London plunged into toughest tier
More than 11 million people will tonight be plunged into the harshest tier of Covid restrictions. From midnight, London and parts of Essex and Hertfordshire will enter Tier 3, meaning pubs, restaurants and theatres must close.
Theatres will have to close, just days after they reopened, and football fans expecting to go to Premier League matches in London will be turned away.
Christmas shoppers have been told to avoid going into London from lower tier areas and even those living there should “minimise travel unless it is necessary”.
Win at Leeds Brings West Ham Back to Fifth
“The Moyesiah is on the rise,” The Telegraph wrote after yet another Hammers win which lifted them up the table to fifth. Though David Moyes is unlikely to ever make the Fifa shortlist for the world’s best coach – as Leeds’ Marcelo Bielsa did on the day of this game – he really deserves praise for his team’s newfound steel, fulfilling a promise he gave when he came back to London one year ago to replace Pellegrini last December to save the Hammers from relegation for a second time:
The Scot said that he refused to consider surviving Premier League relegation a “success” and insisted that in the long term his ambitions sat far higher than that. The manager wanted a cultural reset – away from the view he had of West Ham when he was at Everton, namely of a “flaky, inconsistent” side.
That was a view, he said, that was reinforced by one of his earliest memories from the first time he was appointed manager in November 2017, when Watford were his first opponents. “My biggest memory from that night was Marko [Arnautovic] coming off with a sore finger,” said the Scot. “I thought ‘my goodness, what is this I have got here?’. It was my perception [that West Ham were soft] and a lot of managers would still see it that way. It is something we need to change. We have to alter that culture.”
After a summer transfer window which didn’t make the Hammers fans happy with attacking prospect Grady Diangana leaving and seemingly only full back Vladimir Coufal coming in, David Moyes was promised a tough season, but he has really done a very good job so far!
Moyes, at the final whistle at Leeds, was engulfed in a huddle with captain Declan Rice screaming: “Come on.” The Hammers’ points tally is all the more impressive given they have had a tough start to the campaign, and had felt some injustice. West Ham celebrated an impressive and hugely deserved victory over Leeds – overcoming yet another VAR controversy.
The match at Elland Road was an outstanding, thrilling, end-to-end match. West Ham was the better team and their win, coming from behind after having conceded from a controversial retaken penalty in the seventh minute of the game, was well deserved. Their goals came from set pieces: Tomáš Souček levelled with a towering header from a corner midway through the opening period, before the visitors turned the screw in the final quarter and were eventually rewarded with Angelo Ogbonna’s winner when the full back headed in a free kick from Cresswell ten minutes from the end.
Supporters will be back
West Ham‘s Saturday afternoon kick-off against Manchester United will mark the return of supporters to the London Stadium after a nine-month absence caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. And Arsenal will welcome back their fans for the first time since their game against West Ham in March in a Europa League tie vs. Rapid Vienna on Thursday.
The Hammers are looking forward to having the support of 2,000 fans inside London Stadium, where West Ham are going for a third straight home Premier League win over the Red Devils. The game presents the Hammers with a chance to close the gap on the leaders to a single point, after their move up to fifth with last Monday‘s win over Aston Villa.
Happy Saturday to expect for the Irons! Their goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski hailed the decision to let fans back into the Stadium:
“Hopefully the situation will keep improving and we will see more of them, so I’m very happy and our fans are very happy as well, so it should be a good afternoon when we’re going to play against a really good team, so that’s something special. Hopefully everything will go well.”
West Ham up to 5th
West Ham climbed up the Premier League table with a 2-1 win over Aston Villa courtesy to goals from Angelo Ogbonna and Jarrod Bowen.
Aston Villa had more opportunities throughout the game at the London Stadium, but missed a penalty and had a goal ruled out by VAR in injury time.
The Hammers scored early in every half, but it was Aston Villa that had much more possession and shots on goal.
Fortune smiled on the Hammers in this game, although credit must be given to manager David Moyes who made a half-time change that proved to be crucial as Said Benrahma set up Jarrod Bowen for what proved to be the winner that cancelled out Jack Grealish’s equaliser just 28 seconds after the restart.
Moyes did not care too much whether it was good luck or good judgment, as West Ham are now up to fifth place. “It was a really difficult game for us,” he said, “And thankfully, we got three points after the many different incidents.“
West Ham’s next game is against Manchester United on Saturday at home, Villa will play Wolves away. The Hammers have two more points than Villa, but with a game in hand.
“You’ll lose the lead over us before the turn of the year,” my friend Alfred who supports Villa said. I don’t think so, West Ham is on a fine run! Who of us is wrong will have to buy a beer when we meet again. Bet accepted!
