Richard Bennett

A review of West Ham’s visit to Bournemouth, a preview of the Brighton game, and a tribute to Jarrod Bowen, via Rudyard Kipling.

If we’d been offered a point on the day,
At the Vitality we’d nod and we’d say
“Gladly yes”, but we didn’t forsee
How close we came to getting three.

Frustrating it was, we led so late,
But a sloppy free kick then sealed our fate,
The wall stood tall, we knew the drill,
A draw was deserved, for home fans a thrill.

Bournemouth’s shots twenty-nine in all,
Only nine on target that I can recall,
The first half was goalless, frantic and fast,
We matched them at first but how might it last?

A controversial call, we cared not a jot,
As up stepped Paqueta and scored from the spot.
A few moments later the Hammers undone,
Enes Umal’s free kick and the score was one-one.

Lopetegui’s tactics – he asks for more time,
We saw some improvement, but we need to climb,
We’re stuck down at fourteenth, a pretty poor show,
We’ve let in too many, our midfield’s too slow.

On Saturday it’s Brighton; so is it a sin
To hope for three points and pick up a win?
But one win from fourteen, just one that’s right,
At the Amex last season a 3-1 delight.

Seven games at home, top-flight pickings are thin,
We’ve lost two and drawn five but never a win.
But go back twelve years when second tier still,
A great Vaz Te hat trick, we beat them six-nil!

The Seagulls in London, ten winless they find,
The losses and draws must be haunting their mind,
Our recent home form has been on the rise,
Ten points from five is a pleasant surprise.

When Brighton face battles against top half foes,
With five wins in nine their confidence grows,
But with teams near the bottom they falter and strain,
Just one win in seven in a season’s refrain.

When taking set pieces we used to be best,
We still have the tools to make it a test,
Kudus with dribbling can dazzle and gleam,
Bowen’s goals and assists are great for the team.

A Premier clash under a Saturday sky,
Can we win, and go to Christmas on high?
I just have a feeling we’ll win this for sure,
Brighton may score but we’ll score one more.

I wonder if you know the old joke from Donald McGill, famous for his saucy seaside postcards –
“Do you like Kipling?”
“I don’t know I’ve never kippled”.
Rudyard Kipling was an English writer of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, noted of course for writing amongst many great works The Jungle Book and his poem If. The following is in the style of the latter. So with apologies to Mr Kipling (no, not the one who makes exceedingly good cakes …..) here is a poem to resemble his famous poem If as a tribute to Jarrod Bowen.

If you can keep the ball when all about you
Are losing it, can’t blame it on you;
If you believe in yourself when England managers doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can pass and dribble and not be phased by tackles,
Or keep the ball and ignore the cries;
Or shoot on sight and resist the shackles,
And look so good to everyone’s eyes;
If you can dribble – and not make dribbling your master;
If you can bring others into the game;
If when you lose it’s not a disaster,
But winning the game is your ultimate aim;
If you entertain the fans and play so clever,
Up front, out wide, whatever your role,
Play consistently, be as good as ever,
Win a European trophy with the winning goal.
If you thread it through to make a chance,
Or cross it onto someone’s head,
Or pass to a team mate without a glance,
Or take it on and shoot instead.
If you stay for some time the fans will adore you,
And play like legends of the past have done,
Moore, Bonds, Brooking, Di Canio too,
And what’s more Jarrod Bowen, you’ll be a star my son.

Seasons greetings! Richard.

West Ham faced Wolves on Monday night, our seventh consecutive home win on a Monday. Next Monday we travel to the South Coast to face Bournemouth

West Ham v Wolves – A Celebration of the Number Nine

The ninth of December – the stars did align,
This was the day – a tribute to nine,
Nine was the number that shone in the light,
The game was for Michail, an emotional night.

In the warm-up they wore shirts ‘Antonio 9’,
The game in his honour, this was his time,
The fans clapped and sang, this was because,
When the ninth minute came, 60 seconds applause.

Soucek’s header on 54 –far post this time,
Add them together, 5+4 make nine,
Bowen’s winner on 72, he made no mistake,
Add 7+2, you know what they make.

O’Neil wanted penalties, the ref he played dumb,
Big decisions did impact the overall outcome,
For West Ham’s head coach the win just in time,
For tonight was the night to celebrate nine.

Three points most welcome, let’s uncork the wine,
Nine over the drop zone, we’re starting to climb,
Our points rose to 18, add up one more time,
Put 1 and 8 together – and once more it’s nine!

Nine first half corners, nine shots on goal,
The Hammers were winning and now in control,
The Irons on top as they reigned supreme,
And West Ham were now in a Number 9 Dream.

Bournemouth v West Ham

Christmas is coming, time to bring out the berries,
As West Ham head south to be facing the Cherries,
In the coastal air where the sea meets the sand,
Bournemouth v West Ham, what have they planned?

Under Monday’s night sky with stars softly gleaming,
Can we win again or am I just dreaming?
The Cherries at home in their red and their black,
In claret and blue Hammers on the attack.

