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Hammers get big early boost for Newcastle clash

Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on September 30, 2023 in News, Whispers

Newcastle suffered a big blow ahead of their weekend game against the Hammers during the 2-0 defeat of Burnley this afternoon.

The Hammers have received a boost knowing that Harvey Barnes is injured and unavailable for the match which may bring a smile to Vladi Coufal’s face.

But his replacement today Anthony Gordon who was part of the team which tore Sheffield United apart last weekend is now set to miss the game at the London Stadium according to .https://www.geordiebootboys.com/

The left winger showed silly petulance during the game at Burney when deciding to kick the ball away which earned him a suspension as a result.

It’s good news for the Irons who have a fully fit squad although they have their next Europa Cup game on Thursday evening away at Freiburg.

Newcastle United v Manchester City - Carabao Cup Third Round
Photo by Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images

However, Eddie Howe has Alexnader Isak and Joelinton capable of playing in that role although Gordon is considered to be a standout performer for the Toon.

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Benrahma accused by top former Hammer

Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on September 30, 2023 in News, Whispers

Said Benrahma has plenty of critics at the moment and given his form is unlikely to command a starting X1 place anytime soon.

Today he arrived as a second half sub and put on the sort of display which has one wondering how he was ever seen as our one time most creative player.

And when  criticism comes from a former Iron who was a top defender with the club for ten years and made 300 appearances before moving on to Blackburn Rovers and Crystal Palace,  you have to believe that something is well and truly up in his game.

His performance today really was nothing to shout home about just as his display in the Carabao Cup at Lincoln City on Wednesday left much to be desired.

And this afternoon, commenting on him during the game against Sheffield United at the London Stadium, Gale ripped into him accusing him of bringing nothing to the party.

He said: “He’s very frustrating, Benrahma, he gets the ball in wide positions but very rarely does anything with it. It’s too easy (for defenders) he’s got to do more.”

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Moyes praise for ‘special player’

Posted by Gonzo on September 30, 2023 in News, Whispers

Moyes praise for ‘special player’

Hammers manager, David Moyes, has heaped praise on ‘special player’ Jarrod Bowen for another outstanding performance. The £20 million acquisition from Hull City has truly made his mark this season, consistently displaying top-notch performances and finding the back of the net once again at today. Moyes is eager for Bowen to ink a new contract, securing his commitment to the Hammers for the foreseeable future.

Bowen scored a fine header for Hammers equaliser

Moyes praise for ‘special player’ Jarrod Bowen

Bowen opened the scoring at the London Stadium, marking his fifth Premier League goal of the campaign. Tomas Soucek later followed suit with another goal, contributing to West Ham’s comfortable 2-0 victory. This particular match was a significant milestone for Moyes, being his 900th league game in management. The Irons gaffer didn’t shy away from commending Bowen’s remarkable performance, emphasizing that the player is currently at the peak of his abilities.

High praise from Moyes

“He’s as good as he’s ever been at the moment, he really is. He’s sharp, he’s quick, he’s a threat. It was a lovely finish today but more importantly, his all-round game has got much better,” Moyes told reporters.

Moyes elaborated on the team’s ambitions, highlighting their recent successes in various competitions. “We’re off to a good start in the Europa League, we’ve got through in the League Cup and we’ve had a pretty good start in the league – we’ve seen the results today, you take your points whenever you can.”

While setting specific targets may not be their primary focus, Moyes made it clear that West Ham’s aim is to remain competitive against top teams in the league. “I don’t think we are setting targets, but the idea is to stay up and around the big boys, to keep competing and challenging them, which I think we have done – we’ve given Liverpool and Manchester City good games.”

Whilst both of those defeats stick in the throat, it’s hard to argue that we were in the game against the two clubs.

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Bowen aims for Hammers double

Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on September 30, 2023 in News, Whispers

Jarrod Bowen

Jarrod Bowen is on fire scoring another fine goal today as his net net finding spree shows no sign of ending.

Five goals already this season and few better than the one he passed into the net following a fine passing move and cross from Vladi Coufal.

I had taken a time to break the Blades down but few would have not bet on Jarrrod being the man to do it and so he did in real style as usual.

He was beaming after his latest goal and with the way things are going could easily find himself away with the Three Lions during next month’s international break.

The goal today was his first at the London Stadium after his way efforts at  AFC Bournemouth, Brighton & Hove Albion, Luton Town and Liverpool – matching a Club record set by Vic Watson over 90 years ago!

And afterwards he discussed the goal and the game saying: “It was a nice goal and a nice bit of build-up!

“I think we had an idea we might have a bit of the ball, but it was about not keeping the ball for the sake of it, as there had to be a purpose at the end of it, and when it was time to turn it on it was intricate one-touch and a really good goal from everyone involved.”

