Under The Hammers

Five Takeaways From West Ham’s Weekend

An early set back, a spirited response and a passionate crowd sees highly paid Hammers settle for a Premier League point.

What a Difference a Crowd Makes

Without doubt the crowd played a massive part in lifting the gloom that had surrounded the club in recent weeks and proved that if the players are putting in a shift then the supporters will get behind the team. There remains a lot of animosity towards the Board but venting that anger and frustration without it affecting the team performance is a dilemma. I guess the best way to grab the owner’s attention is through their pockets rather than by match-day protests or Twitter rants. David Moyes would not be the first choice of many supporters but together with his coaching staff deserves the opportunity to prove his worth and show that he can steer the team towards safety. It is not his fault we find ourselves rooted in the bottom three and there was, at least, an indication of improved attitude, energy and spirit during last Friday’s match.

Another Bad Goal Conceded

Going a goal behind after only eight minutes was far from ideal and once again it was the result of a gift from the West Ham defence rather than earned by the guile and ingenuity of Leicester’s players. Inexplicably, Zabaletta had gone walk-about (something he did repeatedly during the course of the game), Reid allowed Vardy too much space to cross and Ogbonna failed to deal with what should have been a routine clearance. Apart from that early glitch the defence look reasonably sound although they were not really tested and it was to the team’s credit that they did not crumble after the early reverse.

Getting The Balance Right

Looking through the squad, even if all the players are fit and available, it is difficult to select an obvious effective starting eleven, such is the imbalance with the players and skills available. While playing three centre backs might look attractive do we have wing-backs competent to both attack and defend? When playing as a back four can we provide adequate defensive cover in midfield? If we play with a lone striker how do we prevent him from becoming isolated? If we play two up front how to avoid being over-run in midfield? In the two Moyes matches to date it looks like Kouyate has been under orders to get forward more to support the striker with Arnautovic also getting into more central positions as his defensive responsibilities allow – in fact Kouyate and Arnautovic have taken up more dangerous positions than Carroll who has preferred to lurk out towards the edge of the area well away from where any crosses are aimed. There were signs on Friday that improved fitness had led to better organization but there is still a long way to go in improving quality; maybe that can come with confidence.

The Wages Explosion

There were reports over the weekend that West Ham were among the top twenty clubs in the world as far as wages paid are concerned. When you look at what has been served up on the pitch over the past year or so you can only conclude that we have been done! Yet the club are likely to present this astonishing fact as something to be proud of. My personal view is that claims that the owners are penny pinching is exaggerated but they really don’t spend their money wisely. A strategy based on players with Premier League experience (any who are likely to be attracted to a mid-table or worse club at that) is always going to be short term and expensive. More money on wages means less money on transfers. The lack of planning at West Ham continues to scupper any notion of continued improvement. A much better scouting network is required to unearth value which is what most other teams at our level try to do. Improving this requires David Sullivan to step away from his de facto role as Director of Football and bring in someone who really knows the game.

Paying The Penalty

What is and what isn’t a penalty continues to bemuse me. At what stage does ‘there wasn’t much contact’ become ‘he was entitled to go down’. And does attempting to stay on your feet mean that it cannot be a penalty? Diving is cheating and one of the curses of the modern game but it seems if you want to get a penalty you must end up on the floor for the referee to award it – and so referees are in effect encouraging it provided the player passes the entitled test. The recent rule of retrospective bans in situations where the referee has been conned is unlikely to make much of a difference.

Will It Be A Black Friday For West Ham Against Leicester?

After being stung in the Hornets nest, West Ham go Foxhunting. But will it be a Black Friday night?

Leicester City, the most unlikely 5000-1 winners of the Premier League just over a season ago are the next visitors to the London Stadium in the first game of the weekend on Friday night. This is their fourth consecutive season in the top flight and their 50^th in their history, compared to our 60. They returned after a period of ten years out in 2014-15, and struggled throughout that season. With 29 games played they had amassed just 19 points and were seven points adrift of safety. They looked odds-on to return to the Championship, but with Nigel Pearson at the helm they won seven of their last nine games to finish on a respectable 41 points in 14^th position, just two places below us. Early in that season we had beaten them 2-0 at Upton Park with goals from Carroll and Downing, but we were the losers in the return, which was one of their seven wins in the run-in, going down 2-1 with Kouyate scoring our goal.

The following season was the stuff of fairy tales and has been written about at length. Suffice to say we will probably have to wait another 5000 years for a repeat. Pearson had been sacked and Ranieri took over to mastermind one of the most astonishing stories in the history of football. They beat us 2-1 at Upton Park in our first home game of the final season there (a Frenchman scored our goal), but we were unlucky in the return at their place near the end of the season, when leading 2-1 in the 95^th minute we failed to retain possession of the ball (just for a change!!) and then Carroll conceded what to most observers was a dubious penalty decision, and we ended with a draw. Carroll and Cresswell were our scorers that day.

Last season (2016-17) they came back down to earth and eventually finished in 12^th place (we finished 11^th). Ranieri was sacked in February after five consecutive defeats, and replaced by Shakespeare, who began his tenure with five straight wins, although four of them were home games, and Hull, Stoke, Sunderland and ourselves were not the most demanding of opponents. They did the double over us winning 1-0 at their place, and 3-2 at the London Stadium, where goals from Lanzini and Ayew were not enough to complete an unlikely comeback in a 3-2 defeat. They did perform exceptionally well in the Champions League, before just going out at the quarter-final stage to Atletico Madrid.

This season, after a poor start winning just one of their first eight games, the Bard himself was sacked and they now have Claude Puel in charge. They have since picked up a creditable 7 points from their last four games and now sit 12^th in the table on 13 points, winning 3, drawing 4 and losing 5 of their 12 games. This puts them out of our reach even if we can manage a victory in this game, but we desperately need to win the match to ensure that we don’t fall further behind in the relegation scrap at the foot of the table. Their away record comprises a win at Swansea, draws at Huddersfield, Bournemouth and Stoke, and defeats at Arsenal and Manchester United.

