Today...

.... I do not care - not at all - which eleven players who will play for us and Mr Zola. As long as they perform. As long as we'll keep a clean sheet. And as long we will have 3 points with us home!

Can it be worse?

As I was unable to follow the game other than on whufc.com you'll have to discuss this loss yourselves. No marks from me.

Another huge Q:n is ; can we really rise from this situation? It seems that we do not have enough leaders out there. Parker seemed far from one today (like he was the other day, gainst Burnley) of the few moments I was to follow from a stream (and he should be the one), Diamanti is energetic but do push himself more than others and our young veteran Noble is below-par (even if his sending off - for the second yellow was an awful miss from the referee as Noble really took the ball well).

Clarke and Zola changes their team all the time, so who do they trust? At least it seemed (the shy, not Captain-substance) Gabbs did really well, and I'm happy about that, cause he should play in a back four that I want much more soild (why do they have to change it every game?) and not changed every week if not new injuries occur. I'd go with Faubert, Da Costa, Gabbs, Ilunga until Upson is back.... The "only" player they seem to be sure of is Kovac who had played more minutes last games than anyone excpected, and if he has convinced Zola/Clarke to continue game after game it's too beyond me..

Today Wolves won, and all other contenders for relegation had one point, including Portsmouth. So no big changes in the bottom. That could be worse. But on the field?? Tell me.....

Takeover rumours heating up!

Yesterday there was a public presentation by Straumur where they presented what has been going on with their debt during the first 6 months of moratorium, and what their plans are for the future if they are trusted with an extension of the moratorium by the Icelandic court this Friday.

Even though rumors about Gold and Sullivans interest in West Ham has been going on since last summer, the last week or so a rumor has been growing that David Gold and David Sullivan was to table a bid this week. This offer to Andrew Bernhardt, or rather Straumur, supposedly consists of a “nominal fee” for West Ham while accepting to take over the debt.
Today this rumor exploded in articles by WH owner linked Burt of the Telegraph, the Mirror and on the BBC website.
To me there is a nice connection between these two events.

Straumur painted a picture stretching over 5 years during which they hoped to regain some or most of the money owed. What is clear is that they are planning on this process taking time and rather find more funds later than less fund now. One reason for this prolonged process is that by doing it this way the so called “unsecured claimholders” will likely regain more of their money.

Another bit of info seemed to be apparent in the presentation – that Straumur has no funds to inject to boost any needing company – hence Straumur should be interested in help to do so.

Enter Gold&Sullivan. If what they have leaked to the press is accurate they are willing to take on the debt of the Club and to pay the current owners a “nominal fee” for a controlling post in the Club and an option to buy the remaining share “at a later date”. The willingness of the current owners to let a part of the Club go at this time probably lies in how this option is designed. G&S are also to inject some transfer funds to build the value of the Club and secure premiership survival. Some rumors say that in addition to this the current owners will be handed continuous payments during the period up to a certain date or their sale of the remaining share, whichever comes first.

To me this makes a lot of sense. That’s why I have fallen into the trap of commenting on it. Straumur reduces its risk of having a debt ridden Championship side in their asset portfolio without being able to do anything about it while securing a future payment through the option.

Having said this, the current owners must still, obviously, be prepared to turn Gold and Sullivan down if the offer is just too low to make financial sense, or perhaps if an offer from the Intermarket Group is for some reason preferable...

O, for f**k's sake, 0-4

I do not think that we would have had much of a chance picking points against The Champs with Cole, Upson and many others out.

So losing is, even if we got a good record, not so much to complain about... in itself. But the way we did it!

So: I'm very disappointed today... when will we stop to let these loads of goals in? When will Clarke show these lads how to defend?? When will the team start to act like a team defending?

It was good taken goals from ManU, no doubt about it (even if the third really looked offside for me), but it was not hard to see that we did not work like a team in those moments. The first (time: 45,30 in the first half which was decisive) one was a good act from Scholes but still a(nother) foolish disaster from Kovac who easily moved away(!) from Scholes when the redhead was to shoot. Kovac went behind (!) him instead of trying to take it cool and block the shot.

