2012 EPL

QPRWHU — Who would of thought it? The R’s and the Hammers in the EPL !

After the humiliation against Wigan, Sam brought out the big gins for the visit to Loftus Road. Cole up top, Carroll on the bench, Diame reinstalled in the middle, and unsurprisingly no Tompkins in the back four. No point embarrassing yourself on the Telly.

Ex Hammer Zamora started for the R’s unlike the shafted Rob Green.

For two teams that play football, the game started quite ugly, and turned into a head tennis match. After 3 minutes RVT fot the ball on right, got through a challenge, and put a cross in for Nolan. Big Kev made a mess of the shot, straight onto Jarvis’ head, and into the net. Cheers, 0-1 to the Hammers.

After that, the next 15 were end to end with no end ! WHU seemed to be quite “agricultural” in the tackle, and luckily Mark Clattenburg was light on the yellows. On 19 minutes QPR had a free kick that put some panic into the West Ham box, and ended up with Jussi sparking out Winston Reid. Having had a concussion last season, and the fact he wasn’t moving a lot, they were a little concerned, and they subbed him off for Tompkins. Winston left on his feet, which hopefully is good news.

Once again CC seems to be getting penalised for no reason. Maybe Sam needs to have a chat with the refs, a la Mr Rogers at Liverpool. Noble seemed more settled, must be his new wallet balancing him out.

On 33 Joey O’Brien went off with an injury for McCartney. So, with about half an hour gone, we are two defenders down. What to do, eh? How about a goalmouth scramble, an excellent cross from Tompks, and a smart finish from Ricardo Vaz Te, for his first of the season. Happy birthday RVT!

With 5 to go, from a QPR free kick, Cisse gets a nice volley in only for Jussi to push over the bar. This was the first time he had really been called into action in the half. The weight he seems to have lost since he signed for WHU helped him him get up to it, I’m sure!

After 5 minutes of extra time, WHU go into the break 2 up, in a game that was really even to be fair. WHU pushed a little more and were harder in the tackle.

The second half started in West Ham’s favour, with Diame forcing a save from Cesar, and QPR seemingly all over the place.

After 55 minutes Mark highes made a double sub and brought on Adel Taarabt, who waited 70 seconds before rifling in a screamer into the top right hand corner. 1-2 to the Irons. Then the game livened up as you would expect, and WHU started to look concerned., picking up needless yellows, and running balls out for no reason. Jussi made a brilliant save from Granero, only then to get booked for time wasting.

On 67 Carlton Cole missed a stone wall sitter by putting wide, after Nolan picked up a loose pass, and put him through perfectly. Definitely a man not in form.His reward was also a yellow, along with Kevin Nolan who did no more than question the ref (this is the job of the captain, isn’t it ?). With the game going against us bit by bit (another save by Jussi, after a good long range shot by Cisse), BFS played the trump card and brought on Andy Carroll in lieu of CC for the last 20. The big question now was “Is he fit ?”. With 15 to go, Diakite (a second half sub) got his second yellow, and the R’s were down to 10. Once again the pendulum swung the way of WHU. QPR were tired and this didn’t help. Carroll made a nice knock down to RVT, whose strike pulled a fantastic tip on to the bar from Cesar. With 2 to go, Jussi made another good save from Zamora, to keep WHU ahead.

The extra time went up as 6 minutes, real Fergie time stuff, and QPR seemed back in the ascendancy. Howlett forced another Jussi save from distance. James Tompkins made it 8 yellows for West Ham. Just before the end, Carroll took a ball down, turned and got a shot off, and was unlucky to get a rebound. That was about the end of the match, and WHU recorded their first away win of the season, and went 7th in the league.

Not a lot to winge about tonight, but once again selection is odd. O’Brien in front of George Mac. Really ? Training must show things i’ve never seen. Noble seemed more content, with Nolan ,and Diame, moving well around him.

While we are blowing smoke up ourselves, lets stay grounded. We seem to play well against teams at our level, but we will struggle against anyone who wants to pass and move quickly (as proved by Taarabt). Cisse and Bobby Z were never going to set fire to the grass tonight. I said earlier in the season 10 points before Arsenal would do us well. We have 11, and our real season starts on Saturday. We might need to watch the discipline as well, with 8 yellow cards !

What was encouraging is that we seem to be getting more shots off, because we are playing further up the pitch. Andy Carroll’s return was unexpected and welcome.

The crowd must get a mention. Its so good to hear on old school London derby crowd, with both sides going for it.

MOTM: Noble played well, AC looked the part when he came on, but Jussi Jaaskelainen kept WHU in the game. Much to Rob Green’s disappointment, I’m sure.

IOS6 on a 3GS !

