In a hard-hitting review of the Bolton game in The Echo, Rob Pritchard accuses Alan Curbishley’s defensive approach of ruining a century of slick, passing, attack-minded football at West Ham. Pritchard claims West Ham under Curbishley are actually attempting a poor imitation of Bolton and that it flies against the traditions of the club built by such managers as Greenwood. Lyall and Redknapp.
Many West Ham fans accepted the dire football the team have played this season because the team were at least picking up points. Since Christmas, however, the fans have had to watch the team playing poor football and getting thrashed by good sides and beaten by poor ones.
Alan Curbishley has pointed to the injuries to West Ham’s flair players but it is actually hard to determine who he is talking about. Etherington’s pace is admittedly a lot more exciting than Boa Morte’s day-dreaming on the left wing. Bellamy also seems to show more passion and desire to win than most of the players on show on Saturday and hopefully, if Dyer ever recovers, he will also demonstrate some pace down the right.
However in the summer Curbishley sold the two players at the club who could consistently unlock defences, Tevez and Benayoun. Obviously once both players publically declared their desire to leave there was little Curbishley could do to stop them. However it has become apparent that they have not been adequately replaced.
Let’s hope the Icelandic economy recovers enough by the start of next season to allow the owners to make available a sizeable transfer kitty. West Ham are in desperate need of a couple of flair players.
West Ham fans have never called for success but have always expected attractive football.
(From: Hammered Blog)
April 15, 2008 at 11:26 am
Als West Ham 4:0 gewann…
Pat Gerber, eine seit 40 Jahren in der Schweiz lebende Londonerin, schickte mir vor Kurzem einen Schulaufsatz ihres Vaters mit einem “Matchbericht” vom Spiel West Ham v Burnley, geschrieben an einem 9. April in den Zwanziger-Jahren.
Pat’s Dad Albert (Bert) ist heute 92 Jahre alt und lebt in Dagenham, drei Stationen vom Upton Park entfernt (Bild: Pat Gerber).
Anlässlich des unerfreulichen Resultats vom Dienstag (0:1 gegen Portsmouth) kann ein Blick in die Vergangenheit nicht schaden, glaube ich:
Written 9th April, 192…
“How I Spent Good Friday
On the morning of Good Friday I began the day by getting in the hot Cross buns for our breakfast. All the morning I played a game of cricket with my brother and six other boys. When it was two o’clock my brother and I went to the West Ham football ground, seeing a good game between West Ham and Burnley resulting in a win for the Hammers.
West Ham started off, as if to be sure of a ten-none victory. A great combination between Earl and Ruffell enabled the last mentioned player to find the net with a great left drive. Immediately after the centre the Hammers gave Burnley a real lesson in football. They passed the ball accurately from man to man, but a mistake on Watson’s part, enabled the right back of Burnley to clear with a fierce drive. It was then Burnley’s turn to attack, and Hufton was kept busy for ten minutes. Before half-time Watson and Ruffell put on two further goals.
In the next half both goalies were kept busy, Hufton especially. Yews continually beat both backs only to find no-one in the centre. Play was very even and more than three times did Beel the centre forward of Burnley, cut through the backs to be foiled by Hufton. Two minutes from the end Gibbins scored through a neat pass by Ruffell. That brought the score to four for West Ham. Soon after, the whistle went for full time.
We went from Upton Park to the Princess Alice, then a short walk from there brought us to the Hats Fair. Both of us enjoyed ourselves immensely on the coconut shies, darts, ringboards and all the other things. At half past nine we went home claiming between us two boxes of chocolates, three coco-nuts and a packet of cigarettes.”
Laut der Website West Ham-Stats fand das beschriebene Spiel am 29. März 1929 vor 20.000 Zuschauern am Upton Park statt und endete – wie im Aufsatz geschildert – 4:0 für die Hammers.
Die Statistikseite führt allerdings neben Vivian Gibbins und Jimmy Ruffell (2) nicht Victor Watson, sondern Tommy Yews als weiteren Torschützen.
Dieser kleine Irrtum ist aber nicht weiter verwunderlich: schließlich ist Vic Watson (im Bild links) West Hams All-time-record-goal scorer. Zwischen 1920 und 1936 erzielte er 326 Tore für West Ham. Einige Wochen vor dem Spiel gegen Burnley hatte er bei einem 8:2-Heimsieg gegen Leeds (9.2.1929) sogar sechs Tore in einem Spiel geschossen.
Der legendäre Stürmer, eine Art “Josef Uridil vom Upton Park”, schaffte insgesamt 13 Hattricks für West Ham. (Josef Uridil war DER Stürmer des SK Rapid Wien in den 20er-Jahren.)
Trotz der vielen Tore von Vic Watson beendete West Ham die Meisterschaft der First Division in der Saison 1928/29 aber nur auf dem 17. Platz. Die beste Platzierung während Vic Watsons Karriere war ein 6. Platz in der Saison 1926/27.
