Sunday, August 10

First trophy of the season!

West Ham 1 Lille 1 (West Ham won on pens 5-4) (Boyle Sports Cup)

Well, at least we've reached a cup final. Watching the Boyle Sports Cup on the WHU feed reveals a few pointers on how Potter might approach the season. As on the US tour he's gone for three centre backs and it's good to see Nayef Aguerd back at the club. Generally the defence looks a lot more solid without the Greek Bloke, though with good coaching perhaps Potter can help eliminate the mistakes in Dinos's game.

The downside is that Lille look the better side in the first half and the midfield is outnumbered. Freddie Potts is neat and defends well but doesn't look as yet what we need in the Premier League, while Ward-Prowse goes close with one shot and takes a lot of free kicks but is not really the answer either. Paqueta picks up a silly booking and never gets going as West Ham show a reluctance to play the ball forwards. 

Bowen fires against the keeper's legs but West Ham prove they are still adept at conceding before the break. Wan-Bissaka plays Olivier Giroud onside and the former Arsenal man chests it down to volley home a fine goal.

Things improve a bit in the second half as Diouf and Wan-Bissaka get forward more and the side shows more aggression. Todibo and Kilman make things happen a couple of times stepping up from the back most notably when Kilman's run sets up Bowen to pull the ball wide.

It's a decent test against a side that finished fifth in the French league. Aguerd heads over from a corner. Fullkrug has a header tipped away by Bodart and a training ground free-kick routine sees him fire over. Bringing on Walker-Peters, Rodriguez and Soucek makes a difference.

With three minutes left the big German is not to be denied. Some diligent pressing of the keeper sees Walker-Peters and Bowen win the ball back and feed Soucek, who pulls back for Niclas to score. The cup dream remains on.

In the shoot-out Fullkrug hits the first penalty too tamely, having also had one saved in the Betway Cup last season, prompting Matt to quip that we have signed the only German striker not to be able to take a penalty. Everyone else scores though and it's left to Alphonse Areola, looking increasing like one of the Three Musketeers with his new Barnet and 'tache, to make a couple of smart penalty saves. That will do his confidence some good in the battle for the no 1 spot with Mads Hermansen. Kilman scores his penalty and we've won the cup. 

So a slightly sheepish-looking Jarrod Bowen picks up the Boyle Sports Cup and Diouf gets to pick up a trophy before he's played a league match. The quadruple remains on!

Friday, August 8

Hammers opt for Mads man in goal

West Ham's offer of £18 million has been accepted by Leicester City for goalkeeper Mads Hermansen. The club were said to be about to sign John Victor from Botafogo, though clearly you don't get many Victors at West Ham. The Hammers are opting for a few years of living Danishly with Lucasz Fabianski gone and Hermansen always appeared to be Potter's first choice. He will surely challenge and possibly replace Alphonse Areola. 

Hermansen certainly had a fine game when Leicester beat West Ham 3-1 in Ruud Van Nistelrooy's first game in charge, making great saves from Bowen and Kudus (but then every new signing has invariably done well against us). Mads got plenty of practice with Leicester as they went down with a whimper, but still managed to look a decent keeper. He also played in their Championship winning side. At 25 he's a good age for a goalkeeper and is thought to be better with his feet than the Fonz. 

Meanwhile Michail Antonio has been released, which always seemed inevitable. He was a fading force even before his terrible car crash and it seems unlikely he'll play at the top level again, though it would be nice to see him retained at the club in some other role. Still, we'll always have those carpet-stroking goal celebrations. Antonio at his best was at times unplayable and has been at West Ham since the Bilic season at Upton Park when we finished seventh. He played with the enthusiasm of a man who'd come up from non-league football and really blossomed as a converted striker under David Moyes. No-one ever knew quite what he'd do next, including both fans and defenders. Micky will be missed.

Sunday, August 3

Is signing Wilson awfully wise?

So the free transfer of Callum Wilson has finally gone through. A lot of people seem to be going into social media meltdown over this. Yes we still need a young striker unless Callum Marshall makes the PL grade, but on a one-year-deal and with a contract that is mainly based on pay-as-you-play there's not too much to lose.

The downside is that signing an injury-prone 33-year-old striker who only started two games last season sounds unambitious and like the old West Ham, just content to stay up. Is he the next Danny Ings? There's also the perception that Wilson might be a David Sullivan signing, though Potter seems happy to talk up the worth of Callum.

In the main West Ham should be buying younger players, but if Potter wanted Wilson then he's a proven long-term Premier League goalscorer, a striker who scores every three games, with 132 goals spread over ten seasons at Coventry, Bournemouth and Newcastle (and he'd inevitably score against the Irons). Potter mentioned Danny Welbeck, now 34, whom he took to Brighton as a similarly derided signing and managed to largely keep clear of injury and rejuvenate his career. 

Three seasons ago at Newcastle Wilson scored 18 goals and that was while competing with Isak. If he can stay fit he'll be a good option to bring off the bench, though that if is a very big if at the moment. But goalscoring is the hardest part of the game and if Wilson does stay in one piece then Potter's gamble will have been worthwhile.

The other positive is that West Ham have now had a Pike, Walker, Jones and Wilson on the books. To complete the Dad's Army set all we need is Godfrey, Fraser and Mainwaring. Don't panic!