2021

What a night, what a night.

The cold realisation after beating Tottenham that a few days later we would be back to face City in the League cup was not the most exciting prospect.

Pre game was fun, meeting up with a friend who has finally got his arse into gear to buy a season ticket. This was someone who I hadn’t seen for nearly 10 years and glad to say he is still in fine fettle.

For those that are interested, more change in the seats behind me for this game. Kids for a quid gave me the opportunity to have a family with 3 under 5’s (not them !) sitting behind me. Believe it or not they were better than the Surrey Train Squad of Genk and Rapid fame.

I fully expected lots of changes on both sides with City having a significant upper hand. No fun in that. And to an extent that’s what I got. Wholesale changes on both sides. Unfortunately, City’s second team had 3 players who played in the Euro 2020 final for England, with 2 more in the bench. We had Noble, Dawson, Lanzini, Yarma, Vlasic and Areola coming in, and Moyes saw sense enough to leave Rice and Antonio completely out of it.. Slight gulf in quality !

And it showed. City’s domination of possession (64% according to the BBC, I thought more) was precise, and smooth. Do they ever miss a pass ? But no cutting edge. Sterling had a couple of runs at Johnson, but was getting no change from a lad really making his way in this squad. I sort of get what people have been saying about City not having a striker now. Without that focal point they are relying on mistakes from the opposition. Not that Areola had nothing to do. Out of the 2 keepers he was easily the busiest, but handled everything with ease, and an agility that maybe has made Fab stand up and raise his game as well. One save from a Stone header would have been talked about for weeks if it was Ederson or Alisson. Keep it up Alphonse, the start is only round the corner.

With the odd bit of counter attack from us, the game followed the same pattern all night. City attack, we get the ball, and provide a poor pass back to them after a small amount of possession. But our defending was resolute. Johnson, as already stated played a blinder again. Dawson and Diop were solid and Cresswell was just Cresswell.

The only player who struggled was Yarmalenko, and I think that may have been due to the quick closedown at high quality from Stones and Ake. Also, he was a bit isolated meaning normally his best available pass was backwards, quite a way backwards. Lanzini was getting bounced about in the middle, but held his own just about.

As the second half went on we saw more of the ball and there were chances for Masuaku (who was good all night, for his first game in a while). Yarma had a clear opportunity taken away after some lovely interchange with Johnson.

We continued to apply pressure, post our subs, as Bowen, Fornals, and Benrahma came on and brought up the effort and creativity levels. Towards the end of the 90 Coufal came on for Lanzini and I assumed this was to take a penalty. And like that penalties were upon us.

Up steps Noble. No problem. Then Foden. Big problem as he lashes it wide. Then we go one for one with Bowen, Dawson and Cresswell getting ours . Our last penalty, and the one to win the match, I assumed would be taken by Coufal. And up steps Benrahma. The same fella who was shocking against Spurs and has shown to be very hot and cold. By this time my nerves are shredding. The stadium is silent. Both teams watch on……..

AND HE SCORES

And that’s that, time to get home. What a night !

What a night again. For the first time since the move, I felt like a fan again if that makes sense. Getting sucked into the drama, revelling in the atmosphere. The sheer joy of that last penalty. Having a sore throat in the morning !

MOTM Areola. Top man all night, made some big saves. Big shout out to Noble, who kept everything tidy, and Johnson, who based on the subs, kept a fit Coufal out of the team. Can he do the same away against Villa this Sunday?

Fireworks are not only for Europe people.

WHUFC vs Manchester City 29/04/2018

Not good, got battered. Lets hope Huddersfield are worse.

Heres a dog.

WHUFC vs Manchester City 23/01/2016 EPL 2015-2016

Late in!

IMG_20160123_190215 — Hammers under floodlights, those were the days, blah, blah.

Having already beaten Man City on the road, this game should have been a stroll in the park for the Hammers.

Back in the real world, we needed to be at our best to get anything from this game, and Slaven realized this by trusting his experienced players and putting people in the right holes. Song came in for Obiang, and Jenkinson at right back for the injured Tomkins. Reid made up the back 4 in favor of Ogbonna.

He left Valencia up top, and also left in Antonio on the right, in lieu of the just back from injury Moses.

