Tag: #WHUAVL

Dear West Ham, True Love: On the Eighth Day of Christmas, Please Send One Striker Striking

The halfway stage of the season is approaching, the transfer window will soon be open, and West Ham are slipping further behind in the relegation stakes. A spirited performance against Aston Villa did little to cheer things up.

Under different circumstances, the gift of eight maids-a-milking might make a reasonable enough gift for the eighth day of Christmas. But when it coincides with the opening of the transfer window – and your team is in danger of becoming stranded in the relegation places – far more pressing offering spring to mind than the oversupply of dairy produce.

In fact, I’d go even further to say I’m equally ambivalent about pipers piping and drummers drummingas well. Although lords-a-leaping could coe in very useful for defending set pieces.

With the transfer window a matter of weeks away, the imperative is not just to act but to act as fast as possible. Ideally, just as Big Ben has completed its chimes and before the strains of Auld Lang Syne have faded away our first new signings would be first footing into the London Stadium armed with whisky, shortbread and the gurantee of a dozen goals.

For me, striker and attacking midfielder are the priorities although further central defensive reinforcements wouldn’t be out of the question. But that wish list doesn’t include the recently linked Josh Sargeant and Adama Traore, neither of who offer an upgrade on what we currently have. The clock is ticking and if ever there was a time to pull a rabbit out of the hat, it is now.

Of course, decisiveness in the transfer market is hardly hard-wired into the club’s DNA. Should past performance be anything to go by, then David Sullivan will spend the entire window haggling, stalling, hindering, penny-pinching and frustrating right until the very last minute. By which time it could all be too late.

It has to be said that West Ham’s performance against Aston Villa was one of the better efforts of their season. It was an entertaining and even game and there could have been few arguments if the Hammers had earned at least a point, if not all three. But that is three games in the last five now where winning positions have been lost or surrendered. Where a potentially table climbing nine precious points was withered away to two.

It’s not hard to detect clear signs of improvement since Nuno’s arrival at the club, but then that is a particularly low bar. Graham Potter’s idea of being competitive was to only lose matches by a single goal while offering next to nothing by way of offensive threat. Nuno’s Hammers play with greater purpose and spirit and have been able compete on the pitch for lengthy periods. The weakness is not having a strong enough bench to press home advantages or see games out as necessary – although I regards part of this shortcoming as self-inflicted by Nuno himself.

This week’s selection wheel of fortune sprang just the one surprise. The decision to relegate Callum Wilson to the bench and start without a recognised striker. As ever, the bench was top heavy with defensive reinforcements and lacked realistic game changing resources.

It couldn’t have been a brighter, more profitable start for West Ham. An uncharacteristic high press, a defensive lapse by Villa and Mateus Fernandes broke free to curl home his first Hammer’s goal with less than 30 seconds on the clock. So, just 89½ minutes plus stoppage time to hold on then.

But rather than a full-scale retreat, the game remained a remarkably open, end-to-end affair. Villa equalised through an unfortunate Dinos Mavropanos own goal after Watkins had failed to get his head to the ball, only for West Ham to regain the lead before half time thanks to Jarrod Bowen’s quick reactions.

However, it was not to be a famous victory over the Premier League’s form team, and two goals from the always impressive Rogers sealed the deal for the visitors. The first stemming from a typical cheap giveaway by Lucas Paqueta and the second when Rogers was allowed far too much space in the centre of the pitch to strike at goal.

While it’s always tempting to pin each goal conceded on an individual player, I believe there are systemic issues with the way that West Ham are set up that leaves them exposed.

The first is the constant switch between a back four and back three/ five which appears to confuse role of the full/ wing backs. In a four, they continue to get forward but, in doing so, tend to neglect the defensive duties that the formation demands. AWB, especially, is slow (almost unwilling) to get back into position when a forward run is thwarted. I’m all for tactical flexibility but is it too much too soon given the early days of the coach/ player relationships. Likewise, the weekly rotation of playing with or without a main striker. In the circumstances, would not finding a plan and sticking to it be more productive? Leave the more subtle and intricate changes for a pre-season.

The second is a structural issue that is common to all low-block fundamentalists when they attempt to dip their toes into more adventurous waters. If you allow or encourage your midfield players to get further forward, then it is madness to stick with such a deep defensive line. It creates way too much space between the lines for opponents to exploit. As Rogers did with ease for the winner.

I do like the look of the Fernandes, Freddie Potts, Soungoutou Magassa midfield partnership and hope Nuno doesn’t think it needs tinkering with. I can only see it getting better with the passage of time. The disappointments for me from yesterday, however, were Paqueta and Crysencio Summerville.

Although Paqueta produced a couple of delightful passes his overall contribution was again very poor. And fewer and fewer referees are now falling for his naïve attempts to buy a foul whenever he finds himself boxed in by the touchline.

Summerville, on the other hand, gives the outward impression of being an exciting crowd-pleasing player. Bbut his final delivery is about as reliable as a hands-free soap dispenser. I’ve never known a player choosing to run so frequently with the ball without ever having it under control. Being such a lightweight player, it does raise concerns as to his effectiveness at the top level.

Nuno was very slow to make any substitutions as legs started to tire. Why leave the introduction of Callum Wilson so long when there was an obvious opportunity to win the game with 20 to 25 minutes remaining? The triple substitution with two minutes to go was simply nonsensical. While throwing Tomas Soucek into the mix could be seen as a belated gamble to grab a late leveller, it was never likley to work without a functioning midfield to move the ball forward.

West Ham’s next outing is the traditional mauling at the hands of Manchester City next Saturday. Following that come four winnable games. At home to Fulham and Brighton (the season’s halfway point), then away at Wolves and home to Forest. We might know by then whether this is going to be an Avram Grant season or an Alan Curbishley great escape one.

Can Sunday’s spirited performance be the springboard for greater things. Just as the 4-3 home defeat by Tottenham did in 2006/7. Is Carlos Tevez still available? COYI!  

From Upton Park Thrashings to Where We Are Now. The changing fortunes of West Ham and Aston Villa (part two)

Ten years ago we were about half way through the final season at the Boleyn Ground. Geoff and I were writers on the West Ham fanzine Over Land And Sea which was sold outside Upton Park. During that season I was writing my book Goodbye Upton Park, Hello Stratford. In the book I wrote a chapter to precede each fixture and another to review the game after it had been played. I thought that as Villa were our opponents this weekend I’d look back at what I wrote then. The game was played on 2nd February 2016.

Ten years is a long time in football. In yesterday’s article I looked back at previous fixtures against Villa that I remembered. At the time we were riding high in the Premier League and they were bottom. Contrast that to the present where we are in the relegation zone and they are third having won their last five games in a row and are now just three points behind league leaders Arsenal.

Today’s article is the follow on chapter which reviewed what actually happened. What especially made me smile was where I wrote about Villa in freefall, a club in decline, in a downward spiral, and made comments about their ownership. West Ham finished seventh that season and qualified for the Europa League. Villa finished at the bottom with just 17 points, 22 points adrift of safety. Oh how times have changed. As I said, ten years is a long time in football!

2 February 2016 – The Villain of the Piece West Ham 2 Aston Villa 0

For a quarter of an hour Aston Villa belied their lowly league position several points adrift at the foot of the table and probably had the better of the early exchanges. They might have even been awarded a penalty when the ball struck the outstretched arm of Antonio when Agbonlahor attempted to cross the ball but referee Moss waved the appeal away in dramatic fashion. You know the way some referees do; they make an exaggerated crossing of their arms in front of them to signify that they are aware of a potentially contentious decision that they are about to make by denying an appeal of the players and crowd. It wasn’t his final theatrical wave of the arms in the evening as there were others to follow, normally when denying that a foul had been committed, usually upon one of the home players.

