I'm up and about and off to work and my new years resolution is to be more positive about how West Ham will fair the rest of the season and to look on the bright side i mean as i write this we are unbeaten in 2026 COYI we can still get into Europe.
Hammers held as the Seagulls salvage a singular point in a chaotic final fixture of a dreadful 2025. Disappointing, but expected, a moment of madness for both sides, including the third party, that being the referee who made a handful of turbulent calls throughout the game.
Paqman broke the deadlock after a superb ball from his own half through to Jarrod, who put us one up and after a more controlled remainder of the first half, it wasn’t enough chaos for Kil-joy, so a sliced tackle, which could be considered as an assault outside of a Football pitch was committed, and despite some heartless arguments, Brighton equalised. Kilman’s comedy comic collection, Edition 25’ is coming soon in stores soon!
Lucas Paqueta decided to commit a foul for the ages, which subsequently saw Brighton get another penalty within two minutes, in which a head full of mist Welbeck Panenka’d a penalty on to the bar, which triggered a surge of chaos… Nuno’s side decided it was their turn after a handball call had been screamed against the Referee and turned down, he was forced to review Lewis Dunk’s best attempt at being a goalkeeper and announced a penalty, which Paqueta converted, giving us the lead.
Amongst the chaos, Todibo would also be subbed off for Mavropanos due to sustaining an injury, meaning the duo of Kilman and Mavropanos returned… which inevitably saw us concede a 2nd before Wilson was dragged for Summerville.
Whilst Nuno may receive his substitution criticism, the aspect of defence you could pose is that once Summerville had been brought on, the next person who could’ve posed a threat for a winner was defending midfielder Tomas Soucek, which explains it all! No depth is available.
Mohamadou Kante’s winger appearance, despite being a central midfielder, saw the Hammers have a late chance but it couldn’t be converted. Summerville would also have two significant chances at scoring, but the ball refused to see the back of the net once again.
West Ham’s draw record against Brighton furthered as one of the most anticipated results in the Premier League, as before tonight, every time the pair had played each other historically, 52% of those results ended up as a draw. A point at home to close the year, but it feels an opportunity missed given Nottingham Forest’s result, but survival now shrinks to four points away.
Reinforcements are needed if the desires of staying up is to be achieved. The Stooges are out on patrol as supposedly four players have been bided on tonight, but heading into the January window in two days, it’ll be crucial to get business done early.
Squad depth and starting quality are required if hope is to live on, but for now, the Hammers end the dismal year of 2025 with just a total of 8 wins achieved in ALL competitions. - LN
West Ham: Areola; Walker-Peters, Todibo, Kilman, Scarles; Potts, Magassa, Fernandes; Paqueta, Wilson, Bowen
Subs: Hermansen, Summerville, Mavropanos, Rodriguez, Soucek, Earthy, Kante, Golambeckis, Mayers
Brighton: Verbruggen, Kadioglu, De Cuyper, Dunk, Van Hecke, Veltman, Milner, Ayari, Minteh, Gomez, Welbeck
Subs: Steele, Gruda, Hinshelwood, Georginio, Koustoulas, Boscagu, Mitoma, Coppola
West Ham’s season has gone far from what they initially anticipated, in which it seems that everything that could’ve gone wrong so far has gone wrong. From the players to the owners to the facilities, it all feels as if it’s crumbling down before our very eyes and a miraculous U-turn seems near impossible.
Yet despite it all, one of the most debilitating and devastating factors for the Hammers is the so-called ‘home’ which is allegedly a ‘World-class stadium’ according to a very select few and against Fulham, the entire Matchday experience ultimately summarised the club’s pitiful downfall that’s been experienced.
For what reason, given the current circustances, should someone have to embark on the dreaded walk from Stratford station to the London Stadium and be met with a monumental queue which is for bag checks and security, if it could be called that, considering how passively they wave their magic wands and often end up picking up a magnetic button which is part of your coat!
The attempt to create an upbeat atmosphere with nothing but music as if they’re trying to manage and soothe our angered moods. Post Fulham, you walked out of your seat and out of the stadium to be met with ludicrously loud music by The Killers to the point where Sky’s live broadcast could hear it, simply unbelievable.
More and more it’s becoming to feel like a festival rather than a Matchday - Didn’t think we were at Glastonbury? But the prices are similar for it too nowadays!
No set of fans wants to hear music blasted in their ear after loosing is such a depleting fashion.
It’s totally and utterly comical. West Ham is a circus that embodies clowns and those pantomimes have managed to somehow worsen the Matchday experience from what it already had, which was little to nothing in the first place.
The London Stadium becomes further unbearable each week, and with no clear fix in sight, it’s a long old road the Hammers have been forced to embark upon.
The Hammers were forced to endure a relegation-level result courtesy of crucial chances missed, lousy passes and an overall lack of clinical ability.
Fulham, who looked nothing but appalling for 90 minutes, nicked a goal through Ollie Scarles’ dire mistake, where he sliced the ball, and the subsequent failed clearance gave Fulham a clean cut cross to match Jimenez’s head and the game was sealed.
Despite Fulham being the side to nick the winner, West Ham had their chances to do so too and burry the game, Callum Wilson had TWO one-on-one opportunities in which they both should’ve gone in yet failed to make the target, but it begs the question as despite him not finishing the dinner on a golden plate, how many more could he have had if started?
The first half was full of lacklustre crosses which failed to meet a claret shirt, along with comical falls from the bowling pins which ruined any aspect of momentum Nuno’s side attempted to muster, but Fulham’s gritty tactics and dark arts is something the Hammers should learn from, too much honesty and it’s one of the many reasons Fulham have dragged themselves out the relegation fight and why the Hammers are still 5 points adrift.
