Former West Ham manager Harry Redknapp had said before the game that he privately thought it would be better if the Hammers got knocked out. Well, ‘ol Harry got his wish as we went out in Romania in the second leg of our Europa League qualifying tie to Astra Giurgiu. Manuel Lanzini scored his first goal for the club, but Astra skipper Constantin Budescu rose to the occasion with two goals in four first half minutes as his side prevailed 4-3 on aggregate.

Bilic’s side selection seemed to imply that the Premiership opener against Arsenal was at the top of his mind, with Jenkinson, Nolan and Maiga the only players who could be termed starters taking the pitch against the Romanians [Read more…]

An eventful evening, but certainly not the best for us. Dropped a 2-0 lead at home to draw 2-2 (Ogbonna scored a comical own goal), Slaven got sent off to the stands by the ref, Collins got red carded, and worst of all, Enner Valencia suffered an injury that looks to keep him out for an extended period of time. Time for Slaven to sign someone as a stopgap- that Valencia injury looked nasty [Read more…]