Manchester City v West Ham : Top 5 Conclusions

Top 5 Conclusions:

1. Carlos Tevez scores his first for Manchester City and could have had many more. He did however, end with two goals at the end of the night.
2. Carlton Cole can literally score from anywhere, anyhow.
3. Petrov scored his first goal in more than a year too. A smartly taken free kick to go around the wall and beat Robert Green in goal.
4. It is hard to understand why West Ham are way too down in the standings despite their sleek passing and their fabulous work ethic.
5. Manchester City have options galore in terms of forwards.Same is not true for the Hammers, they're way too depedent on Carlton Cole to be their savior.

Many current and former managers, in the form of Sven Goran Eriksson, Tony Pulis, Martin O'Neil, Peter Reid, were in attendance and enjoyed sitting on expensive seats all thanks to Dubai oil riches.

West Ham - Millwall marred by violence

Last night's Carling Cup game between East London rivals West Ham and Millwall was marred with crowd trouble. The tube to the ground was filled with fans who were blocking passage to the stadium. There was trouble outside the stadium as well with authorities claiming many fans without tickets tried to enter the stadium thus
causing confusion and commotion.


Scenes inside the stadium were even more awful with fans parading down the pitch whenever a goal was scored. Getting to the game, West Ham won the 3-1 with a brace from Stanislas and Hines after extra time. In a game which should have been more to do with the strength and admiration of Jack Collison who played despite his father passing away was rather upset by such insane bit of hooliganism. Not only was there violence and pitch invasion but there are reports that monkey chants were directed towards Carlton Cole by traveling fans.

In an account by a West Ham season ticket holder which can be read here (great read) , he mentions how it was a pre planned event rather than a sequence of events.

In the footage below you can see how fans invade the pitch right after Stanislas converts the penalty. Horrible would be an understatement to describe the whole situation.

Bowyer joins Birmingham from West Ham

Birmingham City have signed English international Lee Bowyer on a free transfer.

Bowyer had been with West Ham until the end of the 2008-09 season and had spent period since January 2009 with the Blues in the Championship.

The 32 year old has signed on a two year deal with the St.Andrews club.

Blues manager Alex Mcleish was delighted to make his seventh signing of the summer transfer window :

I'm very pleased that Lee has signed because he's a proven player," said the Blues boss.

You don't often get a player of Lee's calibre for nothing these days.

There's no transfer fee but there's a going rate in terms of wages and he deserves that.

We believe he's certainly still got the ability to justify his status as a Premier League player.

Bowyer follows Stephen Carr , Giovanny Espinoza , Christain Benitez , Scott Dann , Joe Hart and Roger Johnson to the club.

Sheffield take Hammers' Reid

Sheffield United have signed West Ham United's want away winger Kyel Reid on a free transfer.

He had been in and out of West Ham's squad for the time he started his professional career in 2006 as part of West Ham's youth system.

He's had loan spells at Barnsley,Crystal Palace,Blackpool and Wolves where most crucially he scored in the important game against Barnsley which clinched the title for them.

All three of the newly promoted clubs were keen to sign the player along with the relegated trio of Middlesbrough, Newcastle United and West Brom.

The former England U-19 has now signed for Sheffield on a permanent basis, penning a two year deal.

West Ham sign Jimenez

West Ham have signed 25 year old Chilean,Luis Jimenez on a year loan from Serie A champions,Inter Milan.

He will undergo a medical on 1st July at the London based club.This would be manager,Zola's first signing of the summer.

Delighted to complete the move after not getting enough opportunities at the San Siro,he told the official website :

I am a player who loves to play football, to be in a team that keeps the ball, to create opportunities and also score goals. I can't promise anything but I am going to do everything possible to do a good job for the club.

From what I've heard he is a great signing for the Londoners as Jose Mourinho wasn't able to make place for him in his lineup.

Lucas Neil likely to exit Hammers

West Ham captain, Lucas Neil has snubbed the opportunity to extend his contract with the Londoners for 3 more season.s

His agent however has ruled out that the player is going to exit for sure as the Australian wants to remain with the club for the next season.

Neil is the highest earning West Ham player who takes home £60,000 per week. Despite the large wages the player asked for more. West Ham board however wanted him to accept a 50% cut in his wages.

The demand was not met by the defender who has rejected the contract extension for now and is most likely to exit the club after he returns from international duty until the end of the month.

The interested parties for him include Manchester City and Greek side, Olympiacos as reported by The Sun.

Zola extends contract

West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola extended his contract with the hammers until 2013.

The Italian put pen to paper after their 1-0 loss to Chelsea on Saturday.

Zola said :

I am delighted to have signed the contract. I'm very pleased and grateful for the club for looking after me.

Zola also expects first team coach,Steve Clarke to follow suit and sign a new contract which is expected to be signed early next week.

Despite West Ham's loss to Chelsea and Zola's former club, the Londoners are still in contention for the Europa League spot next season.

