After what can only be described as a dire first part of the season for West Ham United, I fully expect, if he is still in the managerial hotseat, that Sam Allardyce will be a busy man in the January transfer window.
However, it won’t just be a case of signing the striker that we so desperately need, players will have to leave the club, something that Allardyce has recently hinted at in his ‘Fans Forum’ the other night.
I expect that two out of Modibo Maiga, Carlton Cole and Mladen Petric will be departing. I think Maiga will be the main one that the club want to dispose of, and with interest from the Ligue 1, selling the Malian hitman will free up some much valued wages in our budget. Cole and Petric are not commanding high wages, but Petric has been injured since he pretty much joined us, so I can see Allardyce retaining Cole as maybe a third (or even fourth choice) striker, depending on how successful we are in the window.
Other fringe players are likely to be moved on, either permanently, or on loan – Matt Taylor has hardly featured at all, Jack Collison is another who has been in and out of the side, and finally, a big call, is whether Joe Cole is contributing enough to earn his £40,000 a week? Joe Cole for me has not lived up to performance he gave in his second debut for the club against Manchester United last season.
Other players who need to be looking over their shoulders until the end of the season are Matt Jarvis and James Collins, and following his poor form this season for West Ham, would it be such a bad thing if we cashed in on an uninterested Mohamed Diame. I am just speculating, I would certainly prefer that Jarvis and Diame lived up to their reputations, but Diame does look like he has things on his mind, and I wonder if his head is being turned by the interest being shown by Liverpool.
With Andy Carroll, Winston Reid, Stewart Downing, Alou Diarra and Ricardo Vaz Te all injured, the squad is looking bare, so it’s going to be a difficult balancing act in letting players go with so many long-term injuries. I just hope that if Big Sam is allowed to keep his job, he picks the right players to galvanize a team that are looking to be in difficulty right now.
COME ON YOU IRONS!!
By ChelmoHammer
All sounds about right mate! Mogadon has got too go! Calton was never good enough in the prem and should never have been brought back, especially as he wasn’t fit enough to hit the ground running on his return! As for petric! Who knows? Never been fit enough to judge. As for the fringe players? Well the only thing keeping some of them at the club was the fact the squad was as short on numbers as it was quality and that we couldn’t afford to let them go. I also agree Jarvis should be looking over his shoulder! His positional sense is as poor as it was last season and his confidence is as low as his goal tally! Not to mention we paid far too much for him. As for ginge well we will just have to hope his dip in form is just down to a lack of confidence and overlook his distribution until or if, we can sign a defender in the window.( samba or konke on loan would certainly help). To help with the “fair play” rules I would even consider tearing up a few contracts of some of the dead wood just too free up funds! With the added pressure of the Olympic stadium these are desperate times! But we have to keep the faith! COYI!
It’s fine to say that players could move on but with all the injuries if you get rid of the one’s that aren’t injured that we won’t have squad at all!
So the only way some will be moved on is if there is a loan replacement….basically one in one out…cannot see who is going to want to come in really…they need to really pull some strings to get a striker who will stay fit and score…sounds easy…but this is West Ham we’re talking about!
You may want to try watching a match occasionally. The only players that looked interested at all against Sunderland were Collins and Diame? And Noble of course but he always puts in a shift. We’re not going to sell Collins with Reid out and where’s the DMF cover for Diame? Can’t Control’s contract is up in Jan and I can realistically see Maiga being the one striker that stays. Personally I don’t think we need anything other than strikers…..and everyone fit… and officials that aren’t sh@t…. and a miracle…..
We’d be good for another 15 goals a season if someone would teach Diame how to shoot!
I mean, he can hit it!…. But he’s like Johnny Wilkinson…
Hey, 8 clean sheets out of 16 Premier League games this season (9 including League Cup at Burnley) ain’t bad at all. There aren’t many teams who have kept that many, so I think some credit needs to be given to Sam & the team in the face of a lack in strike force, that is an incredible job, as it is a lot easier to keep a clean sheet when you’ve already got 1 or 2 on the board, but to keep so many cleans sheets with sometimes none on the board, then full credit needs to be given to the grit of this defence, and when our Maori Warrior comes back, namely Winston Reid, we’ll be unpenetratable again. We beat Spurs 3-0 at the lane at the last game. Let’s do this again tonight lads, and if Newcastle can win at Old Trafford, then so can we, and as for Arsenal on boxing day, well that’s just another London Derby that we relish, c’mon lads, give em heaps!
But look at the stats JB – we cant keep posession even at home!!! And even the most rose-tinted amongst would be able to see that JJ has saved our bacon on numerous occasions this season. We arent keeping clean sheets because we are good, its because we have a really great keeper. We will never score enough goals to keep us up if we dont create more chances AND take them. Nolan would seem to be going through one of those spells where he couldnt hit a barn door with a Banjo and we r regularly playing without a striker – I dont count MM or CC – I would honestly score more than both of them – a plank of wood planted in opposition penalty box would!
