Match – Page 80 – Under The Hammers

Manchester City Preview

Can we continue our fine recent league form against an inconsistent City team?

Manchester City began the season as the bookmakers’ favourites to land the Premier League title. The arrival of Pep Guardiola, who many saw as the best manager in world football, was considered to be a master stroke, and many felt it would ensure that the title returned to the Etihad Stadium. But, despite six wins on the trot in their first six games of the season, which shortened their odds of finishing at the top, they have since been inconsistent for a team destined to win the league. On paper, those first six games did not appear to be the toughest, apart from perhaps a visit to their Manchester neighbours. But they won them all relatively comfortably, scoring eighteen goals in the process and conceding just five.

But in their next sixteen games they have suffered five defeats at the hands of Tottenham, Chelsea, Leicester, Liverpool and Everton. More worryingly perhaps, for a team who had high hopes, they have had four draws at home against Everton, Southampton, Middlesbrough and Tottenham. Had they won those four they would be sitting comfortably in second place, just four points behind the leaders, Chelsea.

But as it is, with just sixteen games of the season to go, they find themselves two points outside of the top four places, and with a fight on their hands to qualify for a Champions League place next season. Their cup performances have been more consistent, and despite being eliminated from the League Cup by their neighbours, they have progressed to the fifth round of the FA Cup where they have an away tie at Huddersfield, and to the last sixteen of the Champions League where they will face Monaco.

Of course they have already beaten us twice this season, 3-1 in the league at the end of August, and then the 5-0 thrashing in the FA Cup third round on our ground. In the league game, despite City scoring twice in the opening twenty minutes, we fought back with a goal from Antonio in the second half, and it took a goal in added-on time to finally seal the three points.

Guardiola has been criticised for his choice of goalkeeper to replace Joe Hart, and has been very touchy when interviewed on this subject by the media. Some statistics (on shot stopping) put Bravo, their keeper, near the bottom of the league of Premier League custodians, but of course the figures cannot take into account the quality of the shots that he has faced. Nevertheless the general consensus is that his performances have not been of the quality needed for a team hoping to win the title, although some blame must also be attached to their ageing defence, who have missed their captain, Kompany, for almost the whole of the season. This is one area that I hope we can exploit in the game. They have conceded 28 goals in their 22 league games, a figure that exceeds the four teams above them in the league, as well as four teams below them, including Middlesbrough who sit in sixteenth place!

Their attacking play, when it is on song, as it unfortunately was in the cup game here, is entertaining to watch, and their 43 goals scored (more away from the Etihad than at home!) is only bettered by the current top four. But their seven wins, four draws, and five defeats in their last sixteen league matches emphasises their inconsistency, and we shouldn’t go into the game fearing a repeat of the cup drubbing a few weeks ago. In fact our current league form, with five wins in our last seven league games, is far superior to their four wins in their last nine league games. On that basis, the bookmaker odds on offer, where we are quoted as around 5/1 to win the game, and City at around 2/1 on, would appear to be wide of the mark, but of course the two games where we have faced each other this season tell another story.

Nonetheless it is to be hoped that the apparent improved spirit following the removal of a certain Frenchman from the team (and now his subsequent departure), will mean that we can at least get something out of the game. With my trusty optimistic hat on I am hoping for a narrow win, perhaps 2-1, although a 2-2 draw may be a more realistic bet.

It will be interesting to see the team that our manager selects. Randolph will be in goal, and I expect a back four of Byram, Reid, Fonte and Cresswell. Kouyate has returned from the African Nations Cup, but whether he returns directly into the team is open to debate. For me, Obiang, Lanzini, Carroll and Antonio are certain starters, and he will almost certainly pick Noble. Of course new signing Snodgrass will be pushing for a place in the starting line-up as will Feghouli. Unfortunately Diafra Sakho is unlikely to be available until March, and it remains to be seen if we sign a striker on deadline day (I am writing this the day before). Bilic appears to have cooled on the prospect of signing Hogan from Brentford (I wonder if he really fancied him in the first place, perhaps hoping that Sunderland would part with Defoe?).

Now that Payet has gone for a reputed £25 million, we have money to spend, but I am uncertain as to the wisdom of doing so; perhaps we should wait until the summer now that we are virtually safe from getting involved in the scrap at the bottom end of the table? However many of our fans on social media are still desperate for a striker and a right-back. Calleri’s deflected goal will probably keep him in the squad, but he hasn’t convinced many yet (apart from the manager perhaps?), and Fletcher is perpetually on the fringe (surprisingly seemingly behind Calleri in the pecking order?).

And I’m not sure our manager could pick a right back based on his history (Antonio and Nordtveit don’t do it for me in this position). It was good to see that Martinez scored within minutes of coming on for his debut at Oxford. It was a well-taken goal, and he certainly looks a fine prospect. But then so does Reece Oxford, but he hasn’t been given a chance yet either! And I haven’t mentioned Fernandes who is another that I like.

I wonder if we will bring anyone in on deadline day tomorrow? Perhaps the long-awaited marquee signing? I won’t hold my breath.

Middlesbrough 1 West Ham 3

Our eighth win of the season sees us move into the top half of the table. Can we push on to match last season’s seventh placed finish?

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Andy Carroll celebrated his 28^th birthday earlier this month. A lad from Gateshead on the outskirts of Newcastle, he made his senior debut for the Geordies shortly before his eighteenth birthday, and his Premier League debut for them in February 2007, almost ten years ago. He made a total of seven senior appearances for them in his first season, four of which were in the Premier League, but didn’t score any goals. The following season he made six senior appearances for them, again without scoring, and went on loan to Preston in the Championship where he scored one goal in twelve appearances.

