Category: News

Leaves on the line, icy roads and a disappointing January transfer window.  They happen every year and yet we are all still caught by surprise.

As we entered the window there was almost universal agreement that West Ham needed more bodies in the squad; and that was even before serious injuries to key players and a needless suspension added to the toll.  The previous window had closed with a desperate attempt to sign a decent defensive midfielder, the need for which remains glaringly obvious.  Apparently, it did not seem to occur to anyone to line up feasible replacements in advance of the shops re-opening as the club once again stumbled to heroic failure on the last day of the sales.  It is looking like a repeat of the three year search for a right back that only ended with the signing of Pablo Zabaleta – who ironically may now be asked to cover in a defensive midfield role.

Without a shadow of a doubt the current owners are the worst West Ham have had ……..since the last ones and the ones before that.  Rinse and repeat until the club is eventually purchased by a small middle-eastern Emirate or overseas oligarch.  Unfortunately, the club has a history of being accident prone: from Mannygate, Tevezgate, Icelandicsgate through to the hot off the press Henrygate (why would anyone with half a brain put those types of thoughts down in a permanent electronic record?).  With Tony Henry now dismissed I await the announcement of Big Ron Atkinson as the next director of Players We Won’t Eventually Recruit.

With all the off-field shenanigans taking place it is sometimes difficult to remember that there is also a football season going on.  Today West Ham travel to the south coast to face Brighton at the Amex Stadium.  It was only a few months ago that after promising starts to the season you would read many an article praising the exploits of the newly promoted clubs and predicting a season in which, for once, none of the three would be relegated.  Now they each find themselves just a point away from the drop zone and dropping fast.  It would be no surprise if at least one experiences a quick return to the Championship, although with such a congested table picking which one is anyone’s guess.  Of course, our own Hammers are still well within the mix and so there is all to play for in yet another crucial race to the bottom clash this afternoon.

Head to Head

The Hammers have a 100% record at the Amex Stadium having previously won on their only previous visit in October 2011.   The win that day was courtesy of a Kevin Nolan goal in a team where only Mark Noble and Winston Reid still survive in West Ham colours.  Apart from that success West Ham have won on just one more occasion (1978) while losing four times in their nine visits to sunny Sussex.

Brighton memorably romped to a comfortable 3-0 victory at the London Stadium in October in one of the Hammers most incompetent displays of the season.  In the preview to that match I mocked Brighton’s (alleged) tax-avoiding striker Glenn Murray and his double that day means that I won’t be making the same mistake this time around.

Team News

There is better news on the West Ham injury front with Reid, Michail Antonio and Jose Fonte all reported to be available for selection along with the newly recruited Jordan Hugill.

The selection questions for David Moyes will be: whether Zabaleta plays again in midfield with Sam Byram filling in at right wing back; which is the best threesome out of Reid, Fonte, Angelo Ogbonna, Declan Rice and James Collins to bring stability at the back; if Antonio is brought into an attacking midfield role will Kouyate make way (with the risk of ensuing mayhem!) or would that mean Zabaleta returning to wing back with a reliance on the previously suspect Noble/ Kouyate combination in the centre; does he start with Javier Hernandez, Hugill or Antonio as the lone striker?

I will be interested to see Hugill, a player who I admit to never having heard of before Wednesday.  He deserves to be given every chance to show what he can do before any premature conclusions are reached.  He is said to have an admirable never-say-die attitude and great strength although a supposed lack of pace could be a red flag at the top level. A debut goal would be welcome.

Brighton are without Locadia, Brown, Sidwell and Skalak but may give an outing to loan signing Ulloa, a player who often seems to have a productive afternoon against the Hammers.

Man In The Middle

Match-day referee is Roger East from Wiltshire.  East was previously in charge of the 1-0 home win against Swansea in September.  In nineteen games he has awarded sixty-four yellow cards and two reds.

Predictions

Both Lawro and Merson are convinced that this game is a 2-1 home win which would put the Seagulls level pegging with West Ham on twenty-seven points from twenty six points.  With Brighton without a league win in 2018 and with only one win in fourteen, I am looking for the Hammers to prolong their misery for a little while longer.  It will be a tough game and I expect a lot of early pressure from the home team.  If the all-new resolute Hammers can weather that early seaside storm I will back them to win by the odd goal.  Three points from the Amex – that’ll do nicely!