Green was there to touch Scholes shot but was not able o hold it. Maybe if he had been well?? The second (Gibson shot) was a beauty, and impossible to defend, the third (who looked like offside to me) came from our right flank where Anderson passed with ease a good one behind our defenders in the box. I think either Spector, Collison, Kovac or Diamanti really have to put some pressure early on here. Valencia ran well, and our CB:s found themselves standing on their heels. The fourth one was close to the same, but from our left where Ilunga did not manage to prevent the low cross. As it was from a fast break and an unorganised midfield we only had Tomkins and Spector in the middle. And Tomkins did not look behind him, left Rooney unmarked to protect the first post while Spector had little chance to run for Rooney. So the two last goals was all up to players who did not know what to do in certain situations. Tomkins (who I like and has a great future with us) was on for the good Da Costa. Maybe the Portugese had a knock, but changing the back four nearly every game does not help our cause.

Looking at ManU:s defence it seemed to be in shatter (From the 34th minute they had a back 4 consisting of Evra, Carrick, Brown and Fletcher), but what did it help without our man "strong as a gorilla"? We missed Cole like a headache tablet when having a hang over, but I think a key moment was when Hines had to leave the field (injured). He had a good first half and absolutley made a fool out of Neville a number of times. I guess he had done so to a player like CB Carrick as well, if he had had the chance in the second half to counterattack a coupe of times more. He had scored I presume, or put up Franco. So he was surely missed too.

Green 5 - Subbed late on as he was felling ill. I think understand why with our goalrecord.... Not his best game even if not at fault with the goals. But if feeling sick, I think it is a shame not to give Kurucz a rare start.

Spector 6 - A really decent performance from the American. I mean from his standards. Made some mistakes, but do also need more help from the midfield.

Tomkins 5 - Covered well helping Spector, but lacked a bit of match-practise and made a mistake at the last goal. Even if I do not blame him for this, but our coaches.

Gabbidon 6 - So, so but at least pretty solid and will play better with Upson and even Da Costa beside him. Was the last man and not close enough to Giggs when he passed the ball to Gibson at their second, so no wonder he hesitated. Did probably take the right decision.

Ilunga 5,5 - I think he is to raise his game a bit from time to time, but he is maybe more than others dependent of having solid players around him. He knows he can't do it alone and even if he had a wonderful cross today it's far to rare these days.

Collison 5 - A great player who did not make any impact today.

Kovac 3 - During the game I called him our new Mullins. But that was evil. To Mullins. But Kovac do also tackle far to seldom, play too far from the players he should cover, can't pass a ball and looks sometimes like a grandmother out to shop but (by aliens) is transformed from the mall to the football field without knowing how. Was at fault for their first decisive goal and couldn't cover any ground at all. Sorry to say: May be our worst buy since Camara (who at least only was on loan).

Parker 5,5 - Parker in the game against Burnley may be the best performance I've ever seen from him. This was not close. Not at all. Started with his circles, and never got any further. I guess Scholes is a tougher opponent....

Junior Stanislas 5,5 - At least this guy tried a lot. Faded and did not well defensivly. Still I give him credit for his Energy and the ability is there somewhere.

Franco 6 - Isolated up front - and he is not the type of player to be - but moved well and fought.

Hines 6 - Sorry to see him injured as we all could see that when if sometimes failing he gave the defenders a hard time every time the ball was feeded to him. Off at halftime. One of our best player's so far. Was even was to fast for the referee... who missed how he was held down by the United defenders. Hope he'll be back very, very soon.

Subs:

Diamanti 6 - Well, the Energy is there And we saw one really great freekick (do not mention the the others, please). We do like that someone take shots, but he has to learn to find his teammates as well. Now! When this guy learn how to be a teamplayer I will be very happy as he then can be the special player we all longing for.

Dyer 4 - Was he on?

Kurucz - Debut. Late sub, nothing to do.

Now it's time for Birmingham, a team that are much more solid than we are, and haven't lost for six PL games. So no easy points, not at all. Still we have to win three! Look at it brightly: Before the game against Fergie's men, we had a decent run as well. Please do not mention the goals we concede.... Do we have to be this fragile? How I can long for LBM!

Life sucks and then you die.

We lost to a title contending team, nothing too upsetting about that.

