West Ham

[Guest]

I agree we were outplayed on Saturday but a 2-0 score hardly indicates a thrashing.

The reports I read suggested Liverpool could have had 5 or 6!

The West Ham manager is clearly a more impartial observer and assessor of other teams than the average West Ham supporter

[John Simkin]

Harry Redknapp was interviewed about his time as a player at West Ham on TV over the weekend. He pointed out that Ron Greenwood was manager when he joined the club. He claimed that Greenwood was a revolutionary coach. For example, he argued that he introduced the strategy of the overlapping winger and the cross from the wing to the near post.

Redknapp provided some interesting information about Greenwood’s teaching strategy. He thought the best way to learn was to teach. He therefore put all his players into pairs and sent them every afternoon to train the young lads in the local East End schools. This became very competitive as the players were permanently assigned to these schools. It also produced a system where local schools provided a stream of talented young footballers. This included Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters, Trevor Brooking, John Sissons, etc. Therefore, when they won the Cup Winners Cup in 1965, 10 of the 11 players were products of its youth system.

The system also produced a series of players who eventually became talented coaches. For example, Malcolm Allison, Noel Cantwell, John Bond, John Lyle, Harry Redknapp, etc.

The problem is that despite a team of great individual home-grown talent, every year West Ham finished in mid-table. Redknapp was asked why this was. He did not know but he pointed out that Ron Greenwood had one serious failing. He never praised his students. This had a bad effect on the players. Redknapp pointed out that even Bobby Moore suffered from self-doubt because of Greenwood’s attitude towards him.

There is a theory that the withholding of praise is in itself a motivating device. Brain Clough for example rarely praised his players. One of his players, Trevor Francis, claimed this was the secret of his success. Every week players played to their maximum in order to get the approval of Clough. However, it never came and resulted in them trying even harder the following week.

[John Simkin]

After last night’s game Arsene Wenger complained that Arsenal were the better team and did not deserve to lose against West Ham. For example, he pointed out that Arsenal had 16 shots at goal compared to West Ham’s four attempts. However, all four shots were on target and three of them went into the net.

League tables do not lie and clearly, over the last few years, Arsenal has been a better team than West Ham. That is true of this season as well. When Arsenal attack teams they look one of the best teams in Europe. However, there is much more to football than trying to score goals. All season it has been clear that Arsenal has a serious problem. Up until last night it seemed this problem only related to away games as they had only been beaten at home by Chelsea.

Alan Pardew had worked out why Arsenal were having problems away but not at home. In away games they were attacked by the opposition. It was clear that this was not the Arsenal of old. When they were attacked they began to buckle and make mistakes.

At home Arsenal was rarely faced with this problem. Most teams defended in depth and rarely attacked in numbers. Only Chelsea had the confidence to do this and was rewarded for doing so.

It is true that West Ham spent most of the game soaking up pressure. However, on the few occasions they did attack, they did so in numbers. For example, with the third goal, the cross missed out the first two forwards and arrived at the feet of the unmarked Etherington. Even with the second goal, Zamora, had the choice of shooting or passing the ball to Reo-Coker who had arrived unmarked in the penalty area. West Ham has scored more goals in the league this season than any other club bar Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal. This is not only because they attack at pace, they attack in numbers.

If I was Arsene Wenger I would be very concerned by the impact that this game will have on other teams who visit Highbury this season. They will probably adopt the tactics of West Ham and they can expect more defeats will follow. What is more, he is likely to find his best players like Henry wanting to leave the club as they are clearly not going to be winning anything of any consequence over the next couple of years.

West Ham on the other hand are on the up. So much so that they might even end up above Arsenal in the table by the end of the season. True the team does not have any world class players at the moment (I believe that Ferdinand and Gabbidon might eventually achieve this status). However, Pardew has assembled a team of young British players who will improve dramatically over the next couple of years. A far better situation to be in than having a team of foreign mercenaries.

[John Simkin]

In case anyone had not noticed it, West Ham have won their last seven games and are now in sixth place in the premiership.

