Hammers Player Awards ‘22
Live blog from Grosvenor House Hotel, London, Monday 9 May
▶️ www.whufc.com/news/live-blog-202122-player-awards-brought-you-betway-aid-academy
The “Players Project Award” goes to a person who has gone above and beyond to create life-changing opportunities for the people and communities of east London. It is going to Mark Noble. The Club captain has been involved in a vast number of Players’ Project activities and has embraced his role, not only as an inspiration to countless individuals and groups across our community and beyond but as someone who the rest of the squad and community often look to, to follow his example.
And who is going to follow TOMAS SOUČEK and will become Hammer of the Year 2022?
DECLAN RICE !!!
Rice, who is Hammer of the Year for the second time after winning the supporters’ vote in 2020, edged Jarrod Bowen and Craig Dawson into second and third-place respectively.
West Ham United’s outstanding midfielder has led by example again this season, making 48 appearances, scoring five goals and captaining the team on over 40 occasions.
The England international has played more minutes and made more tackles, interceptions and passes than any other Hammer, illustrating his consistency and commitment to the Claret and Blue cause.
Still just 23, the Academy of Football graduate has been available for all but two of West Ham’s 54 matches in all competitions and starred in the Irons’ unforgettable run to the UEFA Europa League semi-finals, scoring in the Group H wins over Dinamo Zagreb and Rapid Vienna and quarter-final second leg victory at Olympique Lyonnais.
Wiener Derby 4 x 1:1
Zum ersten Mal seit Einführung des neuen Meisterschaftsmodus der Österreichischen Bundesliga haben sich sowohl der SK Rapid als auch die Wiener Austria für die Meistergruppe – also für die besten Sechs – qualifiziert. Daher gab es das erste Mal seit 2018/19 wieder vier Wiener Derbys, jedoch in keinem von diesen einen Sieger! Am nächsten Wochenende muss Rapid, ebenso wie West Ham, Punkte gegen den Tabellenführer machen.
Das letzte dieser Derbys – immerhin schon das 336. in der Geschichte der beiden Wiener Klubs – wurde am Sonntag gespielt und zum Ergebnis kann man nur sagen: “more of the same”. Wie die letzten fünf Spiele zwischen SCR und FK Austria endete auch dieses Match unentschieden, und dies sogar mit exakt dem selben Score von 1:1 wie die drei vorangegangen Derbys der laufenden Saison!
Der letzte volle Erfolg gelang dem SK Rapid im Dezember 2019: 3:1 gewannen die Grün-Weißen damals, im September 2019 im Horr-Stadion. Torschützen: Murg, Monschein (Austria), Fountas und Badji. Das nächste Derby in dieser Saison endete in Rapids Allianz Stadion 2:2, womit Rapid im neuen Zuhause weiterhin nicht gewinnen konnte – eine Negativserie, die bis heute anhält!
Und eine weitere Serie begann mit diesem Spiel am 8. Dezember 2019: mit dem heutigen 1:1 endeten sechs Spiele en suite mit einem Remis, die letzten vier sogar mit exakt dem selben Resultat: 4 x 1:1. Torschütze für Rapid diesmal der junge Zimmermann mit der Rückennummer 41 in der 37. Minute. Neun Minuten vor Schluss konnten die „Veilchen“ aber in Überzahl (Rapids Torschütze Zimmermann hatte Gelb-Rot gesehen) durch Ohio ausgleichen.
Damit bleibt Rapid zwei Punkte vor der Austria auf Platz 3, der einen Startplatz im Play-Off der Europa League bringen würde. Der Vierte müsste zunächst noch in einem inner-österreichischen Europacup-Playoff antreten, bevor man in der Conference League-Quali starten dürfte. Für Rapid wäre es also immens wichtig, den dritten Platz zu halten!
Wie in England sind auch in Österreich noch zwei Runden zu spielen: Rapid trifft auf Meister und Cupsieger Salzburg (H) und auf den WAC (A). Die Austria tritt noch gegen Klagenfurt (A) und Vizemeister Sturm Graz (H) an.