This worked well, as Valencia carried on his recent scoring run, by netting after 1 minute from a deflected Kouyate cross. Happy days. Obviously the crowd was going crazy, but we all know the next 10 minutes are the most important. Just on the cusp of this window, Aguero burst through and only needed the slightest touch from Jenkinson to go down, and the penalty was given. I’ve seen them given and not, but the way the ref was looking after the “bigger” team, it was no surprise. So 1-1 after 10 minutes, game on.

The ref carried on making decisions in the opponents favor, including when Kouyate was scythed down by Toure when he was clear and the ref didn’t even give a free kick. Obviously any West Ham challenge was met with a free kick and a yellow for Noble.

Jenks went off with a knock post the penalty (now confirmed as ligament damage, ouch), and on came Byram for his debut, after signing from Leeds in the week. His first job was to mark Aguero at a corner. Welcome to the Premier League son !

However WHU kept on plugging away and although City had most of the possession, we had our chances. Payet was sublime but Joe Hart was a match for him, with a fantastic save from a free kick into the top corner.

Overall , we went into the break, tails up, but looking tired.

Second half we came out a little brighter, and kept up the attacks. Antonio spotted a quick throw to an aware Valencia, who managed to drop a shinned shot into Joe Hart’s bottom right corner and we go 2-1 up. Roof comes of stadium and then reality sets in. Same as last year, we take a one goal lead of City and hope to hold on. We did well, with Ginge repelling all boarders, but you could see the back four melting with fatigue. Alex Song started to drop in and was winning great tackles all over the place, and Noble became part of the back 6. Young Sam was shot, so Payet was covering back as well. This resolution lasted until the 81st minute when that man Aguero popped up again for his second to level. Some people are suggesting the swap out of Antonio for Moses changed the game somewhat, but Slaven needed fresh legs out there.

The last kick of the game, was actually a header, which Kouyate put onto the City crossbar after a nice cross from Noble following a fantastic round the corner from Payet.

So we stay in 6th, but have taken 4 points from the team who in most peoples minds, will win the league. This is progression, make no mistake. If we can put Liverpool out of the cup this weekend, then why not dare to dream. Even Joe Hart stated it would of been unfair for City to win, but not unfair for the Hammers.

Payet was magnificent again, the big question is will we hold onto him in the summer. In fact everyone played well, but my MOTM goes to Alex Song, who actually looked like he did at the start of last season. Also big shout out to Byram, who looks like he will be getting a run in the team now, with Jenks out for quite a while.

I’ll just leave this here:

Dimitri Payet was Man of The Match vs Manchester City… Here’s a few reasons why 🔥 pic.twitter.com/HbGIpnZ2lu

— WHUFC_Daily (@WHUFC_Daily) January 24, 2016

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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

WHUFC vs Manchester City 19/10/2013 EPL

With West Ham last game being the magnificent win against Spurs at the Lane, most WHU fans ay the ground had already decided that we already had our name on the 2015 Champions League already. We were unbeatable, and didn’t need strikers and could score at will. And we had this weeks current English wonderkid, Ravel Morrison.

Talking of which, this kid has had a couple of good games and scored some goals. He is also only now delivering on his promise that started at Man U all those years ago. Lets not get carried away just yet. Unlike the Sky Cameras, who decided to chase him around the pitch while he was warming up prior to the match. Surely the pitch is the workplace until the game is over ?

Anyway, Man City stood in front of this assault on Europe. We lined up much like against Spurs, leaving two strikers out of our pool of 2 fit / able strikers on the bench. Welcome back Carlton. As regular readers know, this for me , is some sort of religious resurrection :). City had no Zabeleta or Kompany at the back, which was encouraging.

The game was underway at a high pace, and the scene was being set. David Silva running the show and WHU chasing shadows. We needed to get the ball and that was proving hard to do. We did we had a couple of forays into the City half but that was about that. On 16 mins a great dummy by Negrero left Aguero free to open the scoring for City. West Ham tried to respond but our 6 man midfield were struggling to get involved, which probably tells you which way the game was going. Come half time there had been a few flashes of light, through Morrison and Ratz, and I was happy with one nil.

My happiness was put out 5 minutes into the second half, when a Silva free kick found Aguero’s head for the second. Poor defending all round allowed one of the smallest players on the pitch score his first headed goal in the Prem.