 “We’ve got two more games before the international break, both at home, and we want maximum points from both, so today was a great start for that.

“It was massive to get back to winning ways. Today was about winning the game and doing a professional job and if we want to be competing in the top six at the top end of the table, which is the aspiration for this Club, then we have to win this game.

“It’s onto our European game on Thursday, then Newcastle next Sunday when it’s another opportunity to get points on the board going into the internationals.

“Maybe we could have scored a third goal to really put the game to bed, but we had to defend and we did that and came away with two goals and a clean sheet.

“It was always going to be a difficult game. I think some people thought it might be a bit of a cruise, but when you lose like they did last week there was always going to be a reaction from them and this is the Premier League so nothing is easy.

“It was about us getting that first goal, which we did, then we got the second and that was all we needed to get the win and the three points and I don’t think anyone is going to complain about that.”

 

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Moyes delivers his verdict

Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on September 30, 2023 in News, Whispers

David Moyes delivered his verdict on the Hammers win soon after the match at the post-match presser and declared himself happy with the result.

Many of us were hoping for more goals in a match which before and during the 90 minutes looked there for the taking.

Not Moyes. He sees no easy games in the Premier League and he believes anybody, whoever they are and support, will see the result as a top one for the Hammers.

He admitted that some people would have been expecting more but that as a manager he has found any game easy.

And he made a very good point in claiming that a look at today’s result demonstrates there are no guarantees describing the League as strange and saying that we did a really good job to get a good victory.

He declared himself pleased with the way we had started the game and said we could have been four or five up at half time.

He added: We missed a couple of chances and we had a couple of corners of which we looked we looked very close to getting on the end of.

There were things we liked in the first half with the chances we made, but in the second half we looked as if we just ran out of energy.

Maybe the midweek League Cup game took its toll, not just generally on all the players, but particularly on some of them.

Sheffield United

I get told by the press men that we haven’t had a clean sheet yet, so it was a positive that we got one today and got the three points.

If we’d won 1-0 I’d have been thrilled, so let’s not get carried away like everyone else is trying to do and saying we should be winning these games as lot more easily.”

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Hammers match verdict after three more points

Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on September 30, 2023 in News, Whispers

By Hughie Southon

Make no mistake Tomas Soucek is well and truly back!

He scored his third goal of the season and was probably just about man of the match this afternoon looking incredibly motivated back in the role which is clearly his favourite.

Good to Aguerd back on the case

Too often he was asked to act as a purely defensive midfielder last season as the tactic appeared to be in allowing Declan to get forward.

It didn’t work and as Gonzo commented in his player ratings it was impossible to put a number on the times Tom popped up in the opposition box today . Great stuff.

It was also encouraging to see Aguerd looking business after the criticism he has received over recent days whilst I was also impressed with Bowen, Emerson and Alvarez although Paqueta may not have been at his best.

Kudus looked good at times in his short spell on the pitch but his time is clearly to come.

With sharper finishing we should have put this game to bed a lot earlier and although Antonio missed chances he set u the Soucek goal with a decent assist.

Given the tough fixtures we have faced one would have hoped to see our goal difference get a boost today against a Sheffield United team which should have been made to suffer.

Never mind three more points.

COYI

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Shocks galore at the top

Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on September 30, 2023 in News, Whispers

There were some incredible shocks at the top of the Premier League today with Manchester City being beaten at 2-1 at Wolves and Brighton having six hammered past them by Aston Villa in the midlands.

Elsewhere,  Manchester United’s problems continued with Roy Hodgson’s Palace beating them 1-0 at Old Trafford.

It all left the Hammers sitting in seventh place on 13 points but the 2-0 win over Sheffield United saw our goal difference deteriorate in relation to Villa and Arsenal who scored a 4-0 win at Bournemouth.

That saw the Gooners go into second place ahead of the game at Tottenham where Liverpool are this evening’s visitors.

Brighton meanwhile slipped from third to fifth place as a result of their hammering at Villa Park whilst Newcastle’s 2-0 win over Burnley left the Geordies one point behind the Hammers.

That’s a position we can take advantage of next week when Eddie Howe’s men arrive at the London Stadium

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West Ham 2 Sheffield United 0: Player ratings

Posted by Gonzo on September 30, 2023 in News, Whispers

West Ham 2 Sheffield United 0

Areola:6 Untested for the first half, then called into action to deal with a close range header.

Coufal:7 Notched another assist with a good ball to Jarrod Bowen. Enjoyed his battle with Archer and attacked frequently.

Zouma:6 Immediately up to the pace of the game with a couple of good blocks. Not an awful lot to do really.

