the other hand we have remained undefeated in our last seven Premier League away games (3 at the end of last season and 4 to begin this one). When did that last happen? I doubt that it ever has in the Premier League. I looked back to our record breaking season of 1985-86 (my go-to when looking at records) and found a run of nine unbeaten away league games in succession which stretched from a defeat at Old Trafford on August 26 to a loss at White Hart Lane on December 26. Let’s hope that we can stretch our current unbeaten away run to eight this weekend.

Thinking back to the City game in midweek, the whole team defended as a unit to keep our opponents from scoring but particular credit must go to the keeper, Areola (arguably man of the match) and the back four of Johnson, Diop, Dawson and Cresswell, who all had excellent games. Ironically, after such good performances, perhaps only one of the five aforementioned players (Cresswell) may be in the starting line-up against Villa. I fully expect Fabianski, the fit-again Coufal, Zouma and Ogbonna to resume their places in the eleven chosen to start the game. That’s yet another testament to the strength of the squad being put together by the manager.

Last season (in February) we won 3-1 in the corresponding fixture with a couple of goals from Lingard. Surely he must be frustrated to get so little game time in the Manchester United team that has performed so poorly of late? I wonder if he will be one of the players that we target in the upcoming transfer window? It would be great to think that our owners wanted to splash out to strengthen our strong squad still further. But will the new Head of Recruitment be allowed to do so? Once again we are favourites with the bookmakers to win the game. A repeat of last season with West Ham winning the game 3-1 is priced at around 20/1. What are the chances?

West Ham face Tottenham in the 100th Premier League game at the London Stadium

What an excellent win at Goodison Park last Sunday! Even better that my prediction for the score was correct leading to a few pounds coming my way from my friendly bookmaker. I needed Cresswell to score the goal to make it an even bigger payout, but nonetheless what a great result to take us up to seventh in the table with 14 points from 8 games. If maintained for the season then the current average of 1.75 points per game equates to 66/67 points for the season as a whole which would be even better than the total of 65 in the last campaign. Extrapolating our current goals for and against would result in an end of season goal difference of 24 with 71 goals scored and 47 conceded, once again an improvement on last season. Let’s hope that it continues! 

Better still we are in the Europa League this time around as well as facing a home tie against Manchester City in the last 16 of the Carabao Cup next Wednesday. On Thursday evening the Belgian side Genk were the visitors to the London Stadium for our third game in Group H. We had already taken maximum points from our visit to Dinamo Zagreb and our home game against Rapid Vienna.

And it couldn’t have gone any better on the night. With half a dozen changes we were understandably not at our absolute best, but a professional performance ensured all three points in a relatively comfortable 3-0 victory. My only minor concern in the game was the pace of the Genk forwards who looked dangerous when they broke at speed, but the statistics of the group don’t lie. All four teams have played three games, we have nine points from seven unanswered goals and the others all have three apiece by conveniently beating each other. In a competition where it is a big advantage to top the group, to be six points clear of the team lying second halfway through the fixtures is a position we could only have dreamed about.  

Our visitors this Sunday for the 100th Premier League game to be played at the London Stadium are the team from North London who are (to say the very least) not our best friends! In the 99 games to date we have won 40 and lost 36. The record was a negative one prior to last season when we turned it around with one of the best home records in the division.

We will be hoping for the same result that we saw a little over eight months ago when we recorded a 2-1 win with our goals scored by Antonio and Lingard. The atmosphere will certainly be an improvement on that game now that spectators are back! The results so far have proved those doubters wrong who suggested that last season was a flash in the pan and helped by the lack of supporters in grounds.

We took four points off them last season with the addition of the unlikely comeback in our game at White Hart Lane just over a year ago. That 3-3 draw was important at the end of the season, as without Lanzini’s superb strike they would have got three points from the game to our nil points. We would have both ended with 64 points, and as their goal difference was superior to ours they would have finished sixth and qualified for the Europa League Group Stage, and we would have been seventh to end up in the Europa Conference League Play-Off round, a reversal of the actual finishing places.

