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Having seen West Ham achieve two draws and two defeats so far in their friendlies, fans might be a little perplexed with the results, but the whole point of playing friendly matches is to prepare the team for the forthcoming 'serious and meaningful' fixtures ahead. As all the Austrian tour fixtures are being televised, it is safe to assume that those assistants who work for Conte of Chelsea, Hammers first opponents in the Barclays Premier League, and Guardiola at Manchester City Hammers third opponents, will have compiled DVD footage of what has been on show .

On the face of it being 2-0 down at half time is obviously not the desired score line , but the generally extremely young West Ham side put out against proper opposition in the form of Rubin Kazan performed admirably, and consideration has to be given to what Slaven Billic wants as an outcome of the Austrian based three pre-season friendlies. There are already some massive positives, none more so than Fenghouli, this guy is going to tear up defenders in the Prem and scare the living daylights out of them with his speed and determination.

Despite all the doom sayers (including us!) Andy Carroll is due to have a half hour run out in the third match of Hammers Austrian tour, it comes too early for him to feature against Rubin Kazan in the second of the pre-season friendlies, but louche rumours of a 'feeling' in his groin seem to have been 'erected' by the press and cognoscenti , and appear generally unfounded as the big geordie looks to begin a season for the first time in his adult career with the potential to start without an injury! Yes, the first time!

A spirited and rewarding Hammers performance for the first 85 minutes which saw them lead 2-0 courtesey of a goal by Mark Noble in the first half wonderfully set up by Martin Samuelsen, and a super header by ex-Manchester United starlet Ashley Fletcher in the second. Unfortunately two goals were conceded in the last minutes by Rafael Spiegel who had only come on to replace Randolph in the last twenty minutes, it wasn't entirely his fault, especially for the first goal, but it spoilt what had been an impressive display.

The Stadion Rohrbach is the venue for the first of West Ham United's Austrian Tour, Tore is penciled in for an appearance as well as many of the other new arrivals, expect a raft of changes throughout the match which will be played in sweltering conditions. -Ed
West Ham : Randolph, Burke, Byram, Rice, Page, Noble( c ), Feghouli, Cullen, Obiang, Samuelsen, Valencia.
Subs: Adrian, Spiegel, Reid, Creswell, Kayoute, Carroll, Antonio, Nordvelt, Tore, Makasi, Fletcher, Browne, Quina, Martinez.

The list of strikers that West Ham United have been linked with seems to grow daily, and the list of rejections by players targeted is equally as long! Bacca, Batshuayi, Benteke, Lacazette and any number of other high profile players have all refused to sign up to Slaven Billic's vision, which leaves the club in an award position.

The exploits of Leicester and Tottenham last season will have been a great source of inspiration for all other Premier League clubs. The promised land of the Champions League was starting to feel like a four or five horse race every season, with the biggest and richest battling it out at the top and leaving the rest to fight amongst themselves. But last season proved that money can only get you so far and you need to build a motivated, hardworking team, full of drive and passion.

In an attempt to secure the services of a 'marquee' player West Ham United are going to have to push the boat out, and the proposed move to sign James Rodriguez from Real Madrid is certainly a statement of intent, if indeed it transpires to be as real as it currently seems. Splashing out around £65 Million is a massive investment as well as being a humungous gamble, especially for a club like West Ham who have only recently managed to claw themselves out of a mountain of debt inherited by the two Davids, Sullivan & Gold.

Midnight on July 16th Central Chinese time marked the end of the Chinese Football federation's transfer window, and as such removes one major cash endowed player from the lunacy that is going on in the European transfer window! Quite how much the emerging Chinese super league is effecting the fees being commanded by players and their agents is difficult to quantise, but there has undoubtedley been a a seismic shift when it comes to football's economic power houses.

West Ham United have been drawn against the winner of Shakhtyor Soligorsk of Belarus or Domžale of Slovalia for the next round of the Europa League Cup competition. The matches are due to be played on the 28th of July and the 4th of August, Hammers will be hoping that the home leg of the tie can be played on a date that suits their Olympic Stadium schedules. - Ed