So many of our players had poor games at Watford that it hard to second guess the team that Moyes will select to try to achieve what would be an important win. One player who did do himself justice was Masuaku who had a fine 20 minute cameo, and I would like to see him selected in a more advanced role than full back. He showed an ability to take on and beat opponents as well as putting in decent crosses. I’d like to see Sakho and possibly Martinez start up front to give us greater mobility in that position, which would mean no place for Carroll who can be a potential liability. Lanzini needs to have a central role to be effective, not stuck out on the left. I hope that Rice enters the manager’s plans, perhaps filling a defensive midfield role protecting the defence, possibly alongside Obiang who has not been at his best recently, but in my view would be preferable to Noble and Kouyate.

When I looked at the bookmakers’ odds for the game, both Leicester and ourselves are currently priced at around 17/10 to win the game, with 23/10 on the draw. Surely we can’t play as badly again as we did at Watford where we were totally outclassed, yet could have possibly scored four goals from clear-cut chances. I would like to think that Hernandez would have made much more of the goalscoring opportunities that fell to Kouyate (twice), Arnautavic and Lanzini, although Gomes did pull off one tremendous double save.

The statistics from the Watford game apparently show that collectively, West Ham players covered more ground than in any other league game this season. But that alone is quite clearly not the answer, and Moyes and his coaching team will have had to work hard this week to try to ensure an improved performance for this game. The atmosphere has been described as “toxic” around the club, and I hate to imagine the reaction if we concede the first goal in the game. Scoring first would give everyone a lift, and that is what we must hope for.

The Latest Must Win Game As West Ham Take On Leicester

Following a shambolic managerial debut can Moyes rally the troops in his first game at the London Stadium?

Right now it is difficult to see how things could get any worse at West Ham but tonight we have another opportunity to find out if it is possible. If everything we read is to be believed supporters, players, management, in-the-know bloggers and probably even Doris the tea lady are verbally slugging it out with each other and amongst themselves. Have the Hammers reached their darkest hour or will there be the faintest glimmer of light to sustain us over the weekend. Unity has been called for but appears a distant, forlorn hope at the moment and it won’t need much more than a slow, nervy start for the Friday night London Stadium atmosphere to descend to an all too familiar toxicity.

Towards the end of the 2014/15 season, West Ham visited the King Power stadium with Leicester languishing at the foot of the table and looking odds-on for relegation. The Foxes famously won, their first victory in nine, and went on to record seven more wins in their last nine games to preserve their Premier League status. The following season they were Champions. Can history repeat itself but in reverse? Yes, I was only joking ……… but taking something from the game, if not quite essential for survival, would be a major lift before that dreadful run of fixtures in December.

Leicester were never going to repeat their heroics of the 2015/16 season as most teams, with the exception of West Ham, got wise to the primary tactic of the ball over the top for Vardy to chase. They did well to keep the majority of that squad together (despite losing the influential Kante and later Drinkwater) but what appeared to be a productive transfer window last summer has yet to bear fruit as they hover around mid-table (but only four points better than ourselves). It is a surprise that they have already changed managers twice since their dream season and also that they saw enough quality in Claude Puel to bring him in as Shakespeare’s replacement. Puel’s previous Southampton side did, of course, stroll to a 3-0 victory at the London Stadium in September last year.

Head to Head

West Ham’s record against Leicester goes back to 1919 and stands evenly balanced with the Hammers having won fifty-one, lost forty-eight with thirty drawn games. In the last twelve encounters West Ham have won four and lost five.

Leicester are looking for a hat-trick of straight wins against the Hammers in London despite West Ham having won eight of the last twelve home clashes.

Team News

It appears that Marko Arnautovic has miraculously recovered from the near death sore thumb trauma and is available for selection along with Andre Ayew who has shaken off his illness. According to reports Michail Antonio, Javier Hernandez, James Collins and Sam Byram are all still out.

Changes are certainly required from the team that failed to impress at Watford; not just because almost every player was hopeless but also because the team was so unbalanced.

I would like to see Arthur Masuaku start but in a midfield role as he and Aaron Cresswell would prove a handful on the left hand side. Maybe give Arnautovic another run out on the right with Manuel Lanzini moving to an attacking central midfield role where he is best suited and can cause more damage. That would leave a choice of two out of Noble/ Obiang and Kouyate in the centre of midfield. In the striker role I would like to see Diafra Sakho start in preference to Andy Carroll and would also prefer to see Adrian between the sticks. Defensive options look to be limited (I am assuming that Moyes will stick with a back four) and it is unlikely that he will be brave enough to give a start to Declan Rice – I am not convinced that Rice is the answer to the midfield frailties.

Leicester have no injury concerns other than the continued absence of the Neanderthal Robert Huth. The main threats will continue to come from the Vardy/ Mahrez combination but hopefully we will at last have woken up to the ball over the top of the defence tactic. The other concern is a reckless Ogbonna tackle on Vardy in the area to concede a needless penalty.

Man in the Middle

Today sees Martin Atkinson of West Yorkshire take charge of his third West Ham game of the season having previously officiated in defeats away at Manchester United and at home to Brighton. Will he finally get to award a West Ham goal? In eight games this season he has shown nineteen yellows and one red cards.

Predictions

Lawro from the BBC sees this as a 1-1 draw while Sky’s Merson predicts a sound 1-3 away win. It will be interesting to see how West Ham approach this game. They badly need something from it and cannot afford a slow and ponderous backwards-sideways start if they want to keep the crowd on side. Will they have finally learned how to stop Vardy exploiting space behind the central defenders? Can they keep the ball long enough to put any sustained pressure on the Leicester defence?

