Archive for January, 2019
Disaster at Dons
This was the night that will be remembered when the younger West Ham generation relate their worst ever experiences to the next one. For me it is a second disaster within 6 weeks, because I already had to experience a similar humiliation with Rapid Vienna when they lost 1-6 against Austria Vienna before Christmas.
West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini said his side’s 2-4 (0-2) defeat by AFC Wimbledon was a “disaster” as the League One side pulled off a stunning FA Cup shock to reach the fifth round.
The Dons, bottom of the third tier of English football, surged into a 3-0 lead against the Premier League side courtesy of Kwesi Appiah‘s deflected strike and Scott Wagstaff‘s double either side of half-time.
Pellegrini made a triple substitution at the break in an attempt to get back into the game and saw two of his changes – Lucas Perez (on for a really bad Andy Carroll) and Felipe Anderson (on for an also bad Pedro Obiang) – score to make it 3-2.
But AFC Wimbledon, who were beaten 3-0 at home by Fleetwood in their last league game on Tuesday, continued to push men forward and put the seal on a famous victory courtesy of Toby Sibbick‘s late close-range header, sparking scenes of jubilation among the home crowd and leaving Pellegrini furious, whereas Dons manager Wally Downes, a former assistant manager at West Ham, celebrated a famous win. “Thank you, my old friends at West Ham”, Downes (who worked as a defensive coach under Avram Grant and Sam Allardyce from 2010 to 2012) could say, “for giving my side a much needed boost”. Wimbledon are bottom of League One.
The only positive on a night to forget was that less than an hour after the game it emerged that Marko Arnautovic had signed a contract extension and told the West Ham faithful on the official site that he would give his all for West Ham in the upcoming matches against Wolves and Liverpool.
The technical ability, the understanding of the game and the shrewdness and guile of Arnie will be desperately needed when the Hammers want to put that horror show (starring in particular “Mr Clumsy” Andy Carroll) behind them. Pellegrini got the tactics wrong (again) against the Dons (as he had also done in the last game in the league against Bournemouth), and he shouldn’t play Andy Carroll ever again. This kind of forward is not suited to play in West Ham’s team as it has been set up tactically by Pelle. I opt for a frontline Arnie – Samir Nasri – Anderson; that one should work and bring back happiness to a club which apparently has disaster in his genes – no matter who’s the current manager.
Arnautovic: I want to stop the talking, I’m hungry to play and score more goals
Arnie will stay (for now)
In an unforeseen move Mr Marko Arnautović has told the West Ham fans that he will not leave the club in this transfer window.
On a day on which it was widely reported that Uruguayan forward Maxi Gomez from Celta de Vigo was on his way to London, Arnie announced on his Instagram account that he was going to stay at West Ham.
Well, I am ready to forgive him, call him “Arnie” again, and put this whole “Chinagate”, in which in my opinion his brother was the predominant driving figure, behind us.
Let’s hope Arnie soon will be in the right state of mind again to be in the match day squad, and will start scoring again. As I said in a previous article, Samir Nasri, Arnie and Felipe Anderson could be a real threat in West Ham’s attack, “three musketeers” that slice through the opponents’ defence and will give us a lot to applaud for!
Come in you Irons !!!
Arnie to stay at West Ham?
Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande is reported to have pulled out of a £45m deal for West Ham striker Marko Arnautovic, claims The Daily Mail.
Arnautovic had been left out of the squad for West Ham’s 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday. His brother Danijel had said that Arnie wanted to go to China “to win trophies”, which seem to have been in his mind’s eyes already and have distracted him from proper preparation for the away game against Bournemouth.
But now his and his brother’s attempt to transfer him for £35m or even £45m to Fabio Cannavaro’s Chinese side and bank wages in the region of £280,000-a-week seems to have failed as it is said that the Chinese Super League outfit pulled the plug on a deal on Saturday evening.
Now we’ll see if the Austrian player will be level-headed and professional enough to honour his contract with West Ham and wait for an other chance to sign a lucrative deal elsewhere in summer. As I have written a week ago, I don’t think he’ll go on strike, but it will be some task for manager Manuel Pellegrini to reintegrate the sometimes volatile Arnautovic back into the squad, and we’ll see if he can win over fans that he waved goodbye to at the London Stadium just over a week ago.
Well, I hope Arnie will prove his critics wrong and continue to play well at West Ham for the remainder of the season. Then, in the summer, he could leave with his head high, maybe for a better club than just some Chinese outfit.
