EXTRA TIME

1963, 2015 and …?

West Ham United wins at Liverpool have been a very rare species in recent decades. Just twice since 1963 the Hammers have won away at Anfield: most recently in September 2015. If this feat could be repeated tonight, on the day the great Bobby Moore died (24 February 1993), this would be Liverpool‘s first defeat of the season, just as in 2015.

In September 2015 the Hammers’ unforgettable 3-0 victory was inspired by a then 22 year old Manuel Lanzini impressing on his debut, scoring the first goal himself and setting up the second for Mark Noble. Tonight Lanzini will start on the bench, but Mark Noble will again captain the Irons at Anfield.

With their win in 2015 West Ham inflicted a first loss of the season on Liverpool, and their three goals were the first ones of the season conceded by Liverpool. Slaven Bilic’s Hammers produced a masterclass of counter-attacking football which saw them lead 2-0 at halftime.

The third goal was scored by Diafra Sakho in injury time. Mark Noble and Liverpool player Philippe Coutinho were red carded. Liverpool was managed by Brendan Rodgers who is now manager at Leicester City.

The Hammers could rely on a committed and disciplined back four (Tomkins, Reid, Ogbonna and Cresswell) and an energetic defensive midfield trio of Pedro Obiang, Cheikhou Kouyate and Noble, allowing Dimitri Payet and Lanzini in particular the freedom to do damage in the Liverpool half, while Sakho led the line superbly. Darren Randolph in goal completed the West Ham XI which won their first league match at Anfield since 1963 and inflicted a first loss of the season on Liverpool on that day.

Lanzini’s debut showcased a willingness to pick up the ball deep and drive forward at pace and also an eagerness to work for the team by closing down opponents to force mistakes – something he did to optimum effect for the second goal.

Fifty-two years before, West Ham’s finest moment at the famous old stadium took place on 14 September 1963, when Ron Greenwood’s side scored a 2-1 win over Bill Shankly’s Reds.

A star-studded match featured no fewer than six players – three on each side – who would go on to win the FIFA World Cup for England in 1966: Liverpool’s Roger Hunt, Ian Callaghan and Gerry Byrne, and West Ham’s Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters.

If the Hammers win tonight it would also be the first defeat for Liverpool this season. Three players that have won in 2015 are part of West Ham‘s starting eleven: Mark Noble, Cresswell and Ogbonna. Darren Randolph and Manuel Lanzini are on the bench in front of an away end of just 1,800 Hammers fans who could make the way up to Liverpool. West Ham have asked for a reduced allocation for this Monday evening game from the 3,000 they would usually demand. The away support displayed banners against the Board, branding Sullivan and Gold “clowns” mismanaging the circus and telling Karren Brady “You’re Fired”. The Hammers sit 18th in the Premier League table and are having a very disappointing season. They could climb out of the relegation zone if the manage to take at least one point from this game.

Come on you Irons!

Update: West Ham played one of their best games of this bad season, “making a mockery of their league position”, as The Telegraph wrote. The Hammers even took the lead against Liverpool in the second half! But in the end the best team of this season again managed to overcome their opponents and Liverpool won 3-2 (1-1).

Liverpool were asked a lot of questions tonight, had to go through a lot of gears. It was a brilliant game which also should West Ham give hope to do better in their next matches. Yet again when Liverpool need to win by the odd goal they found a way and now have won their last 21 home Premier League games, equalling the English top-flight record for consecutive home wins, set by the Reds between January and December 1972 under Bill Shankly. Liverpool are now 22 points clear at the top of the league and need only four more wins to be crowned champions 2019-20. West Ham remain in the relegation zone. They also need four wins at least, as David Moyes said, to stay up. This game showed that there is enough quality in the side to get the Irons away from their predicament, allowing Moyes to leave Anfield enthused as much as disappointed.

Liverpool 3 West Ham 2. Goals: Wijnaldum, Salah (due to a terrible mistake from Fabianski in goal), Mane; Diop, Fornals

February 24, 2020 at 8:15 pm Leave a comment

Kein Ruhmesblatt

Salzburg – das war keine Festung in Frankfurt!

