Under The Hammers

5 Lacklustre Lessons from the Stadium of Blight

More points thrown away as West Ham stumble towards the Premier League finishing like a marathon runner who has hit the wall.

The Worst Manager Still in a Job Award

And the nominations are: David Moyes at Sunderland and Slaven Bilic at West Ham. Actually, I think Moyes wins this one quite comfortably despite Slaven giving him a decent run for his money. There are some things about football management that have always puzzled me. Why are there no English managers? How can a manager appear astute and organised at one club but completely lost at another? How can a season of fresh air be followed so swiftly by one that smells so badly?

The football style or philosophy of Slaven Bilic remains a enigmatic mystery and his organisation, selections and tactics have frequently been found wanting. It is odd that he still has a lot of backing among supporters. If the attributes for the job are passion, being a nice guy and ‘getting’ us then you could easily pull a few out of the crowd to do the job each week; just as Harry did with a fan during that pre-season friendly. It is upsetting how things have worked out but we have been going backwards all season…….and fast.

Going Through a Darren Spell

Just what you have to do to lose your place if you are one of the manager’s mates is bizarre. It was apparent some weeks ago that Randolph has too many weaknesses to be a Number 1 at Premier League level. In these days where every match is recorded and analysed it is no surprise that opposition coaches identify these weaknesses and attempt to exploit them. Perhaps we don’t yet have video technology in our own training HQ cabin. Randolph has been clearly at fault for a string of goals over the past couple of months (more than any other player according to Opta) and a better keeper would have prevented both yesterday, even though the first might well have been disallowed for a foul. Only a stupid or stubborn manager would not realise that it was time to make a change between the sticks, unless Adrian has been pencilled in at right back next week.

Perm Any 11 from 24

I am convinced that Slaven picks his preferred eleven players and then decides on the formation he is going to play to accommodate them. This can be the only reason behind the square peg, round hole strategy. There is no doubt that injuries have again been a curse but whether it is a case of bad luck or bad judgement is uncertain. Losing Obiang, Reid and Antonio is most unfortunate but the injury prone nature of our strikers has been obvious for all to see for a long time. I was pleased to see Fernandes get a start and do believe he can become a good player (with a decent re-sale value). However, he is not a defensive midfielder and with Kouyate also lacking the discipline we were never going to control the central areas in order to dominate the game even against a team as poor as Sunderland. Still the manager believes that midfielders are mutually interchangeable which invariable results in them turning out in their least effective positions.

Injuries, Suspensions and Fallings Out

With Sam Byram’s yellow card return averaging at one card every other appearance there was always a good chance that suspension for our only right back was never going to be very far away. He was arguably unfortunate to pick up the first card yesterday but the second was much more clear cut. With Byram joining Noble on the suspended list, a host of players in the sick bay, Sakho apparently back on the naughty step (presumably with Arbeloa) and Tore missing presumed dead, selection for next week’s game against Romelu Lukaku is going to be a fascinating one. The squad is full of dead wood now. In fact, of the team that featured yesterday I would only be disappointed if Lanzini, Fernandes, Kouyate and Masuaku were not around next season.

Distressed Football Club Seeks Benefactor

The positive from yesterday was that both Hull and Swansea lost (and that Defoe did not score). There is an extraordinary slim chance that both teams will get enough points to overtake our own tally particularly given the respective goal differences, and even though there is ample opportunity for us to ship a shed load of goals against Everton, Tottenham and Liverpool. Thanks to there being at least three worse teams we should now be safe. My expectation now is for a massively under-achieving 16^th place finish. Looking on the bright side it is roughly where Manchester City finished in their first season away from Maine Road. Any sign of a pot of gold (not David) on the horizon?

I Wouldn't Bet On It 38

A win at last keeps out betting pot alive.

Fancy A Bet

At last we had a win. Just like West Ham who beat Swansea 1-0 to give us a much needed boost. We had one winning bet:

20 points on West Ham to beat Swansea at 21/20 (41)

This brings our balance back up to 46 points.

This week we take on Sunderland who already look like they are down. We’ll keep it simple with two bets:

20 points on West Ham to beat Sunderland @13/10 (46)
6 points on West Ham to win to nil @3/1 (24)

Total stake 26 points bringing our balance down to 20 points.

The potential returns are in brackets. Can we make it two wins and two clean sheets on the bounce?

What are the chances?