There were all sorts of negatives to take from this game, however, but I'll focus on Green being replaced. Regardless of the reason this is NOT a good sign.
If we had an owner Zola would have just about time to pack his bags.

Shaky back 4? Back 8 you mean!

The general consensus seem to be that our back four is a bit off, and the blame for this has fallen on virtually every player to figure in our defensive lineup.
Upson doesn't care, Ilunga doesn't track back, Tomkins is not what he was last year, Spector lacks speed and talent, Gabbidon is still not match fit, Collins is gone, Da Costa is still not quite up to the English (?) game. My favorite objection so far is one that I picked up at KUMB, Faubert is .... French!
Even though I have agreed with most of the above at one time or another (I mean Faubert is French isn't he?) fortunes (or Clarke/Zola) hasn't made it easy for us.

In the first 14 games this season 8 defenders and eleven (11!) different defensive lineups have been tried! Eleven! Only Faubert has been used in only one back-four position (but then he's been used as a winger...).
No back 4 lineup has been fielded more than twice!
To put this in some perspective, Burnley started the last 5 games with the same 11 players.

The reason for a finding is usually the most interesting part of it and here is a discussion in place.
The "bare to the thread squad" is a given reason and the sale of Collins is another, and related, reason. We just don't have decent backup, forcing us to play people out of position.
Spector is one example and when I read that he relished the opportunity to play in the center of defence with the US squad I almost panicked!

But does Zola and Clarke have a part in this?
My impression was that they may, as I thought I remembered some unnecessary changes, but after going back and checking the lineups I'm not sure they have had much of a choice. Most changes have been forced, and giving Tomkins the chance after Collins left may well have been the right thing to do.

So, even if I think that my first pick is less than a good PL line (Spector, Da Costa, Upson and Ilunga) there is a desperate need to let whatever 4 is preferred a good chance to "gel".

A letter was sent...

West Ham officials must believe that there is a desperate need for good news.
In 17:th place averaging 1 point a game and with a financial situation that is as grey as the latest November, indeed they are right.
Usually when times are dire, and there are no lingerie related stories available, the PR officer of the official site releases stories about the ladies team, the new stadium tour dates, another statement from DiCanio, or an interview with a player stating that everyone in the squad is “buzzing”.

This time the board wanted to kill two birds with one stone. To show that there is progress at the club and that Duckers is still alive. So they had Duckers present what he has been working on since he has been cut off from the real action – a letter!
This is a letter to get the approval to start to work on the new training ground. Not a decision to do so mind you, the decision was to send a letter.

Whats next?
.

Carlton scare

It's been reported that, even though a scan is not yet performed, it's likely that the knock/twist Cole got to his right knee resulted in ligament damage. If that is the case it could be months before we see him on the pitch again.

I usually don't comment on this kind of rumors but as it would have an enormous impact on our chances to stay up I can't help myself this time.

Scare update: the initial 4 months rumor is now commented by under cover club puppet Jason Burt of the Telegraph, who reports that Cole will face only a four to five weeks at the sideline. Let's hope that his info and the quality of that prognosis is good.

Second scare update: As you already read in PrinceH's comment, the OS released a "it may not be as bad as the rumours say" statement saying that he will not need surgery. It seems as my first hunch may be right. Less than the tabloids but more than the official "don't worry" report by Burt.

West Ham-Burnley 5-3

Piuuhhh! Should we be extatic after five wonderful goals (when did we do that last time?) or unhappy for conceding three after that? Well, this time I'll stay happy. We really, really needed the win and after a nervy start we took control over the game completely. And after Franco had hit the crossbar the goals came dropping in. A lot of players played really well, and the grandmaster of the plan was Parker who had a wonderful game. So did Franco. I missed the guests last goal (in the 95th) but looking at the newcomers first two (who both came from our right) it's hard to blame any specific player, our new CB-duo looked actually really good....

Green 5,5 - Dropped one ball quiet early and was hardly tested, but he hasn't looked so solid lately and I want him to take control of his box much more. Sometimes he just stays at his line instead of a) work further out or b) govern over his outfield players more. Not bad at all, even if he could have taken control of some crosses better (maybe even one of their goals) but I may ask if something happened mentally since he really became England No 1?

