First win for Graham Potter
Despite having had to name a depleted squad without Antonio, Bowen, Summerville, Todibo and Füllkrug who are all out injured, West Ham‘s new manager could celebrate his first win with the Hammers
Lucas Paquetá scored West Ham‘s third goal
Tomas Soucek who captained West Ham in Jarrod Bowen’s absence scored the Hammers‘ second goal after Carlos Soler had put West Ham ahead.
New managers here & there
Graham Potter and…
David Moyes…
have been appointed as new managers at West Ham United and Everton respectively this week.
Graham Potter was announced as the Hammers’ new gaffer on Thursday. He said that he was very excited and very proud to be appointed as new manager of West Ham and compared the day to being like “Christmas for adults”.
Potter started into his new job with an FA Cup tie at Aston Villa on Friday after a 20-months-absence from football following his sacking by Chelsea in April 2023.
The 49 years old Englishman very successfully managed Brighton from 2019 – 2022. The “Seagulls” were fourth when Potter left for Chelsea, but he couldn’t succeed there as Thomas Tuchel’s successor and his tenure with the Blues ended after just seven months, when Potter was released from his duties following a 0-2 defeat by Aston Villa.
This time another loss to Villa, albeit in the FA Cup, did not provoke any danger for the manager’s job. Graham Potter said after the 1-2 at Villa Park that “our performance gave me a lot of encouragement, the way the players tried to do what we asked them to do. We’re just disappointed now because we’re out and wanted to go through.
“We just try to get the team into a good shape. The talent is there but it’s just about trying to get the team together as a collective. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
“Friday night, Villa Park, full house, 6,500 West Ham fans who were amazing,” the new manager said in his post-match news conference. After the final whistle, he walked over to salute the travelling fans who will be hoping Potter will deliver the style and substance they are demanding.
Something that Julen Lopetegui was unable to do in his six months in charge, and following the Spaniard’s sacking after only six wins in twenty league games, Potter becomes the club’s fifth manager in nine and a half years, counting David Moyes’ two spells.
The latter though is also back into managing, as Everton confirmed on Saturday that David Moyes (61) had been appointed as Sean Dyche’s successor. Moyes managed Everton from 2002 to 2013 and led Everton to the Champions League qualifiers in 2005 and the FA Cup final in 2009. His first silverware though the Scot won with West Ham when the Hammers beat Fiorentina 2-1 in the Conference League final in the Fortuna Arena in Prague in 2023.
Graham Potter will be joined at West Ham by former Brighton captain Bruno Saltor – who coached alongside him at both the Seagulls and then Chelsea – as his assistant and Billy Reid and Narcis Pelach as first team coaches.
West Ham’s supporters feel that the new manager has the knowledge to stabilise the squad and bring back the team spirit that’s been missing for a while, but they also know that they need to be patient and give Graham time. Let’s see how he gets on at the end of the season.
Come on you Irons!
Come alive in ‘25
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8
Bowen fractured his foot
The Guardian and other newspapers reported on New Year’s Eve that Jarrod Bowen faces a potentially lengthy spell out of action after suffering a fractured foot during West Ham’s 5-0 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday. The forward suffered the injury in the first half of the thrashing at the London Stadium and was substituted during the second half. He is expected to be out for a minimum of two months.
“West Ham United can confirm Jarrod Bowen sustained a fractured foot injury in Sunday’s Premier League fixture against Liverpool,” a club statement read. “The injury to his left foot, picked up in the first half at London Stadium, will sideline the Hammers captain heading into the New Year.”
Forward Michail Antonio, meanwhile, was discharged from hospital just after Christmas as he continues his recovery following a car crash earlier in December.
David Moyes OBE
Former West Ham United, Manchester United and Everton manager David Moyes says being awarded an OBE in the King’s New Year Honours list is an “incredible honour”
👉🏻 Video (BBC)
Boxing Day Boost for WHU
Three years ago the Hammers fell to a 2-3 home defeat to Southampton at the rare occasion of a Boxing Day home game at the London Stadium. Since West Ham’s move to the former Olympic Stadium in 2016 the Hammers have only played twice at their home ground immediately after Christmas: in 2020 they drew 2-2 with Brighton on 27 December (goals: Tomas Soucek, Ben Johnson), and in 2021 they lost to the Saints in the above mentioned Boxing Day game.
In 2018 West Ham also played the Saints after Christmas on 27 December and won 2-1, however in an away match, thanks to two goals from Felipe Anderson. And this year it was again a game against the newly promoted Saints, this time on Boxing Day itself together with seven other games played on this day full of English football tradition.