I assume that, injuries permitting, the starting eleven will revert to the one that has been used in league games to date. We don’t know the extent of the problem with Coufal but we have cover at right back with both Johnson and Fredericks able to fill that position. They are both versatile defenders and could fill in on the other side too, but that would not be ideal if Cresswell was out for any length of time. I’d like to see a couple more players strengthen the squad still further in the next window, a left back and a striker.

Our manager is beginning to get credit now for the turnaround in our fortunes since he returned to the club. We were 17th at the time, he saved us from relegation (for the second time), and then managed the team into sixth place with our highest ever points total in the Premier League era. And now he has guided us into a similar position near the top to challenge once again. And he seems to want us to be in contention in all competitions too. But it’s more than that isn’t it? He has totally transformed the club in a short space of time into one where he has moulded a squad of players who all fit into the system he wants us to play. At the same time he seems to have created a super atmosphere where the spirit in the squad is first class.

I am enjoying watching this current team as much as our Cup winning sides of the mid sixties and mid seventies, both of whom did so well in Europe after winning the FA Cup, the excellent footballing side of 1979-82 who also won the FA Cup as a second tier team, and the boys of ’86 who were so nearly champions.

Despite having to fight two relegation battles, in a little over 100 games at the helm David Moyes’ managerial record is such that his win percentage is better than he achieved in his 11 seasons at Everton where he was very successful. His win percentage is also better than any previous West Ham manager who managed the club for 100 games or more.

With two teams that finished sixth and seventh in the table last season, and who currently sit in seventh and fifth separated by a single point this time around, the bookmakers’ odds for the game were obviously going to reflect the closeness in the ability of the teams. We are narrow favourites, but it is likely to be close. We are around 11/8 to win the game, with Tottenham at about 2/1. I fancy a repeat of last season’s score with a 2-1 victory. The odds are 9/1. Tottenham are Michail Antonio’s favourite opponents. He has scored more goals against them than against any other team. I reckon he’ll get another couple in this game. West Ham to win 2-1 and Antonio to score anytime is 18/1. West Ham to win 2-1 and Antonio to score the first goal of the game is 45/1. The odds are the same for that score with Antonio scoring the last goal of the game. I think my fun bet will be one of those this week. What are the chances?

Can West Ham make it three wins from the last four Premier League visits to Goodison Park?

Once again the Premier League resumes after the second halt for an international break. I dislike the stuttered start to a season brought about by these interruptions, but for those of you who enjoy seeing England play these World Cup qualifiers you won’t have long to wait for the next ones as after just four more games the campaign will once again be held up by another stoppage.

Anyway, on Sunday we visit Goodison Park for our eighth Premier League game. Our promising start has faltered a little, and it was disappointing to concede a 95th minute goal to lose our last game at the London Stadium to Brentford. At that point in the game it was only one point dropped, as it was in our last home game against Manchester United when failure to convert a 93rd minute penalty lost us another point. To counterbalance this of course, we ourselves scored a 95th minute winner at Leeds to gain two additional points in time added on, so the net result of the extra time played in our last three games is zero; two points gained and two points lost.

So we are where we deserve to be perhaps with eleven points from seven games and a positive goal difference of +4 to be sitting in ninth place in this early table. Everton are fifth just three points above us. If we can beat them then we will move above them. But previous visits to Merseyside have shown that this won’t be easy.

The Toffeemen have begun the season well under new manager Benitez. They have only lost once, but their four wins haven’t been the most difficult fixtures – away at Brighton was quite impressive, but home victories over Burnley, Norwich and Southampton, three of the bottom four teams at this stage, were games they might have expected to win. Hopefully we will prove to be a much tougher proposition!  

