Stevo | West Ham United Blog

Andy Carroll’s career saved by West Ham captain

November 11, 2012 By Stevo Leave a Comment

Hammers captain Kevin Nolan has dramatically stated that he has helped save Andy Carroll’s football career. Nolan is hoping that the big man can silence the crowd at St James’ Park today where the Hammers take on Newcastle.

The two are great friends and most people remember that Carroll had to spend a 2 year spell away from football after being charged with assaulting a former girlfriend. Although the charges were later dropped, Carroll was also fined £1,000 for an assault charge at a newcastle nightclub.

Nolan was Newcastle’s captain at the time of the incidents and as part of the bail condition, Andy Carroll was ordered to live with Nolan. The West Ham captain remembers that the big man emerged as a great cook which was very handy while Nolan’s wife was in Liverpool!

Nolan said of the incident:

“At Newcastle, if something goes on, it gets exploded 10 times and with Andy, it was magnified 1,000 times.
He was on assault charges but that sort of died quite quickly afterwards and all the charges put up against him were suddenly dropped.
It was because he’s 6ft 5in, he’s got long hair, he stands out in a crowd. I knew he just had to keep himself out of those situations, and since then he’s learnt so much. He’s been to Liverpool where he lived on his own with his girlfriend.
There is a different lad standing there in that dressing room now. There’s a man there now who can look after himself. You’d have to ask Andy if I’ve had an influence on that, of course I’m going to say ‘yeah!”

Nolan had a terrific 2 and a half year spell at the Toons and scored 30 goals which made him a firm favourite with the fans. West Ham manager Sam Allardyce reckons that Nolan has been the best signing he’s made at West Ham and cannot for the life of him understand why he hasn’t received an England call-up. The Hammer fans are with Sam on this and he has been a truly awesome influence on the younger players.

Kevin Nolan revealed:

“All I’ll say is that I was born in an era where we’ve had probably the best midfielders England have ever had in terms of goal scoring.
It does hurt I haven’t got the call but it’s something I’ve got to live with — I’m a big boy.”

Today’s kick-off is at 15:00 and we want to see more of that Nolan experience and courage on the pitch today. If anyone can spur on Andy Carroll and the younger stars to awesomeness, it’s got to be Kevin Nolan! Good luck lads!

Hammers hold Man City to draw at Upton Park

November 4, 2012 By Stevo Leave a Comment

It was stalemate yesterday afternoon at the Boleyn Ground where the Hammers snatched a point from League title holders Manchester City. The game ended in a nil nil draw in which West Ham’s boss Sam Allardyce punched the air with joy after the final whistle.

The Hammers played some nice football and we could have snatched all 3 points if Nolan and Carroll had hit the target. It was a great game in which the underdogs with their limited resources and budget took on the nouveau riche of the Premier League and played one on one with them.

Ok, the class of city shone through and with their deep pockets it was hardly surprising, was it? What impressed me though was that the Hammers learnt their lesson from the Wigan game in which they showed complacency. Our boys were up for this even if it meant being beaten 3 nil!

It was West ham’s solid defense which the lads from Manchester City couldn’t get past.City never really got into their groove and tempers were high between Mancini and Balotelli when the italian was substituted – so no news there, then 🙂

After Chelsea’s faux pas and Manchester United beating North Londoners Arsenal, City find themselves in third position with the Hammers at eighth. Incidentally it was Van Persie who stuck the boot in and gave the Mancs victory over his former club. A lot of Arsenal supporters were wondering why Andre Santos decided to shirt swap with Robin Van Persie at half time, nice one.

Just after four minutes and captain Nolan had the ball in the back of the City net but was adjudged to have been in an offside position. I saw the replay and it was ever so slight – might have even been a rizzla paper’s width. Let me know your thoughts on that one!

Then it was Mo Diame’s turn to get in front of goal. The guy from Senegal had a shot from the edge of the box but was blasted over the top of Joe Hart’s net. Yossi Benayoun is steadily improving and had a nice game as I’m sure you’ll agree. He came close with a nice side footed volley that hit the crossbar.

The big Andy Carroll wanted some action too and put his shot agonisingly close to Joe Hart’s left post. Had that one gone in, it would have given the Hammers wings to go the extra mile for sure.

Ex Hammer Carlos Tevez played well for his new side but was unable to provide the form that made the difference to the scoreline.

Jussi Jaaskelainen was never really bothered by the Manchester City attack although the Finn was guilty on one occasion of being a bit of a “butter fingers” that could have let them in the back door.

Man of the match was a sublime James Collins who showed the rest of the Hammers what can be achieved with a raw blood and guts performance. Collins limped off on 84 minutes with O’Neil coming on to relieve him of duty. This is exactly the type of performance we want from the Irons – COYI

Filed Under: Match Reports Tagged With: city held to draw at boleyn ground, hammers hold city to draw

Complacent Hammers surrender to Wigan

October 28, 2012 By Stevo 1 Comment

Wigan started off well yesterday and were out of the starting blocks like a ferret up a drain pipe. With strikes from Ivan Ramis and James McArthur that was enough to do the damage although West Ham pulled back a goal late into the match via a lovely placed header by James Tomkins that gave the Wigan keeper no chance.

The Hammers were complacent and didn’t really get down to business if you ask me. They had their chances but they were not put away and at this level we all know what happens when you don’t stick your goals in the net, don’t we? It was visions of last year when we lost the plot half way through the season and went on a spree of drawing matches to let other clubs like Saints in the back door and take away our lead.