In 2008-09 he returned to the North-East and made a total of 16 senior appearances, scoring three goals, in a season where Newcastle were relegated to the Championship. They won promotion back to the top flight straight away, and in that season he became a regular in the team, appearing 42 times and scoring 19 goals. When they returned to the Premier League he scored 11 goals in 19 games, and on the last day of the transfer window in January 2011, halfway through the season, he was bought by Liverpool for around £35 million to replace the departing Fernando Torres. He had an injury and was unable to make his debut until near the end of that term, appearing just seven times and scoring twice.

He then spent a full season with Liverpool, making more appearances than ever before (or since), turning out for them 47 times in League and Cup, scoring 9 goals. Brendan Rogers didn’t fancy him, so after just two games in 2012-13 he came on loan to us, probably largely due to his close connection with Kevin Nolan, his friend and former captain of the Geordies, who was of course closely connected himself to our manager at the time, Big Sam.

At the time of coming here he had played around 85 games in the Premier League and had scored around 20 goals. It’s a bit of a myth that he has been injury-prone throughout his career, as before he joined us he had certainly played fairly regularly. He has been described as an old-fashioned centre-forward, and many call for him to be in the England squad because he provides “something different”. At times he is reckoned to be unplayable, though those times have been restricted over the years. He does have nine England caps (he was first capped in 2010) and has scored twice for his country.

So we are now mid-way through his fifth season with us. At the end of the loan period he became our record signing at the time at around £15 million. He became an instant favourite with many fans when he joined us, mainly because of his all-action commitment. But some felt that, in view of his ability in the air, and the way Big Sam liked to play, he restricted the way in which the team played, often lumping long high balls to him and hoping for knock-downs.

So before he came here he was never a prolific goalscorer, and in his time with us he has never reached double figures in goals in any one season. Of course one of the reasons for this is that in his West Ham career he has been injury-prone, and has just gone past 100 senior appearances, with the Middlesbrough game being his 90^th Premier league appearance for us in four and a half seasons. In that time he has scored 28 Premier League goals at a rate of just under one in every three games. He has appeared in just over half of the Premier League games that have been played during his time here.

So, along came the “Payexit” controversy just over one week ago, and the fans needed a new “hero”. Up stepped Andy Carroll. A magnificent bicycle kick against Palace has been followed by two goals away at Middlesbrough. I think this is the first time he has scored two goals in an away game for us. A trademark bullet header was followed by a poachers goal, following up Antonio’s shot. He was then withdrawn midway through the second half as a precaution with a “tight groin”. We missed him for his defensive qualities, especially at corners, as much as his efforts in leading the line.

But two wins in a week, five wins in the last seven, and a place in the top half of the table, and suddenly all is well with the West Ham world again. Dimitri Who they say, and perhaps he will be on his way sooner rather than later, and soon forgotten. He was magnificent for a season, but will never be a legend because of the way it has all turned sour now. Let us hope that Andy Carroll can stay injury-free for a long period, and be one of the new heroes going forward. At his best he is a valuable asset.

I write “one” of the new heroes as I’d like to see an end to the “he’s our best player” constantly levelled in Payet’s direction. Let’s have a group of heroes / superstars. Reid, Lanzini, Antonio and Carroll perhaps, and even others. The best teams have always been like this; Moore, Hurst, Peters and Byrne; Bonds, Brooking and Devonshire; Best, Charlton and Law. Even the world’s best like Messi and Ronaldo have to share their superman status with others. Messi, Neymar, Suarez and Iniesta; Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema.

It has been a good week on the playing side. It will be interesting to see what happens in the last few days of the transfer window. With the news re Ogbonna, at least all those who took to social media expressing incredulity at the signing of Fonte, can now perhaps see why it happened.

Our eighth win of the season sees us move into tenth place. I wonder if we can build on this and push towards emulating last season’s seventh placed finish. With the start we had that may be a bit too much to ask, but let’s hope that we can continue upwards.

5 Observations from victory at the Riverside

West Ham nudge back into the top half of the Premier League table for the first time since August.

A Fine Well Deserved Victory

West Ham deserved their victory. Take no notice of ‘Boro dominated possession’, or that ‘West Ham rode their luck’ or even ‘Boro will feel aggrieved not to have taken something from the match’. I thought everyone understood by now that possession statistics do not define a match; it is what you do with that possession that matters. The Hammers created more and crafted the better chances; in addition to the three goals scored there were at least three more (Antonio twice and Lanzini) that could easily have been converted on another day. It was a job well done for Bilic’s team and for the second week running there was far greater cohesion to the team. Most supporters have already consigned Payet to the historic hall of infamy even if pundits, commentators and journalists are desperate to keep the story alive. Sure he had some exceptional attributes but no one player should be the focus of every attacking move and there is now (at least on the evidence of the last two games) far more of a collective teamwork ethic on show. How to integrate that fractious Gallic talent into a team should now be someone else’s problem. His refusal to play is an insult to the supporters and there can be no way back from that. The criticism of Middlesbrough’s fans by manager Aitor Karanka after yesterday’s game may well come back to haunt him for similar reasons.

