Please click HERE to rate the player performances against Sunderland. Only vote if you were there or viewed the whole game live on a stream or on TV abroad.

Please use this thread to discuss the game as it proceeds.

Gianfranco Zola has a few selection headaches today, as the Hammers look to get their second away win of the season away to Sunderland. With Scott Parker injured, it would seem a done deal for Diamanti to come in and replace him in a 4-4-2 lineup. But is that too attacking a midfield for an away game. More likely is the return of Radoslav Kovac, I suspect, with Diamanti slotting in alongside Cole up front. This would mean Zavon Hines remaining on the bench. This would seem unfair bearing in mind his performance last week, when he played a part in both West Ham goals.

West Ham have a reasonable record against Sunderland with four wins and a draw in the last seven games. Make no mistake, we need to get a win out of this game to start our ascent up the table. If we can get seven points out of the next three games, in 9 days we could be in mid table within 9 days.

So, this is the team I suspexct Zola will pick…

Green, Spector, Upson, Tomkins, Ilunga, Collison, Behrami, Kovac, Noble, Diamanti, Cole.

It has been reported that Keiron Dyer will now not be available for selection  for the Sunderland match.  This is due to a new hamstring injury picked up in training earlier this week.  He is likely to be out for a further 3 to 4 weeks.

Dyer has to be one of the unluckiest players ever with injuries.  His playing record at his previous club, Newcastle Utd, was somewhat chequered, with long periods spent out injured.  However, that pales in comparison to his current record at the Hammers.  

Since signing in August 2007, Dyer has made a mere six starts for the first team.  He took much longer than expected to recover from the double leg break, suffered against Bristol Rovers in a 2nd round Carling Cup Tie.  He has since endured a series of muscle and hamstring problems that have conspired to further restrict his availability.

It must be absolutely devastating for the player.  No professional choses to have this sort of injury record.  We should remember that when Dyer signed for us he was a current English international and very highly thought of in the England set up.   Zola is quoted as stating that Dyer is extremely low about this latest set back, especially as he had just recovered from a previous hamstring injury and was confident of an appearance on Saturday.

The real shame is that Dyer is undubtedly a class midfielder, with pace, excellent technique and a real attacking flair.   Since coming back, he has shown brief flashes of the quality that he possesses and the positive attributes that he could bring to the Hammers first XI.   Yet, injury keeps preventing him from getting a decent run of games to regain his form and match fitness. 

On the other hand, one can completely understand the fustrations of the Hammers fans.  They know that in Dyer and Ashton we have two of the best players in the PL, who could make an enormous contribution to club’s success.  Yet, both appear to be virtually perpetual non-playing members of the squad!  At least Dyer’s progress and injury set backs are reported,  the situation with regard to Ashton is rarely referrred to by the club these days.  It really begs the question, what stage has Ashton actually reached in his recovery from his ankle injury?

So, do you believe that Dyer is a class player who will eventually make a significant contribution to the first team?   Do you sympathise with his terrible injury record and feel that we should show him patience in light of this latest set back?  Or do you take a somewhat harsher view of Dyer’s continued non-availability?

SJ Chandos.

Some very good news, Valon Berhami has declared his intention to stay with the club.  He is quoted as stating:

‘I don’t want to leave West Ham.’   ’I enjoy my work here. This club have given me a lot, before, during and after my injury and I want to stay here and play for this club.’

Berhami has made it clear on a number of occasions that he enjoys playing for the club and is content to stay.  This latest statement should reassure fans that he is going nowhere, this season at least.  It is very good to see a top player showing such appreciation and loyalty to their club.  It is a rare thing these days.

We need Berhami’s midfield industry and drive to turn our season around.  Also, the truth is that we have to retain players of his class if we are ever to progress as a club.  If only it was possible in this winter transfer window to fund the purchase of two or three players of similar class to supplement the quality, experienced core of our team and exciting youth prospects. 

Then West Ham could really push on!

SJ Chandos.

The Carling Cup, hooliganism and pitch invasion!   No, I am not talking about West Ham Vs Millwall this time!  I am in fact referring to the more recent disturbances at Tuesday evening’s Carling Cup tie between Barnsley and Manchester Utd!

It has been reported on the KUMB website that the match saw clashes between Man Utd ‘fans’ and South Yorkshire Police, the terrorising of Barnsley catering staff, the looting of the stadium’s food outlets, theft and fans invading the field of play. 

Surely, these events merit an investigation by the FA and, pending the outcome,  the preparation of appropriate charges?  Afterall, Barnsley and Man Utd appear to have failed to control their fans.  As such, is it not only right and proper that the same standards and procedures should be applied to them as West Ham and Millwall?

