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)
Stop trying, start training
Craig Groeschel, founder of Life.Church: “Training is to do what I can do today to enable me to do even more tomorrow. That’s training. I’m not trying. I’m in training.”
▶️ Instagram
Schafft es WHU wieder nach Europa?
Die Antwort lautet: Ja. Es wird entweder die Champions League – was einen Sieg gegen Eintracht Frankfurt am Donnerstag und dann den Finalsieg in der Europa League in Sevilla voraussetzen würde – oder West Ham kommt in die Conference League, für die man Platz 7 behalten muss.
Drei Runden – und einige Nachtragsspiele in “midweek“ – sind in der Premier League noch zu spielen. Wirklich spannend ist der Kampf um den Titel (Manchester City und Liverpool trennt nur ein Punkt) und um den vierten Champions League-Platz (Arsenal vs. Tottenham mit einem direkten Duell am 12. Mai). Und auch zwei von den drei Absteigern stehen noch nicht fest (wobei Watford wohl nur noch theoretische Chancen auf einen “great escape” hat und es zusätzlich einen aus dem Trio Everton, Leeds und Burnley erwischen wird).
Was „Europa“ betrifft, bringen Platz 5 und 6 einen Startplatz in der Europa League, der Siebente startet in der Conference League.
Der Sechste spielt also noch in der Europa League, und das wird wohl eher Manchester United bleiben. Die noch von dem in Österreich sensationeller Weise zum neuen Bundestrainer ernannten Ralf Rangnick – der auch als Teamchef sechs Tage im Monat weiterhin Man Utd-Berater bleiben wird – betreuten “red Devils” liegen aktuell drei Punkte vor den Hammers. Und die Gegner von Man Utd hören sich nicht so an, als könnte West Ham damit rechnen, dass man selbst mehr Punkte machen wird als Man Utd:
Brentford FC, Brighton & Hove Albion und Crystal Palace – alles Klubs, die nicht mehr absteigen können und sich auch nicht mehr für Europa qualifizieren können, sind es, gegen die Manchester United an den drei nächsten Wochenenden antritt. Und das ist West Ham’s Programm:
Chancen auf „Europa“ haben theoretisch auch noch die Wolves, die nach Verlustpunkten gleichauf mit den Hammers liegen, doch ist der Wolverhampton FC ziemlich außer Tritt geraten. Genauso wie West Ham hat man in der Premier League das letzte Mal am ersten April-Wochenende gewonnen, zuletzt setzte es für die Wolves drei Niederlagen hinter einander. Und man hat zwar noch ein Ligaspiel mehr auszutragen als die Irons, aber auch noch drei echte Kaliber im schweren Restprogramm: Chelsea, Manchester City, Norwich und Liverpool heißen die Gegner.
Ich bleibe dabei: West Ham schafft es wieder nach “Europa”. Come on you Irons!
Still, all is not lost
Still, all is not lost. Not by any measure. West Ham we’re stunned by a quick goal within the first minute of the game, but they can hurt Frankfurt, striking the woodwork three times in total, Bowen hit the post and late in the game the crossbar – it was a spectacular bicycle kick in added time (above) – and there was no sense of the Hammers being outclassed in this semi-final.
On the balance of play they could easily have claimed a draw, and perhaps even more, although there were also reasons to be wary in the second le.
Now, unfortunately, it could easily be an all German Europa League final in Seville instead of a British one: Rangers also lost 0-1 to RB Leipzig, though they now have a home game next. There’s still all to play for. Come on you Irons!
West Ham left needing famous fightback to keep final dream alive (The Telegraph): digitaleditions.telegraph.co.uk/data/956/reader/reader.html
West Ham down but not out after battling display (The Times): https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/f03600c0-c717-11ec-81c0-e8eabc9951c2?shareToken=c137b12fbffafec0718c2dfd16bf3ff3
West Ham United 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt: Hammers trail after first leg (BBC): https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/61249148
“Nothing has been decided or settled yet. Lest we forget, Eintracht Frankfurt have won once at home in four months in all competitions, a team who thrive at breaking games open but are often less adept at controlling them.” (The Guardian) https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2022/apr/28/michael-antonio-strives-in-vain-to-add-twist-of-the-unknown-for-west-ham
David Moyes on last night’s Europa League defeat:
“I’m disappointed but we move on and we focus on the next game. We’re getting ready for the Arsenal game right now.”
▶️ Jarrod Bowen 🚲 kick
EXTRA TIME 
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