Historically they have been a bit of a bogey side for us, and statistics show that they have won more games, and scored more goals against us than against any other team in the Premier League era. Having said that recent history has shown some improvement, and we have won on two of our last three league visits to Goodison Park.

At this point I’ll pose a teaser for you. Who was the last Englishman to score a goal for West Ham at Goodison Park in either the league or one of the cups? I’ll give you a clue – it was in March 2008 in a 1-1 draw. There were actually seven Englishmen in the starting eleven that day. Since then we have scored 15 goals there but none by someone from England. The names of those goalscorers to take you down memory lane over the last 13 years – Kovac, Da Costa, Ilan, Spector, Piquionne, Zarate, James Collins, Antonio (OK I’ll admit he could be classed as English and was at the time, but now he’s qualified for Jamaica), Sakho, Payet, Yarmolenko (2), Arnautovic, Snodgrass, and finally Soucek who scored the late winner last season on New Years’ Day.

I wonder if a player qualified for England can score for us at Everton on Sunday? Of course there are fewer to choose from these days. In the last game against Brentford there were just three in the starting line-up, Cresswell, Rice and Bowen, and another two (out of nine) on the ‘bench’ – Dawson and Johnson. Without research I suspect that there are some other teams with fewer than that though. How times have changed!

Regular readers of this blog will know that my West Ham memories stretch back to the late 1950s. I have been thinking back over all the years of games against Everton trying to recall some of the best ones. One of the most exciting and memorable evenings was the FA Cup tie at Upton Park in January 2015 when the game was tied 1-1 after 90 minutes. In extra time Lukaku scored his customary goal against us, before Carlton Cole was brought on as a substitute with about ten minutes of the 120 to go, and scored within a minute or so. 2-2 at full time and we were leading in the penalty shoot out after Everton missed one of their early penalties and Downing (with the fifth one) had the opportunity to win the game, but his penalty was saved by the Everton keeper Robles. Successive penalties were scored after that until it was the turn of the goalkeepers. Then Robles penalty hit the bar, leaving Adrian to step up. He memorably threw his gloves to the floor before striding forward to smash in the winner. 9-8 on penalties. What a game!

Another game I remember well (for a different reason) was a 2-2 draw in the 70s. I was standing on the North Bank when an Everton player called Ronnie Goodlass scored from about 50 yards (from a high bouncing ball) over the head of Mervyn Day – I was right behind it. I think that game ended 2-2 with Pop Robson scoring a couple for us.

And one of the best games I can recall, also at Upton Park was earlier in the seventies when we won the game 4-3. I think we had 10 Englishmen on the field that day, but two of our goals were scored by Clyde Best from Bermuda, who did score some cracking goals for us.

Looking at the bookmakers’ odds for the game on Sunday, Everton are narrow favourites at 6/4, we are around 15/8, with the draw at 23/10. My fun bet for this game is for West Ham to win 1-0 and the goal to be scored by Aaron Cresswell (an Englishman for a change!). The odds for this are 200/1. I can just picture a free kick about 25 yards out in the last few minutes, and Cresswell lifting it over the wall into the top corner. What are the chances? And by the way the answer to my teaser was Dean Ashton. What a super player he was before his career was cruelly cut short.

A Rapid Turnaround as West Ham are back in Premier League action less than 72 hours after another Europa League win

The last time we faced Brentford in the Football League was in a second tier game (ironically called League Division One) in 1992-93. This was the very season when the Premier League came into existence, but we had missed out following relegation from the top flight (called Division One) in 1991-92. Yes that’s right we went from Division One to League Division One after dropping out of the top tier! I guess the naming was confusing at the time. It’s now much simpler of course with the second tier called the Championship.

Anyway, following a goalless draw at Griffin Park in December 1992 we won the return at Upton Park the following April by four goals to nil. Our goalscorers that day were Martin Allen, Peter Butler, Kevin Keen and Trevor Morley. It was the first of four winning games to end the season in second place and gain automatic promotion into the Premier League on goal difference.