For all of Big Sam’s much vaunted record of getting fine wine out of vinegar (Okocha, Anelka, Djorkaeff, Campo etc) at Bolton, we have seen nothing of the sort here. All we’ve seen is old nags that can’t stay fit – not even once famous ones either. Other than Diame, who we all agree now seems more interested in staying injury free than playing/winning, what other success has BS had in transfers? None! The money lavished on AC and SD at his insistence and against all common sense in the case of Downing (when that money should have been used to pull out all the stops on getting a striker even if we paid a £6m loan fee) was just an indication of how delusional he is about how good he is. I’m almost tempted to say leave him in charge as his ego will then have to take a knock when he relgates us, which im almost certain he will. However, as weve come to expect – it will all be someone elses fault as far as he’s concerned!
Out-‘everything’d’ AT HOME by the bottom team in the league – a point was way more than we deserved. I remember the last time we started a season with 3 strikers – we were relegated.
By the way, my opinion of SD is improving – he has been one of our better performers over the last few games. My worry is what that indicates about the rest of the team. time for the kids…..
People are going on about how we couldn’t beat the bottom team. Well this is mainly Martin O’Niell’s Sunderland team you are talking about here, and their current bottom place is a false position, as last night’s win over Chelsea in the League Cup proved. Hey WH got a point from a damned fine side. A team which includes the likes of John O”Shea & Stephen Fletcher are no mugs. I think it is only Everton who have as many clean sheets as WH. It seems to me, that the owners wanted to make 1 real class signing of a striker, and at a club record of 15 million, they did & 1 class striker was all they could afford. I genuinly think that the owners & Sam thought they were doing the best they could for WH in signing Andy. AC has had a wretched period of luck with injuries and when he is fit he is unstoppable. Defenses had a hell of a time last season trying to keep AC out. That goal he scored against Swansea in a 1-0 at Upton park last season. Have a look at it again if you can access the footage. The ball was about 10 feet in the air when the cross came over. Not only did AC jump almost 4 feet into the air to meet this ball with his head. No, he jumped high enough to get over the top of the ball & head it down!!, and direct it right down into the bottom right hand corner of the goal. Simply unstoppable, and there was also a period last season, when Andy was trying to get of the mark with his 1st goal, that some of WH’s fans were giving him real stick & writing him off, but when he started scoring, oh no, he’s everyone’s hero. People also seem to forget, that West Ham had a wretched start to this season’s campaign with some really bad match officials decisions. There was the decision for the free kick aginst Stoke that cost us 2 points stolen. The Brady penalty at Hull that was a dive & then in the same match the Hull hand ball with no penalty given, that was 3 points stolen, & then the brilliant Mark Noble tackle against Everton, when Mark won the ball, but not only was a free kick wrongfully awarded, but Mark was sent off when we were 2-1 up & heading to victory untill Leighton Baines scored from the wrong decisions & another 3 points lost. If you add those 8 points to the 14 we have, we’d be in the upper half of the table, and as I say, only Everton have as many, in 8 clean sheets that WH have. I don’t think many people need getting rid off. We do need back up for AC in the strike dept, and maybe James Collins is over the hill, but don’t write him off just yet? The key to West ham turning things around lies with 2 players returning, and those 2 players are Winston Reid & Andy Carroll. When those 2 return & things click back into place, then all of this adversity will become a distant memory. You wait and see. We will be back!!!
I would give Collins a rest and bring Chambers into the side. I would also play Lee up front with C Cole until AC returns. 4-4-2 is what we need to get back to.
the whole squad should stay -loyal till the end of the season , as slaven bilic did years ago. still heart -renching when he left, but showed admirable loyalty to stay till the end of the season and keep west ham up.
We need 2 Forwards one who is a natural goal scorer and one who can lead the line. We also need a creative central midfield player who can see the pass and thus create chances and then a central defender . What will we get ? God only knows but whatever it is we need it early /ist week of Jan then first game in Jan we have hopefully Carroll, Reid, a rejuvinated Nolan plus the new guy/guys raring to go. We must not wait till the last day of the window.
Rather than get rid of a whole team as they aren’t playing well and lacking any confidence. How about getting rid of a deluded dinosaur arrogant pig headed manager who seems to have a limited idea of tactics and players positions, who would rather go with experience and not give the odd academy player a chance. All the team can’t become bad players over half a season, but i have never had faith in big Sam.
