Vegas NYE 2015 Trip

Work commitments mean this one is a little late, but is a 3 parter. This part will cover the main trip, the other two will cover my day at the Aria tournament and the final part will be a small write up of the SLS vs the Sahara.

Flights over on Xmas day were very agreeable as BA gave us a free upgrade to business, which is always a good start to any trip. Changing at Chicago was not quite as painful as we expected and AA delivered us to Vegas early evening. We went to pick up our car and I then understood why car hire prices had gone through the roof. The car park was practically empty. Vegas was going to be busy this year. But it was cold, and for Vegas I mean cold…..

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West Ham United vs Leicester City 20/12/2014 EPL

“We are coming for you, we’re coming for yououuuuuuu. Barcelona, we’re coming for you ! “

That was the main chant post the second goal of WHU’s 2-0 win yesterday that helped WHU secure a top 4 position over Xmas for the first time in Premiership history.

This game was a home banker but didn’t play out that well, with West Ham making lots of silly mistakes early on. Most of these errors were happening in the centre back positions with both Reid and Tomkins making poor decisions and bad passes. Leicester didn’t capitalise on this luckily enough, but we were just piling the pressure on ourselves. Continue reading “West Ham United vs Leicester City 20/12/2014 EPL” →

Philippines Nov/Dec 2014

Our latest adventure was a trip back to the Philippines, last seen last year here. Our flight was via Hong Kong and was pretty stress free. We got to experience Cathay Pacific Business class on our second leg, so that set up the trip pretty well.

That evening we hit The Butchers Shop pub and restaurant for some well earned reacquaintance with the repertoire of the San Miguel brewery. They didn’t disappoint with the Cerveza Negra being added to Sam Mig Light and Pilsner as drinks I would have again ! I also came across a newcomer to the market from a local craft brewery called the Katipulan Craft Ale. I say brewery, this stuff is hand made ale, and although a bit bitter its great.

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England vs Slovenia Euro 2016 Qualifier 15/11/2014

England went into this game clear leaders in this group with their opponents sitting in second place. A 3-1 win at Wembley extended the group lead to an almost unassailable 6 points, with England now 4-4 in qualification games. With that all said, England are still not operating at the top table of International Football, and and times were frustrated by a far weaker team.

Today was Rooney’s day. He was playing in his 100th game and was presented with a golden cap from Sir Bobby Charlton. This may of been through gritted teeth as I have covered on my last England visit.

England set up with some new blood at full back with Nathaniel Clyne and Kieron Gibbs, coming in for the established, Leighton Bains and Glenn Johnson. This offered some pace on the edges of the field, which was going to be needed with the pedestrian midfield of Wilshere, Henderson and Lallana playing out of position. I am getting fed up with moaning about Wilshere and how he is not a holding midfielder, but there he was again. Henderson can play that position and does every week, but he is pushed up the pitch at England level, and plays alongside his team mate Lallana. I say team mate, the guy hardly ever plays for Liverpool, and also should not currently be an England player. If you want two holders and a traditional midfielder to play off Sterling, how about Henderson, Noble and Wilshere (further forward).

This poor line up (positionally) meant England had no shots on target in the first half. Every ball forward went to Rooney, who was doing his damnest to score, at the expense of Sterling and Wellbeck. Shocking first half. The playing style was typified by a Jordan Henderson OG admittedly against the run of play in the second half. This seemed to spark England, with the reply almost instant, as Rooney got in the box and won a penalty. Personally I don’t think he was touched at all, and I had a great view. Rooney stepped up to get another goal for his tally, and England really pushed on from there. All of a sudden, the team realised Wellbeck was playing and in his usual lackadaisical style he added another 2 goals to his tally, with Sterling interchanging well with the Arsenal striker. If he keeps getting these goals, I think Rooney’s stint at the top of the scoring charts may be shorter than Sir Bobby Charlton!

Yesterday, my companions for games were the Aldershot duo of Ian and Albert. This was young Albert’s first visit to Wembley and being used to 1.5k at the Rec meant that nearly 90k in attendance was pretty awesome. I’m sure he had a great day out, and hopefully will see better performances in the future.

My MOTM was Wellbeck, and whoever voted for Wilshere, as was announced at Wembley, needs to take a long look at themselves.

