Welcome Senor Jimenez

HERE

Dances with Wolves

So it's Wolves at Molineux to start with. Our first game next season is certainly not easy. New teams do always begin well, at least at home. So I hope Zola will give our players an erly wakeupcall that day. Good to have the schedule ready though. It's a mental start of the new season! You can find it in full HERE.

Will Jimenez and Mancini join us today?? It certainly looks so. And even if I just vaguely remember to have seen Jimenez I'm full of confidencvce that the two can fill gaps in our team and develop our team "the new Zola style". Jimenez can be the offensive force in thge central midfield and find the last passes to the strikers we've missed this year. Well, for many years now. Hope he stays fit, as he has had some troubles during the years. Read more about him in Trilbys good blog HERE.

 Mancini is class and can do well in PL, at least if Zola can get him to play for the shirt. And mentally shows that he still has to prove his ability.

Jimenez and Mancini! Last year we were about to get Ben Thatcher!

Good luck... not

Kyel Reid has signed for.... Sheffield United. Gosh, I really wanted to wish this guy good luck. But now it's impossible.

So: Nine games for West Ham and one goal. Seems to be able to cross the ball, but not strong enough to take his chances with us in the first team. Played pretty well with Wolves (on loan last term) and scored the crucial winner to make them a PL team again. So I thought McCarthy would sign our Academy winger. Now Sheffield United seems to have instead. Let's hope Dux has put up a trap in the contract. Worth five millions at least. To us....

New owner!

According to the official site, our club has just been sold!

Read HERE.

Our new non-executive chairman Andrew Bernhardt - a senior bankman - means that this is a long-term commitment and that he will give Zola and Nani funds to invest in a "sensible" way. What that means only Bernhardt knows, but at least it will get us stability for now. But as - if I get it right - the Icelandic Government still has everything to say about CB Holding/Straumur Burdaras future. And if Straumar is close to bancrupty themselves, where will they get money to invest. It may be another bubble who bursts in the end. What differs from all the bankers lending poor people money that you don't have in the first place, but do expect to earn another day? Just the new/old Capitalism I guess.

Very well. Maybe Barack Obama will be our saviour in the end as well???

We do start this new journey with a picture of Andrew. Doesn't he remind you a bit of Winterburn??

More reactions from Bubbleview to follow.

Bye Bye Neill.

Reading the news on the official site today it's easy to say: Bye, bye Lucas Neill. Thanks for what you did. But even if you had a strong spell this last months I can't say I'll miss you. At least not as a player. Let's see who'll be our new RB. Hope they find a right sided Ilunga!

WHUFC also confirm - more or less - that we will not see Di Michele, Tristan, Walter Lopez, Lee Bowyer, Kyel Reid or Jimmy Walker in our dress again. I guess few fans feel despair....

I'm a bit more surprised that West Ham will let the young Ashley Miller ('89) go as he just arrived home from Hong Kong, playin for us there. Other youngsters the will let go is the forward Jack Jeffrey (seemed good at the beginning but have not been able to take the last step), the midfielder Tom Harvey ('90) and the young Northern Irish defender Ryan O'Neill (born 90 played some games for the Reserves too). Well, you can't have them all, and defenders are pretty good here as Spence, N'Gala, Eylofsson, Edgar and even younger Sanchez are even bigger prospects.

AS we all already know Lastuvka has left, but the Hungarian keeper Peter Kurucz - who has been on loan with us - has signed a permenant contract. He is 21 so he and Marelk Stech may be enough cover for Green (supposed he sign a new contract with us). We do also have the even younger keepers Street and Mehmet in the team.

New Captain!?! I really guess it'll be Parker, but few outside the team do really know how every single player act in the dressing-room and elsewhere. 

Good luck to the realeased. Let's see some name's coming in soon! And the pen on paper by Green and Upson please!

All (-ready) sweet memories!

HERE.

They are all beautiful!

All is well that ends well

It had actually been a shame if we had let Middlesbrough stay in the PL this time. Not that I do mind them particulary - not at all actually. I even feel a bit sorry for them, and I think they will bounce back right away as they have a lot of young talent. But a team this lacklustre, and the way they failed to deliever any goods at all today - they should get punished. It was not our most sparky game either, but we did what we had to do, and you could see some glimpses of what Zola wants for next season. 

