How Did PL Clubs Fare in Europe?
AC Milan v Newcastle 0-0
Man City v Red Star Belgrade 3-1
Bayern – Man Utd 4-3
Arsenal – PSV Eindhoven 4-0
West Ham v Backa Topola 1-3
Brighton v AEK Athens 2-3
LASK v Liverpool 1-3
Legia Warsaw v Aston Villa 3-2
European Football Is Back
Before Thursday’s start into West Ham’s third consecutive European campaign, manager David Moyes urged his side to create more “magical moments” to match those experienced over the last two seasons – and most prominently in the 2022-23 with that famous win in the Conference League final in Prague.
But this night under the lights at London Stadium in front of a 41,374 attendance will hardly by dubbed a magical one. West Ham made it difficult for themselves, gifting their Serbian opponents Backa Topola a 1-0 lead at half time, and it took the Hammers more than sixty minutes until the score was level.
West Ham boss David Moyes who made nine changes from his starting XI from the weekend, will be pleased with the way his team were able to wrestle back control of the game and take the points after first-half frustration and the wobble following Ogbonna’s error.
“They played really deep, we found it hard to break them down, they filled the box quite well,” Moyes told TNT Sports. “And when we did get chances it was kicked away or blocked.
“Truth is, we’ve been doing that to some teams recently so I’m quite glad the players got to see it from another side.”
Truth is the Hammers found it difficult to use their dominance and lacked what was required to open up an opponent prioritising a point and packing their own box to that end.
It was a deserved win in the end, said Moyes and added: “The big thing was we fought back, stuck at it, got the goals in the end and got a positive result.”
David Moyes especially hailed summer signing Mohammed Kudus (right) for inspiring West Ham to their comeback victory and sparing Angelo Ogbonna’s blushes.
Kudus, the Ghana winger signed from Ajax for £38 million, marked his first start by scoring the second goal four minutes after forcing the equaliser, Petar Stanic having capitalised on Ogbonna’s howler to give Serbian outfit TSC a shock lead.
Tomas Soucek headed in a late third to ensure West Ham got off to a winning start in Europa League Group A, having qualified as Europa Conference League winners.
Ghana winger Kudus will claim the headlines, but Ward-Prowse was the architect of the Hammers comeback. His two deadly, whipped corners quietly and efficiently taking him to five assists in just five games since joining the club from Southampton in the summer.
West Ham’s success in Europe last season came with a perfect home record – seven wins out of seven.
It wasn’t easy, but they’ve continued that form and will go to Freiburg for their second game on October 5 as Group A leaders, with the German side second after winning 3-2 at Olympiakos.
Europa League Group A
Unfortunately the Hammers haven’t been drawn into a group with an Austrian team, but LASK’s group with Liverpool would not have been possible. And the group with Sturm Graz to me seems less attractive than Group A.
West Ham will have to play one game without away fans present.
Crazy Day Ahead
West Ham’s fans have three things to look forward today:
It’s not only the group stage draw of the Europa League at noon and the transfer window which is going to shut tonight – not before West Ham will have signed one or two more players on transfer deadline day hopefully.
It’s also a short trip from east London up to Luton where WHU have to play newly promoted Luton Town. We know all too good that a trip to a newly promoted team playing their first home game isn’t an eay task. Just remember Nottingham Forest last season when Declan Rice tried to fill Mark Noble’s boots as penalty taker and failed resulting in West Ham losing 0-1.
But this time the Hammers have started much better into the new season and even could regain the number one position in the Premier League table for one day at least. After having had their first home game of the season postponed because the refurbishment of their ground wasn’t ready it remains to be seen how Luton’s ground has now been developed to meet the requirements of the Premier League.
RapidHammer has already blogged about Luton and hopes that there will be no reason for an „Irrational Hatred of Luton“ tonight:
➡️ https://rapidhammer.com/2023/05/28/an-irrational-comeback-of-luton/
➡️ https://start.sportdigital.de/mediathek/26111 via @sportdigital
Supporters will file into one side of the Oak Road Stand through what must be the most unconventional entrance in the land, with these turnstiles of “Kenilworth Road“ sandwiched between a long row of terraced housing.