Spector 5,5 - A surprise for me, I thought Faubert was to continue. Started with some bad passes but grew during the game. Hulls both goals came from his side, at one he was not present at all, the other one he had no chance to stop the cross. Still he made a bold move and gave us a good penalty, even if I want him to develop his offensive skills much more. Nearly all our attacks came from our left.

Da Costa 7 - Well, this young portugese is a good player. He showed that today as well.

Gabbidon 6,5 - Good to see him back at his preferable place, should have been much closer to his player when Burnley scored one of their goal, otherwise calm and settled. With him as a backup we do not have to worry too much about Upson.

Ilunga 6 - Good to see him back too. Had a great first half and much of our play started from him in the first half. Went a bit fatigue and could with a little faster feet maybe stopped one of Burnely's goals.

Collison 7,5 - Looks more and more "uninterchangeable" for us. His best game after he came back and another good goal with his head!

Kovac 5 - I can understand that Kovac with his experience has a part to play in a game like this. Sorry he (once more) never delivered. Fought, but often in no-mans-land. Or if you want to see it in a more happy way: Covered the ground which is so important... Must ask though: When will he learn to make an easy pass? Noble need to play in his position next game. Must say Kovac gave Parker more freedom to work forward!

Parker 9 - Not only the best player on the field. Probably the best player in PL this weekend. At least noone can have worked harder. THis time his hard work also gave a brilliant result. Showed what a Captain can do, and made many more beautiful offensive runs than he uses to (Partly because a defensive player like Kovac was there behind him!). Which gave our wingers and frontmen better quality to work with. Had a wonderful game defensively as well...

Stanislas 7 - What a striking goal!!! I am happy he was to play all 90 minutes even if looked very tired in the last twenty. It will make him an even better player. Even if Parker, Ilunga and others had to cope without him defensivly in the end. Had a terrific first half and to have the width that Stanislas give us, and also the "cool energy", shall not be underrated.

Cole 5,5 - Far from one of his better games. Came off at halftime with a injured knee, I'll pray tonight that it is not as bad as we fear.

Franco 8 - This guy is a terrific player who works tirelessly, who moves well, who find his teammates well and scores! He is not tall but do also had a couple of better-than-good headers! Few new players has so easily adopted to the english game! Really impressed!

Subs:

Hines - 6,5 Came on at halftime for Cole and gave the team a terific spark and energy. AS well as freekicks! Is very hard to tackle. And light as a feather and exceptionally fast he relly moves well out of reach from the defenders who are lost or has to foul him. Still a bit uneven. And somteimes fall too easy.

Jimenez - Came on for Franco and with a new haircut he as able to arrange a penalty. And his first (I think) goal in PL. I guess he played mainly to have another cahne to learn our game, but I do doubt he ever will.... These minutes was OK though.

Faubert - Came on for Collison in the last minutes to help Spector on the right.

Overall: We can not concede these easy goals, because the players minds and the audience hearts can't cope with that. 5-0 to 5-3 is not that impressive. But even if this was another game where we fell apart defensivly (fix it now Clarke!), I'll stay puzzled but happy! We won! We scored five goals!!!

Anyone who knows where Behrami was?

ManU next!

Another must-must win

I think the team tomorrow (today) is easy to foresee. With Matthew Upson out (thigh/hamstring) and Ilunga back (hopefully after some days in full training) Gabbs can be back in his preferable position and Ilunga of course in his. An alternative is of course Tomkins (also back after a minor knock) but Da Costa and James together looks a bit too unexperienced for my taste. Tomkins and Da Costa may look more solid in the air, but Burnley is not the best team talking about headers and I think Gabbidon, who hade a really good game on the left against Hull, will suit Da Costa, also impressive since he got his chance. Diamanti seems still unfit which I really feel is sad, as a game against hard-fighters Burnley may give us some chances to strike with free-kicks.

It will be nice to see Parker as our captain though, it always looks like he is the true one on the field.

So I will go with:

Green

Faubert Da Costa Gabbs Ilunga

Noble Parker Collison Stanislas

Cole Franco

I'd rest Behrami, he looked a bit fatigue against Hull and we need some creativity and width witch Stanislas will give us. Hines will certainly get his chance from the bench, if needed.

