Upton Park set to see further Cup Action

So we head to Blackburn for the fifth round of a Cup campaign that looks increasingly promising. With Rovers struggling at the foot of the Championship and having just traded their star striker in Jordan Rhodes, while the Hammers are flying high in the Premiership, this looks a simple enough call.

However, West Ham have no available natural right back as Sam Byram is cup tied and Joey O'Brien injured. In addition, up front Emmanuel Emenike faces his biggest test yet as our only fir striker.

Rovers don't score many while West Ham look a bit blunt up top, so the smart dosh is on a 0-0 scoreline with the Hammers bringing cup action back to Upton Park - hardly a result any Hammer would quibble over.

But there is always the Dimitri Payet factor to consider and Blackburn may struggle to keep the talismanic midfielder under control. Similarly, if Rovers hit the final quarter still in the game the pressure will build on West Ham. Thankfully Darren Randolph and the Ogbonna-Collins centre back pairing has previously been very solid.

Rory Nostradamus predicts a 0-0 scoreline but older (and possibly wiser) observers see the Hammers providing the one moment of class needed to separate the two sides.

 

Marshall To Lead the Line For Hammers Against Blackburn

It's kinda inevitable that with his surname and rapmeister look, that Hammers new man Emmanuel Emenike is already being referred to as soundalike hitman Eminem AKA Marshall Mathers! With the recent departure of Nikica Jelavic to China, the latest injuries to Andy Sicknote and Enner Valencia, and Diafra Sakho still a few weeks away from a return, Emenike faces a big opportunity to demonstrate his ability.

So far, the verdict has been mixed. Hammers fans were aware that Emenike is an emotional player, even to the point of volatility. In more practical terms, he had lost his previous scoring touch that in 2013 won him the Golden boot at the AFCON, ultimately being forced out of the Nigerian Super Eagles National team set up.

Some commentators warned that his first touch can be heavy, and early evidence suggests that indeed may be so. In addition, others have commented that he prefers to play from a wide attacking position rather than in the central role where the Hammers lack presence. However, he is well known to Slaven Bilic from his Turkish adventures and has strength and power as major assets.
 

In last weekend's game against Norwich he came on for a crazy final 20 minutes and managed to get himself into two gilt edged scoring positions, but sadly fluffed both!  On the plus side, he did get into scoring positions and watching his movement, he positions like a striker rather than an attacking wide player.

His first touch was heavy on a few occasions, including one which almost led to a dangerous Norwich counter attack. This, of course, may just be a combination of his enthusiasm along with having to adapt to the speed of the Premiership. Either way, it looks like Hammers fans are destined to get a close look at their now striker as Sakho will need time to get to match fitness.

Given his history, Hammers fans will be hoping that Emineke gets a confidence-boosting goal early in his Hammers career, and the tussle with Blackburn will provide an excellent opportunity to show his worth. Bilic has done virtually nothing wrong in the transfer market so far (OK, so Jelavic proved a squad bolstering move that didn't quite work out!) and seems to have a good sense of what works in the Premiership. Fingers crossed!

 

Southampton can provide a Barometer

After Tuesday night's victory over Aston Villa West Ham are sixth in the Premiership table with 14 games to go and perfectly positioned to push for a European place. However, despite dominating a defensive-minded Villa side with 70% possession the Hammers made hard work of actually sealing the win and were undoubtedly helped enormously by the early dismissal of Jordan Ayew for violent conduct.

Before the sending off Villa looked the more sprightly of the two sides and had a decent penalty shout for a hand ball incident turned down. Thereafter, they parked the bus and West Ham struggled to create real chances. In the post Big Sam era we are less bothered with the statistical 'paint by numbers' approach to tactical analysis, but the tally of 16 shots off target is hard to overlook. Right now, West Ham are playing without an out and out striker and it shows in terms of our lack of cutting edge.

Andy Carroll is scheduled to return today while newbie Emmanuel Emenike has his permit in order and could also appear. Interestingly, much of the debate around Emenike's remarkable loss of form at international level focuses around his preference to play in a wide position rather than as a central attacker, and thus smacks of a back up for Enner Valencia. In reality, the player most Hammers fans want back most is Diafra Sakho and will hope that he will be ready in the next fortnight as planned.

This evening's game is another crucial fixture where three points would put pressure on those above them, with Spurs facing a tricky clash with Watford, Man united snarled up with a recovering Chelsea and Leicester and Man City in a head to head top of the table tussle. However, Southampton will be keen to get back into the mix and, although with 5 fewer points, sit just one place below us. As a side salad, there's the whole Charlie Austin thing to consider, but in all fairness to our defence, we have handled him pretty well in the past when he was with QPR.