One last thing, as regular readers will know. I am a recent convert to NFL, BUT the state of the pitch was shocking yesterday, covered in wrong coloured strips of grass, and the remnants of the gridiron pitch layouts and lettering. Just behind the goal was COWBOYS, and the yardage lines all up the left wing. This is our national stadium and our national game. This needs to be sorted. I’m sure it’s not to hard to use overlays for the non playing surfaces. The stud marks all up the middle didn’t look too great either, but didn’t seem to effect the roll of the ball. Click on the photos to see what I mean.

Enjoy the pics (taken with a recently acquired low end Canon DSLR).

Slovenian fans in full flow

Welcome aboard

Rooney Penalty (expand to see the Cowboys lettering)

We made it !

Chaps on arrival

Wembley welcome

This is bigger than the Rec !

Slovenian clearance

The arch as usual

Come on England

Official flags (new UEFA logo ?)

Kick Off

WHUFC vs Aston Villa EPL 08/10/2014

Get on and do a job. But you won't play every week ! — Welcome back, and stay bloody fit !

After our win over Man City, most WHU fans were thinking that the next 2 games against Stoke and Villa should be 6 points and our top 4 status should be secure. However, old skool heads knew better, and those thoughts were realised after our draw at Stoke (albeit from 2 nil down), and another 1 point game with our 0-0 against Villa yesterday. Last year we would of lost by 3 or 4 at Stoke and maybe could of thrown away the valuable point late on yesterday. Let’s not forget this point moved us back into the top 4 (without at this time knowing the Arsenal result). These results have been recognised with Sam getting Manager of the Month for October and Diafra Sakho getting Player of the Month.

Villa are a team in trouble, and played that way. They spent the last half hour wasting time and if it wasn’t for some great goalkeeping would of lost to our last few minutes onslaught of their goal from the returning Andy Carroll.

WHU played the whole game in control with Downing (congrats on the England call up) and Song running the game from start to finish. The introduction of Carroll was immense, and if he had come in for longer (eg when Cole came on), we would of got a win. However that wasn’t to be and we have to learn that teams respect us more these days and sometimes we will be up against spoiling tactics. That all said some players need to take a look at themselves. Kouyate for example, is a player that prior to his injury had been a Diame with the ability to surge forwards and link up play. His introduction back in yesterday for Amalfitano (who was poor against Stoke) was welcomed but he really didn’t deliver. Against a tight midfield, he was ineffective and looked a shadow of the guy who started the season. In fact, he looked like Diame !

The one worry for me, was that with Valencia and Sahko not firing yesterday, we ended the game with Cole, Nolan and Carroll on the pitch. Will Sam start to revert to these tactics that saw him vilified last season if we go on a run of draws and losses? We will have to wait and see.

Carroll as previously mentioned looked immense when he came on. In the 5 minutes he played, he had 2 chances saved by Guzan . I think he will be introduced in longer spells moving forwards, and the upcoming International break will help with his recuperation.

Our next two games are away to Everton and home to Newcastle. Neither will be easy ,and will be a good bell weather for our finishing position for the season. But we cannot deny, that with a fully fit squad we should now be prepared for anything, and the competition for places should encourage better performances.

Shout out to Joe Cole who took some humorous “banter” well, while warming up for Villa. On that subject, fans singing “he hits who he wants” to James Tomkins might want to think about that.

MOTM today was again Alex Song, but big shouts to James Collins who played a blinder against his old team. Holidays and bad timings of games will limit my reports until late December now, but hopefully, I will still have the optimism brought on by he opening quarter of the season.

COYI

West Ham United

13 Adrián
18 Jenkinson
19 Collins
02 Reid
03 Cresswell
30 Song
16 Noble (Carroll – 92′ )
08 Kouyaté (Nolan – 66′ )
11 Downing
31 E Valencia (Cole – 75′ )
15 Sakho

Substitutes

04 Nolan
05 Tomkins
09 Carroll
17 O’Brien
21 Amalfitano
22 Jääskeläinen
24 Cole

Aston Villa

01 Guzan
34 Lowton
04 Vlaar
02 Baker (Senderos – 88′ )
23 Cissokho
08 Cleverley Booked
15 Westwood
24 Sánchez
28 N’Zogbia (Clark – 92′ )
11 Agbonlahor Booked
10 Weimann Booked

Substitutes

06 Clark
07 Bacuna
12 Cole
14 Senderos
18 Richardson
19 Bent
31 Given

Ref: Jonathan Moss

Att: 34,857

Team lists and details c. the BBC

WHUFC vs Manchester City EPL 25/10/2014

Last season Man City beat us 9-0 over 2 legs in the League Cup semi final and won the premier league, as well as the cup. Today was a test of how far we have come since then, with the new look team and style. Anything short of a hiding would be an improvement over previous encounters. Sam had suggested this was a good time to play them with their mid week trip to an empty stadium in Russia behind them, and I tended to agree. It worked for our Liverpool game !