There are a few players who should have gone last season, let alone in January, Taylor for starters. Quite a few have not performed, I sat there last season while many moaned about Gary O’Neil, however he’s gone on to play nearly every game for QPR, with a good Passing and shot ratio, more than Kevin Nolan !!! Elliot Lee should be given a start before January, Petric should be got rid of, what a waste
O’Neil has found his level but even h when or if promoted wouldn’t have him in the premier bav. Think your find even I would have a better shot and passing ratio than Nolan son.
realist seems to have summed that up very nicely my son. Definetly pay Taylor to depart if nobody wants him and petric Cole and maiga would give Joe a bit more time playing but as downing is playing well maybe Jarvis can go as we don’t need two crossers of the ball pinging in to nobody do we Sam! Most of all Sam out asp and the board to sell up asp before they ruin our club.
Interesting that a lot of these players played vital roles in tonight’s win, certainly throws a spanner in the works!!
As for Sam, he made mistakes in the summer, but anyone who gets us promoted and a 10th place finish deserves the January window to put things right in my opinion!!
How good was Maiga tonight !!!!!!! Did you notice that he actually had supporting players running on to the flick ons. The guy won every single header tonight. Fair play. He has taken some mighty flack but its hats off son tonight. Great effort.
You’re clueless. Diame has been one of our best players. Pull your head out.
There is no mid season rest break. Is this how bad Sam is managing West Ham? that because of our cup successes, we are now to average playing a game around every 3 days or so until February. We played Sunderland on Saturday 14th Dec, then 4 days after that it was Spurs in the League Cup, then 3 days after that it’s Man Utd at Old Trafford. 5 days after that at home to Arsenal on Boxing Day, then 2 days after that at home to West Brom. Then 3 days after that we are at Craven Cottage on New Year’s day, then an FA Cup tie 4 days after that at Nottingham Forest, then 2 days after that a League Cup semi final 1st leg at Manchester City, then 4 days after that a game at Cardiff, THEN, MAYBE A 1 WEEK REST until the following Saturday 18th Jan at home to Newcastle, then 3 days after that it is the 2nd leg of our League Cup tie at home to Manchester City, then 4 days after that we could be in an FA Cup 4th round tie on Sat 26th Jan, then 4 days after that we are at Chelsea in the Premier League on 29th Jan, then 3 days after that we are at home to Swansea. Then & only then, after the Swansea game on 1st Feb, will we have a game every week from then on, but this is only if we get knocked out of both the League & FA Cups. &/or we could be at Wembley in the League Cup final at the end of Feb, and maybe the FA Cup 5th Round? But as of after 1st of Feb & except for maybe 1 week between 11th to 18th Jan, 1st Feb is the earliest we can hope for returning to just 1 game per week. What break? We don’t need breaks. We just need to be united in our support for Sam & the team, roll our sleeves up “AND FIGHT LIKE HELL TO SURVIVE!!! And don’t know about you but it sure was nice for a change to be screaming and cheering in celebration at winning our way through into a cup semi final. Well done lads, & well done to Modibo Miaga in finally getting that winning goal & breaking through the membrane that was holding him back in finally getting on the score sheet again & getting the goal & the glory that got us into the semi final, as I was starting to feel sorry for Modibo, but now I am thrilled for him & the team, in the just rewards and recognition that he has been working his guts out for, and yes, thanks for the assist Diame, Jarvis, James Collins, everyone in working their guts out in a great gutsy performance, and it’s pretty good managing for Sam to work around a possession rate of only 32% in last nights win. At the start, Spurs were all over us, but we contained them and broke them down. That’s flipping phenomenal coaching. Thank you team & thank you to Big Sam!
Chemo, I read this thinking there maybe something interesting in it and I find out I’m reading something from someone who clearly has not watched any westham game this year. Diame has been excellent. Sam has played him out of position most of the year but he has got on with it. When he has played down the middle he has been superb. Go support someone else.
Its a good job the game is full of opinions then isn’t it. If you don’t like the articles, then maybe don’t bother reading them. If you notice, some people agree, some people don’t. If you grow up a little and realise that not everyone is going to agree with you, we will get on just fine……
Diame excellent??????????????? Head down, running into trouble, dribbling too much and knackered at 70 minutes every game. Someone isn’t paying attention…………….
Since West Ham played Sunderland on Saturday until we play Cardiff on 11th January, West Ham will have played 9 games in 27 days, so I’d say no Hammers will be heading for the exit door. We’ll need every one of them, and don’t forget, that Man Utd also had a really hard game on the same Wednesday night, so don’t write us off for the game at Old Trafford tomorow. Moyes plays a tight lean squad & he played his main squad on Wednesday night, so them, like us will be feeling the effects of that and anything could happen tomorow. The logic in my head tells me it’s Man Utd tomorow & anyone betting would have their money on them, but my heart says we might just do it. Hang in there? and good luck to Sam & the team.