Perhaps more importantly, the Hammers have been lukewarm in their form over the past few games and this encounter will tell a lot in terms of where we sit in the real scheme of things. A recent computer-generated end of table prediction placed us in eighth. At the start of the season we would have grabbed that, but that was before we realised just how good Payet and Lanzini were. accordingly, our aspirations have been recalibrated to include a top six finish. This evening will provide a barometer.

Rory Nostradamus predicts a 1-1 draw while horoscope expert. Mark Lawrenson predicts .....well, you know what he predicts!

Fingers crossed we can nick a win and the rest stutter.

COYI

 

It's Time to Ditch the Faux Modesty Slaven


And so, with the transfer window closed, now it's down to the business half of the season. The lack of engagement in the madness that is the window is a marker of where West Ham are as a club. Byram was a decent (and much needed) acquisition, while Emenike is a punt but otherwise we have a strong squad that should bloom with the imminent returns of Carroll, Sakho and Lanzini.

Time to fly fly fly!

In a recent interview, Slaven Bilic again played down our European prospects suggesting that “We don’t have Champions League ambitions, we are very far away from that". However, we are just two wins off fourth spot and deserved well in the running for a champions League spot. If Liverpool or Spurs or even Man United had our current squad they would surely expect to qualify for Europe!

As such, we need to push on now. One wonders if speculating on a poacher (Charlie Austin went to Southampton for peanuts) might have given us that extra bite needed to really pressurise Spurs (and probably Leicester) as the season unfolds. Clearly Slaven feels we have enough up top and if Carroll and Sakho stay fit their combined efforts should bring enough goals to put us into contention, especially if Payet, Lanzini and Antonio chip in with goals from midfield.

Either way, tonight's game is a must win. In contrast to us, Villa needed a big transfer window but Remi Garde could not attract the 3-4 big signings that their relegation battle needs. They have multiple absences for this evening's trip and will probably be happy with a draw. Luckily, we have the ultimate lockpicker in Mr Payet who may well be a key influence this evening. We managed only a point when we met a few weeks back and really need to get four points over the two encounters if we are to realise top six pretentions.

However, after a good run we have stuttered of late, losing a game we should have drawn (Newcastle), drawing a game we should have won (Man City) and drawing a game we deserved to lose (Liverpool). With Noble and Kouyate back in the centre, we wont concede midfield the way we did at Anfield. Hopefully Enner Valencia will have sorted out his studs and stop falling over the way he did against Liverpool. It would be interesting to get a glimpse of Emenike as well.

Ten points from safety with games rapidly running out, perhaps the best thing we can do for Villa is show them the league table at the same point during our great escape year to emphasise how anything is possible!

Hammer's New Signing Ready to Rock

The Hammers first team will undoubtedly be tired after Saturday's "heroics" (i.e. chasing around after a bunch of energetic Liverpool youths!) and will appreciate all the back up that they can get for tomorrow night's key clash with Aston Villa. Hopefully the three day break will provide enough time for Enner Valencia to find a pair of boots with longer studs as he spent much of Saturday evening's game falling over!

New striking acquisition Emmanuel Emenike has already expressed his expectation to "always be in the first XI" which seems a tad ambitious given the massive step up from playing in the Gulf to the Premiership! Either way, the Premier League have clarified that all signings registered by noon today will be eligible for action tomorrow.

Given that the negotiations were concluded yesterday evening, one would hope that the admin team have gotten the whole registration business sorted by now (don't mention Tevezgate and paperwork please!) and we may well get a first viewing of our new talent ripping into the Villa defence tomorrow night.

In other good news, chief midfield engine Cheikidh Kouyate is fit to start while Tomka remains somewhat doubtful.

Emenike Lambasted by Club Official

As the Hammers unveil their new recruit Emmanuel Emenike, Mohammed Obeid Hamdoun - a board member with his previous club Al Ain has accused the striker of lacking commitment. 

Emenike set the African Cup of Nations alight in 2013 scrong 4 goals to seize the golden boot award but has struggled for form ever since and had to retire from the Super Eagles after two years and 15 appearances without a goal.

His move to the Gulf League was prompted by a spectacular falling out with Fenerbahce fans culminating in an on field row with teammates and then an episode where he stripped off and demanded to be substituted to escape the boos of his own supporters.

Hamdoun didn't pull any punches as he revealed in a recent interview with Gulf newspaper The National “I saw Emenike in the World Cup and the African Cup of Nations with Nigeria and he was a good player. But when he came here he scored only seven [league] goals, with the local players we have here? Enough.”

Interestingly, Hamdoun expressed a belief that Emenike would be china bound and seemed unaware that the fallen star might be making the (huge) step up to the world's toughest league. However, Slaven Bilic's record with recruits is more than impressive and he certainly knows Emenike well as the episode of walking off the pitch occured during a game against Bilic's former club Besiktas. Intriguing stuff indeed. It is unclear whether Emenike will be available for the Villa game but with Carroll and Sakho still out, he may get a late run out! 

