Forum | Non-Football Related

Part of Manuel Pellegrini's brief on arrival as the new manager of West Ham United was to run the rule over the club's youth and academy players as well as the senior squad. Youth players, with the exception of Declan Rice, hardly got a look in last season due to the constant battle against relegation, Slaven Billic and then his replacement David Moyes were totally reluctant to throw the youngsters in to desperately fought matches. Fast forward to the present and the 'youth' have been carefully scrutinised with several being sent out on a season's loan, one such player is Norwegian born Martin Samuelsen who was signed from Manchester City.

Now that Manuel Pellegrini and Mario Husillos have made their appraisals players like Samuelsen have been sent out on loan as they were last season, the difference is the loan destinations, in Samuelsen's case VVV-Venlo in Holland's Eredivisie. There will be increasing media coverage of the Dutch leagues and their fans and infrastructures ahead of EURO 2020 in Holland. The Hammers powers that be have decided that only loans that will benefit the youngsters by guaranteeing them a certain amount of playing time and placing them with clubs that will nurture their talents, the choice of mainly European clubs chosen as their destination is a clear indication of the direction that Pellegrini and Husillos want to go in.

Samuelsen was in the starting line up for VVV-Venlo at the Seacon De Koel stadium for the initial fixture of the Eredivisie season, a game they won 1 - 0. You can check out the odds on who will be champoins and who will be relegated by visiting this Dutch football betting site. There are were once really high expectations regarding Samuelsen, perhaps too high, but his move to ply his trade in Holland is a direct result of meetings he had with Pellegrini and Husillos who defintely see Samuelsen as 'one for the future'.
In case you need reminding of just how good Samuelsen is take a look at the video below!

Of all the players sent out on loan Samuelsen represents a real opportunity for the future, many Hammers fans have bemoaned the lack of quality players emerging from the once famous West Ham academy because like any other supporters they love to see 'one of their own' break through to the senior squad, Samuelsen has all the attributes needed to succeed and he also has a good attitude unlike some of the other youth players on Hammers' books who have had their heads turned by unscrupulous agents who promise them the earth and get them to believe in their own 'myth' before they have even earned a sniff of acceptance.

Unfortunately agents are all powerful and like them or loathe them clubs have to deal with them for fear of missing out on that rare gemof a player that does get unearthed without an eye watering premium! There are a good few youngsters coming through the ranks, and fans may well have the feeling that these players will be nurtured far more efficiently than has been the case previously.

Bit by bit the average age of the first team is coming down, soon there will be an ongoing project for the future as opposed to the 'band aid' patch and mend mentality of the past! - Ed

The question was going to come about sooner or later, and it turns out that a controversial decision in the first game week has sparked a discussion as to why VAR won’t be used in the Premier League this season. West Ham fans were horrified when Sadio Mane scored Liverpool’s third goal in the top flight opener from an offside position. Everyone watching could see that he was beyond the last man – apart from the referee’s assistant. So why isn’t VAR being used?
Football nowadays is much faster-paced than it was even ten years ago, and it is getting progressively harder for referees to spot everything that goes on in a match. There have been frequent incidents of officials making mistakes, which have caused uproar and sometimes even cost teams dearly. One of the most famous moments missed by a referee was in the quarterfinal of the 1986 World Cup, when Diego Maradona scored with a handball. Things like this led to the decision that a video assistant may be required to make matches fairer moving forward.

VAR made its first appearance on the world stage at the World Cup in Russia last summer. Initially, people’s feelings were mixed about the new technology. Many were questioning why it was being used for some things and not others, but by the end of the tournament it was winning football fans over. Referees were able to reward penalties that they may not have noticed before, and the technology was also used to spot players taking a dive. It seemed that the initial teething problems of using VAR were over, but it still hasn’t convinced the FA to use it in the Premier League.
It is often contested that refereeing decisions go in the favour of bigger clubs, at the cost of weaker teams who may be battling against relegation. In 2012, Fulham manager Martin Jol claimed that his side were denied a penalty against Manchester United at Old Trafford in a 1-0 defeat. This prompted the BBC to delve into the stats, and the news site did indeed find that the smallest club at the time Blackburn Rovers conceded the most penalties on average while Chelsea conceded the fewest. Now that the Cottagers are back in the top flight, they need fair decisions to help stave off relegation. At the time of writing, they are 2/1 in the Premier League relegation odds to drop back down at the end of the season.
With VAR already in use in other leagues across the world, it wouldn’t be surprising to see it used in the UK in the near future. One of the main issues with the technology is the fact that it hasn’t been used consistently, so this is something that needs addressing. Perhaps if football followed in the footsteps of cricket and allowed teams a certain amount of challenges per game it could work. Many would agree that for football to move into the modern age, technology should be put to good use.

Three goals in four minutes either side of half time changed the course of West Ham's Premier League 2 opener against Tottenham at Stevenage tonight, everything was looking like Spurs would win comfortably at the Lamex when they took an early lead through Samuel Shashoua, they created more chances after that and looked likely to add more goals. However, it all changed in the 44th minute and how did it change, Hammer's new Portuguese forward Xande Silva, Manuel Pellegini's sixth summer signing, levelled when he blocked Dylan Duncan's attempted clearance, spun and spectacularly rifled the ball into the roof of the net.

Xande Silva was a player inspired and barely 30 seconds into the second half he raced onto Josh Cullen's pass and slotted home against the advancing Spurs keeper to make it 2-1, and if that wasn't enough two minutes later he made it 3-1 after some neat play by Nathan Holland who cut the ball back for Silva to place inch perfect into the corner.

The Tottenham Premier League 2 team were unable to come back from such a devastating four minute spell, one which must rank as one of the fastest hat tricks ever scored! OK it is only the 'second' level of Premier League clubs and Toni Martinez who had been banging goals in for fun at this level has still been sent out on loan for a year, however Xande Silva is highly rated by Manuel Pellegrini and the 'Huse' and based on tonight's electrifying performance he might turn up in the first team squad sooner rather than later, either way news of his possible potential development will give fans hope that the club might actually have got hold of the type of player that one day could command the type of transfer value that could catapult the club up to that all evasive 'next level'! - Ed