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  • Vicky on The Problem with Referee’s in Singapore.
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Throughout the Lion City Cup, various complaints were made about the level of refereeing, not only from those who felt they lost due to poor decisions but also from those who managed to win. The most notable outburst against refereeing came from Juventus after suffering a heavy 4-0 defeat at the hands of the Singapore U15’s.

“Refereeing is a big problem in this country,” said the Juventus manager. “The penalty awarded against us was unjustified, along with many other things such. Our boys have learnt nothing, and I will have to go home and explain to my bosses how we learnt nothing. The game here is being ruined by the referees and that’s sad. Our players performance was fantastic, all of them giving 200%, but the whole tournament was a beautiful experience ruined by the referees. We weren’t given the same treatment as the Singapore team. We like to win the right way, and we also don’t mind losing, as long as it is the right way, but this is not the right way. We are able to win when there is a normal ref.” The Juventus manager insists that the team will only return once European referees have been instated or the level of refereeing improves.

During most games, referees seemed to make poor decisions both for and against all teams. Many times, referees would not let the game flow the way it was supposed to, and other times did not make any calls. Very few decisions that were made were the right ones. Of course, being a referee is not easy. You must allow them to make mistakes as they are only human, but for the mistakes to be so consistent is embarrassing and unfortunately many of the visiting teams will leave the country with a bad impression of the refereeing, which hinders the quality of football played here. Juventus themselves said that they fans were great, and that the Singapore teams are both very good, but the refereeing is a big problem.

Even the winners of the Lion City Cup, CR Flamengo, had complaints. After the 2-0 win over the Singapore U15’s in the semi-finals, a game where the referee has once again come under scrutiny, they were nothing but full of praise for the Singapore team and the direction in which Singapore football is going, yet they did have one problem – the match officials. “I’m upset with the match officials,” said the Flamengo coach. “The sending off was unjust and unnecessary. Just let us play football. The best player is out of the final and that is very unfair. He came all the way from Brazil to play football, and now he can’t. The officials in this country definitely need working on.”

Decisions that could have changed everything – such as the penalty re-take awarded to Singapore in the semi-finals, one they had originally missed, or the various sending offs throughout the tournament – have thrust the level of Singapore refereeing into the spotlight. Despite being FIFA accredited, it is clear that there is still work to be done. If the standard of refereeing does not improve, Singapore’s hopes of becoming a force to be reckoned with in the footballing world will slowly diminish. It can only happen if the referees improve, which in turn will improve the quality of the local football and will also mean more teams from around the world will be willing to come participate in the tournaments such as the Lion City Cup. It does no good to have our visitors leave with a negative impression of our country’s football, seeing as there were little to no complaints about the other aspects, just the refereeing. Hopefully we will see an improvement in the future, and sooner rather than later.

 

Everton’s tournament had not been as successful as they might have hoped, losing to tournament favourites CR Flamengo 1-0 and drawing 1-1 with the Singapore U16’s, and not being able to progress through to the semi-finals. However, despite this, the Coach has only positive things to say. “I’m not disappointed, but proud. We gave our best. Most of our boys are still 14 and have a lot to learn, but this has been a great experience.” When asked whether they would be interested in coming back, the Coach once again highlighted how beneficial this experience is to the players, and how they would love to come back to participate. With more experience under their belt, they will improve and come back as better and more mature players. Everton captain (player #4) also noted how this experience sets players on the path for first team football in years to come as it is an opportunity to play against different styles of football than one would back home in England, and learn from them as well.

Everton were also quick to praise their opponents, the Singapore U16’s, for their fitness and technical skills, as well as their ability to counter-attack well. “They have a really good spirit, and they knew they needed a draw to go through, so they played to that and got what they needed.” When asked who they thought were the best players, the answer seemed unanimous amongst all present – CR Flamengo. “But heat players a massive factor, so Singapore have that advantage. We were very tired and unaccustomed to the heat which hindered our ability to play the way we’d like to.” Certainly a team with talent, Everton played a high-tempo style of football that did frustrate those they came up against and were not easy to beat.

Everton also played out a 3-3 draw with fellow English team Newcastle during one of the days off, showing that despite their tournament performance, they are determined to continue learning and make the most of the experience they have been given. An Everton source says that they are likely to return for the same tournament come next year.

Caio Rangel is one of the shining stars to have emerged from the Lion City Cup. He may only have one goal to his name, but he is also responsible for setting up a majority of the Flamengo goals and played a vital role in the teams tournament success. Voted Most Valuable Player of the tournament, Rangel, who also happens to be the captain for the Brazil U15’s, clearly has a bright future ahead of him.