Hero, villain, genius … Maradona dies aged 60
Diego Maradona, one of football’s greats, died of a heart attack on Wednesday, just four weeks after his 60th birthday.
He won the World Cup with Argentina in Mexico 1986, was worshipped in his homeland and in Southern Italy where he twice won the Italian championship with Napoli, but will always be remembered for his ‘hand of God’ handball and the following wonder goal in the same quarterfinal game against England. Argentina, coached by Carlos Bilardo and captained by Diego Maradona, won 2:1 (goals: Maradona 51., 55.; Lineker 81.) and marched on to win the World Cup by beating Belgium 2:0 in the semifinal and Franz Beckenbauer’s Germany 3:2 in the final.
West Ham win in crazy injury time!
Unbelievable drama in added time, as West Ham take the lead against Fulham through Tomas Soucek‘s first goal of the season (90+1), assisted by Said Benrahma from inside the box. But West Ham’s new boy from Brentford, less than four minutes later, concedes a penalty which is given after a long delay. Fulham’s Ademola Lookman steps up to take it and tries a “Panenka”, but his bizarre effort is saved by Lukasz Fabianski. And immediately afterwards “Bubbles” ring out of the speakers in London Stadium: the Hammers have won this London derby!
“Finishes like that are not good for a manager’s heart!” West Ham manager David Moyes said. “I hope we can keep winning like this: I’m seeing a resilient team now.”
With West Ham’s return to winning ways after two draws and the defeat to Liverpool, they are up to eleven points and eleventh place. After the international break West Ham travel to Sheffield United on Sunday, 22 November (14:00 GMT).
Well, and Southampton still is top of the league tonight with Liverpool, Leicester and Spurs yet to play in this round on the Sunday !
Biden wins presidency 😃
Joe Biden has won the presidency by clinching Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes, AP and CNN have just announced on Saturday afternoon (GMT).
With the majority of votes in the key state of Pennsylvania, victory in this state has put Joe Biden in the White House after four days of counting and made Kamela Harris the first female and black vice president of the United States. Four years of Trumpism should be over soon, but there will still be legal battles to be fought as Donald Trump also claimed victory soon after the voting had closed and will do all to challenge the results of the postal ballots.
That’s the president elect’s Statement after his victory was confirmed:
“I am honoured and humbled by the trust the American people have placed in me and in vice-president-elect Harris.
In the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of Americans voted.
Proving once again, that democracy beats deep in the heart of America.
With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation.
It’s time for America to unite. And to heal.
We are the United States of America. And there’s nothing we can’t do, if we do it together.”
Joe Biden also said: “Do not just keep the faith, spread it!”
For Kamela Harris and Joe Biden speech: Click the pic below!
Ralph reigns
Ralph Hasenhüttl is the first Austrian manager whose team has topped the English topflight. Last time West Ham have been in this place for a short time was in 2006. The Hammers are in action on Saturday against Scott Parker’s Fulham.
Southampton are top of the Premier League after beating Newcastle 2-0 on Friday night, and that is a status they have never before enjoyed. It may only last a few hours but to borrow a now infamous phrase from the American elections, the cry from their fans is also clear: “Stop the count.” In fact, it is the first time Southampton have been at the summit of the top flight since 1988 – when Joe Biden made his first attempt to be US president.
No one expects Southampton to stay there but, importantly, this was their first Friday night fixture since being humiliated 9-0 at home by Leicester City 13 months ago and it capped a stunning turnaround overseen by Ralph Hasenhuttl (53), who was delighted with the way his team achieved this victory without their top scorer Danny Ings.
“Our fans will love it and they’ll make a picture of the table,” Hasenhuttl who had tested positive for Corona in summer said. “For us, it’s nice but it shouldn’t kill the hunger for more. We should stay hungry and we should feel anything is possible with this team. It is a little scary what we are doing at the moment, to be honest, but not surprising when I see what we are working on. We made so many big steps forward.”
West Ham sits in 14th before more games of this round are being played on Saturday and Sunday, including Manchester City v Liverpool. Hammers manager David Moyes suggested that West Ham could well climb the league table in the coming weeks. On Saturday night they play a London derby against struggling Fulham, managed by former Hammer Scott Parker.
As far as I remember, the last time West Ham topped the table was on Tuesday, 22 August 2006. The Hammers had beaten Charlton 3-1 at Upton Park in the first game of the season (goals: Marlon Harewood 2; Carlton Cole). Their next game against Watford on the following Tuesday was the first match of the second round and the only one played on this day. Therefore a 1-1 draw at Vicarage Road (goal: Bobby Zamora) was enough to climb to the top of the table for 24 hours.