Prior to the two fixtures in that season you have to go back to February 1954 for the last meeting between the sides when we lost 3-1 with our goal scored by Dave Sexton. Older readers may remember the name – Dave Sexton subsequently had a successful managerial career managing Chelsea, QPR, Manchester United and England Under 21s among others.

Coming up to date, Brentford have made an excellent start to life in the Premier League sitting in ninth place after two wins and three draws in their opening six games. Victories over Arsenal and Wolves and creditable draws against Palace, Villa and Liverpool with just a single goal defeat to high flying Brighton represent a good return for the team who were favourites at the beginning of the season to be relegated. One of the many interesting statistics I’ve read this week is that Brentford have only been trailing for a total of 25 minutes this season to date. Apparently that’s the fewest in the Premier League. Is there anything they don’t keep statistics for these days?

Our performance against Rapid Vienna on Thursday wasn’t spectacular but another professional showing to top Europa League Group H with the maximum six points from our two opening games. Defensively we have been particularly impressive, restricting our opponents to just one shot on target in the 90 minutes (and that was from some distance). Dinamo Zagreb had no shots on target against us if I remember correctly. Rice scored in both games and was perhaps man of the match against the Austrians, although I thought that Craig Dawson ran him close. By scoring in both games, Rice became the third West Ham player to score in his first two European appearances for the club – the others were Brian Dear in 1965, and David Cross in 1980.

In the other game in Group H, Dinamo Zagreb went to Belgium and comfortably beat Genk 3-0, so it would appear that our next two matches home and away against the Belgian side shouldn’t present us with too many problems, and we are well placed to top the group if we can keep us this form. And I don’t have any doubts that we can achieve this. Leicester on the other hand have just one point from two games in their group, leaving their European hopes hanging by a thread.

David Moyes continues to have a selection headache with so many players pushing for a place in the starting eleven. But just like his opposite number at Brentford, he has made the least changes to the starting line-up in Premier League games this season (just three).  My best guess this time is for the following unchanged line-up: Fabianski; Coufal (Johnson if Coufal not fit), Zouma, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Rice, Soucek; Fornals, Benrahma, Bowen; Antonio.

I’m not sure that any of the others have done enough (yet) to make them a shoe-in for the starting eleven, although I have a feeling that once Areola gets a run in the team he will keep his place. He looks a high class keeper to me. Dawson is very unlucky to be left out, but I feel that the extra pace of Zouma, and the combination with Ogbonna makes them the first choice pairing at centre back.

Given Brentford’s excellent start to the season, and the fact that we had a European game on Thursday night, I’m surprised that the bookmakers make us such overwhelming favourites to win the game. We are around 17/20 whereas Brentwood are quoted at about 18/5 to collect three points. This won’t be easy and I don’t believe there will be a lot in it. I’ll go for a 3-2 West Ham win (odds of 28/1) and for my fun bet this time I’ve gone for Antonio and Toney both to score, with Rice and Jansson both to be carded at 100/1. What are the chances?  

West Ham attempt to win at Elland Road for the second season running. It hasn’t happened before!

The prospect of a game against Leeds always conjures up memories for me as a young boy, and the reputation of the Elland Road outfit under Don Revie at the time. They were a top side but perhaps didn’t win as many trophies when they were at their peak as they perhaps should have done. In many ways they were perhaps the team to beat, the best team in England, but somehow they didn’t always seem to achieve what they might have done. They certainly had their share of being runners-up. For example, following their promotion to the top flight in the early 1960s from 1964-65 onwards they finished 2nd, 2nd, 4th, 4th, 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 1st in the next ten seasons.