A somewhat typical background of a Brazilian footballer, Rangel was born and raised in the slums of Rio. He comes from a very humble family and considers himself extremely lucky to have been given the opportunities that he has. Along with football, religion also plays a very important role in his life. He speaks fluent Portuguese and little to no English, but his personality shines through. Fun and definitely considered to be the entertainer amongst his teammates, Rangel burst out into an interesting rendition of ‘Billy Jean’ in the press conference room after Flamengo won the Lion City Cup. A natural leader both on and off the pitch, he got his teammates to sing along – a beautiful moment that clearly showed their team spirit and how euphoric they were to have won the tournament.

Talented with both his left and right foot, Rangel plays on both wings and you can find him getting the ball from the opponent as well as setting up various attacks. It is clear that in the team, he is the playmaker. The one that pulls the strings, and makes the team work. One important cog in the efficient machine that is CR Flamengo, Rangel possesses the qualities of an amazing Brazilian footballer. His samba skills frequently on show, along with his plain ability make him a feared player by all the other teams. Clearly one too be on the look out for in the future.

 

Despite failing to overcome the challenge of the Italian giants Juventus, Singapore U15’s have managed to secure themselves a place in the semi-final, thanks to the other results in the tournament going their way. With both teams having advantages of their own, Juventus with their height and Singapore with their pace, the match panned out fairly evenly. Numerous opportunities arose throughout the first 45 minutes, but the first goal was only scored just past the half hour mark, with Juventus number 16 scoring. The remainder of the first half saw both teams miss many opportunities, leaving the scoreline 1-0 as the whistle for half-time blew.

At the start of the 2nd half, Singapore came out all guns blazing while the unfamiliar climate started to take it’s toll on the Juventus boys. A communication mishap between the Juventus goalkeeper and skipper led to an own goal at 61 minutes, leveling the teams. With first position in their group to fight for, both teams put up a good fight to try get a win. At times, Singapore resorted to attempting to draw fouls from the Juventus boys by diving, in hopes that they would be rewarded free-kicks, whilst Juventus simultaneously upped the physical aspect of their game, tackling heavier and more often. Even when Juventus scored in the 84th minute to make it 2-1, the game still looked like it could go either way. Desperately trying to clinch a draw, which would have been enough for them to go top of the group, Singapore resorted to doing anything possible to get themselves possession, which ended badly when Singapore #4 got his second yellow card of the game, resulting in him being sent off in the 88th minute. As a result, he will not be able to play against Flamengo in the semi-finals.

The game finished at 2-1, Singapore unable to recover from that Juventus goal in the final 10 minutes of the game. When asked whether he was disappointed, the Singapore coach insisted that he was pleased with the team’s performance. “The typical Italian defense was very hard to beat, but I believe we dominated. [The game] showed that we are able to adapt well and control the ball. Juventus are a great challenge.” When asked about the discipline concern that was fresh amongst the fans after #4‘s sending off, the coach said that the player will learn from his mistakes, but also that the red card was questionable and also largely unnecessary. “If you start counting the mistakes, you’ll forget about the beauty of the game,” was his final comment on the matter. The captain of the Singapore team insists that losing this game is a motivation for the team to succeed in the semi’s and progress to the finals and assures that the team will try their best to do so. The Singapore U15’s will go on to face Flamengo in the semi-finals, as Flamengo drew 1-1 with the U16’s to put them top of Group B.

It’s official – we’re down and out. We can all bid adieu to the Premier League for the time being and look forward to many happy days in the Fizzy Pop. With Sullivan’s confidence that “this time next year… we will be in the Premier League”, it looks like our days are numbered but one should always make the most of this glorious opportunity to venture to new stadiums across the country, and hopefully we also manage to enjoy winning more often. That said, it doesn’t really even apply to me anyway – I live several thousand miles away from England and therefore cannot make such trips to these new stadiums nor to the Boleyn (although I am looking into the possibility of attending one or two games in either October, December or April next year), I wish all the best to those that do. I hope relegation does not hinder our attendances too much… last time we got relegated, I believe it didn’t.

