Larnaca : Pirić, Casas, Miličević, Tomović, Englezou ©, Mamas, Gus, Oier, Rosales, Jakoliš, Lopes Subs: Toumpas (GK), Stylianidis (GK), Gonzalez, Tričkovski, Faraj, Christoforou, Naoum, H.Andreou, Altman, Nikolić
West Ham : Areola, Kehrer, Zouma, Aguerd, Cresswell, Rice ©, Lanzini, Downes, Fornals, Benrahma, Antonio Subs: Hegyi (GK), Anang (GK), Johnson, Emerson, Ogbonna, Souček, Paquetá, Cornet, Bowen, Scamacca, Ings
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
They keep on providing us with comfort cushions .by by Europe .
Wouldn't Hammers fans just love it? The sight of Paulo Di Canio patrolling the touch line, just ready to erupt in a 'stylish Roman rage' at the slightest offence by his own players let alone the opposition! Majority shareholder David Sullivan once said that he would absolutely 'love' Di Canio as a manager but that he was a loose canon that couldn't be controlled.
Di Canio's managerial track record doesn't make particularly good reading, but as a short term fixer there are few who doubt his motivational qualities. Could he be the 'quick fix' that the irons need to maintain their top flight status in what is looking to be a hell of battle down at the bottom of the Premier League?
The sight of Di Canio, joined by Stuart Pearce, Alan Irvine and of course Mr West Ham Mark Noble couldn't fail to inspire the crowd, would it inspire the players? Some say they are over paid prima donna's who need a good kick up the backside, others that they are finely tuned athletes that need encouraging and remonstrating in equal measure or as necessary depending on their individual needs.
What isn't in doubt is that the players WOULD take note of them, they would inspire them to be themselves and play with the freedom they need to fully exploit their undoubted potential. Imagine Di Canio having a word in Scamacca's shell like? Better than a dug up corpse of a character erring on the side of caution relentlessly.
Will Di Canio be asked to come and rescue the club? Most likely not, which is rather sad because he and the aforementioned other coaches as well as Chicken Kiev Nolan WOULD whip the players into shape, and by that we don't mean getting them to run as far and as fast as they can like headless chickens, but to run hard and fast with a purpose in mind, following a clearly laid out plan, but one which is ADAPTABLE, a word that seems to have completely disappeared from the Moyesosoraus dictionary!
At least the team would go down fighting, fans would stay to the end of each game and the atmosphere at the home ground would be more akin to the rare moments of glory achieved under the lights during the Europa League campaign. ANY success in the third tier of European competition known as the Conference League Cup this season would merely mask the decline of the club, a decline that could have truly MASSIVE repercussions for West Ham.
Di Canio's dream team or Moyes's mausoleum? It may not be practical, but it would be magnificent in the short term! - LN
Excuse the Star Wars vernacular, but far far away, back in the day, Smoke and mirrors were the preferred method of communication used by the club to 'muddy the water' as Hammers fans sought clarity regarding the future of their beloved club. For a brief while that antiquated and unworkable approach was abandoned during what many now see as a halcyon period in time when the owners finally stopped living their business lives on media platforms and let the club progress with the minimum amount of negativity and fuss. Unfortunately the 'Dark Star' has returned!
Admitedly this 'golden' age (excuse pun) didn't last long and it's mere existence was reliant on the club doing well, which it was. The West Ham climb from perennial strugglers to genuine top six contenders really DID look like it had happened and that the future was one of onwards and upwards, unfortunately as with many romance stories or fairy tales this one has come to a bitter end.
The general feeling of optimism was based on a truly brilliant 18 month spell which of course included the Covid lock down, a period of time when there were no crowds present and perhaps that is the key. No one was in attendance of games meant that certain team selections and formations could be tried out WITHOUT welts of negativity from fans and that proved to be the case.
Without the crowd on his back David Moyes was able to restructure the club in his own preferred format and IT WORKED, there is no way of getting around it. The problem is that there were already signs of the ship 'creaking' once the Premier League resumed 'properly', those problems were masked by the Europa League successes which also hid the fact that the squad was the 2nd oldest in the League and that the club's style of play had been one dimensional and that other clubs had 'sussed' the Irons out and worked out ways of nullifying the counter attacking style that had worked so well.
Adapting to the situation is a basic requirement for any managerial role, in football it is ESSENTIAL and David Moyes has stubbornly refused to alter HIS WAY! A way that has been totally exposed leaving his managerial attitude as that of a dinosaur heading for extinction, relegation to the Championship would not make West Ham extinct, but it would put the club back years and years, you only have to look at how long it took clubs like Leeds and Forest, who had previously enjoyed great success, to get back to the 'promised land' of the top flight.
Of course if the club suddenly goes on an inspired run, sparked by good performances in the 'Con Cup' then we we be perfectly prepared to eat large helpings of 'Umble Pie', after all we were one of the very first Hammers websites and have supported the club through thick and thin, our ONLY agenda is for the club to succeed, period!