Four Get Tight at the Back

It was a well disciplined defensive effort from the team yesterday that makes it just 5 goals conceded in the last 7 league games (we will conveniently overlook the cup mauling by Manchester City); a vast improvement on the average of two goals per game we were shipping previously. As with other aspects of football, defending is a team responsibility and not just something that the back 3 or 4 have to be concerned with. The Boro goal was well-worked but began with carelessness in the midfield where we had committed too many forward and we were hit by a quick counter attack; something that should not have happened at that stage of the game. A better balanced back four with real full-backs and the continued fine form of Pedro Obiang as the primary defensive midfielder otherwise contributed to keeping Boro chances to a minimum. The confidence at the back was highlighted in the brief ‘showboating’ moment were Cresswell played a one-two off the bar onto Reid’s chest and back into Randolph’s gloves. Winston Reid was again outstanding; is there a finer centre back in the league at the moment and his cross-field pass that led to the early Antonio chance wasn’t bad for a player said to have poor distribution. Fair play also to Angelo Ogbonna for playing on through his injury and I wish him the best of luck with the surgery and subsequent recovery.

Wingers or Wide Midfielders?

Generally, the mention of any player described as a winger generates a negative Pavlovian reaction in me. In my mind, I visualise a player with lots of speed but with little skill or application. Imagine Aaron Lennon or Andros Townsend and their head down, knock the ball forward, hare after it and cross it into the crowd technique. One in every ten games they will play a blinder before resuming normal service. On Wikipedia, Gareth Bale is described as a winger and I would make an exception for him as I would also, on the evidence of one match, for Adama Traore who was electric all afternoon for Boro. Traore was a real threat who caused West Ham problems all afternoon even when we doubled up on him. If anything Byram dealt with him better in the second half than Cresswell had in the first. In our own camp the likes of Feghouli, Ayew and Tore (is he still around?) are usually categorised in the winger basket and over the last few weeks we have now had a better chance to look at Feghouli. Instinctively, I do not have high hopes for him as he has no real pace, does too little work off the ball and is not brave enough for the English game. An attacking right sided midfielder needs to be asking more questions and the answer is not Andre Ayew.

Carroll: A Man of Many Parts

I can’t help but be impressed by the new improved Andy Carroll Mk 2. He is scoring goals but more important is the work that he is putting in elsewhere on the pitch; getting involved in link up play, holding and passing well and heading away almost every opposition corner. When he left the field yesterday the biggest danger to the team (in the circumstances or protecting the lead) was the loss of his defensive contribution. I admit that I didn’t think he had these types of performances in him and I don’t recall it being on show for the majority of his time at the club. Two well taken goals, the trademark bullet header followed by a typical poacher’s goal, have resulted in the annual call for an England re-call; which worryingly usually heralds a new injury set-back. I haven’t seen any update on the reason why he left the field yesterday but let’s hope he can stay in one piece. His departure gave us the opportunity to have another look at Jonathan Calleri who, before being spotted on the bench last weekend, I had assumed had returned to South America. Coming on for the last 20 minutes one might expect to see someone full of running and energy to prove a point but he seemed quite content to jog around for the most part. In his time on the pitch he managed to miss one very good chance before scoring an added time goal which I was convinced would be chalked up as an own goal. Despite the goal I still find it surprising that he was preferred over Ashley Fletcher.

Bilic Back on Song

It was pleasing to see a more upbeat Bilic in the post-match press interviews. Perversely, the Payet situation has worked to his advantage by creating a spirit in the squad that appeared to be missing previously. Sitting in a top half position in the table he now has time and a further opportunity to show what he can do without any undue pressure; a target of 8^th place should not be an unreasonable or unattainable one looking at the other clubs around us. I do have my reservations about Slaven and some of his tactical, selection and recruitment decisions take some understanding – but now is the chance for him to prove the doubters wrong. The final week or so of the transfer window could make interesting viewing (or at least the last day or two of it) as the danger of relegation recedes and with just the two more league fixtures before the ACON is completed. A couple of inspired signings in addition to Jose Fonte could put a reasonable complexion on the season after all.

Ratings: Randolph (7), Byram (7), Reid (9), Ogbonna (7), Cresswell (6), Obiang (8), Noble (6), Feghouli (5), Lanzini(7), Antonio (7), Carroll (9) Subs: Fernandes (6), Calleri (5), Collins (6)

West Ham down @ the Riverside

Can the long trip north to face the ‘smoggies’ end with another breath of fresh air for the Irons?

Boro West Ham Owners, managers and players may come and go but there are certain characteristics of following West Ham that appear eternal; excursions ‘oop’ north being rarely fruitful, complacency rather confidence flowing from an encouraging performance and any team or player on a long run of misfortune seeing it come to an end it against the Hammers. So a long trek to the frozen and inhospitable north-east, off the back of a solid win against Palace to play a team that has only scored once in their last four league games ticks all the boxes marked disappointment.

[Andy Carroll]’s got a whiplash injury. He then trained Tuesday very hard, he was brilliant in training, but then reported some neck pain. But as I say, hopefully he will be okay. We have a few with knocks – Winston Reid has a painful one and Sam Byram has a knock on his knee, it was swollen and he missed training on Wednesday. Also Sofiane Feghouli missed training on Wednesday because of a minor problem with his Achilles. But I’m very optimistic that all of them are going to be fit for the game on Saturday.