They were also perhaps the most hated side in the country at that time. I guess it’s a long time ago now, and perhaps that reputation is unfair? I don’t know, but my memory is such that people seemed to enjoy Leeds being beaten. Not more so than in 1970 when it seemed to me that most of the country wanted Chelsea to beat them in the FA Cup Final. They did after a replay and so many seemed to rejoice in the victory although the Chelsea side themselves had their fair share of players who could, shall we say, look after themselves.

The Leeds side of that era were certainly high profile, and even now around 50 years later I can recall so many of their players; Sprake, Reaney, Charlton, Hunter, Cooper, Madeley, Bremner, Giles, Lorimer, Clarke, Jones, Gray. To be honest I can’t recall too many more from the subsequent 50 years, Yorath, Jordan, Batty, Speed, Bowyer, Rio Ferdinand of course, Hasselbaink, Lee Chapman are just a few that spring to mind.

West Ham fans of my vintage will recall 1966 with massive affection. Of course I’m referring to the World Cup, but there are a couple of other reasons that I remember that year in relation to Leeds. Firstly, on my twelfth birthday in February of that year we were playing away at Leeds and were soundly thrashed 5-0. But in the following season later that year the mighty Leeds brought their first team down to Upton Park on a Monday night in November to play us in the fourth round of the Football League Cup (Carabao in modern terms). They were humbled 7-0 with hat-tricks for Hurst and Sissons and a goal from Peters. It was perhaps one of the most astonishing victories in all my years of supporting West Ham. After that win we didn’t beat them at the next twelve attempts until we finally won against them, ironically in a League Cup replay at Elland Road in 1971.

That season was to be the first where the League Cup final was to be held at Wembley. Before then they were home and away two-legged affairs. We progressed to the semi-final where we lost 6-2 on aggregate over the two legs to West Brom, who themselves went on to lose the final to a Rodney Marsh inspired Queens Park Rangers who came from behind to win 3-2.

Which brings me to the present, and our visit to Elland Road today. Leeds under Bielsa won many plaudits for their football last season, their first in the top flight after a 17 year absence. But we did the double over them in empty stadiums winning 2-1 away, with goals from Soucek and Ogbonna enabling us to come from behind after conceding a penalty in the first five minutes, before the return leg in March when Lingard and Dawson scored to give us a 2-0 win. Those two victories doubled our wins over them in the Premier League to 4, whereas they have beaten us 14 times. I looked back in the records to try to find the last time that we did the double over them and eventually found it in the 1953-54 season in Division Two, the second game of which was a 5-2 victory on the day after I was born in 1954! And the last time we beat them three times in a row? That came in 1949 – we won four consecutive games against them in 1948 and 1949, although three of them were at Upton Park. And when was the last time we beat them at their ground in two consecutive seasons? It hasn’t happened.

History is irrelevant though really and current form is much more important. We lost in the league last Sunday of course to Manchester United after missing that last minute penalty which was the subject of much discussion. That was our only defeat this season, and came after two draws had followed our opening two wins. Leeds on the other hand have failed to win any of their opening five league games, but have drawn three of them (against Newcastle, Everton and Burnley) to sit in 17th in the table at this very early stage. They have also suffered heavy defeats to Liverpool and Manchester United.

Our much changed (virtually B team) gained some measure of revenge over Manchester United in the Carabao Cup in the week and were immediately drawn against Manchester City in the next round. We’ll certainly have to win it the hard way! Some good performances throughout the team will mean many will be pushing for a place in the starting line-up in the weeks to come. I was particularly impressed with Areola, Dawson, Diop, Lanzini and Kral, although to be fair almost everyone played their part in the victory which could have been more emphatic in the end but for two golden chances missed by Yarmolenko and Noble.

So what will happen today? West Ham have been playing Leeds since 1921 – that is 100 years now. It’s more than 100 games and Leeds have been victors in many more of those fixtures than we have. I’m hoping that we can resume our winning ways in the league this season, and also record a second consecutive victory at Elland Road for the first time in history. I reckon 2-1 today will change that. What are the chances? 