Whatever way you look at the situation, whether data driven or just from the general 'vibe' Moyes's time at the as yet unnamed London Stadium has run it's course, even if the club somehow escape relegation, which it might do but only by the 'skin of it's teeth', Moyes is the past and definitely NOT the future. He took a struggling club, rebuilt it, but then forgot to open his eyes and just shut up shop. Moyes seems incapable of 'dealing' with top players, preferring instead to 'mould them into players of his OWN volition as if to prove he got the busy dibs from 'picking the pie'. But just as Sam Allardyce's cutting edge medical techniques broke new ground and worked for a while at Bolton, both managers refused to move with the times and are in danger of ruining their legacy.
Hammers are NOT in the business of providing managerial redevelopment programmes, or they shouldn't be... ley Moyes go off to a managerial rehabilitation centre and get some one fresh in, most DEFINTELY NOT Jose Mourinho, almost anyone but him and even the sour puss one himself wouldn't turn down Roma for West Ham, he is rich beyond dreams of avarice, why swap the sun for .... the Sun's headlines or the Mirror's? - Ed
No, not a set of new home and away replica survival kits to be flogged off to the next generation of lambs to the slaughter more commonly known as young West Ham fans. The 2nd part of the headline K.I.T.S!, which follows Panic attack, stands for 'Kretin in the Sky' the name used behind the back of Hammers second highest share owner by his subordinates and also his fellow shareholders, if rumours are to be believed.
So reading the two together the conclusion is that Daniel Kretinsky is getting rather hot under the collar with regards to his not inconsiderable stake in the club, some say even more than hot under the collar and that it is counter-intuitive to his usual business practices that have earned him the more lofty name of being the Czech Sphinx. A name that he has earned by being a 'cool' incredibly successful competitor within the Global Business World and one that comes with a bite as well as a bark!
Fans are entitled to moan and groan about their 'hard-earned' paying for season tickets, away tickets and the commensurate expense involved in attending those games, not forgetting the thousands of replica kits and merchandise spewed out by the club on a regular basis. However, spending their money to support a club that they were generally born to support is still a matter of choice, fans can exercise their right to exorcise themselves from the club, the 'Kretin in the Sky's situation is more complicated.
Having invested a fair chunk of change in what he thought was essentially a Premier League club going places, Kretinsky would have been thinking, "here we go, wait until we can hoover up a few shares to gain a controlling interest, then buy the club off 'loved up' Sullivan and then we'll be on to a winner!"
Welcome to the 'Gypsey Curse' Mr Kretinsky, it has sympathy for no one, after all look what it did to the Biscuit Barons! The best thing you can probably do is invest in as many sooth sayers, exorcists and 'counter cursers' that you can and possibly a few new ones from your homeland in order to get a fresh start.
Kretinsky's cool demeanour is not beyond being unsettled and that is exactly what he is with what is going on with his 'project', you can bet your 'Ivan Toney' that behind the scenes he is absolutely furious with the club's current ineptness virtually from top to bottom and cannot wait to pull the trigger on David Moyes.
Kretinsky doesn't do the past, he does the future! He and David Moyes are oil and water and are SO far apart that it is merely a matter of when, not if the manager is removed from his post. David Sulivan seems loathe to change until it is almost mathematically impossible to survive, delaying the inevitable could prove to be a massive mistake for all parties EXCEPT DAVID MOYES!
Will he really care if the club gets relegated? He is a wealthy man and while relegation might hurt his pride, it wouldn't ruin his life, but it could ruin the lives of thousands of fans, you know Mr Moyes like the ones you 'faced off' against during the humiliation at Brighton, those FANS WHO HAD TRAVELLED MILES IN THE COLD TO SUPPORT THEIR TEAM!
At the end of the day, their team will still exist, unlike the Dinosaur that refused to accept the truth..it cannot happen quick enough to help calm the K.I.T.S's panic attack! - Ed
Moyes wont be sacked as there is nobody out there with Prem experience.....you hear that bandied about a lot but please explain to me what they mean by Prem experience? De zerbi did he have it? Thomas Frank? did he Ten Haag? nope so what the hell do they mean? it is all a load of nonsense as far as i am concerned and lazy thinking.
Good managers manage the players.....the league you are in IMO is irrelevant....Players need to respect and know who the boss is and buy into his philosphy if they dont you get chaos.
So how come we have to have a manager with "prem experience" yet buy players without the same? so please somene explain to me just what they mean? do they mean ex-players with prem experience can be managers? if so see Gerrard/Lamps etc and if they want just a manager who has been there do they mean BFS Benitez.....overlooking the new crop like Kompany and Carrick.
So if your CV does not have Prem experience on it do not bother to apply?.