West Ham auf Platz 7 der Premier League muss noch einen Platz vorrücken, um wieder in die Europa League zu kommen, Rapid muss nur seinen Rang halten. Das bedeutet für die Grün-Weißen, dass sie gegen Meister RB Salzburg punkten und gegen WAC auswärts gewinnen müssen, falls Austria zweimal gewinnt. West Ham müsste dagegen gegen den Fast-Meister Manchester City und gegen Brighton gewinnen, damit der 6. Platz aus eigener Kraft erreicht werden kann!
Bevor West Ham sein vorletztes Spiel in dieser Saison bestreitet, zu dem Manchester City ins London Stadium kommt, tritt der Gegner der Hammers (am Sonntag 5:0-Sieger gegen Newcastle) am Mittwoch auswärts gegen die Wolves an. Einen Tag vorher spielt Verfolger Liverpool, ebenfalls auswärts, gegen Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa. Aktuell liegen die „Reds“, die zu Hause mit dem 1:1 gegen Tottenham Punkte Abgaben, drei Punkte zurück und haben eine schlechtere Tordifferenz als die „Citizens“.
Mir wäre es recht, wenn Liverpool im Match gegen seinen Ex-Kapitän, der nun Aston Villa trainiert, nochmals Punkte abgibt, denn dann würde Manchester City das Match gegen West Ham, bei dem wir live im Stadion dabei sein werden, vielleicht entspannter angehen und müsste nicht unbedingt gewinnen, um den Meistertitel zu fixieren. West Ham braucht aus den beiden ausstehenden Spielen die vollen Punkte, um Manchester United aus eigener Kraft vom sechsten Platz verdrängen zu können. Die derzeit wenig furchteinflößenden „Red Devils“, die an diesem Wochenende mit 0:4 in Brighton untergegangen sind, sind nächstes Wochenende spielfrei und treffen dann in der ultimativen Premier League-Runde am 22. Mai auf Crystal Palace (auswärts). Das wird ein spannender Sonntag!
Wobei wir an diesem Sonntag den letzten Spieltag der österreichischen Bundesliga schon hinter uns haben werden: die letzten Meisterschaftssspiele hierzulande steigen am Samstag, dem 21. Mai, an dem um 17 Uhr zeitgleich alle drei Spiele der Meistergruppe ausgetragen werden. Die Absteigergruppe bestreitet ihre letzte Runde schon am Freitag Abend.
In zwei Wochen werden wir also wissen, wie all die spannenden Kämpfe um Meistertitel, Europacup-Plätze und Abstieg ausgegangen sind.
Norwich 0 WHU 4
Perfect response after Thursday’s defeat and a perfect way to celebrate Nobes‘ birthday!
Goals ▶️ https://www.whufc.com/news/goals-norwich-0-4-west-ham
Happy Birthday, Mark Noble!
*8 May 1987
West Ham 2 Sevilla FC 0 a.e.t. (115′ Manuel Lanzini 🔁 Mark Noble)
What a hit from the skipper (2016) ▶️ https://www.instagram.com/p/CdSzXskIlz5/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
West Ham Till I Die
“We’re not the biggest of squads, to keep playing week in week out… over 50 games a season.” (Declan Rice)
“So, in the end we might say that the semi-final was lost in the January transfer window when the Club failed to make a single signing and to bring in much needed cover for our star players.”(RapidHammer)
“Maybe it was not only the frustration that some decisions had went against West Ham last night, but also the anger about this failure that resulted in David Moyes’s outburst when he kicked the ball into a ball kid‘s direction.” (RapidHammer)
Declan Rice Statement
We are West Ham
In the Europa League semi-final everything went against West Ham from the beginning when they conceded a goal in the very first minut of the first leg in London. This bad start was somehow repeated in the second leg when the Hammers were down to ten men early as Cresswell was red-carded in the 19th minute of the game in Frankfurt. And being West Ham and not Real Madrid, the Hammers couldn’t stage a famous comeback and suffered a narrow defeat last night, with Frankfurt deservedly reaching the Europa League final instead of our boys.