When I was a football-mad young boy growing up in the 1960’s, although you had your favourite team that you supported, many would have a second team that they followed. The comics and magazines aimed at young boys, such as the Tiger, Roy of the Rovers, Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly, Goal, Soccer Star etc. positively encouraged appreciation of players and teams beyond your own. Especially following the 1966 World Cup, when West Ham players were instrumental (to say the least) in England lifting the trophy for the one and only time, many acknowledged us as their favourite second team. I can personally relate to this as when I advertised for pen friends (do youngsters still do this activity these days?) in Soccer Star magazine I was swamped with responses from supporters from all over the country who related to us as their second team to follow.

In the modern social media age apparently liking a team beyond your own is considered a no-no. You have to love the team you follow and hate or despise all others, otherwise you are not a “true supporter”. I’m sorry but I can’t relate to those emotions. I can’t bring myself to actually “hate” any team. I can’t say I particularly care for many of them, and in the Premier League both Stoke and West Brom easily top my list of teams I really don’t like. And though I don’t particularly care for Tottenham either, I have a grudging admiration for some of the football that they play.

Of all the other teams in the Premier League, then if I had to pick a second team, or a team I like to see beat all the others (other than West Ham of course) then it would be Arsenal. I also have a soft spot for Newcastle, Bournemouth and Brighton. These are all for varying reasons that extend back to my youth, and are not particularly strong feelings, other than if I am watching a game on Sky or BT, I will usually want one side to beat the other. I find it hard to watch a game as a strict neutral and have no interest in the outcome. Unlike so many who seem to relish teams from the bottom half beating the big boys, I cannot join that group either. As West Ham are frequently one of the sides involved in the relegation fight these days, then I will usually want one of our “lower in the league” competitors to lose to a top team, purely for the preservation of our Premier League place.

This weekend we visit the South Coast to visit a team that I have a bit of a soft spot for. Nevertheless, although I hope they escape the drop, I also want us to give them a battering equivalent of the one that they gave us at the London Stadium (3-0) towards the end of October. That was just over three months ago, and their first away victory enabled them to move into the top half of the table, while we sat immediately above the three teams in the drop zone at the time, namely Leicester, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace. A lot can change in three months of course, and to illustrate this both Leicester and Bournemouth are now in the top half of the table (8^th and 10^th), with Palace now 13^th, just one place below ourselves. Brighton, on the other hand are now 15^th and are only one point better off than Southampton and Swansea who occupy two of the three relegation places, just above West Brom at the bottom. Ironically the three teams at the bottom now were all between 11^th and 14^th in the league at the end of October.

The battle to avoid the drop is now perhaps the most interesting part of the Premier League. At the start of the season there could have only been a maximum of six possible contenders to win it, and the elite six are as expected well clear of the rest. Manchester City already have the title sewn up so it remains to be seen which three of the chasing five will get into the coveted “top four” for the Champions League slots, and the money that it brings.

You would think that Burnley, Leicester, and possibly Everton probably have enough points in the bag already to avoid relegation, so the remaining eleven teams ranging from Bournemouth on 28 points (but only 5 clear of 18^th / 19^th) down to West Brom on 20 at the bottom are the ones who will provide the most interest in the final third of the season.

If Brighton were to repeat their 3-0 victory over us from earlier this season then they would leapfrog us, whereas if we beat them they could easily find themselves in the bottom three. Whilst all of our remaining games are important, those against the other teams in the bottom eleven are the true six-pointers, and many will set out not to lose, just as ourselves and Palace appeared to settle for a point apiece with a quarter of the game still to go on Tuesday night.

The importance of this game (as I guess all games) cannot be over-emphasised. If we can win then it would take a lot of the pressure off whilst we await the return to fitness of some of our key players. With the extent of our injury list many were surprised that we didn’t bring in more new faces in the transfer window that closed this week. In fact the word surprised is a bit of an understatement if you read any of the damning comments aimed at our board via social media sites.

