Preview: West Ham vs Chelsea

November 30, 2012 By Iron Bobby 1 Comment

West Ham host London neighbours Chelsea in the Premier League this Saturday with the game being shown live on SkySports 2 for a 12:45 ko.

Sam Allardyce’s men are coming off two straight away defeats in the Premier League, having lost 3-1 to Tottenham last weekend and 1-0 to Manchester United midweek in a much improved performance with Robin van Persie’s fortunate deflected goal being the difference between the teams.

Chelsea will be under the charge of new interim boss Rafa Benitez, with Chelsea having failed to score since the Fat Spanish Waiter took over from Roberto Di Matteo with both previous outings ending in a goalless draw.

West Ham will need to keep an eye on Fernando Torres, even though he can’t hit a barn door against anyone else it seems the Spaniard has netted 6 times in 6 appearances against the Hammers’. However we have Andy Carroll who will be looking to build on his first goal for the club which he scored against Tottenham last week.

Interesting stat is that Torres and Carroll have netted just 18 league goals in 114 games combined since they fetched £85million in transfer fees! Makes your eyes water!

There will also be no love lost between Allardyce and Benitez with the two far from friends during their Bolton and Liverpool days.

West Ham News

Mark Noble is back from suspension and will be a welcome addition to the teamsheet as we missed him at Old Trafford.

Ricardo Vaz Te, Alou Diarra and Jack Collison all remain sidelined, while Yossi Benayoun is not available for selection due to loan restrictions from his parent club Chelsea.

Chelsea News

Chelsea will be without Englan trio John Terry, Frank Lampard and Daniel Sturridge through injury while Brazillian defender David Luiz is suspended.

It looks like a good time to be playing Chelsea but with the quality of individuals they have you can never be too sure, lets hope we can something out of this game and start moving up the able again. COYI!

Iron Bobby – West Ham United Blog

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West Ham to be named preferred bidder for Olympic Stadium

November 29, 2012 By Iron Bobby Leave a Comment

West Ham are set to be named as the preferred bidder for the Olympic Stadium next week after fresh efforts were made bridge the gap in funding required to convert the venue into a football ground.

The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) board is meeting on Wednesday December 5 with some sources saying they expect The Hammers’ will take a major step towards becoming the stadium’s tenants.

Preferred bidder status will not involve the signing of any contracts but will put West Ham in the driving seat to securing a new home away from The Boleyn under a 99-year lease.

olympic-stadium-londonThe gap in funding to convert the stadium into a football ground with retractable seating over the running track is understood to now be down to around £20million after West Ham and Newham Council agreed to put in more money.

West Ham are one of four bidders trying to secure tenancy in the Olympic Stadium, which has cost £486million so far and has been vacant since hosting the closing ceremony to the Paralympics at the start of September.

We are competing against League One side Leyton Orient, a football business college and a group keen to bring Formula One racing to the Olympic Park.

West Ham’s latest offer is believed to be a £15m upfront contribution, a £5million improvement on the original offer, as well as rent of £2.5m a year and £6m-a-year income for the LLDC from stadium naming rights and catering revenues.

The LLDC confirmed this month that the stadium will not re-open until 2015 at the earliest and possibly the summer of 2016 – which would be two years later than expected.

The retractable seating means the Olympic Stadium will be far better suited to hosting Premier League football matches than the original plans we saw where the fans would need binoculars to see the players. If this goes through then along with the sale of The Boleyn ground it could push West Ham onto the next level and attract further investors.

Iron Bobby – West Ham United Blog

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West Ham to bid for Irish starlet Sean Maguire

November 29, 2012 By Iron Bobby 1 Comment

sean maguire west ham targetWest Ham United have reportedly mad a transfer bid to sign Waterford United teenage striker Sean Maguire.

Irish starlet Maguire has caught the eye of West Ham’s coaching staff after impressing during a trial spell at The Boleyn.

18-year-old Sean Maguire has been attracting the interest of a host of other clubs after his impressive displays with Waterford United over the past year.

Maguire scored 12 goals in 24 starts for Waterford this term and he is regarded as one of the best young prospects to emerge from Ireland in recent years.

SkySports believe the Hammers have now made a firm offer which Waterford are considering with West Ham hoping to tie up a deal in time for the January transfer window.

I don’t confess to know much about the Sean Maguire but more exciting young talent for the club can’t be a bad thing.

Iron Bobby – West Ham United Blog

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Lessons to learn from the Old Trafford defeat

November 29, 2012 By Stevo 1 Comment

lessons to learn from old trafford defeat

Manchester United retained their top spot in the league table last night courtesy of a one nil win over West Ham United. The Old Trafford defeat however, has left a sour taste in the mouths of many a West Ham fan to say the least.

The goal came from Manc new boy Robin Van Persie on 33 seconds. It was quite a shock to the system and a bit of a lame goal to say the least. He chipped a hapless Jussi Jaaskelainen via a deflection off James Collins to seal the match with less than a minute’s play.