Alan Pardew is now the highest positioned English manager in the league. This is not an irrelevant point. One of the reasons Trevor Brooking selected Pardew for the job was that he supported West Ham as a boy. It has been Pardew’s policy to buy players who supported the club as fans. As a result, nine members of the regular team were born in the UK. This is in stark contrast to teams like Arsenal who sometimes appear with no players from the UK.

When I was a boy football teams were very much part of the community. You supported your local team and dreamt of playing for them when you got older. When I saw West Ham win the 1965 European Cup Winners Cup, ten of the team were born in London (the other one was born in Worcester). We will never return to those days, but surely teams like Arsenal have gone too far in the wrong direction.

[Guest]

In case anyone had not noticed it, West Ham have won their last seven games and are now in sixth place in the premiership.

Alan Pardew is now the highest positioned English manager in the league. This is not an irrelevant point. One of the reasons Trevor Brooking selected Pardew for the job was that he supported West Ham as a boy. It has been Pardew’s policy to buy players who supported the club as fans. As a result, nine members of the regular team were born in the UK. This is in stark contrast to teams like Arsenal who sometimes appear with no players from the UK.

When I was a boy football teams were very much part of the community. You supported your local team and dreamt of playing for them when you got older. When I saw West Ham win the 1965 European Cup Winners Cup, ten of the team were born in London (the other one was born in Worcester). We will never return to those days, but surely teams like Arsenal have gone too far in the wrong direction.

As a citizen of the world I see past nationality.

As I had run out of marking and better things to do I watched the West Ham game last night - they played surprisingly well (even their foreign players ).

[John Simkin]

As I had run out of marking and better things to do I watched the West Ham game last night - they played surprisingly well (even their foreign players ).

Benayoun of course comes from Israel. With relatives from the East End of London he has been a long-term supporter of West Ham. I am afraid I cannot say the same for Scaloni. Our first choice was the West Ham supporting Liam Rosenior (his father, Leroy Rosenior, is a former West Ham player). Fulham would not let him go so we will have to wait until the end of the season.

[Guest]

It has been Pardew’s policy to buy players who supported the club as fans. As a result, nine members of the regular team were born in the UK.

Surely this is more to do with what he can afford?

[Christopher T. George]

I agree we were outplayed on Saturday but a 2-0 score hardly indicates a thrashing.

The reports I read suggested Liverpool could have had 5 or 6!

The West Ham manager is clearly a more impartial observer and assessor of other teams than the average West Ham supporter

Hello Andy

Is that the same Liverpool I have been watching???? We are, quite frankly, having a great deal of trouble putting it in the net. Morientes, Crouch, and Cisse are proving a bust at present and Fowler is only just working his way into the team, may be past his best, and is, he and Benitez acknowledge not fully match fit. Believe me, it is excrutiating to watch Liverpool presently. We might have total dominance in terms of our midfield taking control but we are having the greatest difficulty putting the ball in the back of the net. We will see what happens versus Arsenal tonight and Manchester United in the Cup at the weekend but I cannot say I am hopeful despite Arsenal's recent loss of form and Manchester's similar inconsistency: both teams appear able to score with facility and we do not.

Chris

[Guest]

Is that the same Liverpool I have been watching???? We are, quite frankly, having a great deal of trouble putting it in the net. Morientes, Crouch, and Cisse are proving a bust at present and Fowler is only just working his way into the team, may be past his best, and is, he and Benitez acknowledge not fully match fit. Believe me, it is excrutiating to watch Liverpool presently. We might have total dominance in terms of our midfield taking control but we are having the greatest difficulty putting the ball in the back of the net. We will see what happens versus Arsenal tonight and Manchester United in the Cup at the weekend but I cannot say I am hopeful despite Arsenal's recent loss of form and Manchester's similar inconsistency: both teams appear able to score with facility and we do not.

Chris

Yes, but imagine it is still 2001 - what a strike force we'd have - Fowler, Morientes and if the rumours are true Gaucho Ronaldinho could be on the way

[John Simkin]

It has been Pardew’s policy to buy players who supported the club as fans. As a result, nine members of the regular team were born in the UK.

Surely this is more to do with what he can afford?

This is not the case. Pardew had £7.25m to spend on a striker in January. He used it to spend it on an Englishman, Dean Ashton. He joined three other English strikers he had bought for the club: Marlon Harewood, Bobby Zamora and Teddy Sheringham.