One thing that disappointed me about the knee-jerk reactions was the negativity aimed at our new recruit, Jordan Hugill. Whilst I would have been more excited by the recruitment of Cairney (from Fulham) or especially Madison (from Norwich) (both midfielders) I am not averse to the club taking on players from a lower level. Many will forget that Billy Bonds, Julian Dicks, Dean Ashton, Alan Devonshire, Aaron Cresswell, and Michail Antonio were all bought from teams at a level below ourselves. I don’t know if Hugill will cut it at the top level, but from what I’ve seen on Championship highlight programmes in the last couple of seasons he is certainly worth a try. He seems to me to be a fully committed, all action, old fashioned centre forward, and I believe that he may surprise a few people. To anyone who hasn’t seen him play I would describe his playing style as “raw Dean Ashton”. It may not work, but then again we’ve bought enough players with much bigger reputations where it didn’t happen.

Recent form is never a particularly good indicator when assessing how West Ham will perform in a game of football. Brighton’s recent home form is poor with just one win in their last nine games at the AMEX. In their last 13 Premier League games Brighton have failed to score in nine of them, and have only scored 5 goals in the other four. Their entry in the “goals for” column is a lower number than any other team for the season as a whole, and they have only scored more than once in just four of their 25 games. So expect a hat full of goals from the home side then! On the other hand we have only lost one of our last ten Premier League games, so it is about time we had another defeat! I expect to see a tight game probably ending in a draw, perhaps 1-1, or even goalless. But I am hoping that we can extend our excellent recent away form in the league, and perhaps sneak a win.

What I am particularly looking forward to though, is watching Mario, Lanzini, and Arnie all playing in the same team. I don’t know how far in the future this will be, but I am expecting great things creatively when it happens. Let us hope that it is sooner rather than later.

If only Michail Antonio had taken the ball to the corner flag or launched it into Sainsbury’s car park rather than chipping it back to the Palace keeper then West Ham might have found theselves sitting in ninth place, above Everton, and seemingly out of the relegation dogfight, which according to most observers comprises only eleven teams.  Then again, that sliding doors moment, may have seen the Hammers remain under the stewardship of Slaven Bilic and his Carry-On-Coaching team with the unimaginable dire consequences that such a situation might have created.

Of all the managerial changes that have taken place in the Premier League so far this season, it is in the boardrooms of the London Stadium and Selhurst Park where the Directors will be most effusively slapping themselves on the back, oblivious to their own poor decision making that led to the respective crises in the first place.  Yet with this season proving that our league is the most competitive in the world (at least as far as relegation places are concerned) the mid-table standing that the two clubs currently enjoy offers little in the way of real comfort.

West Ham will be looking to forget the inconvenience of having to go through the motions of a highly predictable FA Cup defeat by Wigan while Palace will hope to recover from their dreadful defensive display at the Emirates.  Why the schedulers saw fit to arrange so many games in January (and interfere with the far more newsworthy transfer window) is a mystery but the Hammers have the opportunity to start a calendar year unbeaten in their first five league games for the first time since 1974; a run that, back then, eventually extended to ten games either side of a FA Cup defeat to Hereford United.

Head to Head

The last twelve competitive games against Palace show four apiece as far as wins, draws and defeats are concerned.  In the last twelve encounters on home turf (which date back to 1972) West Ham have won six and lost three.

Team News

If a low key and unspectacular exit from the cup was the unspoken objective then there must be huge disappointment that West Ham came away from the game with another serious injury and a long term suspension.  The injury list is a long one, and that it includes bothh Marko Arnautovic and Manuel Lanzini means that any offensive threat will be at a premium.  It is probable that at least a few of the walking wounded out of Mark Noble, Cheikhou Kouyate, Winston Reid, Andre Ayew and Michail Antonio will be available for tonight’s clash.  In the circumstances there must be a temptation to rush Antonio back but past performance suggests that this would be a massive risk.

Almost certainly there will be a first league start for João Mário Naval da Costa Eduardo in midfield and there doesn’t seem any viable alternative to using Javier Hernandez once more as lone striker, despite all the evidence that it is not a role that he is anywhere close to accomplished in.