Mit 0:4 im Rückstand, ausgeknockt und düpiert – die Frankfurter Eintracht zeigte den Salzburger Bullen am Donnerstag im Europacup die Grenzen auf. Jetzt hat RBS zwei Pflichtspiele hintereinander verloren, ist nicht mehr Tabellenführer in Österreich und fast schon raus aus der Europa League.

Am Donnerstag nach dem schrecklichen, sprachlos machenden Massaker von Hanau, nicht weit von Frankfurt entfernt, stört ein Dummer aus dem Block der Salzburg-Fans die Trauerminute im Waldstadion. Und dann gibt es ein Debakel für die roten Bullen, bei denen Ex-Rapidler Maxi Wöber & Co eine wahrhaft schwache Abwehrleistung bieten. Wahrlich kein Ruhmesblatt dieser Abend für die Erfolgsverwöhnten aus Salzburg.

Nur ein Elfertor ganz am Ende des Spieles lässt hoffen: Nicht 0:4, sondern bloß 1:4 lautet der Endstand, mit einem 3:0-Heimsieg in einer Woche kann man noch weiterkommen, in die nächste Runde der EL aufsteigen.

Aber die Abgänge von Haaland und Minamino im Winter müssen die Salzburger offenbar erst verkraften, auf Trainer Jesse Marsch wartet viel Arbeit. Ein Durchmarsch wird das heuer auch in der österreichischen Bundesliga nicht…

February 22, 2020 at 9:33 am Leave a comment

“West Ham Till I Die” Asking For Your Support

WHTID, the West Ham blog for which I have the honour to post on a more or less regular basis, is in need of a revamp. It has been an institution since 2006, and the blog is now crowdfunding the cost of establishing a new technology. WHTID does hope you might contribute!

The WHTID blog began its life in 2006. It’s undergone several revamps since then, the last being in 2013. This time, however, the technology is creaking and it needs a complete rebuild and redesign and to be put on a new server. We hope to add some exciting new features too.

That’s what WHTID’s founder Iain Dale wrote: https://www.westhamtillidie.com/posts/2020/02/16/the-future-of-westhamtillidie-com-please-donate-to-our-crowdfunder

“Up to now I’ve managed to either fund the site myself or abuse the good will of my friendly web designer. But he operates as a professional business and is not an intern. So I want the rebuild to be done on a proper commercial basis.

“I will be contibuting to the cost myself, but as a reader of the site I hope you will also be willing to contibute whatever you can afford.

“Given the number of readers we have I’d like to think we can reach the £5k target quite quickly so we can then get on to actually commission the site. If we don’t… well, I don’t know. It’s not feasible to continue to run the site on its current, very creaky server.

“If you have any questions you can contact me by email at info@iaindale.com.

“Once the new site is live – which will hopefully be sometime in the Spring or early Summer – we’ll be recruiting a few new contributors too.

“Thank you so much in advance for your support. I’m not going to do a Bob Geldof, but please donate whatever you can afford to.”

Please donate HERE.

All the best

Iain Dale

“UPDATE 11pm Monday: Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far. It means a lot. We’re nearly half way there after only 27 hours. I was expecting the average donation to be around £12, but it’s actually £23.15. So we need another 120 people to donate and we’re there. If you haven’t donated yet, I hope you will consider doing so. I debated long and hard whether to launch this and a lot of people I consulted thought it would be a miserable failure. So delighted to have had the confidence to go through with it. Thank you!”

Update Wednesday, 5 p.m. by rapidhammer: Only £1500 missing to reach the target! Come on you Irons!

Update Monday by rapidhammer: The target has been reached by Sunday midnight! That’s excellent and shows what a great community we’ve got here at WHTID. https://www.westhamtillidie.com/posts/2020/02/24/crowdfundraiser-target-reached

February 19, 2020 at 5:11 pm Leave a comment

WHU hat Pause, bei Rapid geht’s los!

In der englischen Premier League erleben wir gerade die erste „winter break“ in der Form, dass an diesem und am vorangegangenen Wochenende jeweils nur eine halbe Runde gespielt wird. So sollte sich für alle Klubs eine spielfreie Woche ergeben – dieses Wochenende unter anderem für West Ham United, das allerdings schon am kommenden Mittwoch das Nachtragsspiel gegen Financial FairPlay-Übeltäter Manchester City hat. In Österreich dagegen ist endlich die lange Winterpause vorbei und die Bundesliga startet wieder! Der SK Rapid spielt am Sonntag.