Moyes will not want to lose but cannot afford to set up not to lose as he did at Watford. Puel seems to be from the same unadventurous school of football management. It could be a cagey game but as always a goal can change everything. It has the look of low scoring draw about it to me.

Come in number 9, your time is up?

A shortage of goals and appearances and a worsening disciplinary record have defined Andy Carroll’s West Ham career. Time to cut the losses?

Just imagine that you have a history of stealing cars. Eventually you are caught and are sentenced to a short term in prison for your misdemeanours. In the week leading up to your release you criticise those people who had supported you for years, because they had had enough and had walked out on you. The prison gates slam shut behind you and you are free. You walk out having served your sentence. You spot an unattended car parked at the side of the road and then immediately break into it and drive away. You have only been out of jail for a matter of seconds and you break the same law again. Luckily for you, although there are many people around that see you do it, the policeman walking by probably thinks that you are getting into your own car and somehow doesn’t spot the fact that you have broken into it, although everyone else can see it quite clearly.

We all witnessed a similar scenario last Sunday in the Watford game. David Moyes could quite easily have been managing a team reduced to ten men after six seconds in his first game in charge. With the benefit of hindsight it probably wouldn’t have made much difference, as even with eleven versus eleven we were totally outplayed. To many it looked like Andy Carroll was determined to get himself sent off, just as he had been in his last appearance for us in the Burnley game for which he received the customary ban. I hope that wasn’t really the case, but his style of play, which a few years ago brought him international caps for the unorthodox attributes he brought to a team, now seems to have become even more physical and is attracting even more attention. Money shouldn’t really come into it, but many on social media liked to point out that the amount he earns in a week is considerably more than that earned in a year by virtually every single person who pays to go and watch him and his teammates perform throughout the season.

I was astonished that the referee Andre Marriner didn’t send him off for that early challenge. Of course I was relieved that our numbers wouldn’t be reduced so soon in the game, but couldn’t believe that he missed it. Perhaps it was because the game had only just started, or perhaps he didn’t see it clearly, or perhaps he thought it was an accidental clash, but whatever the reason he didn’t even book him for that (although he did receive a yellow card later in the half). The media were virtually unanimous in their view that he should have seen a red card, and even many of our own fans were reluctantly in agreement with that view.

For much of his time with us I have been a big supporter of his aerial ability and the potential goal threat that he brought to our team. I don’t know if it is the injuries that he has had over the years but to me he doesn’t seem the player he once was. And when he is in the team the players have adopted a route one style, and the managers have followed a game plan to play to his strengths, to the detriment of trying to play the “West Ham way”.

Many argue that the goalscoring statistics for a record signing England international number 9 are not too impressive. He is now into his sixth season and has played in over 100 games for us in the Premier League and scored 30 goals. He has never once reached double figures for us in a season. His supporters will point to his assists and mere presence on the field of play creating goal scoring opportunities for others, but his detractors are not convinced by this and are a little more doubtful of this benefit to the team. In 85 Premier League games for Newcastle and Liverpool before he joined us he scored 21 times, so his top flight record here is merely on a par with his previous tally.

It would be great if he could turn it around and prove his doubters wrong. Many fans cannot see it happening, and would like to see us play without him, using players with greater mobility and pace in attack, and no longer relying on pumping long high balls up to him to win in the air and knock down for others. How many goals have we scored in this fashion, particularly in recent times?

And finally, just a thought on the standard of poor officiating and inability of referees to see things that so many others clearly see, I happened to catch some on the Brighton v Stoke game on Monday evening. Lee Mason was the man in charge, and he made one of the all-time poor decisions in my view. Glenn Murray of Brighton was in the box heading goalwards when his feet were taken away by Ryan Shawcross. The uncompromising Stoke centre back completely missed the ball, and as Murray fell he grabbed hold of the ball, convinced he was about to be awarded a penalty. The ball did not go anywhere near out of play, yet the referee waved away claims for a penalty and pointed for a corner. It either had to be a penalty (which Shawcross admitted in his post-match interview that it definitely was) or either hand ball against Murray. By giving a corner the referee was perhaps trying to compromise, when in fact it was quite a ridiculous award to make. Astonishing.

Some still believe that Andy Carroll should be involved in the England set-up, as he would provide an alternative tactic, especially if England was chasing the game. But it seems that Gareth Southgate doesn’t agree. Perhaps he feels like many others that he doesn’t score regularly enough, or that international referees would not take too kindly to his style of play. It will be interesting to see if he makes the starting line-up tomorrow night.

Five Takeaways: Humdrum Hammers Stung By Hornets

There is no new manager bounce as West Ham once again meekly surrender the points, this time away at Watford.

Nobody Said It Would Be Easy

There was no new manager bounce on show at Vicarage Road and David Moyes will now have a much better idea of the challenge that lies ahead of him. Looking at the immediate fixture list, Moyes must have pencilled this in as one as of the easier games to pick up points from between now and the end of the year, but it was not to be. If there was any discernible difference between this performance and West Ham’s other attempts away from home over the last twelve or so months it was difficult to detect. An energetic, forthright opening frenzy petered out after the first twenty minutes and by then the Hammers had found themselves a goal down courtesy of typically sloppy defending that allowed Watford to get their noses in front. With players absent over the past two weeks on international duty, injuries and a low starting threshold there was little evidence of the new training intensity being translated into something positive on the pitch. Whether it was stamina, confidence or attitude the team looked completely spent beyond the hour mark. It is far too early to finger for Moyes & Co for the poor performance but improvements cannot be too long coming if there is to be any chance of disaster being averted.