My friend John sent me a text message that said that Howard Webb (on BT Sport’s coverage on TV) had disagreed with the referee (another unusual occurrence) and felt that the penalty should have been awarded as Antonio’s arms were not in a natural position. I have since looked at the laws of the game and, in respect of hand ball I could find nothing about arms being in unnatural positions. I have written before about the constant debates over hand ball decisions (almost always occurring in the penalty area) and suggest that some clarity must be forthcoming to ensure some form of consistency.

Then for some inexplicable reason Jordan Ayew took exception to being closely marked by Cresswell and deliberately swung an elbow into our left back’s face in full view of many in the crowd. The referee obviously hadn’t seen it but his assistant had (for once) and drew his attention to it. The referee didn’t hesitate to theatrically flourish the red card from his pocket and Ayew had to go. Why do footballers do this for no apparent reason? It shows the complete lack of a brain. Even if the officials hadn’t seen it there are so many cameras around these days that their stupidity is picked up on camera and retrospective punishment is meted out after the game anyway.

Up until that point Villa would have been in with some sort of chance in the game as West Ham had in the early stages continued in the form that they showed a few days earlier at Anfield, that is to say not impressively. I could not understand the delight and cheering of the crowd as Ayew slowly made his way off the pitch. I hate watching eleven versus ten. It doesn’t make for good entertainment and so it was to prove for the remainder of the first half as we struggled to open up any spaces in the Villa defence. They had pulled everybody back deep into their own half, surrendering any form of attacking initiative, and hoping to play out 75 minutes for a 0-0 draw. In their perilous position one point wouldn’t really have been much of a result for them, only slightly better than none at all, although I was surprised by their total lack of ambition.

Payet looked to be the only one who had the necessary creativity to create a chance, but he was below his imperious best. Noble was the main instigator of our attacks but we were constantly thwarted and had to move the ball across the pitch and back again in an attempt to get through. How we could have done with the additional guile of Lanzini in a game like this. Towards the end of the half Valencia headed the ball over when it seemed easier to score but, apart from that the first 45 minutes were massively disappointing.

Our back four must have had more touches of the ball in the opposition half than ever before, but there were no incisive passes, it was just safely moving the ball across amongst themselves, occasionally Noble and Song retreating to join them. Villa continued to waste time, especially at throw-ins and at goal kicks where their keeper decided to slowly walk across to the opposite side of the six yard box, place the ball down as if he was handling a precious object and then hesitate before finally sending the ball back into play.

I’ve raised this point before, but I was interested to see how much time the referee was going to add on at the end of the first half to make allowance for the sending off and time wasting. It should have been at least five minutes but I wasn’t surprised to see the (almost mandatory) number one on the fourth official’s board, indicating that the referee had paid total disregard to proper timekeeping and was just adding one minute at the end of the first half. Shocking. My previous writing about the need for an independent timekeeper in the stand, stopping and starting the clock appropriately came to mind. Why can nobody else, especially the authorities see this?

In so many games this season we have begun the second half in lethargic fashion, but this time we were definitely showing more urgency and moving the ball quicker. The breakthrough eventually came with about half an hour to go when a long through ball from Noble was met by the head of Antonio. Everything seemed to be in slow motion as his header appeared to be going wide and the Villa keeper was almost rooted to the spot, probably also believing that it was missing the target. But it nestled into the bottom of the net to the great relief of the home crowd. Some reports afterwards suggested that he may have been marginally offside, but I refer once again to my previous writing. It would only take seconds for a video replay to confirm or deny this, but we don’t use video to help the officials so their instant decisions are always the ones that stand.

Villa at this point would have nothing to lose and I felt, with half an hour to go, that they would press forward to try for an equaliser. Such was their ineptitude that nothing changed. They seemed to be content with a 1-0 defeat, pulling all players back behind the ball and showing no signs of adventure whatsoever. In fact, I reckon they had forgotten about our goal, as they (especially the keeper) inexplicably continued to waste time. They only really moved players forward with a few minutes to go, and this was their undoing for our second goal. Valencia broke from deep inside our half and was unchallenged as he ran towards the Villa penalty area before releasing a perfect pass to Kouyate who had admirably kept pace with him. Our box to box midfielder finished with aplomb and the game was all over.

Two other really good incidents in the second half shouldn’t go unreported. Firstly, an impudent free kick from a wide position by the relatively quiet Payet struck the outside of the woodwork. Secondly, a long corner kick by Payet to the opposite side of the pitch was inch perfect and met with great technique by Noble on the volley bringing out an excellent save from the Villa keeper. A move right out of the training ground as they say. Villa were poor and will undoubtedly finish the season in bottom place. They are a club in free-fall and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them in League One the season after next unless something drastic is done to halt their steep decline. They certainly won’t be visiting us in Stratford in the foreseeable future. It just goes to show how even famous clubs can go into a deep downward spiral when ownership falls into the hands of disinterested or incompetent foreign owners who don’t really understand the game, and don’t appoint competent executive management.

So, not a particularly entertaining evening, we certainly weren’t at our best and many passes and attempted moves did not come off. But the three points kept us in contention in sixth place, just a point behind Manchester United, and still only six points away from the top four. Of course we aren’t going to trouble the top four teams in the remaining games but it would be good to overtake United and finish fifth. We have opened up a five point gap ahead of the teams below us, but it will be important to pick up points in the next two away league games at Southampton and Norwich to maintain the possibility of qualification for the Europa League.

Leicester continue to march on relentlessly at the top and they beat Liverpool 2-0 with goals from Vardy, the first being a wonderful strike and contender for goal of the season. Manchester City were apparently fortunate to hold on to a one nil win at Sunderland (who are our next visitors in the League at the end of February – looking forward to seeing Big Sam again!). Arsenal blew their chance of keeping up the pressure at the top by drawing 0-0 at home to a Southampton whose returning goalkeeper Forster apparently made a number of world class saves. Wenger had a bust up with both the referee and the Saints manager after the game. This is becoming the norm these days. Every time Arsenal don’t win Wenger seems to lose the plot falling out with all around him, blaming everyone else. Surely he is approaching the end of his time in the Arsenal manager’s chair? Although perhaps not? He seems to be untouchable in the eyes of the Arsenal board, but despite his past achievements in the early years of his management of the club, he seems unable to get a really good team to become Premier League champions again. Perhaps he will prove me wrong in the final games of the season? I really thought that this was their best chance of winning the league for many years, but even Tottenham have now overtaken their North London rivals with an impressive 3-0 win at Norwich to keep up their chances of finishing at the top.

From Upton Park Thrashings to Where We Are Now. The changing fortunes of West Ham and Aston Villa (part one)

Ten years ago we were about half way through the final season at the Boleyn Ground. Geoff and I were writers on the West Ham fanzine Over Land And Sea which was sold outside Upton Park. During that season I was writing my book Goodbye Upton Park, Hello Stratford. In the book I wrote a chapter to precede each fixture and another to review the game after it had been played. I thought that as Villa were our opponents this weekend I’d look back at what I wrote then. The game was played on 2nd February 2016. Ten years is a long time in football as you can see from my article written then when I looked back at previous fixtures against Villa that I remembered. At the time we were riding high in the Premier League and they were bottom. Contrast that to the present where we are in the relegation zone and they are third having won their last five games in a row and are now just three points behind league leaders Arsenal. Tomorrow I will publish the follow on chapter which reviewed what actually happened.