Matchday: Hammers take on the Black Cats

In what has the feel of a contractual obligation encounter can West Ham finally put an end to the Black Cats multiple lives?

Sunderland West Ham We are all familiar with the cartoon character who has run off the edge of a cliff, legs continuing to race furiously, but who is suspended in midair defying the laws of gravity until finally noticing their own predicament. That is how I see Sunderland’s plight right now. We all know what is going to happen but they have just not quite accepted the reality. Very soon they will be hurtling at spend towards the Championship and, no doubt, once at the bottom a huge anvil will land on David Moyes head creating an enormous bump to appear on the top. They have, of course, teetered on the brink for many seasons but this time there can be no cartoon braces snagged on a tree trunk to catapult them back to safety as they did under the guidance of old friends Di Canio and Allardyce previously.

Sunderland have now lost six and drawn one in a goal-less run of seven league matches. In fact, they have scored just once in the eleven games since their 4-0 win at Crystal Palace in early February. If only there was a fixture coming up against a perennially obliging visiting team, with an even worse defensive record than the bottom placed hosts, who were also missing their three best players through injury and their captain through suspension!

It’s a big game for us, Sunderland are desperate for a win and we are looking to win to secure or get closer to securing safety. Every win gives you a boost, especially after five defeats in a row. The confidence is back but the belief was permanent and we never lost it.

– Slaven Bilic

Having put an end to their own losing run last week, West Ham still need a few extra points to extinguish any lingering concerns about joining Sunderland in the abyss. As I don’t believe we will win any points in May this should be one of the games where we can add to our meagre points total. Only once in 38 match Premier League history has a team with 36 points or more at this stage of the season been relegated (Birmingham in 2010/11) but nevertheless it is better to err on the side of caution here. Expect a somewhat sterile game today, low on creativity that is won by whoever delivers the better set pieces.

Head to Head

For somewhere so far north our record at Sunderland is far from our worst. We have won eleven, drawn nine and lost twenty of 40 encounters meetings in the far north-east. The last away win was in March 2014 when goals from Andy Carroll and Mo Diame steered the Hammers to a 2-1 victory. The most recent double over the Black Cats was in 2008/09 when Gainfranco Zola’s West Ham won at the Stadium of Light courtesy of a Valon Behrami strike. The Hammers will be looking for their third league double of the season.

Team News

Michail Antonio joins Pedro Obiang and Angelo Ogbonna on the beach as he too is ruled out for the remainder of the season. Winston Reid is still unavailable through injury and Mark Noble begins his suspension. Sam Byram and Aaron Cresswell are reported to have recovered from knocks and should be available for selection.

As ever, the mystifying selections of Slaven Bilic are difficult to predict. Does he bring in Havard Nordtveit as Noble’s replacement and play two defensively minded central midfielders to protect the leaky defence? Does he bend to popular demand and bring in birthday boy Edmilson Fernandes (21 today) but play him in an unfamiliar defensive role? Will he consider bringing back Cresswell but playing Arthur further forward as a proper left sided midfield player? What role will potential match-winning benchwarmers Carroll and Diafra Sakho play? Does Jonathan Calleri deserve another chance after apparently running around a lot last weekend (are we seriously considering giving this guy a contract)?

I’m definitely hurting and I’m certainly not enjoying the feeling of being down here. But part of football management is that you don’t always get it good. I’ve had some really good times and at the moment, it’s sore. I don’t enjoy losing every Saturday and going home to the family.

– David Moyes

No doubt there will also be more game time for the under-performing and uninspiring likes of Andre Ayew, Sofiane Feghouli and Robert Snodgrass in there as well. You really want to get excited about the build up to a game but sometimes it is very difficult.

Sunderland are missing Bryan Oviedo through injury and Sebastian Larsson through suspension but most Hammer eyes will be on pantomime villain Jermaine Defoe. Defoe has scored six goals in fifteen Premier League games against West Ham but none of these have been in three attempts for Sunderland. The footballing gods can be very devious individuals and who would bet against Defoe ending both his teams and his own personal drought today.

The Man in the Middle

For the fifth time this season we encounter Andre Marriner from the West Midlands. Marriner was in charge of defeats away to Manchester City and Chelsea, an away win at Swansea and a drawn home game with Stoke. In a grand total of 32 games this season he has presented 128 yellow cards and six red ones (although only one in the Premier League).

West Ham visit Sunderland

A visit to the bottom team in the Premier League. Sunderland are without a win in seven matches now, and haven’t even scored a goal in that time!