Die Frühjahrssaison in Österreich begann gleich mit einer Riesenüberraschung: am Freitag Abend fügte der LASK den bisher unbesiegten Salzburger Bullen die erste Niederlage zu, noch dazu in deren eigenem Stadion, in dem Red Bull bisher 8 von 9 Meisterschafts-Heimspielen in dieser Saison gewonnen hatte. Aber es war eine Sensation mit Ansage, denn der LASK hat im Winter keinen Spieler abgegeben, während sich Salzburg ohne Haaland (zu Borussia Dortmund) und Minamino (zum FC Liverpool) erst wieder finden muss. Und der LASK ist außerdem das beste Auswärtsteam: man hat nun von 10 Auswärtsspielen zehn gewonnen!

Die österreichische Meisterschaft bleibt also heuer spannend und vielleicht wird RB Salzburg doch nicht zum siebenten Mal hintereinander Meister! Der LASK, der wirklich eine tolle Saison spielt, auch in der Europa League in die KO-Phase aufgestiegen ist (wie im Vorjahr der SK Rapid!), war das letzte – und bisher einzige – Mal im Jahr 1965 österreichischer Meister. Cupsieger waren die Linzer damals auch.

Im Dezember war ich selbst mit zwei Kollegen auf der Linzer „Gugl“, die ganz in der Nähe der Kanzlei liegt, und war begeistert von dem tollen Auftritt des LASK gegen Sporting Lissabon: mit einem 3:0 sicherten die Linzer sich den Gruppensieg in derEL.

Kommende Woche starten die Schwarz-Weißen nun mit dem Duell gegen AZ Alkmaar in die nächste Runde der Europa League. Und am 4. März spielt man im österreichischen Cup-Semifinale wieder auswärts gegen RB Salzburg. Aus dem Cupbewerb sind übrigens alle Wiener Klubs bereits im Herbst ausgeschieden, das zweite Halbfinale bestreiten Austria Lustenau und Wacker Innsbruck aus der zweiten Liga.

Rapid ist im September in einem dramatischen Match, das wir als „vorgezogenes Finale“ bezeichnet haben, durch ein Tor von Minamino in der letzten Minute der Verlängerung im Allianz Stadion mit 1:2 gegen RB Salzburg ausgeschieden. Rapid-Japaner Kitagawa schoss Rapids zwischenzeitlichen Ausgleich und verletzte sich in diesem Spiel. Trotz der Niederlage feierte der Rapid-Anhang die Mannschaft, die aufopfernd gekämpft hatte, mit einem minutenlangen „You‘ll never walk alone“. Der emotionalste Moment des Fußballherbstes!

Am Sonntag bin ich nun endlich wieder dabei im West-(Allianz)Stadion, wenn Rapid die Frühjahrssaison angeht: mit einem Sieg gegen den Tabellenletzten Wattens soll es, wenn es nach Rapid-Trainer Didi Kühbauer geht, einen positiven Start geben und mit einem Sieg könnte der Rückstand auf die Tabellenspitze von bisher 12 auf 10 Punkte vermindert werden.

Da dann in der Meister-Runde der besten sechs Klubs ab Mitte März die Punkte geteilt werden, könnte man vielleicht sogar im Titelkampf wieder mitmischen! Während LASK und Salzburg noch eine Tripel-Belastung durch Cup und Europa League haben, kann sich Rapid allein auf die Bundesliga konzentrieren. Aber auch WAC, Sturm und Hartberg liegen vier Runden vor dem Ende des laufenden Durchgangs nur einen bzw. vier Punkte hinter den Grün-Weißen.