Over the weekend I upgraded my IPhone 3GS to IOS 6. So here’s the low down on new features, and what you should and shouldn’t expect if , like i was, you are slightly hesitant in installing this software on the lowest spec possible device Apple now support. Actually on that point, why no original ipad update? The 3GS is older by nearly 6 months and surely the IPad must support most of the features. This is a device that has just had its 2nd birthday (April 2010) and now its persona non grata at the Cupertino dinner table. If Microsoft released a piece of hardware and then dropped it 2 years later, the Apple fan boys would of been hollering from the rooftops (actually they did with the Kin phones and the first batch of recent Windows Phones, but we wont go there ……………..).

The install was quite easy via Itunes (well as easy as a 850mb download can be), and then it just got on with it. I had no errors and all apps seen to be working from the get go, no lost passwords for mail, or loss of twitter accounts, etc. So far, so good. As an aside, my wife did hers on a 4S over the air, and with a good wireless connection, this went smoothly as well.

A quick scroll down the settings app flashed up some new features.

Do not disturb. This is useful feature especially if you are on the road in foreign climes and use your calendar frequently. I have been woken up in all sorts of places in the middle of the night to attend a meeting in the UK that is on my calendar. The Do not Disturb feature keeps everything quiet excep the alarm (tested), meaning , you can have the device as a alarm clock, without everything else keeping you awake.

Privacy. This is a new feature that is actually just a tiding up of what went before. Basically any apps that have requested access to other apps are listed in here. For example, under my contacts I have Skype. Any access can be switched on and off, so if you have said OK to something and then find yourself in a heap of misery, once all your contacts for work are spread across Facebook for example you can turn it off.

Reply with message. This lives in the phone settings, and is something that other manufacturers have had for some time. Basically the deal is as follows: You get a call, you cannot answer, so you swipe up the option to send a pre written message e.g, “I’m in a meeting, call you later”, or “Never call me again, thanks xx”, that sort of thing. Anyway it works fine, unless the person you are calling has a specific imessage setup , then it fails miserably by not sending the message, but worse still logs the message as sent and delivered. Now to me its just annoyance, to a person who earns their living on the phone, it could lose them money and business. I’m investigating it further and it seems to be if you have more than one receive address for imessage. I assume this covers anyone who has an ipad and an iphone, and likes to imessage across both.

Reminders. No new functionality as such but you can now switch on badges to display just how many outstanding tasks you have. If you are like me, and use exchange tasks linked to reminders religiously, then this is great (and disturbing at the same time, every time you look at the home screen !).

Twitter came on board in IOS 5. Facebook has now joined the party in 6. I cannot comment on this, as i do not have a Facebook account (not a long story, i just know a bit about IT security, case closed). Twitter works well though, although seems to take about 10 seconds to come on and update. This is a similar time on the 4s as well, so just bad code, but useable.

EDIT 07/10/2012: One really nice feature that has been added is that each mail account (i run 5 currently), can have its own signature. This is really useful, as I’m sure my friends find it a bit weird to get a reply with my full job title, etc, telling them i’ll meet them at the pub !

Maps. So here it is, one more reason that Steve Jobs shouldn’t have died. This crap would not of been allowed out of the gate. I get the anti google thing, and the money they must hand over to the big G, but really ? This app is just so poor, its laughable. Android is killing IOS in the states, and this will just keep that steamroller going. Turn by turn is a good feature (and been with google for some time), but the turns are only as good as you reaching the destination. I have seen shops missing and some a mile away from reality. Today I looked at my local train line (a mainline into London). 2 of the 5 local stations are missing. Did you know the only shop in Bluewater park is the Apple Store ?

Drawing accurate maps is one of the most technical tasks out there (ask Mark Thatcher), but programming the things takes time and money most companies don’t have, hence there is pretty much one player in town. And it ain’t Apple.

There is a reason google maps, the london a-z and OS maps all look similar, because that style has been perfected over many decades in both print and digital formats. Apple’s take on maps, is Fisher Price at best, with a hard to follow style, and with the current inaccuracies, hard to believe and therefore trust.

Played with an Iphone5 today, and it left me a little bit meh. Yeah it’s nice and all, but not £500+ nice. If i wasn’t so wedded to ITunes I would be on an Samsung 3 like a rash. I remember the last time I had to convert all the music, and if truth be told I cannot be bothered.

Birmingham and surrounding areas, c.1500. No Wolverhampton ?

In finishing, a reasonable update, v.poorly let down by the mapping. An excuse to launch the phone in my opinion. Apologies to the fan boys, but some things are best left alone. I’m also sure there are a million other features that a 3GS cannot harness, and thats fair enough.

