West Ham thread
Good luck in the Championship, lads. Hope to see you bounce straight back, Newcastle-style.
Steve McClaren at very short odds. Looking forward to hearing his cockney accent.
Cocknese:
Steve McClaren has ruled himself out and Sullivan wants a British manager, hence no di Canio. Allardyce?
Apparently waiting on an answer from O'Neill?
Also heard a rumour of Chris Hughton
Hughton would be good for the Hammers, surprised he hasn't picked up anything so far.
The list of managers that are being mentioned (only in the press, it has to be said) are pretty underwhelming, and I am fearing that we will end up with someone like Allardyce. My list of preferences are as follows (assuming the people who have ruled themselves out are interested when they actually get offered):
* O'Neil
* Di Canio
* Poyet
* McLaren
* Hughton
* Smithy
* Allardyce/Warnock
I cannot think of anyone else mentioned (I am ignoring people like Lambert as there is no way he will swap promoted Norwich for the clusterf**k that is West Ham). Realistically, we have a very small chance of getting O'Neill, Di Canio is a bonkers idea that will never happen (shame), Poyet and McLaren have ruled themselves out (although that may change if someone else gets the Villa job McLaren is after), so I am pinning all my hopes on ex Spurs fullback who has been a terrible caretaker manager of Newcastle 47 times before finally doing ok with them and then getting sacked. Oh, happy times.
My manager wishlist looks like this:
1) Sir Trev
2) Tony Carr
Everyone elses name I've seen can f*ck right off.
Sam f****n Allardyce! The long ball game comes to Upton Park.
No need to keep Scotty Parker because he will only be watching the ball go over his head all day.
Are you all kidding me? Sam Allardyce is a fantastic appointment. Better to have boring long ball tactics than no tactics at all.
Are you all kidding me? Sam Allardyce is a fantastic appointment. Better to have boring long ball tactics than no tactics at all.
Agree
The anti Allardyce thing is a media beat up so uninformed fans can bag him - he's a very good manager - look at where he got Bolton - needed moe time at Newcastle and wouldv'e finished higher with b/burn than Kean did.
The anti Allardyce thing is a media beat up so uninformed fans can bag him - he's a very good manager - look at where he got Bolton - needed moe time at Newcastle and wouldv'e finished higher with b/burn than Kean did.
Or if we look at it another way, he did well with Bolton about a decade ago, and did about the same as a man plucked off the street with no managerial experience and coaching badges gained from collecting tokens on Wheat-Bix packets at Blackburn.
Since that "success" with Bolton a decade ago, his record has struggled to reach average. If we were looking at managers who did well a decade ago, we should have got Harry Bassett.
Also, while I am on an roll, the "success" he had at Bolton was with a team that was throwing plenty of cash around on player wages. He got a team with Ivan Campo, Dyorkeff (I know that is no where the correct spelling but I cannot be bothered researching) and Jay Jay Okacha to the middle of premiership - f**king managerial genius. And before anyone says that he got these players to the club, I am sure that was more to do with the massive wages than his charm and silky patter.
Maybe Frankie but these players were past their best and he got quality out of them and surely they'd not have stuck around if he by passed midfield everytime his team got the ball - in fact these guys are all midfielders so to make the impact they did they must have seen a fair amount of ball.
Tragic. RIP Dean and give my regards to your old man. COYI!!
played pretty well, but were just incapable of scoring.
Had a drink in the Paolo Di Canio lounge before the game and at half time, and then had a beer with Alan Devonshire and Phil Parkes afterwards as the guy I was with is good friends with Parkes. Interesting to hear their opinions on the current team as well as a few stories from the old days.
played pretty well, but were just incapable of scoring.
Had a drink in the Paolo Di Canio lounge before the game and at half time, and then had a beer with Alan Devonshire and Phil Parkes afterwards as the guy I was with is good friends with Parkes. Interesting to hear their opinions on the current team as well as a few stories from the old days.
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Good to see Reid start! How did he go?
Good to see Reid start! How did he go?
Played well. My feed went a bit dodgy in the second half but I was reading the West Ham forum, KUMB, this morning and they were all very impressed with Reid with most users listing him in the top three performers. Most of the debate was about the midfield however and Parker's lacklustre performance.
Good to see Reid start! How did he go?
As mentioned in the Winnie thread, he played very well - a massive improvement from last season. Won a load of headers and tackled well, although he still looked a little petrified when he had the ball at his feet. Fat Sam seems to have worked on his confidence, as there were a couple of times where he was in positions where last season he looked like he was going to fall over his feet or burst into tears, where yesterday he looked like he had everything under control.
played pretty well, but were just incapable of scoring.
Had a drink in the Paolo Di Canio lounge before the game and at half time, and then had a beer with Alan Devonshire and Phil Parkes afterwards as the guy I was with is good friends with Parkes. Interesting to hear their opinions on the current team as well as a few stories from the old days.
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some already mentioned a bit here - Scott Parker looking disinterested yesterday - which was pretty obvious for everyone to see.
f**king annoying to conceed in the last minute at home again yesterday - that is 3 points dropped in injury time in our two games.
Strange performance - most of the time we looked ok, but for the first 20 minutes of the second half we barely had a kick of the ball. Referee was terrible - not specifically towards any side, but just consistently making terrible decisions.
Big John Carew was all class when he came on, and is my new favourite player. I am thinking of getting his face tatooed on my back.
Enjoy Almunia!
Went on Saturday - good atmosphere (although I believe that some of the fans may have smashed up some of the shop selling food and drinks at half time, which may have resulted in a load of riot police there for the 2nd half). Almunia is yet to make a save in a West Ham shirt - Palace had 2 shots on target and scored 2 goals.
