Up The Hammers – Latest West Ham United FC News

Normally a draw at home to the bottom club would be seen as a poor result, but I will take this. To stay up. QPR need to win seven games and as each match slips past, so the mountain they have to climb becomes steeper. This would have been earmarked as …

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Well how predictable was that? I could pull up my post earlier in the week and may do so later, warning about the dangers of a one or two goal defeat. Taarabt is running the show and Remy has scored one already and fancy his chances of another second half. Wright-Phillips has also got the beating of Demel and will pose a threat second half. Thus far, ‘Arry has got it…

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It’s looking increasingly as if Diame is the latest Tevez or Demba Ba, seeing West Ham simply as a stepping stone to a better wage deal elsewhere. Arsenal seem to be the front runners to land the man compared to Patrick Vierra and with a £3.5m buy out clause in the contract, there’s little or nothing that Allardyce and …

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I can understand the frustration, but Allardyce’s reaction to last night’s penalty decisions was extreme. Yes the decision to award the penalty against Spence was stupid, and yes there was more of a case for an award against Rafael, but both decisions against the defender would have been harsh. In …

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Well that was much better than I expected. A makeshift team with two young full backs / wing backs, against a reasonably strong Manchester United, and we gave them a game. Okay, we didn’t really look like scoring, but apart from Fatty Dowd giving an absurd penalty, after denying us a better shout, Giggs, Hernandez and Rooney didn’t get many chances either. The formation worked defensively. Diarra made one awful …

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I hate to say it, but if ever a game should be disregarded and defeat accepted, tonight’s FA Cup replay is that game. The chances of us getting a result are remote anyway, and the risks involved in picking a full strength team are immense. We are down to the bare bones at the back and must not gamble on picking up any more injuries ahead of a vital game at…

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Dear God, it has dawned on Allardyce all of a sudden that we need defenders! Most of us have been saying all season that we have sub standard full backs and need cover for the centre back positions, but it’s taken until mid January and a 3-0 thumping at Sunderland for Allardyce to Dot Cotton on. Allardyce is bemoaning…

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So, no Noble because of a calf injury and we were lambs to the slaughter. All season the Noble knockers have insisted that the guy is a liability, so perhaps they would like to explain the coincidence that without him, we slumped to our heaviest defeat of the season? Stani and Sav, in particular…

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Well that was a dreadful 45 minutes. Jarvis could have scored but, for the most part, we have been chasing around trying to retrieve the ball. Why? Because without Noble, we lack control in central midfield. Nobles’s critics repeatedly claim he offers nothing in terms of creativity and concedes stupid free kicks. Well Sunderland nearly scored (albeit Bramble was offside) from …

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With news breaking that Allardyce doesn’t want him at the club, Carlton should start against Sunderland. Despite his goal scoring issues, Cole has a place in the squad, in my opinion, as we look a much more fluid team when he plays instead of the statuesque Carroll.   With Cole fired up and angry, I would fancy him to bully Suderland’s defence something rotten – and to get on the score sheet into the bargain. Carroll isn’t fit and Chamahk’s…

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I can’t see it myself. Allardyce would leave himself desperately short of cover in the centre of defence unless he has a replacement lined up. And, at the end of the day, Tomkins is not what Newcastle need. Talkbollocks are trying to convince us that the rumour they started last week is true but I would say it is strong odds against personally. Am I concerned as a West Ham fan? To be honest…

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You would have thought that with a name like Osvaldo Alonso, the guy might be a bit tasty. It’s not exactly Johan Pele, or Lionel Maradona or Diego Ronaldo even, but it’s pretty damn close. Sadly, the trialist from Seattle Sounders didn’t quite measure up. Like the woefully small Big Mac and the less than princely Burger King Whoppa,

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Oh dear, times they are a’desperate at Portandlemon Road. Not only have they turned to the tactical genius that is Mick McCarthy (no doubt based on a reference from former manager Roy Keane), they have now taken Frank Nouble off the hands of Wolves. There was much excitement at Upton Park when we took this “exciting prospect” from Chelsea, but he proved to be pretty bloody hopeless. And having turned twenty, he aint going to come on…

