What better way to celebrate the end of a good summer, than to share the sunshine of the Olympic Park, Stratford with Prince Harry, James Blunt and the Foo Fighters. An unlikely group, I’m sure you will agree.
However, we actually came together to celebrate the end of the inaugural Invictus games. A sporting event set over 4 days, bringing together injured service men and women participating in events once thought improbable (100m double amputee race anyone ?). This was the brain child of Prince Harry post his visit to the US version, The Warrior Games last year. The reason we went was twofold, one to see the Foo Fighters and two as we had a friend who was competing as part of the UK squad.
First up get well soon Aussie John who didn’t make yesterday’s game, but I will see him later as we are nipping up to the hospital today.
Post our semi dramatic (although not as dramatic as others, LOL) exit from the League Cup, it was back to the Premier League for West Ham, and the visit of Southampton FC.
Southampton had spent most of the summer selling their best assets to Liverpool and Man Utd, and West Ham had been strengthening their squad and continued to do so, with the addition of Alex Song on a season loan from Barcelona being announced just before kick off. So it all looked like a West Ham win.
Last week (Sunday) work took me and a colleague to Canada, to undertake a business process that had to be done in person. As is normal , a suit, etc is order of the day, so even though I was only away for a few days i packed a case to put in the hold.
We were booked with Air Canada, someone who I have used on many occasions and never had an issue. I arrived at the newly opened Terminal 2 Heathrow in plenty of time, so you can imagine I was surprised when I was given a standby ticket. Turns out my colleague was as well, and she had checked in prior to me !
The new seasons is upon us and Sam has promised a new look attacking West Ham. What we got was Carlton Cole up top on his own .
The game started at a pretty frenetic pace as you would expect in a always competitive London derby. However both teams cancelled each other out, and chances were at a premium. However, after 27 mins a turned shot from Kevin Nolan was adjudged to be hand balled by Kyle Naughton and he was dismissed and Mark Noble stepped up to take the pen. I have never been the biggest fan of his penalties but he always seem to score them, so fair play. Anyway this one he pulled to the left of the goal and the game stayed drawn. As is usual Spurs started to get back into it, and they swapped to 3 at the back. This is where Sam made the mistake. As soon as Spurs went down the 10 men we should of gone two up top. Valencia and Zareto were on the bench, and Nolan was on the pitch, but no, Sam knows best and kept Carlton isolated up front.
By the second half you could tell the fans were getting frustrated, but we kept getting chances. Stewart Downing was unlucky after getting through 2 players to only drop short against a brilliant Lloris save. Valencia came on for the last 15 and looked lively although small. Collins was also dismissed after the hour mark for a second yellow, both of which were justified as basically he was trying to break up play with cynical fouls.
The interesting thing was that at 90 mins, no one was leaving the ground. I and I think everyone else knew that something was going to happen but didn’t know what. They didn’t have long to wait when Spurs new signing Dier broke through the dogged WHU defence and slotted home the winner around Adrian.
Bottom line is we played OK, just OK, but not poorly. Cresswell looked great and Kouyate was OK in the middle but needs to come out and forward more. Valencia’s cameo appearance was encouraging, but he is way too small to play on his own up there.
For me Cresswell was MOTM, with Noble closely behind. Nolan was shocking and Sam needs to take a good look at his best mate and his contribution to the team. And at least we are above Man U on the league.
Looks like we already taking the existing ground down !
I also had some time before the game to check the progress on our new home in Stratford. Things seems to be coming along, but it still looks too big for us if I’m honest.
Moving to a new domain was not as easy as I thought and I seem to be getting some odd results linking from other blogs. So just testing here. Move on ……………………
Today, WHU announced that Carl Jenkinson has been signed on a season long loan from Arsenal. This is good news. Young, recent England call up, and knows the league. And he’s half decent. Sam’s summer of attack continues.
The question is , will he take Demel’s place, or is he just backup? Just be like Sam to take a great prospect and stick him on the bench.
Before I get too carried away, lets not forget our last season long Gooner was Henri Lansbury…..
This week has been interesting at West Ham. We have lost two games in New Zealand to poor (relatively) teams, Andy Carroll has been injured again and is out for 4 months. Co-Chairman Sullivan, said he wouldn’t of bought him if he knew what was coming (hindsight and all that), and stated that we shouldn’t of put all the eggs in one basket. Co-Chairman Gold retweeted (accidentally apparently) a tweet from someone asking for BFS to be sacked.
In amongst all that, there was the biggest signing for the close season, and probably the signing that will make or break Sam’s season and WHU career, Enner Valencia. Enner came to our attention scoring in Ecuador’s game against England in the pre World Cup games in Miami. He also netted 3 in the WC, and last season scored 18 in 23 in Mexico. But the Premier League is a different level, and we have all seen players be signed up on the back of good World Cups and fail. Kleberson anyone ?
3 weeks till the Spuds, and the future is looking foggy at best. But we do have the best home kit. NO competition.
As this is the summer that Sam promised us attacking football next season, he has gone and outdone himself by signing a defender!
Left back Aaron Cresswell joins WHU from Ipswich for an undisclosed fee. I have stated before the we need to sort out our no 3 position, so I’m happy with this signing.
I’ll be honest, I know nothing about the lad, but he comes with a pedigree of being used to play football (Tranmere and Ipswich) and looking at his record on Wikipedia, doesn’t suffer from injury or long spells out of the team. Obviously there is the issue of whether the step up in class will effect him, but I think he will be OK. He was voted in the Championship team of the year for last season by his fellow players, so things bode well.
At least we haven’t bought any world cup one hit wonders (as yet), although there is always time. I think that Messi lad could do a job as cover for Nolan.
Welcome aboard, and enjoy the inevitable ride.
One last thing. the new home shirt is out (as in the photo above) and once again Adidas have gone back to a classic from our yet to be beaten 86 season. Hope that bodes well. I’ll take 3rd in the prem (although its easier now as there are less clubs, so maybe second !!)
I could do a report on the game and who did what, and when things happened. But, as the whole world knows, England lost and their WC dream was hanging by a thread. Since then Italy have been beaten by Costa Rica, rendering that dream smashed on the dressing room floor.
So what went wrong.? This is easy. Against Italy, England attacked and looked fresh and even though they eventually lost, they made a good account of themselves. The England that turned up last Thursday, reverted to type, and were poor going forward with little transition from midfield, relying on long balls from Gerrard. Once or twice, Sterling showed his skills in the first half, but not enough for me. You could argue, that the Uruguay captain should of been dismissed for a chop at Sturridge’s neck, post a previous yellow, but he wasn’t, blah, blah. Continue reading “England vs Uruguay WC 2014 1st Round”→
Mrben09 