2.5 MrBens

WHU vs Sunderland 22/09/2012 – EPL

I said at the start of the season that we needed 10 points before the visit of Arsenal, and we started off the day being in line with that, and with a chance of going 3rd in the prem, as anyone who is any good was playing on the Sunday.

With that in mind i set off towards London with a confident feeling of another 1-0 win ,a la Villa. The journey to UP was a little disjointed as i got to the Pub in Forest Gate to be told i had missed the lads by 5 minutes, and they were on their way. Now i know they are old boys, but they do know their mobiles are not just for answering !

Anyway, a quick trip on the 58 later, and I arrive at the Theater of Mediocrity in time for a beer (which they had got me, despite having no idea where i was !) and kick off. The game started as these seem to , with a bit of feeling out from both sides. WHU seemed to be on top, but not too keen on pushing forwards. WHU seemed to be happy playing across the back without advancing and this is one thing that gets my goat. If you want to move it around down the pitch fine, but when it gets back to the anchor (in this case, Collins), then make sure that we are further up the pitch than when that phase starts. Anything else is a waste of time. Anyway, Collins seemed to be a little uncomfortable with this. So uncomfortable infact, he tried a hollywood ball out to Taylor, miss hit it, and gave is straight to Larrson, who then put in a beauty for Fletcher to get onto, nuts Collins and put the Black Cats one up. Arrrrgggg. This is the second time this season Collins has given away goals for no reason, and still he starts in front of Tompkins.

This put WHU on the back foot for some time, but with about 10 to go in the half we started to put the chances in with Vaz Te missing a sitter on the back post, while in the air. CC put a header just over, and the “athletic” Kevin Nolan forced a great save from Mignolet in the Mackem’s goal, with an overhead volley.

WHU go in at the break with a goal deficit, but seem to be capable, if they push on a bit. But there are too many loose balls from RVT and Noble needs to play further up the pitch.

The second half was a different story with WHU having all the game, but no clinical play near the Sunderland penalty box. CC was very quiet, and the crowd are getting on his back again. I have defended this guy to the end, but they now have a point, he is getting support from Nolan and RVT, but is not making the moves that a premier league striker needs too. Along with the fact that Bramble and O’Shea were playing well, meant he had to up his game.

The lack of incisive play was apparent to BFS as well, so he brought on Jarvis and Benayuon just before the 60 minute mark. This changed things massively. Jarvis forced Gardner into an early yellow, which gave him free reign for the rest of the game, and without the stats to hand, I would say he put in more crosses in 30 minutes than the rest of the team in the whole of the game.

With 90 gone and our pressure unrelenting it looked like just a bad day at the office, right up until another Jarvis cross led to some toing and froing, and ended up with Kevin Nolan getting on the end of a loose ball to equalize. Chicken dances all round, and a deserved point for the Hammers.

Martin O’Neill suggested his team should of won 3-0. I have no idea what game he is watching. Without his centre backs he would of got an hiding. No Idea what Sam said, but i imagine it was along the lines of hard fought, no easy games,etc, etc.

So what do we do now? Sam needs to start Jarvis. Why pay 11 mil for a player of that quality and put him on the bench. Hopefully we dont have another Baldock on our books. We are not Man City and every pound has to count.

RVT. I have suggested elsewhere, that this lad is not Premier League quality, and yesterday was more proof. He looks OK when he has space, but with quicker players closing him down, he was terrible. He doesn’t have the quick thinking a player of his undoubtable talent should have. Maybe a Jan exit back to the championship for a few mil will help everyone. Talking of slow thinkers, Mark Noble. He may be Hammer of the year, he may be a local boy, but he is not irreplaceable. He takes too long on the ball, and seems to always go sidewards and backwards. Now with Diame in the team, he should play deeper, but he’s almost a 5th defender. And his obsession with taking every free kick and corner is starting to grate, especially with Nolan, Taylor and Jarvis on the pitch ! Apparently he’s getting a new 5 year contract on Monday, but if someone comes in with silly money we should move him on.

CC needs to buck up. Obviously the Carroll situation has pissed him off, but come on Carlton, move about a bit. You were an international 2 years ago, where’s it all gone ?

SAM: Jarvis must start, no negotiation, he was the best crosser of a ball last season in the prem. Why bench him now? Also Collins need to be given a kick up the arse. Play Tomks in mid week, and if he does the business, then let him start against QPR next Monday.

So for MOTM, Reid and Diame were again solid and played really well, but for his support play, his attempts at goal and keeping our unbeaten home record this season, it has to be the newer, fitter, Kevin Nolan.

_63054361_nolan_reuters — Captain Chicken to the rescue.