Both teams lined up pretty much how you would expect, and the Song / Toure match up seemed a mouthwatering prospect. The ground was packed to the rafters, and for a change the atmosphere was electric and expectant. We actually thought we could win. Personally I thought if we could keep them quiet for half an hour, we may have a chance.

However City came out of the blocks flying, and as i thought he would be, Silva was dictating the play, and laid a couple off to Aguero which another day, would of had a different result. We coped with the onslaught by having Song cover every blade of glass, and drive his fellow midfielders on to get back and help out as well. One example was our attack breaking down, and City countering quickly. He must of run 70 yrds to collect the ball off the toe of Dzeko in our box.

After a long 10 minutes we started to get the ball and actually play. We were pushing them back and stopped them playing. Cresswell and Jenkinson were pushing their overlaps further and further back assisted by Sakho and Valencia getting among the back four to stop any counters being launched. This set the tone for the rest of the half. One loose ball came to Song who threaded a world class ball through for Valencia out wide on the right. He went round Clichy and got to the byline to cross a simple ball avoiding Hart for Amalfitano to tap in to open the scoring for the Hammers. Crowd go wild with chants of “we’re going to win the league”. One nil West Ham.

City did not recover and at half time WHU were quite comfortable with their lead.

The second half was more closing down by WHU high up the pitch, and we started to believe. But you knew we needed at least one more goal. This came on 75 minutes with the ever impressive Cresswell getting down the line to cross for Sakho to head into the corner, and the ball was scraped out by Hart. From my angle, it wasn’t in, but it’s not up to me, and the lino and the technology adjudged it to be over (see photo above), and Sakho gets his 7th in 7 starts. Roof lifts off the ground, and WHU fans start doing the “Posnan” much to the chagrin of the City supporters. 2-0.

Literally from the kick off, Silva shows his quality, by running through half our team to slot in a great goal for City, and set up the finale.

I’ll be honest, some last ditch defending and some saves from Adrian and the post / crossbar kept the visitors out from here on in. Aguero will be having nightmares regarding his shot that hit the bar from within the 6 yards box. Talking of defenders, Kompany should of not still been on the pitch, as once he started to lose it, he decided to kick Valencia all over the pitch. At least 4 times, and only got one yellow. I think the ref needs to have a look at himself today.Nolan, Kouyate and Cole came on to see the game out, and did their jobs well. I hope Nolan (and Sam) understands this will be more the norm for him, these days

Anyway, all told, WHU won and we really deserved it, and that is the important part. The team has been upgraded, we have had a little injury scare, and brought squad players in, and we are still doing well, and find ourselves in 4th, and it’s not a false position. Will we stay there? Probably not, but with Stoke and Villa up next, we dare to dream with some justification.

As much as it pains me to say, Sam has had more than a shout in this, but he needs to deal with this with humility (not a strong point) and not ram it down the fans throats.

MOTM was Song by a mile. If we can change the loan to a permanent move, it could up Sam’s relationship with the fans immeasurably.

On another note, we spoke to a few City fans afterwards, and not one gave us a hard time, and said we deserved the win. Class

England vs San Marino – 09/10/2014 Euro 2016 Qualifier

Not a lot to report here if I’m honest. England played the eternal minnows last night, and I was fortunate enough(!) to get a box invite, so I got myself along to Wembley to watch. First things first. England won 5-0, Joe Hart could of sat next to me, and the score would of been the same. I should know better as I went last time as well.

As I was finding my way around the corporate hospitality level of Wembley I bumped into Adrian Chiles. For those who don’t know he hosts the England games on TV on ITV. Seemed like a nice fella, and gave me the tip of 2-1 England, last minute scrappy winner. So obviously, his ill fated sojourn to breakfast telly hasn’t dulled his sense of humour. We also had a chat about West Ham, and he was enjoying it so much he missed his studio door, and wandered off with me, as he was being chased down the corridor by some TV types. If I tell you that this was the highlight of the evening, then you can guess why I’m not reporting too much on the game !

