Forum | Non-Football Related

Picture it now, your team are at home to the League's biggest time wasters and worst 'simulators'. Despite you, your team is still in with a shout for three incredibly valuable points in their desperate scrap against relegation. 60,000 fans are cheering your team on for the closing stages of the game which is finely balanced, the match officials, particularly the linesman on the opposite flank to the dug outs are blind to the 'Villains' perpetual play acting and time wasting, but nevertheless there is is still a good chance of getting a result, so what do you do?

Even the most amateur of armchair pundits knew that this was an ideal opportunity for Dino to bring on his newly acquired £35 Million striker Gianluca Scamacca, the game AND THE CROWD WERE 'BEGGING FOR IT', however Moyes elected to bring on Maxwell Cornet INSTEAD of Scamacca! Moyes and Scamacca exchanged 'words' as Cornet, NOT Scamacca, took to the field. You don't need to be an Italian linguist to have a pretty good idea of what "Ba fungal!" means, Google it if you need!

Suffice to say Dino Moyes is well on course to destroying the young Italian striker who is so highly valued that it caused a public outcry when he was 'whisked off' to London during the summer. Why are we allowing one of our brightest prospects the chance of playing in England when he should be here in Italy entertaining us and developing as a player in our Domestic League they asked?

Well don't worry Italian fans, Gianluca will be back with you quicker than a Venetian Gondolier can fleece you of all your travel money! The look he gave Dino was one of anger and incredulity, the crowd thought exactly the same. The term stubborn bastard sprang to many people's minds, Moyes has reached a point of no return where his obstinacy and stubbornness might well relegate the club.

Too good to go down? Too bad to stay up might be the answer, under Moyes' 'guidance' the club is gone! Only an instant dismissal will alter the car crash that Hammers have become, even then it might be too late, God help us! - Ed

West Ham: Areola, Kehrer, Zouma, Aguerd, Emerson, Rice, Soucek, Bowen, Paqueta, Benrahma, Ings
Subs: Anang, Johnson, Cresswell, Scamacca, Fornals, Lanzini, Downes, Cornet, Ogbonna
Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Moreno, McGinn, Ramsey, Luiz, Bailey, Watkins, Buendia.
Subs: Olsen, Sinisalo, Carlos, Traore, Chambers, Young, Duran, Digne.

Hammers took a big step towards the quarter-finals of the Europa Conference League Cup with an 'easy peasey' first-leg victory at AEK Larnaca.

The Home team caused some early problems but West Ham grew in confidence and started to resemble a team that had topped their group and were unbeaten in the competition. It was a question of when, not if, Hammers were going to score. An unmarked Antonio expertly headed Said Benrahma's superb left-wing delivery into the right corner on the 36th minute to open the scoring.

With the side that is struggling in the Premier League side searching for a second, Pablo Fornals drove wide of the left post moments before Antonio doubled the lead on the stroke of half time when he collected a pass on the edge of the area and expertly curled his effort around his marker into the top-right corner.

The side have now won all nine of their matches in the competition this term and they deserved the victory, with Antonio almost adding a third after the break when he drove a low effort which ricocheted against the right-hand post.

David Moyes had the 'luxury' of taking off Declan Rice and others ahead of the Villa game, with the added bonus of an appearance from Cornet who only played for a brief while but managed to create a golden opportunity for Pacqueta who had chimself ome on for the closing minutes.

Incidentally, what is it with West Ham and corners this season? A further 14 conceded tonight, but at no cost!

All in all a great performance against albeit 'lesser opposition', not quite job one, but a good lead to take home.

Speaking of leads, Gianluca Scamacca looked and played like a big Labrador that had just been let of its lead, he hustled and bustled but generally just ran into the opposition conceding needless free kicks. The young Italian desperately needs more game in order to return to being the bright eyed smiling character he was when he first arrived at the club, hopefully he will get back to what he was, one of Italy's hotest young prospects!

Success breeds success, perhaps the win will remind the team that they are actually decent players, DESPITE WHAT THEY ARE SOMETIMES TOLD! - Ed

West Ham United's foray in the third tier of European Cup Football continues this evening with the first leg of the fixtures against AEK Larnaca in Cyprus. Although potential Hammers manager Jose Mourinho celebrated like there was no tomorrow when Roma won the ill conceived trophy last year, the truth is that it is a 'Micky Mouse 'Cup that was 'invented' solely as a revenue earner and has little real meaning in the great scheme of things.

Still a trophy is a trophy some might say, but at what cost? Sucking the life out of a whole generation of promising youth players or destroying the confidence of newly signed players is hardly the way forward is it? Yet that is exactly what is happeneing at the club under the current guidance of David Moyes.

Lured by the vague possibility of 'SilverWare' the club's hierarchy seem to have adopted a 'magpiesque' attitude that can only be satiated by something sparking, irrespective of it's true value! How long can Moyes dine out on the brief period of success that he attained following his 2nd coming?

Credit where it is due, Moyes took over when things looked bleak, saved the club from relegation and was then promptly dropped in favour of 'fancy pants' Manuel Pellegrini who took over and nearly took the club down in the process. Moyes returned and things looked to be moving forward on an upward trajectory, then the wheels started to fall off the Moyes bandwagon.

Moyes' intransigent attitude meant that the team were unable to build on their initial inertia and were soon being found out by opposition coaches and managers who began to realise what a 'one trick pony' Moyes actually was as a manager, as a consequence results started to falter before a continuous and inexorable decline began which has been impossible to halt, despite a relatively large investment in the squad, actually a MASSIVE investment in the squad compared to the past.

Moyes is GOOD at making square pegs fit round holes, but give him the 'right' combination and he falls short. Why is that? Quite simply he doesn't garner the respect he should receive from top players because he doesn't earn it! Bad mouthing players regarding their attitude is NOT the way forward, players like Said Benrahma who are naturally gifted don't respond well to someone who was a bang average defender in uncompetitive leagues handing down 'god like' advice.

Destroying players' confidence with his 'my way or the highway' approach WILL EVENTUALLY DESTROY team morale if it hasn't done already, nothing short of a managerial rebuild is required to bring the club back to the mythical 'West Ham Way', a style of football that may NOT get trophies but sent fans home happy after games with hope for the future.

The turgid 'product' on offer for fans is barely palpable and is so different from what fans have grown to expect over generations. David Moyes WAS a good fixer, but his repair job is over now and it is time to bring in a 'foundations' expert who is used to dealing with 'modern issuse', NOT someone who is stuck in the dark ages!

We don't profess to know all the answers, but we can see the obvious that is right in front of our eyes! We fully expect the team to do well in Cyprus, they won't have a critical crowd on their back, just like during Covid. The possible answer?...keep Moyes and play behind closed doors! - Ed