– Slaven Bilic on injuries

Middlesbrough have been a member of the football league since 1899 and their haul of one League Cup and one Anglo-Scottish Cup makes our own trophy cabinet look cluttered by comparison. The most notable things that I can recall about Boro are: that they paid the first £1,000 transfer fee, to buy Alf Common, in 1905 (£110,000 in today’s money); that Brian Clough scored an incredible 197 goals in 213 appearances for them; that they were once relegated after having a points deduction for failing to fulfil a fixture against Blackburn Rovers; and that the most interesting game on their home soil was when North Korea beat Italy at Ayresome Park in a 1966 world cup group match. Despite their lack of success I believe most football supporters will acknowledge the excellent job done by Steve Gibson during his time as board member and chairman of the club; an associated that commenced in 1986.

The challenge for West Ham today is to show that the togetherness shown last weekend was not just a one-off reaction to the Payet palaver and can be harnessed once more against the parsimonious Teesiders.

Head to Head

West Ham’s record against Middlesbrough is one of those that reflects a mirror home versus away image. Overall we have had a few more wins while they have scored more goals; but on the whole it is very even. Our last visit to the Riverside Stadium in November 2011 ended in a 2-0 victory with a goal apiece from lethal strikers Piquionne and Cole. Mark Noble is the sole survivor from the 13 players that featured for West Ham that day.

In the last 12 league encounters there have been 5 West Ham wins, 4 draws and 3 defeats.

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Sequence
Home	30	17	6	7	47	30	DDWDWW
Away	31	8	7	16	30	53	WLDWLL
	61	25	13	23	77	83

Team News

No new long term injuries are reported for the Hammers and the three players with knocks (Reid, Byram and Feghouli) should all be available as should Andy Carroll who had suffered an unusual whiplash injury either in scoring his memorable bicycle kick goal or celebrating it afterwards. We can but hope that common sense prevails today and that we start with Byram at right back and with Antonio just behind Carroll in a sort of 4-4-1-1 formation. It is possible to get too hung up about formations and a good team needs to be adaptable and retain a degree of fluidity; we were close to showing that in the second half performance against Palace.

“He [Andy Carroll] is a player you always have to be careful of – but if we are just looking at him, [Michail] Antonio can score or [Sofiane] Feghouli can score or [Manuel] Lanzini can score… or anyone,”

– Aitor Karanka talking up our chances

Typically our first transfer signing of the latest window came too late to feature this afternoon. Jose Fonte had not played for Saints since the game against Everton on 2 January (in his last two games they conceded 7 goals). In West Ham terms this means a minimum of four weeks to get match fit before picking up a serious injury in training. The Fonte signing is rather underwhelming to me for although Fonte is a decent player he is the wrong age profile for a club that is, at the same time, ambitious and prone to counting the pennies. A possible mitigation to the transfer is the rumour that one of our centre-backs is carrying an injury that requires immediate surgery. If that is the case then we should hope it is Ogbonna rather than Reid.

For Middlesbrough, Gaston Ramirez and Antonio Barragan are injured and Daniel Ayala is suspended but new signing Patrick Bamford is available to play.

As often happens I will allow hope to triumph over expectation and will go for a narrow West Ham win.

Man in the Middle

Martin Atkinson from West Yorkshire is the referee today. Previously this season he was in charge when we lost at home to Watford and when we won away at Palace, famously sending off Aaron Cresswell for two harsh/ incorrect yellow card offences in one minute. In 20 games this season (all competitions) he has administered 83 Yellow cards plus that single, solitary, spurious Red.

Middlesbrough Preview

Can we continue where we left off in the second half against Palace?

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After the euphoria of our magnificent second half performance against Palace last week, we head to the North-East to face what I believe to be one of the most uninteresting teams in the Premier League, Middlesbrough. They certainly do not seem to play in games where there are many goals, and they are the only team in the League where the average goals per game (for both sides playing) is less than 2. With just 39 goals scored by them and their opponents combined in 21 games, I guess (although I haven’t checked), that they usually feature later on Match of the Day than we do.

They have scored a paltry 17 goals in 21 games, the least in the league, with only one goal in their last four games. Southampton are the next lowest on 19. Defensively, though, they are one of the top teams in the division, having conceded only 22 goals, a figure bettered by only Tottenham, Chelsea, and Manchester United. So on past performance this season we shouldn’t expect a lot of goals in the game.

They currently sit in 16^th place in the table, just four points above the relegation zone, and will no doubt be hoping that their excellent defensive record will keep them out of the bottom three. They will certainly hope that they are clear of the drop zone as the season nears the end, as in four of their final six matches they face Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool.

In the season to date they are the draw specialists of the Premier League, having drawn eight of the 21 games (they have won four and lost nine). Their draws included a 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture at the London Stadium at the beginning of October, when a wonderful individual effort from a French international player who doesn’t want to play for us anymore rescued a point. The four teams they have beaten are their North-East neighbours, Sunderland, plus Bournemouth, Hull and Swansea. Of course we have beaten the same four teams plus Burnley and Palace (twice).

One player we need to watch out for is Middlesbrough’s leading scorer, Negredo, who is on a season-long loan from Valencia, having previously been at Manchester City in recent times. Negredo has only scored (I believe) 14 goals in all the time he has spent in England, but five of them have come against West Ham! Another one of the opposition who we know well is Stewart Downing, although he appears to have fallen out of favour in recent times. They paid a lot of money to buy Jordan Rhodes from Blackburn on transfer deadline day a year ago (the fee was undisclosed, although Blackburn had previously rejected an offer of £10 million for him), but he barely gets a look in and hasn’t scored in his rare appearances this season. On 18 January they completed the transfer of Patrick Bamford from Chelsea for £6million. When he was on loan there previously in 2014-15 he scored 19 goals in 44 appearances, so he has been bought to improve their poor scoring record. I wonder if he will be in the team?