Zola near contract renewal

Italian,Gianfranco Zola has agreed he is near to signing a new contract which would keep him with West Ham.

Zola had taken over from Alan Curbishley in September and has taken the then struggling club to the heights of vying for a European spot currently.

In the process he wants to sort out the contracts and future of the players as well.

Zola had this to say :

On the contract here are some positive things. We will see but hopefully in the next few weeks things will be settled. Hopefully there will be no problems. The club wants to look after us and I hope everyone will be satisfied.

This for sure is great news for the London based club which for sure can qualify for Europa cup next season.

West Ham duo extend future

West Ham duo of Mark Noble and James Tomkins have agreed to their future at Upton Park.

Both the players are part of the youth development program under Zola's regime.The deal would last three and a half years.

"The new manager has come in and some of the football at times has been unbelievable and I think people have noticed that. I'm just delighted to have signed and hopefully we can push on and try to get that European place."

- says Noble.

Tomkins voiced the same level of happiness with the deal.

"It's really great to have signed for this great club so I'm just delighted to get it all sorted."

This is great news for the London based club which is vying for a spot in the Europa cup amongst the many contenders.

West Ham strengthen Europe dream

West Ham strengthened their dream of qualifying for Europa Cup as Sunderland slipped down towards the relegation zone.

Stanislas broke the deadlock in the 42nd minute for the Hammers with an easy finish to make it 1-0.Stanislas is Zola's homegrown talent and made the debut for the club today.

Second came in the 52nd minute through a Mark Noble set piece which was headed home by Tomkins to score his first goal for the club.

The win puts West Ham in the seventh place which seems good enough to get them into Europe.As for Sunderland this puts them just one place better than the bottom 3.

Carlton Cole out for six weeks

West Ham striker Carlton Cole has been ruled out for six weeks due to a groin injury.

The England striker was already carrying the injury going into the international break.This wasn't pushed by The Hammers to the English camp and hence was included in the game with Slovakia where he worsened the injury.

This would mean the player could at the max be available for the last three games of the season which would mean he would be out of match practice.

Add to that,West Ham are pushing for a place in the Europa League(formerly UEFA Cup).

"Fortunately he won't need an operation, it is a problem between the muscle and tendon in the groin," Zola said. "He should be available in six weeks."

West Ham's injury woes don't end there.They are without Radoslav Kovan and Scott Parker playing recently with a groin problem.

West Ham play Sunderland next.

Premiership Roundup - 20/09

SUNDERLAND 2 - 0 MIDDLESBROUGH
Chopra 81'
Chopra 90'

Michael Chopra started off his season in fabulous fashion after troubled personal life over the past few months.He got on the score-sheet twice.First on the 81st minute and then again he confirmed the 3points for The Black Cats.The two goals were the first home goals for Sunderland this season.

The game would have held a different outcome had Stewart Downing converted the second half penalty.As like his previous penalty miss against Stoke,the English player hit the ball over the bar.

Boro started the game without Mido who injured himself during the warm up.His place was taken by Alfonso Alves.

Chopra got the first with a nicely put through ball by Richardson which he put on the keepers left with a defender sliding in.

The second goal arrived on the tip of full time when Malbranque slipped the pass for Chopra to tap in the open goal after it took a wicked deflection.

Liverpool 0 - 0 Stoke City

Liverpool welcomed Stoke City on the back of a fabulous 2-1 win over Manchester United last week and then a 2-1 win away to Marseille in the Champions league.

Liverpool and Steven Gerrard thought they were up to a great start within two minutes when a Gerrard freekick bounced inside the box without taking a touch on the way although their celebration were cut short by the offside flag where probably Kuyt was ruled offside.I don't understand the offside rule! The player is supposed to touch the ball to be flagged offside,right?

Liverpool piled on the pressure throughout the 90minutes but the scoreline read 0-0 when the referee blew the full time whistle.

Despite the 24 shots and 19 corners,Liverpool weren't able to make Sorensen do much with the defense holding Torres and Kuyt back very well. These would be two points dropped for Liverpool and the first clean sheet for Stoke City.

Blackburn Rovers 1 - 0 Fulham
Derbyshire 84'

Blackburn Rovers were riding on a drubbing last week against Arsenal and had conceded 8goals in the past two games.

Paul Ince gave the most impressive display of his managerial career at Blackburn with an extraordinary attacking game against Fulham.

There were plenty moments of brilliance for Rovers who created chance after chance and showed signs of the play that was there when Mark Hughes was the manager.

The goal came in the 84th minute when Santa Cruz's cushion header lay in the path of Derbyshire who volleyed it home with his left foot.

West Ham United 3 - 1 Newcastle United
D.Michele 8' Owen 67'
D.Michele 37'
Ethrington 53'

Newcastle United continued their bad run and slumped to a third consecutive defeat at West Ham.