Palace are not without their own selection problems with Roy Hodgson claiming that he only has eighteen players to choose from.  There is a high probability of their still being one Sakho out on the pitch tonight as the Eagles welcome back defender Mamadou; while Cabaye and Ward are also back in contention for a place. Loftus-Cheek is missing and so it will be Zaha (and his tendency to go off-balance in the penalty area) who carries the greatest threat to the Hammer’s unbeaten run.

The Man in the Middle

Anyone looking for an omen of a lucky referee will be disappointed to see Neil Swarbrick picking up the match-ball when the teams walk out tonight.  Swarbrick was previously in charge of heavy defeats by Newcastle and Liverpool this season.  In seventeen outings during 2017/18, Swarbrick has forty-five yellow cards to his name but remains a red card virgin.

Predictions

Lawro returns to his 1-1 safety net for this clash while Merson expects a 1-2 away victory.  I can see pragmatism ruling the day in this one with both teams adopting a safety first approach that lacks in any real adventure.  My own sense is also a draw and it would be no surprise should it remain a goalless one.

In more straightforward times a cup weekend was an exciting interlude to the muddy slog of everyday league action, a little like a mini-break weekend to somewhere more exotic.  With the fourth round ties reducing the field to sixteen teams, anticipation and dreams of a day out at Wembley would start to creep into supporter’s minds.  A draw against a team from two leagues lower would, despite the Hammer’s penchant for being giant-killer victims, generate images of claret ribbons in the merry month of May.  The modern reality, however, is that even at this relatively advanced stage of the competition the matches for the majority of Premier League clubs (players and managers) are a mere sideshow.  West Ham, like many others, treat the FA Cup as a nice to have and as a far lower priority than collecting the points that will help maintain Premier League status.  Even in the media the Fourth Round very much plays second fiddle to the last days of the transfer window, with the games viewed as an unnecessary interruption to the daily speculation as to who will be the next £50 million import arriving in Manchester.

It is a curious coincidence that today’s opponents are the only team ever to have won the FA Cup and been relegated from the Premier League in the same season.  Since that day in May 2013 Wigan have experienced two relegation’s and one promotion and now find themselves on the verge of another as strong favourites for a return to the Championship.  Whether their fans would have traded the Wembley win for survival, as suggested by David Moyes, is debatable (and perhaps expectations are different at Wigan in any case) but as someone who has had the good fortune to see West Ham in three FA Cup Finals the occasion is certainly among the highlights of a supporter’s life.

The Latics are having an impressive season at the summit of League 1, having lost just three times with a record of most goals scored and least conceded.  In the cup they have already comfortably seen off Premier League Bournemouth (a task that was beyond West Ham) in a replayed game at the DW Stadium earlier this month.  West Ham struggled to elbow past Wigan’s League 1 colleagues, Shrewsbury Town, in the previous round and a growing injury list, which has deprived Moyes of eight players including his entire creative contingent, doesn’t point to an easy afternoon in the north-west.  West Ham’s manager may acknowledge the importance of the cup to fans in public but in private it is sure that his attention will be focused on the midweek game with Palace, his own performance being tied to league stability rather than cup heroics.

There should be a further opportunity for some of the younger players to show what they are made of this afternoon (including the likes of Josh Cullen, Reece Burke and Toni Martinez) but it is up to those senior players still available to demonstrate that they really are Premier League class.  If West Ham are to get a positive result (by which I mean victory as another replay would not really be welcome) then we need performances from players such as Mark Noble, Cheikhou Kouyate, Javier Hernandez and Andre Ayew.

It would be great to get over this fourth round hurdle in the hope that league status and injuries will be more settled by the time that the next round comes around and it is only three games to the final. Unfortunately my sense is that we don’t have the quality or resolve left in the squad to see off a buoyant Wigan side.  Strangely, I do not get the sense that the Latics are in anyway underdogs today.  Hopefully I am wrong but I am not at all confident.

Today’s referee is new to West Ham and goes by the name of Chris Kavanagh from Lancashire, suspiciously near Wigan!