The game a tale of grit and delight,
Under stadium lights burning fiercely and bright,
The away fans sing loud, big boy what’s your name?
It’s Ludo Miklosko from Moscow I came. (Not really!)

The Hammers are fourteenth what chance of a win?
The Cherries are eighth and we’re 15 games in,
Two down at Everton almost at the last minute,
You wouldn’t believe that with three goals they’d win it.

One down at Ipswich as the game neared its end,
A dramatic late comeback that is their trend.
They also beat Tottenham when Huijsen did pounce,
Nine points from three games they’ve won on the bounce.

Their scalps are impressive they’ve beaten the best,
City, Arsenal and Chelsea were put to the test,
But Senesi, Tavernier on the injury list,
Two not playing this week and they will be missed.

With Antonio out who’ll be leading the line?
Ings or Fullkrug, or Bowen false nine?
Kudus missed five he’s had quite a rest,
We’ll all be hoping that he’s back to his best.

If Summerville starts, and I do hope he will,
Let’s hope we can witness his dribbling skill,
Soler’s started the last four, he’s looked very keen,
He’s certainly worth his place in the team.

Soucek Lop’s favourite, he picks him whatever,
We always are hoping he scores with a header,
There’s one midfield player we know can do better,
But he’s not on the ball – that’s Lucas Paqueta.

Defending’s a problem, we don’t shut the door,
There are only three teams who’ve conceded more.
And we’ve only scored 20, thirteenth on the list,
Our xg is better, note the chances we’ve missed.

Head to head’s positive, but here is the thing,
We’ve conceded a few to Wilson and King,
But they have gone now, Solanke’s gone too,
Here’s my prediction, a score draw 2-2.

West Ham face Wolves on Monday night. A six pointer this early in the season? We recap the season to date in rhyme.

On a summer’s day in August the new season began,
At home to Aston Villa, on the bench was Jhon Duran,
It only took four minutes, Onana with his head,
A simple goal it looked so easy and now the Villa led.

Then Soucek fouled by Matty Cash in the area, what fun,
Paqueta took the penalty to make the score one-one.
The second half on came the sub – Duran was his name,
You know the rest, a twist of fate, and Villa won the game.

So on we went to Selhurst Park to visit the Eagles nest,
Last time we conceded five so this would be a test,
Would we lose to Palace again? I’ll put your mind at rest,
Soucek and Bowen both scored, we won 2-0 you guessed.

The EFL Cup was next, two teams were evenly matched,
Bowen’s late handball goal was scored, the Cherries were dispatched.

August ended when City came, 1-0 when Haaland struck,
Then Bowen crossed, Dias deflected, the Hammers were in luck.
But you can guess what happened next, Haaland having fun,
Two more goals against us, and City won 3-1.

The international break came next, and then to London West,
To Craven Cottage off we went to face another test,
Jimenez put the hosts one up – it looked like we were done,
But Ings popped up on 95, to make the score one-one.

The London Stadium next, Chelsea came across the town,
Before we blinked Jackson scored two and we were looking down,
Palmer scored another, we needed General Custer,
We lost again, 3-0 it was, the performance was lacklustre.

Off to Anfield next, the EFL cup next round,
We took the lead on 21, were we Wembley bound?
3-1 down by half time, who was there to blame?
By the end it climbed to five to add to West Ham’s shame.

The GTech was next – Brentford then beckons,
Mbuemo scored first in just 40 seconds,
Soucek struck next to bring hope anew,
But a draw was all the Hammers could do.

October came next ‘twas Ipswich I hear,
Antonio in one, oh how we did cheer,
Delap replied to make it one-one,
We then scored three more to bring us some fun.

Next to North London, once White Hart Lane,
They built a new stadium and then changed the name,
Kudus scored first, then they netted four,
Then he got sent off, three Spurs on the floor.

Then Manchester United, much to our delight,
When Summerville scored, a new shining light,
A VAR penalty, who saw it? No-one?
Bowen converted and we won two-one.

Then on to the Forest, a header Chris Wood,
Alvarez sent off – he was up to no good,
Two more for Forest it was now all uphill,
And when it had ended we’d lost it three-nil

And next came the Toffees and no-one could score,
The game ended goalless, a real dreary bore,
The fans were cheesed off, and how they did whine,
The players were booed off at half and full time.

St James Park the venue for West Ham’s next game,
We didn’t expect much, just more of the same,
Soukek’s header, Wan-Bissaka’s rebound,
It came as a shock to win on their ground.

Was this a new dawn? Arsenal was next,
But four goals in no time to stray from the text,
Wan-Bissaka again, and Emerson’s free kick,
But we lost 5-2, were they taking the mick?

And then on to Leicester, we should have done better,
He changed round the team, and left out Paqueta,
31 shots, but still we were done,
Vardy scored early and we lost 3-1.

And next up come Wolves, Matchday 15 already,
We need someone new to come in and steady,
We’re down in fourteenth, 15 points to our name,
We should really be higher, who can we blame?

Wolves even lower, what do they lack?
They face relegation, they need to bounce back,
We’re both down the bottom, which one will crack?
Two bosses in trouble and facing the sack.