„Hier regiert der SCR“, das sollte in dem 2016 eröffneten Allianz Stadion, in dem Rapid noch immer nicht zur alten Heimstärke zurückgefunden hat, endlich wieder Standard werden! In „St. Hanappi“ und auf der Pfarrwiese war Rapid stets eine Macht, aber obwohl das neue Stadion als „grüne Hölle“ für Rapids Gegner konzipiert und beworben wurde, ist bisher eher die eigene Mannschaft den Erwartungen an einen neuen Höhenflug im neuen Stadion nicht gerecht geworden. Seit man das anstelle des Hanappi Stadions errichtete, in Ost-West-Richtung gedrehte Allianz-Stadion mit der mächtigen Stehplatztribüne für den „Block West“ im Süden als Heimstätte hat, wurde Rapid nur 5., 3. und 7. in der Meisterschaft. Seit mehr als einem Jahrzehnt wartet man auf einen Titel (2008 unter Peter Pacult war man das letzte Mal Meister). Dabei wäre im Neuen mehrstöckigen VIP-Klub so schön feiern!

Und so enthält die von Andy Marek – der am Sonntag das letzte Mal als Platzsprecher fungieren wird – jüngst präsentierte Rapid-Chronik Band III (2009-2019) das erste Jahrzehnt (seit 1899-1909) ohne Meister- oder Cuptitel des SK Rapid! (Wobei der erste [nieder-] österreichische Meistertitel erst 2011/12 vergeben wurde – an den „Sportclub Rapid“.)

Zwar musste der SK Rapid auch nach seinem 25. Meistertitel (1968) 14 Jahre bis zum nächsten Gewinn der Bundesliga (1982) warten, aber während dieser „Meisterschafts-Durststrecke“ gelangen immerhin die österreichischen Cupsiege 1969, 1972 und 1976, während man 2017 und 2019 in Klagenfurt, dem vielleicht noch schöneren neuen Stadion, jeweils gegen RB Salzburg nur den Titel „Cupfinalist” nach Hütteldorf zurückbrachte. Realistisch betrachtet wird es auch heuer nix mit einem Titel, aber die „Zwanzigerjahre“ haben ja gerade erst begonnen.

Auf geht’s Rapid: Kämpfen und siegen!

February 15, 2020 at 9:40 am 1 comment

Free at last

Die neue Predigtserie in der ICF Wien befasst sich mit dem 1. Buch der Könige und dem Zusammenhang von schlechten Früchten und Mängeln an unseren geistlichen Wurzeln.

„Ein guter Baum trägt gute Früchte, ein schlechter Baum trägt schlechte Früchte“, sagt Jesus (Mt 12,33). Es sind unsere schlechten Verhaltensmuster, die immer wieder dazu führen, dass unser Tun keine guten, sondern schlechte Früchte bringt. Auch wenn wir uns bemühen, die faulen Früchte auszusortieren und nur glänzend rote Äpfel in unserem Obstkorb zu haben, fallen doch immer wieder verdorbene Äpfel von unserem Baum. Der Grund ist, dass wir die geistliche Dimension unserer Misserfolge oft nicht beachten.

Die geistliche Dimension können wir uns als die Wurzeln unseres Baumes vorstellen. Nur wenn von den Wurzeln genug gute Nährstoffe über den Stamm in die Zweige zu den dort wachsenden Früchten gelangen, werden in der Baumkrone gute, rot glänzende Äpfel wachsen. Diese geistliche Dimension darf nicht übersehen werden.

König Ahab im 1. Buch der Könige etwa war nicht unbedingt böse, aber er war passiv und ängstlich und ließ geschehen, was seine Frau Isebel ausheckte. Die aber war die Tochter eines Fürsten, dessen Volk dem götzendienerischen Baalskult anhing, und so kam es auch unter den Juden, dem auserwählten Volk Gottes, zur Baalsverehrung. Aus seinem Geist der Passivität und Angst heraus gebot Ahab, obwohl er König, ein Nachfolger von König David war, diesem grausamen Götzenkult mit seinen Menschenopfern keinen Einhalt. So verleugnete das Volk Israel den „Ich bin der ich bin“, Jahwe, den Gott Abrahams, Isaaks und Jakobs.

„Gott hat uns nicht einen Geist der Furcht gegeben, sondern einen Geist der Kraft, der Liebe und der Besonnenheit.“ (2. Tim 1,7)

Wäre dieser göttliche Geist in Ahab wirksam gewesen, so hätte er anders gehandelt, nicht zugelassen, dass auf Veranlassung seiner Frau Propheten getötet und im Baalskult Kinder geopfert wurden.

