West Ham To Fight FA Charges
By: Martin |
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West Ham will join Millwall in fighting the charges brought by the FA with regards to the incidents at the Carling Cup game back on August 25th. The FA have filed four charges against the Hammers, which include failing to ensure their fans refrained from: Violent, threatening, obscene and provocative behavior; Racist behavior; Throwing missiles, harmful or dangerous objects on to the pitch; and failing to ensure their supporters did not enter the field of play.
The Hammers defend themselves against the charges by stating that they complied with all the requests made by the police-led safety advisory group and also point to the fact there were no direct clashes between the opposing supporters inside the ground (but there may have a been a few minor disagreements outside the ground…). The police had access to the 47 CCTV’s at the ground and the club issued ten lifetime banning orders to the fans that were identified as pitch invaders (see picture).
The FA have not announced any date for a hearing about the charges, neither have they indicated what punishments would be brought if they rejected the arguments brought by Millwall and West Ham.
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Stoke City 2-1 West Ham
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I am concerned, a little. Yes, a loss at Stoke, albeit by a single goal means the Hammers have now not won since opening day and that is seven games without a win. I think the team is not bad, but perhaps “toothless”. Of course, it’s always an ex-Hammer who thinks that they have to prove that they shouldn’t have been sold. This week it was Matthew Etherington who won the penalty that put Stoke ahead and whilst tormenting the Hammers defenders in the first half.
After the Stoke goal it took until the 30th minute before future superstar, Alessandro Diamanti, got a clean shot at the Stoke goal and a couple of minutes later, Matthew Upson connected with a Mark Noble corner, fooling the Stoke defense and scores with a free header.
After half-time, Zola decided to move our future superstar Diamanti up with the lonely Carlton Cole and it almost paid off when Alessandro made a neat turn and shot which Stoke keeper, Sorensen, just held on to. Unfortunately Beattie, the scorer of the Stoke penalty, made it 2-1 after 68 minutes when he latched on to a loose ball after Rob Green pushed away a shot.
The game turned nasty late on when Stoke’s Robert Huth punched Matthew Upson causing a nasty bleed near his eye. Upson left the field and amazingly Huth didn’t even get a yellow card. It is unbelievable that none of the officials saw the incident, but you can bet there is enough video of the incident that the FA will be calling on Monday.
So another week without a win, but it’s not desperate times yet, plenty of clubs within a couple of points. Let’s hope the West Ham board does nothing stupid.
Stoke City – West Ham Team News
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Team news for the upcoming game at Stoke must be pleasing for Zola as both midfielders, Valon Behrami and Jack Collison should return for Saturday. Valon returns after the knock he got during his first match back at Liverpool, while Jack has been nursing a calf injury.
On the downside Zola loses Scott Parker who has collected too many yellow cards and has an automatic one match suspension.
Perpetually injured Kieron Dyer misses another match, while Welshman Danny Gabbidon has a calf injury but hopefully could make the trip up north if fit.
Zola Chasing Livorno’s Candreva
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Gianfranco Zola looks like he has made his mind up and will be doing his best to poach Livorno midfielder Antonio Candreva when the transfer window opens again in January. Zola coached Candreva in the Italian U-21 team so it has been no surprise to Zola how well Candreva has played for Livorno this season.
Of course, bringing Candreva to Upton Park would hopefully inspire a great match up with the future superstar, and ex-Livorno teammate, Alessandro Diamanti. Unfortunately Zola’s efforts may be thwarted by big Italian clubs like Inter and Juventus, who have also been tracking Candreva’s form this season.
The other fly in the ointment for Zola must be the on-going financial issues with CB Holdings that are holding him back from bringing in top names to Upton Park. All season we have heard about Zola’s desire to sign the disgruntled Bayern Munich player, Luca Toni, but the lack of funds may have scuppered that deal from ever reaching fruition.
West Ham 2-2 Fulham
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At least a point is a point, but after Zola’s trash talk during the week I was really expecting an all out trashing of the Cottagers. Alas, it was not to be and in the end it was a bit of mess.
Fulham started off the game lively considering that they had won only 3 out of the last 37 London derbys and early efforts by Kamara and Gera made every Hammers fan rather nervous that it would be four. But things looked up after ten minutes with future superstar Alessandro Diamanti just missing with a free kick. Five minutes later the possible onslaught began with Carlton Cole nodding in a super free kick from Diamanti. I really don’t think anyone else will take a free kick for the Hammers this year. Then minutes later the future superstar whipped in a cross that James Tomkins headed just wide.
Fulham ended up with ten men after South African, Kagisho Dikgacoi, was sent off on his debut. Dikgacoi was shown the red card when it looked like he pushed his hand into Scott Parker’s face when they were both being cautioned by the ref four minutes to the interval.
Going in at half time a goal up and a man up must have been pleasing for Zola, but it just put the fire under the Cottagers. Two minutes after the break Matthew Upson upends Diomansy Kamara in the penalty area and Danny Murphy scored from the spot.