Now, I’m not saying relegation is a wonderful thing (although every cloud does have a silver lining!) and we should be overjoyed that we have failed to retain our Premier League status. There are plenty of negative things that are associated with relegation, such as the clear out of the few talented players we have (emphasis on the word few), the financial implications and just the general idea that the likes of Stoke are currently relishing Premier League football whilst we’re now in the same league as the likes of Millwall… mind you, that will make two interesting fixtures come next season. I have to admit that this is my very first relegation and I did not take well to it at first. After playing to a draw at Blackburn I had already done a fair bit of sobbing but it hit much harder after we once again managed to throw away a 2-0 lead. Sadness and tears soon turned to anger and me ripping up my Premier League fixture list that I had on my wall. I have since replaced it with a lovely poster of the reasons why one should choose West Ham and it makes me far happier. Relegation was a bitter pill to swallow but now I’m just looking forward to a fresh start, with new players who actually want to play for the club and a new manager who, hopefully, isn’t as tactically inept as Avram Grant. Sullivan has assured us that this time round he and Mr. Gold will be looking to employ a manager with a proven track record – shame it took a relegation for them to finally figure out the importance of that. The question though, is who do we blame? Who put us in our current predicament? The Daves? The Icelandics? Grant? Zola? Is it the players? What sent us spiraling down to the foot of the Premier League?

It’s been a combination of bad management, incompetent owners and poor player performances over the years that have brought us to where we are now. You can’t single out this season as the only one where we haven’t set the Premier League alight. To be honest, last season looked far less optimistic and I thought we were definitely going to go down. At least this season the team has turned up on occasion and produced some good performances, the highlights being against Spurs, both home and away, Manchester United in the Carling Cup, the Liverpool game we won 3-1; last season seemed a lot less hopeless than this one, we just weren’t relegated. This is where part of the blame needs to be shoved onto Grant’s shoulders. This squad clearly has more ability and talented than the squad of 2009/10 yet we failed to stay up. Why? Many people would point their fingers at Grant and the way he was tactically out of his depth paired with the fact that he is supposedly a very uninspiring manager, one that offers little during his halftime team talks. It was revealed by Carlton Cole that the brilliant comeback at West Brom was inspired by Scott Parker – a man who is incidentally not our captain – not Avram Grant. Clearly, Grant has to shoulder some of the blame in this farce. If the directors had appointed a manager who was perhaps more proven in fighting the drop. Avram Grant has now consecutively relegated two teams, both with the talent and ability to be sitting comfortably mid-table, spending an abnormally large percentage of his time as manager in the drop zone. It doesn’t look likely that he will have any managerial work to attend to anytime soon.

This is where The Daves come into the picture as well. What exactly were they thinking when they appointed him? He didn’t exactly have the greatest managerial record. Although we owe a lot to the two of them for saving us from a certain administration, they still have a lot to answer for. Why did they sanction the purchase of Benni McCarthy? Was that really Zola’s choice or theirs? What were they really hoping to achieve by claiming the likes of Klose, Beckham, Ruud van Nistleroy, Neymar et al were going to sign for West Ham? It’s all very good to try and attract big names to our club but what we really needed was a solid left back and right back more than anything else. That, along with their constant need to publicize every little detail about the club. They have no respect for their managers – their blatant attempts to get Zola to walk were embarrassing to witness. The way they dismissed Grant, by ushering him into an empty room about an hour after the Wigan game, was also rather distasteful. The thing is, they aren’t the worst owners we’ve had. The ones right before them were even worse, and they, I believe, are most responsible for the clubs current state of affairs.

The Icelandics ran the club with such naïvety. They bought our club on borrowed money, bought players we could never really afford and offered them largely extravagant contracts. By doing all of this on money that they never really had, our finances when the bank that they loaned the money from did too. We were in financial turmoil and to make matters worse, we were left with players on contracts that no one in their right mind would have agreed to – it was spiraling out of control. The way they conducted the clubs transfers was horrendous as well. Going behind the manager’s back and selling his players on the last day of the transfer window, leaving him no time to bring in replacements… is it really any wonder Curbishley decided to walk? Who would stand for that sort of treatment? There are still traces of their horrible mismanagement at the club today. David Sullivan has gone on constantly about the state of the clubs finances, and the Icelandics are to blame. We spend tens of thousands of pounds a week just to pay Kieron Dyer’s salary. Admittedly, he is a half decent player when fit but he has hardly featured for us at all in his extensive time at the club. The Icelandics just seemed to make one poor decision after the other, ultimately costing this club millions of pounds and still affecting us to this very day.