I must admit though that it was a beautiful volley from the Spaniard Ramis, who turned down West Ham by the way, to move up north to join fellow countryman Roberto Martinez. Big Sam must be biting his lip because it was only last month when Ramis scored his first goal for Wigan against West Ham in the Capital One Cup. His goal yesterday, came after 8 minutes of play and paved the way for the Irons’ second loss in 14 away outings.

Wigan could even have bettered the score at Upton Park had they been more accurate in front of goal.

After the game, Hammers boss Sam Allardyce had this to say:

“We never got going. It wasn’t just the defence, we did not function anywhere near our best in any department.
“As a promoted team you must give your very best to have any chance of winning on the road.
“Wigan were looking for a first home win and we needed to put pressure on them to make them more nervous.
“The technique Ramis showed for that first goal was terrific — any striker would have been proud of it. If Robin van Persie had scored it people would never stop going on about it.
“We did try to get him but Roberto’s Spanish tipped it Wigan’s way!
“It was a disappointment to see us perform that badly. We need to pick ourselves up quickly because we’ve got some very tough games coming up.”

The Wigan front men Arouna Kone and Franco Di Santo were causing the Hammers all sorts of problems and kept Jussi Jaaskelainen on his toes for a lot of the game. With James McArthur’s goal, it gave the Latics some breathing space being 2 goals up. They started to play nice football but their cocky style nearly backfired when the ball fell sweetly to Andy Carroll after being picked out by George McCartney. If it wasn’t for a pitiful first touch that ended with the ball running out of play, the Latics would have been taking just a point from this one.

West Ham need to tighten up the defines as Jussi can’t do it all, can he? The Hammers also need to put away their chances. Football is a very unforgiving game and if you don’t find the net with the chances you do get then it’s game over. I’m sure Sam will borrow Fergie’s hairdryer and give his boys the rocket they so deserve. Come on you irons!

Filed Under: Latest News

Allardyce would welcome Rio Ferdinand back

October 27, 2012 By Stevo 3 Comments

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce has said that he would welcome Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand back at Upton Park and the Boleyn Ground.

I’m sure the fans would be please, too including me! Allardyce has said that the door is open for a return in the light that Rio has just one year left on his current contract at Man U with red nosed boss Ferguson already trying to get the defender to sign a fresh deal.

Big Sam would welcome a return as this is where Rio cut his teeth before he moved to Leeds United and then onto mega stardom at Manchester United. And should Rio fancy a drive back down to London to finish off his footballing career, Sam would love to make it happen.

Sam Allardyce had this to say of the “Rio Gate” affair:

“If it’s at the end of the season and he hasn’t got a new contract and he is released by Manchester United, then we would be interested”.

“If he wants to live back in London eventually, which is where he comes from, which you know quite a few players want to do when they come to the end of their careers, that is an advantage for us”.

“It depends entirely on Rio or which other clubs might be interested in him”.

There you have it, from the horse’s mouth as it were. I would like to see Rio finish off his fantastic career down at West Ham and I’m sure most of the fans would, too. The Irons would be a good bet as Rio is originally from Peckham and the Hammers no doubt hold many fond memories for him. His brother Anton also plays for QPR so that could also be a Brucie bonus to get the sharp defender back down here.

What do the rest of the fans think about a Rio Ferdinand move back down south? Answers on a postcard please by 9’0 clock Monday morning!

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: allardyce welcomes ferdinand, ferdinand back at upton park

Saints see Hammers go marching on

October 21, 2012 By Stevo 1 Comment

It was a thriller at Upton Park yesterday afternoon as all the Saints could do was watch as West Ham went marching on! The match started off very well for the Southampton boys as they quickly had the Hammers on the back foot. They wanted to show that they were “up for it” and that they were no “pushovers”.

Goals came from a brace by Mark Noble, one from captain Kevin Nolan, with the fourth being picked up by Maiga on 87 minutes to punish the sloppy defence of Nigel Adkins’ team. A team which, by the way, has ended up with the worst defending in the Prem despite forking out £33million this summer – ouch! Adam Lallana did manage to pull one back for the visitors but it didn’t look like inspiring the Saints to keep going and scoring more goals.

The first half, to be honest, was one of the most miserable I’ve seen this season and it looked like the typical match where Southampton were going to nick a late goal and finish up on a pitiful 0-1 score-line. It was not to be however as large Sam must have had a word in each of his boys’ ears and told them to turn on the style.

The second half saw the Hammers pulling on the goal scoring boots and putting on a show for the fans. It’s an encouraging start to the season for Sam’s boys and we could say that the Hammers are the best performing of the three teams that have been promoted. Let’s hope we can keep it up!

Big Sam had this to say after the final whistle:

“It was a lacklustre performance”. “The players took a bit of criticism at half-time. We had to up the tempo and show the sort of desire we have done before this season. We came out and put it right”.

West Ham were indeed a different team after the break at half time as they showed the boss that his ethos of quality passing of the ball along with a high delivery. Benayoun should flashes of his past magic and that can only be a good sign. He’ll certainly be filling Vaz Té’s boots while he’s sidelined for three months following surgery to his shoulder.

‘It was a fantastic victory,’ said a euphoric Allardyce after the game. ‘To have 14 points at this stage is terrific.’

It was a bit of an amazing match – a first half reminiscent of some dire Npower League matches and then Bamn! A second half to take your hat off to. Great job lads and well done. 14 points in the bag so far, let’s see if we can keep them coming!