Changing the subject, I have another statistic for those people who are interested in the effect on our results of our move to the London Stadium. So far this season we have played 11 games at home in the league and have accrued 17 points. Last season we had one of our best ever seasons in recent years, and our highest points total ever achieved in the Premier League era. So how many points do you think that we picked up at “fortress” Upton Park in the first 11 games there in that last record breaking season? Yes, you are right – 17!

Our failing this season has really come away from home. Last season we collected 16 points in our first 10 away games of the season, whereas this time around we have only picked up 8 from the same number of games. The difference in points accrued for the season to date can be accounted for solely by our away form; our home form (in terms of points picked up, if not level of performance) is identical.

The transfer window continues to let in a draught, if not any players, at the time of writing. Are we waiting on Payet’s potential exit to free up money to buy players and pay salaries within the Financial Fair Play limits? I’m afraid that the Profitability and Sustainability rules within Financial Fair Play leave me cold, and I fail to understand how they work. At first glance they appear to be totally in favour of helping big clubs get bigger, and making it virtually impossible for other clubs to close the gap. But what do I know?

I keep reading about Hogan, Snodgrass, Defoe and others but I guess we’ll have to keep on waiting until the window is about to slam shut to see if anything happens. Our position in the table is looking more comfortable now, and I hope we don’t just throw good money after short-term fixes to appease the fans who are desperate to see new players. Of course we need a right back and a goalscorer, but let’s hope that any incoming players are ones that can actually improve the team as opposed to the squad. Geoff summed up the situation well in his article Sliding Through The Transfer Window on January 18, so I’ll add no more here.

Back to the game, I would guess that there won’t be too many goals, but I am hoping for us to continue where we left off against Palace and record our third away win of the season. I’ll go for 2-1.

As I write this at 9pm on the eve of the game I note that Fonte has finally put pen to paper. No news yet re Hogan, or any other signings, and conflicting reports regarding the exit of Payet. Fonte is a surprise signing in some respects, although having seen some Southampton games, I am convinced that he is a signing that will add to the quality of the actual team, as opposed to just the squad. He is obviously not a long term acquisition, but I guess fewer and fewer players are these days. Is it me, or are our transfer dealings more protracted than those of other clubs?

West Ham 3 v 0 Palace

What constitutes a great goal?

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When I wrote my book, Goodbye Upton Park, Hello Stratford, I posed this very question in Chapter 23, where I wrote about my 60 favourite West Ham goals. Goals can be scored in a variety of ways. A spectacular volley, a long range screamer, a team goal scored as a culmination of a number of passes, a deflection, an element of luck, a tap in, a goal which requires superb technique. These are just some of the ways that a goal can be scored. A goal can seem greater, and hence remembered more, if it is a critical goal in a close match, as opposed to say, one of the goals scored in a one-sided game. But however it is scored doesn’t really matter because in the final analysis, every one counts as a goal; you don’t get anything extra based on the degree of difficulty.

I think that my colleague, and co-weblogger, Geoff, is particularly fond of team goals, and I like those too, although my absolute favourites tend to be those that require great technique. My favourite goal of all time was scored by Martin Peters against Leicester in November 1968. This was a team move that went from one end of the pitch to the other, culminating in Peters’ superb technique in hitting a volley from a ball that came over his shoulder, and his thunderous shot that almost decapitated Shilton in the opposition goal as it sped into the roof of the North Bank net.

My second favourite (in 2001) came from a corner taken by Schemmel, who played the ball in the air to Joe Cole who was standing near the corner of the penalty area. With a couple of touches and masterful ball control, without the ball touching the ground, Joe volleyed the ball to the opposite side, where Trevor Sinclair took off, and with an acrobatic scissor kick blasted the ball into the corner of the Derby net.

Number 3 was a volley scored by Harry Redknapp of all people, the winning goal in a 4-3 victory over QPR. Once again this was a great team move ending in a stunning volley from Harry. This goal had almost everything, a superb build up, pin-point cross, brilliant finish, and winning goal, all in one.

On Saturday we were treated to another goal that will live long in the memory from Andy Carroll. A good move was ended when Antonio’s cross, perhaps a couple of yards behind where he was aiming, was met by a stunning overhead scissor kick, with great technique, and unstoppable power. The goal put us two ahead, which was an important time in the match. It reminded me, for both technique and power, of a stunning goal scored by Trevor Sinclair before he joined us, for QPR against Barnsley which was goal of the season in 1997, although I only saw it on TV.

Our first goal wasn’t bad either. Antonio, when put through rounded the keeper, who did a good impression of Adrian (or David James, perhaps) in coming out for a ball when he shouldn’t have, and his ball across the goal (probably an attempt to score) was finished off by Feghouli. The first goal in a game is always important, and this came at a time when our improved second half performance needed a goal.

And our third goal which finally sealed the victory was another counter attack, a length of the pitch move, with a perfectly released ball from Antonio that still left Lanzini which half of the pitch to cover, before once again, excellent technique in dinking the ball over the keeper who left his goal to narrow the angle.

All in all, a very satisfying victory over our old manager who, incredibly seemed to suggest that his team were better than us. After the week of being in the news, thanks to a Frenchman (who has scored some excellent goals himself for us in the past year) who apparently doesn’t want to play for us any more, it was an excellent second half performance (the first half was certainly forgettable). Andy Carroll summed it up nicely when he declared in his post-match interview that no individual is more important than the club, and the support from the stands for the manager was noisy and emotional.