Winston Reid Scores Barring a miraculous turnaround in form, and a comeback of Lazarus proportions, Sunderland’s ten consecutive seasons in the Premier League, including some narrow escapes in recent years, is about to come to an end. After 31 games, and with just seven to go, they have only won five games, drawn five, and lost on 21 occasions. They are currently ten points adrift of safety, with problems at both ends of the pitch. They have conceded 56 goals, which is one fewer than ourselves, and we have had considerable problems in this respect, too.

But they have only scored 24 times, which is two more than Middlesbrough, and certainly not enough to win many games. Our old friend Jermaine Defoe has scored 14 of them, van Aanholt who is now a Palace player managed three from left back, and only Anichebe with 3 has scored more than a solitary goal, which has been achieved by just three other players. Where would they be without Defoe’s contribution?

Incredibly, they scored four goals in one match away from home at Palace at the beginning of February, but that was their last win, with the previous four victories against Bournemouth, Hull, Leicester and Watford all coming within the space of about six weeks in November and December. Added to the controversy of Moyes’ post-match interview with a female journalist, they are in club in deep trouble for which there seems no way out.

But, as we all know, we are famous for ending a long losing streak of a team we are about to play! They haven’t even scored a single Premier League goal in the seven games (four of them at home) played since the win over Palace, conceding 14 in that time, and picking up just a single point in a goalless draw at home to Burnley. Surely, everything points to a West Ham victory and clean sheet for the second game running, doesn’t it?

Michail Antonio is now out for the season, but we would hope that the return of Carroll and Sakho, both on the bench for the win over Swansea last week, and incredibly it seems, not fit enough to play any part in that game, will improve our fire power, although I wouldn’t bet against Calleri retaining his place in the starting line-up, although he has done nothing yet to convince me of his ability to score goals. The manager seems to like him though. Our £20 million pound striker Ayew hasn’t yet looked much more convincing either, and neither Snodgrass, who hasn’t shown his ability to score like he managed at Hull, or Feghouli, look capable of goals either.

Our team lacks pace all round, and despite the vocal support for our manager shown at the London Stadium last week, I haven’t yet worked out our strategy in breaking down opposition defences. Do we have one? My only real concern about playing Sunderland is the speed and awareness in front of goal of Defoe against our less than quick central defenders.

Only Kouyate with his special goal at the end of an excellent move last week, and Lanzini, who is showing good form at the moment, look capable of providing the spark to create chances. Surely a victory is assured; one that would take us up to 39 points and almost certain safety (although not yet mathematical). Mark Noble has been quoted as saying that 39 should be enough. I hope that they don’t think that it is job done when (if) we reach that figure. But, you never know, we could even find ourselves in the top half of the table by Saturday evening.

I reckon that, despite being less than convincing in front of goal, we will win comfortably, and I forecast a 2-0 win. If ever there was a game that we should win away from home, then this surely is it?

The Lawro Challenge – Week 33

The heat is on Lawro as his lead at the top of the Predictor Challenge is cut to 11 points.

Lawro Crystal Ball Week 32 of the Lawro Challenge saw the gap at the top of the leaderboard cut to 11 points as Rich scored a creditable 8 points compared with Lawro’s meagre 5 points. For a change Geoff split the two pacesetters weighing in with 6 points.

Still plenty to play for and with teams either battling for European slots, to avoid relegation or simply ticking off the days until they start their Mediterranean the results could even more unpredictable than before. Still plenty of time for Rich to put further pressure on Lawro while Geoff checks out the cost of 10 day all-inclusive breaks in Torremolinos

In this challenge we award one point for a correct result, and a further two points (making three in total) if the score prediction is spot on.

We now proceed to week 33.

	Rich	Geoff	Lawro
Total after 31 weeks	242	190	256
Score in week 32	8	6	5
Total after 32 weeks	250	196	261

Predictions – Week 33
	Rich	Geoff	Lawro
Saturday
Tottenham v Bournemouth	2-0	3-1	3-0
Palace v Leicester	1-0	1-1	2-1
Everton v Burnley	3-1	2-0	2-0
Stoke v Hull	1-1	1-0	2-0
Sunderland v West Ham	0-2	1-1	2-1
Watford v Swansea	1-2	2-0	2-1
Southampton v Man City	2-2	1-2	0-2
Sunday
West Brom v Liverpool	1-2	2-2	0-2
Man Utd v Chelsea	1-2	0-0	0-2
Monday
Middlesbrough v Arsenal	0-1	0-2	0-2

Midweek Miscellany

A ramble through the West Ham undergrowth of narrow wins, manager appointments, owners and transfer speculation.

