Archive for January, 2008

Bellamy is back!, fantastic news for West Ham & Wales. 

West Ham will no doubt be including Bellamy in their game against his old club Liverpool on Weds 30th Jan at Upton Park.

Bellamy has been out for 3 months with an abdominal injury.

West Hams assistant manager Mervyn Day said,

“Players always target the earliest game possible, so we have got to look at it properly and see whether Craig is actually fit enough to play any part against Liverpool.
“Certainly he is training well, but Craig has only literally played 87 minutes in a reserve match since the injury first struck … so realistically it is going to be a big ask for him to be involved.

“However, who knows what the situation might be come Wednesday night.”

The news wasn’t so good for Collins, after being hurt 30 Mins into last weeks reserve match against Portsmouth,

“It wasn’t the best pitch in the world, but that had nothing to do with James’ injury,” said Day.

“Having seen it again on the video, it looks such an innocuous challenge. James has fallen awkwardly, the opponent has fallen on top of him and suddenly you are looking at some considerable time out of the picture.”

Collins had been back in the Hammers first-team reckoning, appearing as an unused substitute in the last three league outings.

This is why West Ham made no new signings this January, with quality players returning from injury, it wouldn’t have made sense to buy anybody else. 

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Architect plans for West Ham’s new Stadium will be handed over to the LDA early 2008, hopefully we will see some idea what the stadium will look like, amongst all the other developed area of Newham around the time of the opening of the London Olympics.

LDA quoted

The Hammers have been given extra time to work on proposals for a new stadium next to West Ham Tube station. The club were initially given until the end of 2007 by the London Development Agency (LDA) to come up with a feasible design for a 60,000-capacity ground on the former Parcel Force site.

The LDA confirmed it has granted the unspecified amount of time,

increasing speculation that a deal could be announced early in the new year.

Now nearly the end of January, but no plans have been submitted yet.

It would be interesting to know what name is going to be given to the new stadium.

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Fabio Capello has dropped his first hint that David Beckham will be in his first England squad by asking his staff to contact Arsenal  to find out about the player’s fitness levels. Beckham has been training with Arsène Wenger’s squad this month to get in shape during Los Angeles Galaxy’s close season.

The contact was made by Capello’s fitness coach Massimo Neri who also worked under Capello and with Beckham in the 32-year-old’s final season at Real Madrid last year. Neri has spoken to the Arsenal fitness coach Tony Colbert to get an idea of the state of Beckham’s fitness

ahead of Capello’s first England squad announcement which is expected to come next Friday.

The new England manager has given away little about what he plans to do for the first friendly against Switzerland on 6 February and has not spoken to any players on an individual basis – not even captain John Terry. While he has been able to watch most of them in action for their clubs, Beckham’s LA Galaxy team’s Major League Soccer season does not start until March. He has not played competitively since October.

For that reason, the player’s representatives asked Wenger, with whom Beckham has a good relationship, if the midfielder could train at Arsenal where he has now been working for more than three weeks on his own and with the squad. Beckham’s fitness programme has been tailored to his needs by Colbert who has been at Arsenal for almost 10 years.

Neri has been monitoring the fitness of all the potential players in Capello’s first squad and building connections with fitness coaches at all Premier League clubs. Fitness levels, and the monitoring of players, will play a significant part in the new Capello regime. So often a factor that is regarded beyond the control of international managers, it was attention to players’ individual fitness – on and off international duty – that was so integral to Jurgen Klinsmann’s Germany team reaching the World Cup semi-finals in 2006. 

Capello is going to see Aston Villa play Blackburn today to cast his eye on Rovers midfielder David Bentley. Steve McClaren’s custom, as well as that of his predecessor Sven Goran Eriksson, was to name the England squad on the Friday before the weekend that preceded a midweek international. If that is still the case then there are six days to go before Capello’s next squad with the new England manager also expected to be at Old Trafford tomorrow to see Manchester United and Tottenham. He has still not yet given any indication whether Terry will continue as captain.

The Football Association announced yesterday that England will play a friendly against Germany in Berlin on 19 November. By then Capello will have played his first four World Cup qualifiers and will have overseen five friendly matches. It will be the first time England have played away against Germany since the 5-1 victory over them in Munich on 1 September 2001. Capello said: “This should be a great match. I’m delighted this fixture has been arranged.”

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There have been some pretty bad transfers in recent history within the CCC and English football in general. Names like Ali Dia of Southampton stick out, among others, but what about bad loan spells for the players themselves, rather than the clubs?I think Calum Davenport can lay claim to quite possibly the worst loan spell EVER this past week, by turning out for Watford for a grand total of 40 minutes before breaking his neck.

Yes, you read correctly, BREAKING HIS NECK. The West Ham defender was drafted in to provide cover for Danny Shittu, currently on duty with Nigeria at the African Cup of Nations. After Hornets teammate Darius Henderson fell on top of him 40 minutes into the first half of Saturday’s match with Charlton, he went off with a fractured neck bone.