Going Down, Going Down, Going Down West Ham v Aston Villa – Before The Game (as published prior to the game in 2016)

On 9 January I recalled my earliest vague West Ham memories at the start of the 1958-59 season. We had won away at Portsmouth on the opening day, and then we beat the champions Wolves in the first home game under floodlights. The next game was our first Saturday home game of the season against today’s opponents, Aston Villa. We gave them quite a thrashing, 7-2! All of our goals were shots from outside the penalty area apparently and we also hit the woodwork several times. Incidentally Villa were relegated that season. It is rare to get a score like this in the modern game, but at the time in my earliest football recollections it wasn’t that unusual for big scores. In that first season we had league games at Upton Park that finished 6-0, 6-3, 5-1, 5-3, 4-3, 4-2 and I was disappointed when we didn’t win a game scoring lots of goals. As a four year old I thought it was the norm.

Just over a week later after beating Manchester United in another night game we were top of the league six games into the season. My football team headed Division One. Once again I thought it was the norm! I was disappointed that by the end of the season we had dropped to sixth! Never mind, I thought we would probably win the league the next season. 58 years on and I am still waiting! I was desperate to go to see a game live but that wish wasn’t fulfilled until a couple of months later.

A lot is made of the cost of going to football these days, especially the admission prices considering the vast TV money that comes into the game which should, in theory, enable clubs to keep down entrance costs. It is all relative of course but you may be interested to know what it cost to watch West Ham in that first season back in the top flight. Promotion the previous May had enabled the board to increase ticket prices for the 1958-59 season to: North and South Bank 10p, Chicken Run 15p, West Stand Lower (standing) 17.5p, and in the West Stand you would pay between 22.5p up to 37.5p for the best seats. Children had concessionary prices in the North and South Bank at 5p. The cost of the programme rose from under 2p to 2.5p. Some rough equivalent prices at the time were Milk 3p pint, Bread 2p loaf, Beer 4.5p pint, Petrol 2p per litre. You can do the maths to decide whether we get good value now compared to then. I’ve converted the prices to the current currency – at the time we used pounds, shillings and pence. It is frightening to think that in a couple of weeks it will be 45 years since we made the change to the current decimal currency system (it happened on my dad’s 46th birthday). Anybody reading this under the age of 50 will not really remember the old system, with 12 pence to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound.

Villa returned to Division One a couple of seasons later and they were our visitors in the first game of the season, but this time we could only beat them 5-2! By the time we met them in March 1966 we beat them 4-2, with Geoff Hurst scoring one of our goals to celebrate his international debut just a week before. Martin Peters was still two months away from winning his first international cap. It’s amazing to think that at the end of that season they were so instrumental in England winning the World Cup. Can you imagine a modern scenario of a footballer who hasn’t yet played for England making his debut in the next three months and then scoring all the goals in the final of Euro 2016?   

I can’t recall anything much of note in Villa games from then until our FA Cup quarter final in 1980, when as a second division club over 36,000 crammed into Upton Park to see us win 1-0 with a coolly taken late penalty from Ray Stewart. With my friend Geoff we were season ticket holders in the West Stand B Block that season, which was particularly useful for getting into this game, as well as getting tickets for the subsequent Wembley final. The Villa game was an “all-ticket only” match which was quite unusual in those days when paying at the turnstiles was the norm for most games. 20,000 standing tickets were on sale to fans queueing at Upton Park on the Sunday before the game as postal applications were not allowed. Obviously this was not especially convenient for those supporters who lived some distance from the ground, but 36 years ago this was perhaps less of an issue than it would be today. In an attempt to be helpful the club decided to allow two tickets per applicant so that only one fan had to attend rather than the fan and his friend. This led to ticket touts having a field day on the day of the game. Well done West Ham!

In the record breaking league season of 1985-86 we beat them 4-1 with two goals from McAvennie and two from Cottee. McAvennie scored quite a few goals for us in his two spells at the club, especially in this season when he scored 26 league goals, a figure that hasn’t been bettered in a single season since. He frequently scored a brace of goals (don’t you just love that phrase when used for goal scoring) but didn’t manage a hat-trick until his very last game for us when he came on as a substitute against Nottingham Forest in 1992.

When this fixture was played in October 1985 (just 12 games into the season) Manchester United were unbeaten and running away with the league with 11 wins and a draw giving them 34 points and a ten point lead from Liverpool in the title race. We were 17 points off the pace in eleventh so it is incredible how we got so close to winning the league. Considering we had a 17 point deficit and then finished 8 points ahead of United means that there was a 25 point turnaround with them in the last 30 games of the season! They finished fourth in the end losing ten of their final 30 games, quite a decline after such an outstanding start.  

It is easy to forget in the current climate of capacity crowds at Upton Park that the game was in the doldrums in the mid-1980s in terms of spectator numbers. Just 15,000 were there to see the Villa game in October 1985, and there had been three even lower league attendances than that prior to the game that season. As the season progressed and we were challenging for the title the numbers began to rise into the 20,000s, but it wasn’t until our final home league game on a Wednesday night in April against Ipswich that 30,000 was exceeded for the first time. The attendance didn’t even reach 20,000 for the visit of Liverpool who ended the season as champions.

With just a few days of the twentieth century remaining on a Wednesday evening shortly before Christmas we experienced another of those incidents that was so West Ham. We played Aston Villa in the quarter final of the League Cup. The score was 2-2 with just a few minutes of extra time remaining when Harry Redknapp sent on Manny Omoyinmi as a late substitute. He barely touched the ball and the game was decided on penalties which we won 5-4 to take us into the semi-final. Omoyinmi didn’t take a penalty so he had no influence on the game whatsoever.

However there was one big problem. He had been out on loan earlier in the season and had played in the League Cup for Gillingham and was therefore ineligible to play for us in the competition that season. The Football League ordered the game to be replayed and of course we lost when it was played in January, despite leading late in the game and Di Canio missing a penalty in extra time (the only penalty he ever missed in a West Ham shirt I believe). Rules are rules I guess. The League had the power to throw us out of the competition but at least gave us another chance. Omoyinmi never played for us again and two club administrators resigned as a result of the incident.

Incredibly it wasn’t the first time we had played an ineligible player that season! In the UEFA Cup we played Igor Stimac in a game when he shouldn’t have played because he had a European ban outstanding from his days before joining us. We got away with that one as UEFA admitted fault saying they didn’t tell us he was ineligible. We were lucky that time but not when we played Aston Villa. Does it only happen to us?

In the past ten years or so there is little to recall. Goals have dried up since Marlon Harewood scored a hat-trick in one of the season’s early games in our return to the top flight in 2005. In fact since that day, in our last eight league games at Upton Park against Villa we have managed just seven goals. Last season we met them when we were in the middle of a superb pre-Christmas run which yielded just one defeat in eleven games, but the game finished 0-0.

So what will happen in tonight’s game? In theory we should give them quite a hammering given their abysmal form this season. They are surely on their way down to the Championship. But we only drew with them at Villa Park on Boxing Day. This is West Ham remember. You never know. I’d love to see a return to the fifties or sixties tonight. 4-2? 5-2? Or even 7-2? Perhaps not, but a good entertaining game with a few goals and three more points would do nicely.

Lopetegui’s New Look West Ham Fall At First Hurdle In Invincible Stakes

A surprisingly tentative approach to blooding new signings and a competent Aston Villa opponent take the wind from the sails of optimism that had been blowing around the London Stadium

It was not the result we had wanted to kick-off an exciting new era at the London Stadium, although it was not too far away from what many had expected. The phrase ‘there’s still work to be done’ is likely to become a well-worn one over the next few weeks as new players are introduced, and the intricacies of a new style of play ironed out.

There were few clues on the extent of the work outstanding following Saturday’s outing in the season opener as Julen Lopetegui’s team selection baffled supporters and observers alike. Excluding so many of the new signings from the starting eleven was a huge surprise. Had Edson Alvarez not been injured it is quite feasible that Maxi40milian Kilman would have been the sole debutant on show. The coach may have felt he needed to show loyalty to the squad members he inherited, but is it not counter-productive when the aim is to have your best players performing as a cohesive unit in as short a time as possible?