Six Games To Go

Following the win at home to Swansea last weekend there was a clear sense of relief around the club at having stemmed the run of consecutive defeats and opened an eight point gap between ourselves and third bottom, Swansea. There was a spring back in the step, all was well with the world again, super Slav had saved his job and relegation was someone else’s problem.

History goes some way to support this theory. Since the Premier League was reduced to a 38 match season only once has a club with 36 points or more after 32 games played gone on to be relegated. This happened in our last relegation season (2010/11) when Birmingham City sat comfortably in 14^th place with 38 points at the same stage of the season, but contrived to accumulate only one further point from their remaining six games. So it is a case of beware, relegation could still be the villain you think has been killed in the movie finale but who turns out to be not quite dead yet.

A Win and the Manager

The game against Swansea was the Hammers sixth league home win of the season, of which, five have been 1-0 wins. Unlike a number of the earlier wins at least we were the better team on this occasion even if the result owed more to Swansea’s ineffectiveness than to our own excellence.

The media reaction to the win with regard to the manager’s position has been two-fold. By and large, the pundits have been coming out to offer their support; smashing bloke, lots of passion, deserves to be given more time/ another transfer window etc, etc. At the same time, however, there has been an ever increasing list of potential replacements banded about; Mancini, Benitez, Hughton, Wagner, Stam, Monk, Carvalhal, Jokanovic and more to come I expect. Players, as they always do, are publicly right behind the manager – right up until they subsequently support the new manager. This one will clearly run and run and I guess only the Board have any real idea of what is likely to happen.

The Owners

I have seen West Ham described this week as still being a ‘work in progress’ but it is impossible to see from my viewpoint what plan or strategy there is in building a team; apart from assembling a Slow Motion XI there appears no to be no clear objectives . Like the old joke about an Irishman giving directions, if you were ask “How do I get to have a great football team?” a quite reasonable reply would be “Well sir, I wouldn’t start from here!”

Modern football is all about the money. In the money game our closest Premier League peers are Everton and Southampton with Tottenham the target to aim for if there is truly next level to be had out there somewhere. As things stand we are some distance away from each of these teams both on and off the pitch. Along with Newcastle we are quite probably the most accident prone and underachieving teams in English football. Newcastle are proof that a big stadium is not a passport to success. In truth this is not a new problem and amateurish muddling along has been as much part of the West Ham way as flamboyant football.

There has been some speculation this week that Messrs Gold and Sullivan might be looking for outside investment by selling part of their stake in the club. I have no idea how much salt we should attribute to these particular stories but if the intention is to seek investment without giving up control then any changes will be marginal. Although, I believe that the current board can ultimately provide at least some greater stability only a Manchester City or Chelsea style sale can bring viable talk of next levels.

Transfers

Despite the season having six weeks to run, transfer speculation is picking up apace. Even though I know that most rumours are there to fill up column inches or to attract click-throughs I can’t help myself getting irritated at the number of old players being linked with a move to West Ham. A team doesn’t build for the future with 30+ year olds even if there is the occasional success story out there. Sure, there are some very good players out there over 30 but it remains an extremely short-sighted strategy. Let it not be true.

West Ham 1 Swansea 0

They think it’s all over …… not yet it’s not!

Kouyate As the final seconds of extra time in the 1966 World Cup Final ticked away, and Geoff Hurst ran towards the West German goal, Kenneth Wolstenholme uttered the immortal line, “Some people are on the pitch …. They think it’s all over …. It is now”. The final three words came as Geoff’s left footed blast hit the back of the net, and England were the world champions, defeating the Germans 4-2, and sparking wild celebrations on the pitch, at the ground, and throughout England.

As the final whistle blew last Saturday, you could have been excused for thinking that West Ham had just won a major trophy. The relief on the faces of the players, the manager, and the fans was palpable. It was a very important victory, and potentially a season-defining one, achieved in front of a magnificent atmosphere in the stadium. It opened up a gap of 8 points above the relegation zone third team, who are Swansea themselves. Defeat would have reduced this to being just three points ahead of Hull, who would have been in the final relegation slot with a Swansea win. Eight points is a lot to make up with just six games of the season to go, but not an impossible one.