Bench: Stech, Spector, Behrami, Kovac (don't know why, but he will be there for sure) Dyer, Hines, Nouble.

Nervous? Of course.... But even if we should have won quite comfortably against Hull I can't see that just more one of their goals should be counted. So from my point of view it was not the way we dropped the gols against Hull (who by the way won again in midweek, they are not THAT bad) that made me angry, it was the way we just stopped our own creativity and started to look too much on our opponents... Please, do not do that against the fresh newcomers...

Follow the money - Financial Times on stats in football

I don't browse through Financial Times on a regular basis but maybe that has to change.
Simon Kuper has written a really interesting ARTICLE on the use of stats in football. Or rather the future of stats in football.

We are already on that path as we are fed possession percentages and stats of corners, shots on goal, meters covered etc. etc. every time we watch a game. Also, Opta Stat and "Chalkboards" has fuelled quite a few of my discussions. But that is all descriptive stats feeding us the numbers, leaving us to be ignorant although on a higher level.

Mike Forde, Chelsea's performance director, talks about that in the FT article - the problem of using the numbers as a basis for predictions and actions. He gives an interesting correlation between possession ad outcome of a game, but I won't spoil that for you. You really should read the article.
The future is in feeding the right numbers into the right algorithms and to make the right deductions from them.

This is still in the far future I guess, and many would add "I hope" as this way of looking at sports has always turned people off.
Most people are content in believing the experts or their own analytical capacity.
Fair enough, but I'm off to buy "Moneyball"!
.

Why are they feeding us crap?

There is an interesting but confusing PR-war
going on fuelled by the delay in making the financial-books public.

The amount of debts we carry has been the fundamental discrepancy.

Some stories say we are fine as the debt is managable (approx £45 m) after having renegotiated the terms of the loans down to a level where the turnover (approx £90m) can carry it. One example of this financial optimism is the article by owner pipeline - Jason Burt of the Telegraph - painting a picture of a club in decent economic shape going in the right direction and with a prosperous future.

Other say we're deep in the brown stuff, carrying more debt than the £100 m Straumur wants for us, triggering the Sullivan rumor/offer were he supposedly said he'd take on our huge debts for nothing (if he got the Club along with it).
The Intermarket Group's view seem to be somewhere in between.

This PR war is nowhere as obvious as on KUMB and the "West Ham for sale" thread were posters claiming ITK status are fighting a war to convince the fans that their view is the only reasonable.

But now back to my original question.
The real economic discussion, the evaluation of the Club, the debt and a possible bid for it, is not exactly a public hearing. It is going on inside a few London (?) offices by people having access to all the necessary financial information.
So why are they feeding us all this crap? What good is it for the respective sides to have this going on in the press?

Or are they actually preparing for the situation after this has ended, to gain acceptance for actions to come, may it be transfer funds that never appears or the sale of a player we were supposed to keep?

Daft fouls costed us 2 precious points!

2 goals up after 11 minutes then you know we're in trouble.

Da Costa, the player that impressed me most in the last game certainly had a troublesome first half. After making questionable decisions in several situations he daftly fouls some harmless Hull player after 25+ minutes ... 1-2. We all knew what was about to happen didn't we?Even if the collective nervous breakdown was not as obvious as in previous games, Hull certainly found all the motivation they needed.

Gabbidon wasn't the best player on the pitch but still my MOTM. He's been out for so long and is played in an unfamiliar position and he puts in a great performance. With a Stanislas in front of him, who was not really up to his defensive duties, he didn't have an easy task but did very good considering.

I'm a bit disappointed with how we play the game. Even one man up we don't have the skill to run the show, and we are talking about Hull for crying out loud! I'll come back to this in a later post. But the short version is that I think we are not trying to dominate games with short passes. We are a team that plays on the brake but in stead of outside players darting along the sidelines as we've had in Konchesky/McCartney-Etherington, we now play a high speed passing game. The result is pretty much the same though - after 8 seconds of possession we either have a chance or lose the ball to the opposition. We seem un-capable of using the passing game to put a lasting pressure on any team, not even a one man down Hull!

I hope you all noted that the future was on the pitch for the last 20+4 minutes! Starters Stanislas and Collison was accompanied by Hines when he came in for Behrami. I think they all did well.

None of our business!

