Zola has admitted to the Telegraph that he is not worried about 4 losses in a row, all that matters is that the players are playing well and need a win to bring back the confidence of scoring goals.

He said to the Telegraph:

“I know what the situation is and I’m not worried. I know how the team is playing and that gives me enough confidence to keep on smiling. You go through times like these where it’s not easy with four bad results. Of course I worry. I have my moments but they are overcome straight away.

“I always had the belief that results will come through playing good football, although in the last four games we have not won any points. I trust what we’re doing and we’ll be OK soon.”

I am pleased that he still has confidence in the team but as a commentor SAM H said, is the 4-3-3 system working? some key players out injured make the 4-3-3 system quite weak.

We must beat Boro today not only beat them we need a good result, we have only scored 1 goal in the last 4 games.

Zola added:

“This team are not playing as if they are going to have problems with relegation,” he said. “We’re playing well. We just need some confidence which will come through results.

Nothing will annoy fans more than watching Spurs climb the league ladder and eventually be above us, so C’Mon Zola get our team back to winning ways.

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Only 6 days until we see what kind of West Ham team we will be playing in the new season.

Columbus Crew will be welcoming West Ham United on the 20th July to its 22,555 seater stadium based in Ohio’s capital.
The Crew first joined the MLS in 1994 and from there have proved to be a quite successful club, and was the 1st major league stadium built specifically for soccer, with a 2-0 win over the New England Revolution.

Despite losing its last game on Saturday night to Salt Lake after a run of unbeaten matches, Columbus will be no easy task for the Hammers on Sunday, but then the Hammers with a squad of highly trained professionals that play in the toughest league in the World will also be a force to be reckoned with.

Most of our 1st team should be fit and ready for this pre season friendly and eager to prove to the rest of the Premier League what they have to be aware of starting on August 16th.

For those of you travelling to Ohio to watch the match go HERE for any help you need.

Banner Courtesy of Columbus Crew

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UEFA president Michele Platini wants to expand the European Championships after the Euro 2008 tournament. The event currently has 16 sides, but Platini hinted the competition would be more entertaining with as much as 54 teams playing.

“Remember, I won the Euros when there were only eight teams,” said Platini. “It is not certain it was better with eight teams than 16 or that 16 is better than 24 or 32 or 54.

“I am not worried about the quality by increasing the number of teams. Countries like

Read the full story

This post was submitted by Luigi Asunter.

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Livescore

Live Score and Results real time service - Soccer Live Scores and Sports Results all over the world. All Sports WAP Live Scores service. Read the full story

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Alan Curbishley gives advice to relegation battlers Fulham.

Fulham, virtually suffering the same problems that West Ham had last season, have been offered advice by Curbs, his advice was,

“We know what Fulham are going through,” Curbishley said. “We went through a similar thing last season. We know what they are up against. [My advice is] win another six games – that is what you have to do. You can get out of the relegation zone with a good result but then drop back in again in the next game. You need a run.” 

This time last season West Ham were 5 points away from the safety zone, and after a series of important wins, they managed to climb from 10 points adrift with 9 games to go, to finally wining their last match against Man U, putting them safely into a new season with the Premier League.

Maybe Curbs will listen to his own advice and get a run of wins in the remaining games starting with Fulham, and eventually put the Hammers through into Europe next season.

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NOBBY SOLANO says that an away win for the Magpies at Villa could be the key to a strong finish to the season for the Newcastle and King Keegan.

The South American star will take in as much of Newcastle’s clash as possible before stepping on to the Boleyn Ground pitch for West Ham’s game with Birmingham as his two former clubs lock horns in the Midlands.

Solano is a massively popular figure at Newcastle and the trumpet-playing midfielder is also a favourite with Aston Villa fans too after putting his skill into his 18-months work at Villa Park.
At looking ahead to the big clash on Saturday, Nobby told the press:

“It’s going to be tough for the Magpies but I am very hopeful they can get their season back on track.

“If they can pick up three points, and it won’t be easy, it will set them up for the run-in between now and the end of the season.

“I know it’s been difficult for the fans and the club up there this season, but patience is the key here and I think the fans will give that to Kevin.”

Newcastle have a fine record at Aston Villa but lost 2-0 in the corresponding game last term.

This year the Villains are still in within a chance of the Champions League and will draw level with Everton in fourth place should they see off the Magpies.
Solano said that beating Martin O’Neill’s boys will not be easy.

“Away games are always hard for any teams, and especially any team going to Villa Park. That’s why they are up there with a chance of European football.

“The manager there has done a great job and the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United know that playing Villa these days is not straightforward like it might have been at one stage.”

Solano will be guaranteed a warm reception when Newcastle head to the east end of London in April with most of the Toon Army gutted to see him head south for family reasons earlier in the season.

There’s no doubt that both Solano’s bubbly personality and experience has been missed this term but, speaking on the current situation, he said:

“I think they need to get a few wins and give them something to build on.

“A lot of new players arrived in the summer and that always takes time.

“Once they have had that bit of time I honestly think it will improve.”

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Ian Wright ex Arsenal and West Ham player is happy with the selection of the England team by Capello (especialy because od SWP), but was surprised, like everyone else that Robert Green was not picked in the Original 30 1st selection, he went on to say to the Sun Newspaper:-

“The only decision I found strange was the one not to select Robert Green.”

“We are struggling in the goalkeeping department at the moment — particularly now Paul Robinson has lost his place — and I was surprised Chris Kirkland was selected ahead of Green on current form.”

His view is that every England supporter must be behind Capello 100% and give him the time needed to make England the team it was in the 60’s (I find that a bit hard to understand with only 1 West ham player in the squad).
I believe Green will be picked in the near future, but i do hope he does not think his problem for non selection is because he plays for West Ham.

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Ian Wright ex Arsenal and West Ham player is happy with the selection of the England team by Capello (especialy because od SWP), but was surprised, like everyone else that Robert Green was not picked in the Original 30 1st selection, he went on to say to the Sun Newspaper:-

“The only decision I found strange was the one not to select Robert Green.”

“We are struggling in the goalkeeping department at the moment — particularly now Paul Robinson has lost his place — and I was surprised Chris Kirkland was selected ahead of Green on current form.”

His view is that every England supporter must be behind Capello 100% and give him the time needed to make England the team it was in the 60’s (I find that a bit hard to understand with only 1 West ham player in the squad).
I believe Green will be picked in the near future, but i do hope he does not think his problem for non selection is because he plays for West Ham.

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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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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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