The win took us up to twelfth in the table, nine points clear of the relegation zone, and just one win away from the top half of the table. In my pre-match preview I expressed the hope that the events of the past week would have a galvanising effect on the team, and that was most certainly the case. Some excellent individual performances from Byram, on as a second half substitute, Reid, Obiang (as always), Antonio, and Carroll were important, but the spirit of the team as a whole shone through, even though some of our players have not been at their best this season.

I’m not sure when “assists” started to be recorded, but I wonder when was the last time one of our players contributed with three assists in a game? Great credit to Antonio, who apparently spent all day Friday in bed with the flu, but still insisted that he was fit enough to play the next day. His attitude and commitment put a certain French footballer to shame.

5 Observations from the Palace

The stereotypical game of two halves as West Ham react to dismiss Fat Sam’s Palace

First Half Drab…..

Before our game kicked off I had watched that team from north London demolish a shell-shocked West Bromwich Albion with a scintillating and clinical brand of stylish football. At half time in our own game I was imagining writing a downbeat review of how far behind our near neighbours we had fallen. If we are ever to drag ourselves away from the also-ran pack then they are the team we need to target, being the next significant step up on the money ladder from us. It is distressing to see them performing so well but it would be churlish not to admire their style, organisation and effort. The sooner that someone comes in to poach Pochettino the better or there is a real danger that they could actually win something and how insufferable would that be? The first half of the West Ham v Palace game was totally forgettable in comparison. A smart volley just over from Andy Carroll at one end and a glaring James Tomkins miss at the other after Michail Antonio had gone to sleep (Ogbonna style) were about as interesting as it got. West Ham were lacking in confidence and ideas and Fat Sam was too busy respecting the point to capitalise.

Second Half Fab!

The game changed completely at half time and it was no coincidence that the introduction of a proper right back and changing to a back four was the catalyst. Antonio was released from his wasted wing back berth to play up with (or just behind) Carroll and the team looked more balanced and threatening as a result. Fat Sam claimed that his side were the better team for 70 minutes and defeat was the result of gifting West Ham all 3 goals but that is nonsense. The reason Palace lost was that they lacked the enterprise to take advantage of a vulnerable West Ham side in the first half and were then totally outplayed in the second. Apart from a little late flurry they were never at the races. In the end a lot of credit to the players, fans and coaching staff for putting the distractions of the week behind them and putting some swagger back into their play. As predicted the most name checked player on the TV commentary was Dimitri Payet although the emphasis changed from bemoaning the absence of his creative assist generating genius in the first half to praising the response of the team to his absence in the second. Time to take this new found togetherness and build on it at Middlesbrough next weekend.

Right Back Where We Started From

I was hoping that we would see Sam Byram feature at some stage during the game but it still came as a (positive) surprise that he was introduced as early as half time and that it was Angelo Ogbonna who was replaced. James Collins has his flaws but you cannot fault his commitment and he is as good as anyone when up against a lump such as Benteke. I didn’t hear any suggestion that Ogbonna was injured so assume it was just a very good decision; or else Ogbonna had fallen asleep in the dressing room during the interval. Having Byram back from injury is a major boost and I believe he is certainly good enough to be trusted as a regular starter. He defends robustly but also gets forward well and provides a far better option than a converted winger or centre back in that position. Backup is still required during the transfer window, however, as with Byram there is always the danger of another injury (given his record) and the certainty of a suspension (given his record). In 9 starts and 5 substitute appearances since moving to West Ham he has accumulated an impressive 8 yellow cards. Elsewhere in defence there were steady performances from Winston Reid and Collins with Aaron Cresswell rather subdued once more.

The Middle Men

The change of formation at half time theoretically gave Palace a numerical advantage in midfield but you would never have known it as West Ham dominated the second period of the game. It was encouraging, in fact, to note that there was a less obvious separation between midfield and strikers than we normally see with both Carroll and Antonio dropping back to provide extra bodies in the middle and Manuel Lanzini and Sofiane Feghouli pushing further forward when required. Mark Noble had an uneven game and was guilty of giving the ball away cheaply on many occasions and yet did extremely well to create our only chance of the first half and in putting Antonio through in the lead up to our first goal. There are still far too many backwards triangles with Noble particularly involving Collins which are often pointless and serve to limit momentum. Lanzini showed his usual enthusiasm and was always available and willing to run with the ball. It was great to see him maintain his goal-scoring record against Palace, with his final kick of the game, and it was a great reaction from Fernandes who was waiting to come on as his replacement. My personal jury is still out regarding Feghouli. Fantastic that he scored his first goal and that appeared to give him a massive lift; but I would still need to be convinced about his strength, speed and stamina to perform at this level. He has earned the right to prove that he can do it and looks a better option at the moment than Ayew. It will be interesting to know whether the stories about him leaving during the transfer window have any substance.

Men of the Match

The two stand-out performers in the game were Carroll and Antonio. Touching as much wood as I can lay my hands on it looks like Andy could be on a decent injury free streak and he certainly looks to be full of energy and commitment at the moment. My reservation with Carroll is not so much about his own abilities but that having someone in the team whose main attribute is strength in the air tends to have too great an influence on the way the team plays overall. This didn’t happen yesterday and Carroll showed several neat touches with the ball at his feet. His goal was nothing less than spectacular and featured a strike that requires tremendous technique to execute. You could argue that the defending was poor but ironically I believe that Antonio’s cross was slightly misplaced; the intended target being Carroll’s head. This is what everyone was expecting and it is to Carroll’s great credit that he was able to react, adjust and connect in the way that he did. Antonio ended the day with 3 assist and for someone who had been ill in bed the day before with flu (OK so it may only have been man flu) he performed exceptionally well. Now that’s what I call commitment, Dimi! The wonder of the Carroll strike overshadowed another delightful goal rounded off by Lanzini’s run and dink over the keeper from Antonio’s pass. Overall a most satisfactory outcome to the afternoon’s entertainment.