Rumors are flying, or maybe shuffling along, about possible buyers of the Club.
There are several direct and indirect rumors of several persons/groups interested in buying the club.

The first part of the puzzle - are there any interested in buying?

The most talked about propable new owner at the moment is the one represented by the Intermarket Group. The Intermarket Group, in its current state is not our future owner. They represent a group that for some reason is not interested in revealing their identities. This secrecy has hampered the Intermarket Groups credibility as a serious bidder, forcing them to go public about having persuaded Rotshilds (current owners appointed representatives) that they have the required financial muscle. If the strongest rumor is true they have signed a non-disclosure agreement with the Club and even if that does not necessarily mean that a due diligence process have started I can't see the reason for such an agreement if a closer look at the West Ham books is not at hand. A due diligance process closes the books to other potential bidders and the Straumur creditors will want to make sure that they chose the one that will make the best offer first.
Of course a formal bid will not be tabled before any buyer have been through due diligance.

David Gold, West Ham fan and former Birmingham City owner have, following a period of denial, repeatedly stated that he is interested in a West Ham takeover and he is also my favourite to end up as our owner. As “Pink Palermo” wrote on KUMB: “I really want to believe the fairytale of billionaire west ham fans (Intermarket group) saving our skins, but if they were super super wealthy like the Citeh fella they would have bought the club by now, not be pissing around demonstrating they've got proof of funds”. (please note that Pinky has an agenda of his own of some kind and mysteriously appeared on KUMB around the time of Golds sale of B-ham, has since produced 1000 posts (!) and is always restating that due to huge debts West Ham is worth approx. £1…).

Even if Gold is my favorite to do the deal he is not necessarily my favorite owner, whoever that may be.

Then there are a few other direct or indirect rumors about other groups having shown interest in a West Ham takeover.

A rumor about a group called Nuram Investments surfaced the other day. That rumor may be more than a bit shaky as there seem to be only one source for this and no followup.

Now the Sun (!) says that Sullivan (the Gold and Sullivan of B'ham Sullivan) has offered £0 (!) for a 50% share of the club in exchange for injecting £40m into it and turn it into a profitable business...
Well, by the time we are profitable and the remaining 50% can be sold for a reasonable amont of money Straumur will no longer exist and therefore will not be able to enjoy the success, so there is no reason for them to be interested in that kind of bid.

Another rumor was generated more or less as a consequence of 2 ITK-rumours rumours not matching - meaning there must be 2 different bids - ah well, thats the quality of some rumors.

The second part of the puzzle – the owners inclination to sell - may reach a turning point at the Hilton Hotel Nordica in Reykjavík on December 1st when the creditors of Straumur will hold a meeting to discuss a extension of the Straumur moratorium beyond the current deadline of December 11th. The Icelandic court is officially deciding if the moratorium will be extended, but the Dec. 1st meeting will most likely decide if Straumur can go on playing the waiting game, or if they will be forced to accept the best bid tabled.

What we as fans must learn to live with is that the seller in this case does NOT resemble someone selling a puppy and wanting the best family to have it. The Straumurs creditors couldn’t care less about us and sees West Ham as any asset to be sold to regain as much as possible of what Straumur owes them. “We cannot afford to be picky” is a common comment among fans as is “we need to get it right this time”, but all we can do is wait and hope that the new master will be good to us.

Short term loans of good players is the threat!

Last year at this time I wrote THIS and THIS post about the effect of our table position on the likelyhood of key players leaving in the January transfer window.

As far as I’m concerned only the names have changed since then and the owners, regardless who they are, will not dare to endanger our PL status as this will be disastrous for the asking price of the Club (or their investment - if sold).
I’m confident that we will stay in the Premiership with the present squad but the margins are so small that there is no room to worsen it.

Ergo, key players will stay for the rest of the season?
Yes, but for the lingering threat of short term loans.
If an Italian striker with World Cup ambitions is willing to take a short term deal before moving on in the summer or a French Arsenal target wants to show his worth in the PL, or something in that vein, some of our most important players may be in jeopardy.

This would be acceptable for people with only short term interest in the wellbeing of the Club but of course a great blow for those of us that has invested 40 years in supporting it…

Btw is that a claret/blue/white scarf?