Missed Chances and Opportunities

The game plan was very much a safety first one which was clearly undone by the early goal. Watford looked far more comfortable in possession and their familiarity with each other and the ball far exceeded our own efforts and understanding. Even so, the hosts didn’t appear to carry a huge goal threat. Although West Ham had offered nothing going forward, the first half ended with the Hammers squandering two excellent goal scoring opportunities. First Kouyate fluffed his lines from Noble’s fine through ball and then Arnautovic brought a smart save out of Gomes only then to lack conviction in trying to convert the rebound. My mood at half time was (foolishly) optimistic with an expectation that a stiff half time talking-to would galvanise the players enough to drag themselves back into the game. As it turned out West Ham were even worse in the second period allowing Watford to dominate proceedings at their leisure. In the long period of play when Sakho was waiting to replace Carroll (and which ended with Watford scoring their second goal) the ball refused to go out of play as the Hammers collectively demonstrated some of their finest ball watching. For me, it was a clear hand ball in the build up to Richarlison’s goal but that didn’t excuse the halfhearted attempts to prevent it being scored. Ironically, West Ham also had two more gilt edged chances to score in the second half with Kouyate blasting wildly over and Lanzini’s shot lacking both power and accuracy.

Big Reputations

In his post-match comments, Moyes took aim at big reputation players who had failed to deliver. It is a fairly widely held belief that West Ham have a better squad (on paper) than at least half of the other teams in the Premier League. That belief is largely built on the reputations of the players (the fact that they are well known names) rather than any performances that they have been putting in for the last season and a half. Although there were no names mentioned the comment could have been aimed at almost all of the team that turned out yesterday. If level of reputation is synonymous with size of wage packet then the likes of Carroll, Arnautovic, Noble, Reid (and others) might need to take a good long look at themselves. I have to say I am also not convinced by Hart, who despite a very good game at Palace, looks no better than Adrian; he appears rooted to his line (Randolph style) most of the time and is often slow to get down, as he was for the second Watford goal.

Arnie: Will He Be Back?

After Arnautovic’s injury I was half expecting to wake up this morning to news of his obituary. I admit to never having broken (or fractured) a thumb but I have played in matches where much worse has happened and the injured player has never gone into full body convulsions. Maybe it hurts more than I imagine but I can’t help thinking of Stuart Pearce trying to play on with a broken leg. That moment of over acting aside, Arnautovic did get more involved than in most of his previous appearances although much of his work was deep in his own half. He could, and should, have got his name on the score-sheet and also set up the second of Kouyate’s missed chances; a tally which may well have doubled his statistical contribution for the entire season. The introduction of Masuaku, following his departure, was one of the few positives in the whole match for me where he demonstrated nifty footwork and put in some decent crosses during his twenty minute cameo. Masuaku is something of an enigma in that he can flip between top class and pub team player from one week to the next. In truth, he is probably a very decent wide midfield player but not cut out to play at full back.

Whatever Next?

Getting the excuses in early our unfit squad has only five days to improve and prepare before the next time out against Leicester at the London Stadium on Friday night. Perhaps each small, incremental step up in fitness will add some value but the immediate challenge is how to assemble the odds and sods of the squad into a competent, functioning unit in the meantime; we are like a pack of self-assembly furniture where many of the pieces are missing and the instructions are only available in Croatian. The formation that Moyes employed at Watford (or at least the way that it was executed) failed to address the many long standing problems with the lopsided squad that has been put together. Carroll or whoever plays lone striker is isolated, there is no width or penetration in attacking positions, there is little creative influence with Lanzini wasted stranded out on the wing, midfield players do not do enough to support the defence and passing decisions and execution are poor. There is much to improve before a difficult game on Friday.

Yet Another West Ham Era Kicks Off at Vicarage Road

Can David Moyes celebrate his 500th Premier League game and his first at West Ham with a much needed victory?

The stop-start Premier League season returns with West Ham deservedly languishing in the relegation zone with just under a third of matches played. The poor fitness and energy levels shown be the Hammers, which were so obvious for so long to many supporters, were eventually backed up by pundits and statistics and so they go into today’s fixture under the guidance of the club’s sixteenth full-time manager (ten of whom have managed in the Premier League era).

The new buzzword around Rush Green is intensity and initial impressions are that preparation has a more professional and serious look about it than the casual approach employed by the previous regime. Not that fitness is the only area of improvement required to raise the bar of performances to a level more consistent with the talent available within the squad. Only time will tell whether improved fitness will translate to greater movement and cohesion allowing the team to keep and make better use of the ball. To be a decent passing side also needs to have players who are moving into space, ready and willing to receive, in addition to the skilled execution of the pass itself. I am hoping for improvement but not expecting overnight miracles to happen.

Today will be David Moyes’ first game as West Ham manager but his 500^th in the Premier League and he should be given every opportunity to start with the same clean slate from the fans as the one he has offered to his squad.

The players have been really committed to what we’ve asked them to do, they’ve grasped it and got on with it, and I think they’ve embraced it too. We’ve tried to put an awful lot of work into them over the past five or six days.

– David Moyes

Our hosts today were fast out of the new season blocks, under much admired manager Marco Silva, but have fallen away recently with a run of three defeats; a run that included one of the most entertaining games I have seen for a while when Watford had several chances to bury Chelsea at Stamford Bridge but ended up losing 4-2.

Head to Head

Ignoring meetings in the Southern League and war-time cups, fixtures between West Ham and Watford are a relatively recent phenomenon starting with a Division 2 encounter in 1979. Since then the Hammers have generally called the shots winning twenty-four and losing ten of the forty-two games played. More recent history has the balance tilted slightly in favour of the Hornets who have won five and lost four of the last twelve.

On the road West Ham have won six (lost two) of the last twelve visits to Vicarage Road.

Team News

Probable absentees for the Hammers are Javier Hernandez, Michail Antonio, Jose Fonte, Sam Byram and James Collins. It would be no surprise if Winston Reid also missed out following his epic air-miles earning trip to New Zealand and Peru during the international break.