Der “runner-up” unter West Hams besten Torschützen ist übrigens Geoff Hurst (1959-1972) mit 252 Toren. Und die beste Liga-Platzierung aller Zeiten schafften die Hammers 1985/86 mit John Lyall als Coach: Platz 3 hinter Liverpool und Everton.
Einen weiteren Bericht über West Hams durchaus glorreiche (etwas jüngere) Vergangenheit, als die Weltmeister Moore, Hurst und Peters für die Hammers spielten, kann man auf Pat’s Homepage lesen. Hier klicken!
April 10, 2008 at 9:04 am
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Curbishley is under pressure after a string of poor results
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West Ham manager Alan Curbishley has received the dreaded “vote of confidence” following three successive 4-0 defeats. (BBC)
The Hammers sit in 10th position in the Premier League after heavy losses to Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham.
“The board of West Ham recognise that recent results have been disappointing and frustrating for everyone connected to the club,” a statement said.
“However, there is no question of Alan Curbishley’s future as manager being called into doubt.”
West Ham’s squad has been hit by a series of injuries this season but the recent run of poor results have brought Curbishley’s management style under scrutiny.
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606: DEBATE
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The statement added: “Alan, his staff and the players have done well to put the club into the top half of the table, despite a massive injury list, and they have the full support of the board.
“Of course, there are challenges to be met and further improvements needed to keep the club moving forward.
“The board will work with Alan to ensure that the progress we have made is maintained and built on to deliver success and long-term stability for West Ham.”
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March 10, 2008 at 10:13 pm
West Ham v Chelsea 0-4
Liverpool v West Ham 4-0
Tottenham v West Ham 4-0
Last season’s 29th game was against Spurs, too – West Ham lost 3:4 and started “the Greatest Escape” afterwards. The Hammers had only 20 pts. at the same time last year and stood on the last spot in the league table. Now they’ve got 40 pts and are 10th, hence this season has been twice as successful so far. Don’t forget the team had a great run with Curbs in charge last year. This season they beat ManU and Liverpool – and they won enough games to bring us in a position above Tottenham (so far) and miles away from the relegation mire.
But after these three defeats (0-12 !!!) everything will go south unless Curbs is able to motivate his squad and restore the confidence in the team. Though 6th place still is not too far away and could mean qualification for Europe (if England gets an extra ticket for the UEFA cup due to the “UEFA fair play table”) nobody should speak about Champions League and Europe anymore: this is ridiculous. What we need now is rebuilding West Ham’s pride and confidence whatever the final league position is. If Curbs is not able to change fortune now in order to add a good end to a “solid season” he has to be replaced. The next games will show.
March 10, 2008 at 10:30 am
Peter Jones, a university classics lecturer, suddenly understands the abusive behaviour of his fellow Newcastle football fans
Last Saturday Newcastle United were thrashed at home 5-1 by Manchester United, plunging the Toon closer to relegation. The fans on the terraces were outraged. Abuse of their own team and their new manager, Kevin Keegan, filled the air. Was there pleasure at the supreme skills of Manchester’s Rooney and Ronaldo? No.
Why on earth do they come? The answer lies in the tone of voice in which the criticisms are expressed: it is the tone of those who have been personally insulted.
This sense of injured and affronted merit tells one everything one needs to know about the fans’ view of themselves, ie. that they, not the players, are the real gods – and pagan gods at that, who demand respect from their favourites, require offerings, punish disobedience and, most of all, do not countenance failure.
So the fans turn up week after week to ensure that their divine will is done. Players who fail them (forget the opposition, let alone the ref) are an insult to their dignity and deserve to be subjected to the full onslaught of their divine wrath.
These supporter-gods love their players. What more do those ungrateful wretches want? How dare they fail to come up with the right offering – a win?
It is true that the players earn in a week two or three times as much as the average fan earns in a year. But that makes attendance at the match all the more important. For those 90 minutes, every fan personally occupies the heavenly seat of judgment over (in his view) the most privileged mortals on earth, ready to offer them the full benefit of his Olympian advice, graciously to acknowledge his role in the team’s success and to grant them what only a god can – the glory of sporting immortality. All the players have to do is obey – and perform.
March 1, 2008 at 9:15 am
By nature we have no defect that could not become a strength,
and no strength that could not become a defect.
Found at: Rockcity Blog.
February 29, 2008 at 8:55 am
| DAS Z I T A T DES TAGES widmet Ihnen http://www.jvc.at |
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| Ich halte nichts vom Recht auf Arbeit, ich halte es lieber für das größte Recht des Menschen, nichts zu tun.