(They say) Fools Rush In where angels fear to tread,
A new head coach came – he’s in way above his head,
What next for West Ham to end all our troubles?
We’ll find out real soon and start blowing bubbles.

We all love our team but they do make us fret,
With West Ham you never know quite what you’ll get,
We need to get better, start playing like lions,
With the fans all behind us, come on you irons!

A tale of the unexpected – Victory for West Ham in the North-East

Oh West Ham you make us fret,
We never know what we’re gonna get,
At St James’s Park, under a North-East sky,
Playing the Geordies you soared so high.

Oh Hammers bold in claret and blue,
Monday’s triumph still feels brand new,
We saw the game on TV on Sky,
Always play like that? No, but why?

Before the game a sense of dread,
Supporters patience a dwindling thread,
The coach undeterred by doubt or fear,
Unveiled his plan, his vision clear.

The Magpies began with all their might,
But we stood firm, defence was tight,
Soucek’s pinpoint header clean and pure,
We took the lead 1-0 for sure.

3000 were singing the bubbles song,
Wan-Bissaka could do no wrong,
He hit the post, it bounced and spun,
A goal 2-0, the match was won.

From back to front they played their part,
A victory etched in every heart,
In Newcastle’s home we claimed the prize,
A night of glory under North-East skies.

Now bring on the Gunners.

But now the Arsenal lie ahead,
A fierce new battle to be led,
Can the Hammers bring the flair,
And meet the Gunners with skill and dare?

Antonio with your power and speed,
Must breach their defence, to take the lead.
And Tomas Soucek, with all that’s been said,
Please score yet another goal with your head.

Fabianski the keeper you need to excel,
Keep guarding the net like a sentinel,
This season not great, but Monday night better,
Creative and skilful that’s Lucas Paqueta.

Soler you surprised us to answer the riddle
Of just who to pick to play in the middle.
Summerville you play with such skill and such heart,
For me you should always be picked from the start

Max in defence answering the call,
Repelling attacks and standing so tall
And Jarrod you dance with such nimble feet,
Just weave through on goal to complete the defeat.

So take to the pitch and show us the pride,
As London’s east and north sides collide,
We’ll all be watching, we’ll be holding our breath
For ninety plus minutes, it’ll be life or death.

As West Ham travel to the North-East to face Newcastle in the Monday night game, the pressure mounts on ‘The Head Coach’

The Head Coach

In the quiet of the changing room there’s tension in the air,
The head coach sits alone, lost in silent prayer,
The team, once full of promise, now struggles in the fight,
The season’s hopes are fading, slipping slowly out of sight.

In the cold winds of November under the floodlights glare,
The head coach stands in silence, with a burden hard to bear,
The team’s form has faltered, each defeat a painful blow,
The whispers growing louder, from the boardroom to below.

The night is cold, the winds are strong, the stadium lights are bright,
Two Premier League teams clashing on a freezing Monday night,
The Magpies on the front foot, their wingers standing wide,
The Hammers block is narrow, they fight to halt the tide.

He paces on the sideline, staring at the pitch,
Hoping to find the magic to turn this losing glitch,
He wonders about his lineup, he rethinks every play,
Hoping for a miracle to chase the doubts away.

One down at the interval, fans patience growing thin,
Every formation has been tried to bring the wins back in,
The half time talk determined, he rallies one more time,
A second goal goes in the net, the finish quite sublime.

After the game he faces the press, he knows not where to start,
Questions probing for cracks within, have the players got the heart?
He talks of faith and unity, of turning it around,
But shadows of the sack loom close, a win just can’t be found.

The players lack direction, the tactics quite unclear,
And baffling team selections, departure must be near,
Behind the scenes the murmurs rise, of replacements lined in wait,
Another loss, its Arsenal next, the coach awaits his fate.

Fourteenth play Sixteenth as West Ham entertain Everton at the London Stadium in the final game before the third international break.

Bookmakers have the West Ham Head Coach as favourite for the next Premier League manager to leave his post.

It hasn’t been going too well has it? Is there a timeframe for our head coach to prove himself? I guess it can vary depending on several factors. Lots of our fans are giving their views on social media. How much ambition does the club truly have? What are the resources available? How much patience does the West Ham board have? Will they want to admit that they may have got it wrong again? Are they prepared to pay for a change? How much patience do our supporters have? Here are a few considerations:

Our new head coach should surely be expected to have shown some immediate improvement or at least a clear direction within the first few games after taking over. This might be in the form of improved performances, better team morale, or a more cohesive (and entertaining?) playing style. Have performances improved this season so far compared to last? We are 14^th in the Premier League having picked up 11 points from our opening 10 matches. I’m not sure about team morale. Are all the players on board with understanding the tactics, the team selections, and the direction that we are heading in? What is our playing style?

Should a full season be considered a reasonable period to assess the impact of a new head coach? He asks to be measured next May to give him time to implement his tactics, work with the team through a full schedule, and make necessary adjustments during transfer windows. Is that realistic in the modern football world?

