Wednesday 10 February 2010

West Ham United

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Birmingham

Saturday 20 February 2010

West Ham United

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Hull City

Tuesday 23 February 2010

Manchester Utd

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West Ham United

Tuesday 23 March 2010

West Ham United

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Wolves

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11th January 2010 - from London
My first London based report comes to you from the coldest UK Winter in 30 years. Snowed here in North London and loving it!

Sadly Sunday's fixture against Wolves was postponed for the all-pervasive UK H&S (Health & Safety) reasons even though the streetscape around Upton Park was remarkably clear? We were told that even though the pitch was fine given the under pitch heating system, the surrounding streets were not safe and therefore the match could not proceed.

This is a great shame as in recent weeks the Hammers have been resurgent even though we have failed to claim maximum points and have failed to progress past our first hurdle in Arsenal in the 3rd round of the FA Cup.

Round Up
20th Dec - WHU v Chelsea
An all round terrific performance by the Hammers saw us earn a valuable point and, save for a poor decision by the AR in deeming Matty Upson's perfectly timed and executed tackle in the box on Daniel Sturridge in the 58th minute a foul, all 3 points would have been ours. A penalty was awarded to Chelsea and 1-1 was the way it stayed.

Video replays made it clear that this was no penalty. The AR had an excellent view of the incident and it was he who 'awarded' the penalty. The referee, Mike Dean, was left in a very difficult position and after consulting with the AR had little choice but to award the spot kick.

It is common for many referees to request ARs to check whether the referee has seen incidents in the box before flagging for penalties however one can only guess at the agreed instructions in this match.

I am very loathe to criticise such things and its all too easy to be wise after 7 slowmo replays, however I do think that this is a case where the official might have done better with the benefit of hindsight.

The taking of the penalty itself was a lengthy exercise as Mr Dean required Frank Lampard to have 3 goes at it, all of which he converted. One of my Chelsea mates (yes I do admit to a few) complained bitterly that the referee was ridiculous and wrong for this decision. Mr Dean was spot on (sorry) and this is why (I have simplified the LOTG and have just dealt with the attackinf team's actions):

Neither team's players may encroach into the penalty area or the 'D' prior to the kicking of the ball by the penalty taker.

• If an ATTACKING team player encroaches prior to the movement of the ball AND the ball enters the net, then the penalty kick must be retaken as the ATTACKING team is deemed to have gained an advantage from the encroachment.
• If an ATTACKING team player encroaches prior to the movement of the ball AND the ball is saved by the keeper and cleared, then the penalty kick is NOT retaken, as the ATTACKING team has gained no advantage from the infringement.
• If a DEFENDING team player encroaches prior to the movement of the ball or the keeper advances forward of his goal line AND the ball enters the net, then a goal is awarded as the DEFENDING team has gained no advantage from the infringement.
• If a DEFENDING team player encroaches prior to the movement of the ball or the keeper advances forward of his goal line AND the kick is saved by the keeper and cleared, then the penalty kick is retaken as the DEFENDING team is deemed to have gained an advantage from the infringement.

Video replays show the Chelsea players well inside the area before the kick was taken on the first 2 occasions.

Such a shame for us that Frank is so good at penalties as he drilled all 3 into the net!

26th Dec - WHU v Portsmouth
2-0 to the Cockney boys! A workman-like performance by most and an outstanding performance by the inspirational Scott Parker.

Alessandro Diamanti scored our 7th penalty of the season midway through the first half and Radoslav Kovac scored with a powerful header in the 89th minute from a corner to secure the most valuable of 3 points against our relegation and administration haunted opposition.

Unbelievably, WHU have been awarded more penalties than any other EPL side this season. This is amazing as I recall complaints for so many years now that we were always the ones denied spot kicks - its heartening that we are at last top of this list.

I was at this game and I can tell you that not only was the crowd relieved, I saw members of the WHU Executive in the Directors' box hugging and getting VERY excited when that 2nd goal went in to secure the win. They knew all too well how much that meant. We were not to be last at Christmas.

28th Dec - Tottenham v WHU
Tottenham became the first team this season to do the double over the Hammers, as we were completely out-classed at the Lane. We went behind in the 11th minute after several Spurs raids, mostly by Aaron Lennon down the right wing and it was he who delivered the cross to Modric for their goal.

We had risked Scott Parker, who was clearly unfit after his Portsmouth heroics 2 days earlier and he succumbed in the 12th minute to a hamstring injury. Ilunga followed 7 minutes later resulting in two major changes within the first 20 minutes.

Our Hammers never recovered and we were fortunate that we only conceded one more goal to old-boy Defoe late in the 2nd half.

The game was men against boys and we were horribly out of our league in this fixture. Luis Jimenez and Jonathan Spector are to be honest mediocre subs and it showed. Jimenez on his performances this season is just not good enough.

3rd Jan - WHU v Arsenal - FA Cup 3rd Round
Franco was suspended and injuries to Noble, Parker, Ilunga and long-term absentee Carlton Cole meant that we had a host of teenagers on the pitch.