Anyway, what did we learn? Jack Wilshere. I will be honest and say , that I didn’t realise he was actually playing until about 70 mins, he was that anonymous. Whether it’s the system or him I don’t know, but he needs to be moved out of the England set up until he can prove he can operate at this level. Anyone can have the odd flash of brilliance, but to be an international you should be at that level all the time. Chambers and Gibbs kept a clean sheet, but hopefully with England way ahead in the group now, they will get a chance against Estonia / Slovenia, to see if the can compete against better international sides.

My last point is Wayne Rooney. Another win for the captain, and another goal, and maybe if England hadn’t fannied around with the ball so much, he could of got more, BUT. This puts him 7 short of all time record scorer Bobby Charlton. Maybe I’m just being just an old man, but it should be taken into consideration that Charlton was scoring in top level internationals, and not games against Italian postmen. Maybe we should initiate a FIFA style ranking system for the worth of a goal, and I’m sure Sir Robert C would be way out there with Jimmy Greaves, and everyone else way behind.

San Marino keeper with the ball. He actually made more passes than anyone else in his team !

Rainy night in Wembley (obligatory arch picture)

WHUFC vs QPR EPL 05/10/2014

It's good to be wise when you're young 'Cos you can only be young but the once — It’s good to be wise when you’re young
‘Cos you can only be young but the once

A bit of an odd one. As Chelsea, Arsenal, Totts and these two London clubs were all playing in the capital yesterday, our games kicked off at 16.20? A new one even for Sky.

Arriving in Green Street wasn’t quite the same as Wembley Way for the NFL, but we did have a band in the car park. Some good old Ska from the SkaTonics who were covering Guy Lombardo’s (and latterly Prince Buster’s and The Specials) Enjoy Yourself. Being a bit of a 2 Tone man myself, I stuck around for a couple of tracks and then headed in with a spring in my step.

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Miami Dolphins @ Oakland Raiders NFL 28/09/2014

Time for a new sport, not unhappy with the old one (s) , just fancied seeing something different. We managed to pick up tickets for the NFL International Series at Wembley. This was useful, as I’d wanted to try an NFL game, but didn’t want to waste a days holiday if it was rubbish.

A couple of train tickets and less than an hour later we are in Wembley, and we are at the home of Real Football ™ to watch a different kind of football.

The place was rammed, unlike a football game, there were people there from 11am for a 6pm kick off (punt off?). Anyway, it was busy as you like and full of fanzones and food trucks, and people and cheerleaders, and people (did I mention the amount of people ?). And lots of fancy dress.

Now I struggle to watch a sport of if don’t have someone to cheer for, but I don’t have a team, so i needed one quick. I had decided during the week, that if the Raiders were good enough for Public Enemy and NWA back in the day, then its good enough for me. So, a quick trip to the merch area to kit out and we are good to go.

The main fanpark shut early, so we wandered into the stadium, to see whats going on. First thing was, because it wasn’t a real football game, you could get a beer without too much hassle, and everyone seemed genuinely happy to be there. Odd I know, but hey sports fans, thats how it happens over “there”. This was an hour before kick off and the teams come out to warm up to boos and cheers, and the Cheerleaders were in full flow. And you can take beer to your seat. WIN

Then I noticed some trucks being wheeled on while the warm up is on. ??? Turns out it is a stage, so that Def Leppard (yep?) can knock out 4 hits in what is known as pre-game “entertainment”. As has been mentioned elsewhere, Motorhead would of been better, but it passed the time.

Then we get national anthems? WTF? For an international yes, not for what is a league game in all but location. Anyway, we finish spangling banners and saving queens, and then the main event begins. And do you know what? I enjoyed it, especially as the Raiders scored from the get go. RAAAAAAIIIIIIIDERRRRRSSSSSS.

At this stage, I have a new team, they are good, they are not West Ham, they are not the Knicks, they are not England (or Scotland), they are not even Ebbsfleet, they are winners. Needless to say, they then went backwards at a rate that stunned I think even seasoned watchers of the game. They were 24 – 7 down at half time, and 38 – 7 down at the end of the 3rd.

I don’t think they made 20 yrds in any of their possessions. McFadden tries to carry the team on his own, and struggles. Carr, the young Raiders QB, was woeful with his passing, and his replacement McGloin wasn’t up to much either after fumbling a snap, and giving the ball away for the 4th Miami Touchdown.