Um schlechte Verhaltensmuster zu überwinden, müssen wir uns bewusst machen, dass Jesus uns liebt und wir Ihm immer vertrauen können. Wenn Gott unser Fundament ist, wird aus seinem Geist Kraft, Liebe und Besonnenheit fließen und unser Verhalten bestimmen. Wir können frei werden von schlechten Verhaltensmustern. Und unser Baum wird Gott gefallen und immer mehr gute Früchte tragen!

February 9, 2020 at 4:46 pm Leave a comment

No Game on Sunday, no PL in 2020/21?

Due to adverse weather conditions West Ham’s away match at the Etihad against Manchester City has been postponed. Now West Ham’s “Winter Break” – the first of this kind in Premier League history – begins and that means that their next match will not be played before Monday, 24 February, when designated PL champions Liverpool are going to host the Hammers. Much in contrary to the Reds which can be all but sure to win the league, now 22 points ahead of Manchester City with 13 games to play before the end of the season, the Irons are desperately fighting against losing their place in the Premier League.

The break gives us the opportunity to look back if the change of manager at the turn of the year has brought an upturn in fortune for West Ham. Unfortunately the results have not improved so far, and David Moyes hasn’t won any league game since the victory over Bournemouth in his first game in charge.

Matt Law in the Telegraph wrote that West Ham must fear to be running out of time in their battle for survival. It’s over five weeks since David Moyes returned to West Ham United with the bold claim that winning is “what I do” as the club attempted to avoid dropping into the relegation zone.

Just one Premier League win, in his first match back in charge against Bournemouth, and six games later, West Ham are in the bottom three with Moyes now admitting “you would kill me with the results.”

Five points from his first six league games is one worse than the previous six under sacked manager Manuel Pellegrini, who managed two victories, against Chelsea and Southampton, during that time.

Yet despite his poor win percentage, it seems Moyes will be judged from here on in after West Ham signed Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen at the end of the transfer window and this week added coaches Kevin Nolan and Paul Nevin to his backroom team.

Despite a backdrop of fan unrest which will lead to new actions of protest aimed at David Sullivan and David Gold, the co-owners, and Karren Brady, the vice-chairman, Moyes remains positive that he can deliver what he had claimed to do best and win enough games to keep West Ham up.

“You would kill me with the results, but I feel we’ve played much better,” Moyes said. “We’ve been worthy and closer to more points than what we’ve had. We’ve not got them and it could be costly because of that. We’ve got to turn that quickly into results.”

Four more victories?

Moyes believes four more victories over the course of the remaining 13 games, six of which are at the London Stadium, should be enough to see West Ham safe. The task looks harder than it initially sounds, when supporters consider the team have won only four times in the league since the end of August.

“I’ve always looked at the win column and to stay in the Premier League you need to get 10 wins,” Moyes said. “That’s my amateur mathematics. But if you get 10 wins you tend to get enough draws to get you 38, 39 points by the end of the season.

“I look at the win column and I’m really only looking at the next game. You’ve got to pick up what you can on the road and make your home wins really important.”

With a little help from …

As if to illustrate, perhaps, just how desperate West Ham and Moyes are becoming for victories, the Scot suggested that the supporters annoyed with the running of the club could also channel some of their anger towards trying to influence referees.

“All I’m saying is, as team manager, I could do with their help, especially in the home games,” Moyes said. “We need them to challenge decisions, to question what’s going on, to support the team.

“I just feel we’re getting the wrong end of things and I need to try to turn that into more positives if I can. How can I do that? Maybe the supporters could help us persuade people’s thinking.”

It might not only be Premier League survival West Ham are playing for over the final 13 games, as Moyes conceded the future of Declan Rice, whom he described as being the best holding midfielder in the country, is also at stake.

Moyes appeared to suggest Rice could leave, whether or not West Ham go down, by saying: “Quite often in the story of building a football club, you have to sell. You may have to do it. It’s just the way on the journey. I hope it’s not the case with Declan, but I said the same with Wayne Rooney, said the same with Joleon Lescott.

“The team still got better because we were able to make sure we got the right people in and make sure we got the right resources in; make sure we were signing the right players to replace them. And if that ever came around [Rice going], I’d hope we will be able to do it. I hope it doesn’t come around.