Rapid gescheitert
Nach der magischen Europacup-Nacht vor einer Woche (1:0 gegen die Fiorentina) startete Rapid gut in das Playoff-Rückspiel in Florenz. Mayulu traf die Latte und eine beherzt spielende Rapid hatte noch einige gute Chancen. Nach dem 0:0 zur Pause wären die Grün-Weißen weiter gewesen, aber dann vergaben Mayulu und Oswald eine große Konterchance, und im Gegenzug scorte González für Florenz.
Und als man schon mit einer Verlängerung rechnete, traf eine Flanke im Strafraum den jungen Sattlberger am Oberarm (oder doch nur an der Schulter?) und es gab in der 89. Minute Elfmeter für den AC Florenz. Es war wieder González, der für die Italiener traf (90.) und Rapid ist auch heuer zum zweiten Mal hintereinander nicht in einer Europacup-Gruppenphase vertreten. 😦
Schade. Anders als im Juni gegen West Ham traf diesmal Florenz in der letzten Spielminute und qualifizierte sich mit einem Geamtscore von 2:1 für die Conference League-Gruppenphase. Und es half leider nichts, dass ich mir das Match in dem Shirt anschaute, in dem West Ham bei seinem Finalsieg über Fiorentina gespielt hatte.
Die morgige Auslosung geht ohne Rapid über die Bühne.
Kudus Signing Announced
On Sunday West Ham announced the signing of Ghana international Mohammed Kudus from Ajax.
Kudus started his professional career at Danish side Nordsjaelland in 2018, before joining Ajax in 2020 where he has scored 27 goals in 87 appearances, helping his side to two Dutch league titles. He scored 11 goals in 30 Eredivisie appearances last season as Ajax finished third.
For Ghana, Kudus (below) has scored seven goals in 24 games since making his debut in 2019 and started all three matches for his side at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, scoring twice in a 3-2 win over South Korea.
“I’m so happy to be here,” Kudus said after having put pen to paper. “But it doesn’t stop here, I want to keep going. I can’t wait to get started.”
“I try my best to entertain the fans as I think that’s what football is all about,” Kudus added.
Manager David Moyes voiced his delight on WHU‘s website:
“He’s a terrific young talent, who has already shone at the very highest level for Ajax in the Champions League and made well over 150 senior appearances at the age of 23 – so it was no surprise to see so many top clubs chasing his signature this summer,” said the West Ham manager.
“The fact we’ve been able to attract a player of his undoubted quality to London Stadium shows the pull West Ham have now – the Board and Tim Steidten deserve huge credit for getting this one over the line.”
Well done, Tim Steidten: this transfer window is looking better and better and finally has already made up for a lot of the frustration over the summer. However, a new striker before the deadline is crucial to constitute a really successful summer overall, especially if a new left-back addition is found as well.
Brighton & Salzburg Festival
All the annoying negativity – despite just having won the first major trophy for decades – which had spread on social media after a frustratingly slow start to the transfer window during pre-season seems to have gone! West Ham are unbeaten with three games into the new season and have broken the Brighton curse on Saturday: a “clinical Hammers team” recorded their first win against the Seagulls in thirteen Premier League matches, beating them 3-1 away despite enjoying only 19% possession during this game.
When asked about the stats of Saturday’s game with 81% possession in favour of Brighton, West Ham manager David Moyes said:
“They can take the ball home with them if they like, I’ll take the three points.”
West Ham have already made two excellent summer signings, Edson Alvarez and James Ward-Prowse who were both instrumental in the Brighton victory. This game showed again how the tandem can fill the gap left by Declan Rice.
But wait until the window shuts on Friday, I’m sure there will be some fans who will voice their discontent with Moyes’s and Steidten’s business.
Anyway, for now let’s celebrate the unbeaten start and West Ham topping the PL table for 24 hours, and let’s look forward to the unveiling of the imminent signing of versatile midfielder Mohammed Kudus from Ajax.
Come on you Irons!
WHU v CFC 3-1, now Brighton away
Last weekend West Ham defeated big spending Chelsea 3-1 at London Stadium courtesy to goals from Aguerd, Antonio and Paquetá (penalty). The first two of these goals were assisted by a man who is dubbed one of the “signings of the summer” by former Aston Villa pundit Gabby Agbonlahor (below).