Hitting the woodwork three times in the first leg did not help, and getting Cresswell sent off early on after what had been a promising opening into the second leg in the 19th minute, that all was a sign that Frankfurt and not Seville was going to be the end of a long European journey.
West Ham had not only run out of luck: if Jarrod Bowen‘s spectacular scissor kick in the 91st minute of the first leg would have been a goal instead of rattling the crossbar it could have been a very different story! They also had run out of steam. It was not because of a lack of trying, even with two goals down on aggregate and only ten men on the pitch West Ham never gave up in Frankfurt’s Waldstadion. But you could feel that the Hammers‘ thin squad was exhausted at the end of a long season, there were defensive errors in both games that led to goals and last night the attack was lacking the urgency and guile that would have been needed to defeat a very well drilled and quick Frankfurt side.
So, in the end we might say that the semifinal was lost in the January transfer window when David Moyes failed to make a single signing and to bring in much needed cover for his star players. The fatigue of one of the oldest squads in the Premier League was evident, and West Ham‘s frustrating evening got even worse when David Moyes for once lost his temper in the coaching zone and was red carded in the final quarter of the game.
Cresswell‘s dismissal was a bad start into this evening and a deja-vu too, as we had already seen him being sent off in the game against Olympique Lyon. But David Moyes‘s action of kicking a ball in the direction of a ball kid was an unexpected outburst of anger of a usually very well tempered manager. It showed the frustration that everybody at West Ham felt in Frankfurt. However, on the pitch West Ham never gave up and tried until the final whistle.
And now, having slept over it, the emotion of “feeling gutted” does more and more disappear and make way for being so proud of the unexpected achievements of this team that really has done incredibly well against the odds and have got close to their first European final since 1976.
Next time we’ll try again. We’re always blowing bubbles, they fly so high, nearly reached the sky…
We are West Ham. Come on you Irons!
PS: It doesn’t make a bitter pill taste sweet, but as a football fan based in Austria, I can take some comfort from acknowledging that in each of the three European finals of this season an Austrian player and in one of them also an Austrian manager will take part: David Alaba (Real Madrid), Martin Hinteregger (if he gets fit in time after yesterday’s injury) and Oliver Glasner (Eintracht Frankfurt) as well as Gernot Trauner (Feyenoord Rotterdam). 🇦🇹 Though I wouldn’t have minded at all, if only two Austrian players would have made a European final!
The End of a Long Journey
West Ham’s European dream is over as they were beaten by Eintracht Frankfurt in their Europa League semi-final.
Defender Aaron Cresswell and boss David Moyes were both sent off on a heated night in Germany.
Moyes’ side lost their home leg 2-1 but started brightly until Cresswell pulled down Jens Petter Hauge, who would have been through on goal. He was initially shown a yellow card but it was upgraded to a red after a video assistant referee review.
Things went even worse when just seven minutes after the red card for Cresswell, the German side – who enjoyed a marvellously colourful partisan home support – went ahead. The unmarked Rafael Borre hammered home from Ansgar Knauff’s low ball. Defensive errors have again cost West Ham dearly.
In the second half a frustrated Moyes booted the ball at a ball girl and was shown a straight red card.
West Ham had a few chances in the closing stages with Michail Antonio forcing a save from Kevin Trapp and Tomas Soucek heading wide.
Now Eintracht Frankfurt meet Glasgow Rangers (3-1 winners against RB Leipzig) in the Europa League final in Seville.
The Hammers’ wait for a major trophy will tick over into a 43rd year. It also means no place in next season’s Champions Leagu, but West Ham can still qualify for the Europa League or Conference League though.
The 2022 Conference League final will be played by AS Roma vs. Feyenoord Rotterdam. Ex-Hammer Dimitri Payet has not reached the final with Marseille either. His team that was eliminated by Feyenoord. Leicester lost to AS Roma. That means that 3 out of 4 English clubs have gone out in the semi-finals of European competition.
It has been a long beautiful journey. Now it’s come to an end.
The Day Is Here
Europa League semi-final, second leg: Eintracht Frankfurt vs. West Ham United, 21:00 (CEST)
EXTRA TIME 
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