“It’s the last few months [of the season] and we need Declan to be right on it and show everything he’s got. In my mind, at the moment, he is arguably the best holding midfield player in the country, and the best thing about Declan is he is young and he will get better.”

West Ham certainly need to get better, however hard the next two trips might be.

And it could be Kevin Nolan, West Ham’s skipper about seven years back when West Ham succeeded in their attempt to gain promotion in the first season after their relegation to the Championship, who helps the Hammers’ revival. Nolan together with Paul Nevin has joined Moyes’s coaching staff at West Ham recently.

Nolan, 37, scored 31 goals in 157 appearances for the Hammers between 2011 and 2015, before player-coach roles at Leyton Orient and Notts County.

Paul Nevin, 50, coached at Brighton, Fulham and Norwich before joining the England coaching staff until June 2019.

“Both have a wealth of experience in the game,” said manager David Moyes. 

“I’m sure they will make a very positive contribution between now and the end of the season.

“Kevin obviously knows the club very well having played here previously, while Paul’s coaching pedigree is excellent. 

“It has taken some time to finalise the coaching staff, but I wanted to make sure I brought in the right people to help us, and both Kevin and Paul are fantastic additions.”

Both have joined Moyes’ staff initially until the end of the season. West Ham are 18th in the Premier League before commencing with their winter break until 24 February, searching for four more victories at least …

West Ham’s Premier League fixtures until the end of the season

Manchester City (A – postponed), Liverpool (A), Saints (H), Arsenal (A), Wolves (H), Spurs (A), Chelsea (H), Newcastle (A), Burnley (H), Norwich (A), Watford (H), Red Devil’s (A), Aston Villa (H).

February 9, 2020 at 3:08 pm Leave a comment

Good News on Brexit Day #2

Der Post vom letzten Samstag ist nun auch auf dem West Ham Blog West Ham Till I Die veröffentlicht – mit einer durchaus interessanten Diskussion zum Thema EU und UK in den “comments” !

February 5, 2020 at 1:52 pm Leave a comment

Good News on Brexit Day

For me Brexit isn’t good news at all. I always was in favour of Remain and of a second people’s vote, but the answer was “We already had one”, and Boris would “get Brexit done”. Now as of 1st of February, the UK really is no longer part of the EU. Will Britain now get great again? Sorry, it will not. So the only good news from London this Friday was the signing of an other new player for West Ham United.

An updated version of this post has been published at West Ham Till I Die on 5 February 2020

In the brilliant book “Rule Britannia. Brexit and the End of Empire” the authors argue that the vote to leave the EU was the last gasp of the old empire working its way out of the British psyche, fuelled by an unrealistic vision of Britain’s future. I wish the UK well in the upcoming negotiations with the EU, but I fear it will be a tough match and in the end the outcome will not be satisfactory. Well, that reminds me of how things panned out at football club West Ham United after leaving the Boleyn (which by the way happened at the same time as the referendum whether to leave the EU).

With the move from Upton Park to the Olympic Stadium the West Ham faithful were promised golden days ahead, the Board was even talking of Champions League football within some years. But now we’ve got the second relegation battle within three years.

Even when the owners, after fan protests inside and outside the unloved new stadium, finally decided to invest a notable amount of money into the squad and hire a decent manager in 2018, it seems we were deluded in some way.

It was not only me who thought that with Manuel Pellegrini, a very successful manager with his former clubs, who had got the job in 2018 and was the highest paid gaffer in West Ham’s history, a “revolution” would start and bring success to a club where fortune’s had been hiding for much too long.

Pellegrini’s first season wasn’t bad. After a slow start with four defeats the players seemed to understand the new way of attacking play the Chilean tried to instil, there were glimpses of a fine style of play dubbed the “West Ham way” in former times, and a number of good results with a lot of goals scored were achieved. Sometimes it seemed the squad had developed a formerly unknown “winning mentality”, and they accumulated more wins in a single month than ever before in Premier League history in December 2018. And last season even I was lucky enough to attend four consecutive wins on my travels to the London Stadium (Burnley 4-2, Crystal Palace 3-2, Arsenal 1-0 and Southampton 3-0).