Clubs looking for sustained success may want to give a new manager more time to build a squad to implement their long-term strategy. This can mean 2-3 seasons, especially if the club is undergoing a significant rebuild or transition period. This may be true for clubs with lower expectations who might allow more time for a manager to develop the team. But we are a top-tier club and we demand quicker results. Managers just don’t have the time to implement a long term strategy without results and a clear direction showing improvement.

Ultimately, it’s a balance between patience and the need for results. The key is consistent progress and a clear sense of direction for the team. But Lopetegui will find himself under increasing pressure if the results don’t improve soon. He believes he needs time as we had a lot of new faces in the summer transfer window. Yes, it has been an inconsistent start to the season and as a fan going back to the late 1950s I kind of expected that it might not be great to begin with, and it would take time.

But I find his team selections baffling and as for formation well that seems to be changing all the time. Team selection (has he begun to work out his best team yet?), formation and tactics show no consistency. I appreciate that different opposition may necessitate a change of approach but clearly it is not (yet?) working.

What do you think is a fair amount of time for our new head coach to prove himself?

Oddschecker give odds on the next Premier League manager to leave his post, and of the seven major bookmakers who have a market for this Lopetegui is the favourite on all of them at odds of between 13/8 and 15/8. Russell Martin and Gary O’Neil are next in the betting. Social media and the written press are full of it and names being banded around to take over include Kasper Hjulmand, Roger Schmidt, Sebastian Hoeness, Graham Potter, David Moyes, Frank Lampard, Edin Terzic, and Jose Mourinho to name a few. Yes, some more ridiculous than others. They were spot on with the last favourite to leave who was Ten Hag. I read that Jim White on Talksport has a source allegedly close to Sullivan who apparently said that if West Ham lose 5-0 to Everton Lopetegui will still retain his job.

It is probably a little premature to talk about Saturday’s visit of Everton to be a six-pointer, and while we are averaging over a point a game a relegation struggle is not (yet?) an issue. But should we be beaten in this game then we will be overtaken by them and fall into 15^th place at least with more than a quarter of the season gone as we enter the third international break.

It won’t be easy coming back after the break with a Monday night trip to Newcastle and then a Saturday home game against Arsenal to take us to the end of November. News that the Kudus three match ban will be extended by a further two games to include Newcastle and Arsenal is not good news. What started as a yellow card in the Tottenham game, that then was upgraded to red following a VAR review, that became a three game ban has now turned into a five game ban. How many other five game bans have been incurred this season?

Alvarez’s red following two yellow cards was our third this season, and his second! Yellow cards are mounting up too. Paqueta leads that (for West Ham) with five (in all competitions), including one in each of the last three games. However, we are not that indisciplined as we are in the bottom half of that league table too with 19 in the 10 league games played. Chelsea lead the way with 30.

Six more games in December will take us up to the halfway point in the season which comprise visits to Leicester, Bournemouth and Southampton, and home games against Wolves, Brighton and Liverpool.

And if you like your football at three o’clock on a Saturday then I’m afraid you won’t be happy with the eight games between now and the end of the year. Just one of the eight is scheduled to be 3pm on the traditional football day of Saturday (Brighton on 21^st December). The other seven include three Monday 8pm kick-offs, a Tuesday 8.15 game, a Thursday 3pm (Boxing Day), Saturday 5.30pm, and Sunday 5.15pm.

Everton’s start to this campaign is worse than ours with just two wins in their ten games (against Palace and Ipswich). However, after four straight defeats to begin the season they have only lost one of the last six (at Southampton last weekend), winning two and drawing three, leaving them 16^th with nine points.

There was a period between 2007 and 2015 where Everton were considered to be a real bogey team and we failed to beat them in 15 straight games. However in recent times the results have been more balanced with four wins apiece in the last four seasons. Last season both games were won by the away side with Everton winning 1-0 at the London Stadium in October, but then we beat them 3-1 at Goodison in March coming from a goal down with the score at 1-1 when we went into added time. If we fail this weekend the pressure will mount.

Memories of West Ham playing Nottingham Forest in the 21st Century

This weekend will be the fourteenth meeting of West Ham and Nottingham Forest in the twenty-first century. So how have we fared so far?

Overall, West Ham has won eight, lost four and drawn one of the thirteen games played. We are unbeaten in the seven home fixtures winning six and drawing one, but the record at the City Ground is not so good; we have won twice but lost four times. Four of the thirteen games have been Premier League matches, six have been second tier games (variously called League Division 1 or Championship), and we have met three times in the FA Cup.

In the three FA Cup games, five goals were scored in each. In our relegation season (2002-03 – Glenn Roeder) we met Forest in Round 3. Jermaine Defoe scored twice and Joe Cole once in a 3-2 victory. Marlon Harewood scored one of the Forest goals. We went out of the competition in Round 4 losing 6-0 to Manchester United. We also lost in Round 3 of the League Cup 1-0 at home to Oldham. And at the end of the season of course we went down.

In our next relegation season (2010-11 – Avram Grant) we met Forest in Round 4. Once again we won the game 3-2. Victor Obinna scored a hat trick – remember him? We went all the way to the sixth round where we lost 1-0 at Stoke. And surprisingly we had a long run in the League Cup losing on aggregate in the two-legged semi- final to Birmingham. But at the end of the season we went down.