When West Ham met Bournemouth just a few short weeks ago for a Boxing Day fixture the two teams were placed 17^th and 18^th respectively in the Premier League table and were among the favourites for the dreaded drop to the Championship.  Since then both have taken eight points from four games and sit a little more comfortably in what now passes for mid-table at the increasingly congested lower end of league.  According to the bookmakers, there are nine teams more likely to be relegated than the Hammers and seven that are seen to be teetering closer to the precipice than the Cherries.

Boxing Day’s 3-3 drawn game is best remembered for the terrible refereeing by Robert (Call Me Bobby) Madley who saw fit to overrule his linesman’s call and allow an offside goal scored with his hand by Callum Wilson during time added on for Simon Francis’ yellow-card only attempt to decapitate Cheikhou Kouyate.   Interestingly, the website I visit to check referee statistics appears to have mysteriously erased Madley’s involvement in the game from history (http://www.soccerbase.com/referees/referee.sd?referee_id=1189). It seems that there were no sanctions forthcoming as a consequence of Madley’s professional incompetence and he continues to be allocated to major games.  Away from the controversy West Ham were largely outplayed in the match where goals were given away like late Christmas presents in a spirit of seasonal generosity.

Both sides were involved in mid-week FA Cup replay action against League One sides and, while West Ham squeezed past second placed Shrewsbury, Bournemouth were comfortably beaten by leaders Wigan Athletic – who West Ham now face in the 4th round.  It is difficult to draw any conclusions from the outcome of those two games as the unfortunate tendency of Premier League clubs is to to view competing in the early rounds of the FA Cup as optional.  The Hammer’s obvious struggle to break down Shrewsbury’s packed defence was, however, typical of their plodding attempts to win home games against fellow lower table teams.  Thankfully this should be less of an issue in today’s game with Eddie Howe preferring his team to adopt a generally adventurous approach to games whether they are at home or away.

Head to Head

The contest between West Ham and Bournemouth is still in its embryonic stage with the Cherries a relative newcomer to the top table of English football.  The visitors famously mugged us off during the last season at the Boleyn while West Ham were fortunate winners the following season in the inaugural league fixture at the London Stadium.

Team News

One thing for sure is that neither team will line up as they did for their midweek cup games.  West Ham are likely to be still without Winston Reid, Michail Antonio, Andy Carroll, Edmilson Fernandes and Jose Fonte.  The starting eleven could well be a reprise of the one that kicked off against Huddersfield last weekend – not because it is wrong to change a winning team but because there are few alternatives available.  Although such a lineup might be considered defensive minded and not best suited to breaking down a massed defence it might well work against Bournemouth.  If Marko Arnautovic and Manuel Lanzini can repeat last week’s magic and put Bournemouth under pressure then Cherries keeper Begovic and captain Francis are often good for a ricket or two.

Bournemouth are reported to be missing Josh King and former Hammer’s ‘favourites’ Jermaine Defoe and Junior Stanislas.  I watched most of their game against Arsenal last week and once the Gunners went ahead I thought that would be it.  As a big admirer of what Eddie Howe has achieved on the south coast I have always been baffled to understand what on earth prompted him to shell out such big money for Jordan Ibe.  I was commenting on how his performance against Arsenal was as shocking as usual when lo and behold he pops up with the winner.  To avoid tempting fate I will cast no such aspersions this time around.  In the absence of the impressive King, Callum Wilson presents the greatest threat and the West Ham defence need to remain alive to his fine movement.

The Man in The Middle

Referee Martin Atkinson from West Yorkshire covers his fourth Hammers match of the season having previously whistled along to defeats at Old Trafford and at home to Brighton, plus the home draw with Leicester.  No Max Headroom VAR today and so we must rely on his eyes alone (and those of his assistants hopefully) to ensure all is fair.  Atkinson’s record this year is 19 games, 63 yellows and 4 reds.

Predictions

The BBC’s Lawro has shifted momentarily from his uncomfortable position on the fence by forecasting a 2-0 home win for the Hammers.  Sky’s Paul Merson (Football Expert and Columnist) also sees a West Ham win but this time by 2-1.  I am still in a positive frame of mind and will back the rip roaring, free scoring Hammers to canter to a 3-1 win, as our blindside assault on the European places gathers apace.  Time for the London Stadium to be graced by a touch of West Ham style.  Come On You Irons!