Obviously it’s not all down to management. The players are somewhat to blame as well. Their lackluster, uninspiring performances week after week have resulted in our almost inevitable (well, since the Aston Villa game at least) relegation. Most fans brushed off an ominous start to the season by saying we had a lot of incredibly hard fixtures that we weren’t expecting points from. Come the Spurs game, I thought we had finally turned the corner after beating them 1-0 yet it was not to be. It was followed by a draw with both Fulham and Wolves – although, if there was any justice in this world, we would have been awarded 3 points from the Wolves game, but Piquionne’s late winner was ruled out – and a loss, at home, to Newcastle. We were in the lead for quite some time too, but we threw it away. Who would’ve thought that was to happen so many times this season? Apparently we have dropped 22 points for leading positions this season, a statistic that makes me want to quietly sob in the corner thinking of could have, should have and would have beens. This season we have made a name for ourself as a 45-minute team. Sometimes we have an incredible first half and falter dramatically in the 2nd, or vice versa. The players just don’t seem to be giving their all. Admittedly we have been unlucky with injuries, as per usual when it comes to West Ham, but even so with the squad we have, if they had always given 100% (as Scott Parker frequently does) we would not have spent a large majority of our season at the foot of the Premier League. They seemed largely unmotivated and uninspired, and it looked far too much like most players thought the club was privileged to have them, not that they were privileged to play for the club. That’s not how it should be, but that’s how it is. The players have undoubtedly let us down this season and they must share part of the blame for our relegation.

Clearly the current state of the club is the result of many years of poor decisions from the board, mismanagement and the players letting us down. None of these things are solely to blame for our relegation but if you combine them, you have a recipe of disaster. It has been a painfully disappointing season, with a mere 7 wins to our name (although some very enjoyable ones at that), with a lot more disappointing losses and draws. Games we should have easily won never seemed to go our way and I suppose the players never quite register the idea of ‘do or die’ when it came to certain games. It has been one disaster after another, and I for one am looking forward to start somewhat afresh.

A new manager is going to come in. The mercenary players are going to leave and we’ll be left with the players who actually want to play for our club, and give their all. We’re going to start blending more youth into our first team and hopefully we will bounce back to the Premier League. The Championship is a very tough league but I believe with the right personnel at the club, we will be able to maneuver our way out of it and back into the top flight. It will take a lot of work, and it won’t be easy but it’s not out of our reach. We just have to rely on the Chairmen to assign the best manager available for the job, and work from that.

It’s not the end of the world. We will make the most of our time in the Championship (although people abroad, like me, will face problems when it comes to watching games) and maybe even trounce the league completely. Who knows? A lot can happen, and we’ll just have to wait and see. We’ll get rid of the various trash lingering around our club and we’ll go back to the West Ham we all know and love. At least that’s what I hope. An exciting summer lays before us.

Onwards and upwards from here on.

Come on you irons!

 

Dear Scott Parker,

Almost a year ago, I wrote you a letter. It was filled with praise for you and all you did to keep us up that season, and me begging for you to stay. I was a nervous wreck all summer till the very end of the transfer window, rumours of you leaving to Tottenham were aplenty and I just wanted them to stop. I wanted you to stay. To me, you encapsulated all things that were good about West Ham. You were the player who gave 100% every time, even if your teammates didn’t do the same. You were always fighting, and you fought till the very end.

Now I write to you again, but things are different. Things were bleak last season but it seems to have gotten even worse now. I fear that the time has come for us to be relegated. It isn’t set in stone, there are still 5 games to play and we all know how unpredictable the Premier League can be and I believe it’ll all go down to the last day of the season, but it’s looking more and more likely. But what I want to say right now is different than what I said to you last season. I am still full of praise for you, regardless or whether we manage to beat the drop or not. I have no doubt in my mind that you have tried your best and it’s just a shame that we can’t have 11 of you playing. You never disappointed me, and I’m so proud to call you one of ours.

This season has been great for you on a personal level. You’re finally getting the recognition you so fully deserve, it’s a shame the rest of the world is only realizing it now. You won the Player of the Month in February, got the England call-up we were all hoping you’d get and most recently, won the Football Writers Association’s Player of the Year award. You deserve the world and more for your efforts this season, especially considering all the hardship you’ve been through. It’s not easy carrying the weight of an entire team, nor is it easy to jump straight back into work after the death of your father. When I found out your father had passed away less than 24 hours prior to the Tottenham game, yet you still played, I was so full of praise and admiration for you. You are a true professional in every sense of the word. I can’t imagine how hard that must have been, but your father would have been so proud of you. He must have been quite an amazing man himself, to raise someone like you. You’re amazing, you really are.

Last season, I was begging for you to stay. This season? Not so much. Of course I would love for you to stay at West Ham even if we went down, but I’d never begrudge you a move. You have worked so hard this season and you are playing the best football of your life right now. If you want to move, then so be it. I understand that if you were to stay with West Ham once we are relegated, you’d be severely hurting your chances of getting another England call-up. You have the quality and talent to play football at one of the supposed “top” clubs in the country and if that’s what you want, then no one should be holding you back. No doubt that I’ll miss you and will probably cry if you leave, but I won’t hold it against you because you deserve it. You have done so much for the club and I can’t thank you enough. Obviously it hasn’t been enough to keep us up, but that’s not your fault.

