What a difference four goals for the right team playing in claret and blue can make! Holy Bismarckhering, that was one hell of an effing good game of football! No ugly scenes, no pitch invasions this time around, no need for the West Ham skipper to wrestle a fan to the ground near the centre circle as in that other game against Burnley!
I’m sure it was the same for the majority of West Ham fans all over the the planet as I was going through a multitude of emotions throughout the game.
It was highly entertaining, it was full of nice passing, with goalscoring opportunities galore and the three points did stay in London after the final whistle – what’s not to like ?
Matchday had started early for me as it was another day of voluntary community work at our local sports club. Early bird exercise was the order of the morning though, as my car windshield had completely frozen over during the night, so fierce scratching and scrubbing came before driving to the club’s premises. With two other guys I was assigned to the task of mending the fence and replacing some of the screen walls made from reed. While working and chatting away it occurred to me that West Ham had a lot of collective mending to do as well in the upcoming Burnley game, but I was quietly confident we would win. Surely, if we couldn’t even beat Burnley at home we’d be up poo creek without an oar to suitably propel us forward.
I settled down in my usual spot (armchair), screwdriver to the right, steaming West Ham mug of Rosie to the left and the crazy show began. Literally crazy, because I could only find a stream with Polish commentary. While I have rudimentary knowledge of certain Polish words or phrases (due to previous holidays spent in Poland) it is nowhere near good enough to follow a running match report.
Which wasn’t an issue because that game and that performance were speaking for themselves, no translation needed. thank you very much!
We created. We passed the ball around neatly – and not only sideways or backwards either. When Burnley messed up, we did exploit their mistakes, like any good PL club worth their salt would.
We got a very good shout for a penalty turned down. Shots heading for goal saved by brave Burnley defenders on the line or the glove of Joe Hart.
To my surprise, Burnley were incredibly efficient down the other end.
When they actually managed to reach our penalty box, they equalised more often than not. Twice in fact. I was disappointed with that of course. But I was equally convinced we would still prevail and win this one.
Simply because the lads looked so up for it and we went through their defence like a hot knife goes through butter.
We also made positive substitutions and in truth should have scored two or three more on the day. It’s always a good sign when you are struggling as a supporter to pick a MotM from several worthy candidates. In my opinion it was a close race between Felipe Anderson, Grady Diangana, Declan Rice (I know it’s boring, but what can I do ? The boy is just playing consistently well), Marko Arnautovic and maybe even Issa Diop.
And while I am both relieved and happy that Felipe Anderson appears to be turning his and our fortunes around gradually, I am actually opting for Grady Diangana here. First of all because it’s always special to see an Academy youngster turn up for the first team and grab his opportunity with both hands and feet. Diangana took on his opponents without fear, he was trying things, he showed great pace and kept the Burnley defenders busy all afternoon. If we can find just one player like him every season stepping up to the first team squad it’ll make things a lot easier for us in future. Oh, did I happen to mention before that I hope we will get Rice signed up to a new, improved deal sharpish now ?
An honourable mention has to go to Robert Snodgrass. He has truly played himself back into contention to start every game. Running all game long, decent set piece deliveries, tremendous effort for the team. All that after already being pretty much out the West Ham door not so long ago.
Did my eyes deceive me or was Snodgrass first to congratulate our goalscorers for EVERY goal we scored on the day ? What a treat to see his enthusiasm for our club!
This win will hopefully boost our collective confidence for the upcoming games now. Surely it’s more fun for the players to go into training sessions with another three points on the board and four goals scored in the bank.
I know it was only Burnley, but this game gave us a glimpse of how we can play under Pellegrini – and things should get even better once we have some players back in the fold who are nearing their return from injury. I cannot wait to see what Lanzini and Anderson can do once they are out there on the pitch together. COYI!!!
Moving away from West Ham, the big talking point in Germany in the last few days has been a report published after extensive research done by German journalists into how clubs like PSG and Manchester City have allegedly in the recent past systematically broken Financial Fair Play rules, escaping adequate punishment while allegedly being aided in doing so by certain individuals of UEFA (Infantino) years ago.
The journos have gone through tons of documents and evidence – and I am sure we will get to hear a lot more about all this in the coming weeks and months as the news will continue to spread across the world media.
The second topic was the already previously rumoured implementation of a Super League rearing its greedy head again. Reports in Germany (Football Leaks/Spiegel magazine) are suggesting the main clubs behind this idea have in secrecy held numerous talks in the recent past and are at a stage now to begin signing papers of intent to get the ball properly rolling in that respect. The signing of such an agreement between those clubs could happen as early as later this month according to the report.