It was disheartening to discover that the likes of Vladimir Coufal, Tomas Soucek, and Michail Antonio would be starting on Saturday. Each have had respectable West Ham careers, but it is impossible to imagine them as part of the bright new future, except in a backup capacity. The omission of Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Jean-Clair Todibo was equally baffling. Both had completed a full pre-season and were presumably raring to get their first taste of football with the Hammers.

With a reliance on the old guard, not much was revealed on the evidence of Satrurday’s game as to how Lopetegui expects his team structure, formation and tactics to evolve. The low block had disappeared, a higher defensive line was apparent and there was some attempt to move the ball forward by passing rather than quick transitions and long balls. However, there was little in the way of pressing, the front players rarely intercated with each other, too much space was conceded through the centre and the role of the full backs was ambiguous.

Some of those deficiencies may have be down to the personnel involved but others suggest the system is far from fully understood. If the intention was to prevent opponents attacking through the middle it did not work. Villa’s runners repeatedly sliced through what passed as the midfield defensive shield. And was the narrow back four a carry over from last season’s set-up or is it an intentional Lopetegui tactic? Either way it presented far too much space for Villa to exploit down the flanks. Although it was positive that Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed weren’t expected to operate as auxiliary defenders, the resulting space was an obvious weakness.   

Saturday’s game was not completely one sided, but Aston Villa were easily the better side and deserved winners. They made better use of their possession, were more incisive and ramped up the majority of the presentable goalscoring opportunities. The opening goal was fully down to Alphonse Areola in my opinion – if a keeper is not going to take responsibility for that part of his six yard box then who is?

For a while it appeared that the visitors might run away with the game, such was their dominance. A disjointed Hammers attack had got little change from the Villa defence until Matty Cashed a West Ham Czech to concede a borderline penalty. I’m not a fan of the stuttering penalty technique but Lucas Paqueta despatched the spot kick with aplomb.

All square at the break, the equaliser had the effect of boosting the Hammer’s confidence and postponing what would surely have been a couple of half-time substitutions. Ultimately, it was surprising how late the substitutions were delayed in the context of an evenly balanced scoreline and a game that available to win.

In fact, it was Unai Emery who made the first moves to introduce fresh legs and when Jhon Duran replaced Ollie Watkins you just knew that the immutable laws of football consequences would contrive to ensure that he scored the winner.  And a very well worked goal it was with three substitutes combining in a quick passing move that once again exploited the space conceded down the Hammer’s right flank.

West Ham had a few opportunities to snatch a draw in the closing exchanges despite an apparent lack of urgency as the minutes ticked away. The closest efforts were a Danny Ings header and a near range Soucek miss – which may have attracted the attention of VAR for a foul had he completed the simple task of putting the ball in the net rather than ballooning it over the bar.

Kudus was the standout man for the Hammers. What a player he is! From an end product perspective, he is wasted wide on the left where the option to cut inside and shoot for goal is restricted. ‘Jimmy’ Summerville is a ready made replacement for that position and looked very bright when he was introduced late on. Kilman had a steady game as did Dinos Mavropanos although the latter will surely make way for Todibo by next Saturday. Bowen was very quiet by his own standards (and is a strange choice for skipper in my opinion) while Coufal and Antonio were the weakest links. Have to say I didn’t really notice the work of Guido Rodriquez other than his speed of movement was towards the sluggish end of the spectrum. A penny for his thoughts on his Premier League debut.

Lopetegui had little to offer in his post-match interview comments. To say that the team must ‘keep doing the good things and improve on the bad things’ is an obvious everyday mantra for each and every coach. Still, it is only one game, and we weren’t expecting miracles anyway. The major disappointment was the decision to stick with the old guard instead of introduing new recruits or youth players. With more tough games on the horizon, the direction of travel needs to be more obvious even if the points tally remains modest during the opening weeks.

Player Ratings: Areola (5), Coufal (4), Kilman (7), Mavropanos (6), Emerson (5), Rodriguez (5), Soucek (5), Bowen (5), Paqueta (5), Kudus (8), Antonio (4). Subs: Fullkrug (5), Summerville (6), Ward-Prowse (5), Ings & Todibo (N/A)

With the transfer window still open, speculation is unlikley to dry up over its remaining days. Further ins and outs are highly possible. It is clear an additional striker option is badly needed (as long as its isn’t Tammy Abraham). Although I was not convinced a player like Duran could be relied upon as the sole striker in the squad he would be a great acquisition now that Fullkrug has also signed. The other significant gap for me is someone capable of carrying the ball forward at pace in midfield. It is a skillset currently missing anywhere in the squad.

Onward and upward then. It’s no time to panic but we must see the new signings bedded into the team starting from the very next game. COYI!

Here We Go Again – Season 67 as a West Ham Fan begins with a 5.30 kick off on Saturday for the visit of Aston Villa

It all began for me on Saturday 23rd August 1958. 1958-59 was the first football season I remember. West Ham had just been promoted from the second division and I believe this was the first time back in the top-flight since the 1930s. After 6 games we were on top with a win and a draw against the champions from the previous season Wolves and a win against runners up Manchester United. It was a successful campaign finishing sixth, a feat we have only bettered twice since.

This season will be my 67th as a fan and I’m looking forward just as much as ever to see what it will bring. We were warned to be careful what we wished for but I am hoping for a more enterprising brand of football than that we have witnessed in the last couple of years. The appointment of a head coach who had been in charge at Seville, Real Madrid and the Spanish national team was not especially welcomed by many but I am happy to wait and see. I hope that he can deliver a more progressive style of football than his predecessor. I read some statistics (which I have not verified) which suggested that Moyes has a better goals scored per game record than Lopetegui, but concedes more goals per game on average than our new Spanish boss. Whatever, it was time for something different.

The recruitment in the close season after a sluggish start has picked up in the past couple of weeks (with eight new recruits at the time of writing and perhaps one or two more to come if some existing players can be moved on) and on paper it would appear we have a much better, bigger, (younger? I’m not sure) and more balanced squad than the previous manager had left. Tim Steidten would seem to have done a superb job bringing in the likes of the Championship player of last season, an Argentinian World Cup winner, a current German international centre forward, a highly rated French international centre back, and the head coach’s number 1 pick from Wolves into the squad. Guilherme has also arrived from Brazil with a big reputation (and price tag considering his experience) but he would appear to be one for the future, we shall see.

All the new recruits have joined us without the prospect of European competition this season. The lack of the Thursday / Sunday fixtures should however be an advantage in one respect though given the reduced number of games to play – our record in Sunday games (partly due I suspect due to the small size of the squad) was poor last time. Ten Thursday games in Europe were followed by just two wins on the following Sunday. Perhaps with a fresher and bigger squad we can have a better tilt at the domestic cup competitions than of late.  

Of course, this is on paper (and as Brian Clough and others have said the game is not played on paper). It remains to be seen how quickly the new boss can integrate the players into a cohesive unit. Many fans writing on social media are perhaps going a little overboard expecting a challenge for Champions League places but I believe that this may be a little premature. It would be great of course but it is likely to take time for the team to produce consistent results with so many new faces at once.

I am especially excited by Summerville who looked superb when I watched Leeds games on TV last season. He should hopefully provide the balance on the left that has been missing. With Bowen on the right and Kudus perhaps in a central ‘number 10’ role behind a goalscoring centre forward then our attacking threat should be potent and balanced. We have a number of alternatives in midfield – let’s hope that Paqueta can show his skills and best form alongside whoever plays there, probably Rodriguez to begin with while Alvarez is out. Unlike many fans (it would appear) I am a fan of JWP but he is likely to struggle to make the starting eleven such is the depth of the squad in the middle. For the times he does get onto the pitch I hope he rediscovers his free kick shots on goal speciality.