Music

This post has been a long time coming, iIjust needed the time to give it exactly the right amount of thought. Music is a big deal to me. I got my first record player some 35 years ago, and have been buying and playing with music ever since. I say playing, as I’m not a musician (although I used to be a drummer, in a couple of bands, and can still bang off a lick if pushed), but i have been on and off a bit of a DJ.

So in the intervening years since getting my Fidelity record player, I”ve amassed too many records, CD’s and (ugh) downloads to mention. We are talking a couple of thousand all told, not including probably the same amount, that have been sold off and binned over the years.

My taste is varied to say the least, so i’ll start off in chronological order (and probably spin off somewhere along the line.

First up, being a child of the 70’s / 80’s was punk. I remember the Pistols on Grundy (“You dirty old rotter”), and the Damned on the Whistle Test. This quickly moved into new wave / mod which was actually more suited due to the age group i was in, Too young really for Punk, too old to be a New Romantic (dodged a bullet there!). In this space there was really only two teams in town; the Jam and 2-Tone. The Jam became a life long obsession for me, through The Style Council and Weller’s solo stuff. I could on about the Jam all day but i wont here. Just listen to this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf4EFDGP4yg

2 Tone just blew me away, from Too Much Too Young to Ghost Town with The Specials, through Madness, The Beat, etc, etc right down to Bad Manners. This was my scene, my noise, and it annoyed my parents. Pure youth revolution. This is actually a bit embarrassing now, as I now meet Jerry Dammers regularly, and funnily enough he is just the same as me and you (with less teeth, and funny coats). Anyways, this spun me off into the whole mod/skinhead/scooter thing, which i still remain a fan of today.

Just in case you have no idea where I’m coming from, check these out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgCZN1rU5co

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtfTkQ8CoxU

As well as the scene, this then spun me into Reggae, and Ska, as well as a rather eclectic taste for all things Northern Soul and Sixties.

This is one of the greatest northern songs ever. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QNIxGJOtbc

So my teenage years disappear in a blaze of Harrington Jackets and Doc Martins, and in come the late 80’s and Hip Hop / Rap comes to the UK.

Namely the Def Jam Tour of 1987. LL Cool J, Eric B and Rakim, and an almost unheard of Public Enemy.

These boys blew away any issues i had with Rap. As powerful as punk, with beats to die for. This was the real deal. These guys are still doing the business noe, so i’ll chuck one video from each end of the spectrum. The first is the actual gig i was at in 87. The second has been rereleased this year as the theme tune for the ParaOlympics. PE .25 years and still kicking it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9fCFm51JWA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCx5Std7mCo

From here, I have the Beasties and Run DMC and more PE many times over, and first hand witnessed the move over to the mainstream. One of my finest hip hop moments was watching RUN DMC tear apart the main stage at Reading in the middle of a Saturday Afternoon. Not exactly prime time hip hop hour or venue.

The early 90’s carried on in this vein, until along came the successors to the Jam, Oasis (or was it Blur …………….). Anyway Brit Pop and all that. Fantasic days seeing Noel and the Chaps for about a fiver at the Ilford Island, and the Mile End festival of Blur around the Parklife era. No vid’s as i;m sure you all know this stuff.

As your 30’s appear you start to mellow, and two things happen. You stay with your favourites (Jam, PE, etc) and add the odd “big thing”. For me that was Green Day (See. I’m going full circle) and the continuing lines of my formative heroes. This encompassed, more Weller and Gallagher, Rage Against the Machine, and the Foo fighters. All of which i have seen during my 25 year run of unmissed Reading Festivals. You also start associating music with events rather than just music. Just say Carter USM to me and I will immediately start talking about losing a hoodie (not so long story, but no good in print).

There have been many more, and I could go on all day (“I could go on for hours and I probably will” (P. Weller 1981), but it’s starting to ramble. But I will throw in some other favourites. The Prodigy, Artric Monkey, Rancid, The Mad Caddies, Carter, Billy Bragg.

I expect this to be part of a bigger series breaking down some classics from different eras.

Before i go , I will bring this up to date with some current stuff you may not of heard of (except two readers who will have !).

First off is Fractured Calm. A mixture of chilled out electronica, with Ibizian sunset. http://www.fracturedcalm.com/

Second are The Summats, favourite sons of Manchester and Wigan, and purveyors of one of histories greatest Xmas songs. http://www.thesummats.com/

Enjoy.

England VS Ukraine WC Qualifier 11/09/2012

After the easy win last week, this game was always going to prove a little more tricky for Roy’s boys. The close 1 nil win against the hosts of the Euros showed that the Ukraines were no push over and England would need to be on their best.

