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West Ham went in to the fourth round of the 'Moose' Cup knowing that progression would be against one of several top clubs, consequently when they went 1-0 down against Everton the writing seemed to be on the wall, after all, apart from the Kudos, the EFL Cup or whatever you wish to name it has become increasingly worthless.

Everton: Pickford, Kenny, Keane, Digne, Nkounkou, Allan, Delph, Sigurdsson (c), James, Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin Subs: Lossl (GK), Coleman, Mina, Davies, Doucoure, Bernard, Iwobi
West Ham: Randolph, Johnson, Rice, Balbuena, Cresswell, Noble (c) , Snodgrass, Yarmolenko, Lanzini, Felipe Anderson, Haller Subs: Trott (GK), Ashby, Masuaku, Ogbonna, Soucek, Fornals, Bowen

As the transfer window is about to close, fans from all top flight clubs but particularly those of West Ham United, are constantly scanning sports news media to see what progress, if any, is being made in bringing in reinforcements. Having missed out on some 'real' bargains from the lower leagues, the Irons seem to be concentrating on players available from the European leagues instead of the domestic one, but why?

We at the Org never claim to know all the correct current legislation, FIFA, The FA and the Barclays Premier League rule changes are like shifting sands, recent controversies over the 'ludicrous' hand ball rules hoicked on teams are a classic example. However one 'law' that has existed, but has been constantly flouted, is the 'Tapping Up' ruling, generally the larger and better financed 'elite' clubs have managed to get away with 'cheating' for years.

Doom and gloom prevailed at the London Stadium ahead of what was supposed to be a mauling of the Irons by the Nuno Spririto's predatorial Wolves, having just acquired even more expensive 'Portugeezers', the midlands outfit were here to compound what had been an entirely miserable week off the field for West Ham.

West Ham: Fabianski, Fredericks, Balbuena, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Masuaku, Bowen, Soucek, Rice, Fornals, Antonio. Subs: Randolph, Yarmolenko, Anderson, Lanzini, Noble, Haller, Johnson.
Wolves: Patricio, Troare, Boly, Coady, Semedo, Saiss, Moutinho, Neves, Neto, Vinagre, Jimenez. Subs: Ruddy, Hoever, Silva, Vitinha, Dendoncker, Shabani, Kilman.

Talk about click bait, those bastions of honesty the Daily Star are doing their upmost to usurp that other 'source of truth' (sic) The Sun with their "Declan Rice has already agreed personal terms of a five year deal with Chelsea" report. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story was the old lower end of Fleet Street modus operandi, one that was always particularly exploited by the previously mentioned 'publications' if that's what you want to call them, in addition to their equally vile Sunday counterparts.

Hammers' on off pursuit of James Tarkowski from Burnley now looks dead and buried, Burnley won't budge off their upper level £50 Million asking price and West Ham, quite rightly are unwilling, but are also unable, to match such a 'premium' valuation. While Tarkowski is indeed a top player Burnley's valuation is a bit top heavy, particularly in light of the current financial restrictions that have resulted owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, and there are other players available, so perhaps it was time to walk away.

Using the word 'positive' to describe someone who has just been confirmed as having a serious viral illness is a bit of a contradiction, there is nothing positive emerging from the London Stadium except for a pretty fine Carabao Cup performance against Hull City. Of course the backdrop to the convincing 5-1 victory was the sudden withdrawal of Issa Diop and Josh Cullen from the published starting line up, in addition manager David Moyes was forced to leave the Stadium as quickly as possible as were the players.

West Ham: Darren Randolph, Ben Johnson, Issa Diop, Fabian Balbuena, Josh Cullen, Ajibola Alese, Robert Snodgrass, Manuel Lanzini, Felipe Anderson, Andryi Yarmolenko, Sebastien Haller Subs: Nathan Trott, Harrison Ashby , Emmanuel Longelo, Conor Coventry, Xande Silva, Jarrod Bowen.
Hull: Long; Coyle, A Jones, McLoughlin, Fleming; Smallwod, C Jones, Batty; Mayer, Magennis, Scott. Subs: Ingram, Burke, Honeyman, Wilks, Lewis Potter, Emmanuel, Samuelsen