West Ham United Blog

Hammers hold firm as Gunners fire blanks

Well, it was heart stopping stuff at times, but West Ham got a decent result at the Emirates today, drawing 0-0.  Arsenal dominated in terms of possesion but there were only around four clear cut chances, as any home side is expected to have.  As ever, Arsenal passed and fizzed their way around the penalty box but the Hammers defence held firm.  Chances were few and far between for us though Cole could have taken his time instead of hitting the ball at Almunia late on.

There were four great performances in particular today.  Collins was just immense, this guy would make an excellent bodyguard because he throws himself in front of everything.  Parker was again sweeping up everything in front of the back four and was neat and tidy as ever.  Behrami was just full of running and energy.  And for me, Di Michele's performance was also very important as he exemplified defending from the front.  He chased down everything in the final thrid of the pitch and came back to fight battles when he was needed, a really good display.

Ratings;

Green - 6 - some good clearances but missed a couple, a clean sheet though

Illunga - 7 - Herita was excellent today, trying to create by making runs down the left and defending well

Upson - 6 - strong performance by Matt though got caught short once or twice against Adebayor and Van Persie

Collins - 8 - man of the match for the Hammers, immense

Neill - 7- very good performance from Skippy, coped with their pace surprisingly well though was supported by Behrami

Collison - 6 - couple of nice touches but probably found the level a bit too high to really make an impression

Parker - 8 - sweeped up nicely in front of the defence, excellent stuff

Noble - 5.5 - Noble was very quiet today, was slightly swamped and possibly just had too much to do and didn't quite know where to start!

Behrami - 7 - brilliant today, this guy is worth £10m+ easily

Cole - 6 - never really involved but put the effort in, ball never really came to him much today

Di Michele - 7 - was a real 'pest' and buzzed around the Arsenal back line ensuring they were never too comfortable, nice performance

Savio watch - came on with about 20 to go, certainly not scared to go up against some of the stronger Arsenal players and did not waste a pass, looks an interesting lad

Zola/Clarke - 8 - set the stall out for a defensive performance looking for the break and though the break did not come, the team worked so hard for each other, tactics just right

My only other thought of today was how we could have done with Mullins in the last 20 mins to sweep things up in the middle but guess we will see that from Kovac shortyl, apart from that, great stuff from the Hammers, come on you Irons!

Arsenal v West Ham Preview

One team on a 9 match unbeaten run, the other on a 7 match unbeaten run, it's a battle between two in-form teams tomorrow at the Emirates.  The Hammers have got every right to feel confident, especially after the performance against Hull in the week, but this will provide as stiff a test as we are likely to have had in this run of form we're experiencing.

Arsenal will have a little more than us on their minds, with a FA Cup Replay against Cardiff on Tuesday and Wenger has admitted he may tinker with the squad.  He is welcome to rest Emmanuel Adebayor who is always a threat and seems to relish playing against us.  From our point of view, we will certainly be looking for the Di Michele/Cole show to continue it's great run.  Parker's command of the midfield in the absence of Fabregas will be pretty key and if Behrami and Collison key the backs busy, this could be a successful day for the Hammers.

Starting line up, no reason to change anything from Wednesday night so;

Green

Ilunga - Upson - Collins - Neill

Collison - Noble - Parker - Behrami

Cole  - Di Michele

Bench: Lastuvka, Sears, Savio, Tristan, Tomkins, Faubert and Boa-Morte

We are a very interesting 6-1 with Coral, considering our form this could be a decent bet.  I'm going for a possibly slightly optimistic Arsenal 1 - 3 West Ham win, but any points from this will be just fine with me.  Tenner free bet using the link below and come on you Irons!!!!!!

Being a Hammer just gets better and better...

Crikey, I'm scared to say it, but another superb performance from West Ham United.  I'm scared because I don't want to break whatever magic spell is currently hovering over us.  We're West Ham for crying out loud, we get a Cup Semi Final only to have our centre half sent off and to get smashed, we get to a Cup Final only for some Argentinian prat to kick the ball out and the rest is history.  Things are not meant to go smoothly for us.  But right now, things are going very well indeed....