Our supposed premier league class (Nolan, Cole, Almunia, Bentley) were our worst players. Faye looks like he is running into a very strong wind all the time, and was miles away from Murray for their 2nd goal. Papa Boopa Diop is massive. Really f**king massive. The little lad he was marking looked like a jockey who had fallen off his horse when he was chasing him around.
Baldock looked decent when he came on, while Faubert, Carew, and Tomko played well. Collison and Angela Lansbury were decent in patches. Big Daddy (Papa) was my MoM
Last night was pish.
And for Fat Sam to say afterwards it was a very good performance was very perplexing - I can only assume that he was talking about the catering staff.
I normally go for a beer after the games, but last night couldn't be bothered and shot straight off at the final whistle. I was on the tube when one of the guys I go with rang me to ask if I was ok. I told him I was but was just a bit knackered and it was a long way home. He said he was only asking as it had all kicked off on Green Street - riot police, horses, etc - with the Bristol City fans, and he wanted to make sure I hadn't got caught up in it.
And here I was thinking he was worried about my feelings......
Got my ticket for West Ham vs Millwall tomorrow - exciting times (as long as I don't get stabbed)
Stay on Green St Frankie.
Bit tough that you cant even go to the Boylen to warm up. Keep away from the horses.
wow im quite shocked reading the posts above
for some reason i thought that any fan violence would be big news on the football websites but it obviously wasnt after that bristol city game
take care frankie mac, i watched 'green street hooligans' and it wasnt nice lol
for some reason i thought that any fan violence would be big news on the football websites but it obviously wasnt after that bristol city game
take care frankie mac, i watched 'green street hooligans' and it wasnt nice lol
great fun. Cracking atmosphere and a decent performance by West Ham despite (because of) being down to 10 men for pretty much all of the game.
http://www.westhamtillidie.com
Check this interview with David Sullivan. Amazingly open
first of 8 episodes.
He mentions a replacement for Avram Grant and the obvious person was O�Neill, but then he says that he didn�t want to come until the start of the following season. I can�t remember whether that was the case with O�Neill.
Also talks about a rift between English and foreign players last season and that the trouble makers have gone.
Parker, Demba Ba, Upson, Ilunga. Who else with influence has gone?
Terrible game last night. The problem with Fat Sam's style of play is that if we don't win, it is f**king ugly to watch.
We were so predictable - ball goes to centre back, centre back smashes it towards Carlton Cole, Watford centre back wins the header and knocks it out, ball goes back to West Ham centre back, repeat. We never even tried anything like having Cole pull out to the fullbacks and knock the ball on the angle. It is all just football by percentages - if we knock it 100 times, statistically 7 times it will drop to one of our players in the box.
The wonderful world of football, Big Sam style...
Went to Peterborough for the game last night - great fun. 5,000 West Ham fans there, which was about 1/3 of the ground. Massive din all night.
Started terrible - usual hoofs for Carlton Cole to fall over while losing out to a centre back a foot shorter than him. 5,000 West Ham fans spent 10 minutes singing "we play on the floor, we play on the floor. We're West Ham United, we play on the floor", and finally the message got across.
Nils at half time, but the second half was a different story - proper football by West Ham, and they couldn't live with us. Goals from Vaz Te and O'Neill and then proper taking the piss on the pitch and in the terraces (they have terraces - how cool is that?). No one would have complained if the result had been 9-1 to us.
Very enjoyable night out all round (although train back to London was rammed with West Ham, so there was no chance for a beer).
Frankie
I understand that by the end of the game the chants were "We played on the floor and won 2 - 0"
Press reaction is that Allardyce was more focused on the chants than the result
I cant work him out. He praises Taylor to the hilt as a flanking attacking player,has McArtney and Faubert (admit he has just returned)to attack wide but he wont play Maynard as a striker. Surely him and Baldock would cause the problems with ground play rather than Cole and Carew.
Maynard must be gutted. He hasnt lost form, just his position. Mind you his replacement at Bristol is in the same boat. Wood arrived in form and sits on the bench.
Chants for Di Canio too. Lets give that another couple of seasons to develop.
I only caught a glimpse of BFS's comments after the game, but for to suggest that we have been playing great football all season and the reputation he has being unfair is the biggest bollocks I have ever heard. Majority of the fans are f**king sick of 4-5-1 (especially with Maynard at right wing) and f**king sick of the style of "football" we are playing, and that came out the other night. The sooner the walrus face c**t realises that and either adapts or f**ks off, the better.
There were a few chants for Di Canio at the game, but a lot more the week before when we drew with Middlesborough.
Interesting point about Wood at Bristol. I was going to start a thread about the number of games the NZ internationals based in the UK played before they went home for the Jamaica game, compared to how many they have played since, but I cannot be f**ked looking up the stats. Wood came back and had a shocker against Ipswich and I don't think has been seen again since (after playing pretty much all the games leading up to his flight home).
Ryan and Tommy are doing well...
Winston and Woodsie not so good..
Statistics can be swayed to prove a point..
or another way to look at it, we had 3 players turing out regularly for their teams before the trip home, we now have 1.
Bye Bye dirty Londoners - and we did it without any NZers on internation duty!!
Play Maynard for 90 up the middle. 4 - 0 win.
Expect changes again though against Birm.
Faye, Diiof, Faubert, Cole will get game time.
Just hope he starts with Maynard and Vaz Te again
For any West Ham fans reading this there'll be a decent (10ish) group of us Hammers watching the final at Four Kings. Theres a facebook group but I don't know if it breaches any advertisement rules or anything.