Ten minutes later it was 2-1 to Fulham. Paul Konchesky’s corner found Zoltan Gera to shoot in from close range. After the goal Fulham sat back with the hope that the Hammer’s had no more fight, but numerous attempts on goal by Alessandro Diamanti and Carlton Cole showed that it might not be over. Zola brought on Junior Stanislas on for Zavon Hines after seventy minutes and it was that decision that brought results. As the match wound down, the Hammers continued to pepper the Fulham goal and in the second minute of added time, a long range shot from Stanislas took a wicked defection for an equalizer and total relief for Hammers fans everywhere.
Manchester City 3-1 West Ham
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It took only four minutes for Carlos Tevez to show Hammers fans how much we all wished he was still in Claret and Blue. Tevez side footed a simple goal to put City ahead and we all wondered if this was going to be a long Monday evening.
City continued to press forward with Tevez, Petrov and ex-Hammer Bellamy taking pot-shots at Rob Green. However, against the run of play Carlton Cole equalized with a wicked back-heal after Radoslav Kovac’s shot from an Alessandro Diamanti free-kick.
It looked as though City was on the back foot with Cole unlucky with a header from a Julien Faubert cross. But the luck is definitely not on the Hammer’s side this season and City was 2-1 up with a Petrov free-kick. But Zola’s boys should have been on equal terms with Scott Parker knocking a shot in, but the ref disallowed it for some infringement earlier in the move.
After the half, future superstar Alessandro Diamanti showed how good he is from set pieces with a curled corner that was just cleared by the city defense. After that the Hammers looked promising with a shot from Luis Jimenez and then Diamanti again. But the game took a turn for the worse when ex-Hammer Bellamy floated a free-kick into the area and there was Tevez to head in his second. After that a couple of efforts from Tomkins and Diamanti marked the end of the fight and the last ten minutes had City on the attack with little reply.
Perhaps we’ll have better luck on Sunday.
Bolton 3-1 West Ham
By: Martin | 1 Comment
For so long it looked like the Hammers would beat the curse and make it into the last 16 of the Carling Cup. Seven out of the last eight seasons the Hammers haven’t progressed and they were within five minutes of being there.
After a back and forth first half, it was star defender Herita Ilunga who managed to get his foot to a loose ball in the six yard box to score after a bit of miss-hit corner from Alessandro Diamanti. However four minutes from time Bolton’s Kevin Davies headed in a cross from Matthew Taylor.
So on to extra time and things began to unwind. The Hammers looked tired and Taylor hit the post after four minutes. But Gary Cahill hit a long range shot that put Bolton ahead a minute later.
Future superstar Alessandro Diamanti hit the crossbar with a wicked curling effort with nine minutes to go, but Johan Elmander scored from close range to make it 3-1 with less than two minutes left of extra time.
West Ham 2-3 Liverpool
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It was really disappointing not to pick up a point against an in form Liverpool side. After coming back from behind twice, it looked good up to the 75th minute until the Spanish superstar Fernando Torres scored his second of the game.
Hammers started well enough with Zavon Hines striking the post after two minutes, but it was Fernando Torres who scored the opener after twenty minutes. Things started to go from bad to worse with both Mathew Upson and Valon Behrami, just back after injury, hobbling off five minutes after the Liverpool goal.
However, within five minutes Jamie Carragher chopped down Zavron Hines and new boy Alessandro Diamanti stepped up and used both feet to slot the penalty down the center of Pepe Reina’s goal. Despite whining from the Liverpool players, Diamanti is starting to pay back some of Zola’s faith in him.
Four minutes before the break, ex-Hammer, Yossi Benayoun floated over a corner for Gerrard to knock down a header for Dirk Kuyt to put Liverpool back on top. However the lead was short lived with goal machine, Carlton Cole getting above the Liverpool defenders and heading in to make it 2-2.
It seemed as though the majority of the Hammers side was suffering from exhaustion and goal scorer, Diamanti was replaced by Kieron Dyer, who was not injured this week. The Upton Park crowd gave new boy Diamanti a standing ovation.
Unfortunately a point was not to be had. Babel picking chipped the ball to Torres who nodded in his second.
And Now, The End Is Near, And So I Face…
By: Martin | 1 Comment
From news reports this week, it is becoming clearer that Dean Ashton may be at the end of his playing career. The talk this week was of the Hammers cashing on the insurance policies and sending Deano out to pasture. The 25 year old has not made any recovery in the last year since his current injury and that make be sufficient for Zola to say enough is enough. Of couse, Deano’s $60k a week salary may be the final nail in his coffin when the new boys like Diamante and Franco are out there scoring.
Hammers Pick Up Another Striker
By: Martin | Add Comments
Looks like the Hammers have snatched up another striker, this time out-of-contract Guillermo Franco, most recently at the Spanish club, Villarreal. The 32 year old Argentinean, but plays for Mexico, has been a decent goalscorer, hitting 14 goals in 81 appearances with Villarreal and 6 goals in 19 international matches with the Mexican national team. Probably will not see him against Liverpool on Saturday, but hopefully he can make an impact later this month.
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