So when we were once again drawn against Forest in Round 3 (in the 2013-14 season – Sam Allardyce) the manager decided that it would not be a good idea to win the game as history told him that it could lead to relegation. So he put out the following team: Adrian, Callum Driver, Dan Potts, Alou Diarra, Stewart Downing, Matt Jarvis, Sebastian Lletget, George Moncur, Modibo Maiga, Ravel Morrison, Danny Whitehead. And on the bench we had: Raphael Spiegel, Reece Burke, Matthias Fanimo, Blair Turgott, Jaanai Gordon-Hutton, Elliott Lee, Sean Maguire. Hardly 18 of West Ham’s most famous!

Do you remember Jannai? Me neither. He never actually played a game for the first team. An unused substitute in this game was the closest he got. I looked him up on Google. Still in his twenties he currently plays for Alvechurch in the Southern League Premier Central in step 3 of non-league football. That’s the level below the National League (North and South) and two levels below the National League. He’s done the rounds in non-league football. Alvechurch is his eighteenth club in the last ten years.

I remembered us signing Sean Maguire from Waterford in Ireland. Like Gordon-Hutton an unused substitute in that game against Forest was the closest he got to first team action at West Ham. He did go on to have a decent career in the lower leagues though and played eleven international games for the Republic of Ireland.

A weakened team to say the least in that game with debuts to five youth team players. In hindsight (or even before then to those of us who saw the team he had selected) it was a disaster as we were overrun by the more experienced Forest side who thrashed us 5-0! The manager was heavily criticised and rightly so.

In the calendar year of 2003, in addition to our 3-2 cup win, we drew our home game against Forest 1-1 (Defoe) and won 2-0 at the City Ground (Harewood & Defoe). These games were in the second tier called League Division One at the time. We met them again at that level the following season when it became known as the Championship losing 2-1 at the City Ground to goals in the 84^th and 90^th minute. Our goal was once again scored by Harewood. We won the return on Boxing Day 3-2 (Etherington, Sheringham 2).

In our promotion winning season (2011-12) we did the double over them winning 4-1 at the City Ground (OG, Nolan, Carlton Cole, Reid) and 2-1 at Upton Park (2 Mark Noble penalties).

Since that win at the City Ground in August 2011 we have not won a game at the ground and haven’t even scored. The 5-0 drubbing in the FA Cup at the City Ground in 2014 has been followed by two defeats there since Forest came up to the Premier League two seasons ago.

The four meetings at the top level in the last two seasons have always been won by the home side. In 2022-23 we won comfortably 4-0 (Ings 2, Rice, Antonio) and then last season another 3-2 victory (Paqueta, Bowen, Soucek). In the away games we lost 1-0 in the first game of the season (Awoniyi 45) in 2022-23, and the last time we met in February this year we lost 2-0 (note the times of the goals – Awoniyi 45+4, Hudson-Odoi (90 +4).

So we haven’t won at the City Ground for over 13 years and in the three games since we haven’t scored losing 5-0, 1-0 and 2-0.

Forest are perhaps the surprise team of the Premier League in the first nine games of this season winning four, drawing four and losing just once with 16 points and sitting in seventh place. The wins have been against Southampton, Liverpool (away), Palace and Leicester. The draws were against Bournemouth, Wolves, Brighton (away) and Chelsea (away).

It’s interesting that their most impressive results were all gained on the road at Liverpool, Chelsea, Brighton and Leicester. At the City Ground they could only draw against Bournemouth and Wolves, they narrowly beat Palace 1-0, and their sole defeat this season was 1-0 at home to Fulham. So they have been unbeaten away from home with 11 points from their 5 games whereas at home they’ve won just once in four.

Our head coach loves to surprise with his team selections doesn’t he? Last week we were all aghast when we saw the starting eleven (well I was anyway), but he realised at half-time, made three changes, and the second half was much improved even if we did win the game with one of the softest penalties I can recall us being given. I make just one plea for this game. Play Summerville from the start!

Following the chaotic second half display last weekend with West Ham in total disarray, ask not for whom the bell tolls. The vultures are circling.

We are only eight games into the Premier League 2024-25 season, which I would suggest means that it is still early days for our new head coach Julen Lopetegui. But there is no getting away from the fact that West Ham have made a poor start to the campaign. As we were overrun by a rampant Tottenham in the second half of last Saturday’s early kick-off many fans took to social media sites making the case that Lopetegui’s team are no improvement on that of David Moyes. The “be careful what you wish for” brigade reared their head once again. The head coach has apparently asked for fans to judge him next May. Is that an optimistic request with the patience of fans wearing thinner after each passing game? Did I say passing game? Oh yes, our new style.

Just one more game, the two o’clock home game against misfiring Manchester United on Sunday will bring us virtually up to the season’s quarter point stage. How long should the bedding-in period last? Surely our Spanish coach with a distinguished career in charge at Porto, Real Madrid, the Spanish National team, and Seville deserves more time? Some say yes, others are not so sure. As for ‘distinguished’ then despite Europa League success at Seville and guiding them to qualification for the Champions League, wasn’t he sacked there and at Real Madrid following a string of poor results in each case?