Though I have to say that it’s really difficult to understand why anyone wanted to go to China when we all know West Ham have the best Rice? 😂 … and we all know that West Ham is an “exceptional club” (as Austrian newspaper KURIER admitted in an article on the Arnautovic saga on Sunday).
With their big, world wide fanbase and an attendance of 57,000 in every single match at the London Stadium (a capacity which could rise to 60,000 in the near future) they really are a special club and there are just nine clubs in Europe that entertain a bigger crowd in their home games.
Let’s hope we’ll see Arnautovic back in a claret and blue shirt in front of these dedicated support, home and away, within the next weeks. Next game is the away tie against Wimbledon in the FA Cup, a trophy West Ham could still win with Arnie this season!
West Ham Family Witnessing History
We came over from Austria last weekend and were able to watch an other game in the London Stadium. Well, I love coming to London, and it seems West Ham does appreciate my presence too, because all of the last three games I was able to attend this season have been wins for the Irons!
This weekend also would have been the right time “to have a word” with my compatriot who doesn’t seem to be so enthusiastic anymore about staying in London as I am. But unfortunately immediately after the game Arnie left for Vienna, whereas we’re going to stay in London until Tuesday!
Witnessing history
Well, it seems the games that I have picked for my visits to the London Stadium since West Ham’s move to Stratford, are frequently going to be remembered for something special: Last season I watched Slaven Bilic’s last game and Marko Arnautovic’s first goal there. This season I’ve already witnessed Felipe Anderson’s first brace for the Hammers in the win over Burnley. And now maybe (I still say “maybe” as I don’t want to take it for sure) I came back for Arnie’s last game in this stadium.
But forget about that! We’ve all witnessed a very different, really bright and joyous moment in West Ham’s history on Saturday lunch time. This game will not be remembered because of a forward saying good-bye, but will forever have its special place in the history books for a young man’s first Premier League goal which sealed a first win at home over Arsenal since 2006! It’s this game that marks an other giant step forward for Declan Rice grabbing all the headlines in the Sunday papers with a majestic man of the match performance, just two days before his twentieth birthday. “Rice and shine”! What a bright future lies ahead for this graduate from our Academy.
This game was also another big step forward for Manuel Pellegrini’s side which played really self-assured and mature against a team they had not beaten at home for more than 12 years. “We played like a big team in the Arsenal win,” the gaffer said after the 1-0 victory, and he couldn’t be more right.
It’s still old West Ham of course, but it’s not “poor old West Ham” that would have conceded an equaliser in injury time, squandering all the good work of the 90 minutes before. Arsenal actually had the ball in the back of the net in the 94th minute, but that goal was ruled out immediately for an offside so blatant that this fact was hardly mentioned in any of the match reports. And just seconds later the referee blew the whistle, and everybody was all but happy in the London Stadium, which this afternoon had been left early only by the folks occupying the away section that had been fairly quiet throughout the game.
It’s getting better all the time
It was a brilliant match day experience, like the one I had enjoyed on my last visits to the Burnley and the Crystal Palace games this season! In my opinion the match day experience in general is getting better and better now in this third year in the new stadium which of course is helped by the team playing so well – and also by the increasing number of food stalls outside the stadium.
I usually get to the stadium from Hackney Wick to avoid the overcrowded Stratford not paying so much attention to the food facilities. But with the lunchtime kick-off we came earlier, first strolled through Westfield before the game and arrived at the concourse much in time. That also gave us the opportunity to look for my ”RapidHammer stone” on Champions’ Place in front of entrance “J” for once, but unfortunately I could not find the stone quick enough in the drizzling rain, and we decided to write to the club on this topic, because it seems that the stones haven’t been laid in the way I had been told when I bought mine.
The atmosphere inside the ground was great, and it was getting better and better throughout the game. It was a brilliant performance of our boys. Just the goal was scored too early after halftime as far as we were concerned, because unfortunately we were back to our seats too late, having queued for a drink for much too long.
A family club
Now that the troubles of last season are behind us, I think we can say that the crowd in the London Stadium is feeling more and more at home there, and that the club has retained (or maybe regained after a difficult transition period) its air of a “family club”. The family has grown bigger and moved to a new house to which we get more and more familiar, and it’s great to see that the house gets filled every time by the members of this worldwide family! Having chosen almost the same seats for all of our visits this season, we’re also feeling more and more like citizens coming home. Wouldn’t want to miss the young but very raucous voice just rows beneath us in every game, shouting “Come on you I’ons” when the place has gone too quiet now and then!