Watford skipped Aidy Boothroyd had this to say: “Calum heard a crack in his neck and he lost the sensation in his fingers.” YIKES.

From the BBC: “The injury has triggered an immediate end to the 25 year old’s loan spell and he will return to Read more The Unluckiest Loan in West Ham History?

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Things are looking rosey for the Hammers, all but 3 players are virtually fit for 1st team games.

Bellamy could play a part in the Liverpool game, and so could Gabbidon, Solano is almost ready too.

After watching the Hammers play the way we did against City, it looks as though Liverpool may have a tough game.

Liverpool are struggling to catch up with Man U, Arsenal & Chelsea and are now Read more West Ham on the Mend so Watch out Liverpool!

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 Arsene Wenger has been a long-term admirer of Green, who kept clean sheets home and away against the Gunners in last season’s Premier League meetings.

  According to Express, Wenger would be happy to bring green to the Emirates Stadium if he can sign him for around £7million which is £1m up on his last offer.

Spanish shot-stopper Manuel Almunia has conceded 16 goals in 23 appearances for Arsenal since replacing Jens Lehmann towards the end of August, which is with Liverpool, the worst goal conceding record with the big 4.

The Hammers have Richard Wright as back-up, yet would be loathe to sell Green, who they recruited from Norwich for £2million in summer 2006. But the 27-year-old would be keen to move in order to boost his England chances, having won just one cap for his country - as a half-time substitute in the 3-2 win over Colombia in New Jersey in Read more Get Lost Arsenal! Green is Staying at West Ham

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Its Thoroughbreds we need not Donkeys

A rumour by Goal.com is saying that West Ham are showing an interest in Argentinian midfielder Leandro Somoza (The Yellow Submarine), <— lmfhao

Goal.com quoted:

Talks could begin this week, according to reports in Spain, and if they do then West Ham may be ready to make their interest known in the player.

 Well lets hope that this is 1 peice of news that is rubbish. 

He is on loan to Real Betis from Villarreal, and hardly makes 1st team & never ever scores a goal, Cmon, we already have defenders who do score goals!! and after watching the Man City game on Sunday, i am pretty confident we already have a classy midfield.
I am sure, signing this Donkey  would be worthless, and give BG a bigger headache about wages not making profits.

Lets hope The Yellow Submarine rumour sinks without trace.

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No other manager in England could deal with what Alan Curbishley has had to deal with, Injuries galore to his best players, a very close freind (eggert) leaving the boardroom, Fans shouting, “you dont know what your doing,” & managing to keep a crocked team in 10th place, and having ambitions to play Europe next season. WTF hasnt Curbs been handed Manager of the month.?

We played man City today like they was Fulham, again we should have won, but it wasnt to be.

So is Curbs, the best.?

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With the blessing’s from him upstairs (BG not God) Curbs will have renewed faith in his team.

After the midweek game we lost, but fought so hard, the hammers will be full out to win at any cost, if Curbs wants to climb this ladder to Europe, then Sunday will be the day to start, If we lose, then we will feel the Spuds climbing up our shirt tails.

 Manager Sven Goran Eriksson is aware that his team have drawn their last two home games and they need to start winning again if they want to compete in Europe next season. However Eriksson will still be without the services of Emile Mpenza, Castillo and Johnson as they are yet to recover from their injuries.

Meanwhile the Hammers will be hoping to continue their good form, which has seen them win the last five of their 10 games including a 2-1 win over defending champions Manchester United.

Curbs will be boosted by the return of Nolberto Solano, Bobby Zamora, Craig Bellamy and Daniel Gabbidon from their respective injuries. The Hammers beat lowly Fulham 2-1 in their last Premiership match,

Prediction 

Im going all out on this one, and make myself look a fool by sticking a lady on West Ham winning 3-1.

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Curbs & BG got together and chat about the squad, and what they are hoping for this season,

 

Curbs said to a Mirror reporter,

“We are looking forward to the games ahead and we are looking to get into that top six, seven or eight.

“I looked at Portsmouth and Blackburn. Portsmouth are catchable.

“We have to be looking upwards, not downwards, so I am looking at it thinking let’s attack the run-in.

“I know it is a little bit early to be talking about the run-in but we are on the way home and let’s see what it brings.”

 Then he was asked if BG was happy with the clubs progress, after the amount of money that was spent last summer?

Curbs said,

“I have spoken to BG - I went out with him on Monday.

“It was the first time I have had a chance to sit down and have a chat.

“I think he understands we have brought a lot of players in, who are still settling.

“He is happy with us at the moment. He hasn’t set any targets for us.

“He is pleased we are going along OK and like everybody, he is waiting for the other players to come back to see what we have got.”

 

I (Rooster) said before that we have a possiblility of a higher place, but to be honest, i dont think we will make Europe this season, not with the strikers having so many problems with fitness.

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