After midweek success in Croatia, and with Antonio unavailable, can West Ham defeat Ronaldo-inspired Manchester United?

Two wins and two draws in the Premier League, and success in the first game of the Europa League in what was meant to be the toughest fixture in Group H. Unbeaten so far with potentially an even more daunting challenge this weekend when the Red Devils visit the London Stadium. Such a shame we won’t be able to field our strongest side with Antonio being forced to sit this one out after what I thought was a needless red card at Southampton last Saturday. It will be interesting to see how David Moyes constructs the team without our number 9, and no obvious replacement in that position without changing the style of play. Antonio ran the Croatians ragged in Zagreb on Thursday evening and will be sorely missed on Sunday.

The 2-0 win to take us to the top of Europa League Group H after the first game was well deserved, and David Moyes deserves massive credit for the way he has transformed this squad since his return to the club. This was never going to be an easy fixture against a Zagreb side used to competing in Europe. It was just a few months ago that they put Tottenham to the sword beating them 3-0 in the round of 16 second leg in last season’s Europa League to overturn a 2-0 deficit from the first leg to progress to the last eight, where they went out of the competition against the Spaniards, Villareal. Dinamo had topped their group with 14 points from four wins and two draws so have considerable recent experience in European competition. They have also made an excellent start in this season’s Croatian League and currently sit on top with 16 points from their opening seven games.

This puts the strength of our performance into perspective. Even with a changed team, all of the players performed well and knew how they fitted into the side, and the roles they needed to play. The unchanged midfield partnership of Rice and Soucek was the springboard to our success, and how good was Rice when intercepting the ball in his own half and striding more than half the length of the pitch to score the second goal through the keeper’s legs? The goal reminded me of his strike in the final game of last season when a similar run led to the third goal in our victory over Southampton that sealed our sixth-place finish enabling us to qualify for this season’s Europa League.

Much credit too must go to the whole team for defending as a unit when we didn’t have the ball, and especially the back four who didn’t allow the home side to have a single shot on target in the entire 90 minutes. I thought that Fredericks had an excellent game, using his speed to great effect when going forward, and conversely when getting back to recover the ball. On the other flank the rejuvenated (under Moyes) Cresswell was as steady as ever. He continues to impress now that he appears to be fully recovered from the injury he suffered a couple of seasons back. But the defensive highlight for me was the massively impressive Zouma who dealt with everything comfortably, forming an excellent partnership with Diop. We have four centre backs vying for two places in the starting eleven when we play with a back four. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Zouma lining up alongside Ogbonna for the game on Sunday, although this would be harsh on Dawson who hasn’t done a lot wrong since he was signed. On the other hand I wonder if for this game, with the absence of Antonio, Moyes may consider playing with three centre backs? I don’t think he will and I would anticipate this starting line-up for the game.

Fabianski; Coufal, Zouma, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Rice, Soucek; Fornals, Vlasic, Benrahma; Bowen.

If my prediction for the starting line-up is correct then the choice of players to sit on our bench is also looking stronger than it has for years with a first-class international goalkeeper in Areola, Diop and Dawson as centre backs, and Fredericks and the fit-again Masuaku as well as Johnson covering the full back positions, although I believe Moyes sees Masuaku more as an attacking wing back / midfielder. Noble and Kral seem the likely cover for Rice and Soucek, with Lanzini and Yarmolenko the other attacking options in the absence of Antonio. Not quite two like for like players to cover all over the pitch, as they have at Manchester City and Chelsea for example, but nevertheless stronger than in recent times. Let’s hope that some youngsters from the Development Squad can make a name for themselves and become involved at the top level as the season progresses.

Manchester United have been strengthened by the addition of world-class Ronaldo, who might not quite be the player he once was, but nevertheless he is still a massive goalscoring threat. He has hit the ground running and already started scoring goals in his first week. Let’s hope we can keep him quiet on Sunday. Manchester United are favourites, particularly with the additional rest-time from midweek endeavours of 48 hours compared to ourselves, but I still believe we can beat them, despite Antonio not being available, although it will be tough to do so without our in-form number nine. Others will have to step up to score, and I fancy Jarrod Bowen to do so.