Without their Talisman, Mr Shevchenko, Ukraine started a little cagey. With our untried midfield (Gerrard and Lampard, lol) we did too. Seriously, these guys have had nearly 10 years to get it right, and just fail every time. It has to be egos, but that has no place at this level, either they were both too far forward or too far back, normally back. How we think we can punish teams at home when both our central midfielders are in our half, i really dont know.

One other surprise was Mr Cleverly at no 10. Number 10 says to me, Maradona and Cryuff (Rooney ?), not someone who hasn’t yet scored for his club. This is not his fault, but when Sturridge was on the bench does suggest some odd thinking from the manager.

Defoe had a stunner disallowed after an alleged misdemeanor, and that was about it for England’s first half, outside of Cleverly missing two sitters. The Ukrainians, although equally as drab scored a sreamer just before half time to go in 1 up, thanks to Konoplyanka.

For the second half no subs were made and England carried on as usual with no one utilising Defoe and trying to play around the back. The Ukrainians just held up and moved it on (albeit to nothing). Cleverly was finally put out of his misery on the hour mark, and some small gains were made as Wellback started to run about a bit and cause trouble. Then Sturridge replaced the Ox (who was very inefficient) , and once again England stepped up. Wellbeck had already tried to claim one penalty when he got the second, and Lamps put away his 27th goal in 93 appearances for the national side.

Then with hardly any time left England press on for victory, until Mr Gerrard capped off a poor performance with a very mistimed tackle in no mans land to get a red and seal the game at 1-1.

So the honeymoon is over for Hodgson and the real work starts. He has had a favour with Gerrard being out for at least one game as he can make a new captain, and feel easier about dropping Gerrard if he feels the need. Who’s it to be?, probably Lampard, as the best of a bad bunch. Hart seems obvious but i’m never too sure about keepers being captains, but he has done it before at U-21 level.

Rooney is needed, if fit, and Wellbeck should step up as a starter. There is still a place for Defoe, but only as part of a two up top. This leaves Tom Cleverly. Just too old for the U-21, but definitely out of his depth in this company and especially near the front of the team. Also the Ox needs to to improve after blasting onto the scene.

In short Roy needs to hand out some hairdryers and get the team focused again. I feel he has spent the summer blowing smoke up them, to encourage a team rather than building one. Thats OK for one tournament, but we now have a campaign to manage.

San Marino next. No surely not. Stranger things have happened………………………………….

Obligatory Wembley Photo. Ukraine in Blue !

Moldova vs England 07/09/2012 WC Qualifier

England beat Moldova 5 -0 last Friday. This in itself is not a big deal (lets face it, it was against a team who didn’t even have names on their shirts, and none of those names had they had been there, were household).

England played well, and showed they had the talent to comfortably beat a weaker team. Great. There was one interesting event that seemed to be downplayed though, and that is my subject today.

Mr Steven Gerrard.

Stevie G has for the last 10 years been once of the best players in Europe, without a doubt. He scores consistently , and seems to be able to play anywhere in any system, much to the relief I imagine of his boyhood club Liverpool FC. This is a guy that single handedly (alleged) won the European Cup and FA cup for Liverpool. The FA cup win against West Ham being the only time a player for the opposition has really broke my heart, as he had no right to score “that” goal in a game we dominated. Anyway, move on.

In the lead up to the Euros, he was in and out of club and country teams with injury. In the Euros he was England’s best player, and a stand out leader. This season however, he looks a shadow of himself, and I’m wondering if we are now seeing a quick decline, a la Michael Owen, Ian Wright, etc. On Friday he came off at half time, and left Lampard on his own. A Lampard, who has won the European cup this year (as Captain), and didn’t play in the Euros through injury. Who also put his stamp all over the game, with and without the armband on.

For many years, people have said Gerrard and Lamps cannot play together. This is utter nonsense, they can, it just their egos cannot. For too many years Gerrard has been told he is better, because of his swashbuckling around in a red shirt. All those years of carrying a team are now showing, as they did last year on Jamie Carragher, and are also starting to show on Reina this year. Whereas Frank has just got on with his game of keeping Chelsea ticking along. Don’t forget, Mourinho wanted the two of them together at Chelsea, and he isn’t usually wrong.

“But Gerrard is England Captain!”, i hear you say. By default says I. Terry was too much of a liability to be captain, Ferdinand was too absent through injury, and for the Euros, so was Lampard. This left a lad who has experience of being a leader at the highest level. Not a bad shout at all. And so he played his heart out in the Euros knowing it was potentially his last chance. And now can make half a game, in a situation where he wasn’t stretched at all.