I would expect a conservative team selection for Moyes’ first game in charge with the usual familiar faces although that may include Declan Rice if Reid is considered not to have recovered from his travels. Otherwise there are unlikely to be any surprises with Andy Carroll most probably leading the line. It will be interesting, if slates have truly been wiped clean, to see how players such as Marko Arnautovic, Diafra Sakho and Andre Ayew respond to the reported new intensity and discipline injected into training and behaviour.

He (Moyes) can change everything. It is the first game and he can change. We respect the team and they have a lot of individual quality in their players. We know what we need to do to win the game.

– Marco Silva

Watford are without the long-term injured Chalobah, Success and Cathcart, the suspended Deeney and have doubts about Kabasele, Pereyra, Prodl and Kaboul. It would be a bonus not having to face Pereyra as he and Richarlison are the type of quick, clever players that typically cause West Ham major problems. At the other end it would be a shame if the accident prone Kaboul doesn’t play.

Man in the Middle

A first West Ham outing this season for Andre Marriner from the West Midlands. Marriner’s five Hammer’s games last term saw a win at Swansea, defeats to Manchester City and Chelsea and draws with Stoke and Sunderland. In eleven games this season he has shown one red and twenty-four yellow cards.

Predictions

Lawro and Merson are firmly on the fence with 1-1 draws; a conclusion which look reasonable in the circumstances. Watford can be dangerous in attack but fragile at the back with a defence that has conceded almost as many goals as the Hammers. We are likely to see a cautious approach from Moyes, seeking to frustrate rather than entertain in a situation where picking up points before December’s run of death has to be the overriding priority. If West Ham can keep it tight in defence and in central midfield then they have the potential to hurt Watford on the break and from set pieces; thus I will stick my neck out and go for an encouraging 2-1 victory.

Watford versus West Ham Preview

We’ve already faced the Magpies, Swans, Seagulls, and Eagles this season; can our new manager turn around our form as we go into the Hornets’ Nest?

Now that the furore surrounding the appointment of our new manager has largely died down we can begin to think about the return of our players away on international duty, assess the injury list, and the coaching staff can prepare the team for the important trip around the M25 to Watford on Sunday afternoon. From some of the reactions that I read on social media you would have thought that the board had re-appointed Avram Grant, not a manager who in his career has managed teams to finish in the top eight almost as many times as we have finished in one of those lofty positions in the entire history of the club. Not that he was particularly my first choice, but it may just be that he is the type of manager needed at the present time. He certainly seems to have made some impression in his short time here with the appointment of his backroom team being particularly well received, and the stepping up of the training sessions being very evident on videos released, to replace the usual jokey crossbar challenge and other joviality that came before. The arrival of Stuart Pearce is one that is favoured by many, and it is hoped that he can exert the necessary influence behind the scenes that many thought would be provided by Julian Dicks, but didn’t appear to be in evidence.

Not being a fan of friendly international football I am afraid that I didn’t see a single minute of the two England games in the break. I did, however, see one of the most ridiculous penalty awards of all time which effectively eliminated Northern Ireland from the World Cup finals tournament. I watched a bit of the Republic of Ireland playing in Denmark and thought to myself, why can’t West Ham defend like that? But then I watched some of the return game in Dublin and recognised some classic West Ham style kamikaze defending. Sweden also turned the tables on Italy with a masterful display of defence in the old Italian style, including one of their defenders committing a foul so bad (a knee in the stomach) that would have resulted in an arrest on the street, yet the referee deemed that the Italian forward who controlled the ball on his thigh before being assaulted had handled the ball! Some of the refereeing decisions that I saw in those World Cup qualifiers made me fear for the potential standard of the officials in the World Cup next year.

But for me the Premier League makes a welcome return this weekend. No more interruptions for internationals until March. I watched David Moyes’ press conference and was impressed with his positivity and confidence. This will be his 500^th game as a manager in the Premier League, a total only surpassed by Ferguson, Wenger and Redknapp. I liked the way he answered many of the questions put to him, but the real test will be in what happens on the pitch in the coming games. Watford will not be the easiest away trip, although their form at Vicarage Road has not been as impressive as their form on the road. Their five home games have yielded just five points, with a solitary victory (2-1 v Arsenal) after they had been outplayed by their visitors for much of the game. Home draws against Liverpool and Brighton were certainly better results than we achieved at home against the same teams. A 6-0 reverse at home to Manchester City was an even heavier defeat than most other teams have suffered at the hands of the odds-on favourites for the Premier League title, and they will have been disappointed going down 1-0 to Stoke in their last home fixture.

Victories in their first three away games of the season at Bournemouth, Southampton and Swansea were followed by a draw at West Brom and then two defeats at Chelsea and then Everton. Somehow at Goodison they contrived to turn a 2-0 lead well into the second half into a 3-2 loss and even missed a penalty in the eleventh minute of injury time which would have given them a share of the spoils. After eight games they sat in fourth place in the table, but losing three in a row has seen them drop to ninth. Nevertheless I reckon they would have settled for 15 points and a top half position at this stage of the season.

Our head to head record in games against Watford is a heavily positive won with more than twice as many victories as defeats. In the period from 1984-85 for the next 20 years or so we played them on 23 occasions, winning 19, drawing two, and losing just twice. But the last ten games since then has seen a reversal of fortunes, and we have won just two of the matches, drawn three, and we have been beaten five times.

In the final season at Upton Park we beat them comfortably 3-1 with two Mark Noble penalties following an opening goal from Andy Carroll. How often are we awarded a single penalty in a game, let alone two? Incidentally the referee who gave them to us was (the now not so popular with West Ham fans) Mike Dean.