The central defence looks more solid than before with Kilman and the highly rated Todibo, and Wan-Bissaka should hopefully be an upgrade on Coufal, certainly in a defensive sense where he is highly regarded especially in one-on-one situations facing attacking wingers. Hopefully as a result we can improve considerably on our poor goals conceded record – the worst in the Premier League after the three relegated clubs. 74 was the biggest number we have ever conceded in the Premier League and the most ever since 1966-67! I’ve seen last season’s defence described as Swiss cheese – very apt.

The club were hoping that Zouma, last season’s strange choice as captain, could be offloaded to Saudi Arabia saving around £7million in wages. His legs seemed to have gone some time ago and it was no surprise when he ironically failed the CAT scan!  

The squad as a whole should give us a much stronger bench than Moyes’ thin numbers could ever achieve, and I wondered if any of the promising youngsters would find their way into it. There were high hopes for three or four of them to do so, but with the strength in depth that we are likely to have it seems that there may be loans to lower league clubs to ensure that they gain experience that they would not have if they stayed this season.

In his relatively short time at the club the new head coach has completely managed to revamp the team from front to back with just days to spare before the new campaign gets underway. A big improvement on previous campaigns where late arrivals in the transfer window after the season had already begun was the order of the day. Nevertheless not a lot of time for the players to gel as a team and it may take a while before we see the best of the new recruits.

Where will we finish? Last season we were ninth so with the changes and investment we’ve got to hope for an improvement. Seventh or eighth perhaps or even better pushing for a place in Europe the following season. And wouldn’t it be great to have long runs in both the League and FA Cups with perhaps a trip to Wembley in one or the other (or both!)?

The season may well turn out to be a transitional one but I’m hoping for visible progress, a desire to retain the ball and not give it away so cheaply, and football that is better to watch than it has been for the past couple of years. I fear that if it takes too long for the team to adapt to Lopetegui’s methods then the fans will get restless. We’ve got to be patient and allow some time for it all to come together.

Aston Villa, newly qualified for the Champions League, will be a stiff test for the first game. We’ve already had one Duran score against us this season (for Celta Vigo), let’s hope that Villa’s Colombian Duran doesn’t do the same on Saturday after all the early transfer window shenanigans! Some fans have complained about our pre-season performances and results but I seem to recall that we had a poor lead into the 1985-86 season where we achieved our best ever finish. Conversely in the Avram Grant year the pre-season went quite well. It’s not always a good indicator of what is to follow, especially this year with the late returners from international football and also the late transfer incomings. Aston Villa have also lost a number of games pre-season too by the way.

So here we go again. My prediction for the starting line-up: Areola, Wan-Bissaka, Kilman, Todibo, Emerson; Rodriguez, Paqueta: Bowen, Kudus, Summerville: Fullkrug. That would mean just five of last year’s regulars added to six newcomers.

That leaves a bench to be chosen from the following: Fabianski, Coufal, Aguerd, Mavropanos, Cresswell, Irving, Soucek, JWP, Guilherme, Ings, Antonio, Cornet plus any of our promising youngsters who haven’t been loaned out. Hopefully I haven’t forgotten anyone. I’m not used to a full squad!

The new head coach may have other ideas, but whatever team is selected I’m excited and looking forward to season 67 as much as my first back in 1958. Who knows what we have in store? I’ll start this year’s score forecasts with a 2-1 win.

Aston Villa visit the London Stadium to face West Ham in the Claret and Blue derby

Before last week’s article I developed a programme to anticipate where West Ham would finish in this season’s Premier League final table. This week I provide an update based upon what happened last weekend, including our unfortunate two points dropped in the 2-2 draw with Burnley at the London Stadium.

There are probably six teams still in the reckoning to finish sixth or seventh in the final table and all now have ten games remaining apart from Chelsea with eleven. I have discounted the top five in the Premier League as I believe they have enough points and decent enough run-ins to maintain those places. The teams from 6th to 11th are now:

  • 6. Manchester United – 47 points (28 games)
  • 7. West Ham – 43 points (28)
  • 8. Brighton – 42 points (28)
  • 9. Wolves – 41 points (28)
  • 10. Newcastle – 40 points (28)
  • 11. Chelsea – 39 points (27)

You may recall that I considered the degree of difficulty in the remaining fixtures for each side based upon the current position in the league table of their remaining opponents. The degree of difficulty factor suggested that Newcastle have the easiest run-in.

I then took it further and predicted the results of each teams remaining games with a formula based upon fixtures remaining, categorised into teams being faced with a current position of 1-3, 4-5, 6-11, 12-17, and 18-20 given different weightings, whether or not the remaining games were home or away, and the results when the sides met earlier in the season. Additional factors included games against the top 5 teams, and games against each other (i.e. the 6 teams being considered).

Some of the results last weekend were as expected, the only ones that were not were West Ham who were expected to beat Burnley, and Newcastle who were expected to draw at Chelsea based on the criteria used. This therefore adjusts the forecast for the final standings at the end of the season which is now:

  • 6. Manchester United – 61 points
  • 7. Newcastle – 56 points
  • 8. Chelsea – 56 points
  • 9. Wolves – 55 points
  • 10. West Ham – 55 points
  • 11. Brighton – 51 points

Chelsea have now risen to a predicted eighth placed finish whilst West Ham have fallen to tenth. As I wrote last time, it’s just a bit of fun, and my gut feeling is that perhaps tenth is just about right. Football matches are notoriously unpredictable to forecast which stems from various factors like team dynamics, player and overall team form, European and FA Cup games to play, the Thursday / Sunday mix which is often an issue, injuries, and even unpredictable events during a game, as well as all sorts of other miscellaneous factors.

I noted this week that the Opta Supercomputer forecast is that West Ham will finish eighth on 55.47 points. (I’m not sure where we’d get the 0.47 points from!). Their programming must have some similarities to mine based on their figures. I will look back at the end of the season to compare The Bennett model versus the Opta Supercomputer at this stage to make a comparison.

This is how Opta see the Premier League ending up…

  • 6. Manchester United – 62.41
  • 7. Newcastle United – 58.35
  • 8. West Ham United – 55.47
  • 9. Chelsea – 54.84
  • 10. Brighton & Hove Albion – 54.61

On Thursday night we gave Freiburg a bit of a thrashing which on the face of it would compare the relative merits of the Premier League versus the Bundesliga. Seventh in the Premier League were shown to be massively superior to eighth in the Bundesliga based upon this last 16 tie. This was also a significant victory for English clubs who are now on course to claim a fifth spot in next season’s Champions League.

Two additional performance places are up for grabs due to the new format in 2024-25. They will go to the countries with the best average performance in all the European competitions this season. Before Thursday night Italy were top with Germany second and England third, but our win meant that England narrowed the gap on Germany.

Coefficient Rankings:

  • 1. Italy – 17.714 (4 teams remaining)
  • 2. Germany – 16.357 (3 teams remaining)
  • 3. England – 16.250 (5 teams remaining)
  • 4. France – 14.750 (3 teams remaining)
  • 5. Spain – 14.437 (3 teams remaining

We’ve now drawn another German side in the quarter finals and this time it will be much tougher as we face the might of Bayer 04 Leverkusen, the runaway leaders in Germany who have won 21 and drawn 4 of their 25 games, being the only side in the top 5 leagues in Europe to still be unbeaten at this stage of the season.

