Yesterday was a different kind of Saturday. Instead of the normal doom and gloom of watching nothing happen on the pitch, there was a lot of moving and shaking in the transfer market—and in the afternoon, along with the terrifying winds and rains of doom, in swept the shocking news that West Ham have signed not only one, but two players – neither of which is named Carlton Cole.
We have signed Italy internationals Marco Borriello and Antonio Nocerino on loan until the end of the season and no, this isn’t like the Lacina Traore thing—it would appear that this is true and it has actually happened, as the club have tweeted photos of both of the players holding West Ham shirts – and the club’s photo-shopping skills aren’t good enough to fake those (whoever photo-shopped Faubert’s head on to someone else’s body in the 2007-08 team photo, I’m talking to you.)
This could be a great set of signings for the club. Both players come from Serie A clubs, with midfielder Nocerino having joined us from AC Milan, while forward Borriello has joined from AS Roma (and seems to have also played on loan for most of the clubs in Italy at some point.) They have both played in Champions League matches and Borriello has even scored in one. Not too shabby, really.
Of course we won’t be able to see the impact they have until the players take to the pitch, but considering that the first half of the season has been a bit of an anyone-but-Maiga soap opera, the fact that we now have more options regarding player selection (particularly in midfield) can only help the Hammers.
For me, I’m still awaiting a centre back who maybe isn’t Roger Johnson, but I’m as pleased as can be that we’ve managed to convince two decent-sounding players to join our club.
My biggest hopes for these new players come when wondering if history could possibly repeat itself—because for all the comparing we’ve done of this season to previous relegation seasons, the thing that most sticks in my mind is that season we were nearly done for and then we pulled off the outstanding double signing of two foreign internationals – messers Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano—and then managed to stay up.
I mean, yes, they were from a different country, and yes, that did end with court cases, a hefty fine, and a lingering desire to gag whenever I hear Neil Warnock’s name – but the important thing is, we signed them and stayed up.
Let’s hope we’ve not seen the last of an impressive double signing saving the day.
What do you think of our new signings, is this a good bit of business for West Ham? Are you waiting for a catch (there must be one, right?) What do you think our starting line up will look like now?
Let us know below.
That’s rewriting history a bit. We signed Tevez’s and Mas at the beginning of the season and clearly they upset the pecking order at the club and certainly disrupted team morale which many would say was at least partly responsible for the poor first half of the season, certainly nothing gelled. Indeed it never did with Mas and then at the last minute Tevez found his form to make up for the earlier downturn. Even then the points achieved with him playing was over the whole season overall little different to points achieved when he did not. Which is why the later warped Judge perception down to ignorance and Henry Winter’s inspired truth distortion field was such a farce.
depends if the 2 Italians are going to be played, or not!!
if they are going to be used as bum warmers on the bench.
Then no they are not, but to play them and play a different
formation ie 2 strikers, and Nolan being dropped. Goes against
BFS plans. He will only play AC, and wont drop Nolan. So whats the
point!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
An Italian mate of mine who supports AC says we have done well to get these.Both decent players still hoping for places in their countries World Cup squads.Should be an interesting few months at WHUFC.Just hope Avram Allardyce actually plays these two from the off.
Why have these 2 Italian players eventually decided to come here? I reckon there’s more going on here than meets the eye. Not too many players have been keen to come here & play under Sam. Now all of a sudden they have. Di Canio is now re-appearing on the media saying “His destiny is at West Ham” he says “They are my family” Is Sam going to move upstairs & let Di Canio take over? Now that would really be an exciting lead in to the end of the season. I really hope so as I can tell you that images of Paulo sliding along the turf at Sunderland, going off his brain, were broadcast around the world. Di Canio is a world draw card. C’mon Sam, move over, move up & let Paulo in. Let the fireworks begin.
Just my personal opinion strongest 11; with subs in brackets & estimated values in sub brackets. Maybe I am wrong but this squad has to be worth at least 100m
Jääskeläinen[£5m], Reid[£10m], McCartney[£5m], Noble[£5m], (Nolan[£5m]), Morrison[£10m], (Jarvis[£8m]), Diamé[£10m], Carroll[£35m], (C. Cole[£8m]), Downing[£15m]
Subs; Adrián(£5m), Johnson[£3m], Rat[£5m], Collison[£5m], (Taylor[£5m]), (Nocerino[£10m]), (Borriello[£10m]) totals £159m
Preferred Subs; Taylor coming on for Jarvis & switching from wing play to possession midfield play, when Nocerino comes on with Taylor for Nolan – because Taylor played a blinder against Cardiff & can perform when the chips are down. Nocerino coming on for Nolan & Nolan giving the captaincy to Noble & Borriello giving C. Cole a break – because both Nocerino & Borrriello are international players for Italy, so along with Carroll & Carlton Cole WH have 4 recognized international players there. Nominal values in sub brackets speak for the quality of this squad! This squad is not getting relegated. Absolutely no way!
Sam, why not just move upstairs & let Di Canio take over??? Make our blood boil
sorry mate disagree di canio is nowhere near a prem manager yet maybe in 4 years time billic maybe worth a gamble
and where do you get your values from linda aint worth anywhere near 5mill carrol aint worth 35mill specialy as we paid 15m and carlton 8mil are you smoking crack
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, as before Andy went off the boil Kenny Dalglish paid 35 mil, & if you have the talent you never lose it. He’s had a rough spell of injuries. Do you reckon Mata is worth 37.1 mil, coz if he is then AC is worth more than 15, & I said they they were only nominal values, anyone can add whatever price they like. It’s the squad that matters no matter what prices are placed on their heads.
