Sour Puss Won't Be Fully In Charge Of Spurs

Spurs owner Daniel Levy's shot in the foot moment comes just a bit too soon for Hammers to fully benefit as it is understood that Tottenham's U-18 manager, Ryan Mason, will apparently lead the senior side out for the London Stadium derby, despite being younger than many of the first-team players. Levy has just jumped in to bed with the Devil from a financial point of view with the announcement that 'old sour puss' himself, Jose Mourinho, has been appointed manager in place of Mauricio Pochettino who was sacked after five years in charge.

Quite how the developments across London unfold will have some impact on this Saturday's early kick off, the 'bounce' factor often occurs when a manager is dismissed, players can sometimes play out of their skins just to prove that the outgoing manager had nurtured their talent and will be greatly missed. On other occasions players can play to their maximum ability if they know a new manager is watching on, and essentially they are playing for their places in the new manager's line up.

Manuel Pellegrini has been under the cosh recently, but now that the wild reports that 'Moanrinho' might replace him have dissipated, the Chilean really does have to leave his mark! That requires several of the well paid but under performing players to step up to the plate, in the past few matches the Irons have seemed devoid of energy, with many players looking dead on their feet way too early in matches.

When David Moyes took over from Slaven Billic, the ex-Manchester United manager along with Stuart 'Psycho' Pearce embarked on an intense training programme that eventually saw energy levels rise significantly. Pellegrini might well have already adopted a different regime, if tales of the cancellation of player's days off are true, he has certainly got more youth players involved in the first team's training sessions, probably in the hope that their energy will rub off on some of the senior players who have been playing more like senior citizens!

Unfortunately the derby against Spurs comes about a month too soon for Lukasz Fabianski to feature, which means Hammers will have to persevere with the uninspiring and calamitous 'Radio Gaga' (Roberto Jiminez) in goal. As if that wasn't enough, the team will most likely be without the services of inspirational skipper, Mr West Ham, Mark Noble, who is battling to be fit for the type of game where his leadership skills really are in true demand.

One bright element ahead of Saturday's game is the presence of Michail Antonio, he probably won't start the game, but just being with the rest of the players will energise them, and hopefully his enthusiasm will be infectious. Hammers have played horrendously ever since the injuries to Fabianski and Antonio, the alarming aspect is that the loss of these two players has had such a collateral effect on a team that people were tipping for a Champion's League slot just two months ago.

Saturday's result is crucial to both teams, neither can afford to lose, as a loss would put the losing team perilously close to the drop zone from the Barclays Premier League, a situation few Hammers fans would have envisaged up until 'the slump'. Defeat won't mean the end for either club, but it could be the beginning of the end instead of the end of the beginning! - Ed