James Ward-Prowse who was signed from relegated Southampton is well known for his deliverance from corners and free-kicks and in JWP’s very first game West Ham’s second corner found its way exactly on to the head of Nayev Aguerd and into the back of the net. Michail Antonio’s second half goal which restored the Hammers’ lead was also assisted with a fine pass from the middle of the pitch delivered by West Ham’s new midfielder.
Therefore it’s no surprise that talkSport pundit Agbonlahor’s verdict called the former Saints man “one of the signings of the summer”:
Going value for money, “I think he will be one of the signings of the summer,” Agbonlahor said.
“(At) £30/35m it’s a third of what Declan Rice cost Arsenal. Two assists in his first game against Chelsea, ran the midfield and West Ham have got a big side you know, players that can really score goals (from set pieces). Ward-Prowse is going to be great for them with his set pieces and he ran that midfield against £100m Enzo Fernandez.”
Not only JWP had an impressive debut against Chelsea, also Mexican Edson Álvarez, who was signed from Ajax, looks a very good signing, but West Ham manager David Moyes is looking to add more quality before the transfer window closes.
After the arrival of Greek defender Konstantinos Mavropanos last week West Ham now is said to be closing in on another Ajax player, exciting Ghana attacking midfielder Mohammed Kudus, and the Hammers are hoping to sign some more players until the window closes on Friday night.
But before that, this weekend West Ham have to play a team that has been a bit of a bugbear since their promotion to the Premier League in 2017: in twelve matches West Ham have been unable to beat Brighton & Hove Albion which the Hammers have to play in an away game on Saturday evening.
Having lost to them 0-4 back in April, David Moyes said that this time “we go there in good spirits”, albeit admitting that the Seagulls “have won their first two matches by three goals or four goals in each game” and are in really good shape under their Italian manager Roberto de Zerbi.
I won’t be able to watch the game on TV as we are attending a performance at the Salzburg Festival, “Les Troyens” by Hector Berlioz, at the same time, but here’s hoping that looking on my iPhone during a break of the performance will show a good result for the Hammers.
Come on you Irons!
Was West Ham kann …
… kann auch der SK Rapid: 1:0 Sieg gegen Fiorentina in der Conference League!
Mit einer sehenswerten Leistung vor 23.000 euphorischen Fans bezwangen die Grün-Weißen im Hinspiel des Conference Leage-Playoffs den Finalisten der Vorsaison, den AC Florenz, der im Prag von West Ham 2:1 besiegt worden war.
„Das war ein einmaliges Erlebnis“, jubelten sogar altgediente Rapid-Fans! Über eine magische Europacup-Nacht berichteten die Medien nach dem Sieg durch ein Tor von Grüll.
„Ich habe in diesem Stadion noch nie so eine Stimmung erlebt”, schwärmte Trainer Zoran Barisic nach dem Match auf der Pressekonferenz. „Die Mannschaft hat es geschafft, unsere Fans glücklich zu machen. Das ist das Allerwichtigste.”
Noch Minuten nach dem Schlusspfiff wurden die Spieler von den eigenen Fans gefeiert. Ein Umstand, der auch beim erst 19-jährigen Leopold Querfeld für Gänsehaut sorgte: “Das zeichnet diesen Klub extrem aus – diese Fans, diese Stimmung, die uns dann natürlich auch die letzten Prozente geben, die heute sicher notwendig waren, um einen Serie-A-Topklub zu besiegen.”
„Herz, Gefühl, Leidenschaft. Diese Begriffe sind unzertrennlich mit Rapid verbunden“, schrieb der deutsche „Kicker“, und wohl niemand wisse das besser als die Spieler aus der eigenen Akademie, von denen gleich fünf Spieler in der siegreichen Europacup-Startelf standen (der schon erwähnte Leo Querfeld, Niklas Hedl, Maximilian Hofmann, Nikolas Sattlberger und Moritz Oswald).
Es wäre eine Sensation, wenn Rapid die Qualifikation für sich entscheidet, aber auch gegen einen englischen Topklub wie Aston Villa ist das bekanntlich zweimal gelungen! Und Trainer Barisic konnte Florenz als Spieler mit dem FC Tirol auch schon einmal bezwingen.
Come on, you boys in green!
EXTRA TIME 
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