Ratings: Randolph (6), Collins (6), Reid (7), Ogbonna (5), Antonio (8), Noble (6), Obiang (7), Feghouli (6), Lanzini (7), Cresswell (6), Carroll (8). Subs: Byram (7)

Palace Preview

The return of Big Sam (again) and James Tompkins, as we look for three points to further cement our mid-table position and pull further away from the relegation zone

Pardew Allardyce

He has only been gone for a season and a half, but our previous manager is back for the second time. Last season Big Sam did the Red Adair job at Sunderland, and now he has been employed in the same capacity by Palace to try to turn their season around. In between he managed England for a game, before a newspaper sting caught him out and forced him out of a role that he had coveted for his whole career.

His start has not been an auspicious one, and in their last game they lost at home to Swansea. That meant that Swansea did the double over them, winning 5-4 in an extraordinary game at the end of November, before a late goal gave them a 2-1 victory at Selhurst Park.

Now we have the chance to complete our first double of the season (we only did the double over one team in the Premier League last season – Liverpool). A first half Lanzini goal was enough to take the spoils at Palace, although the day was marred slightly by another ridiculous sending off when Cresswell was dismissed by Martin Atkinson, after picking up two yellow cards within a minute. The first was for a dive that wasn’t a dive, the second was for a foul that was barely a foul!

Palace actually started the season well and by the end of September were seven points ahead of us. As they now trail us by six points, and we haven’t had the best of seasons, it goes to show what an alarming slump they have had. Of course that resulted in the sack for another of our old managers, Alan Pardew, who once again demonstrated that he can have have a good effect at a club for a while, and then everything goes wrong. He’d done it before for us, and at Newcastle.

After picking up just one point in their opening three fixtures, three wins on the bounce with a convincing 4-1 victory at home to Stoke sandwiched between away victories in the North-East over Middlesbrough and Sunderland, left them in the top half of the table. But they have only won once since, a 3-0 victory at home to Southampton early in December. They now sit just one point and one place above the drop zone in seventeenth place.

They made three big signings in the summer with Bentecke, Townsend, and our own James Tompkins costing them around £50 million. Their net spend wasn’t so big though, as they recouped around £43 million with the sales of Bolasie, Gayle, McCarthy and Jedinak. Speaking to some Palace supporters, they are not too impressed with Tompkins, although you can’t help thinking he would have got a decent amount of playing time had he remained with us, especially after we fell into the three at the back system. He would have been ideally suited to play on the right side of that. Many fans could not understand why we let him go, but I’m not sure he is good enough to take us to the next level. But supporters often have a greater affinity with “one of our own”.

Palace is one of those fixtures where we must look for three points to cement our mid-table position and hopefully push on in the remainder of the season. The major talking point surrounding the game will be the Payet revelation that he doesn’t want to play for us anymore. I am hoping for a galvanising effect on the team as a whole, and as a result I fully expect us to win, but I feel like that for most games. Perhaps 2-1?

West Ham 0 v 5 Manchester City

Calm down, calm down (part two)

Calm Down Image

I find it interesting to read fans views which say that the current performance of the team is the worst ever, this manager is the worst ever, we have the worst board ever, and the stadium is the sole reason for our current position. Even fans who have been supporting the club for many years claim to hold some of these views. I beg to differ.

Despite our exit from the three cup competitions in which we took part, which is certainly not satisfactory, we still sit in 13^th place in the Premier League at the turn of the year, roughly midway through the season. On the other hand we are just one win away from being in the top half of the table, but seven points clear of the relegation places. In our last ten seasons in the top tier our position on January 1 each season was as follows:

2015-16 (8), 2014-15 (6), 2013-14 (19), 2012-13 (12), 2010-11 (19), 2009-10 (17), 2008-09 (10), 2007-08 (9), 2006-07 (18), 2005-06 (10). Average of the last 10 = 13^th!

So Slaven Bilic is the worst manager ever? There are some short memories I believe. Where shall I start? Who remembers Macari, Roeder, Grant, Allardyce, Pardew, Zola? Even John Lyall, who is revered by many, and who took us to our best ever league position when we finished third in 1985-86, took us down twice.

This is the worst board ever? Really? Yes they need to learn to keep their mouths shut at times. I’d love to play cards with them – I reckon they reveal their hand too easily. But who remembers Brown (the Bond scheme debacle), or the Icelandics (who almost bankrupted us)? Yes there were some poor signings in the summer, and they must take their share of the blame for that, but was it all their doing? How much say does the manager have?

Some write that the stadium is to blame; if only we could go back to Upton Park they say. Look back at the statistics. Was the Boleyn Ground really a fortress? No it wasn’t. The board and many others believe it was the only chance of trying to move to the next level. It hasn’t happened, yet, but it might. But there is no going back now. We can’t continue to harp on about it, and hide behind it for some poor performances. Yes, sure, there are a few tourists; that will happen, there will always be a handful, but we haven’t got 20,000 people sitting down eating popcorn, or asking who the players are. In my opinion such a lot is out of proportion to reality.

