West Ham United Blog

Norwich 1 West Ham 2

West Ham beat Norwich 2-1 in a friendly at Carrow Road this evening in a frantic encounter more reminiscent of a cup tie than a pre season friendly.  The Hammers strolled to a comfortable 2-0 lead after spurning some ealry chances with goals from Spector after good work from Zamora and Luis Boa Morte and and then from Ashton after more good work from a hungry lookng Boa-Morte.  Norwich got a consolation into the second half but it was the Hammers who too the full honours.

Watching the game, there were some clear plus points - Zamora looked very bright, as did Ashton.  As already mentioned, LBM also looked much more energetic than his previous appearances had suggested.  Bowyer had a decent game, running into the box to latch onto chances as he used to at Leeds and Neill and Upson looked strong at the back.

Worrying points were the cente midfield of Mullins and Noble, whilst they didn't have a bad game, one wondered if they might have struggled against classier opposition.  Additionally, Davenport looked very uncomfortable when he came on, making an error or two and generally not in control of the ball.

Overall though West Ham looked slick, fit and ready to take on the Premiership.

West Ham - expectations for the new season

I've spent some time constructing my thoughts on the new season and what it will bring us.  The first part, concentrating on Curbs and the team is now published, I will follow this up with an assessment of what our players should bringing to the party.  I hope you enjoy reading it and would love to get your feedback, remember this just an opinion, it's what makes the world go round!

Norwich v West Ham live on Setanta Sports

Remember that tonight our pre-season friendly away to Norwich is live on Setanta Sports 2, coverage starts at 7.40pm.  Let's hope our bright performance against Southend is continued tonight against a decent Championship side. 

West Ham FA Cup shirt

Having a bit of trouble getting the new kit online I came across this replica 1980 FA Cup Shirt from Kitbag.com - looks pretty good and not a bad price at £29.99, thought I would share it with you!  Click here for more details.

Southend 1 West Ham 3

West Ham beat Southend 3-1 yesterday in a pre season friendly with a needed impressive display.  Goals from Bobby Zamora and new boys Craig Bellamy and Freddie Ljungberg gave the Hammers a 3-0 lead before Soutghend captain Maher pulled one back for the host side.  It was also Lucas Neill's first game since coming back from the Asia Cup and rightly being named a captain.

Hammers lined up;

Green; Neill, Ferdinand, Gabbidon, McCartney; Ljungberg (Reid 72), Noble, Bowyer (Mullins 64), Etherington (Pantsil 78); Zamora (Cole 59), Bellamy. Subs unused: Wright, Spector, Upson, Collins, Davenport.

Alan Curbishley interview

Those fine gents at KUMB forum have got themselves an interview with Alan Curbishley.  It's a 3 parter with only the first part published so far.  It's an amicable interview so far and Curbs comes across pretty well but I am looking forward to delving in a little deeper and learning more about the club's plans for the future, which is promised in the next two parts.  Anyway, you can read it for yourselves here

MK Dons 3 West Ham 2

Hammers slipped up in Milton Keynes last night as they lost 3-2 to the MK Dons in a friendly.  The game saw the debut of new signing Freddie Ljungberg as well as 90 minutes for plyaers such as Matthew Upson and Craig Bellamy.  Scorers for the Hammers were Ephraim and Upson who followed up from a header to poke the ball in from close range.  A full report can be found here and the team line up was as follows;

West Ham United: Wright; Spector, Collins, Upson, Gabbidon; Ljungberg (Stokes 66), Dailly, Collison, Boa Morte (Jeffery 90); Ephraim, Bellamy. Subs unused: Stech, Hines, Fitzgerald, Hales

West Ham draw with Leyton Orient in friendly

West Ham drew 1-1 with Leyton Orient in a friendly last night, with Dean Ashtom getting his first goal in a year.  The Hammers fielded a mix of starters and squad members in an entertaining game, but the highlight was a 30 yard screamer from Ashton in the 15th minute.  Orient equalised deeper in the first half with a similarly spectacular strike.  The squad lined up as follows, with a different squad set to face MK Dons;

Green, Pantsil, Ferdinand, Davenport, Dailly, McCartney, Etherington, Bowyer, Mullins, Ashton, Cole, Stech, Stokes, Hines, Jeffery, Widdowson, Fitzgerald, Collison.

Highlights now available - sorry about the annoying sponsor message but it's the only one available at the moment...

MSI start action over Tevez affair

MSI have issued a writ to take West Ham to the high court over the Carlos Tevez affair according to SkySports.  FIFA had passed on resolving the issue themselves and it looked like the issue would go to the court of arbitration, but in order for that to happen both parties would need to agree to the terms set out by that court, which includes not appealing the result.  Now MSI have issued proceedings against the Hammers in order to secure Tevez's release to Manchester United.  Story is breaking on Sky SPorts news here

Freddie's press conference

Freddie gave good conference a few moments ago, wanting to give the reasons as to why he is joining West Ham as opposed to why he is leaving Arsenal.  It does seem he was a little disillusioned at Henry leaving Arsenal and you get the sense that he sees Arsenal moving into a bit of a lull and the Hammers are on their way up.  He seems a good, mature lad and I'm really excited about the sigining.

Eggy was also asked about the Tevez affair, he said he hoped that FIFA will get involved in order to sort things out as soon as possible, but today is all about Freddie!