He lasted barely two months at Real Madrid, but three years at Seville. Prior to his Spanish appointments he began his senior managerial career at Porto in Portugal, one of the two most decorated clubs in Portuguese football with a massive budget but was dismissed in under two years, failing to win any silverware in the process.

Prior to his appointment at West Ham he had a ‘relatively successful’ few months at Wolves guiding them to thirteenth after taking over a team in a poor position. However, that reign was ended apparently due to reported financial constraints at the club and other alleged disagreements and he left by mutual consent.

The early days here show an unclear identity and tactics, an attack that based on goals scored that ranks in mid-table (=10^th), a leaky defence where only three other Premier League teams have conceded more so far (identical to Moyes defence too for the whole of last season) (=17^th!), a slow midfield lacking creativity (Rodriguez, Alvarez, Soucek), and despite highly lauded transfers in the summer still one of the oldest squads.

We have lost four of the opening eight league games, but not just lost, we have been comprehensively beaten in some. Are we just not good enough or has the quality of the opposition been too much? Three goal margin league defeats to both Chelsea and Tottenham, and an even greater (four goal) deficit to Liverpool in the League Cup bear comparison to some of the heavy defeats last season.

For some reason unbeknown to me, Summerville has barely been given much opportunity, but when he has had limited chances he has looked lively and promising. Guilherme and Soler have been barely used, whereas Paqueta, despite obvious skills has failed to impress, his commitment is questioned by some with ongoing uncertainty over his situation following match-fixing allegations which are dragging on (with his mind, perhaps not surprisingly elsewhere) but he continues to be selected.

Fullkrug, not everyone’s choice for the forward we so desperately needed, has been injured, and with irony we look from a distance as Duran goes from strength to strength pulling up trees at Aston Villa. On top of all that we will now be without Kudus for three matches after his meltdown and red card at the weekend.

Following a summer transfer spree there is now mounting scrutiny on West Ham’s technical director Tim Steidten too. Supporters always want someone to blame when things are not going as well as hoped, although how long will it be before it will once again be directed at the owners as well if our poor run continues?

Based on what I had read I don’t think Lopetegui would have been my choice to take over from Moyes, although a change was needed to improve from where we were, and hopefully to give us a more enterprising brand of football. It doesn’t have to mean entertainment at the cost of results as some ‘Moyes in’ supporters constantly claimed. Just look at Brighton. Their fans are in dreamland, not only because of the results and position of the club, but because of the football they love to watch both home and away that their team give them.

My personal view is that it would be too hasty a decision to change the head coach right now. Whilst we are not in trouble (and I hope it doesn’t come to that) as a fan I hope he can turn it around, although at the moment there doesn’t appear to be solid evidence that he will. I also wonder if he has the support of the players? The impressive win against Ipswich before the last international break gives us some breathing space, but how patient will the fanbase be? Many social media sites (although not necessarily a true reflection of the fanbase as a whole) seem to suggest that discontent is growing. The vultures are circling waiting and watching for the opportunity to strike.

We face a Manchester United team this weekend in similar disarray with vultures circling around there too.

Do you think we should keep Lopetegui in charge, or is it already the time to change? What do you think?

Momentum, International Breaks, Current Form, and Notable Games as West Ham visit the Tottenham Stadium in the lunchtime kick-off on Saturday

You hear a lot of talk in football circles about momentum. What is momentum? Some kind of invisible force that keeps an event moving or developing after it has begun. Wouldn’t it be great if the football authorities understood the concept. But oh no, as football fans, or rather fans of the domestic game, we now have to put up with international breaks designed to discourage momentum during the season, especially at the beginning of a campaign, where it is interrupted after just three games and then once again after seven. But fear not international fans because another one will be coming along once four more Premier League games have been completed.

In all honesty our start to 2024-25 under our new head coach has been a stuttering one to say the least, although not unexpected with new ideas, new tactics, and an influx of new players that would take time to get used to each other and fit into what everyone expects to be a different way of playing. But what chance has there been to gain any momentum in matches? If all the players were at home then you could say that the boss would have time to work with them to enable them to gel more quickly, but with so many away with their international teams that is not the case.

Prior to the first international break we had lost narrowly to Aston Villa to the inevitable Duran goal following the summer shenanigans in attempting to sign him, we had come back with a not entirely convincing win at Palace but had then put up a spirited second half performance in the third game against champions Manchester City. But any chance to build on that was lost when the break came.

The second segment of the season began with an away draw at Fulham followed by a massively disappointing home defeat to Chelsea, then another away draw at Brentford before finally getting off the mark with a convincing 4-1 win at home to Ipswich. But could we build on that? Once again the momentum was lost with the second break enabling us to watch England lose at home to Greece before winning in Finland. I’m afraid that despite it being a competition this Nations League leaves me cold.