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Those of us with long memories will be grateful that the latest transfer target linked with West Ham isn’t called Song, but Bong is worryingly close, and like his near namesake, Bong is from Cameroon. Like Rigobert, Gaetan could be enshrined in Cockney rhyming slang if Allardyce lands him and it all goes wrong. Is he any cop? I’ve no idea, but he…

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Oh dear, what a shame. It seems that Dyer’s bone china body isn’t coated in Teflon after all. In the bleak mid winter, the man who has recorded a record number of games on the treatment table for a succession of clubs has, at long, long last been found out. God only knows why Warnock and Hughes …

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Unlike a couple of guys who post comments on here, I am more than happy to admit when I am proved wrong – and boy was I wrong about Sullivan and Gold, in the short term at least. They were decisive when they removed Zola, and whilst those who hate Grant will say the Avram appointment was more to do with the shared absence …

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I missed the game because my flight coincided with the kick off but, based on the highlights, we were bloody unlucky. And had Reid started ahead of Tomkins, I suspect we would have won! Cole looked like a man who has come home. His crosses for the goals were superb. Mind you, had his namesake been on the end of them, no goals would have resulted.The…

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So Jack Sullivan aint pleased but I expect his Dad has told him when it is his own money, he can buy who he wants – but for now… A good, bad or indifferent signing? I think only time will tell. Wenger rarely makes a mistake when he lets a player go but …

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I read the headline Warnock for West Ham and thought Old Big Gob was about to leave Leeds and replace Allardyce. Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire! But thankfully, the Warnock under consideration by the club is younger and more mobile – just! Stephen Warnock is not one to get excited about but …

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He’s coming home, he’s coming home, he’s coming, Joe Cole’s coming home! Great news? Possibly. Allardyce has a knack for squeezing the dregs from a toothpaste tube and has reignited the careers of a host of players who had apparently “hit the wall”. At his best, Cole is pretty special. He could add a new dimension to the team although one of Jarvis, Vaz Te or Nolan will presumably have to make way to …

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Odd. I have seen nothing – that goal against Southampton apart – to suggest that Maiga can cut it in the Prem. But Pardew and his chief scout have a pretty good record when it comes to sourcing unlikely talent, as the squads he assembled at West Ham, Southampton and Newcastle testify. Personally…

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Well the Noble critics are strangely silent tonight. I wonder why? Wearing the captain’s armband, Noble led by example, dominating the midfield, scoring a beautifully taken penalty and setting up our second with a wonderful dribbling run into the box. Best pass of the match? Noble’s ball to Demel, and we should have had a third when Cole missed a gaping net from three yards out from the resultant cross. Those…

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So, all nasty comments about Clattenbung are suspended, for a few days at least. When he was most needed, he delivered, and we are now just 4 wins from safety! To be fair, Hughton is getting his knickers in a twist over nothing. Yes the penalty was a bit harsh, but if you don’t want to be punished for a foul in the box, don’t commit …

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Bit left field I know, but I watched Lua Lua play for Turkish team Karabukspor recently and the guy was on fire. True, his finishing was profligate but his pace and movement were electrifying, as was his awareness of team mates. He is 32 and would be a stop gap but I reckon he would be worth a shot, offering an injection of pace that we so desperately need.

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Well that was dire. Collison, Maiga and Vaz Te were held back far too long and a Reading team there for the beating were allowed to con their way to victory. When Allardyce eventually woke up to the possibility that we could actually attack the team that has already conceded 19 goals at home this season, we created three good chances from open play. But until then, the only game plan seemed to be…

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Well there’s a surprise. Captain Kev is free to enjoy New Year’s Eve for the second season in a row having secured the yellow card necessary to take him to five just in time. How convenient! Last season it was a foul inside the Birmingham half which merited a yellow at the very least and this time it was a foul inside the Reading half that was guaranteed to secure the…

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