Aguerd:7 Great block in the 11th min to rescue Zouma. Had a goal-bound header cleared off the line.

Emerson:8 Links so well with Paqueta. Intercepted well for West Ham’s second. Excellent defending to deny McBurnie.

West Ham 2 Sheffield United 0

Alvarez:7 Involved in the build-up for the opener. Always committed to the cause. Collected another yellow and had to be careful.

Soucek:8 Hoisted the ball high and over the bar from 8 yards following good work on the wing by Bowen. Pivotal role in the opener. Great feet to score West Ham’s second. I honestly lost count how frequently he popped up in the oppositions box.

Ward Prowse:7 Incredibly sharp during open play and as usual his set-pieces were on the money.

Paqueta:6 Started on the left but given licence to roam and cause havoc. Glimpses of quality.

Bowen:8 Excellent header from a JWP corner forced an excellent save from the Blades keeper. Scored on the 25th min following great build-up involving Coufal & Soucek. Back to his best form.

Antonio:7 Set up Soucek for a good chance with a cross early on. Could have done better following a set-up by Paqueta. Linked beautifully with Soucek for the Hammers second. Got the ball caught under his feet following good work from Bowen.

Kudus: 71st min sub for Antonio. Mazy run as he danced through the opposition. Incredibly quick feet.

Benrahma:5 Swapped for Alvarez. Looked okay but struggled to create anything.

Mavropanos: 93rd min double sub for Bowen.

Fornals: Came on for Paqueta.

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Comfortable win for Irons via Bowen and Soucek

Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on September 30, 2023 in News, Whispers

Dominant West Ham grabbed their first win in three Premier Leaguer games via goals from Jarrod Bowen and Tomas Soucek.

But it was a mildly disappointing display against a poor bottom of the table Sheffield United which leaves us in seventh place in the League.

The Hammers were on top throughout and could have gone ahead early on when Soucek fired over the top before a Bowen shot was saved on the goal line and Aguerd’s shot on the rebound got the same treatment.

Jarrod Bowen 

Paqueta had earlier tried his luck but saw a close range shot go wide before a James Ward-Prowse free kick from the edge of the area, after a foul on Bowen. was easily saved.

A goal was always though on the cards and it came when after a great passing move the ball  found its way to Coufal who pulled it back and, as ever, Bowen was there and passed a brilliant shot into the far corner of the net.

Antonio looked to be on the case soon after but fired wide at the end of a solo run but he provided a fine 38th minute assist for Soucek whose left footed shot comfortably found the back of the net.

The second period saw the Blades more proactive but the better chances continued to fall to the hammers and better finishing from Antonio in particular would have seen us come out with a very comfortable result.

Hiwever, the best of the secind half chances came near the end when Paqueta and Bowen both missed out from a great James Ward-Prowse ball in.

 

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Moyes names team for Blades clash

Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on September 30, 2023 in News, Whispers

David Moyes has selected the same starting XI fopr the match against Sheffield United as was beaten at Liverpool last weekend.

A win would see him make his record against the Blades eight from eight with the Hammers looking for their tenth consecutive win against the bottom of the Premier League table.

Tomáš Souček is the one player to retain his place from the Carabao Cup outing against Lincoln City.

Jarrod Bowen will be seeking  his fifth Premier League goal of the season and first on home soil.

Sheff U

Alphonse Areola continues in goal in the Premier League and is seeking his first clean sheet of the season.

Vladimír Coufal is at right-back, with Kurt Zouma skippering the side at centre-back alongside Nayef Aguerd, with Emerson at left-back.

Czech Souček starts in a midfield alongside Edson Álvarez and Brazil star Lucas Paquetá with James Ward-Prowse also  in the middle of the park having scored score twice and assisted five goals in his first six games.

Bowen will support Michail Antonio in attack, with the Jamaica international targeting a sixth career goal against the Reds.

Mohammed Kudus, Pablo Fornals, Maxwel Cornet, Danny Ings and Saïd Benrahma are among those on the bench.

 

West Ham United: Areola, Coufal, Zouma ©, Aguerd, Emerson, Álvarez, Souček, Ward-Prowse, Paquetá, Bowen, Antonio
Subs: Fabiański (GK), Kehrer, Mavropanos, Ogbonna, Fornals, Kudus, Cornet, Benrahma, Ings

 

Sheffield United: Foderingham, Bogle, Egan ©, Ahmedhodžić, Robinson, Thomas, Souza, McAtee, Hamer, Archer, McBurnie
Subs: A.Davies (GK), Larouci, Trusty, Basham, Norwood, T.Davies, Ben Slimane, Traoré, Brewster

 

Referee: Graham Scott

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