This was the first game for new boss Zola and the first start for Italian D.Michele. Both got off to a celebratory beginning with Zola and his Hammers grabbing three points and D.Michele getting on the sheet twice.

D.Michele started the scoring with a deflected shot off Taylor which flew over Shay Given's head and into the back of the net.

The second was a reflection of Newcastle's woeful defending and to some extent the skill of D.Michele.After a super save from Given the ball still found D.Michele who after a touch past the defender put the ball in the back of the net,on the near post of Given.

The third arrived in the second half when Newcastle were left exposed as Michele beat the offside trap and made the run towards the box and despite being on the verge of a hattrick he passed the ball towards the running Ethrington who put the ball past the keeper with ease.

Newcastle however managed a consolation goal when Michael Owen continued his impressive form against West Ham by putting a curler round the keeper to get his 4th goal against the Londoners in 2 games.

Certainly warning signs for the Magpies.

Bolton Wanderers 1 - 3 Arsenal
K.Davies 13' Eboue 26'
Bendtner 27'
Denilson 87'

Arsenal went top of the table with Chelsea due to play Manchester United tomorrow and as Liverpool slipped up against Stoke City.

Arsenal haven't had easy time at the Reebok in their previous visits.They have always been their bogey team but today's win was by far the most comfortable wins as compared to their win last season when they had a man sent off and recovered three points in the dying stages.

Bolton showed their set pieces prowess when they took the lead courtesy Kevin Davies who climbed over an Arsenal player to give the home side the lead.

This spurred the Gunners who put on many attacks thereafter.It paid dividends when Arsenal got two goals in a minute.

Arsenal equaled the scoreline when Eboue stroked the ball into the back of the net with suspicion of offside.

The next goal came from Bendtner who slid in from 6 yards out after a neat cross and an opening down the left from Denilson.

Theo Walcott was instrumental for the third goal when he made a lung bursting run from the halfway line to create open space for Adebayor who crossed the ball on the far side of the goal for Denilson to tap into open goal.

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West Ham shortlist four candidates

West Ham have short listed four candidates for its managerial position.


West Ham were left without a man in charge after Alan Curbishley resigned from the post.

West Ham announced the four candidates which they were looking at to take over.The four candidates being Slaven Bilic,Gianfranco Zola,Roberto Donadoni and Michael Laudrup.

West Ham directors further said Zola and Donadoni had impressed hugely during their interviews and they are looking forward to meeting Laudrup on Monday.

Bilic looks to be the weakest contender because of his prior commitments with Croatia's national side.West Ham however have to wait until England's game on Wednesday to talk to him personally.

Mike Lee,West Ham director said this when speaking to BBC's Radio Five :

"We have a very strong shortlist and it's going to be a tough decision with some exciting candidates.

"From the meetings that have taken place so far the two that have really shone have been Donadoni and Zola."

The biggest advantage for Zola and Donadoni is that they both are Italians which is what the helm of the club want which Curbishley couldn't deliver.(at least as per them!)

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Alan Curbishley resigns as a hammer

Alan Curbishley resigns as manager of West Ham.


Curbishley has become the first casualty for the new season.Although the exit was on the cards for quite some time but the reason for his resignation is quite an interesting one.

You would expect a manager to resign if your team isn't playing well or not up to the expectations of the fans or the board?But I don't think 6points out of a possible 9,best start in 9years and on the back of a 10th place finish in the previous season.I think you're doing pretty well for a "middle level" club.

The reason however is very different and doesn't bear any links to on the pitch activities of the London club.Alan Curbishley passed on the resignation because of his lack of control over the transfer situations at the club.

He was completely miffed over the outward transfers of George McCartney and Anton Ferdinand to Sunderland despite a depleting squad courtesy the ever growing injured list for the Hammers.

Interestingly Curbishley had met the CEO on Sunday to ask for some loan deals and was told to offload some players before any new ones could come in to which Alan didn't agree.Despite the managers decision,the owners still sold the players which didn't go down well with the Englishman.

He had this to say upon his exit,

"I was vehemently against the transfer of McCartney because of the injuries to other defenders.

"I was looking at that, along with the sale of Anton Ferdinand, and thinking we are quite stretched. That got to me more than anything."

For now the reign goes into the hands of Kevin Keen,reserve team coach until a full time manager could be found.Croatian national team coach and former West Ham player,Slaven Bilic is touted to be the successor.

A sad end to what seemed like a good season for Curbishley.

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Zamora to undergo medical at Fulham

Zamora has almost completed move to Fulham.


Bobby Zamora is set to move from Uptown Park to Craven Cottage and is undergoing a medical.

Zamora had been given the go ahead to speak to Fulham by West Ham and would be revealed as a Fulham player very soon.

Zamora moved from Spurs to West Ham in 2004 and has scored 30 goals in 130 appearances.

He is expected to fill in the gap created by the exit of Brian McBride earlier in the summer.