Diamanti scored again just on the stroke of half time and had a game of great vision and industry however our newbees just did not have enough in reserve to hold off Arsenal. They brought on Diaby and Nasri whilst Eduardo stepped up a gear as they scored 2 great goals in the final 12 minutes to steal the game away.

In the absence of Parker, Valon Behrami played in the middle and had a superb game. Kovac again performed well but once again it's the star-studded talent of the opposition, and their subs, that are simply too much for our team.

We did play well though and were unlucky to lose and, as much as I hate to admit it, given our thin resources and perilous position in the table, we need to ensure we finish 17th rather than have a great cup run!

Our prospects from Here?
Hard to say - the January transfer window is upon us and the general consensus is that Parker & Upson are the key players. If we sell those two then we are as good as doomed. They are closely followed by Behrami, Cole & Green.

Of the above 5 there is talk about Behrami and Upson as potential sacrificial lambs given the financial position of the Icelandic bankers who are our masters.

There is no doubt that this would be foolhardy in the extreme. Asset stripping wont work and will merely serve to reduce the value of the club. Time will tell though as it really depends on who, if anyone, we sell rather than who we buy.

We are scoring lots of goals and even though we are also conceding, we have a relatively good goal difference and this helps. The great shame is the postponement of the Wolves home game as we could have leapt to 13th with a win further boosting confidence.

The next 2 games are both away fixtures to Villa on 17 Jan and then Portsmouth on the 26th. Four points from those two games will ease tensions significantly. Portsmouth are in financial freefall as they now have a transfer embargo in place given that they have failed to pay several clubs for players and they have also failed to pay their own players and back-room staff!

Then we have Blackburn at home on Jan 30th, a fixture we usually win, so provided we retain our best players and the current form continues, and it has been good in December, then we might, just might be mid-table by the end of this month.

Oh the trials and tribulations of being a Hammers fan...

Ownership of WHU & Finances
It appears that we are inching ever closer to a change in ownership at the Club. Straumur, an Icelandic Bank, currently effectively owns WHU albeit through a company called CB Holdings. This company was formed to assume the WHU asset base after the collapse of Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson's banking empire in the wake of the GFC.

Eggert Magnusson was the initial chairman of West Ham United under Gudmundsson's 2006-07 structure and he held 5% of the equity. It was he who was allegedly responsible for the acquisition of several high profile and again allegedly overpaid players in the January 2007 transfer window.

Straumur appointed Rothchilds Bank late last year to manage a process of sale of WHU and it has been widely reported that several parties have expressed interest and that a deal is close to completion. All this is however pure press speculation and the Club and various parties have yet to make their intentions public.

At the very least it appears that we have dealt with almost all of our poor signings under the current administration as almost all the 'non-performing assets' have been moved on or their contracts have expired.

In an excellent article this weekend, The Observer catalogues several clubs with non-performing players sitting on the bench or even permanent reserves earning £50,000 per week and up! (See "What a waste of money - the Premier League's best-paid flops"). Pompey seems to be the worst offender although Spurs (David Bentley - £50k per week, 6 year deal, 1 goal, 21 starts), Manchester City (Jo - signed for £19M in 2008, 6 starts, no goals, back on loan to Everton with no goals in 09/10) and Liverpool (Ryan Babel - £11.5M signing in 07, £60k per week, 24 starts) all have their troubled stars.

West Ham had them too in the form of Freddie Ljungberg, allegedly on £85k per week. Freddie had his contract bought out by the club to reduce the financial exposure. Happily, WHU don't have any high profile players drawing wages and not playing except perhaps Kieron Dyer albeit that he has been terribly unlucky with injury. Hopefully the appropriate insurances are in place to cover that contingency?

I have argued before for a salary cap or some other similar system to save clubs from themselves. League 2 has such a system and it is only a matter of time before we have something in place for the others. Many are sceptical, however it's a simple matter of numbers - current wages are unsustainable and without regulation from somewhere, clubs will otherwise go bust!

Team Of The Decade: WHUFC.com
Even though the decade still has another 12 months to run, in true WHU style we have announced our "Team of the Decade" covering the period 3 Jan 2000 - 28 Dec 2009. When will those marketing people ever learn?

See the full Team story HERE.

Full Team - Appearances in parentheses:
Keeper: Robert Green (134)
Rt Back: Tomas Repka (188), L Back: Stuart Pearce (50), Cent Backs: Rio Ferdinand (158), Matthew Upson (93)
L Midfield: Joe Cole (150), Rt Midfield: Yossi Benayoun (72), Cent Mid: Scott Parker (72), Frank Lampard (187)
Strikers: Paolo Di Canio (141), Carlos Tevez (29)

The most amazing statistic from the above team is that of all the players NOT to have played international football, Paolo Di Canio is the most unlikely given that he, IMHO, was the most gifted of them all. Perhaps the explanation for this amazing omission is best expressed by Harry Redknapp HERE.

Conclusion
So, here's to a few good results this month and no loss of players. I'll keep you posted!

Forever Blowing Bubbles (snow) in London!
DPL