There are lots of families, old and young, and supporters from all over the world! Well, I think we long suffering lot really deserve that the team is playing so well now, rewarding this most committed and loyal support for their endurance and following over land and sea, to the Olympic Stadium on the shores of River Lea! A first home win over Arsenal since 2005, and Declan Rice’s first goal – we’ve witnessed history, who could ask for more this Saturday?
Declan’s goal and this fine win was a real gift, because we can take it easy now that my compatriot from Austria seems to cease sharing with me the love for London and the badge with the two crossed hammers, and is willing to replace one of the hammers by a sickle, with his brother and agent having already set sail for the Chinese Sea.
What could have been …
Of course it is sad that Arnautovic seems to have waved his good-bye right now, because this match really showed for the first (and maybe last) time what an offensive trio of Samir Nasri, Felipe Anderson and Arnie would have been capable of. There were some moments in this game when the three players who are gifted with technical ability and great understanding of the game combined so well that my heart jumped with joy!
Unfortunately I fear we will have to accept that these three musketeers will not be as inseparable as d’Artagnan and his friends were in the French writer Alexandre Dumas’s novel.
Having mentioned the phrase “French” now, a word on the possible similarities between Arnie and the unmentionable ex-player we lost two years ago: I don’t think that our Austrian forward will go on strike when negotiations stall and it takes time before the two clubs come to terms. He used to be some kind of an enfant terrible, and behaved like a stupid child in former years, but he has shown signs of having grown much more mature and level-headed in recent years since he’s married and father of two. So he should be professional enough to honour his contract as long as West Ham haven’t reached an agreement which enables them to bring in a fitting replacement (which will not be cheap, that’s for sure!).
Well, I can’t be sure of that of course, but it’s at least what I’m hoping for. But of course I know that “once a Hammer, always a Hammer” unfortunately only applies for the members of the worldwide family of supporters of claret and blue, it does not apply for the players (some of the former ones, and also of the present company excepted of course, Mark and Declan in particular!).
But no matter which players the squad will consist of in February and in the seasons to follow: it’s us, the claret and blue army, who will always remain West Ham through and through!
Come on you Irons !
Nicht einmal 35 Mio Pfund!
“West Ham have been offered 35 million Euros by the unnamed Chinese club for striker Marko Arnautovic – not the £35m widely reported!”
Das ist unakzeptabel für West Ham, keine Chance! Marko muss bleiben, solange nicht das Doppelte geboten wird!
Hurry up if you want to see Arnie
Am Samstag sind wir wieder in London. Wie gut, dass wir Tickets für das Spiel gegen Arsenal um 12:30 bekommen haben und dass Marko Arnautovic wohl fit sein dürfte, nachdem er im FA Cup beim 2:0 gegen Birmingham nach 20 Minuten vorsichtshalber ausgetauscht worden ist. Es wird ob eines konkreten Angebotes aus China für den österreichischen Stürmer wahrscheinlicher, dass er West Ham verlassen könnte.
Natürlich hoffen die West Ham-Fans, dass die “£35m bid from China” abgelehnt wird, entspricht doch der aktuelle Transferwert von Arnie angesichts der Inflation auf dem Kickermarkt sicherlich eher dem Doppelten dieser Summe!
Aber Arnie’s Bruder Danijel, der den Österreicher managt, wird angesichts der hohen persönlichen Gage, die man in China bietet, sicher versuchen, einen Transfer durchzudrücken. Hoffentlich gibt es nicht dieselbe verfahrene Situation wie bei Dimitri Payet vor zwei Jahren, als sich dieser weigerte zu spielen, um den gewünschten Transfer zurück zu Marseille durchzubringen.
Aber würde Arnie wirklich mit 29 Jahren schon nach China gehen wollen, wo es zwar unanständig viel Geld zu verdienen gibt, man aber von der europäischen Bildfläche verschwindet und keine Europa- oder Champions League gespielt wird und von wo auch Einberufungen in das Nationalteam durchaus fraglich sein könnten? Das “next level”, von dem Familie Arnautovic träumt, ist das sportlich sicher nicht!
Und vielleicht kann auch Marko’s Trainer Mario Pellegrini ihm erzählen, warum er in China offenbar nicht glücklich geworden und wieder nach GB zurückgekehrt ist.