Bookmakers certainly don’t rate our chances highly, but as an unbeaten team playing at home after a midweek success in Europe playing against a Manchester United team who surprisingly lost to Young Boys of Switzerland, the odds of a home victory at 7/2 are certainly more enticing than the odds-on chances given to the visitors. The odds for West Ham winning 2-0 are 18/1, or a 2-1 victory is priced around 12/1.

I always enjoy a fun bet at long odds that rarely comes off, but you never know. Ronaldo to score the first goal and then West Ham to come back and win the match is priced at 50/1. Ronaldo to score the first goal and West Ham to win the match 2-1 is around 90/1. Or if you fancy Bowen to score the first goal and West Ham to win the odds are 20/1. Or perhaps Bowen to score first and West Ham to win 2-1 you can get 87/1. Rice to score the first goal and West Ham to win 2-1 is priced at 342/1. For a bit of fun I’ll choose one of those. What are the chances?    

A nice Selection Headache for David Moyes as the Hammers head to the South Coast

That’s the first international break over. Personally I’m not a fan of how the domestic season gets interrupted by three international breaks before a dozen Premier League games have been completed. I think we get four more league games before the next interruption and then four more before the November internationals. Of course at West Ham we have the Europa League getting underway very soon too, and I’m looking forward to that.

And thinking of our foray into Europe the transfer window has now slammed shut, and I believe we appear to have done very well this time around. David Moyes stated publicly that he didn’t just want players to make up the numbers in the squad, he wanted footballers that could enhance the first team, whilst allowing for the additional fixtures that we would be playing on Thursday nights in Europe. Four established international footballers would appear to be a much better result than seemed likely with just a few days of the window to go, although of course as always we have to wait and see how well they make the transition into our squad, and how the manager integrates them into the team. It will be interesting to see how quickly they get their chance to show what they can do, but with the opening Europa League fixtures less than a week away it shouldn’t be long.

All four of our new recruits will ensure that there will be strong competition for places in the starting eleven in most parts of the team, especially in goal, at centre back, and in an attacking sense. There is no direct alternative for Antonio though, and we wait to see how this one plays out when he is either injured or needs a rest. Zouma, especially, will put pressure on the centre backs for a starting place, as will Vlasic on Bowen, Fornals and Benrahma, who have all started the season in excellent form.

As this season was getting underway it appeared that Lanzini was looking at a new role playing deeper than in the past, but it will now be even more difficult for him to get into the team, with Kral in a similar position too. You’d want both Rice and Soucek to be starting as many games as possible, but from what I’ve seen I’d imagine Kral playing in their role when one or the other is not available. But perhaps our manager has other ideas? And Mark Noble will surely find opportunities even more limited for him to play a part in his last season. One thing is for sure though, we now have so much more quality cover for injuries than has been the case in the past. At this moment David Moyes is perhaps more spoiled for choice than at any time at the West Ham helm.

With the season barely underway it’s hard to predict what to expect at Southampton. We have won six out of the seven most recent Premier League encounters, including the final game of last season when 10,000 of us were lucky enough in the ballot to be able to attend the game. The Saints have yet to win a league game this season, drawing with Newcastle and Manchester United and going down at Everton. They sit thirteenth in the (very) early season table. On the other hand we are second following our two excellent wins and the slightly disappointing draw at home to Palace. Tottenham are the only team with 100% record after just three games and they visit Selhurst Park this weekend.

The newcomers have barely had the chance to meet their new team mates yet, so perhaps it is a little early for any of them to be pushing for a place in the starting eleven. For me, if any do get the nod I reckon it will be Zouma, but the others will surely be warming the bench waiting for their chance.