Some months before the Hammers had only been narrowly beaten on penalties by Liverpool in the famous FA Cup final 2006 and had had a very good first PL season 2005/06 after their promotion from the Championship. Now expectations were high for the next term and it was expected that Alan Pardew would lead the Irons to an even better following season, especially as West Ham had secured a shock transfer of Argentine stars Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez to east London.
But the shortlived lead in the second round was followed by a winless streak of ten more games, and West Ham dropped down to the relegation zone with Pardew unable to integrate the Argentines into the team. The Islandic owners who had bought West Ham at the beginning of this season replaced Pardew with Alan Curbishley before Christmas, but it took until the last game of the season against then champions Manchester United that West Ham, due to Tevez’s single goal of the match, was able to secure their “great escape” from relegation.
Carlos Tevez went to Manchester Utd afterwards to become part of a team that won its second of three consecutive Premier League titles the next season and West Ham finished tenth in the following 2007/08 season. Curbishley was replaced by Gianfranco Zola in autumn 2008 when Curbs resigned due to conflicts on transfer issues with the owners of the Club.
Scott Parker’s revisiting West Ham
At this time the manager of West Ham’s opponents, Scott Parker, who was one of the finest midfielders in modern West Ham history, played for the Hammers. He was signed in 2007 under the tenure of Curbishley and joined the Hammers from Newcastle.
Parker was voted “Hammer of the Year” twice in 2009 and 2010. In the following season of lows under Avram Grant which resulted in West Ham being relegated again, Parker was voted the “Football Writer’s Association Player of the Season” 2010/11. Therefore Parker became the first player to claim this accolade whilst in a relegated side. Few players could leave a relegated West Ham to join Spurs and still be held in as high regard as Scott. A tenacious battler who often chipped in with a match-winning performance.
Let’s hope he won’t win it tonight against West Ham as manager of Fulham!
Erfolg in der letzten Viertelstunde
Die Rapid-Viertelstunde ist seit über einem Jahrhundert die wohl markanteste Tradition rund um den SK Rapid. Seit Sonntag ist die Geschichte der erst in der letzten Viertelstunde eines Matches fixierten Siege von Rapid um ein Kapitel reicher – geschrieben von Ercan Kara in Kärnten im Spiel gegen den Wolfsberger AC!
Das typische Einklatschen der letzten 15 Spielminuten wird in guten wie in schlechten Zeiten zelebriert – nun in der Corona-Krise eben bei Heimspielen nur von 3000 oder ab dem nächsten Match bloß 1500 Zuschauern im Allianz-Stadion, aber ebenso auch immer von den zu Auswärtsspielen mitgereisten Rapidfans. Die „Rapid-Viertelstunde“ ist seit jeher ein fester Bestandteil der Fankultur des SK Rapid und wurde von Generation zu Generation weitergegeben. Das in der 75. Minute einsetzende rhythmische Klatschen ist die Aufforderung der Fans an die Spieler, an sich zu glauben und – unabhängig vom Spielstand – noch einmal das Letzte aus sich herauszuholen.
Und tatsächlich ist es Generationen von Rapid-Spielern in der mehr als 120-jährigen Geschichte des Vereins immer wieder gelungen, Spiele trotz Rückstands in der zweiten Halbzeit noch gewinnen zu können. Bei der Auswertung von Saisonstatistiken finden sich stets zahlreiche Matches, die Rapid in der letzten Viertelstunde drehen konnte. Die Rapid-Viertelstunde ist also nicht nur ein Mythos, sondern tatsächlich die Phase des Spiels, in der die Rapid-Mannschaften über viele Jahrzehnte für den Gegner am gefährlichsten waren.
Bis heute gültig
Am Sonntag gegen den WAC war es wieder einmal soweit. Und diesmal war besonders viel Glaube an die eigene Stärke und besonders viel Anstrengung notwendig, um trotz 2:3-Rückstands doch noch drei Punkte aus Kärnten mit nach Wien nehmen und mit einem Sieg an Tabellenführer RB Salzburg dranbleiben zu können!
Rapid und der WAC hatten am Donnerstag in der Europa League gespielt: die Hütteldorfer hatten dem FC Arsenal einen tollen, kräfteraubenden Fight geliefert, am Ende aber trotz 1:0-Führung noch 1:2 verloren; die Wolfsberger hatten ZSKA Moskau ein 1:1 abgerungen. Im Spiel der Europacup-Fighter führte der SK Rapid nun zur Pause 2:0, aber dann drehten die Wolfsberger gegen zunehmend ermüdende Grün-Weiße binnen 20 Minuten das Spiel und stellten auf 3:2. Nun war der „Rapid-Geist“ gefragt und auch diese vielversprechende junge Mannschaft des Jahres 2020 weiß, dass Rapid nie aufgibt!