Having said that they came mightily close to being eliminated from the competition on Thursday night when they trailed Karabakh (of Azerbaijan) 2-1 on the night and 4-3 on aggregate as the tie reached the 90th minute of the second leg. Leverkusen then scored twice in the time that was added to ensure progression. That game surely gives us some hope in the quarter final tie doesn’t it?

Also, if England get the second spot in the ‘performance table’ and the FA Cup winners finish in the top seven, then it would appear that England would have five places in next season’s Champions League, two places in the Europa League and the team finishing eighth would take the Europa Conference League spot. All the more reason to continue to push for a high enough spot in the Premier League, apart from the kudos and the prize money on offer of course.

And what about the Kudus goal where he ran from the middle of our half, dribbled through the Freiburg team on an incredible run then clinically finished with his so-called weaker foot? That got me thinking of the best goals I’ve seen us score at the London Stadium. In no particular order it joins Payet’s amazing dribble through the Middlesbrough defence, and Andy Carroll’s wonderful volley against Crystal Palace. There are others to consider I’m sure. What ones have I missed?

Great goals that they were, none of them compare in my eyes to Martin Peters’ goal against Leicester in November 1968, Trevor Sinclair’s goal against Derby on Boxing Day 2001, or Harry Redknapp’s goal v QPR, also in November 1968 (just two weeks before Martin Peters goal).

I’ve written before about the 1968/69 season and a golden period of four consecutive and absolutely brilliant entertaining games at Upton Park in the Autumn of 1968. When we faced Sunderland on October 19th we’d come off the back of a run of nine winless games. We ended that run thrashing Sunderland 8-0 (the game where Geoff Hurst scored six). A fortnight later in a great game we defeated QPR 4-3, which included the Redknapp goal I referred to above, and a magnificent Bobby Moore goal frequently shown on the screens at Upton Park before games. The game with the Martin Peters wonder goal came in a 4-0 win over Leicester two weeks after that. And finally move on another fortnight for a 2-1 win over Manchester City, the first scored by Geoff Hurst, a near post header from a Martin Peters cross, and the second a carbon copy but this time a near post header by Martin Peters from a Geoff Hurst cross. They could do it both ways around and in this match they did. Those were the days. Wonderful memories.

As the game today is against Aston Villa an abiding memory from fixtures against them is a penalty awarded to us in the last minute of the FA Cup quarter final in March 1980. Up stepped Ray Stewart, the perfect penalty taker when under the greatest pressure to score. He slammed it high into the net in front of the South Bank, we won the game 1-0 and went on to win the FA Cup, the last team to do so as a second-tier side. We’ve had some great penalty takers, in no particular order the best ones in my opinion were Ray Stewart, Julian Dicks, Geoff Hurst, Mark Noble, Johnny Byrne, John Bond, and Paolo Di Canio.

Aston Villa are one of those teams that we have beaten more often than been defeated by. The recent record is strongly in our favour. The last 11 meetings (since and including Boxing Day 2015) – West Ham have won six, four have been drawn, and Villa have only won once – that was this season when they won 4-1 last October. The overall record in history shows West Ham with 45 wins, Villa with 39, and 35 draws.

Two worrying statistics: We have won four and drawn four of our last eight home league games against Villa, and Villa have only ever beaten us once both home and away in a single season in the Premier League. How often do impressive runs like that come to an end?

Our record in Sunday games that follow Thursday evening games is not the best but at least this time Villa are in the same boat, as they had a Europa Conference League game on the same night that we put five past Freiburg when they beat Ajax 4-0 to win by that aggregate score and progress into their first European Quarter Final for 25 years. We will be hoping to improve on our record of dropping points in five of the seven Sunday games that have followed a Europa League game.

Villa’s impressive England striker Watkins is always a threat but he is battling to recover from a gashed knee to be fit for the game. Their captain John McGinn is banned following the reckless tackle last weekend that got him sent off against Tottenham. Emerson has been missing for a couple of games but he may be fit to resume at left back. Cornet is the only definite absentee – apparently he has a hamstring injury. Will we miss him? Is he still with us?

I wonder if Danny Ings will get a run out at some stage? If by chance he scores a goal he would become only the third player to score a Premier League goal against four of his former teams – Peter Crouch and Nicolas Anelka are the others. We will hope that Lucas Paqueta starts of course and has calmed down following his substitution in the week – all our 12 league wins this season have come with him in the starting eleven whereas we’ve failed to win any of the seven games where he hasn’t been involved.

Villa are impressive going forward with only Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal scoring more goals in the league so far this season. I cannot see them failing to score which will mean that we will need to be positive, and all four of Kudus, Paqueta, Bowen and a fit Antonio will need to be firing at the same level as they were on Thursday night. Can we win the game? I hope so but it won’t be easy. I’ll go for a 2-2 draw for the second weekend in a row.

Nine Consecutive Wins for West Ham in Europe, a Number 9 Dream

But a win against Aston Villa would be even more satisfying

When was the last time a team won nine consecutive European games? I know it is only the Europa Conference but wins are wins. There are probably teams who have achieved this; I’m not going to trawl through all the records to see. However I bet we might be the only team to satisfy the following question. When was the last time a team won nine consecutive European games without playing particularly well after being thrashed 4-0 on the weekend before the ninth game, and in the ninth game they managed to concede 14 corners without having a single corner themselves?

It was a comfortable win despite what you might think when looking at the corner count with two well taken goals from our number 9, Antonio, who was unlucky not to complete the perfect hat- trick (header, right foot, left foot) when his shot near the start of the second half rebounded from the inside of one post to go for a goal kick beyond the other post. You can’t get much closer than that.

Two favourite European campaigns in the past both only consisted of exactly nine games and we reached the final of each one. Following our FA Cup win in 1964 we entered the European Cup Winners Cup the following season which meant two two-legged rounds, followed by a two-legged quarter final and semi-final before a final at Wembley. We won six of the nine games played, being held to a 1-1 draw in the home leg of the first round by La Gantoise (Belgium) and then losing 2-1 in the away leg at Spartak Prague (Czechoslovakia at the time). We won both legs of the quarter final against Lausanne Sports (Switzerland). We also drew 1-1 in the semi-final away at Real Zaragoza (Spain). But we won all the ties on aggregate and progressed to the final where we beat TSV Munich 2-0 at Wembley for our first (and so far only) European trophy (I don’t count the Inter-Toto in 1999/2000 – we even lost one of the six games needed to win that which gave us qualification to the UEFA Cup in the same season).

Following our 1975 FA Cup win we had a thrilling campaign in the Cup Winners Cup the following season where we lost 4-2 to Anderlecht in the final. We only won four of the nine matches in that tournament drawing 2-2 at Lahden Reipas (Finland) in the first round, 1-1 at Ararat Erevan (USSR) in the second round, losing 4-2 in the away first leg of the quarter final against Den Haag (Netherlands) after being 4-0 at one time in the match, and losing 2-1 in the away leg of the semi-final to Eintracht Frankfurt. Our home wins in those four ties were our only victories. The home games against Den Haag and Frankfurt were two of the best games I’ve ever seen us play.

So back to this season and we’ve already won nine games on the trot in Europe and haven’t reached the quarter-final yet although you’d expect this to be a formality next week wouldn’t you? But we are West Ham remember! I’ve been a supporter for 65 years now. I don’t take anything for granted where West Ham are concerned.

This weekend it’s back to the bread and butter of the Premier League and we will face a much stiffer test when Villa visit the London Stadium. We have the opportunity to complete the double over them after our 1-0 win at Villa Park in August. That was our only win on the road so far this season. Our away performances and especially the lack of goals scored has been dreadful this season culminating in possibly the worst of all on the South Coast last week. Geoff covered this in his article prior to the Larnaca game so I won’t go over it again.

After a poor start to the season losing four of their first five league games (including the one against us) Villa’s season has improved immeasurably under new management and they sit comfortably in mid-table (11th) with 34 points with no need to look downwards as we have to.