Jedenfalls gut, dass die Tickets für Samstag nun da sind und Arnie in diesem March wohl sicher für West Ham auflaufen wird. Wie oft wir ihn in “claret and blue” noch sehen werden, ist offen in Zeiten wie diesen…
A “Noble“ Gesture
“The Noble Collection” heißt der Shop in der Londoner Neal Street im “Seven Dials”-Viertel in der Nähe von Covent Garden, in dem man allerlei Zauberstäbe und andere Harry Potter-Utensilien kaufen kann. Aber eine ganz andere “Noble-Collection” wurde zuletzt durch eine noble Geste von West Ham‘s Mark Noble erweitert, was einen jungen Fan aus Schottland überglücklich gemacht hat.
Der West Ham-Skipper, diesmal Ersatzmann beim 2:2 gegen Brighton, wärmte in der 2. Hälfte vor der Tribüne auf. Stevie Whorlow (12) aus Glasgow, der mit seinem Vater das Match im London Stadium besuchte und in einer der untersten Reihen saß, traute sich, Mark Noble mit einem selbst gebastelten Plakat (aus der Verpackung der neuen Mikrowelle) um sein Matchshirt zu bitten. Noble gab ihm das Daumen Hoch-Zeichen, doch nicht im Traum hätte Stevie gedacht, dass sein “hero” Mark Noble tatsächlich nach dem Spiel zu ihm kommen würde.
Doch “Mr. West Ham” tat genau das, nachdem er nach seiner Einwechslung bei 0:2, unter anderem mit einem Pass auf Marko Arnautovic, das Spiel gedreht und entscheidend mitgeholfen hatte, dass die Hammers ohne Niederlage ins neue Jahr starteten: Er lief zur Tribüne, vor der er eine halbe Stunde vorher aufgewärmt hatte, und warf dem Buben das verschwitzte Leiberl mit der Nummer 16 über die Bande!
Das war wohl das größte Weihnachtsgeschenk für Stevie, der erklärte, dass er das Match Shirt nun sicher nicht waschen werde, sondern es einrahmen und seiner Mark Noble-Sammlung hinzufügen wird. Eine wahrhaft noble Geste von Mark Noble!
Link (WHUFC): https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2019/january/03-january/i-never-one-minute-thought-mark-noble-would-actually-bring-me
Das neue Jahr bringt einen Star
Selten so viel über West Ham in der österreichischen Presse wie in den letzten Tagen: zuerst wurde Marko Arnautovic zum Spieler des Jahres 2018 in Österreich gewählt, und mit der Verpflichtung des auch hierzulande wohlbekannten Samir Nasri gab es eine weitere Schlagzeile: Das neue Jahr bringt West Ham einen Star, schreibt der KURIER.
Nun ja, ob er tatsächlich eine solche Super-Verpflichtung sein wird, der seit einem Jahr wegen Dopings gesperrt gewesene Franzose, der einst bei Arsenal und Man City spielte, bleibt abzuwarten! Aber „in Pellegrini we trust“. Schließlich war er unter West Ham’s Manager Manuel Pellegrini der Spielmacher der Meistermannschaftbvon Manchester City.
Und nebenbei, die Schlagzeile des KURIER stimmt jedenfalls, denn Stars haben wir ohnehin schon einige bei West Ham, vor allem Österreichs Fußballer des Jahres 2018, Marko Arnautovic, letzten Sommer auch „Hammer of the Year“, also bringt uns das erste Spiel des neuen Jahres am Mittwoch auf alle Fälle den einen oder anderen Star auf dem Rasen des London Stadium – egal, ob Nasri schon involviert ist oder nicht.
Marko Arnautovic hat es sich jedenfalls verdient, heuer zu West Ham‘s erstem österreichischen Fußballer des Jahres gewählt zu werden. Im Interview sagte er auch, er fühle sich sehr wohl bei West Ham, es sei nicht geplant, demnächst dem Klub zu wechseln. Er wolle mit West Ham Titel gewinnen, der FA Cup sei das Ziel!
Zunächst muss Arnie aber erst mal wieder richtig in Form kommen nach seiner Muskelverletzung, aufgrund deren er bei West Ham‘s bestem PL-Monat, dem Dezember, gar nicht mit da wo war. Ich kann es kaum erwarten, ihn und Felipe Anderson wieder zusammen spielen zu sehen, wenn beide fit und nicht müde sind. Am vergangenen Sonntag war das gegen Burnley ja leider noch nicht der Fall.
Vielleicht nun gegen Brighton & Hove Albion am Mittwoch Abend! Come on you Irons!
EXTRA TIME 
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