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Following Saturday's debacle against Everton one player who was just looking to get out on the pitch was the club's forgotten man, Winston Reid.

'Winny' was scheduled a run out with the U23's last night as he hadn't played competitive football for nearly two years. Alas it was not to be, and on the face of it is highly unlikely he will ever return to the first team, let alone become the fearsome warrior defender that he was.

Officially there was no word as to why Reid wasn't even in the squad, however one of our Org members was at the match and was told Reid had succumbed to a heavy flu virus and that his presence could have been bad for the health of the rest of the squad. You can take that information with however big a grain of salt you wish, however it doesn't really 'cover' the situation.

The initial injury Reid sustained was a 'freak accident' whereby he was knocked unconscious while in mid air, consequently landing in a completely unnatural way on his knee, which basically shattered! On reflection it would probably have been better for the player to just retire due to the severity of the injury, but that is with the benefit of hindsight, no one, including the player himself, had any idea that the injury would take so long to heal.

If Reid had been able to return, and don't forget he has been given full wages during his 'freak' injury spell, he might have been able to increase Manuel Pellegrini's defensive options without any additional financial outlay. The future does look bleak for the New Zealander, and while it must have been incredibly frustrating for the 'Warrior' not to be playing, life has had it's compensations, in 2017 Reid signed a 6 year / £21,840,000 contract with West Ham United F.C with an annual average salary of £3,640,000, in 2019 Reid will earn a base salary of £3,640,000 or about £70,000 per week, so at least he can cry all the way to the bank! .

The Reid situation is a salient reminder of how the policy of handing out long contracts to prevent other teams from 'poaching' players can come back to bite clubs, very hard! It would be wonderful if Winston Reid can come back, but at 31 years of age it is a bit of a long shot, perhaps he just spent too much time in Andy Carroll's company?- Ed

West Ham United manager, Manuel Pellegrini, known as The Engineer or This Charming Man, didn't want to build any bridges or be charming as he lambasted his under performing players following their 2-0 surrender to Everton.

One aspect of the match which Pellegrini found particularly galling was that Everton were there for the taking, woefully short of confidence and led by their under fire manager. The match represented the perfect opportunity to redress the balance after losing 2-1 at home to Palace, victory would have almost made up for what could have been viewed as a ' bad day at the office' at the London Stadium the week before.

Given the option he confirmed that he would have swapped almost the entire team at half time, so lamentable was their performance, possibly only Roberto and Fredericks would have escaped their manager's anger, because he might seem a quiet man but is not always that way, as some players will find out in the coming days.

Hammers have put in some pretty lame performances in the past, and the Everton game must be right up there in the PPLP rankings ( **** Poor League Performances), At Goodison the team had a chance to set themselves up nicely for the forthcoming 'grudge' match against Sheffield United, whilst atoning for the Crystal Palace debacle, instead their lack lustre performance means they go in to Saturday's match with massive pressure instead of anticipation.

It is easy to criticise when things aren't going well, but surely 'El Pelle' must start to look at his rigid one up top line ups, Sebastain Haller is a superb striker, but one who has been used to operating in a two forward line up, consequently he finds himself isolated and so drops deeper looking for the ball, this negates his qualities significantly. This is not to say Haller won't learn to plough a lonely furrow, but he needs help in the short term, and he should be given it!

Of course it's not all doom and gloom, but the high level of expectation many fans were beginning to feel should definitely be put on the back burner. Two home games in a row against the Blades followed by Newcastle looked to be good on paper, unfortunately they will now have become must win games in order to put the brakes on Hammers slide down the Barclays Premier League table.

One player who is just looking to get out on the pitch is the club's forgotten man, Winston Reid, 'Winny' gets a run out with the U23's tonight, he hasn't played competitive football for nearly two years. It is highly unlikely he will ever return to the Warrior defender that he was, but given he has been paid full wages during his 'freak' injury spell he will at least increase Pellegrini's defensive options without any additional financial outlay, this is assuming that Reid comes through the match unscathed, which given Hammers injury track record is not too promising a prospect, but good luck to him, he deserves a break, but not a literal one for heaven's sake! - Ed

Everton FC: Pickford, Sidibe, Keane, Mina, Digne, Davies, Gomes, Walcott, Iwobi, Bernard, Richarlison. Subs: Lossl, Holgate, Baines, Calvert-Lewin, Sigurdsson, Kean, Baningime.
West Ham United: Jimenez, Fredericks, Diop, Ogbonna, Masuaku, Noble, Rice, Anderson, Fornals, Lanzini, Haller. Subs: Martin, Balbuena, Zabaleta, Yarmolenko, Snodgrass, Wilshere, Ajeti.

As a prime exponent of 'pranking' other players, it was inevitable that Mr Prank It', AKA West Ham United captain Mark Noble, would be the instigator of a well organised prank carried out on youngster Declan Rice, lo and behold that is exactly what happened while the players were attending a photo shoot.

You can judge for yourself how wonderfully composed the 20 year old Hammers defender was when confronted with a parking enforcement wheel clamper, courtesy of those fellow Hammers conspirators Betway Soccer . The actor being used was good, and we mean really good, especially his reference to Ryan Frederick's job as a P.A.

The footie can't come soon enough for most fans following the international break, Hammers take on Everton at Goodison for the early 12:30 kick off, which is being shown on BT Sport, ahead of the match it is reassuring to know that team spirit is certainly not an issue at the London Stadium, far from it!

It does make you wonder how long it will be before the tables are turned, and Mr West Ham United himself is on the receiving end, after all it would only be fair wouldn't it? - Ed