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West Ham United v Karlsruher SC Pre-season match, Saturday 23 July 2016, 5pm CEST (4pm BST) at the Franz-Fekete-Stadion, This is Hammers final warm up game ahead of this coming thursday's Europa League cup opener away to NK Domzale, Slaven Billic will be hoping to 'ease' players like Winston Reid and Andy Carroll in to a competitive environment gradually during this afternoon's match, he will of course be hoping his players avoid injury but they cannot be wrapped in cotton wool forever!

The appointment of Sam Allardyce as the new England manager is a little like fiction becoming life in a Mike Bassett sort of way, the FA have not countenanced messing with appointing a 'johnny foreigner; in the fall out of Roy Hodgson's disastrous competitive competition results, but have gone full belt and braces and might even play 4-4 effing 2!

Wednesday 20 July...London...14:18
The air foul and dank. The musky weave of scratching intermingled with stale gravy overpowering. The glooping odour of sweat deeply set in crevices long since washed. Body hair matted to skin in oily resin long since recognisable. The oversized mouth hung open, helpless, hopeless. The eyes gave a flicker but only the most positive of optimists would argue there was someone at home. The red and “white” scarf clinging to the flaps of skin around his neck was wet with the bile of anger and froth from the brown ale.

Having seen West Ham achieve two draws and two defeats so far in their friendlies, fans might be a little perplexed with the results, but the whole point of playing friendly matches is to prepare the team for the forthcoming 'serious and meaningful' fixtures ahead. As all the Austrian tour fixtures are being televised, it is safe to assume that those assistants who work for Conte of Chelsea, Hammers first opponents in the Barclays Premier League, and Guardiola at Manchester City Hammers third opponents, will have compiled DVD footage of what has been on show .

On the face of it being 2-0 down at half time is obviously not the desired score line , but the generally extremely young West Ham side put out against proper opposition in the form of Rubin Kazan performed admirably, and consideration has to be given to what Slaven Billic wants as an outcome of the Austrian based three pre-season friendlies. There are already some massive positives, none more so than Fenghouli, this guy is going to tear up defenders in the Prem and scare the living daylights out of them with his speed and determination.

Despite all the doom sayers (including us!) Andy Carroll is due to have a half hour run out in the third match of Hammers Austrian tour, it comes too early for him to feature against Rubin Kazan in the second of the pre-season friendlies, but louche rumours of a 'feeling' in his groin seem to have been 'erected' by the press and cognoscenti , and appear generally unfounded as the big geordie looks to begin a season for the first time in his adult career with the potential to start without an injury! Yes, the first time!

A spirited and rewarding Hammers performance for the first 85 minutes which saw them lead 2-0 courtesey of a goal by Mark Noble in the first half wonderfully set up by Martin Samuelsen, and a super header by ex-Manchester United starlet Ashley Fletcher in the second. Unfortunately two goals were conceded in the last minutes by Rafael Spiegel who had only come on to replace Randolph in the last twenty minutes, it wasn't entirely his fault, especially for the first goal, but it spoilt what had been an impressive display.

The Stadion Rohrbach is the venue for the first of West Ham United's Austrian Tour, Tore is penciled in for an appearance as well as many of the other new arrivals, expect a raft of changes throughout the match which will be played in sweltering conditions. -Ed
West Ham : Randolph, Burke, Byram, Rice, Page, Noble( c ), Feghouli, Cullen, Obiang, Samuelsen, Valencia.
Subs: Adrian, Spiegel, Reid, Creswell, Kayoute, Carroll, Antonio, Nordvelt, Tore, Makasi, Fletcher, Browne, Quina, Martinez.

The list of strikers that West Ham United have been linked with seems to grow daily, and the list of rejections by players targeted is equally as long! Bacca, Batshuayi, Benteke, Lacazette and any number of other high profile players have all refused to sign up to Slaven Billic's vision, which leaves the club in an award position.

The exploits of Leicester and Tottenham last season will have been a great source of inspiration for all other Premier League clubs. The promised land of the Champions League was starting to feel like a four or five horse race every season, with the biggest and richest battling it out at the top and leaving the rest to fight amongst themselves. But last season proved that money can only get you so far and you need to build a motivated, hardworking team, full of drive and passion.