One consolation I suppose was the performance of Dinos Mavropanos who had played the first few games for us this season before dropping to the bench to let in new signing Todibo. Our Greek defender received rave reviews although interim manager Carsley had decided to play with what is described as ‘false nines’ in modern parlance. That was one experiment that didn’t work and the win in Finland wasn’t enough to save Carsley with the surprise announcement of ex-Chelsea manager Tuchel as the new boss of the international team. He’ll have the chance to get going in November and assess the team when the third international break arrives, although I understand that the current interim boss will remain in charge for those games.

Matchday 8 this weekend sees us visiting North London for a game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. So how has their season begun? They have won three of their seven games and sit ninth in the table having defeated Everton and Brentford at home and Manchester United away and drawn at Leicester. An away defeat at Newcastle, a home defeat by local rivals Arsenal, and then just before the break a comical loss at the Falmer Stadium where they let slip a two goal half-time lead to lose 3-2 at Brighton.

We are twelfth just two points adrift of them at this stage and an unlikely win would take us above them. Despite our inconsistent start we are unbeaten on our travels, well I say travels, but we haven’t left London for a league game yet. A win at Palace and draws at Fulham and Brentford has given us five points, which is five points more than the equivalent three games last season where we were well and truly beaten in all of them with a combined goals record of scored 4, conceded 13.

Comparing our record to Tottenham’s this season, with just a few of the statistics, then they lead with goals scored (14-10), they have conceded fewer (8-11), shots at goal are very similar (83-80), but they have more on target (48-34). Have they had easier fixtures? The current league table might suggest so as they have faced four teams currently sitting in the bottom half of the table in the seven games played, whereas we have played four sides in the top eight. They have however won two of their three home games losing only by the only goal to Arsenal.

Head-to-head records between West Ham and Tottenham going back to 1898 in history give them the edge 55 wins to 45, with 28 draws. Notable games at their stadium include last season’s win there in December when we overturned a 1-0 half-time deficit with goals from Bowen and Ward-Prowse. Unlike many of our fans I am sad to see the latter gone.

In April 2019 we became the first team to win at their new stadium when Antonio’s second half goal was the only one in the game. Pedro Obiang’s stunning goal in January 2018 helped us gain a point in a 1-1 draw. There were two league cup wins over them in 2013 and 2017, the latter being at Wembley where Ayew scored a couple for us in a 3-2 victory, after we trailed 2-0 at the interval. And who can forget the Ravel Morrison game eleven years ago when his amazing solo run from our half was the third goal in a convincing 3-0 win?

Apart from those games our record there has generally been very poor and you have to go back to the twentieth century for the previous win (before 2013) there when Ian Wright and Marc Keller scored the goals in a 2-1 win. Before then Dani (remember him?) scored for us in a 1-0 win in Slaven Bilic’s debut game in our defence in 1996. There was a great win there towards the end of the 1993-94 season when we overcame them 4-1 with two goals from Trevor Morley and one each from Mike Marsh and Steve Jones. Before then it was 1983 when Steve Whitton and Dave Swindlehurst scored the goals in a 2-0 win.

My favourite game of all our visits to Tottenham though came in 1981 when we crushed them 4-0 at White Hart Lane, a personal triumph for David Cross who bagged all four goals. And perhaps the most exciting game between the teams that I can remember came in a 1966 victory there (4-3) with goals from Brabrook, Byrne, Hurst and Sissons when Gilzean, Greaves and Venables scored for them. That was the third game in an eleven match run where we scored 42 goals (yes you read that right) which included a 7-0 rout of (then) mighty Leeds and a 5-5 draw at Chelsea. Just a few months before then a 4-1 win came in the previous season with goals from Byrne, Boyce, Redknapp and Hurst.

I have vague memories of a 4-4 draw there in the early sixties, but I do remember more clearly a 4-1 win there on Boxing Day in 1958 in our first season following promotion to the top flight. That win came the day after my first ever visit to Upton Park for a league match – yes we played on Christmas Day (that was the last time we did) – when the famous duo of Johnny Dick and Vic Keeble scored the goals in a 2-1 win. Any momentum that might have been built at the start of the season has been interrupted by the international breaks. It’s hard to predict what will happen on Saturday but we went into the break on the back of a 4-1 win and perhaps would have preferred to play the next game sooner rather than later, whereas Tottenham were probably pleased for a break after their miserable second half performance at Brighton. It will be a good result if we avoid defeat to extend our unbeaten away record but I’m hoping for a win of course.

Can West Ham win their second game this season when we face a spirited Ipswich team?

We haven’t played against Ipswich Town since our promotion winning season of 2011-2012 when we were both in the Championship. That was the season when we finished third (Sam Allardyce had been appointed as the new manager at the beginning of the campaign – the aim was to gain promotion at the first attempt following relegation under Avram Grant). Do you remember Big Sam’s first signings? They were four of his old Bolton players, Kevin Nolan, Matt Taylor, Joey O’Brien, and Abdoulaye Faye.

Despite losing just one of our last 18 games (to eventual champions Reading – yes you read that right – Reading) and leading the table at the start of that run we were unable to secure automatic promotion. However, we were successful in the play-offs defeating Cardiff over both semi-final legs and Blackpool in the Wembley final. We would have gone up automatically if we had done better in our two league games against Ipswich who finished in the bottom half of the table.

