West Ham thread
theres no one more pissed off than me here,i had hoped by the time you guys read my comments, you would already have heard about it (hense buried in that qpr thread) as for his knee, remember the tendonitis problem? this will help on that one. makes sense to sort that out aswell, seems i was first with the news but as it came from craigs dads lips its got to be true. anyways you will hear soon enough from other sourcesScaloni Is The Messiah wrote:I presumed it was a wind-up, especially as he refers to two different injuries coming at the same time. Sounds like classic fishing.
finally watched the liverpool game (recorded it) our defense was pretty good. it was good to see the whole team defending not just the back four. a lesson for the phoenix there. freddie was awesome. So was cole. he has earned that spot now. he is a handful to defend against.
like i said earlier, I would keep him on for 90 sub zman and ashton.
cole and zamora = pace... running at defenders
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article775384.ece
Kieron Dyer 6mil, played 2 games
Julien Faubert 6.1mil played 2 games.
Craig Bellamy 7.5 mil 8 games.
Freddie Ljungberg 3mil 11 games.
I prefer Cole as lone striker to be honest. Ashton is running out of excuses now and surely must be getting close to full fitness?????
Dean Ashton = John Hartson
fulham win
chelsea loss
liverpool loss
tottenham draw
http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2255845,00.html
Zamora and Cole please.
So Faubert was wrong. Who does that leave. BILIC?
Posted: Today at 12:38pm <!-- Start Member Post -->
With Freddie L doing a great job in th EPL, his name sake, Freddie Sears is establishing himself as a "SH*T THIS GUY IS GOING TO BE A STAR" player.
Theres quite a few rumours that the Brum are set to make a move for Bobby Z in the summer. I seriously hope this doesn't happen. He has been one of our most consistent players the last couple of seasons and although it was tevez who took all the credit following our escape from relegation, without Bobbys goal scoring at the beginning of the season we probably would never have had a chance of surviving at the end anyway.
THE appeal against Danny Vukovic's 15-month ban for striking referee Mark Shield is set to centre on examples from around the world of players receiving far more lenient punishments for similar offences.
And at the top of the list is Italian star Paolo Di Canio's suspension of just 11 matches for pushing referee Paul Alcock to the ground after being shown a red card while playing for Sheffield Wednesday against Arsenal in an English Premier League game in 1998.
The independent match review panel outed Vukovic for 15 months - including a six-month suspended term - on Monday, as a result of his aggressively striking Shield's right arm with his right hand in the dying stages of Sunday's grand final. Central Coast players had raced to Shield to complain over his non-awarding of what replays showed should have been a Mariners penalty for a handball by Newcastle replacement James Holland in the game the Newcastle Jets won 1-0.
Mariners executive chairman Lyall Gorman yesterday met Vukovic, the player's manager, Leo Karis, and legal counsel before announcing Vukovic would lodge an appeal against the severity of the punishment.
"We have a pathway in place," Gorman said. "We believe there is an opportunity to present some facts that the independent tribunal wasn't privy to. We hope these facts will support a reduction in penalty. Danny is anxious and full of remorse. He regrets the incident. I think you know it's out of character for him. The club is of the view that the severity of the sanction for such a player of his record is excessive, despite the serious nature of the charge. We will be lodging an appeal this week and hope to have a hearing early next week. We hope the penalty will be reduced."
The appeal will be heard by the disciplinary committee. If Vukovic is not satisfied after that hearing, his last avenue will be the appeals committee. Gorman said Vukovic had apologised to Shield immediately after the game and had followed that up with written apologies to the referee, Football Federation Australia's referees manager and the FFA. Karis, when asked whether Vukovic's legal team was optimistic about the chances of getting a reduction upon appeal, replied: "We wouldn't be going down this path if we didn't think it was worthwhile. The legal advice is that we should go down this path."
The FFA will not formally extend Vukovic's ban to cover national team football while it awaits the result of his appeal, but if the ban is unchanged, it is expected to apply to the national team as well.