Hammers Undecided About Second Striker

No sooner had the ink dried on Emmanuel Emenike's loan deal from Fenerbahce then hungry Hammers looked for another signing. Bearing in mind that Enner Valencia has played most of his football on the left side of the attack, Nikica Jelavic looks China-bound before their season starts later in February, and with both Diafra Sakho and Andy Carroll so injury prone, any logical analysis indicates that another striker is needed. Add that to Emenike's well-documented Balotelli-esque volatility, and the Hammers still look light up top!

Errr...wrong fast food chain

Rumours have been doing the rounds that Andre Pierre Gignac might rejoin his old Marseille teammate Dimitri Payet by jetting in from the Mexican League where he has been playing with Tiexes since last Summer. However, Gignac also represents a risk as although he has the physicality needed in the Premiership, he is not the paciest forward  and his struggles with weight earned him the nickname Big Mac (Gignac....geddit?) which for Hammers fans will remind us of that wonderful january window signing that was Benni (Big) Mac Carthy!


However, Gignac's goalscoring record is impressive and recent footage highlights how he looks fitter than ever before in his career. Will the lads be putting on the Sombreros and flying out for some last minute business?

 

Hammers New Signing will Inject Pace into their Attack

After a successful medical yesterday, it looks like West Ham are going to take a gamble on misfiring Nigerian ex-international striker Emmanuel Emenike. Currently languishing in Dubai football after falling out with the fans at Fenerbahce, Emmenike will be hoping to rediscover the form that made him so successful during his two year spell between 2011-3 with Spartak Moscow.

Emmenike notched up 21 goals in 42 appearances for the Russian outfit averaging an impressive  goal every second game but his time at Spartak was marred by a bizarre sending off incident during a key clash with rivals Zenit St Petersburg. After netting an equaliser, Emenike celebrated with a mock vein-tapping in preparation for an imaginary heroin injection! The match referee responded by issuing a red card for the irresponsible gesture.

Bilic's troops are unlikely to follow Big Sam's success last season in the Fair Play league for which the Hammers were rewarded for coming first with a Europa League spot. The Hammers are currently joint top with Stoke City in the Premiership red card count with four - and managed another three in their caution-ridden Europa League campaign!

Maybe Bilic should go for bust and sign Mario Gjurovski. The Macedonian plays for the ironically appropriately name Muang-thong United in the Thai Super League and is best known for  a 2013 sending off after removing his shorts and putting them on his head to goad opposition fans in a bizarre goal celebration!
All eyes will surely be on Emenike if he scores on his proposed debut against Villa on Tuesday.




 

Hammers to Sign the New Balotelli

It has been a mighty exciting season so far and many fans justifiably believe that the Hammers can make it to Europe if they can manage to get a supply of fit strikers. With Diafra Sakho and Andy Carroll sidelined, the spotlight has fallen on Enner Valencia and Nikica Jelavic. Both have responded well, with Valencia finally finding the form that was promised when he first arrived after a super 2014 World Cup with Ecuador.

However, the Hammers board have decided to take a gamble in the January transfer window in order to bolster our attacking resources with Nigerian striker Emmanuel Emenike having undergone a medical yesterday. Things are thus set to get even more exciting as the troubled hitman has plenty of previous form and has even been compared to the infamously unstable Mario Balotelli!

Included amongst Emenike's many difficulties are dropped charges of match fixing, fisticuffs with teammates, legal action over media claims that he is 7 years older than his passport indicates, fines for making inappropriate gestures during matches and walking off the pitch early in the first half in response to abuse from his own fans - the latter during a match against Slaven Bilic's Besiktas!

Hammers fans will be somewhat reassured by Bilic's record of dealing with players who step out of line but perhaps more worrying is the fact that at the heart of Emenike's problems has been a terrible loss of form dating back over the past two years. Between 2011 and 2014 he excelled at Spartak Moscow and Fenerbahce even grabbing the attentions of Arsenal and Chelsea with rumours of a move to the Premiership.

However, Emenike then suffered a dramatic loss of form. He was forced to retire from international duties in 2015 after falling out with the National coach due amidst allegations of disrespectful behaviour to his teamates and, most crucially, failing to score in his final 15 matches. After the walking off the pitch incident he left Fenerbahce being farmed out on loan to Abu Dhabi side Al Ain. He has somewhat rediscovered his goalscoring form but undoubtedly represents a massive risk for the Hammers.

All of which makes Nikica Jelavic's rumoured departure to China sound like foolish business. Moreover, Bilic's determination to maintain squad harmony may well be in jeopardy! Tuesday night's game against Aston Villa looks set to provide the first chance to view Emenike. Hammers fans will be hoping for a good showing as his history suggests that even more than most strikers he is a confidence player.

Either way, this signing is unlikely to be boring!