A quick look at the fixture list reveals that the teams below us all have winnable games left, and at the time it seemed that Palace, like ourselves, had potentially the toughest fixtures on paper in the games still to be played. But that was blown out of the water to an extent with the comprehensive Eagles 3-0 win over a stuttering Arsenal team. Stuttering that is, except for when they played us!

On the other hand, our optimistic fans are looking upwards, and our tally of 36 points in 14^th position is just one point shy of Watford, who are in 9^th place just one point above us. So a top-half finish is very much within our grasp with a good run before the end of the campaign, hopefully beginning with a victory at Sunderland this weekend, who themselves look pretty much doomed, and trail a safety position by 10 points.

I believe a win in this game, whilst not making us mathematically safe yet, would just about ensure that next season we are again in the Premier League. But these are the types of games where we can come unstuck. And if that is the case, and if the results of the teams below us are positive ones, then there will still be plenty to play for.

There is a mythical figure of 40 points that all teams strive to achieve as soon as possible every season, believing that they will be safe, but this is not always the case, as we found out to our cost in 2002-2003 under Glenn Roeder. This season it will probably be OK though, as it is doubtful that both Swansea will achieve 12 points, and Hull 10 points, in their six remaining games. But both have at least four “winnable” fixtures left, and the fat lady is not singing yet, although she is probably going through her vocal exercises in preparation. A win over the Mackems will leave us just one shy of the mythical 40, and with a significantly superior goal difference (at the moment!) over Hull and Swansea, 39 could turn out to be the important figure.

Of course, we may have enough points in the bag already. Many fans around me were saying that, after the win over the Swans, that is it, we are now safe. I read today (I don’t know how true it is) that Messrs. Sullivan and Gold are now looking for potential wealthy investors to buy into the club, to take us to the next level, believing that Premier League football is secure now.

It probably is, but with West Ham you can never be sure. Our current “safe” position is not irreversible, and there are still balls to be kicked before the season’s end. So to those of you who think that it is all over, I urge a note of caution, not yet it’s not! But hopefully, it soon will be, and with a few wins in the remaining games we can end up in the top half of the table, a position that didn’t look likely earlier in the season.

This Week in Hammer’s History

Billy Bonds claret and blue army and dreaming of a Frank Lampard goal in the week 10 to 16 April in Hammer’s History.

This Week Hammers History There have been a number of memorable games played during the week 10 to 16 April in Hammer’s History including two that have already featured in Richard Bennett’s Favourite Games articles on this site. These are the 6-1 league win over West Bromwich Albion over Easter in 1965 and the second leg European Cup Winner’s Cup tie against Eintracht Frankfurt in 1976.

The game against Albion is best remembered for the remarkable scoring feat by Brian Dear who notched what would now be a season’s worth of West Ham striker goals in a mere 20 minute spell. Dear’s scoring exploits either side of half time remains the quickest ever five goals in the English game, despite recent claims of having equalled the record by Sergio Aguero.

The game against Eintracht Frankfurt frequently appears on the list of favourite Boleyn nights for many of the longer in the tooth Hammer’s supporters. Trailing 2-1 from the first leg there was an electric atmosphere at the old ground for the return as a masterclass by Trevor Brooking saw West Ham grab a 3-0 lead at a wet and muddy Upton Park. True to form the Hammers conceded a late goal to set up an edgy finale but they held on to book a place in the final. A superb performance from what, at the time, was a very ordinary West Ham side outside of Brooking and Billy Bonds.

Day, Coleman, Lampard, Bonds, Taylor, McDowell, Holland, Paddon, Jennings, Brooking, Robson

Bonzo had been elevated to the position of West Ham manager in 1991 when another semi-final encounter took place that was memorable for very different reasons. This time it was an FA Cup tie that pitched second division West Ham against first division Nottingham Forest. The game was evenly matched until Keith Hacket made the worst refereeing decision of all time by issuing a straight red to Tony Gale for an innocuous challenge on Forest’s Gary Crosby. It was Gale’s solitary sending off in a career spanning some 700 games. Crosby went on to score the first of Forest’s four goals that day but it was the West Ham crowd that lingers longest in the memory for the marathon rendition of ‘Billy Bond’s Claret & Blue Army’ right through to the final whistle at Villa Park.