At Upton Park we lost 1-0, and then at Portman Road on 31^st January we were thrashed 5-1. A certain Aaron Cresswell was in the Ipswich side for both of those games. Following the 5-1 defeat we began that 18 match run where we lost just once. Victory in just one of those games against Ipswich would have been enough to finish the season as champions. The home defeat was the most annoying one to lose. But all is well that ends well, we secured promotion and Ipswich spent many years in the doldrums. And despite promotion to the Premier League where are Reading now? In the lower half of league one.

The last time we beat Ipswich was in the Championship Play-Off Finals in 2005. After drawing the first leg 2-2 at Upton Park (we were 2-0 up in the first 15 minutes – Zamora and Harewood)), two second half Bobby Zamora goals secured a place in the final in Cardiff where we nervously beat Preston 1-0 – Zamora again.

Ipswich didn’t like playing us in play-off semi-finals. Two years earlier they had won the first leg 1-0 before we came back at Upton Park with Matt Etherington’s superb shot early in the second half and a winner from Christian Dailly following a corner 20 minutes from the end. Unfortunately, our trip to Cardiff for the final that time ended in a 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace. That season Ipswich had finished third in the league 12 points clear of us – we had finished sixth just scraping into the play-offs.

Those of you who are old enough may remember the two games against Ipswich in the semi-final of the FA Cup in 1975. The first game played at Villa Park was possibly one of the most tedious games of football I have ever witnessed. It ended 0-0 with neither side come close to scoring. The return at Stamford Bridge in the snow the following Wednesday was won 2-1 with Alan Taylor scoring both goals, as he had done at Highbury in the quarter-final, and as he did at Wembley when we beat Fulham 2-0 in the final. Ironically, a couple of weeks after our semi-final replay win over Ipswich, and a week before we played in the Cup Final, Ipswich beat us 4-1 in a league game.

Ipswich are now back in the Premier League for the first time since they were last relegated in 2002. They have achieved this with two record-breaking back-to back promotions under the impressive Kieran McKenna and have begun this campaign without a victory in their six games played to date. There was no disgrace losing their opening two games to Liverpool and Manchester City, but since then they have become the draw kings sharing the points with Fulham, Brighton, Southampton and Aston Villa. Their two defeats and four points leaves them 15^th in the current table, one point below us in 14^th. Five of the six teams they have faced so far are currently in the top nine of the Premier League including four of the top six.

In the first half of the season opener against Liverpool, Ipswich started strongly, nullified the Merseysiders attacking threat in the first half, but couldn’t quite match their stronger second half performance and went down 2-0. It didn’t get any easier for the Tractor Boys with a visit to face the champions Manchester City the following week. After surprising their hosts in the first few minutes taking a lead against the run of play, they were 3-1 down after just 15 minutes and ended up losing 4-1 which included a Haaland hat-trick.

They led against Fulham in the next game and were perhaps the better team but were pulled back and drew 1-1. A difficult trip to the Amex Stadium followed and Brighton displayed their attacking skills throughout the game. However a dogged defensive display saw Ipswich hold on for another point in a goalless draw.

Away at St Mary’s in their next game Southampton took the lead in the first few minutes but Ipswich fought throughout for an equaliser, and their relentless never give up attitude saw them snatch a deserved 95^th minute equaliser. Last weekend they took the lead against high flying Villa, fell 2-1 behind and then rallied to equalise the game at 2-2 in the second half with both goals coming from ex-Manchester City player Delap who looks quite a handful. I don’t think he takes throw-ins like his dad though!

Their games to date sum up how it will not be easy for us to beat them this weekend. If we underestimate them they could make us pay. They’ve made some fine acquisitions in the summer to add to the players who have shone in the past couple of seasons. Apart from Delap from City, Hutchinson from Chelsea, Szmodics from Blackburn, the highly skilled Jack Clarke from Sunderland, Greaves from Hull, and Kalvin Phillips (who we never saw the best of, but who is a very good combatative midfielder), they have a superb attacking left back in Leif Davis.

Geoff’s excellent article (published on Tuesday) sums up our season to date. It’s well worth a read and really sums up the current state of affairs at the start of a new season under our new head coach. Excellently described as always Geoff highlights how the players don’t seem to understand much of what the coach is looking for, how the formation and tactics don’t appear to be clear to them, and how they don’t seem to be aware of their roles and responsibilities within the team. He questions whether they even have the necessary skills and ability to follow what the manager wants them to do. It seems like we are watching a group of individuals not a collective team, players not playing in their best positions where they can be most effective (e.g. Kudus), and I just don’t know what Summerville has to do to be picked in the starting eleven.

The sub-heading of Geoff’s article sums it up succinctly in a sentence: “As the stuttering disjointed start to West Ham’s Julen Lopetegui enters its third month we are still awaiting signs that the tactical plan and player capabilities are converging.” Following this game we head off to the second International break after just 7 games of the season. Ridiculous! Lets hope we go into it with our second league win of the campaign