And who can possibly forget just over a year ago in one of the early games at the London Stadium when we raced into a 2-0 lead (which should have been even more) with two headed goals from Antonio, one from an outrageous rabona cross by a Frenchman who was popular with our fans at the time? We then contrived to concede two goals in the last five minutes of the first half, and a further two in the opening 15 minutes of the second, in a woeful defensive display. Some Watford players even accused our team of showboating when we were two goals ahead. In the return fixture we drew 1-1 with Ayew equalising an early penalty scored by Deeney, and Antonio was sent off close to the end of the game.

What do the bookmakers offer on the game? Watford are close to even money to win, whereas we are around 3/1. The favourite score is 1-1 (as it so often is), which is Lawro’s prediction and is priced at around 11/2. I am hoping that we will benefit from the “new manager factor” and inflict on Watford their fourth league defeat in a row. As each of us have featured in five games this season where four or more goals have been scored, my fun bet will be on a half-time score of 1-1, with West Ham to run out 3-1 winners at the end of the game at 125/1. I’ll add this to West Ham to win and four or more goals to be scored in the game which is priced at 10/1.

Don’t Throw Your Moyes Out Of The Pram

It is hardly the most welcome appointment in history as West Ham look to bring in David Moyes as Slaven Bilic’s replacement.

In true West Ham style the eviction of Slaven Bilic from the manager’s office at the London Stadium turned out to be a long drawn out affair. By the time the axe finally fell anyone who had been even remotely following the dramawould have been fully aware that Slaven was on his way and that his apparent successor would be David Moyes.

Having resisted the temptation to dismiss Bilic in the summer, when time and options were more plentiful, the owners had effectively painted themselves into a corner by tolerating increasingly desperate performances until even they must have known that the team were certain relegation candidates unless immediate changes were made. Although by the end most were in tune with Bilic’s departure (no matter how much of a nice guy he was) it would be difficult (or should that be impossible) to find any supporters who would have had Moyes at the top of their wish list for replacements.

The options at this stage of the season are clearly limited and the attractiveness of the task to anyone already in a job was not worth breaking a contract for. I don’t subscribe to the view that cheap was the key criteria although would dismiss talk of sounding out names such as Ancelloti, Mancini or even Mario Silva as the same fanciful pipe-dreaming that we hear about alleged top striker targets during each transfer window.

West Ham has always liked to represent itself as a family club but increasingly it has the look and feel of one of the many dysfunctional families that regularly turn up in Albert Square; at least if you take notice of the angry brigade that dominate social media. If what we read is true there now exists the perfect storm of disgruntlement on the Twitterverse that encompasses owners, stadium, players and both outgoing and incoming managers.

During my time supporting West Ham I don’t recall there ever being owners that were loved or respected by the majority of supporters. Maybe there have been brief periods of optimism such as the start of the Icelandic Age; but we all know how badly that ended, eventually creating the conditions that allowed Gold and Sullivan to ride in as our ‘saviours’. The club is no doubt in better shape financially under the stewardship of the two Dave’s but it is no more professional on the footballing side that it has ever been; very much stuck in the last century. Although it may not necessarily be for the better but the game has changed immensely over the years. Stumbling along from season to season and crisis to crisis (with the occasional relegation) is not an option for a club hoping to sustain a 50,000 plus stadium no matter how loyal its fan base.

The greatest negligence at the club is in failing to create a structure that provides continuity between the frequent changes of managers/ coaches (which have become inevitable) and to deliver an infrastructure, in the form of competitive and professional training facilities, which will attract and get the best out of their players. West Ham have been left badly behind in both areas. David Sullivan playing at Director of Football is a nonsense and Rush Green is way behind what should be expected at one of the world’s top twenty football clubs.

Despite the shortcomings (!) of the owners, the terrible performances on the pitch were clearly down the manager. Anyone who has regularly watched over the past year and a half must have observed the problems with fitness, tactics, team selection, formations, application and motivation. I don’t profess to understand how our transfer business works but the assumption has to be that the manager has the final say before any player puts pen to paper (even if the board are not prepared to pay the asking price for some of those at the top of his wish list). Working within a budget is a reality for almost all managers and I don’t go along with the view that Bilic was starved of cash, or that he was undermined during his time at the club. It is unfortunate that money has been wasted in paying over the top on wages rather than making that money available for transfer fees. A focus on recruiting experienced (e.g. old) players, an inability to discover young talent from lower leagues and a reluctance to develop youth have all played their part in assembling a squad that, although theoretically talented, is unbalanced and poorly deployed.

What impact Moyes can have (assuming he is the chosen one) is anyone’s guess. Many seem to want him to fail before he has started which is difficult to understand even if he does come across as a miserable bugger. After successful stints at Preston and Everton his career has taken a decidedly downward turn over recent years. The time spent at Manchester United, as Ferguson’s chosen successor, was always going to be a difficult gig and it was a relative failure rather than an absolute one. He was dismissed from Real Sociedad for being average rather than terrible but it was his spell at Sunderland which is the greatest cause for concern. He seemed to make little impression at the Stadium of Light where his apparent defeatist and morose attitude guided the Black Cats to a tame bottom placed finish. The only possible mitigation is that Sunderland was and is a club in massive disarray and irreversible decline; a look at the current Championship table would appear to confirm this.

If West Ham get the Everton era Moyes then he will bring far better organisation and greater levels of fitness to the team. It may not be brilliant to watch but it should be good enough. There is an old joke about two hunters being attacked by a bear where one stops to put on his running shoes. “You can’t outrun a bear” say his partner. “I don’t have to” he replies “I only have to outrun you!” Likewise our task is not necessarily to storm up the league but to do enough to finish above three other sides. In fact, those not wanting a long term engagement with Moyes might prefer our escape to be as narrow as possible so that no contract extension is triggered. For me, anyone who is hoping for failure and relegation (and I have seen some comments to that effect) has a rather twisted outlook; even if the motivation is to bring about a change of ownership.