In the matches against Fulham and tonight in our 2-0 victory over Hull, there was some emphasis by the commentators about how badly these teams were playing.  But for me, there is an a much more improtant factor, and that is we are playing some superb football.  Teams are not able to get hold of us, because our movement, our pressing, our solidity, our ability to break and our overall teamwork are just too good.  Zola and Clarke have combined attacking flair with defensive stability but more importantly, there is a team spirit which is really working. 

I can certainly recall us playing as well as we have, what I can't recall is doing it for a spell of seven games.  Ever since being beaten by the Spuds, we have just put in some great performances, credit to tall the players and of course Mr's Zola and Clarke.  It gives me great pleasure to do the player ratings of tonight's game...

Green - 7 - made a couple of very good saves, solid as ever

Illunga - 8 - thought he was great tonight, really good form

Collins  - 8 - the Ginger Maldini was a rock tonight

Upson - 8  - as was his partner at the back

Neill  - 7 - another immense performance by the skipper

Collison - 7 - some great work for us though started to look a little tired

Parker - 9  - brilliant performance from Scotty, clared up everything in front of the back four

Noble - 8 - great engine, this player is back in some great form, creative and aggressive

Behrami - 7 - usual impish self, top man

Cole - 8 - 5 goals in 5, really can't complain, well, can actually, he could have had a hat-trick!

Di Michele - 8 - best performance in a Hammers shirt so far, lovely touches and getting on the scoresheet

Subs - Great to see Savio, very hard to judge anything except he is a bit smaller than I imagined, but he wasn't shy and was hungry for the ball, can't wait to see mroe of him

Zola/Clarke - 9 - the dream team keep producing

We go to the Emirates this weekend and frankly, it is Arsenal who should be fearing us.....great stuff Hammers!

Savio cleared to play tonight...

New signing Savio has been cleared to play in tonight's match against Hull - and he has fortunately decided to have 'Savio' on the back of his shirt!  Be interesting to see if Frankie Z does start with the £9m record signing for the Hammers. 

In other news, we are also after Radoslav Kovac according to Sky Sports who can play in defence or as a defensive midfielder.  Interesting times at Upton Park....

West Ham v Hull Preview

The Hammers have the chance to eo exact revenge for a defeat earlier this season as they take on Hull City at Upton Park.  I'm not statto, but when I read that West Ham are unbeaten in six and Hull have lost their last five, I can't help but feel this one has got draw written all over it.  However, the lads should be going into this one full of confidence and an early goal could settle us and open the floodgates.

It seems too soon for me to be introducing Savi and his appearance in the squad is still not guaranteed as we wait international clearance.  Let's hope we get the paperwork right, don't want anyone accusing us of fielding an ineligible player now do we?!  I'd make some changes to the team that got the win at Hartlepool as despite Hull's poor recent record, they will still provide a much sterner test.  So I'd kick off with...

Green

Illunga - Upson - Collins - Neill

Collison - Parker - Noble - Behrami

Cole - Di Michele

Bench: Stetch, Tomkins, Sears, Savi, Boa-Morte, Faubert, Tristan

For those of you unaware, Dyer is injured again!  If he was a horse, they'd have definitely put him out of his misery by now!

I notice the referee tonight is Howard Webb, hope it's not the kiss of death but I think he is one of the better refs in this league.  Hmmm, as for the score, I've still got a horrible feeling they are going to nick a draw, so I won't make a proper prediction, just hope the Hammers prove to me we now have some backbone and are no longer the team that others want to play when they need a result.  Come on you Irons!

Update on Hammers

So, I go away for 2 days and all transfer hell breaks loose, thanks Hammers!  At the moment I am watching Hayden Mullins scuttling sideways in a Porstmouth shirt, so can assume that deal was done and dusted.  There are certainly other fringe players I would have got rid of ahead of Mullins, but it was clear he was only being used as a last 20 minutes tidy upper rather than getting himself some regular football.

It took me a while to appreciate what Hayden brings to the game, it's certainly not goals and flicks but his ability to break up opposition midfield play is pretty sound and quite a rare attribute.  It is a shame he has had to go but he goes with alot of my respect.  I never read about him in the papers whinging and he always gave 100%.  Whether it was a wise move on our part, time will tell.....