Obviously, the season isn’t over yet. Anything can still happen, as it’s so tight down at the bottom. Maybe we’ll still be safe, or maybe we’ll go down. Who knows? But regardless of the outcome this season, I applaud you for being an amazing player and person. You are a West Ham legend in my eyes, and nothing can change that. So thank you, and I really hope that West Ham has a special place in your heart because you’ll always have a special place in ours.

Yours Faithfully,

Vicky Grueber

 

Relegation looks inevitable after yet another hopeless defeat, making it three on the trot in the league now for West Ham – leaving us 19th in the table with five games to go. The high unlikelihood of us getting anything from our next two fixtures, Chelsea and Man City away, would mean that if we were to have any chance of survival we’d need to win the remaining three games after. For a team who has accumulated a grand total of seven wins throughout this entire season, this would be quite a feat. I’m not completely ruling it out, since our opponents are Blackburn, Wigan and Sunderland, but us accomplishing something like that and surviving would surely have to be dubbed The Great Escape 2.0.

The Villa game started brightly, with Keane scoring within the first two minutes after being left unmarked right in front of goal. We had a good spell which lasted roughly twenty minutes before the slow process of our team coming apart began. We were struggling to nullify Bent’s threat and he constantly looked like he was going to score. He did, twice, but one goal was disallowed (unfairly if I might add, but that doesn’t matter). Every time he got the ball, it seemed like they were going to score. This is mainly because I know how much of a liability our defense can be, and if you throw a threat like Bent into the mix, you have a recipe for disaster. It didn’t go quite as badly as I thought though, they did only win 2-1 as opposed to the very possible 3-1 or even 4-1. Bent’s starting to justify what I originally thought was a ludicrous price tag of £18m.

After the brief spell of decent football and possession, we fell back and let them take control of the game. They were passing left, right, centre and finding their way into our penalty box. We were holding them off quite well but someone was bound to make a mistake… Unfortunately, it was Mark Noble. People who know me will know how much I like Noble. Part of it is to do with the fact that he’s claret and blue through and through, but I also believe in his potential. I was hoping for him to do what he usually does and step up his game in the absence of Parker but unfortunately he made one very large mistake in attempting to dribble in our own penalty box. I’m rubbish at football and even I know not to do that. The result – he was dispossessed, the ball was crossed into the middle of our penalty box, allowing Bent to head it home. This brings our total of headed goals conceded to 14 – the highest in the league (thanks to the people from the Stop! Hammertime podcast for that stat). Villa made it look far too easy. It wasn’t until deep into extra time that they scored the winner though. Agbonlahor scored in the 91st minute to clinch the three points for Villa – just as I was starting to accept that we were going to get a point from this fixture, not the three I had originally envisioned. Agbonlahor’s late winner reminds me of this fixture last season, where Hines scored late to secure the points for West Ham. Shame things didn’t work out that way this time round.

Speaking of Hines, I didn’t quite understand why he was put on ahead of Ba. Just because Hines was the hero of this fixture last season doesn’t mean that by putting him on, our fortunes are going to change. I fully believe in us making use of our youth players, but in a vital fixture like this one, I felt Ba would have been the far more appropriate substitution. To be frank, I don’t quite understand why Ba isn’t starting. His first few games for us were excellent, and he seemed to prove that us taking a gamble on his dodgy knees was going to pay off, until suddenly he was shifted to the bench and ranked behind Hines. Where is the logic? Then again, we are talking about Avram here. A man who has puzzled me all season with his decisions, or lack thereof (I’m assuming that despite the touchline ban it was Avram’s decision to put Hines on).

A key element missing from todays squad was our very own superhero Scott Parker. Wrongly referred to as our captain many times (“Upson wearing the armband in the absence of Scott Parker”/”Captain Scott Parker” etc), it was evident his influence was sorely missed. I don’t like to slate players, but in terms of captaining our side, Upson is just no good. I know he is not actually that bad of a defender and can put on a brilliant performance on a good day, but he really has no sense of captaincy whatsoever. Parker is clearly the one who is more in charge and maybe Upson just gave up, but we definitely missed Parker in the game. The word going around is that he’ll be out for both Chelsea and Manchester City, but will return for the crucial three games after. Those will be the games we’ll need him in, seeing as us getting anything against City or Chelsea would be a bonus. Other injuries include James Tomkins (I actually have no idea what happened to him – rumours are he took a knock during training), Da Costa (who has also just admitted to assaulting a woman. Great stuff), and O’Neil, who was carried off in a stretcher during the game. Last I heard was that he left on crutches… On the bright side, it looks like Jack Collison may be able to play at least once this season. Yup, that’s pretty much the only good news I can think of.