Just like when we faced Brighton last week, Villa are equal with the Seagulls as having scored nine goals in the first 15 minutes of games so far this season, a statistic not bettered by anyone in the Premier League. So we need to be on our toes from the start (for a change!).

And continuing the number 9 theme that has been threaded through this article, Aston Villa have conceded eight goals in their visits to London this season and Danny Ings has scored eight Premier League goals this season. Can he score number 9 in this game to become the first player to score both for and against Villa in the same Premier League season? And perhaps our very own number 9 will continue scoring after his two in midweek.

We still haven’t scored a goal in the opening 15 minutes of a Premier League game yet, so how about us scoring one in the ninth minute? There’s my (optimistic?) prediction for the game – West Ham to win 2-0 with goals from Antonio and Ings. What are the chances?

In recent articles I have been analysing the position and current form of the bottom teams. I will continue to concentrate on the bottom nine as Palace in twelfth place are still only six points clear of Bournemouth in 20th, and the Eagles are bottom of my mini form league too. The relegation dogfight this season is an interesting one – I just wish that we weren’t involved. The points of the bottom nine (with the number of games remaining in brackets) are:

Palace 27 (13 to play), Wolves 27 (12), Forest 26 (13), Leicester 24 (13), West Ham 23 (13), Leeds 22 (13), Everton 22 (12), Southampton 21 (13), Bournemouth 21 (13).

Wolves and Southampton are the only two of the nine to win last weekend so our poor defeat at Brighton didn’t really lose us too much in comparison to the others. The points gained in the last 5 games are a guide to current form and are set out below. We have been toppled from this summit of this ‘mini-league’ as a result of the last game, and Palace are now at the foot.

Wolves 7, Leicester 6, Southampton 6, Forest 5, West Ham 5, Everton 4, Bournemouth 4, Leeds 4, Palace 3.

With the bottom six clubs still achieving less than a point a game so far this season, and so many clubs potentially involved in the relegation struggle, then I still reckon that a final total of 37 or 38 should be enough to confirm Premier League football next season. That would mean us securing 14 or 15 from those 13 games if my estimate turns out to be correct. Based on current averages then 35 could be enough.

The table below sets out our remaining 13 games with the figures in brackets the points that we picked up in the reverse fixtures already played earlier in the season. If we were to replicate those then we would collect another 12 points to take us up to 35. Might that be enough? We would be cutting it fine, so we must therefore hope for more than that I would suggest.

12/3 Home v Villa (3)

19/3 Away v Man City (0)

2/4 Home v Southampton (1)

5/4 Home v Newcastle (1)

8/4 Away v Fulham (3)

16/4 Home v Arsenal (0)

22/4 Away v Bournemouth (3)

26/4 Home v Liverpool (0)

29/4 Away v Palace (0)

6/5 Home v Man Utd (0)

13/5 Away v Brentford (0)

20/5 Home v Leeds (1)

28/5 Away v Leicester (0)

This week I’ve had to write this article before the Saturday games are played. So I’m hoping that on Saturday Liverpool followed up last week’s demolition of Manchester United by winning at Bournemouth, that Brentford did the business at Goodison, that the Seagulls did what they did to us at Elland Road, that Chelsea won at Leicester, then Tottenham beat Forest (I hate to write that but needs must), and that Manchester City win at Palace.

And then today, in addition to us beating Villa I’m hoping that Manchester United beat Southampton, and Newcastle beat Wolves.

With so many references to the number nine, it’s interesting that none of the bottom nine have met or will meet this weekend. I’m hoping for a West Ham win and the other eight to have lost or to lose today. What odds on that 9-match accumulator? If you are interested it is around 140/1 with leading bookmakers.

Sevilla, The Villa, Sevilla: West Ham Face Sticky Filling In Europa League Sandwich

Taking one game at a time comes under scrutiny as the Hammers face rampant Villa just days before Thursday’s Europa League showdown

Just under twenty months ago, Aston Villa earned a point at the London Stadium, on the final day of the 2019/20 season, to preserve their Premier League status. Defeat would have seen today’s visitors relegated on goal difference in place of Bournemouth. In a fraught and lengthy campaign West Ham finished one place and four points better off than the Villains.

The following season saw a significant improvement in the fortunes of both clubs. The Hammers finishing an unexpected sixth with 65 points, while Villa managed a creditable eleventh with 55 points. Both sides could potentially match those points tallies once the current season comes to an end.

A scan of the two teams that played in that July 2020 season finale tells very different stories. For Villa, only Mings, McGinn, and Luiz are in contention for a start today. On the other hand, the West Ham line-up shows an amazing familiarity. If it weren’t for injuries, up to eight or nine players might have featured both then and today. Since then there have been only four new arrivals who might realistically be classed as first-team regulars – Kurt Zouma, Craig Dawson, Vladimir Coufal and Said Benrahma. Arguably, only Zouma would get the starting call in a fully fit squad.

The story of West Ham’s past week has been one of missed goalscoring opportunities. With greater composure, Pablo Fornals and Manuel Lanzini should have earned at least a point at Anfield last weekend. And Nikola Vlasic and Michail Antonio were guilty of glaring misses in Seville. The Vlasic header would have brought howls of derision at a Sunday afternoon game over the park.

For all the ‘taking each game as it comes’ cliches we hear from coaches and players, I can’t believe that Thursday’s return leg with Sevilla isn’t at the forefront of everyone’s mind – even if it is unconsciously. The Europa League match is unquestionably a do-or-die affair, while there will still be another twenty-seven Premier League points to play for after today. So when push comes to shove, will that extra yard of pitch be covered, will every sinew in the body be stretched to breaking point, and will bodies be thrown on the line to make every desperate block or tackle?  It’s not as if players need to worry about playing for their places, Indeed, it is testament to the spirit that exists in the club that we see as much effort as we do when there is little fear of competition.

Although not probable, it would be understandable if David Moyes acknowledged the reality of the situation and chose to leave any key players who are not 100% on the bench. Why not give Sonny Perkins, Armstrong Oko-Flex, or Dan Chesters a start rather than two minutes at the end? Or perhaps it is a game for Mark Noble to make one last start. It would be a calculated risk, but given that Villa’s main threat comes from the attacking instincts of Coutinho, Ings and Watkins, it would be manageable.

Coutinho possesses the precise attributes that would add an extra dimension to West Ham’s game. A player who can find and create space for himself, makes good decisions, passes well and weighs in with his fair share of goals. What a difference such a player could make.

It took Villa a long time, and a change of manager, to learn how to cope without one-time talisman, Jack Grealish. A lesson there as to what can happen when you become over reliant on a single player. There have been periods of inconsistency under Gerrard’s management but his team are currently on a hot streak with three straight wins at an aggregate score of 9-0.

West Ham achieved a win double over Villa in the last campaign and would repeat that feat with a win today. Villa’s 1-0 home win in May 2015 was their only success in the last eleven meetings between the two clubs. It will be tough for the Hammers to continue that ascendency and may have to do so with a share of the spoils. COYI!

Can West Ham rediscover their scoring touch when in-form Villa visit the London Stadium on Sunday?

Here we are, two weeks on from my last review prior to the Wolves game and just 10 games to go in the Premier League this season for West Ham. In view of the (mainly Covid) interruptions to the season that happened a few weeks ago some of the other teams competing at the top of the table have either 11, 12 or even 13 games left prior to this weekend’s fixtures. It makes comparisons difficult. 

As I wrote only a fortnight ago am I the only one who would have liked to see players recruited in the winter window stopped from playing in games that are rescheduled following postponements? A blatant example of the point I am making was demonstrated in the Southampton v Newcastle game on Thursday night. Eddie Howe fielded six players who were not available when the game was scheduled to be played in January before it was postponed due to Newcastle’s COVID / injury situation at the time. 