A sunny afternoon at Upton park! Could you ask for more? Well a win maybe, and after a very beautiful first goal with Stanislas, LBM, Ilunga and Cole involved most of us knew that we should win that 9th spot. Well, O'Neill had another shot under Upson's legs and all of a sudden the situation was 1-1, before our most vibrant player of the day, Stanislas got us our second with a shot that Jones should have saved. 

Green 6 - Not much to do at all, but bringing on the cap once in a while to protect him from the sun.

Spector 5 - Well, it looked a bit better when he was told to push forward. In defense he is - once again - more of a player for Swedish Allsvenskan than PL.

Neill 7,5 - Impressed again and even if he may be a bit to short for the CB-position, I think the position suits him - once again - better. Good powerful game! Will this mean another season?? Maybe.

Upson 7 - Really OK, won his headers, not troubled, but once: when the ball went through his legs (again!). So a bit unlucky at their goal.

Ilunga 6 - Had a bit tricky day defensively when Middlesbrough came with two men on his flank. On the other hand he impressed once again going forward, and his pass into the box when Cole scored was a real beauty.

LBM 8 - Yes! Our best player today! Even if he missed a couple of passes his workingrate and energy saved the day. Thanks! Have you seen that he can make crosses as well? And even dribble? Like he did when he won us aout 70 yards on his own once? Important contribution in Cole's goal. Hope to see you here next season as well! (Yep, mean it!)

Kovac 6 - Solid today as long as he play as the holding midfielder. Helped the defense a lot, but sometimes he misses the easiest of passes. Took the Parker role today and I doubt to see him here next season. But I wouldn't mind, as I think he grows from game to game and still learn this league. It depends on the clubs will to spend on good subs I guess.

Collison 6 - During some moments in the match he looked like Ronaldinho as best. Others we could all see that he recently has came back from injury. Subbed.

Noble 6,5 - Fought very well. Subbed with a niggling injury, probably as a precaution when U21 awaits him this summer.

Stanislas 8 - He may be young, he may be a bit over-optimistic - but what a game! Not only the goal but the way he handled the responsibility as well. Did you see when he (still) ran back in full speed two-three minutes from time? Great! Will play a big part next season even if Savio will be better and Behrami, Parker and two "fully trained" men in Collison and Dyer will be back. Wouldn't it be possible to see him in the middle of the park, as a creative midfielder?? Maybe a bit weak, but fast, two-footed and a good vision for the game.

Cole 6 - I was surprised to see him loose so many 50-50-situations today. But at the end of the day he made the difference. It's easy to forget that this was his first starting game since he went of playin for England. Today he received the good news: He's back in Capello's team. And for us, he scored 12 goals this season and played a huge part in our good run. Subbed. I may be one of few who always have liked him, and supported him, but he sure has grown under Zola/Clarke. With him fit all season we had been 7th! Promise!

Subs: 

Dyer 7 (on 53'd)- Good to see him back again. And even if he missed a good opportunity he looked fit and played a lively part in the game. For him preseason will start tomorrow.

Good to see the way Zola handled Di Michele (72'd) and Tristan (63'd). They were rightly on the bench from the start but had at last their chances to feel the good vibes at Upton Park for their last (it must be) games in claret and blue. Neither impressed me. But I think Tristan will have a Ok season next year. But not with us.

Over-all: Thanks for a season that gave us hope of a bright future again. And some really nice football too.

48 or 51?

Hull has to loose, Newcastle has too. But Boro will anyway and in which case fight for their lives. And they need a couple of goals in the net as their goaldifference is worse than Hull's. So expect our last match for the season to be a hard contest. I still think we'll win. If Boro don't make a goal in the first half, and if they sees that either competing team (read: Newcastle) will take a point or three, it's hard to believe they will be able to stuck in every minute here. And having Carlton Cole back from the start will suit us well in this game. It'll probably look like an away game, letting the old cricket team to keep posession and us to be the team that makes the counterattacks with Collison, Stanislas and LBM fight forward.

The weakest link or at least the most unsecure one will be who to partner Upson as Collins is still out and Tomkins suspended. You could either have Neill or Spector. But I'll go with the future and give N'Gala even if I've hardly seen him play. But the other two will probably not have a bright future here - different reasons though! - but N'Gala will. So let him play! (Ok, Kovac may be an alternative as well, but if the rumour is true that Moscow wants 6 millions for him he won't be here next season, and then why play him now? Let's give him 10 minutes in the end to applaud him a bit).

