Winston Reid (Unattached FC)
There is no room for sentiment at this level(or any level) Sam Allardyce is as tough as old boots, and he would'nt care a fig.
Celebratory talk
There were a couple of gems from the Football Ferns coach John Herdman at the Women's World Cup.
After the side missed out on a late equaliser against Japan, he offered this: "We were hoping for a Winston Reid moment in the last couple of minutes but it didn't come."
A "Winston Reid moment" being when one of your girls heads the ball in, whips off her shirt and runs to the corner flag, John?
Some pretty promising comments here from Big Sam...
http://www.kumb.com/story.php?id=125501
liverpoolfan12011-07-21 13:09:01
Winnie played the full 90 in this mornings preseason match against Dag & Red (Hammers won 1-0). With 3 CB's (Reid, Tomkins & Faye) fighting for a starting place he needs to impress the new boss in these games.
Heres some feedback on the KUMB.com website from some fans who went...
First half we looked solid, Cole took his goal brilliantly. Have to say O'Brien looked assured at RB - nothing special but done a good job defensively. Both CB's were comfortable and Jordan Brown had a decent game - was only caught out once showing a little inexperience.
This is from the match report, good news Winston
"Winston Reid has quietly had a very good game this afternoon. He's been in the right place on plenty of occasions and has not wasted possession when he has had the ball at his feet. After a season of adapting to the English game, it may be that the big New Zealander has a chance to impress on a regular basis this term."
West Ham�s Kiwi returns to the thick of things after season in the wilderness
Fresh from an excellent World Cup with New Zealand, his move to the Premier League seemed like a fairytale for the young defender, but it rapidly turned into a nightmare.
Played at right back in the opening game trouncing at Aston Villa, he played just 12 games in claret and blue and was ignored by manager Avram Grant from February until the end of the season.
His last game was when he played alongside James Tomkins in the 5-1 win over Burnley in the FA Cup, a match which saw him score his only goal for the Hammers.
On Sunday he was back alongside Tomkins and delighted to be back playing football.
�I see it as a part of growing in football, an experience,� said the now 23-year-old.
�It was tough at times of course, but that was mainly because it was a tough season for everyone.
�But it is always a learning curve when you first arrive at a new club.�
Reid did not look out of place against Cardiff and believes he and Tomkins, who is only 22, are forming an understanding.
�It is going well between us,� he said. �It is early days, but I feel we coped well with the two strikers, as they didn�t get too many chances out of us.�
Leaking goals was a huge problem for the Hammers last season and Reid revealed that it is something that new boss Sam Allardyce has been working hard on.
�Of course, it has been part of training, looking at keeping tight at the back � we have been doing a lot of defensive work and I feel we had a good pre-season and kept some clean sheets
�The manager has been great, he has just said he is counting on me, like all the players, to do a job. We are looking forward to the season ahead, we have only played one game so there is a lot to look forward to here I feel.�
That one game ended in defeat, but Reid is confident that there is no need to press the panic button so early in the campaign.
�Of course, it is a hard league you know � it will be a case of us just grinding out results in a lot of the games.
�We have only played one game in the new season, we all believe in ourselves and the team that we can do what is required to get us up,� he concluded.