Gioacchino Rossini
© www.zitate.eu |
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Geburtstag hat heute:
Gioacchino Rossini
(29. 02. 1792 – 13. 11. 1868)Komponist, Opern: “Der Barbier von Sevilla”/1816, “Wilhelm Tell”/1829 (Italien, 1792 – 1868). |
February 29, 2008 at 8:39 am
Plenty of reckless tackles have escaped censure this season and had the extent of Eduardo’s injury not been so obvious, perhaps this one would have, too. Referees are notoriously lenient in the early exchanges and had Eduardo limped around for a bit before hobbling off after 15 minutes, it is unlikely that Dean would have shown a red card.
(Martin Samuels in the Times)
February 27, 2008 at 11:37 am
According to Paul Kelso, Guardian, the Premier League was forced into a major climbdown over its plans for an international round of fixtures last night, cancelling a scheduled meeting with the Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, at 36 hours’ notice and effectively killing off the prospects of Game 39 proceeding in its current form. The league cancelled plans to meet Blatter today after intense negotiations between the chief executive Richard Scudamore and the Fifa general secretary, Jérôme Valcke, aimed at preventing the league being humiliated in Zurich.
A Premier League statement said:
“It is our considered view that we need to conduct further internal studies and consultation before seeking the advice of Fifa and the key confederations.”
The English Football Association FA has already distanced itself from the Premier League’s proposal of “Game 39” in order to preserve England’s chances of hosting the 2018 World Cup. The FA’s chairman, Lord Triesman, said there was a consensus in the game that in its current form Game 39 would not work.
Is there anybody who didn’t know that before?
February 27, 2008 at 11:31 am
My Year With West Ham
The second issue of the new Austrian football and sports magazine
NULL ACHT is out now.
RAPIDHAMMER has joined the newspaper journalists and wrote an article titled “MY YEAR WITH WEST HAM” – “MEIN JAHR MIT WEST HAM” – as a starter for a regular column about British football, with the main emphasis on West Ham United of course.
Here you can read my article:
MEIN JAHR MIT WEST HAM
“Claret & Blue” – das sind heuer durchaus wieder Modefarben in der englischen Premier League. Aston Villa und West Ham United, die beide in der ausgefallenen Farbkombination “weinrot und blau” spielen, sind zwar keine Titelanwärter, können sich aber Hoffnungen auf die Qualifikation für einen europäischen Cupbewerb machen.
Dabei hatte sich West Ham-Manager Alan Curbishley zu Beginn der laufenden Spielzeit nur “eine solide Saison” gewünscht. Seit dem Wiederaufstieg 2005 – nach zwei Saisonen in der zweiten Liga – hat sich der Klub aus dem East End von London wahrlich wie auf der Hochschaubahn gefühlt.
In der Saison 2005-06 kam man – damals noch unter Manager Alan Pardew – bis ins FA Cup-Finale gegen Liverpool und musste sich nach einem packenden Spiel (3:3) erst im Elferschießen geschlagen geben.
Im Vorjahr dagegen lagen die “Hammers” nach der Übernahme des Klubs durch ein isländisches Konsortium, dem folgenden Trainerwechsel und rechtlichen Turbulenzen um die Spielberechtigung der Argentinier Carlos Tévez und Javier Mascherano die längste Zeit auf einem Abstiegsplatz. Besagter Carlos Tévez und Mark Noble, ein neunzehnjähriger Eigenbauspieler, inspirierten die Londoner aber zu einer fulminanten Aufholjagd, die in einem 1:0-Auswärtssieg gegen Manchester United und dem damit geschafften Klassenerhalt kulminierte.
Tévez wechselte im Sommer zu ManU, für ihn kamen unter anderem Craig Bellamy von Liverpool und Freddie Ljungberg von Arsenal zum Boleyn Ground, der Heimstätte von West Ham.
Dort ertönt vor jedem Spiel die traditionelle Hymne “Bubbles” über die Lust am Produzieren von Seifenblasen und Träumen – auch wenn sie immer wieder zerplatzen. Wenn vor Spielbeginn die 35.000 im regelmäßig ausverkauften Stadion mitsingen, kriegt man wirklich die Gänsehaut. Sportliche Höhepunkte am Upton Park, wie das Stadion in der multikulturellen Green Street nach der nahen U-Bahn-Station auch genannt wird, waren in dieser Saison bislang Siege gegen Manchester United (2:1) und Liverpool (1:0).
Eine “solide Saison” hat sich Manager Alan Curbishley gewünscht. Ob es noch mehr wird, hängt nicht zuletzt davon ab, ob das Verletzungspech, das dem Klub heuer an den Fersen klebt, abgeschüttelt werden kann. Eine Riesenfreude für die “supporters” der “Hammers” wäre es aber auch, wenn man sich heuer als drittbester Premier League-Klub in London etablieren könnte. Die Chance ist da, denn Rivale Tottenham liegt nach einem schwachen Saisonbeginn hinter den “Hammers”.
Laut der Website West Ham-Stats fand das beschriebene Spiel am 29. März 1929 vor 20.000 Zuschauern am Upton Park statt und endete – wie im Aufsatz geschildert – 4:0 für die Hammers.
EXTRA TIME 
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