A lot of it for now is still rumours and hearsay though – it could be just another ploy by the big clubs to extract an even bigger piece of the pie from the governing bodies just as negotiations about the future share of the spoils from playing in the Europa and Champions League are looming large.
The idea behind the Super League of course is that of establishing a closed shop, as it is the norm in big money leagues like the NFL or NBA.
No relegation. No need for qualification. No games against lesser teams.
Just the big boys battling it out against each other time and time again, with millions around the globe watching at home.
Only superstar players on the pitch, no boring games, one footballing feast after another with the big clubs (the ones with the most fans worldwide, the most trophies, the biggest appeal and the biggest budgets) being in the comfortable position to do all marketing on their own behalf as they see fit, obeying only their own set of rules while keeping all of the money rolling in among themselves, with no need to share any cash with less fortunate clubs or the governing bodies.
A paradise for some for sure, a nightmare for the rest. Or is it ?
Rumour has it that the big clubs would indeed be willing to do all this without as much as a second thought about getting UEFA or FIFA on board.
It’s been suggested that there will be eleven clubs forming the closed shop as founding members, clubs who will then be eligible to play in the new Super League of the high and mighty EVERY year, these are:
Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, PSG, Bayern Munich, AC Milan and Juventus.
Five “guest” teams will be invited initially to make up the numbers, namely Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, Olympique Marseille, Inter Milan and AS Roma. Presumably guest teams can be added or kicked out if and when it suits.
At this stage we cannot be sure how serious the clubs in question really are to push this through this time around. Also the ramifications are quite uncertain in terms of whether those clubs would still be eligible to actually play regular league football domestically. There seem to be mixed signals in that respect from the big clubs at present. Of course TV deals have been signed that are stretching a number of years into the future.
So clubs breaking away from current competitions will not go down well with the leagues, TV companies and the rest of the footballing world.
But it should keep the legal eagles busy for certain.
My view on this is both hopelessly naive and disillusioned. If the big clubs are really keen, they will do as they please. And neither the fans, nor UEFA or any government is going to stop them. If they think playing in the Super League will bring them bigger financial gains, more glory and they can also get away with it all (even in case it goes wrong eventually) it will happen.
Maybe I am the wrong person to even talk about this. I don’t know what goes on in the heads of those who run or support a big club. I have never supported what you might call a big club. I don’t know what it’s like to win five trophies in three years. I don’t know what it’s like to win 75% of your games in all competitions. It sounds boring and having met some fans of big clubs in the past they rather seem to take winning for granted, hence they don’t enjoy them wins that much really, but boy, do they get riled up and grumpy on the rare occasions when they lose or draw!
Do fans really only want to watch their team play other big teams, week in week out ? Wouldn’t it get boring soon, playing Juventus or Barcelona twice EVERY year rather than actually having to earn the right to play your big European rivals ?
Do Liverpool supporters really care more about games in Europe than league fixtures against local rivals Everton or their Manchester neighbours ? (Sorry, I forgot, they’d still meet the Manchester clubs regularly while competing in the Super League of course!)
My opinion on this is clear: The idea of the Super League is plain wrong, just another nail in the coffin of what used to be called the beautiful game! It’ll be very lucrative and interesting for a while and for some, but the novelty will wear off eventually.
People are being priced out and driven away from top league football as it is. If the Super League clubs were to only look after themselves, with no regard for their domestic league, lesser clubs and the European competitions as they are being presently organised by UEFA, even more fans will be driven away, either to lower league football or away from the sport altogether.
The Super League could indeed be bad news, not just for all those other clubs deemed not worthy enough to join the big boys in the first place. It could ultimately backfire for the big clubs too and they could lose a lot more in the process than there is to be gained financially by breaking loose from the shackles of UEFA and domestic football. The grass ain’t always greener on the other side of the fence, even if the barriers are covered in gold dust…
Hamburg footballing update: Hamburg SV will play Cologne in a top of the table Bundesliga 2 clash later this evening (Live on BT Sport 1).
One of the two will overtake St.Pauli tonight despite St.Pauli winning away at Bielefeld yesterday, 2:1, consolidating their place near the very top of the league table in the process.
The Concordia first team won a dirty (and terrible to watch) game on Friday evening, thanks to two late penalties and two opposition players being sent off late as well.
Concordia’s U23s won their game 5:2, but they had to come back from a 1:2 scoreline with just 20 minutes to play. They are still in with at least a moderate shout for promotion.
Cordi’s women’s team dropped their first points of the season, losing 1:0 at home, blowing the race for promotion wide open again.