....As it will with our latest signing, Savio Nsereko (can I just call himSavi?  Not sure my spell check can cope with him long term) who has joined us from Brescia, and he looks quite some find....

Certainly seems strong and confident for a 19 year old and we know this is a player that Nani knows well and Zola is likely to be familiar with.  Apart from youtube I'll confess to not knowing too much about him, except that he is on the fringes of the Germany squad so I'm certainly as curious as the rest of you in terms of seeing what he can do.  But at this moment in time, I'm trusting the club and the decisions they make and hope we continue to look upwards rather than downwards....will post quick Hull preview in the morning....up the 'ammers!

West Ham face Middlesbrough at home in FA Cup

West Ham will play Middlesbrough at home in the FA Cup 5th Round Draw....a home tie is great at this stage and Boro are not exactly pulling up trees at the moment, not a bad draw.....

Hammers march on in FA Cup

'Professional' is probably the best way to describe our performance against Hartlepool yesterday.  These amtches are never going to be pretty and it is great credit to the lads that they came out unscathed. 

There have been some rumours about why Neill and Upson were left out but I do not beleive it was anything more sinister than a rest for the lads who have worked their socks off so far this season.  Looking at their replacements, Faubert just never looks like a right back to me, though his performance was no worse than acceptable.  However, I think he will be off by the end of the transfer deadline.  Tomkins looked alright as well, certainly didn't commaned the area like Upson does but then I would not expect him to.  His positioning was occasionally questionable but overall he looked like the decent young lad we saw when he played under Curbs.

Performance wise, Scott Parker was deserved man of the match, thought he was immense in the holding midfield role.  I thought Illunga was dead right in getting involved when 6 of their players surrounded a grounded Carlton Cole, nice one Herita!  Cole himself also had another strong game.  Behrami was once again excelllent and came up with a crucial goal.  Everyone else did their bit for a deserved victory, now can we have Sheffield United at Upton Park in the next round please?  We promise to be nice to them, haha!  Come on you Irons!

Hartlepool v West Ham Preview

The cameras were good to us lat week so let us hope that run continues as we venture up north for a tricky tie against Hartlepool.  Most of the time the cameras go to these games hoping for a giant killing, but usually the class of the Premiership team eventually wins out.  As long as we continue our good form and confidence, this is a game we could and should win, but this is West Ham so I am not counting my chickens just yet.

Having gone out of the Carling Cup in rather premature fashion, I’d like us to pull together a bit of a cup run to garner a bit more excitement into the season, as long as it does not become too much of a distraction.  Although our league position is healthy, we are only a couple of results away from scrapping again.

I certainly do not want to see a reduced, second string squad and as far as I know, Zola has no intention of doing that.  No declarations as we have seen from Redknapp this week about not taking this competition seriously.  Hmmm, maybe he will regret those words at the end of the season when he is relying on other clubs for Premiership survival?

So, squad to line up…

Green

Illunga – Upson – Collins – Neill

Collison – Parker – Noble – Behrami

Cole – Di Michele

Bench: Stetch, Spector, Faubert, Mullins, Dyer, Sears and LBM

Di Michele certainly deserves a bit of a run to see if he can deliver on the promise he showed last Sunday.  I’d like to see Sears have a little run about as well.

They might scare us but I think it will be ours by the end, so I’m going for 3-1 to the Hammers.  Coral will give you 12/1 and a free £10 bet using the link below….come on you Irons!!!!  Oh, and Jeff Stelling supports Hartlepool, so will be even more fun to beat him!

Bellamy has gone to City...

...for a fee believed to be in the region of £14m according to the Times though I think the initial fee may be less than that as over £11m usually has to be disclosed.  Meanwhile the Man City fans seem delighted.  Hardly Kaka is he?  Goodbye Bellamy, we won't miss you.

Update:  Apparently you only need to disclose the figure if you are a public company, so it could be we've both just agreed to keep it quiet.

I also wanted to say this....it's not often I or other fans praise the club, but hats off to them for the way they have dealt with this, for me they have played a blinder and done the deal quickly and got us a very good deal, so well done to Mr Duxbury and all.....