How convenient for the Geordies that Chris Wood, a £25 million signing from Burnley in the winter transfer window, scored his first goal for the Tynesiders to equalise Southampton’s opening goal. And then Guimaraes, a £40 million signing, scored the winner with an outrageous back-heeled volley. The winning goal was assisted by Burn who headed a Targett corner back across goal. Both of those were January recruits too. Newcastle have benefitted enormously, not just from the injection of funds following the takeover, but also from the postponements. Surely the Premier League should have acted to prevent this unfair situation arising?

We currently sit in sixth place still, in touch and challenging for a top four place, although our recent indifferent performances and results of others means that it would take a number of wins in the run-in to achieve this. Perhaps 5th, 6th, 7th or even 8th looks our most likely finishing position as it stands but a lot can change. At this stage it is impossible to know where we would need to finish to qualify for Europe, as this depends on winners of cup competitions.

Our 1-0 defeat to Sevilla leaves the tie still wide open but we should not underestimate how difficult it might be to overturn even just a one goal deficit. If we want to advance into the last eight we will need to become the first team from England to overcome these Europa League specialists. Tottenham, Wolves and Manchester United have all tried and failed in the past. 

And for a team with the fourth highest number of goals scored in the Premier League this season so far we have suddenly lost our ability to convert chances into goals. In the past week against both Liverpool and Sevilla how many golden opportunities to score were spurned? This will need to be improved if we are to stand a chance of progressing in the Europa League and continuing our challenge in the domestic league.

The current league table – top 10
Man City 69 from 28 games
Liverpool 63 from 27 games
Chelsea 56 from 27 games
Arsenal 48 from 25 games
Man Utd 47 from 28 games
West Ham 45 from 28 games
Tottenham 45 from 26 games
Wolves 43 from 28 games
Villa 36 from 27 games
Southampton 35 from 28 games

The form table (last 5 games of the top 10 in the current league table)
Liverpool 15
Chelsea 13
Arsenal 13
Man City 12
Tottenham 9
Villa 9
West Ham 8
Man Utd 8
Southampton 7
Wolves 6

Our opponents this weekend have climbed into the top half of the table in the past fortnight. They have looked very impressive in recent games when beating Southampton and Leeds and will be a difficult proposition on Sunday. Coutinho seems to have regained his Liverpool form after his difficult time abroad. They will visit the London Stadium full of confidence. We haven’t managed to score more than one goal in any of our last five games in all competitions. I reckon that we will need to do so on Sunday if we are to collect the three points that we need to maintain our challenge in the Premier League. What are the chances?

The Thriller With The Villa: West Ham Tilting At Top Five Spot

The world’s two most famous claret-and-blues battle for a place at the business end of the table. Can West Ham spoil Aston Villa’s 100% away record and become the first team to score against them on the road?

Former Coldstream Guard and peddler of Barbican alcoholic-free larger, Lawrie McMenemy, used to say that league tables shouldn’t be published until ten rounds of games had been played. Before that point, the big man reckoned, the table was misleading creating unrealistic expectations at the top and putting too much pressure on managers at the bottom.

Well, we are almost at the point, a quarter of the season has already come and gone, and the Premier League table makes surprising reading. It will not be lost on either of today’s teams that victory would catapult them into the top five. Even if it was only temporary, it could prove a memorable “I was there” moment to tell your grandchildren about. Almost cause for an open top bus parade if only we were in a Tier 1 Covid location.

Something that stands out, for me, in this most unusual of seasons is how away teams have taken the edge on victories – leading 42 to 35 with 19 draws. Liverpool are the only Premier League side yet to lose at home, as well as being the only team to be averaging more that two points per home game. Conversely, four teams are yet to lose on the road, while there are five averaging more than two points per game. Within that roll of top awayday performers are tonight’s opponents, Aston Villa.

Having played just three away games so far, Villa can boast a 100% record and have yet to concede a goal. It is a fascinating state of affairs when you consider they have managed to let in eleven goals across their five home games – more that West Ham have conceded in all nine of their games, home and away.

The home versus away riddle, I suppose, must be a consequence of crowd free stadiums, but it is still not easy to understand. I can see how a passionate crowd can act as an extra player, but does that explain everything? Shouldn’t the home team be better acquainted with (and capable of exploiting) the dimensions of their own pitch? Aren’t pitches prepared to suit the home style of play or to hinder the opposition?

Or is that, despite the absence of crowds, home team’s still feel the need to take the initiative, only to be undone by the counter-attack sucker-punch that is so prevalent in today’s game. There must be something psychological at play here!

Assuming no undisclosed injury problems, I don’t see much change to the Hammer’s starting line-up. The key decision will be to bring back Michail Antonio or stick with Sebastien Haller. Much may hinge on just how confident David Moyes is on Antonio’s return to fitness – too soon to risk him or not?

West Ham managed to stumble across the finishing line in each of the last two games Antonio missed, but he is by far the best fit with the overall Moyes game-plan. Haller is nowhere near as bad as some make-out although he has yet to get near £45m of value. He did OK in the Sheffield game, where a great strike to win the game disguised earlier limitations in the role he was being asked to play. For me, bringing back Antonio is a must. Although their defensive record on the road suggests otherwise, Villa are often wide open at the back, and Antonio is the one best placed to exploit that.

The other selection debate (at least among fans) is Pablo Fornals or Said Benrahma? It is an interesting managerial conundrum. Fornals works his socks off for the team off the ball, but does he do enough on it? Benrahma looks to possess an excellent repertoire of skills and tricks, but can he be relied upon to put in the graft off the ball? I was disappointed not to see Benrahma get another 20 minutes or so last week, particularly when several players were starting to flag in the final quarter. I think we are all keen to see exactly what he can do, but I believe Moyes will keep him up his sleeve for now. He is not ready to fuilly release the brake and go full throttle just yet.

When West Ham played Villa in the final match of last season, the visitor’s determination for survival was enough to earn a deserved draw against their off-colour hosts. The Hammers were unable to get a grip on Jack Grealish and allowed him to run the show. They would be ill-advised to let him do so again this evening.

Grealish is something of a marmite character. Undoubtedly, one of the most skilful ball-players in the league but far too prone to the theatrical dive for my liking. Unfortunately, the game seems in thrall to players who engineer fouls out of nowhere on a regular basis. The irony of Grealish berating a Brighton player for simulation last week was right off the scale. Grealish was, of course, in court this week facing a charge of careless driving – a welcome change from careless diving, I suppose – after pranging several parked cars during a late night lockdown binge. With sentencing due in the next two weeks, perhaps it will be a case of locked down to locked up.

It will be interesting to have a close look at Ollie Watkins. One of the many players linked with a move to West Ham in the summer (and a former team-mate of Benrahma) he has made an encouraging start at Villa. He will present a menacing goal threat if the supply line is not curtailed.

The runaway penalty glut has dried up a little in the past two weeks. I had mentioned previously that referees might be given a new directive to stem that particular over zealous tide. The current total sits at 44 awarded, a run rate equivalent to 175 for the entire season.   

I have a feeling that this is a game that could have plenty of goals in it. An interesting clash of styles between Villa’s very open approach and the Hammer’s controlled smash and grab. Normally, whenever we are lured towards the rocks of over optimism (even against our better judgement) it ends in disappointment. We are like that old variety act where chairs are stacked on top of each other. We all know that eventually it will all come crashing down – just not when!

For today though, I will laugh in the face of fate and predict a thrill-a-minute, nail-biting, nerve-jangling, breath-taking 3-2 victory. We might even get a penalty. COYI!