Crying out for Cry! Summerville’s consistently struggled out wide and whilst he’s provided Nuno’s side with blistering pace, what he does with the runs is nothing but poor and the finishing service he offers isn’t tip worthy, which can be said about Paqueta too, given his underwhelming performance this evening as he struggled to get on to the end of anything, and his final third actions weren’t good enough for anything, meaning two thirds of the attack weren’t clinical! Not what you aspire to have in a relegation fight.
Tiresome, uneasy and a relegation esc result for the Hammers, many were quick to suggest that we needed 12 points from the next four, and that’s now swiftly been denied. Though, for the lucky few, you’ll only have to wait three more days until the Brighton fixtures comes along!
Perhaps a New Year’s gift of a less trembling performance might see some faith reignited heading into January, but the fire that we keep aspiring to light is dwindling away week after week. - LN
West Ham: Areola, Walker-Peters, Kilman, Todibo, Scarles, Potts, Fernandes, Magassa, Paqueta, Bowen(c), Summerville.
Subs: Hermansen, Golambeckis, Earthy, Mavropanos, Mayers, Kante, Soucek, Rodriguez, Wilson.
Fulham: Leno, Tete, Andersen, Cuenca, Robinson, Lukic, Berge; Wilson, Smith Rowe, Kevin, Jimenez.
Subs: Lecomte, Castagne, Diop, Reed, Ridgeon, Cairney, King, Traore, Kusi-Asare.
David Sullivan’s Merry-Go-Round strategy is already being implemented as he has found a handful of striker targets from the Czech League and will attempt to convince one to come over to replace the departed Fulkrug.
It’ll be all aboard the plane to the Czech Republic, but that’s only lucky if you’re not sent on coach! The names of interest from said region are Viktoria Plzen’s forward Rafiu Durosinmi, who’s a Nigerian Forward that ultimately embodies the like-for-like definition of a target man.
Secondly is Sparta Praha’s Albion Rrahmani, who’s a 25 year old forward, currently managing 14 G/A this season. He has been regarded as a clinical finisher who is also both footed, which is handy considering the Hammers are used to forwards with two left feet!
Last but not least is our favourite club in Slavia Prague, who have Mojmír Chytil. The forward offers a different type of role in comparison to others, a striker but someone who can also drop deeper to hold up the ball and look for a passing opportunity into the final third or the box.
All candidates offer a variation of different skill sets as a striker and all would cost less than £10,000,000 to secure a deal, no surprises there… but at least it’s not a client of he who shall not be named
Seeing as David Sullivan has total control of transfers, he personally believes that there’s not ‘great value’ in England and it’s better to be searching abroad for targets, therefore not only going against Nuno’s wishes, but also opting for said type of players meaning the club will be relying on its luck stars to hope whichever striker is signed can hit the ground running.
A wise moment to move for unknown cheap talent? Or is it pure panic to attempt something different and hope it works because many fans have been asking to jump on the Merry-go-round of unknown talent, but to do so at such a pivotal point of the season could see Hammers’ twisted fate take a turn for the worse.
In the meantime, it’s a visit to FlixBus and on the way to scout the next outlandish target who might be flattered on being proposed a move to a World Class Stadium.
It has recently been revealed that David Sullivan is set to have a ‘significant’ say upon who will and won’t be signed for the January window ahead, and in Scrooge’s eyes at the moment, he sees fit that only a striker is desperately needed and not anywhere else, which is staggering, as given the performances the Hammers have had…
Perhaps he’s not been able to see properly from his padded seat at the Bowl.
Nuno’s unfortunately needed to deal with the tools that he has been given, in which, most couple agree that he’s managed to get most out of the players that he could’ve, but, to get the East London side over the line, Nuno requires some players of his own choosing and not the cheapest 5p sweets Sully’s happy to splurge on.
One of his first orders of business, has been compiling together the sale of Nichlas Fulkrug in which a loan deal has almost been agreed and West Ham will receive NO loan fee but 100% coverage of the wage and there will be a buy option of €14,000,000… which in summary, means we’ve let yet another player leave and haven’t got any instant cash back from them meaning the club now inevitably needs to search for a cheap forward that suits the ‘financial’ situation.
Numerous names and players will be mentioned, but given Sullivan’s Grinch roots, it’ll be the likely possibility that the players of interest are either from lower leagues or a few more Brazilian favela trips are on the cards to find the next ‘big thing’. One thing for sure is that, despite however many trips and flights are taken around the world, it appears inevitable that Nuno won’t be given the resources that he requires and has requested…
On the off chance that multiple players are signed, how many of those deals would have been done where the player either has a poor injury record, or the deal was ridden through in favour of Will?
However, under control of David Sullivan for the window, certainly don’t be surprised if the Hammers are to sign more staff members than players, staff are a lot cheaper and they don’t have an injury record! - LN
It;s that time of year for going on a diet hunting a bargain and booking a bit of Winter sun break....and for those who over did it on the old CC for Christmas the bills due! but for West Ham it's the time to be linked to any and every player going with the dire situation we are in so this morning trawling through the usual sites trying to get an inkling of what might be happening i saw this little headline and it made me smile...West Ham have expressed interest in a January deal for 25-year-old Wolves and Norway striker Jorgen Strand Larsen.....now last year i mentioned this player and would be more than happy to have us sign him and if this rumour is true i still am...obviously he is not doing a lot this season as Wolves are so bad but he ticks the boxes for me and of all the other players we have been linked with so far and beggars can't be choosers i hope this is a deal we pull our finger out and make happen...no low bids no dragging it out throughout the window put in a bid that shows we are serious and hopefully the player thinks yes he wants out and we get him and one other striker.
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