West Ham Till I Die
Comments
The HamburgHammer Column

Mashed up on Merseyside, snowed under in Hamburg

Normal service was resumed at Anfield – not only did they have our stereos, they also kept the three points, taught us a footballing lesson and wouldn’t even share the dead cat which apparently is a treat for some locals if you believe certain football chants.

Embed from Getty Images

The most positive thing was the way our away support honoured the anniversary of the passing of our most famous legend, player and man, Bobby Moore which happened exactly 25 years earlier.
Such a pity we couldn’t give this very special Barking Boy a performance on Saturday to mirror the regard in which he is held by West Ham fans all over the globe.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, it’s easy to say from the relative comfort of my bachelor flat how I would have approached this game as a bonus fixture, how I would have given it a real go, being a lot more positive and attack minded.
I also would have started with both Arnautovic and Hernandez upfront.

We tried to contain Liverpool by sitting deep, packing our defence and hoping for the best. I’m sure it can work like that against the Scousers on certain occasions. Saturday wasn’t one of them.

Liverpool outplayed us, they were so much better than us and were passing the ball around as if it was a training drill or preseason friendly.
As much as it pains me to say, Liverpool are just a wonderful team to watch and I would have admired their performance if it wasn’t West Ham they were mopping the floor with.

Embed from Getty Images

The league table isn’t for the faint of heart these days. We are only three points away from a relegation spot, but could also easily shoot up the table several positions with a win or two from our upcoming run of games. It’s not exactly been an enjoyable season so far, but I’m still confident we are in a much better position than several other teams around us in terms of squad quality (not necessarily squad depth), so I reckon a solid midtable finish around 10th place is up for grabs.

Talking of squad depth I was sad to see Jose Fonte go. It makes a lot of sense from his point of view of course, guaranteed playing time, good money, a bit of adventure and broadening the horizon in the East End of the planet in China. I’m sure the money will come in handy too, balancing the books a bit as we seem to be really skint.
Still we have further weakened an already paperthin squad and we can only hope we won’t suffer any more injuries in the coming weeks and months.

Embed from Getty Images

Talking about the rest of my weekend, it turned out a lot longer for me than anticipated, but with very mixed results. Starting with the good news, my brother is likely to come home from hospital either today or tomorrow. He should have been home last week, truth be told, but on top of everything else he caught pneumonia while his body’s defences were down after the two surgeries. He’ll be allowed two or three days at home before heading off somewhere for three weeks or so for some much needed rehab.

On Saturday Hamburg SV lost their relegation six-pointer against northern archrivals Werder Bremen who won by a single goal margin in agonising fashion, scoring four minutes from time with a goal that at the very least looked dubious due to the goalscorer scoring from what appeared to be an offside position. Seven points adrift already it’s hard to see where HSV’s next win might be coming from and considering the shaky financial outlook for the club they could find themselves in Bundesliga 3 or even further down after relegation as they are far from certain to meet the requirements to play Bundesliga 2 football next season. Dire days indeed for the Bundesliga ever-presents as things stand…but for how much longer ?

Embed from Getty Images

On Sunday I was wide awake at 5 o’clock in the morning with a cuppa in front of the custard and jelly which is rare for me, but Germany were playing Russia for the Gold Medal in the Men’s Ice Hockey at the Winter Olympics in Korea and that in itself was about as rare as West Ham competing for the Premier League title. Or Fiji winning the Rugby World Cup.

In any case I thought I’d never live to see something like this happening.
Every once in a while the sporting deities throw a highlight our way just like that.
And the Krauts even had their gloves on the Gold actually, that is until Russia spoiled the party by equalising just 56 seconds from the end.

My fellow countrymen had stood toe to toe with the mighty Russians throughout most of the game actually and it took a Sudden Death goal in overtime with a man advantage for the Red Machine to get the expected win, but boy, did the Germans make it difficult for them!

Embed from Getty Images

Two quick cups of coffee later I was sitting in a local caff for some Sunday Brekkie to set myself up for the noonish East Hamburg derby between SC Condor and Concordia.

I was being served by a lovely young lady who happened to be a Chelsea supporter (as she pointed out to me when spotting my West Ham beanie). Being a polite person I still gave her a decent tip of course, being well aware that Chelsea tickets don’t come cheap, especially for a waitress travelling from Hamburg…;-))

Then it was off to the nearby ground which was covered in snow from end to end. To everyone’s shock and surprise the referee decided to let the game go ahead regardless, with temperatures at a frosty minus 4°C, but a bright orange ball was kindly provided and the game kicked off.

Some Cordi players had expected (or rather wished for) the game to get cancelled and that’s exactly the way some of them performed, especially in the second half.

Granted, an injury crisis coupled with man flu keeping even more players out, made for grim reading of the squad list: One substitute goalkeeper on the bench plus two midfielders, that was it. It ended in an embarrassing 2:5 defeat and freezing my toes and gonads off as a bonus wasn’t exactly my idea of a pleasant Sunday.

Snow kept falling all day in Hamburg and it was bitterly cold, but at least the radio told us that St.Pauli had won their home game to warm the cockles of this Hamburger’s heart by showing some local pride and passion.

I then wanted to write my column (and warm up at home), but got a call from my best mate just as I arrived back. He had a spare ticket for the Ice Hockey in the afternoon and as he is a married man now and opportunities to meet up have become few and far between and as I also hadn’t been to see the Crocodiles play a game all season I was happy enough to drive right back to where I had just returned from (the ice rink being an Antonio throw-in away from Condor’s football ground).

Embed from Getty Images

That at least brought another win for Hamburg (6:4) and some jolly nice banter with my mate and some other fans as well. Needless to say I would have gladly swapped either of the St.Pauli or Crocodiles’ win against a point or three at Anfield, but life ain’t all guns and roses.

Let’s hope we start to collect the points needed for maintaining our league status quickly now, with some very winnable games coming up in the coming weeks. God knows I could do with some positive football related news over here in good old Hamburg…

COYI!!!

About us

West Ham Till I Die is a website and blog designed for supporters of West Ham United to discuss the club, its fortunes and prospects. It is operated and hosted by West Ham season ticket holder, LBC radio presenter and political commentator Iain Dale.

More info

Follow us

Contact us

Iain Dale, WHTID, PO Box 663, Tunbridge Wells, TN9 9RZ

Visit iaindale.com, Iain Dale’s personal website & blog.

Get in touch

Copyright © 2024 Iain Dale Limited.