Miklosko, Potts, Parris, Gale, Foster, Hughton, Bishop, Slater, Allen (Stewart), Keen, Morley (Quinn)

Villa Park had also been the venue just over a decade earlier when West Ham faced Everton in the 1980 FA Cup semi-final; another second versus first division clash. It was the Merseysiders who took the lead with a Brian Kidd penalty awarded for a push by Alan Devonshire. Dev subsequently man-handled referee Colin Seel but escaped with a yellow card. Everton then had Kidd sent off for a spot of ‘handbags’ involving Ray Stewart and the Hammers, with Bonds at his swashbuckling best, used the extra man advantage to good effect as Stuart Pearson converted Brooking’s cross to bring the scores level. There was still time for more drama as a Paul Allen would-be winner was ruled out for a debatable offside.

Parkes, Stewart, Brush, Bonds, Martin, Devonshire, Allen, Pearson (Pike), Cross, Brooking, Holland

It was a long journey up to Elland Road a few days later for the midweek replay. A evenly fought game was goalless after 90 minutes and into extra time it went. West Ham took the lead in the first period of added 15 minutes through an excellent Alan Devonshire goal after a smart one-two with Stuart Pearson. The lead lasted until seven minutes from the end when Bob Latchford looked to have broken Hammer;s hearts as he headed in at the near post to equalise. With the minutes ticking away and a further replay looming a Brooking cross was nodded on by David Cross and there was Frank Lampard to guide a header over the line for the winner; I still get goose-bumps watching videos of this game. The mystery as to why full-back Lampard, recalled to the team due to an Alvin Martin illness, was still lingering in the area plus his celebratory corner flag jig would become part of West Ham folklore and spawned the ‘I’m dreaming of a Frank Lampard goal, just like the one at Elland Road’ chant.

Parkes, Lampard, Brush, Bonds, Stewart, Devonshire, Allen, Pearson, Cross, Brooking, Pike

Notable Birthdays

12 April Bobby Moore d. 1993
13 April Alan Devonshire (61)
15 April Edmilson Fernandes (21)

5 Relieving Lessons from a Welcome Win against Swansea

A win is a win as West Ham insert some daylight between themselves and the Premier League trapdoor.

A Win and Three Points

In context of ending a run of five consecutive defeats and putting a little distance back between ourselves and the Premier League trapdoor it was a ‘fantastic win’! There are never any circumstances where I want to see West Ham lose a game even if the consequences were Tottenham winning the title or Millwall avoiding relegation. Even though I don’t believe the manager has anything to offer in taking the club forward, losing Premier League status would be a stupid price to pay for being proved right. At least Slaven Bilic acknowledged that the current predicament was the fault of the management and players and there was, for once, a general and welcome display of effort, even if it was short on quality. The celebration at the end was over the top in the circumstances but it was an enormous relief.

The Greater of Two Strugglers

As a spectacle in what is meant to be the world’s elite football league it was an extremely poor game. Both teams were disappointing and West Ham got their victory because they were the least worse of the two sides. Captain Mark Noble was quoted as saying that the win was the “biggest in a few years” which seems somewhat of an exaggeration despite the pressure release of this laboured victory. Noble added “it was not pretty but the only thing that matters was the three points. There’s no point in us playing like Real Madrid and losing 2-0.” Mark, there is no chance of us playing like Real Madrid; otherwise his comment bore all the markings of a classic ear-cupping Fat Sam-esque statement, for which he (the Fat One) would have been justifiably slaughtered.

A Goal To Win Any Game (even a poor one)

Paradoxically a disappointing game was won by a super goal from Cheikou Kouyate. Even the build-up had shades of Barcelona (rather than Real Madrid!) but the strike from Kouyate was majestic, sublime and sumptuous (© Sky Sports) all rolled into one. I am a big Kouyate fan due to the power and athleticism that he brings to the team but recognise that he has his shortcomings that prevent him being the target of bigger teams; for example, poor final passes and long range shots. Yesterday we witnessed something that may never be repeated but was, at least, worthy of winning a game. The goal also credited Robert Snodgrass with his first contribution in a West Ham shirt as he enters the record books with an assist. I still regard the ‘assist’ as totally subjective but I would grudgingly award him half an assist for his neat pass. Apart from the goal there were two occasions where Andre Ayew could have done better in front of goal plus a mesmerising Lanzini step-over where Calleri was unable to play for a lucky deflection and the ball crashed into the side netting.