Who can we really blame for that performance though? Or just the performances over this entire season? You have to take into account that West Ham haven’t exactly been swimming in success these past few years yet all the variables have changed; the players, the manager, the chairmen, the staff. It was a point raised in the Stop! Hammertime podcast in their latest episode, that perhaps there’s a stigma that comes attached with playing for this club. We’re punching well below our weight – I know our players have the ability to do far better than what the current league table says. Maybe  it’s just a thing that has become the nature of this club, regardless of who’s involved. The perennial underachievers would be an appropriate tag. Can we really shove all the blame on Avram? Surely not. He has displayed his ability to get the best out of some of these players, so he can’t be completely at fault. It’s not all the players either. I think we do encompass a lot of talent, especially compared to the squads around us. The ability is there. There must be some issue with motivation at this club because only on occasion do the players decide to play to their maximum ability. It seems to be mistake after mistake over the years that have resulted in this club’s current situation. A great discussion titled “Who do you blame for our current predicament?” on KUMB can be found here, if you wish to do some further reading.

It looks like after a few years of dodgy results and narrowly avoiding relegation, the sun is about to set on our time in the Premier League. Not permanently, of course (fingers crossed…) but with our upcoming fixtures, things are not looking good for us. This season has been full of our dreams fading and dying – 90 minutes away from Wembley twice, and we still managed to miss out. Many supposed “revivals” and “turning points” throughout the season after a good run, only to have our hopes crushed in a terrible fashion. It just seems like there just hasn’t been enough there this season to help us survive (mind you, we were abject last season too, Burnley and Hull were just far worse than us, and Pompey were deducted 10 points) and we’re going down. Maybe it’ll be a good thing – we can get rid of all the junk lying around our club (players who are racking up the wage bill for a start) and build from there. It will be painful to see the likes of Green, Parker and Cole go (I actually like Cole) for little but we can’t hold grudges against them. They deserve to play for better teams. I only hope this initiates some sort of reaction in the brains of the youngsters to step up to the plate and deliver. There’s so much that will change if we go down (I’m still saying if..!) but I can only hope it will be change for the better, and that hopefully we’ll do a Newcastle and bounce right back up.

Here’s to a very unpredictable and hopefully happy ending to the season.

Come on you irons!

 

I would recap everything that has happened since my last post, but it’s been yonks since I actually did last post and therefore it’s just far too much. Apologies for not posting, I’ve just been so busy and I never really got around to finishing any posts. I’ve got heaps of unfinished drafts collecting dust, but I have to put those aside now and just work on providing you with content in the future. I’ve been making plans for what I want to do in regards to this blog. Here are some of the things I have planned:

• Match Reports for all remaining games this season I watch (I watch pretty much all games)
• Match Previews for some games – probably the relegation 6 pointers + final game of the season.
• Player Features – After every game, I’ll select 1 player I felt deserved the MOTM award from our team and do a feature on them (as in an “all you need to know” about them post).
• “Legend” Specials – Once a month, I’ll do a special on one of the many legends that have graced the pitch of the Boleyn.
• DVD Reviews – As of late, I’ve been collecting heaps of West Ham DVD’s. I’ll review the ones I’ve watched  so you can consider purchasing it if you like.
• Opinion Pieces about various things.

So yes, this is an outline of the plans I’ve drawn up for this blog. Hopefully they materialise. I’ll be doing my best to stick to it, but I get quite a bit of work and I’ve got exams coming up real soon so I’ll have to be studying for those as well. I’ll try my best though, promise!

COYI.

The last article I wrote on here was titled “January is a Big Month For Us” and as January draws to a close, I am, to put it mildly, bitterly disappointed. Not only because I didn’t stick to my New Years Resolution of writing more, but because West Ham have made it a tough month to be happy. It started off well, as my earlier blog post entails, with a 2-0 defeat at the expense of Wolves. We seemed to be on the up but it wouldn’t be West Ham if we weren’t to fall back down again.