Now, Hodgson is in an situation, does he drop his captain, who in essence has done nothing wrong, for a guy who is about the same age, and the same may happen to him soon. Its a problem all round. The answer lays in the future, but there is no stand out candidate, except maybe Joe Hart, but goal keepers and armbands is a whole new debate ! I’m sure he would rather not drop him to save face with the captaincy, which has been a fiercely debated theme over the last couple of years, for one reason and another.

Watching Liverpool so far this season, its obvious that Shelby is being preferred, and Sterling and Joe Allen will soon be as well. These are average players who maybe taking over G’s place in the team. The lad is knackered, plain and simple.

So from world class to back of the class. Its a shame to see, but a reality. The key question is will he be around for the World Cup? Who knows ?

lamps and gerrard — Take this armband Frank, it’s slowing me down !

I’m off to the Ukraine game tomorrow, from which I might be able to spread some more light on the subject.

Swansea City VS WHUFC 25/08/2012 EPL

Last week, i blogged about us getting away with it, this week it showed.

The Swans trumped QPR 5-0 last week, and for successive weeks they gave successive WHU (past and present) goalkeepers a torrid time.

I watched the first half in the house, and listened to the second in the car, but i dont need to be there to comment on this game.

So the game. We started Collins again in defence and gave record signing Matt Jarvis Taylors berth on the left. RVT was dropped in favour of Tompkins who started in the middle of the park, to allow Nolan and Jarvis to support Cole.

We started off, OK at best, but soon the cracks started to show. But after 20 Jussi made an absolute howler, rediverting a cross under his body and into the goal. Nine minutes later, Collins passed back a ball so poor it has no home, and Michu ran onto it to put the Swans 2 up. We started to pick up a little, with some interesting corners, and Nolan came close just before half time.

Nothing changed on the second half, it was all one way traffic ,with Graham getting the third and final goal in the 69th minute.

So what went wrong.

1. Tompkins in the midfield. This was tried last year and was OK at best, as the opposition wasn’t good enough to exploit it. However Swans just moved around him, once they realised he’s not exactly Iniesta on the mobility front.

2 No Vaz Te, a negative move again. Against a team who love to push forward, surely a pacey winger with some skill should be playing. Ahhhh, Jarvis is already playing and you cannot have 2 on the pitch until it goes wrong. NO Sam wrong, wrong wrong. This was a game we were probably going to lose anyway, so why not go for it.

3. Poor old Carlton. Again left in no mans land, about 30m from any other Hammer player. Nolan drifted backwards, unless we had a corner or free kick, and if CC did hold it up, it took and age to get to him. I have moaned and moaned about BFS’s inability to play this lad properly, and its really starting to get to me. He needs support and balls on the deck, end of.

I really hope Tompks doesn’t piss off this week, but if he is going to misused every week, then you cannot blame him. Baldock did and fair play to him. Who’s next, Maynard ?

Personally , i think we had the tools to give the Swans a good game, but Sam made the mistakes, along with Collins and Jussi.

Bad day at the office? hope so………..

Soccer - npower Football Championship - West Ham United v Portsmouth - Upton Park — NO JAMES. SHIIIIITTTTT !

Heres a useless fact (lost hammers ?:)). The last three -including the current- coaching set up at Liverpool had ex Hammers personnel in. Steve Clarke, Kevin Keen and now Mike Marsh. And look how well they are doing !

WHUFC vs Aston Villa EPL 18/08/2012

This will be abridged as i have had wordpress delete my first attempt at this.

We came back to the Premier League on a sunny day in August. For reference out first game last year was in driving rain and freezing cold. Personally I was not too fussed about the new season, as i still had the Olympic blues, but here i was.

So for WHU, it was about being back in the real business of the PL, for new Villa manager Paul Lambert, it was about improving on last year’s dismal performance. The game was dominated by Villa in the first half, with Ireland and Vlaar running the show. But WHU looked solid and didn’t appear to be under threat at the back. James Collins looked like he had never been away, and seem to team up well with Reid.

Just before half time, in what was becoming a bit of non event, some nice interplay between Carlton Cole, Vaz Te and finally Kevin Nolan, led to a goal from Kev, with a hint of offside. Villa thought so, and the linesman had his flag up, but the ref overturned it, and WHU go in at the break one nil to the good.

_62361299_kevin_nolan_pa — Big Kev celebrates being back in the Prem, with the winner, on the opening day of the season.

The second half was all West ham, with Noble and Diame running the show. Diame actually played like a world beater, and if he keeps this up, will be way better than Papa Diop, whose place in the squad, i assume he has taken over. Not many chances to talk of, but CC should of got a pen, but once again his size goes against him.

Jussi had only one decent save to make in the second half, a rasper from Vlaar. I believe Rob Green failed to make at least 5 saves, on his debut for QPR !