The Benchmen

Jonathan Calleri must be some player in training in order to keep getting a seat on the bench. With Andy Carroll and Diafra Sakho sitting alongside him even he must have thought he was only there to make up the numbers. Surprisingly he ended up with a personal best ‘minutes on the pitch for a league game’ when replacing Michail Antonio in the closing stages of the first half. Some say Calleri ‘puts in a shift’ or that he is simply lacking confidence but I have yet to see anything that suggests that this is a top level footballer. In other substitutions replacing Snodgrass with Sofiane Feghouli is not too dissimilar a move from replacing Julien Faubert with Pablo Barrera. Something I had hoped we wouldn’t have to see on the next level was this a pile of workmanlike dead-wood that we have once again assembled.

The Rest of the Season

One win doesn’t mean safety. A repeat of the five match losing sequence would put us right back down there with the strugglers and stragglers. On the other hand just one of those twenty points we have lost from winning positions would have put is in the top half, so compressed has the lower mid-table section become. Things could be a little clearer next Saturday where the fixture computer has come up with a set of matches that only die-hard fans of the clubs involved could be interested in. A win at Sunderland would, I believe, make us effectively safe. Of the at-risk clubs (I have written off Sunderland and Middlesbrough who can wave to neighbours Newcastle on the way down) Hull and Swansea have enough winnable home games to survive and it is Palace who have the toughest run in despite their two games in hand. Personally I have no particular preferences other than we can scramble to 40 points before the end of the month and a tricky last few games.

Matchday: Swanning Around in the London Stadium

We are in this together as Taffy comes to our house in the hope of stealing all three points.

West Ham Swansea When West Ham won 4-1 at the Liberty Stadium on Boxing Day it was the final nail in the coffin for the short-lived managerial career of Bob Bradley. It would be one of those not so rare football ironies if the visitors should return the favour this afternoon.

In the aftermath of Bradley’s sacking Swansea appointed relative unknown Paul (I Hear You’ve Been a Naughty Boy) Clement as manager. Following an encouraging start the Swans form has started to dip again recently whereby their current record is only slightly better than our own. What once looked like it might be uninteresting end of season routine has suddenly become a ‘six-point’ showdown between two of the clubs battling to avoid what looks increasingly like the final relegation position.

We wanted to do it before now. I didn’t smell this, I didn’t think we would lose five games. But it is in our hands and that is the best you can ask for. Your destiny is in your hands. We are playing a team we have beaten, a team that is five points below us. We have big belief.

– Slaven Bilic

The Hammers losing streak has now reached five equalling that achieved by Avram Grant’s side in 2010/11 but still short of the record nine consecutive league defeats set in 1932; a run that included a 2-1 reverse against today’s opponents in a season that ended with West Ham’s lowest ever league position – one point and one place away from demotion to the third tier. One record that the Hammers can realistically break this season is to go top of the all-time Premier League defeats table; only a further three defeats are required to overtake the current total of 333 shared by Aston Villa and Everton.

Head to Head

The Head to Head record for this encounter is very much bossed by the Hammers and in 25 home league games we have only lost on two occasions (1956 and 2016). Last season’s victory being a huge disappointment in the last ever Saturday game at the Boleyn Ground; with any luck it will be another 60 years before the next defeat. A win today would give West Ham their first double over Swansea since the 1982/83 season and only the second double of the season (the other being Crystal Palace).

Team News

There are doubts about the fitness of all the West Ham players but only Andy Carroll and Michail Antonio face late fitness tests. Assuming Carroll and Antonio are available, and with Diafra Sakho getting a run out in midweek, we have the appearance of a team carrying a goal threat against the side with the leakiest defence in the league. Much debate about who will get the gloves this afternoon and it would be no surprise to see Senor Adrian return.

We’re in the bottom three and there are seven games to go, and West Ham are a team who have had their own troubles recently, so we have to go there believing we can get a result.

– Paul Clement

Swansea hope to be able to welcome back Fernando Llorente after an ankle injury but may be with out Kyle Naughton who is suffering with a hamstring problem. If Naughton is unavailable, Leroy Fer may be moved to right back which makes it a shame that we have no left sided attacking player. Despite the negativity I am opting for a rousing 3-1 Hammer’s win.

Man in the Middle

Ain’t it good to know we’ve got Kevin Friend officiating today. A relative stranger to our games Friend was in charge of the league game at home to Manchester City several months ago. In 28 games this season he has waved a friendly 109 yellow cards and a mere two red ones.