Another theory I’ve heard bandied about is the size of the pitch. Well the pitch at the London Stadium is 105 metres x 68 metres, exactly meeting the standard that the Premier League want all clubs to have. More than half of them do. If the stadium doesn’t allow it then a smaller pitch is permissible. Upton Park was one of those examples. The pitch there was 68 metres wide too, but was just over 4 metres shorter in length than the London Stadium. Does size matter? Do the extra two metres in each half of the field really make a difference? When we played so well against Chelsea, did we reduce the pitch size?

In reality I believe there are a number of reasons for a season that, to date, is just an average one in the history of our football club. The summer transfer dealings didn’t improve the team as many hoped they would. The board haven’t succeeded in attracting the right players for us to move upwards. The manager doesn’t appear to have a clear strategy with the players at his disposal. The players have not performed as they did last season for whatever reason. We have had, not for the first time, more than our fair share of injuries to key players. We are in transition stadium-wise. Many other clubs found it hard at first, but they adapted and became used to new surroundings.

But let’s get it all into perspective. It is not the worst season ever. It is certainly not the best either. It is just another average season in the history of West Ham United Football Club. Our average finishing league position in the last fifty years in the top flight is around 12^th to 13^th. We are on course for another average finish. Of course the fans want better. I’m sure the board, the manager, and the players want better. I want better. This is my 59^th season of supporting the club. But as so many people eventually find out, that well-worn phrase, be careful what you wish for.

It may be that the season gets worse from here. If so, changes will have to be made. If it gets better then we (or at least some of us) will be happy for the time being. But whichever direction it does head in, we may not be the best, and we may not be the worst. We are West Ham. Usually, somewhere in the middle of the top tier. But that’s what supporting the club is all about. Perhaps it is the sheer unpredictability that we love. We never know what to expect from one season to another, from one game to another, and even from the first half to the second half of a game. Some will disagree but that’s how I see it!

Click Here to Read Part One of this Article

West Ham 0 v 5 Manchester City

Calm down, calm down (part one)

EPL Money In the aftermath of the massively disappointing defeat at the hands of Manchester City on Friday night, social media went into overdrive, possibly exceeding what has gone before this season. I guess that the match being shown live on terrestrial television had something to do with it. Virtually no credit was given to our opponents who played some breathtaking stuff at times, just as Arsenal did a few weeks ago. Quite frankly after the first 25 minutes we could not live with them. But then once again, a soft penalty was awarded to a top team. How often does this happen? They are better than us anyway, there is no need to give them an unfair advantage! Yes, to some extent we capitulated in the second half, but I don’t believe it was lack of effort. We just have to accept that we are not good enough to compete with the best.

Once, in a training exercise in the work environment, we were asked to come out with one thing that we really liked about social media, and something that we didn’t like. I liked the fact it enabled individuals to express an opinion which could be seen instantly by many people, sometimes thousands of them. For the dislike I toyed between the anonymity that social media provided, which meant that individuals often make derogatory or rude comments about others that they wouldn’t make to their face, or alternatively, the inability of people as a whole to accept that others have a point of view that may differ from their own. I guess the latter is a fact of modern life that seems to be shared by so many who believe that their opinion must be right, and any other views are not acceptable. I found that much of this was in evidence on social media in the immediate aftermath of the game, and has even continued in the couple of days that have elapsed since then.

In my view (and I accept there may be alternative views!) the top 6 teams are now getting further away from the rest of the Premier League than ever before. The three London clubs, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham, in conjunction with the three north-western giants of the two Manchester clubs and Liverpool, have so much more money than the rest, despite the massive injection of TV cash that some thought might equalise the situation. Of course, many who disagree with this will point to last season when the “Big 6” didn’t occupy the top six places, and the title was in fact won by a rank outsider, Leicester. For me this was a complete one-off freak season that I cannot see being repeated. And when you think about it, despite their indifferent seasons, all of the Big 6 finished in the top 10, despite the interlopers like Leicester, West Ham, Southampton and Stoke.

The Big 6 are showing an even greater domination of the Premier League this season, and I don’t think many would disagree that they will finish way ahead of the chasing pack. These are the same top six clubs that occupied the first six places in 2014-15. The season before, 2013-14, these six finished in the top 7, the other team to join the party were Everton. In 2012-13 we had the same situation, that is 6 out of 7 plus Everton. When we were relegated in 2010-11 it was the same top 6 plus Everton were seventh. In 2009-10 the Big 6 finished in the first seven, this time Villa crept in to the group and Everton were 8^th. Can you see the pattern here? The top six are consistently much too good for the others over the course of a season, although there are some short-term minor blips. Everton are the next team down in the pecking order.

After last season, the expectation of fans for this season went through the roof, and partly this may have been fuelled by the board, insisting that to compete with the very top clubs we needed to move into a bigger stadium, enabling us to significantly increase our income. This is probably true to some extent, although many will point to Leicester, whose ground capacity and revenue falls well short of our own when we were still at Upton Park, and despite this they still managed to come out on top.

For more than 20 years the accountancy firm Deloitte has produced revenue statistics of football clubs. It is released in February each year relating to the season most recently finished. Generally you can measure the league success of teams by their income, and in broad terms the income league table is not too dissimilar to the current Premier League table. The top six clubs mentioned previously are the top six in the income league table too, albeit in a slightly different order. In income terms we sit in tenth place which is close to our league position, too. The same is true of most clubs in the Premier League. The problem for lower teams is that the gap is getting wider, hence the reason to move to a larger stadium where possible, just to try to halt the growth in the income gap.

To be continued …..