Seriously where are you getting these valuations from ? Jussi stella nolan taylor all worth 5 million…..we couldnt get that for all of them together.
Di canio can never manage west ham he is way to unstable in the head to manage at the top level. Even with 2 seemingly decent italians signing lets not get carried away
DI CANIO IS A NUTTER WOULD NOT WANT HIM AT OUR CLUB…….LOOK BACK AT THE TIME HE WAS WITH US AND SEE HOW MANY TIMES THIS SO CALLED LEGEND TRAVELLED TO AWAY GAMES,,, HE WAS NEARLY ALWAYS ABSENT, UNSTABLE
You need a reality check pal.
Not one of those values is even near close.
Take out Carroll, Read and Ravel and the rest of the squad is worth around £10m in total.
they are some crazy prices there,
Jääskeläinen[£1m], Reid[£10m], McCartney[£1m], Noble[£5m], (Nolan[£1m]),
Morrison[£10m], (Jarvis[£8m]), Diamé[£5m], Carroll[£10m], (C. Cole[£1m]),
Downing[£15m]
Subs; Adrián(£5m), Johnson[£0.5m], Rat[£5m], Collison[£2m], (Taylor[£0.5m]),
(Nocerino[£5m]), (Borriello[£5m]) totals £90m at best
Di Canio is not the answer! Why do so many hammers supporters think he is? Im no great lover of BFS don’t get me wrong but I’d rather have him in charge than our much loved Italian, Di Canio is far from a Premiership Manager yet, (Sunderland a prime example) could you imagine if he was appointed and we were losing every week? The history he has with the club would be massively tarnished, personally i would rather remember him as the great player he was for the club than potentially being a big flop as our manager!!! We are West Ham its in our blood so lets get behind the manager and team and make sure we get out of this mess!!!!! COYI
You’ve been playing too much championship manager it must be that cos if you were over the ground watching the players you wouldnt get anywhere near your outlandish valuations. oh and by the way yr squad doesn’t make sense you have only 8 players in yr first team only one center half no right back an only four midfielders instead of five . Best you go back to yr Xbox.
Guss hiddink we should have replace Sam and keep Adrian Reid tomkins noble Carroll, sell the rest and give guss a good budget to build a team. If that couldn’t happen then the super swed Sven could be a good choice.. He would attract good players and be a top 8 finisher most seasons
MAYBE PEOPLE SHOULD
READ UP ON THESE PLAYERS AS I HAVE AND THEN TRY NOT TO EXPECT TOO MUCH… THE BOARD HAD TO SIGN SOME ONE TO APPEASE THE FANS AND JUST LIKE JANUARY SALES YOU GET THE UNWANTED STUFF… JUST MY OPINION, BUT IF YOU PUT INTO GOOGLE THEIR NAMES YOU MAY FIND WHAT I DID AND NONE OF IT WAS GOOD
Hi Anne, go on then, please put me out of my misery! Thought the midfielder might be worth keeping my fingers crossed for, having featured against us in the euro’s but had a feeling the striker was just a journeyman at best! Not sure why we signed them to be honest as with all our injured players fit we should be good enough to stay up and some! That’s before you consider that there are enough teams in free fall plus those who have struggled all season! COYI!
These are two good signings for sure. Whether they are used or not remains to be seen.
Really pleased with 2 quality signings but will they play? Of course they wont bench warmers at best. Sam has never had and never will have a plan B, % football, long ball or set piece and feed off second ball if target man not available crowd the midfield and have no striker. I do not believe our newItalians will be used to this kind of game and may take time to get into it. I hope I am wrong, come on Sam open your eyesand see what other clubs are doing build from the back, retain possession and play two strikers.
Sorry good players who are not playing for there team, and were bench warmers. Now if we signed a top class player who is currently playing for there team and scoring goals and playing well then I would have been optimistic, however if that was the case teams will not sell there best players unless they were in financial problems like some of the Spanish teams.
I would like to try and bring some calm to our situation;
As much as I used to dislike SA, I have grown to like the way he sets his teams up to be difficult to beat and if we remember the beginning of the season- this is what we started off doing. For too many years we have been easy to beat, a soft under belly by playing the “West Ham way.” SA is also a great man motivator, I would go as far to say as good as HR. He has players who will run through walls for him. Did anyone feel that way under Grant?
SAF, the megalomaniac of the EPL for what seemed like 3 life times, was given time to deliver and because of the wealth of experience he has, we need to be patient with the situation believing Sam will deliver. This season has been harsh, no spearhead in attack, injuries ravaging the defence at the same time and a lack of depth to a squad due to new rules and regulations regarding finance.
So let’s look at what was achieved when we were only missing AC-
10 League games 8 conceded
And what was achieved with a crowded injury list
Semi-Final of a cup
I would hate to be a fan of a club with a looney at the helm like some we know in the PL, there’s a lot to be said for a bit of stability and I feel that’s what we have. Keep calm and believe in Sam!
I believe in not sacking managers and giving them time to sort things out. However when you put all your eggs in one basket ie AC and you don’t consider the consequences of what happens if he gets injured, and you have no B plan as has happened. Who is responsible, well it’s not the fans. Many supporters like me did not want AC in the first place, let’s face it he did’nt come with a great record of goal scoring, so here we are. We don’t want to keep going on about it but until we have a change of manager and owners we will be in the same situation again and again. Enough is enough, season after season struggling to stay up, we deserve better, MUCH BETTER. COYI