Alternatively, do the FA pick and choose who they get heavy with?   Or do they just react to the coverage in the media?  (media coverage of the crowd trouble on Tuesday has been very muted in comparison with that at the West Ham-Millwall tie!).

So, are the FA going to prove that they are even handed in these matters?    We shall see?

If no FA investigation materialises, you could always write/email or leave a message on the Football Association website asking why no comparable  action has been taken in this case?   You may not get a  satisfactory explanation, but at least you will have the personal satisfaction of challenging the FA’s apparent double standards in invoking its disciplinary procedures!

SJ Chandos.

Zavon Hines has recently stated in an interview that West Ham are one of the few top clubs, producing and giving first team opportunities to its youth players.  While West Ham signed a young central defender from a non-league club in the summer.   Shades of Alan Devonshire!!!!  If only we could unearth a hidden gem like him these days for the modern equivalent of £5,000!

The development of youngsters at clubs like Chelsea has undoubtedly been hindered by their cheque book recruitment policy.   Man Utd still produce one or two youngsters, but it is a trickle rather than a flow.  What domestic youngsters have made the grade at Liverpool since Carragher, Gerrard and latterly Warnock?  Of the so-called big 4, Arsenal are the only club that regularly produces its own youngsters to any significant degree.

Lower down the PL the situation is not much different.  Man City have a good record on youth development, but are now likely to foresake that to go the cheque book route.  Whilst Villa largely buy their promising youngsters and Spurs have not produced anyone of note since Ledley King!  The picture is not much better at the likes of Everton, Fulham or Birmingham City. 

Is it not reasonable to assume that the Academies at good lower league clubs like Ipswich Town, Crewe and Charlton might have benefited from this situation?   Picking up and developing players that fall through the PL net or late developers like Ray Houghton, Alan Devonshire and Ian Wright?  With them subsequently reaping the financial benefits by picking up big transfer fees for these players when the PL teams eventually come calling?

The big clubs in the old First Divison often recruited promising prospects from the lower leagues.  Think of Liverpool signing Clemance and Keegan from Scunthorpe and Phil Neal from Northampton, Spurs signing Peter Taylor from Crystal Palace, Man Utd signing Steve Coppell from Tranmere, Ipswich signing Paul Mariner from Plymouth or Nottingham Forest signing Teddy Sheringham from Millwall. 

Look at West Ham’s previous record of signing the likes of Johnnny Byrne from Crystal Palace, Phil Woosman and Tommy Taylor from Orient, Bily Bonds from Charlton, Tony Gale from Fulham, Alan Taylor from Rochdale and Billy Jennings from Watford.  Even as recently as the 1990s we signed the likes of Matty Holmes from Bournemouth and Peter Butler from Huddesfield Town.  Yet, it is a far rarer occurance these days for the club to scout and sign players from the football league?

Sir Trevor Brooking’s battle at the FA on youth development is well documented.  One of his key areas of contention has been securing the co-operation of the Football League.  Is this symptomatic of a problem with youth development amongst Football League clubs? 

Or is it the case that the quantity of youngsters deemed good enough to become a PL professonal footballer is just shrinking? Are societal factors such as lack of exercise and obseity having an adverse impact?  Are computer games, the internet and other distractions also impacting adversely, that were just not around in previous decades?

Scotland used to have a famously rich vein of footballing talent that has now all but dried up.   Where are the talents like Baxter, Cooke, McQueen, Dalgish, Souness, Law, Gemmill, Robertson, Jordan, Strachan and McAvennie now?  Are we, down in England, slowly heading in the same direction?

Or is it merely the case that a smaller number of high quality English players are making it through to first team level?  However, these youngsters are better equipped to succeed and learn more from some the best players in the world that currently ply their trade in the PL?  Does this produce a smaller group of English thoroughbreds like Lampard, Rooney and Gerrard, rather than a larger pool of more viable quality?  In that respect, are fears over the adverse impact of the number of overseas stars in the PL, on England’s future prospects, somewhat overstated?

The Football League is no longer a major recruiting ground for PL sides.  Is that symptomatic of problems in domestic youth development or a by-product of a greater contemporary emphasis upon quality over quantity?

SJ Chandos.

I have to say I am astonished Jack Collison was so low. After Cole, I’d have said he and Behrami were the two best players, although I have no complaints about Diamanto and Hines being so high, seeing as their introduction changed the game.

Cole, at 8.53, got one of the highest ever ratings.

Hope you enjoy this 5 minute report of the game today. As you can tell, I have nearly lost my voice! What a game!

Please vote HERE to rate the performances of West Ham players in the Arsenal game.

Give each player who played at least 15 minutes in the game a mark from 1 to 10, 10 being the highest. Any score above 10 is automatically discounted.

Do NOT rate players who played no part in the game. Leave their boxes blank.