From the board to the manager to the players none of them have any balls to change and as a consequence we are without doubt of the 9 clubs in the dogfight have the better players of the bunch but what we dont have are players with any fight no scrappers where as all the others have that in there squads....the board no balls for making the decision we all know that needs to be made the manager has no balls to change from his antiquated tactics and the players no balls to try and change things ingame just give up and sulk....but its our fault as fans apparently for not backing the team and manager during the hard times.....Protests dont work they say the board not interested in what "customers" say but if only for one or two games as a fanbase you turn up but dont go into the ground stay outside let the players see and the manager that we wont watch that shit anymore and embarrass the board they may have taken your money with a season ticket but it is time to show them that without us the club is worthless.....Money is all they understand....they can take our money but they can never take our freedom time to make a stand.
Current West Ham supremo David Sullivan used to have a penchant for wearing his now politically incorrect Russian hat which is called a Ushanka, which rhymes with what many fans used to call him from the metaphorical terraces that adorn the as yet commercially unnamed Queen Elizabeth Stadium.
Apart from the obvious 'When will you sack David Moyes?" questions being asked of him, the majority shareholder is having to field off an increasing amount of questions regarding his ownership of the club and WHETHER HE PLANS TO SELL or if indeed he might be forced to sell because of a potentially 'aggressive' take over of the club.
Since the passing of David Gold speculation has been rife regarding his 25% ownership of the club and what will happen to his shares. Initially it was thought that Gold's family would want to continue with the status quo by retaining their shares and maybe just selling off a few to cash in on their value, however it seems that the 'cretin in the sky', as some call Daniel Kretinsky behind his back, might go behind David Sullivan's back and offer top dollar to the Gold family and become the club's majority shareholder.
The majority shareholder of any Limited Company can, if they wish, add to the value of the company by injecting cash and bonds which the other shareholders have to match or see their shareholding become reduced in a process that used to be known as 'bear hugging'. Of course when men in suits ran the stock exchange and other strictly private financial organisations these things went virtually unnoticed but not anymore!
Ironically it won't do Kretinsky's investment portfolio any harm if the club do end up getting relegated because he will be able to buy cheaper, conversely if the club survive he can launch his 'bear hug' knowing his investment will likely go up, a win win situation, it's what he does, in case fans forget, he is a Business man!
Despite all the bluff and bravado, David Moyes MUST KNOW that in Kretinsky's eyes at least, he is a dead manager walking. There are few options available to arrest the club's decline at such short notice, those managers that are available ALL want long contracts, but in reality at the end of the day money WILL talk.
How much will relegation cost the club? How much will it cost to payoff the three year managerial contract of a new face in place? Money talks, will Moyes walk? -Ed
"That'll do nicely" was the American Express advertising copy line for decades, Brighton fans will be thinking exactly that as they pontificate their 'easy' demolition of West Ham yesterday, the 4-0 scoreline was flattering to the visiting Irons as ALL the good will of last week's 4-0 victory over Notts Forest evaporated, as the late Tommy Cooper would say "just like that".
In fact last week's rare occurrence merely masked the fact that West Ham are a club in crisis and only the most Claret & Blue of glass wearers would admit to anything to the contrary. In the past the accusations of a lack of investment have been blatantly true, however the current squad is far from inferior, it is just that their manager has 'lost the plot' AND very obviously the dressing room as well!
Buy a £35 Million striker and refuse to play him because he has a niggle! Well a niggle is travelling to Brighton to see your team capitulate to a team that was bereft of their manager who had guided them to continuous Premier safety and was replaced by someone that everyone thought would fail! Once upon a time players like Alvin Martin would be given a massive cortisone jab ahead of games and told to get on with it, Gianluca Scamacca is a big lad, standing at around 6'5" do you think that he doesn't want to be playing?
There is loyalty and then there is blind faith, the Hammers board have shown SO MUCH loyalty to David Moyes that they are now blinded by their own faith in a manager who is no longer fit for purpose, unfortunately as the reality of their constant support hits home they are left in an almost impossible 'rock and a hard place' situation, who on earth who is worth their salt would want to take on a club in crisis like West Ham?
Michael Carrick is the latest 'contnedr' to take over, but why would he want to leave a promotion chasing Boro who are on the up for a disparate and desperate team on the way down? In fact even Alan Curbishley (remember him?) and the like would give the manager's position a wide berth at the moment!
At some point in time the penny WILL drop, it is only to be hoped that the club can somehow survive in the Premier League before a complete and total change of the management. In the short term the club should move heaven and earth in order to get Alan Irvine back to the club, since he left results have fallen off the cliff, the poor form since his departure was compounded by Stuart Pearce leaving the fold. Since the two of them left, the results have been nothing less than catastrophic with the poor form being glossed over by a modicum of European success achieved against the continent's lower ranking teams.
"Pull the plug, get rid of the Zombie and think of England" might be the best message to the board, otherwise the AA map of England is going to be a point of reference for away fans as they prepare to visit the likes of Rotherham and Preston next season. - Ed
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