Julen Lopetegui’s team had to dig deep after more injuries as they lost defender Max Kilman and goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski to injury in the first half, and also had to replace Carlos Soler at the interval. In the 59th minute Niclas Füllkrug, who played only his fourth match since the end of August, making just his second Premier League start of the season, flicked on a cross from Tomas Soucek for Jarrod Bowen and West Ham’s skipper grabbed the game’s only goal. Though it was Bowen’s 100th league goal, the German celebrated so much that it seemed he had scored it himself!
West Ham held on to their lead as Southampton’s early intensity dropped and their new manager Ivan Juric could not inspire the Saints to a comeback in his first game in charge. His team remains rooted to the bottom of the table while West Ham now are thirteenth with eight points between them and the relegation zone and one point in front of Manchester Utd that lost 0-2 to Wolves. This was the Red Devils fourth defeat in seven league games under their new manager Ruben Amorim.
Just a few weeks ago, Lopetegui’s position was in doubt, but for the first time this season, his side has gone four games unbeaten in the Premier League.
West Ham will play leaders Liverpool and then struggling champions Manchester City in their next two games. “If Fullkrug can stay fit – and the Hammers‘ latest injuries are not long-term – perhaps Lopetegui does have a future with the Hammers after all,” BBC’s Ben Collins wrote in his article on this Boxing Day win.
Well, with these results it really becomes more likely that the Spaniard will still be at the helm when the Austrian supporters club “Austrian Irons” will make their first joint trip to a West Ham game in 2025 on May 3rd when the Hammers will play Tottenham at the London Stadium.
But for now the “twelve days of Christmas football” continue. As former Austrian player Johnny Ertl who played Form Crystal Palace, Sheffield Utd and Portsmouth put it in an article at Kicker:
“You’re completely clocked in. Three rounds in a week – and then a few days later it’s on to the next FA Cup round. I can remember games where there was only one day of recovery time in between.”
“There is a very special atmosphere in the stadiums, simply a holiday mood. Added to this is the even more extensive coverage on television, radio and in all the newspapers these days. Soccer is an integral part of public life.”
West Ham’s games:
26/12 Southampton, 29/12 Liverpool, 4/1 Manchester City, 10/1 Aston Villa (FA Cup)
Dreaming of a European run
How will Rapid fare in the Conference League knock-out phase? “Now we want to win this one”, youngster Nikolaus Wurmbrand said audaciously after scoring a brace against FC Copenhagen on Thursday.
The top eight teams from the league phase (with Rapid ranking fourth after their 3-0 win over FC Copenhagen on Thursday) have received a bye to the round of 16, while the teams ranked 9th to 24th contest knockout play-offs in February to reach the next round.
Rapid have reached a European round of 16 for the first time since 1997/98. Rapid have twice played in the final of the European Cup Winners’ Cup. In 1985 they played Everton FC in Rotterdam and lost 1-3; in 1996 Rapid’s opponent in the final in Brussels was PSG (0-1).
Rapid’s possible opponents in the round of 16 to be played on the 6th and 13th of March 2025 are the winner of Vikingur Reykjavik (ISL) vs Panathinaikos (GRE) or Borac Banja Luka (BIH) vs Olimpija Ljubljana (SVN). The other winner from these pairings will face Fiorentina, who form a draw pair with Rapid.
Who Rapid will face for definite will not be known until Friday, February 21, when the draw for the round of 16 takes place.
Assuming Rapid then reach the quarter-finals, Djurgarden and Lugano would be the nominally strongest opponents. A clash with Chelsea could take place in the semi-finals. Even in the event of an exit in the round of 16, the Viennese club can expect to earn over ten million euros from UEFA bonuses.
These are the dates for the knock-out phase on the way to the final which will be played in Wroclaw, Poland (in a stadium with a capacity of 42,771):
Siegen für Guido & Antonio
Wieder einmal gab es eine der von mir schon öfters erblickten „Parallelaktionen“ West Ham – Rapid: Unglücksfälle mussten in diesem Dezember von beiden Klubs im Abstand von nur etwas mehr als einer Woche zuerst geschockt zur Kenntnis genommen werden, wurden aber dann von der Mannschaft mit Siegen, die dem jeweils schwer Verletzten gewidmet wurden, beantwortet.