At the time of writing the other rumour doing the rounds is the possibility of Stuart Pearce coming in as a coach to support Moyes. I don’t have a strong impression for Pearce as manager material but he could have a strong impact in delivering the much needed rocket up the player’s collective backsides. Pretty much anything has to be an upgrade on Bilic surrounding himself with his mates to a point where there was no viable caretaker to step in even on a temporary basis

It looks like Moyes is going to be appointed today and it is only right that he should start with a clean slate whatever the reservations. Can he work wonders in the next three games before we embark on the December of death? It will be a tall order but he deserves our backing and support until experience proves otherwise.

Five Takeaways: West Ham’s Shambolic Self Destruction Against Liverpool

Surely the latest is a series of spineless, self-inflicted surrenders will spell the end of Slaven Bilic’s tenure at West Ham.

The Shots Statistics In Full

Shots Off Target = 5; Shots On Target = 1; Shots Into Own Foot = 4
It was a bright enough opening. West Ham got past the opening fifteen minutes where no-one seems to want to score in a Premier League game these days with some ease and had, in fact, come closest to scoring when Ayew’s shot, from Lanzini’s deflected pass, hit the outside of the post. When the Hammers won a corner and our three centre backs all sauntered up-field I am sure that the gaps they left behind would have been visible from space. A quick Liverpool break resulting with three against Cresswell and it was one-nil. A few moments later it looked like game over as Noble supplied his first assist on the season to set Liverpool up for their second. The briefest glimmer of hope, early in the second half, from a smartly taken Lanzini goal was quickly extinguished by another rush of gung-ho defending that left keeper Hart grounded with a resigned WTF look on his face. The final goal was purely academic but was again the result of shambolic defensive organisation that involved lots of pointing but little positioning. It was just lucky that Liverpool themselves had an off-day and barely needed to break sweat.

The Lost Art of Preparation and Coaching

For once it was not a lack of fitness or effort that caused the Hammer’s downfall but it was disturbing at just how quickly heads dropped after the opening goal. Defensive suspensions and injuries hadn’t helped in selections but the defence has hardly been a strong point even with a fully fit and available squad to choose from. Who could have imagined that Fernandes would do a job at wing back against the returning Mane? It is plainly obvious that preparation and attention to detail is not a core competence in the current coaching set-up. Rather than it being form that is poor it is discipline and organisation that is missing. I can only describe Bilic’s style of play as anarchic (or anarchico as it really needs to have an Italian name) where players are allowed to do what they want, when they want. The notion that players do not need to be tightly coached and expertly drilled, given the small margins at play in top level sport, is beyond belief. Although it is always tempting to focus on individual errors those apparent errors are more often than not caused by collective disorganisation.

Were There Any Positives?

The only West Ham player who looked like he belonged in the Premier League on the strength of yesterday’s performance was Manuel Lanzini. It is not difficult to imagine him in a Liverpool shirt by the start of next season (but hopefully not that aberration of a third kit sported yesterday as if it was a goalkeeper’s fancy dress party!) Lanzini aside the best performance of the evening was from the Bugler who topped anything else I have witnessed from the Remembrance observations over the last two weekends. There was one thing that I heard on a commentary that amused me laugh when it was suggested that Slaven Bilic was making use of all his offensive tools. That I found the idea of Carroll and Sakho described as offensive tools to be one of the match highlights shows how starved we have become of entertainment.

Has Anyone Thrown The Towel In Yet?

I was fully expecting an announcement that the axe had fallen on Slaven Bilic’s reign at the London Stadium before this article was ready for publication. Surely it is now simply a question of timing. The image of our manager looking forlorn and lost on the touchline, like Bambi after his mother had been shot, and you sense that putting him out of his misery is the kindest thing all round. The International Break at least provides breathing space for someone to try to re-arrange the current shambles into the semblance of a football team. Sticking for a moment longer with Bilic suggests certain relegation to me. It is not too late for someone to come in and knock what should be a mid-table squad into shape. Assuming that we take no points off the top six clubs then our target is to pick a point and a half per game against the rest for safety (over the course of a season.) Currently we are just three points behind that target and so all is not yet lost provided action is taken.

Jobs For The Moyes

The strong media speculation and bookmakers seem to point to David Moyes taking over, possibly with a contract to the end of the season. He would not be my first choice as a next level manager but beggars can’t be choosers and the better opportunity for change was missed in the summer. It is difficult to know how to assess Moyes. He had a good record at Everton, picked up something of a poison chalice at Old Trafford (despite being recommended by Sir Alex) and was woeful at Sunderland. My big fear is that there are too many parallels between ourselves and Sunderland where a big shiny stadium is expected by those in charge to guarantee success. With Moyes it won’t be pretty but, in my opinion, it should be effective enough, at least for the remainder of the season. As a longer term solution I am not excited either by his dour demeanour and how that is reflected on the pitch. Equally, I wouldn’t be happy with the return of Allardyce or Pardew. Perhaps some exciting young coaches working alongside the manager could help freshen things up and avoid a repeat of what we have now where the manager has surrounded himself with his mates leaving no caretaker option available.

Memories of West Ham games against Liverpool in the last 55 years

A collection of memories from an encounter that has never been the most productive for West Ham over the years.

Our head to head record against Liverpool is an appalling one. In 135 competitive games in the league, cups, and charity shield, we have won just 28, drawn 36, and lost 71. I guess that this is not too surprising given Liverpool’s record as one of the top teams in the country over a long period of time.

Our final season at the Boleyn (2015-16) was as good as it gets against them with three victories and a draw in the four games. We won comfortably (3-0) at Anfield at the end of August, after which the manager (Brendan Rodgers) lost his job to be replaced by Jurgen Klopp. We also won the return league fixture at Upton Park, as well as drawing at Anfield in the FA Cup, then beating them after extra-time in the replay.