Having Stuart Downing off - and seven (!) other players - (well, the clever Tuncay will be playin!) will of course help our cause, but every M'boro-man out there will fight as hard as ever and hopefully our team cames through unscratched. And with three points! Which will see us in front of "the world's richest club" Manchester City. Not a bad bait, if you ask me.

It would also be a revenge as we lost 2-0 last time, in a ridiculously weak game. Last time at Upton Park Ilunga scored though. I do not mind if he'll do that against Boro again.

I'll go with:

Green

Neill, N'Gala, Upson, Ilunga

LBM, Noble, Collison, Stanislas

Cole, Savio

Bench: Lastuvka, Spector, Lopez, Payne, Kovac, Tristan, Sears

Good luck Joe

Young West Ham-academy player Joe Widdowson (born 1989) has put pen on a three year contract with Grimsby, after he was told he wasn't going to have a future at West ham. 

"I want to be a professional footballer, and I don't consider myself to be a Premier League player at the moment, so it was not a hard decision" he told Grimsby town's home site.

After seeing him play so good in the summer tour last year (against Beckham for instance) and knowing he has done very well in his loanspell at Grimsby this decision surprised me a bit. I thought he was one for the future, next term ready to make the bench. Who is there at LB if Ilunga get's injured? Or maybe that guy can't have any knocks?! Well, you can't have'em all. So good luck to Joe. Hopefully the West Ham product will see a better season to come for the whole Grimsby team.

The same morning Zola hinted that Sears needs to go out on loan the forthcoming season (at least a part of it) to grow. Looking at the few contributions he had this year I guess it would have been even better if Freddie already had done been out somewhere. Zola could have used Hines on the bench.

10'th place again?

So this was it. After a tremedous shot by Kovac I thought this could be the day to beat Everton at last. But they are a machine and have good strikers in Jo, Felliani, Saha, Cahill, Yobo, Pineaar... So a lot to choose from. Moyes put his money on Saha... a good choice - for the home team. We started with Di Michele and Tristan and once again they looked really out of order. I think it would be wrong to see any of them here next season. (If one of them would stay I'd go with Tristan, can explain why later.) 

In the second half we could see what a different Carlton Cole does, as he got his first 45 after the layoff. He won every (long) ball, but one, he had to deal with, he gave to home defenders hard work,  he fed LBM with a tremendous pass and he gave the midfield the opportunity to put some pressure on their counterparts at Everton. But it was too late as Tomkins was sent off - a very,very  harsh decision even if you're not a Hammer - when he (maybe) tripped Cahill. Penalty and Green went for once the wrong way. We came out with 1-1, but had hardly taken our seats (in front of the telly) as the second half begun with Everton scoring. And it looked "the old West Ham way". Noone attacked or was close to Yobo when a corner fell to him in the box and his shot went not just under Upson's legs (a bit deflected) but Noble's as well. Unlucky or poor defending? Both! It looked like an old game of Crocket. Why Spector also was given a go after the first 45' you can question. His lack of fundamental defending was exposed early. He sold himself very, very easy when Pienaar just ran away from Spector - maybe he was thinking what to buy for breakfast tomorrow - and served Saha for their third goal. 

It's not easy to play against Everton's midfield, but I want more from Noble and Collison. Even if the latter recently has come back from injury. 

And once again we lost 3-1 but their were a few sparkles. To see Cole back was one of them. Kovac seems to grow from game to game and may be an alternative in the end, and Stanislas came on and looked sharp again. Despite a very very tame - for the 1056 time in a row - shot when totally free with Howard, I would also give LBM the thumb up. His contribution was not bad. Ilunga solid as always. Fought good as well. The man of the match though was Green. Once again. Nani better ask for his name on a new contract now! But in the end; the referee and two lapsuses spoilt the evening for us.

(no marks today as I was unable to watch the beginning of the game)

Feed the Cole and he will score ?

To get back into your old moves after a month (and more) of layoff is not that easy. Maybe especially not for Carlton. It took him plenty of opportunities (both games in the starting lineup and actual goal scoring chances) to be prolific this season, and I’m afraid that, in a sense, goal scoring does not really come naturally to him. This is just my gut feeling so I’d be more than pleased if this is not the case.

Cole may be fit enough to start against the Toffees, and even if my worries about him comes true Cole will nevertheless bring an enormous increase in fire power to our attack. However, I’m certain, bordering to resignation, that Di Michele will play alongside him. These two have started most games together since Bellamy left, and Cole has been able to score nonetheless. When it comes to Di Michele, that is the only tiny thread I’m hanging on to.
Zolas latest statement on Di Michele was that it was unfortunate that he didn’t score more (so far I agree) but that he was very important for our game (!).