The long fall down consisted of us getting slaughtered 5-0 by Newcastle. I initially predicted a draw from that game, seeing as I thought that without their main man Andy Carroll they wouldn’t be very good, but West Ham has taught me never to expect good things. The painful, bitter truth that has reared it’s ugly head in 2011. I mentioned how it would be good to see us get a draw and go another game unbeaten as it would boost morale but seeing as we were battered 5-0, our morale sunk low into the ground and lucky us – up next we had Arsenal! I kept telling myself not to have high hopes – or any hopes for that matter – for this game, but alas I couldn’t help but remember the game versus them at Upton Park last season where we came back from 2-0 down to snatch a 2-2 draw, and how we had only just gotten beaten by them when we visited them at the Emirates earlier this season. I can never willingly render any sort of optimism when needed, but when I keep trying myself not to expect anything, my mind goes on a trip and purposely instills intensified optimism. It is a terrible thing to have and eventually leaves me bitterly disappointed. To sum up the game; they came, they saw, they bossed every aspect of it, and hung us out to dry. The final score stood at 3:0 and all I could do was look around in a confused manner whenever someone brought it up, as if I had no idea what they were talking about. Sometimes it’s fun to play pretend, right?

I can’t say too much about the Everton game as I didn’t watch it myself – forgot to record it, too – but Piquionne getting sent off for celebrating with the fans seems quite the harsh punishment. Obviously there are laws that need to be followed, and perhaps Piquionne should have been more careful with his actions but I still feel it was unjust to send him off for celebrating with the fans. There was a debate on KUMB about the refereeing in this game and Walton’s choice to give Piquionne his 2nd yellow. Either way, who knows if Piquionne not being sent off would have guaranteed us 3 points anyway? Unfortunately we’ll never know and we’ll have to settle with the fact that we did indeed drop 2 points despite being head twice during the game. Why does fortune always find the need to hide when we need it? (If I’m personifying fortune by saying it’s hiding, I don’t need to assign a gender do I?)

On to the extremely sensitive topic of the Carling Cup semi-final. The only words I can think of to describe it all; “they fly so high, nearly reach the sky… then like my dreams, they fade and die.” Since I am still a fairly ‘new’ West Ham fan, I have never felt those words exemplified more than I did the night of the 2nd leg where we played at St Andrews. Oh how excruciating to see us come so close to Wembley and let it slip out of our grasps. I have become accustomed to losing on a regular basis but this was just beyond what my heart and mind were able to comprehend as sense. We won the first leg 2-1 – thank you to Ben Foster for not only making Green feel a bit better about himself, but also allowing Carlton Cole to score a fluke goal again – despite Obinna almost screwing up our chances by getting sent off. Reduced to 10 men and still managing to pull off a win! Now that is something unusual, especially for West Ham. Yes, they did have that away goal but we had won and we were halfway there, halfway to Wembley.
26th January 2011, 19:45pm GMT/3:45am Singapore time. I had this written down in my planner, but I knew I wouldn’t forget anyway. The day the 2nd leg would be played, the day whether we’d go to Wembley or not would be decided. I set my alarm to 3:30am on Thursday morning (since we’re 8 hours ahead here) and had everything all set and running for the game. Okay, so you all don’t need a minute-by-minute recount but the general idea is that I was watching it and that I was really up for it too. The first half was great. I think it was some of the best football we’ve seen all season (that’s not holding it to a very high standard but…) and I was thoroughly enjoying it all. Birmingham were struggling to hold us back and we constantly looked like a threat. Then something beautiful happened: Carlton Cole scored a goal. Not just his regular fluke goals, but an actual beautiful goal. I know it doesn’t really matter what a goal looks like as long as you score it but to see Carlton score like this was something special. His 31st minute strike was enough for us to go into half-time with a 3-1 lead on aggregate. Things were looking good, and we were within reach of Wembley… but of course in the 2nd half, Birmingham put on Zigic and played some of the worst football I’ve ever witnessed, and managed to score 3 goals. Of course. Grant admitted [after the game] that he was “at loss” with what to say to the players at half-time apart from “keep doing what you’re doing”. We ran out of steam and faltered all the way through the 2nd half. However it was still 3-3 after normal time so we had to play 30 minutes of extra time. If we had scored one goal, they’d have needed two as it would’ve been an away goal for us but no, they managed to score the one they needed and now they’re going to Wembley and we’re left with nothing but the weight of the entire premier league on our shoulders.

Dreams of Wembley dashed, premier league survival looking less and less likely… Ah the life of a West Ham fan is truly one to envy. I wouldn’t trade it for the world, of course, but it’s painful and I also now don’t have any nails seeing as I bit them off during the 2nd leg of the semi-final. Maybe we’ll get to Wembley through the FA Cup – we’ve got a game against Nottingham Forest tomorrow – and we can all rejoice, but until then we’ll have to make do with what will hopefully be a good month in February.