All of a sudden WHU woke up, and our midfield started to fire, with Noble mugging off Yaya Toure a couple of times, which cheered me up no end. Just before the hour mark, RVT fires in an overhead kick past Hart after a nice dink in from Morrison. Upton Park goes wild and not just because CC is warming up ! We then push on and on and City start to falter and make mistakes. This is on like Donkey Kong. But it wasn’t to be, Demel got injured and had to leave for O’Brien, and it upset the balance a little. The knock on effect was we run out of puff, and still Sam left the strikers on the bench. This is where the issue was in reality. At 65 he replaced RVT with Jarvis, when maybe Petric or Cole and the long ball may of been the better option of getting a draw. On the same point, I am no RVT fan but no way should he have come off at any point yesterday. City smelt the fatigue and Silva scored an absolute cracker to finish the game off on 80 minutes.

So what happens next. Well Sam has got Carroll back soon, he has a fit CC and Petric, and therefore we need to change this ridiculous formation. For most of yesterday Diame and Morrison were playing up front and it helped neither. Back to the young lad, he played OK yesterday and in the second half passed the ball around really well, which is something he needs to do.

MOTM: Jussi played well, as did Tomkins and Ratz (after a dodgy start). But David Silva was just unplayable yesterday, and therefore gets my vote.

WHUFC vs Manchester City 03/11/2012 EPL

Having missed our great win against Southampton while i was in Vegas (post to follow), i travelled to Upton Park with slight trepidation, as i had also heard that we were extremely poor against Wigan.

Man City came to this game with a run of so so results and probably felt this would be a game where 3 points were a formality. This was backed up by team selection, with Mancini starting Tevez, Balotelli, and Edin Dzeko all up top. West Ham put out probably their best starting 11, with Benayoun and Jarvis starting. Collins got a bit of rough reception from the home crowd when announced. Tomkins wasn’t even on the bench, and O’Brien came in at right back.

The game started as you would imagine with City moving the ball around, West Ham picking up scraps. However my main fear hadn’t materialised as Silva wasn’t playing, and the City midfield was not as quick and agile as i expected.

West Ham played themselves into the game with Diame and Noble starting to take charge with some real blood and thunder tackles. Then the potential turning point occured. Kevin Nolan scored a goal from close range that was ruled for offside. Turns out the goal was ruled out wrongly. I haven’t seen the evidence myself but every report seems to back this up.

This shook up City however, and from then on for the first half WHU were on top ,with Benayoun hitting the Bar, and Carroll going close. City had their chances however, but most of them fell to Balotelli, who frankly was useless. This guy has all the talent in the world, but his laziness and refusal to go for any ball that isn’t already on his foot, would frustrate the hell out of me.

No changes for the second half from either team, and no change on the pitch, with City having a shade on possession but WHU keeping their hand in, and once again Carroll went close with a spectacular overhead kick. City didn’t get te chances they had in the first half, but the ones they did fall to Tevez, who knowing his place at Upton Park, did his best to miss !

West Ham battled on and some good subs by Sam to get Diame off before he was sent off, and a late sub of Collins to give Jordan Spence some game time worked. Collins to be fair had made some great blocks, and tackles and hopefully has redeemed some of the ill will of the WHU faithful.

The game ended 0-0 and it really was a point earned by WHU, and 2 lost by City. I’ll take that.

On leaving the ground, as usual we ended up with the away fans , and i heard some interesting comments. They thought we put 11 behind the ball, and this is what always happens to City on the road. What nonsense ! We had as many scoring opportunities as them and really gave them a game.

The more telling comment was from a young girl, who said that if it had been United rather than City, they would of got the win. This is because United are a team, and City are a group of talented players, who struggle to play as a team when the going gets tough. Witness their CL performances in the last 2 years. This is a trate of Mancini, see no further than his tenure at Inter. He needs to get rid of Balotelli pronto, and push Yaya Toure further up the pitch. Last time we played City at home they won 3-1 and he ran the whole game. Yesterday, he was deep and ineffectual. I would love to say this was due to WHU pressure, but i will admit it was more likely to Mancini’s team selection and tactics.

These City fans need to remember where they were 4 or 5 years ago, and not assume they already have a permanent seat at the top table of European football.

All in all, a good day to build confidence for the Hammers, and keeps us in the top 10.

MOTM. Reid and Collins were excellent, Noble and Diame threw themselves around. But for fitting straight back in and playing a full 90 with style and class, my award goes to Yossi Benayoun.