If that is a pic of your new baby congrats mate.
Mine is due in 8 weeks!!
The Hammers boss, talking ahead of the visit of Chelsea this weekend confirmed that the 18-year-old striker is very much in his plans - as are some of Sears' fellow youth team players.
"He's different to what we've got available at the moment," said Curbishley, talking in the pre-match press conference. "He's Bellamy-like; he's quick, wants to get in behind people and goes about his business very quietly when he's around us. He's a good finisher.
"He's burst on in the last two months really. I think the natural progression is to get some sort of football and we'll see if it's in the next 12 games.
"He's been on the [first team] trips for the last couple of months and luckily enough has been on the bonuses as well so he's well happy!"
With regard to Sears' fellow youth team players - the likes of centre-half James TOmkins and midfielder Jack Collison - he added:
"I've got no doubts about playing them. The Tomkins, Collisons and Sears have all been around the first team squad for the last four or five weeks so if they get a game that's part and parcel of the future of the club.
"I'm not afraid of putting the young boys in. If the opportunity arises, then I'll do it - especially now in a side that's doing okay.
"Anyone that comes through the ranks has that affinity with them [the fans], so they should be looking out for the likes of Sears and Tomkins over the next couple of months - and next season, obviously."
When questioned whether Sears may be set for a first team debut as soon as this weekend in the big London derby, Curbishley replied:
"He's around us, he's training with us and in the squad - so we'll have to see."
If that is a pic of your new baby congrats mate.
Mine is due in 8 weeks!!
He's already kicking his mum about so he may be a striker.
Got a good feeling about the chav game. Im picking a sneaky win or a draw..
(tin hat on with that prediction)
No doubt Curbs will stay with a lone striker, Cole, even though he isnt banging them in!!!! Apparently Barnes is a done deal according to the news now web site.
I personally reckon we need strikers who can bang em in. I know who we've got and what they cam do BUT they're either injured all the time or are championship quality.
Our back four are sound, the mid field play well, we just arn't scoring the goals. Time for Mr Cole to stand down. January will be interesting.
We achieved our goal of staying up. Lets be content with that. (for now)
But we need to spend.
Yeah its hard to disagree with alot of whats been said.
The comparison between Pardew and Curbishley has already been made on this thread and whilst they had different styles they both had similar levels of achievement. Mid table. Increadibly, Curbishley is still only 50 and has time to change as a manager, but only he can make that call. He has shown that he can only draw players that he knows and has coached, with a few exceptions. Because he has not had one of those "big" teams in England or Europe, he can not use his personal experience to attract the top brass.
Fansfc.com today
Reports claim Alan Curbishley will be handed a substantial transfer kitty in the region of �30million at the end of the season, and �8million of this could be heading to Liverpool.
It is believed the Upton Park club have made a striker their priority for when the window opens, and Curbishley hopes to tempt Peter Crouch to move south to spearhead his attack.
Two days earlier on the same site
Bayern Munich striker Luca Toni is the first target for the Hammers' incoming sporting director
Gianluca Nani is tipped to take the role in the summer and the Brescia supremo knows Toni well from his time with the Italian club.
The 30-year-old striker moved to Bayern last summer and has been a big hit in the Bundesliga.
Questions: If true, and I doubt it,
� Why has the FD appointment not been made.
Answer. To see how we go against the three this week before appointing Nani as Manager, not Football Director.
� Why would we want both of these strikers
Answer. Rumours only.
� Crouch? Up front with who.
Answer. Must be Bellamy. Wouldn�t work with Ashton or Cole
� �30 Million?.
Answer. Wasted on Curbishley.
Yeah I've been thinking about what other managers are around. I'm not totally against the idea of Big Sam taking over. Just as long as he brings his heart pills with him. God knows he'll need them.
Hammer Head2008-03-06 11:08:404-0, ouch.