Am Samstag vor dem wichtigen Spiel gegen Wolverhampton Wanderers am folgenden Montag krachte West Ham’s Nummer 9, Michail Antonio, mit seinem Ferrari auf einer Landstraße in einem Waldstück in der englischen Grafschaft Essex in einen Baum. Ein Mann, der in der Gegend mit seinem Hund spazieren war, entdeckte den Wagen und fand den verletzten 34-jährigen Premier-League-Spieler in dem Wrack. Dass Antonio an diesem 7. Dezember mit einem doppelten Unterschenkelbruch davonkam, grenzt angesichts der schrecklichen Bilder vom Wrack seines Autos an ein Wunder!
Und am folgenden Wochenende – wenige Tage vor dem entscheidenden Conference League Match gegen den FC Kopenhagen – erlitt Rapids Nummer 9, Guido Burgstaller, durch die Attacke eines jungen Mannes und einen anschließenden unglücklichen Sturz auf den Hinterkopf einen Schädelbasisbruch.
Beiden Spielern geht es glücklicherweise schon besser.
Und bei beiden Spielern antwortete die Mannschaft nach dem Ausfall ihrer gefährlichsten Angreifer mit einem Sieg:
Die Hammers bezwangen in einem Match zweier Klubs in der unteren Tabellenhälfte die Wolves im London Stadium mit 2:1, wobei Tomas Soucek seinen Führungstreffer dem verletzten Teamkollegen widmete und die Zahl „9“ in die Kamera zeigte:
Bei Rapid musste am Donnerstag nach der Burgstaller-Verletzung ein Sieg im letzten Match des Jahres her, damit die Grün-Weißen auf einem Platz unter den ersten Acht der Conference League Tabelle überwintern und im Frühjahr ohne Umweg über das Play-off gleich im Achtelfinale des Bewerbs, den West Ham vor zwei Jahren gewonnen hat, weiterspielen können.
Rapids Stürmer Dion Beljo und „Burgis“ Ersatzmann Niki Wurmbrand mit zwei Treffern halfen mit ihren wunderschönen Toren mit, dass dieses Ziel erreicht wurde und auch in Hütteldorf Freude auf ein Unglück folgte! Das erste Tor von Beljo in der 47. Minute der ersten Halbzeit war ein herrlicher Schuss aus der Drehung genau ins Kreuzeck und der Kroate schnappte sich anschließend für seinen Torjubel ein Burgstaller-Trikot von der Trainerbank:
Rapid-Trainer Robert Klauß: „Wir haben auch vom Momentum (des 1:0 kurz vor der Pause) gelebt. Dieses Tor und das frühe Tor in der zweiten Hälfte haben uns extrem in die Karten gespielt“. Zudem habe man „richtig gut“ verteidigt.
Die zwei Tore des 18-jährigen Burgstaller-Ersatzmanns Niki Wurmbrand waren in der zweiten Hälfte ein fast schon zu kitschiger Plot für dieses Rapid-Fest vor 24.465 Fans in Hütteldorf: Wurmbrand, der nur etwas mehr als halb so alt ist wie „Burgi“, ist mit seinen beiden Toren der jüngste Rapid-Doppelpack-Torschütze in einem Europacup-Spiel seit Roman Wallner (damals 19) und Rapid steht das erste Mal seit 1997 in einem Europacup-Achtelfinale!
Zum Abschluss des 125. Jahres des Bestehens des „Sportclub Rapid“ feierten die Fans mit Pyrotechnik und die Mannschaft beschenkte sie mit Platz 4 in der Europacup Tabelle!
Das sind die ersten Acht der erfreulichen Conference League – Abschlusstabelle, am 6. und 13. März 2025 geht es mit dem Achtelfinale für Rapid weiter:
Im Play-off am 13. und 20. Februar 2025 entscheidet sich in den Begegnungen zwischen Panathinaikos und Vikingur Reykjavík sowie Olimpija Laibach und Borac Banja Luka, welche dieser vier Mannschaften gegen Rapid ausgelost werden können. Dank des Sieges erspart man sich bei Rapid das Play-off und landete auf einem Ast, der zum Träumen verleitet. „Jetzt wollen wir das Ding gewinnen“, meinte Rapid-Torschütze Nik Wurmbrand frech.
Sky berichtet über den weiteren möglichen Verlauf der Conference League – vorausgesetzt, Rapid kommt ins Viertelfinale – Folgendes: Im Falle eines Aufstiegs wären Djurgarden und Lugano die nominell stärksten Gegner. Im Semifinale könnte es zu einem Duell mit Chelsea kommen. Selbst bei einem Achtelfinal-Out dürfen die Wiener allein aus UEFA-Prämien mit Einnahmen von über zehn Millionen Euro kalkulieren.
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