In Abwesenheit von Rapids gefährlichstem Stürmer Taxi Fountas, der sich gegen Arsenal verletzt hatte, war es nun Mittelstürmer Ercan Kara (24) – erst seit weniger als einem Jahr, aus der zweiten Liga gekommen, bei Rapid – der gemeinsam mit seinen Teamkollegen mit Glaube, Wille und Mut dem Kärntner Comeback trotzte und innerhalb der Rapid-Viertelstunde zuerst per Kopf auf 3:3 stellte. Und dann, nach Foul an ihm selbst, erzielte er in der Nachspielzeit den Siegestreffer zum 4:3! „Er macht es unglaublich gut, gibt nie auf, und genau das ist es, was Rapid auszeichnet”, lobte Rapid-Trainer Didi Kühbauer seinen Stürmer.
Auf der Homepage des SK Rapid wird die Geschichte der Rapid-Viertelstunde erzählt:
Uralte Tradition
Der Ursprung der Rapid-Viertelstunde geht vermutlich auf die Zeit zurück, in der Rapid auf dem Rudolfsheimer Platz spielte. Vom Platz aus konnte man die Rudolfsheimer Kirche mit zugehöriger Turmuhr sehen. Die Uhr soll eine tragende Rolle bei der Entstehung der Rapid-Viertelstunde gespielt haben – allerdings ist dies nicht zweifelsfrei gesichert, zumal die Entstehung der Tradition keinem klaren Muster folgte, sondern eher spontan zustande kam.
Der Rapid-Geist und die letzten 15 Minuten
Schon in den ersten Jahren der Klubgeschichte gab es erste sportliche Anzeichen: Zeitungsberichte beweisen, dass Rapid stets einen guten Endspurt hinlegte und zahlreiche Spiele erst in der letzten Viertelstunde entschied. Dies ist auch auf den traditionellen Kampfgeist und die konditionelle Überlegenheit Rapids zurückzuführen.
Frühe mediale Aufbereitung
Zahlreiche Zeitungsberichte bestätigen die frühe Etablierung der Rapid-Viertelstunde. So berichtete etwa das Neue Wiener Tagblatt am 9. September 1916: “Erst in der letzten Viertelstunde zeigt sich die Überlegenheit der Hütteldorfer.” Die gleiche Zeitung schreibt am 13. November 1916 über das Spiel Rapid gegen Sportclub: “Das Endergebnis von 2:0 stellten die Rapid-Spieler erst in ihrer berühmten “Viertelstunde” her.” bzw. “Erst in den letzten 15 Minuten des Wettspiels konnten die Dornbacher dem immer schärfer werdenden Tempo nicht mehr ganz folgen und mußten in dieser Zeit die zwei Treffer hinnehmen.“
Die legendäre Stimmung bei Rapid
Neben der Rapid-Viertelstunde weiß das Fremdenblatt 1918 auch einige andere Details über die Atmosphäre bei Rapid-Spielen, hier anlässlich der Partie Rapid gegen Rudolfshügel: “Es war von jeher schwierig, Rapid in einem Meisterschaftsspiel auf dem eigenen Platze niederzuringen. Rapid ist eine Mannschaft, die zähe zu kämpfen versteht, die durch einen gewaltigen Anhang künstlich aufgepeitscht, fast immer in einer “berühmten Viertelstunde” den Gegner niederzurennen verstand, wobei inmitten des wüsten Lärms und der unglaublichsten Reklamationen gewöhnlich auch der Schiedsrichter um seine Ruhe gebracht wurde.“
Unser Erbe
2011 wurde die Rapid-Viertelstunde für eine Aufnahme auf die nationale Liste des immateriellen UNESCO-Weltkulturerbes vorgeschlagen, letztendlich aber trotz ihrer über 100 Jahre alten Tradition nicht aufgenommen. Weitergeklatscht wird dennoch – bis in alle Ewigkeit.
WAC – Rapid 3:4 (0:2). Rapid: Strebinger – Stojkovic, Hofmann, Greiml (56. Barac) – Schick (73. Arase), Grahovac, Ritzmaier (78. Knasmüllner), D. Ljubicic, Ullmann – Kara, Kitagawa (78. Alar)
PS: Auch ein 3:3 kann ein Beispiel für die „magische Viertelstunde“ sein – nicht nur bei Rapid!
Tottenham – West Ham 3:3 (3:0) https://youtu.be/urzWUoHYi7g
Rapid – Salzburg (2015) 3:3 (0:3) https://youtu.be/0AgNERy_Luw
EXTRA TIME 
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