The 2 minute warning goes and its time to leave, safe in the knowledge I have picked yet again another team with great support, and some good years ahead, interspersed with some shockers.

The Wembley tubes home were as disorganised as usual, just to remind us that we were in London NW, not Oakland CA.

Would I go again, yes, but only to see the Raiders, I really cannot handle non partisan sport.

Enjoy the photos:

Raider Truck

I don’t know, not a Dolphin ?

A rare Raider offence

A View around Wembley

3 Superbowls, right there

These lads are big

NFL Hill, London

Bundle, bundle……

The Def Leppard Union Jack

The Raiderettes, outside the ground

Yep, Def Leppard.

Raider Nation invades

The other obligatory snap

Pitchside

Raiding inside Wembley

Anthems

HUP, HUP

Tackle the tacklers tackle

Pre game

Raider Nation

Just incase you were wondering what today was

Every got one

Insert own clown joke after this performance

2nd Greatest WHU Captain ever

Obligatory snap from the station

WHUFC vs Liverpool 20/09/2014 EPL 2014/2015

Not a massive fan of late kick offs so I dragged myself down to Upton Park for this game which had been moved for our friends on the telly. Having a chat with Angry pre game, and some random turns up and gives us free beer as his mates had disappeared, so the day was looking up. Anyway the bottom line of this chat, was that for us to get anything out of this, Liverpool needed to be having an off day. But at least we have a chance after it appears that Sam’s attacking football ™ is starting to gel, following the Hull game last Monday.

So the game starts in front of a vocal full house and the atmosphere is electric. After 90 seconds it goes to 11 once Winston Reid scores from a Tomkins knock down, the put the hammers into the lead. As everyone was settling into the pattern, of Liverpool attack and WHU counter, when Sakho lofted over Mignolet from the right hand side to double the lead, within 6 minutes. Now, whether it was really a cross or not, I’ll leave for him to answer, but from the Bobby Moore Upper it looked fantastic.

Being a West Ham fan, you know this isn’t enough, so the more Liverpool got the ball, the more concerned for the final result you were. And they got the ball a lot, but Balotelli and Sterling didn’t really offer the threat of a Sturridge and Suarez. One other highlight in the first half was everyones favourite pantomime villain Balotelli, going straight through Adrian, and nearly get a hiding for his trouble, but in the end they both settled for yellow cards. Liverpool got one back just before half time, when a Balotelli shot rebounded off Cresswell onto an onrushing Sterling to fire into the bottom left corner, with a well taken strike. The half time conversation was not as comfortable as you would expect being 2-1 up, and we started the second half waiting for inevitable. Which never came. The scousers battled on and had way more ball. but there was no plan B outside of give it to Sterling. Gerrard wasn’t driving on and Henderson looked like he had regressed two years.

West Ham had the odd counter, but to be fair this period wasn’t as eventful as the first half, unless you count Lovren chasing after Valencia, because Valencia won the ball in the air, but Lovren was convinced he had been butted (he wasn’t, but he had taken a massive bang in the head in first half, so maybe can be forgiven for his reaction). With 2 minutes to go, WHU broke and an improving Downing threaded through a great ball for new boy Amalfitano to slot home the final goal of the game, and end any hope Liverpool had of points today.

I don’t say this very often, but Sam got it right today, keeping Sakho and Valencia up top, and putting in Alex Song with Noble. Alex Song. Now this guy is some player. He doesn’t do any more than anyone else, but everything he does is completed correctly, and without fuss. He makes every pass and sees balls that our other midfielders don’t. And he knows when to put himself out there to pick up a card, just to stop the game. Lets hope he stays. Also something else i don’t say a lot, Downing played well, and seems to be happier in his distribution now we have a quicker frontline. Lets hope Sam allows this midfield to continue to flourish, once Nolan is fit.

Sam also made the right call, by throwing on Collins as soon as Rodgers put in Lambert, to make sure the existing players on the pitch didn’t have to change their style to combat a new offence.

So well played Sam, well played West Ham, and well played Alex Song (MOTM). Going back to my pre game chat, I don’t think Liverpool had an off day, I think they are just at that level without Sturridge. They better enjoy the CL this year, because I don’t think they will be in it next year. Also, If Sterling and Borini would like to stop the diving, that would be nice as well.

Is Adrian angling for a move to Real Madrid. Nice kit anyway.

Lovren getting some serious attention from the medical staff