In 2014-15 there was an amazing start to the game at Upton Park. First, Reid scored from close range after a couple of minutes, and then Sakho floated in the second with Valencia following it in to make sure. Just a few minutes gone and we were 2-0 up. On the half hour Sterling lashed in a fierce shot in front of the Bobby Moore end to reduce our lead. However we held the advantage throughout the second half, and just a couple of minutes from the end a pass from Downing enabled Amaltifano to make the game safe with a clinical finish.

In the ill-fated relegation season under Avram Grant (2010-11) an inspired performance from Scott Parker (not his only inspired performance in a claret and blue shirt) was the catalyst for another victory. Parker himself opened the scoring with a fine shot, and then Demba Ba headed home Gary O’Neill’s cross. Yet another old boy then scored against us when Glenn Johnson pulled one back in the last ten minutes. But Carlton Cole wrapped up the three points with a scorching left footed strike in front of the fans in the Bobby Moore stand to seal a 3-1 victory. This was our nineteenth meeting against Liverpool in the twenty-first century, but was only our second win!

We all know the statistic about how long we went without winning at Anfield (1963-2015). But in that cup winning season of 1963-64, not only did we win at Anfield in September 1963 (with the Beatles at the top of the charts with “She Loves You”), but we also won the home game, with a Johnny Byrne goal giving us a 1-0 win. At around the time of that Anfield victory, another Merseyside group, Gerry & the Pacemakers, recorded their single “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. It became number one in November and, of course, went on to become a Liverpool anthem.

When we met Liverpool in a League Cup fourth round tie in November 1988, few gave us much chance as we had failed to beat them at home or away for over six years. But a spectacular volley half way through the first half followed by a Devonshire corner headed home meant that we led 2-0 with both goals being scored by everyone’s favourite, Paul Ince. We don’t easily hold on to 2-0 leads against Liverpool and this game was no exception when they were awarded a controversial penalty which was converted by Aldridge. So 2-1 at half-time and the next goal would be important. But the story has a happy ending with a Staunton own goal followed by a stunning Tony Gale free kick giving us a famous 4-1 victory. That season ended on a low note with a 5-1 defeat at Anfield which relegated us to Division 2 and set Liverpool up for a title decider against Arsenal with a distinct advantage. But they lost out to virtually the last kick of the league season when a Michael Thomas goal gave the Gunners a decisive 2-0 victory and the title on the virtue of goals scored in the season with points and goal difference being equal.

The highest profile games against Liverpool were played on neutral grounds. In our record breaking season of 1980-81, the only season in almost sixty years of watching West Ham I have seen us finish at the top of a league, albeit it was Division Two, we reached the League Cup Final against them. At the time they were the top team in the country. It looked like we were about to lose the game when Alan Kennedy scored just before the end of extra time (it was 0-0 after 90 minutes), but in the final minute we were awarded a penalty, and Ray Stewart was the coolest person in Wembley Stadium when he stepped up and slotted home the well-deserved equaliser.

The galling thing about the Liverpool goal was that Sammy Lee was crouching on the ground immediately in front of Phil Parkes, our goalkeeper, in an offside position and the linesman raised his flag to signal offside. He was over-ruled by the infamous referee Clive Thomas (who was not averse to controversial decisions) who deemed that although Lee was in an offside position he was not interfering with play. Anybody who was there, or who has watched the TV replay of the goal would agree that this was nonsensical, he was most definitely interfering with play as he had to duck his head to avoid being hit by the ball!

The League Cup controversy sparked a major incident when John Lyall told Thomas at the end of the game that we felt cheated, and then Thomas blurted to the press that Lyall had called him a cheat. Lyall faced an FA charge of bringing the game into disrepute, although he was exonerated at the hearing. The replay was held at Villa Park. Despite taking the lead when Jimmy Neighbour’s cross was met at the near post by Paul Goddard, Dalglish equalised with a magnificent volley and then Alan Hansen scored a header via Billy Bonds’ thigh. This time we couldn’t come back and Liverpool lifted the trophy.

In 2006 we visited the Millenium Stadium for the third season in a row, although this time no play-offs were involved, we were contesting the FA Cup Final against Liverpool. This was the sixth and last FA Cup Final to be held in Cardiff during the rebuilding of Wembley Stadium. Liverpool had won the first in 2001 but we were determined that they wouldn’t win the last. The game was considered to be one of the great cup finals. We made an excellent start with a Lionel Scaloni cross being turned into his own goal by Carragher, and then an Etherington shot was fumbled by Reina for Ashton to squirm the ball into the goal. We were in dreamland. Our 2-0 lead was shortlived, however, when Scaloni misjudged a long ball from Gerrard which Cissé volleyed home to cut the deficit in half. Ten minutes into the second half Gerrard volleyed home a headed knockdown by Peter Crouch to level the game at 2-2.

Incredibly we went ahead again 25 minutes from the end when Paul Konchesky’s long floated cross-cum shot sailed over the head of Reina to put us 3-2 ahead. With the game in injury time Liverpool were out on their feet and it looked as though the cup was ours. Scaloni could have put the ball out high into the stands, or just kept possession, but chose to hand it to our opponents and seconds later it fell to Gerrard who hit a stinging low shot from around 30 yards into the bottom corner of the net to take the game into extra time. I thought back to this moment when Antonio did something similar in the last seconds of injury time against Palace last weekend! Liverpool had the momentum in extra time but extraordinary misses by Reo-Coker and Harewood meant that it would take a penalty shoot out to decide the victors. It was perhaps one of the most one sided penalty shoot outs of all time in a major final. Zamora, Konchesky and Ferdinand all contrived to miss with substitute Sheringham scoring our only penalty as we lost 3-1. The cup was ours and then we lost it. Twenty-six years after our previous FA cup victory we should have lifted the trophy again, but it was not to be.