Moyes is Ready to Rock!

They Say that the bookies rarely get it wrong. With odds as high as 35-1 for a West Ham victory today you'd really have to wonder! Even worse, a 1-0 win is quoted at 90-1, while an 7-0 win for city is just 55-1.

To add further insult, our old mate Paul Once predicts a 5-0 thrashing but revealed he really thinks we could see double figures but doesn't want to be unkind to his old club. Thanks mate!

With Sakho likely to start, it's worth noting that he has been the difference between the sides twice in the past three years - both home and away. A repeat of those 2-1 victories is quoted at 75-1.

While City do look mesmeric of late, it's only 11 vs 11. Moyes has been working on our squad fitness and let's hope it pays off today as we are going to be doing a lot of chasing!

Kick off is 4pm. I've been looking at a Vox A.C. 30 of late. A crisp twenty quid note says Moyes' boys can win it for me!

Let's rock!!!

Hammers Ready to Swoop for Rakitic

Please can I play in your team Mr Bilic...

As the rumours of discontent in the Barcelona camp continue to gather pace, a major focus has been the apparent falling out between manager Luis Enrique and star midfielder Ivan Rakitic. The Croatian dynamo has found himself largely excluded from the starting XI over the past two months and despite putting a brave face on in the media, it is known that his agent is exploring options beyond the Nou Camp with a host of Premiership clubs interested.

Rakitic is an experienced international with over 80 caps and was Croatian footballer of the year in 2015. Although he grew up and represented Switzerland all the way up to U21 level, he was persuaded by Slaven Bilic to declare for Croatia in 2007. The pair enjoyed a successful relationship for five years until Bilic moved into club management in 2012.

Rakitic is now reaching the prime of his career at 28 years old and although his contract runs until 2019 he is reported as deeply unhappy at Barca, with many observers struggling to comprehend exactly why he has fallen out of favour. To add insult to injury, Rakitic was brought on during Tuesday's mauling by PSG in the 73rd minute after the game had ended with the Parisians ahead at 4-0.

West Ham have indicate a determination to bolster their squad this Summer and with the attacking midfield now firing well with Lanzini, Snodgrass, Antonio and Feghouli all offering options, attentions are likely to turn to the engine where Rakitic is a world beater. Moreover, the acquisition of a mobile ball-winning midfielder would free up Cheik Kouyate to return to his previous more offensive role in the side.

With Man City and Chelsea all watching carefully, Hammers fans will be warmed by the reminder that Rakitic has a favourite English club - having revealed in 2015 that he would love to see West Ham win the Premiership. 

As this crazy season continues to unfold it looks like circumstances are moving towards a new Bilic-Rakitic partnership at the Olympic Stadium for the 2017-18 season.






 

Hammers Top of the League....But Who Baked All the Pies?

While the Hammers on-field exploits this season have seen them drift perilously close to the relegation zone, it has emerged that the club are now top of the Premiership table in terms of the cost of the traditional pie on match day!

Hammers Head Honchos, Messers Sullivan and Gold will no doubt be quick to defend the cost of your steak and kidney feast as an important source of much-needed funds to eventually buy a reliable Premiership-standard striker, but our intrepid on-line sleuths at VERYWESTHAM have identified the REAL reason that our match day pies are so expensive.

While there is no guarantee that every pie is lovingly prepared by our popular net minder, Adrian's recent form between the sticks suggests that he may soon have plenty of time to indulge his culinary inclinations as Darren Randolph looks set to usurp Adrian as our first choice keeper. An online poll conducted by the science department at VWH found that two-thirds of fans responding think Randolph should start against Tottenham at the weekend.



The cost of the pies has also likely impacted upon the club's placing in another Premiership League table - the fattest fans ratings. Last conducted in 2010, the Hammers ranked 7th highest in terms of percentage of fans who reported being obese - outweighed by mighty Sunderland, Everton and Man City! No doubt the punitively-high price of pies will have forced Hammers fans to consider foregoing their half-time snack. Interestingly, the table also highlights just how many of the class of 2010 are no longer in the Premiership as nine of those ranked are now departed from the top flight!

For now though, fans can rejoice that our exorbitantly expensive pies ensure that at least in one respect West Ham top the premiership rankings! 



 

Proof: The Referees a Merchant.....Hammers Bottom of Good Fortune League

Time and again we are told that those game changing decisions all balance out eventually. At the end of the day, the best rather than the luckiest sides come out on top. Indeed.

But is that really the case? Few fans would agree, but they are hardly neutral. So what happens when we get the opinions of neutrals using all the technology that is denied to match officials?

The dudes at Teamtalk.com run an ongoing table that monitors key decisions - red cards / penalties etc. It makes for fascinating reading and will do little to quell the paranoia of many fans who believe that the 'bigger' clubs get a disproportionate number of close calls going in their favour! The table shows that the top six 'lucky' sides include an obvious five, along with top of the table Leicester. Hmmm.

As for the Hammers, we are the joint unluckiest team in the Premiership just now with a whopping 80% of key calls going against us. In fact, the teamtalk guys only based their Gestede/Ogbonna decision on the contact that led to the penalty but overlooked the blatantly illegal shirt pull on poor Ogbonna immediately before the contact!

Adjusting for that we are officially the most unlucky side in the league! One can only imagine where we would be in the league if a few of those calls had gone our way!

Let's start a campaign. We demand a fair deal from the match officials or we will refuse to play in the Europa League ever again. Also, maybe Slaven needs to be less 'reasonable' with the referees? Take a look for yourself...