Several seasons ago Ipswich finished 6th in the year it was promoted to the premiership. It was mainly done from players who had graduated from its academy and a few shrewd buys by George Burley from the lower divisions. Ipswich used the money from its 6th place to buy several foreign players. Their high wages caused disunity in the camp and Ipswich were relegated the following season.

It is worth looking at the recently published Actim Index - English football's official player rating system and statistical guide. The Actim Index was first introduced for the 2004-05 season and was devised by statisticians at the University of Salford in partnership with PA Sport. The calculations are based on the four key factors that contribute to a player's effectiveness and his ability to help his team win matches.

The ratings are used to create rankings such as the top 100 Premiership players, the top five goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders and forwards, plus the current team of the week and team of the season - categories which all heavily feature West Ham United players.

In fact, the current Team of the Season includes no fewer than three Hammers - Anton Ferdinand, Matthew Etherington and Marlon Harewood, making Alan Pardew's men the second most represented Club in the chosen 11 - with Chelsea's Petr Cech, John Terry, William Gallas, Joe Cole and Frank Lampard unsurprisingly dominating the line-up. The remaining three places are taken up by Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand and Ruud Van Nistelrooy, while Steven Gerrard is Liverpool's sole inclusion.

It should be noted that four of the team actually come from West Ham's academy (Cole, Lampard and the two Ferdinands) and two more are Englishman from the current West Ham team.

England won the 1966 World Cup thanks to three players from West Ham's Academy (Bobby Moore, Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst). Will the same thing happen in 2006 (Joe Cole, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand)?

[Guest]

I have just watched West Ham beat Manchester City in the 1/4 finals of the FA Cup.

The game seemed to turn on an extremely dubious sending off.

Perhaps West Ham are going to have one of those "lucky" runs this year in cup competition

[Ed Waller]

Perhaps West Ham are going to have one of those "lucky" runs this year in cup competition

But they'd have to change their name to Spurs to pull off the lucky cup win...

Of course if it were a European competition, they could change their name to Liverpool and achieve a similar result.

[John Simkin]

I have just watched West Ham beat Manchester City in the 1/4 finals of the FA Cup.

The game seemed to turn on an extremely dubious sending off.

Perhaps West Ham are going to have one of those "lucky" runs this year in cup competition

The game turned on a great goal scored by Dean Ashton. Both teams scored one goal each after the sending off. Howard Webb got it right. The rules state that a player should be sent off if he raises his hands against another player.

All teams that win cup competition need a certain amount of luck (look at Liverpool last season). However, teams make their own luck. As the golfer, Gary Player, once said: “The more I practice, the luckier I get".

[Guest]

I have just watched West Ham beat Manchester City in the 1/4 finals of the FA Cup.

The game seemed to turn on an extremely dubious sending off.

Perhaps West Ham are going to have one of those "lucky" runs this year in cup competition

The game turned on a great goal scored by Dean Ashton. Both teams scored one goal each after the sending off. Howard Webb got it right. The rules state that a player should be sent off if he raises his hands against another player.

All teams that win cup competition need a certain amount of luck (look at Liverpool last season). However, teams make their own luck. As the golfer, Gary Player, once said: “The more I practice, the luckier I get".

Gary Player was actually one of the luckiest golfer ever in major championships. His record of 9 majors is very flattering given his limited talents.

Re the sending off last night I can only assume West Ham players are made of bolsa wood or some similarly brittle material to require such excessive protection from the referee

[John Simkin]

Re the sending off last night I can only assume West Ham players are made of bolsa wood or some similarly brittle material to require such excessive protection from the referee

I have to admit that Etherington is not the strongest of players. In fact, he often comes in for a battering from the full-back. It is generally believed that he is not brave and can hide from conflict. It used to be true but he is getting tougher.

To quote the Guardian, West Ham "outclassed" Manchester City and their victory was "thoroughly deserved". Dominic Fifield went on to say: "This was a thoroughly intelligent display, their youthful midfield defying its inexperience and a bustling forward line, supplied intelligently from the flanks, prising the hosts apart."