There’s so much more I could talk about, such as transfers, the Olympic Stadium, more shenanigans from SuGo/Brady, but hopefully me not writing it here will encourage myself to write more often. Hope you all have a good weekend, and to those celebrating, happy Chinese New Year!

COYI.

Any questions/feedback etc regarding this blog and/or me can be left in the comment box, sent to me on twitter (@vickygrueber) or if you scroll up, you can find the “contact” link which will direct you to a form where you can leave a message.

Apologies for my terribly overdue blog post – I have had absolutely no time lately but here I am, finally writing again. I made it a New Years resolution of mine to blog more – perhaps weekly? – as practice makes perfect, and since I want to become a football journalist in the future, I should practice.

2010 wasn’t exactly a great year to be a Hammer. We just barely survived a relegation scrap, our goalkeeper suffered a major blow to his confidence, and whilst we had high hopes for the new season, we haven’t exactly set the premier league alight. Luckily for us 2010 ended on a high, and I look forward to a new year and all the prospects it holds for us. It started off well, too. After 6 years of defeats on New Years Day, West Ham finally broke the curse and pulled off a 2-0 victory at the expense of fellow relegation-fighters Wolves. The game highlighted a a few things: Carlton Cole’s inability to finish, Lady Luck is finally on our side, and our Academy is truly brilliant. The first two things are linked – Carlton Cole fluffed a shot right in front of goal, only to have Wolves defender Zubar knock it in for us. I suppose after months of horrendous decisions against us, things are finally looking up for us in terms of luck. The last thing, about our academy being brilliant, is not only due to the fact that Sears scored a goal. His performance, I thought, was really good and he showed a lot of promise. He is definitely talented, and also very fast which will only work to his advantage. Tomkins has also proved to be an excellent player, and his partnership with Upson is really working for us at the moment. I don’t particularly like Upson, nor do I think he should be our captain, but he and Tomkins have really managed to work things out and are a solid pair. Credit to Wally Downes for ironing out a lot of the issues we have had with defense this season. Noble is also a product of our fine academy and whilst it may seem he is a lot older than Tomkins or Sears, he’s not. He’s still only 23, which is amazing as he’s been around for so long. This season he has grown so much as a player and he is indispensable in my eyes. He gives 110% each time he pulls on the shirt and will keep fighting for the entire season. Our academy has produced brilliant players before but they were all sold. Here’s to hoping that doesn’t happen again, because our youngsters are very promising. Tony Carr is surely one of the greatest things to ever happen to this club.

Tomorrow, we have a game away at Newcastle. We lost to them at home earlier this season, but luckily for us one of their most prolific players Andy Carroll is injured and will not be playing. I personally think we’ll come away with a draw, which isn’t too bad away from home. Newcastle aren’t exactly an easy team to beat, but hopefully our newfound confidence will inspire us to a draw or perhaps even a win. I don’t really like LBM to be honest, but I feel his strength will be vital against a team like Newcastle and that he should come on for Stanislas. I’m looking forward to seeing Noble back too, in for Kovac (who has put in a decent shift but I still prefer Noble over him). It will be great for us if we can go another game unbeaten, as it will boost morale in what is a very important month for us.

Ahead of us this month we have an FA Cup tie against Barsnley on the 8th of January and two legs of the Carling Cup semi-final to play against Birmingham, home on the 10th and away on the 24th. I think the FA Cup will be used by Grant to give other youngsters a chance to show what they are capable of. Don’t know about our chances of winning as there’s a long way to go but it will be good to see some young talent getting a run around and displaying their talent. The Carling Cup is a very exciting prospect, seeing as we’re only 1 (large) step away from a day out at Wembley. It’s very important for us to give our all and do our very best to get there. I know the Carling Cup is not exactly regarded as very prestigious but a day out at Wembley and the chance to win a cup would be wonderful, especially if we do make it there and win at the expense of Arsenal (if they make it there too, that is).

January really is a month that holds a lot of importance for us. Despite the fact that the premier league fixtures don’t look particularly inviting, I think we will be able to pick up some points that will boost us further up the table and further away from danger. The table is so tight this season, one win pushes you up about 3 places. That along with the various cup games we have to play show just how important it is for us to keep our momentum this month and go out and get everything we can get. The transfer window is now open and it will be good to see what Avram Grant brings in to help our squad achieve safety and perhaps even a midtable place this season. There are a lot of rumours surrounding transfer targets (David Gold claims we have 15 targets!) and hopefully we manage to offload some players that are just pulling us down with their wages, like Benni McCarthy for example.

Here’s hoping January’s a good one!

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