Despite being away from home we are slight favourites with the bookmakers to win this game at 6/4, with Southampton at 15/8 and the draw at 23/10. There were 6 goals in our opening game this season, 5 in the next, and 4 in the Palace match. I reckon 3 this time, with us winning 3-0. We’ve put 3 past Southampton in 5 of our last 9 games against them, so why not 6 out of 10? What are the chances?

“I Don’t Believe It!” – West Ham fans erupt as they score four again to go top of the table

If you thought beating Newcastle 4-2 on the opening day was good, how about a third consecutive win against Leicester (who finished last season in fifth place in the Premier League), and scoring ten goals against them in those three games? And as Michail Antonio thrashed the fourth goal into the net we had the realisation of being top of the league. As hardened West Ham fans we know it won’t last, but we’ll enjoy it for now, especially because we are watching a team playing some great attacking (or counter attacking) football. All over the pitch the players are playing with massive confidence and belief in their abilities.

Richard Wilson was on the TV on Wednesday. For those of you who have forgotten, or are not old enough to remember him, he was the main character in the sitcom One Foot In The Grave, playing Victor Meldrew, a grumpy sixty year old who had just involuntarily retired. He encounters a series of problems, many of his own making, and has a catchphrase “I don’t believe it”, a phrase echoed by most football fans seeing the Hammers perched at the top of the table. Incidentally I was surprised to see that the last episode aired over 20 years ago.

After all we are not noted for barnstorming starts to the season. The last time we won the opening two games in a Premier League season was in 1997. Comparing this season to last we are already six points ahead of where we were after two games. But as I say we won’t get carried away, but while we can keep our first choice players fit we can continue to win games. The problems will arise as the fixtures pile up with the Europa League games, and our relatively thin squad, especially if we get injuries to key players.

Here’s another poser for you. When do you think we last won our opening two games in the top flight and scored eight goals in the process? It has happened before, way back in 1930, a mere 91 years ago. That season we began with two home games, beating Huddersfield 2-0 in the first, and then in front of just 11,682 on the following Monday we put seven past Liverpool. Both of those teams went on to finish in the top half of the table, whereas we didn’t.

Our main goalscorer at the time (and the club’s leading goalscorer of all time) was Vic Watson. He scored six goals in those opening two games, and just like Antonio now was the leading goalscorer in the league. He scored 11 goals in the first 7 games and then he got injured and was missing for the next four months. Back then we had a ready-made replacement to play up front (Viv Gibbins) who took over the number 9 shirt and scored 19 goals in 22 games. When Watson was fit again he resumed his place in the team and Gibbins was left out, just playing a handful of games when Watson was injured again at the end of the season.

How did that season turn out after the brilliant start? Despite being fourth at Christmas a poor second half of the season saw us finish in 18th place. The two teams relegated that season were Leeds and Manchester United. Incidentally we won the first two games the following season too, but we only collected one point in the final ten games and finished bottom and were relegated. Of course there won’t be any parallels this season but the lack of cover for Antonio (at the time of writing) is a potential worry unless David Moyes has an alternative that we don’t know about.

Crystal Palace have collected just one point from their opening two fixtures, losing 3-0 to Chelsea and drawing 0-0 with Brentford. They were also dumped out of the EFL Cup 1-0 by Watford with an Ashley Fletcher goal (remember him?). In three games they have yet to score a goal and we are overwhelming favourites to make it nine points from our opening three games before the International break. We are 8/15 to win the game, with Palace at 5/1. We are now seventh favourites at 75/1 to win the Premier League too.

We’ll enjoy it while it lasts, and I’m hoping that my pre-season prediction of finishing sixth at the end of the season doesn’t end up being very far wide of the mark. Perhaps we can even do better than that? I’m hoping for four goals on Saturday for the third game in a row at the start of a season. I don’t believe that has ever happened before. What are the chances?