It doesn’t seem like long ago that we last faced Bournemouth. I guess that is because it wasn’t that long ago. We faced every other team in the Premier League before we met them, but just a few weeks later here we go again. At least we are spared a third meeting in a month thanks to the fact that Wigan beat them comfortably in the FA Cup third round on Wednesday night, which means that we face a trip to the north-west in round four.

The video assistant refereeing system (VAR) has been much in the news recently after it is beginning to be trialled in some FA Cup matches. When I wrote my book, Goodbye Upton Park, Hello Stratford a couple of years ago I devoted some of the pages within it to championing the VAR as so many decisions seemed to be going against us in that final season at our old ground. If the system had been in operation we may have even finished high enough to qualify for the Champions League, but seeing our performances in the lesser European competition then perhaps it was a good thing!

But no, I am strongly in favour of a system that increases the chances of eliminating errors by officials. The system isn’t perfect and won’t rectify all their mistakes, but it will help. It seems to me in this initial trial period that those people like myself who are in favour reckon it is doing a good job so far, whereas those not in favour do not. Similarly those managers who are benefiting from the decisions are in favour, and those on the receiving end are not. Our own Karren Brady came out in her Sun column most definitely against. It would be interesting to know her reaction if we were relegated by one point this season and then think back to the end of our visit to Bournemouth.

You will remember that we had three points wrapped up in the fourth minute of added on time when Bournemouth scored an offside goal that was also handball. The VAR system would have ruled out the goal (as would any sensible referee who would have done the same after the assistant raised his flag) but inexplicably the goal stood and we are now two points worse off than we would have been.

That means we go into this game five points clear of the drop zone on 25 points, and just one ahead of today’s opponents. If there was any justice then we would be on 27 and they would be on 23. Of course those in opposition to the VAR cite as one of their reasons that poor decisions even themselves out over the course of a season. Of course they do not, but in today’s game I am looking forward to the offside goal scored with an arm by the team in claret and blue that is allowed to stand.

It is the game that no-one at the club wanted as West Ham are forced to fit a 3rd round FA Cup replay against Shrewsbury Town into their busy relegation avoidance schedule. Manager David Moyes was critical of his side’s performance in the original tie but having picked a team lacking any guile and making noises suggesting that the cup was a low priority he was equally as guilty as the players. The FA Cup has thrown up many a giant killing act in its illustrious history (several at our own expense) but too often nowadays they are the result of the giant’s lack of appetite than lower league heroics.

Shoud West Ham, as expected, progress through to the next round they will face either Bournemouth or Wigan, who replay tomorrow, and so at least West Ham will have a day extra to recover than their weekend opponents. With the 4th round tie scheduled a few days before a home game against Palace it would undoubtedly be another game where caution rules the day. In the circumstances it is easy to understand Moyes’ approach as it will be league results (rather than the cup) that not only determines his West Ham fate but also goes a long way to rebuilding his shattered reputation. Disappointing as it is for the fans (especially those giving up their time and money to attend) that league status is prioritised over a cup run, I do not understand anyone who says that they would trade a relegation for cup success – any gratitude would surely be short lived as rebuilding has to start all over again. Not that competing in cup and league need be mutually exclusive and if West Ham were a half dozen points better off then giving the cup a real go would be worth the risk. That we do not have those points is not the fault of the current manager.

Anyone looking for a precedent can take heart that in two of West Ham’s three previous cup winning seasons they were taken to a replay by a team that should have been beaten – Leyton Orient in 1964 and Swindon in 1975. Perhaps if league recovery is maintained and the 4th round negotiated safely the cup could be taken seriously after all.

Since the first game, West Ham romped to a runaway win at Huddersfield while Shrewsbury were well beaten at Blackburn. This may have little relevance to tonight’s clash with Moyes likely to field a weakened side yet again. If that means no Arnautovic and/ or Lanzini as well as the continued absence of Antonio, Carroll, Hernandez and Sakho then it is difficult to see where any goal threat will come from. I am more than happy to see the likes of Burke, Cullen, Oxford and Martinez given another outing but it is folly if not backed up with at least a shot of midfield creativity. Could Hakšabanović be the answer?

I believe we will do enough to go through but it won’t be pretty.