So a win on our first outing back with the big boys. great stuff, and my gloom of no Olympics is starting to clear.

All our new signings shined in what was a really average game, including Maiga, who came on for the last 10, rounded Shay Given, only to see his shot cleared of the line.

I spoke to some Villa fans afterwards, who said that was better than they had played all last season ! One small concern i have is that Tompka came on for a midfield cameo appearance. I’m hoping this isn’t going to become normal, but i cannot see him moving the Kiwi or Collins out on their performances today

MOTM: Mohammed Diame, who was everywhere. Mobots all rounds for the big fella.

Olympics 2012- My tuppenth.

The Olympics is now over and the whole of the UK is missing it. The travel chaos never happened, the terrorists never came, and most unexpected of all, Team GB won a gallon of medals, and ended getting the overall Bronze in the medal table!

My Olympic visit came on Aug 9th, and i was lucky enough to secure a ticket to the stadium. Wooo Hooo. So after the grand total of 10 mins on the Javelin train, i was in a place i know like the back of my hand, Stratford.

This was not the Stratford of sulking hoodies and sink estates however. It was one of a happy throng of people with one intent, to watch the greatest show on earth. The volunteers made sure every got in quickly, and were on hand for almost anything. The Army were on the door, and as usual i was the only one of our group of 8 that got the full search experience.

Once inside the sheer scale of the park was amazing. Seeing it empty or on a pre opening tour, did not prepare me for the scale. There were 000’s of people and plenty of space to move about, with no queues anywhere. We took our seats at 6.30 to catch the Mens Decathlon Javelin. The one thing that took my geeky eye was not the power of the athletes, or the amazing stadium. They had remote control mini’s to return the Javelins ! How cool that is has no score attached !

P1060968 — Welcome to the Home of the Hammers !

Then some running and jumping, also known as the triple jump. This took place right in front of us, and was eventually won by Taylor of the US, who jumped what seemed like miles for someone like me, who had only ever done this at school.

Next up of interest was the mens 800m. Amazing. a new world record and an easy win for David Rudisha of Kenya. How long before the get into sprinting, they seem to have everything else sorted.

After a Womens 4 x 100 heat, came the main event. The Mens 200m final. Bolt came out to a ovation, and did not fail to deliver. This inevitability, and a double double of Olympic sprinting golds was almost overshadowed by the fact that the result was a 1-2-3 for Jamaica. I kept an eye on those guys and they must of spent an hour doing interviews on the zig zag for what was a <20 secs event !

Post the Womens javelin it was time to go home. This again thanks to the organisation it was a seamless affair, although I’m not too sure I would of felt the same if was going to St Pancras, but trains were leaving almost every minute.

One last comment before we leave the stadium. This place is a lot smaller when you are in it. If you are on the sides it would be great for football. So i have changed my mind ! Come on you Irons.

So, full of Olympomania, we head on to Sunday, and the closing concert ay Hyde Park. This is a short review as outside of the massive screen on the stage showing the remaining Olympic events live, it was the same as any other outdoor gig.

So.

Bombay Bicycle Club. On too soon ( i was watching the Basketball final – and cheering on the Spanish !). Average indie fayre.

New Order. No Hooky means nothing really to see, and they plodded through the set, as if they were at any one of a million festivals they have done in the past. Average.

The Specials. Now this was the big one for me, and like the Bolt they delivered in spades. Neville may be a little slower around the stage now, but the tunes are still there, even without Jerry. Quote of the day – Terry Hall- “This next one’s Chariots of Fire!”

Blur. Having seen them too many times, especially at “Final” gigs, I’ve got a little jaded. But as always Damon wins me around everytime. Another success for the Essex Boys.

P1070025 — My companions for the day + Torch.

So that was my Olympic experience. If you have one please leave a comment and a link, because I really want to see how others enjoyed themselves.

Roll on 2016 in Rio.

Thailand 2012 Trip

Welcome aboard the delayed report of our recent Thailand adventure!

It all started on June 28^th from London Heathrow Terminal 3. Neither of us had been in this terminal for nearly five years, so it was impressive to see the changes that it had undergone. Not quite T5, but way better all the same.

The flight to Bangkok with Thai Air was good, with great food and plenty of space. The IFA’s were friendly enough, and we had a full and varied AVOD selection, which was the one thing I was worried about.

We hung about in Bangkok for a while and then set off for Phuket. The change at Bangkok was a little disorganised but standard Asian fare.

We were picked up on our arrival by a driver, who took us straight to our home for the next 6 nights, the Diamond Cliff Resort, Phuket. After 20+ hours of travelling, I needed a shower and a rest before we went out. What I got was being told I had to wait 3 hours for a room. At this juncture my good lady wife took over, and within minutes we had a further upgrade, to a nice ocean view room, with a Jacuzzi, and more space than 2 people really need. Fantastic.