I respect you Gianfranco, but don’t push it!

.

And so would I

Spend away?

A Spanish site have ”leaked” the new away kit.
Even though it doesn’t look like a football jersey I’m OK with it if it turns out to be the real thing. I like the colors and at least we won’t have the horrendous “covertheXL” plastic patch of shame any more.

Today the Mailonline ran a story on the kit prices and presented results from a Virgin Money survey that showed that an increasing number of fans will not be buying new kits for the next season. According to that survey West Ham fans are going to cut back on "matchday spending" more than most other PL fans (with the exception of Chelsea fans and who'd like their kit anyway). The “fad” to have a new kit shirt every season is not that old and may (as) well die young.
To me being a fan has got nothing to do with how much merchandise you buy.
It does bring in money to the Club, and that is of course a good thing, but still. To wear a Dagenham Motors kit from the early 90’s is far classier than any new kit.
A lot of us are feeling the squeeze at the moment and having to choose I’d rather go to an extra game for the money.

Frustration!

Frustration must have been the most common feeling at the Boleyn on Saturday. My feeling was that our chance to get something out of this game was to figth through the initial Liverpool siege, but after a minute and a half the frustration hit me for the first time in this game.

Their second goal was as frustrating as the first. Wiley made a mistake not to award LBM a free kick outside the Liverpool box. The following attack saw the frustrated LBM tugging Torres shirt, and I guess the penalty was a correct call but the fact that it followed on a mistake from Wiley made LBM and the rest of us fuming with frustration.

My frustration didn't stop there. When Di Michele blundered away the chance of the match it was the pinnacle of my frustration with Di Michele.
Running the risk of being blasphemic I think the frustration I have with Di Michele really is a frustration with Zola. Why on Goods green earth is he playing him? As this will be the topic of my next post (is Zola really the launcher of young talent?) I won’t go into that now.

I feel frustrated for Mark Noble as well. He is massive in this game, winning balls holding the ball when called for and passing the ball impressively throughout the game but didn’t have much help. I, as many others have been worried that he is not taking that last step in his development, but he showed on Saturday that he is well on his way.

Neill was a frustrating and sad mix of his new and old self. His attitude was the new Neill, wanting to be in the mix, trying to play the creative passes he has done so brilliantly lately. Unfortunately the quality of the passes was the old Neill.

Another unfortunate player was LBM, not just for the unlucky series of events leading up to the second goal. There is nothing wrong with his attitude, he works harder than most, but his passing was horrid and he lost possession just too many times. Behrami is desperately missed!

Tristan was as lively as I’ve seen him in Claret and Blue. Even though he faded badly in the second half, as we knew he would. But he looks like a footballer now and again and he sometimes even show some of the talent that made him a Spanish international. He needs more fitness but with Cole and/or Ashton fit I can’t see him being a starter. However, he may be a decent last 20 min sub next season.

Stanislas is obviously still learning but I have no problem with that. He shows an enormous promise and has facets to his game that is not very common. In addition to a great work rate he really shows everybody that he wants to be involved and when he gets the ball he is pretty good one on one. He shows that he has a good eye for the game by running into interesting areas, but he does not always have the presence to find others doing the same. He needs to see when Ilunga goes forward so he can provide the ball Ilunga wants. Stanislas still wastes too many passes but he definitely contributes more to our game than 2 or 3 established players.

Collison got half an hour replacing Stanislas and immediately had an impact on the game. That boy can play! It’s unfortunate that both Stanislas and Collison seem to prefer the left hand side as we need both of them on the pitch and the central spot available for a creative player should be reserved for Noble.

Tomkins didn’t have an easy task. He did well to keep Torres goalless. His inclination to cover the area or trying to intercept a pass instead of marking the player is a bit too risky for my taste, and he was saved by others a few times. Still, he was up against Liverpool and did great!

Tomkins to tame Torres?

The last few games we have seen Tomkins produce some truly impressive performances, having kept Fuller, Anelka, Heskey and Bent more or less silent. Today he will be up against one of my favourite strikers - Fernando Torres. Torres extraordinary ability to be involved in building the game without loosing too much of his striker venom is ... extraordinary.
This is the "game in the game" that I truly look forward to today (the other is if our midfield can keep possession).
If Tomkins is up to this I can't see Collins getting in to that defensive line again.