Sub plots within the main event are always engrossing and there’s one at the Stadium of Light tomorrow which looks fascinating from a Hammers point of view.
It involves Connor Wickham and Diafra Sakho.
Like everybody else I can’t wait to see the Irons eight goal striker team up with Andy Carroll – half of whose family are Sunderland fans by the way. I can’t believe we won’t line up with those two up front.
The Wickham interest from Sam Allardyce has been well recorded and at one stage it seems we were ready to off £6 million for the former Ipswich striker.
Sunderland, however, weren’t apparently ready to sell at £8m or even £10m and made it clear he would stay until summer 2015.
As a result we went back in for Sakho and have by common consent made the bargain buy of the season.
Tomorrow they go head to head with Wickham having scored two goals in 15 Premier League appearances and Sakho seven in nine.
The game will give us an opportunity to see what type of attacking approach we might have adopted had the Black Cats had said yes to our offer whilst giving thanks that Sakho was the man we finally signed.
I’m backing the Irons to win this one 1-0 although I think it will be Carroll who scores this time around.
I foresee a very tight game, one that we might be happy to come away from with a point.
I have us winning this 1-2, I still remember us beating them 8-0 with Geoff scoring 6, can’t remember who scored the other 2 though
I’m sorry mate I just don’t see it as an even remotely an interesting sub plot! Events and us as a team especially have moved on so much that Wickham is no more Than a distant memory.
Having said that though the events surrounding Wickham and Sakho must be one of the few times when the transfer gods have actually smiled on us.
How an earth Connor Wickham is ever a West Ham type player let alone worth £6mill is imo simply beyound me!
I believe that for us to even consider paying £6m for such a limited player as Wickham just goes to show what a dark place as a club we were in at the time.
Equally for the mackam’s to turn down this offer and reported subsequent offers of 8 and even £10m (wtf!), show just what a desperate position poyet/Sunderland were in.
Not signing him was imo a great let off and we really dodged a bullit there! I know it has been said that Wickham subsequently went on to score goals that helped keep them up but if he was as half as good as been stated then he would have scored some goals at the start of the season and they wouldn’t have been in such a relegation mess in the first place!
But where the gods really smiled on us was when we were dithering and barking up the wrong transfer tree with Wickham, Sakho was determined to stick to his guns and pursue his dream of playing for WHUFC!
I believe we should therefore be thanking our lucky stars he did and that we have been truely blessed by the footballing gods when he finally signed!
Although I can have some sympathy for the club not wanting to get its fingers burned again when interested in a French lower league striker after Mogadon! But surely one look at the boy and you can see that Sakho is pure goalscoring class!
Anyway, with carroll and Sakho leading the line and our now impressive striking options will give us that edge in a close hard fought game. Nolan to also start( games like this are tailor made for his fighting attributes!), and I hope that poyet gets some game time on his welcomed return fro loan exile, especially when nolan tires. 2-0 hammers! Carroll/Sakho and or nolan to score the goals to power us to victory! COYI!