It does leave a bad taste in your mouth especially as West Ham defended like Trojans and the Mancs never really got a whiff of Jaaskelainen’s penalty area after that!

Although the red devils dominated the ball as they usually do on their own park, they couldn’t break down the well-organised defense of the Hammers. The West Ham defense at the moment is outstanding and therefore we came away feeling rather sorry for ourselves after the game last night up North.

In the end, Fergie and his boys won the three points at stake and with a busy December on the horizon, they may be invaluable.

Lessons to learn

On the whole, although we lost the game we can take back to the Boleyn Ground some valuable lessons. The Hammers do have a defense that can produce the goods and last night it showed. If it weren’t for a lucky Van Persie strike that hit Collin’s leg and sent the ball spiralling past a helpless Jussi, the Irons may have come away with a draw, maybe a win.

Another lesson we must learn about the Old Trafford defeat is that we must put our chances away. We must stick them away against the bottom feeders and also the teams at the top. If we don’t we get punished. We had chances last night, even early in the game. Just after 11 minutes, Nolan could have drawn via a Matt Jarvis free-kick but flicked it just wide of the post. Nolan almost poked a Matt Jarvis drive beyond Manc keeper Lindegaard on 23 minutes, too.

The Red Devils looked like adding another goal sooner or later as they had so much possession but Hammers, like Guy Demel and James Collins, were robust warriors and Collins even got Man of the Match for his efforts.

Substitutes Carlton Cole and Modibo Maiga came close to equalising for the Irons, but it was not to be my friends.

Late into injury time, the Hammers got a free-kick that was headed down to substitute Carlton Cole. His cleverly chested-down volley on the turn was kept out by Lindegaard before Irons’ captain Kevin Nolan had a last ditch effort closed down and United defender Patrice Evra got away with a shocking back pass attempt thanks to fellow colleague Jonny Evans just before the final whistle blew.

We are trying to organise a competition for a couple of hammer fans to see West Ham vs Manchester United live on Saturday 9th March 2012 so stay tuned my friends.

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Defoe double sinks Hammers at the Lane

November 25, 2012 By Stevo 1 Comment

tottenham vs west ham 2012

It had to be West Ham old boy Jermaine Defoe who stuck the boot in at White Hart Lane, didn’t it? Defoe snatched a brace and Gareth Bale scored a scorcher. Andy Carroll scored his first goal for the claret and blues to try and adjust the scoreline but it was far too late, we weren’t going to salvage anything from this game.

It was a fiery derby in which some of the Hammer fans taunted the White Hart Lane outfit about the Rome stab fest the other day.

Tottenham now move up above the Hammers in the league table and were, dare i say it, the better side today. Only Andy Carroll’s header , which came far too late, was the only consolation the Hammers received this afternoon.

After the game in Rome early in the week, the Hammers thought they had their work cut out but they were oh so wrong. André Villas Boas’ outfit flew out of the starting blocks and pressured the irons from the get go and victory looked likely for the home side from the outset.

The hostile atmosphere in the stands transferred to the pitch where O’Brien was lucky to just get a booking for a dangerous late tackle on Bale.

Tottenham were up for the fight and both Defoe and Clint Dempsey fired in warning shots at Jussi. There was more trouble on the pitch and Defoe was booked for a rash tackle on West Ham’s Winston Reid. This was beginning to look like a Barca v Real Madrid game!

West Ham started to find their feet towards the half time whistle and captain fantastic Kevin Nolan, edged his way into the tottenham penalty area only to have his shot blocked by Sandro. Mark Noble was also booked for a silly tackle on Lennon and tempers were seen to be high on the two benches where Neil McDonald was seen to be involved in a spat with Jose Mario Rocha.

Tottenham’s first came courtesy of Defoe just before half time , who edged in from the right beating Winston Reid and George McCartney before taking on Noble and sending the ball past Jussi Jaaskelainen.

After the break, West Ham felt ambitious but left the back exposed for Tottenham to capitalise on. Within minutes, Defoe was involved in the second goal which put Bale through to beat the Hammers’ keeper via a post.

Tottenham duly took control of the game and then came Defoe’s second of the match to make it 3 nil. Dempsey put the ball through to unleash the speed of Lennon who squared nicely for Defoe to tap in.

Late into the game came West ham’s consolation goal. Big Andy Carroll managed to turn in Joey O’Brien’s cross and get his first goal for West Ham. No doubt he would have liked the goal to be a decider or in different circumstances but the Hammers were well beaten today.

After the match Sam Allardyce had this to say:

“It looked like we didn’t recover from the first goal, which is disappointing because we still had a very good chance if we came out and played like we can. We were relying a lot on good defensive work and that let us down in the end.
“We launched a spirited comeback but it was far too late. It’s a bad day for me watching the lads play like they did. None of the players played their best and ended up being beaten comfortably.

This was a baptism of fire for West Ham and maybe a reality check. Tottenham now jump up above the lads and it hurts. The Hammers need to get it together and play like winners. We have a strong defense and a decent record in the Premier League so let’s not lose hope that we can finish in the top 5 or 6 this year. COYI

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