West Ham v Newcastle United Preview

Not a great time to play the Barcodes and their whinging army of the 'best supporters in the world' (yeah, we saw that during the Allardyce era didn't we?).  But Kelvin Koogan appears to be having his moment right now and they are on a bit of a high.  We however appear to be ending the season with a whimper rather than a bang and will certainly have to up our game to deal with Viduka, Owen and Martins.

It's going to be a strange old atmosphere again on Saturday.  With nothing to really play for (except coming ahead of the scum) and the tense relationship between the fans and Curbishley, we could easily play into Newcastle's hands with our uncertainty.  Really, it would be nice if we were to celebrate a season of stability and consolidation.  I'm not Curbs biggest fan but I much prefer the end to this season than the one we had last season, don't you?  Next season is another matter, but I just don't want us to be going towards the end of the season with this cloud over our heads.

Anyhway, my team would line up;

Green

Macca - Tomkins - Upson - Skippy the Skipper

Ljungberg - Noble - Parker - Faubert

Ashton - Sears

Bench warmers: Walker, Spector, Mullins, Boa-Morte and Cole

Hard one to call and this really could go either way.  My prediction record has been appaling this season, so let's go with something crazy, how about 2-2?  Coral will give you 12/1 for and a free bet.  Go on, I can feel it in my water!  Up the Hammers...

PS Don't forget to visit our new West Ham ebay auction page

Comments

[JP...from The Rock of Gibraltar]

Newcastle is on fire...Keegan is what we've been missing all these years, he should have never left. If I were you I would be more careful what I say about the 'Barcodes' because they are going to cause West Ham all sorts of problems :) I just can't wait for saturday to come...if you think this is a good spell for Newcastle, just watch next season..you'll sh*t in your pants when you'll have to play us.

[Regular Fan...]

Why do you have a go at the newcastle fans in your first 3 lines and use Allardyce as an excuse and then go on to start whinging yourself about West Ham's shit form and then go on to start whinging about curbishley.....

Three words spring to mind and they are "pot" "kettle" and "black"

And im not even a geordie....

Cockney cunt!

[tony]

Whinging army youre having a laugh what kinda fans boo their team even after winning a match

[Simon]

I'll accept your point Newcastle fans, I guess my biggest fear is that we are turning into fans like you and Spurs, pretending that we are a 'big' club who 'deserve' success when really, that's what we are not and even if we are on the road to changing that, such success does not happen overnight, it happens over 3-5 seasons. Hence, I thought your treatment of Allardyce was disgraceful and up until 3 weeks ago, you would have dished the same to King Kev if you weren't so embarassed to do so....

[Ben]

Fat Sam was a huge misake made by our former chairman, Freddie Shepherd, before he got bought out by Ashley. Everyone knew he was rubbish from the beginning, see the shocking losses at Derby and Reading. We are flying now under Keegan and have real money to spend to make a big push next year, unlike most of the challengers to the top four (Newcastle are the 13th richest clubs in Europe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richest_football_clubs)

[ourman]

Last time I wrote on here you were being very smug about West Ham and its loyalty to its manager while using every opportunity to have a go at Newcastle.

Three months later and your lot are rumbling and you booed your team off when they won.

Now who is fickle?

Sorry, I wouldn't even have bothered posting this but for all the crap you posted last time - when on issue after issue which you thought you were qualifed to talk on - you turned out to be entirely clueless.

[Simon]

Ah, welcome back Ourman, nice of you to pop your head up now you have a couple of victories under your belt. Have you seen me offer any support to those who have booed the manager or the players after a victory? No, of course not, as I don't. It's the behaviour of prats, whether in West Ham or Newcastle colours. When I posted it was not behaviour I had seen at Upton Park before, but I fear that people have seen it happen at places like St James Park and imagine it is the right way to act. Shame on them.

[ourman]

Ah yes - West Ham fans boo their team and its Newcastle fans' fault.

[john ws]

Forgetting all the banter arising here I have to say again that I agree with your team selection but with the following bench:Stech,Solano, spector,stanislas,cole
This could well be the most entertaining game of the season, a chance to lighten up a bit for two hugely ambitious clubs at the season end and maybe a 5 goal thriller going either way!I am hoping!

[AjHeps]

Ey Aye Ey Aye Ey Aye Oh! Up the Premier League we go, when we get toEurope this is what we'll sing! WE ARE GEORDIES SUPER GEORDIES, KEEGAN ISOUR KING!Noticeably, West Ham are only in the League this season because theycheated, in reference to the Carlos Tevez illegal-3rd Partnership issue,and had Manchester United not won the league by then, the last game of theseason, and the bubbles would have been being burst in the championship.
For a club that is apparently so much better than the toon, why buy all of our old players a.k.a our rejects? (other than nobby who had little other choicedue to family commitments)
Regardless of the result, I LOVE THE TOON. haha

[Simon]

Do you even read what I write before talking absolute rubbish? I quote 'For a club that is apparently so much better than the toon' - erm, remind as to where exactly I wrote or even implied that? So busy taking a defensive position that your club can not do any wrong, you aren't even aware of what people are saying. Sad really.

Oh, and I called the result spot on 2-2, but of course I know nothing about football.....