When the Irons started very well this season, things looked bright and again it wasn’t just me who thought that West Ham had one of the strongest squads in recent history this term and that they would go on to finally win something after many, many years without silverware. This year it is forty years that the Hammers have won the FA Cup, it’s “time to be great again” this season, isn’t it? That’s what we thought after the 2018/19 “transitional season”, which now would surely be followed by one more step forward for the Club.

And, after an inevitable defeat to Manchester City in the first game of the new season, things really seemed to turn out very well for West Ham when they had a run of six games in which they remained unbeaten with three wins in the Premier League and one in their first game of the League Cup. What a promising start into this anniversary season that was, 40 years after the Irons’ last win of the FA Cup!

But then our seemingly talismanic goalkeeper, Lukasz Fabianski, the fabulous shotstopper and Hammer of the Year 2019, got injured, and West Ham suddenly found itself in a downward spiral which Manuel Pellegrini was unable to stop. His substitute goalie Roberto who had been brought to West Ham by Pellegrini and his director of sports Husillos, instead of former fans favourite Adrian, proved completely unable to cope with the task of playing in the Premier League. He was a factor of highest uncertainty that also unsettled the defenders in front of him. With West Ham’s defence a complete shambles the Hammers shipped goals after goals! Four goals were conceded from minnows Oxford United, and West Ham’s exit from the League Cup against this third tier opposition was followed by a dismal run of seven league games with Roberto without a win. At last Pellegrini decided to hand the club’s third keeper his Premier League debut, and David Martin found himself between the sticks against Chelsea.

It was a dream start for the 33 year old, son of former Hammers center back Alvin Martin: He kept a clean sheet at Stamford Bridge, helping West Ham win 1-0 away against the Blues. He broke into tears after the final whistle and then sprinted up the stairs of the away stand to celebrate the win with his father, West Ham legend Alvin Martin, who was a member of West Ham’s Cup winning team of 1980.

But it was a short-lived upturn in West Ham’s fortunes, followed by just one win within the next five games. Pellegrini seemed utterly clueless, he looked an old man in the dugout who had completely lost the dressing room, being unable to coach his team, and making strange substitutions which nobody could understand…

Instead of a step forward the Club now made one back, fired MP after an other defeat to Leicester City by the end of December, and reappointed David Moyes who had saved the Hammers from relegation in 2018. Then the Scot had not been found good enough to remain the Club’s manager and had been replaced by Chilean high-calibre manager Manuel Pellegrini.

Moyes’s start into his second reign at the London Stadium was all but perfect with a 4-0 home win over fellow strugglers Bournemouth, but the shape of the squad he inherited is simply not good enough to restart a season which really has been a desaster so far. The FA Cup win at Gillingham was followed by a league defeat at Sheffield United (with a controversial VAR decision when West Ham’s equaliser in the last minute of the game didn’t stand because of Declan Rice’s completely unintentional and unavoidable handball in the build-up to the goal). The Hammers couldn’t climb up the table, and now they find themselves as seventeenths just above the relegation zone, separated from the eighteenth only by goal difference. They have also been eliminated from the FA Cup by former Hammers coach Slaven Bilic’s West Brom.

With a very bad home record this season we have to fear the worst when this Saturday’s must-win game against Brighton is played at the London Stadium where the Hammers have won only three games out of thirteen so far this season.

Therefore the West Ham faithful hoped that “transfer deadline day” which coincided with Brexit Day had to be a day to provide some hope Hammers who had only welcomed Czech midfield player Tomas Soucek (24) from Slavia Prague within this window so far. And it really went down to the wire: just minutes before deadline West Ham got their second new player, bringing in versatile attacker Jarrod Bowen from Hull City

23-year-old Bowen, who scored 54 goals and added 14 assists in 131 matches for Hull, has signed a contract until the summer of 2025.

Manager David Moyes said: “I think he could be a big success. When you score goals like he does, and in the numbers he does, in the Championship, it will give you a great chance of scoring goals in the Premier League.”

Well, that was good news from London at last. I hope more good news will be coming today when West Ham United play Brighton & Hove this afternoon!

February 1, 2020 at 12:41 pm Leave a comment