Room – Diamond Cliff, Jacuzzi far left corner

Hung around the resort for most of the day time, and then we hit Bangla Road in the evening for drinks and an eyeopener. As with most Thai tourist spots, girls are high on the agenda. Jasmine made me laugh after she pointed out that if it was her bar, then the girls would be in for dance training during the day, as they were lethargic at best. After a few drinks we slept like babies till day 2.

P1060615 — Bangla Road Locals – Sex interdeterminant.

Day 2 was a nice relax by the pool, and not a lot else. We had identified a group of restaurants on the web, that were being rated out of this world, so being the intrepid explorers we are, we walked down to the cab rank to get to our destination…………….which was the other side of the road. Result. First off was Joes downstairs, which had an international cool vibe about it. The setting for all 3 was just amazing, opening out straight onto a rocky bay, with the crashing waves (it was monsoon season!). I introduced Jasmine to Hendricks and Tonic and cucumber. That will cost me dearly in the future.

Sunday was our wedding anniversary, and we celebrated by heading off to the Giant Buddha. This should be currently called the Giant Scaffold, as the head was incased in a rather fetching collection of 21ft pipe and badly hung monoflex. The view was amazing from the top, but a little misty (it was monsoon season !). That evening we headed back across the road to Baan Rim Pa (apparently one of the best Thai restaurants in Thailand). AMAZING. The best Thai curry I’ve ever had.

The Giant Badly Build Needs Repair Budda !

Day 3 took us on the tourist trail again to Phi Phi Island. Great journey out, but the beach was way over subscribed, and you really did feel you were on a production line. However, the views you get are incredible, and in the end that makes up for the package feel of the trip. At this juncture I should point out that every where you go there is music. Most of this is western, rock / MOR. I should also point out that you will hear Zombie by the Cranberries about 1000 times a week. Now I have no problem with Delores as a person, but she’s no SLF when it comes to songs on the troubles. And after a while, I feel like I would prefer real guns and bombs to hers. That night we hit the last of three restaurants, the Italian, De Maurizio. Carbonara was great but I’ve had better if truth be told. But the shellfish pasta I’m reliably informed was just divine.

P1060710 — The deserted wide open oasis of Phi Phi Island

Day 4 was a real toursita day, with shopping centres , the hard rock, and an Irish bar thrown in. Brits abroad eh ? Event of the day was going to a massage place in a shopping centre and being asked to strip to my underwear. No issue apart from the lack of underwear. I was given a towel and told to get on with it. Possibly my first and last time, I will be fully naked in a mall !

Two days later, it was lashing down in a real monsoon style, enough to put a 3 ft deep puddle across the road outside the hotel. This would have been fine if we weren’t going to the airport to get back to Bangkok. After navigating the ever forming rivers on the roads we managed to get off on time.

Bangkok. The city of contradiction. We stayed in the Dusit Thani. A hotel that is now nearly 40 years old but has lost none of its grandeur or hospitality. Across the road is Patpong market. This has lost none of its seediness or outrageous behaviour from its residents. Dinner was had that evening at the Mango Tree, off the back of Patpong. Once again another Thai success.

Then the next day was off on the tourist trail. Golden Buddha and the Grand Palace were on the agenda. The travel between the two was interesting. NO, I DO NOT WANT TO GO ANYWHERE ELSE BUT THE PALACE. THANK YOU. NO TAILORS, NO PLANTS, NO JEWELRY OR GARDENS, JUST THE PALACE. Thanks

It’s Golden and a Budda, what more do you want ?

May Budda bless this piling rig and all those who pile in her !

The Golden Buddha was great, and golden, and massive (bearing in mind it’s solid gold). The grand palace delivered on the name in spades. What is funny is the guys outside telling you its closed and that you should go with them somewhere else, over the megaphone announcements of THE PALACE IS OPEN, DO NOT TALK TO ANYONE OUTSIDE !!

P1060786 — Not a postcard. I took this !

The Friday evening was a more non tourist affair as we met friends who lived there for drinks at some more local haunts. I saw the Thai Beatles, the Iron Fairie, and we ended up at Fat Gutz (hey don’t blame me, I don’t name them !). Drinks all round, sore heads in the morning.

The last morning for holidaying as it was took us to Chatuchak market. A bit of the beaten track and less touristy. Definitely worth a visit for some last minute bargains before you get off home (mainly clothes, accessories and house goods). More local goods rather than fake tat.

I managed to squeeze 2 massages in that day Nice.