Striker light

Looks like Simone Zaza might be going in a swap deal to Napoli according to press rumours and comments from Simone's dad. West Ham would get Napoli's Manolo Gabbiadini in exchange. The whole Zaza deal has been a disaster so far and the 14-game buying clause has heaped pressure on both the player and club. If we get a loan player again then let's make sure it's for the whole season. And will another Italian striker who will take time to adapt be the answer? 

Meanwhile Diafra Sakho should be fit after the international break and may go straight into the first team at Tottenham according to the Evening Standard. If his head is right then Sakho is the best finisher we have at the club. Last season he appeared to be a young man struggling with too much wealth too soon but we have to hope that a failed move to West Brom and a lengthy spell out with a back injury have concentrated his mind.

Just read that West Ham have signed 32 strikers under Sullivan and Gold and very few have been successes. Demba Ba, Ricardo Vaz Te, Ilan and Diafra Sakho all did a job but we've had a lot of failures such as Benni McCarthy, Mido, John Carew, Sam Baldock, Andy Carroll (through injury not lack of talent), Modibo Maiga, Enner Valencia, Emenike, Zaza and Calleri. Andre Ayew might come good, but the next striker we sign really has to be a success. 

Trumping the Hammers

Strange that the truly seismic shock of Aaron Cresswell finally being called up for England has been eclipsed by some bar-room philosopher becoming President of the United States. Just hope that Barack Obama didn't mention his visit to West Ham to Trumpy and that The Donald hasn't noticed Jack Sullivan tweeting that he was hoping for a Trump victory. I keep having this recurring nightmare of Trump deciding to buy an English soccer club and turning West Ham into the best golf course in E20. Though admittedly we do have the space for it.

We've not got Payet?

A lot has been made in the press of Dimitri Payet's comment to French television: “Will I go in January? I’m asking other questions right now but I’ve closed the door to nothing.” We all hope he stays but West Ham will be to blame if he does leave. Having signed our first world-class player in decades he needed to be convinced that we could follow-up last season's seventh place with another season challenging for the top six and having a tilt at the Europa League. 

What would surely have kept Payet happy would have been to sign a top class striker to benefit from Dimitri's service. We've been unlucky having Sakho and Carroll injured but the new signings have been abysmal. Zaza and Calleri have flopped, while Fletcher still looks raw and none of them has scored a goal. Had the Hammers signed a world-class striker, or even a proven PL scorer such as  Christian Benteke, Payet would surely be a lot happier. At present he's seeing his work go to waste and despite two goals and several assists this season he looks dispirited and it's hard to blame him. 

Bilic must convince Payet that things will change during the pair's crisis talks. Though with rumours of a loan move for Cesc Fabregas (who again would need a decent striker to serve) it's not looking promising.

Adrian's rush of blood costs Hammers

 West Ham 1 Stoke City 1

First off it’s a Hardy-esque journey to Ken’s Café with Michael and Matt, only to find its sacred portals closed. At least the Newham Bookshop is open and the Betway Stand is still standing. So it’s the 330 bus back to Stratford and the Clyde Best Café where Lisa bravely tries the veggie burger and Nigel gets locked in the lavatory as we depart.

Our numbers are down; Fraser and Scott are both ill and Steve the Cornish postman is working —  though Michael suggests that he should just deliver his letters a day late as people move to Cornwall for a more relaxed pace of life. Meanwhile Alison’s back from seeing Pub Landlord Al Murray instead of the Chelsea game and her sister Roz has been at a Laindon golf club function with new besties Billy Bonds and Alvin Martin.

SO BEFORE THEY COME TO BREAK DOWN THE DOOR

The first half is a poor quality game. West Ham look much more difficult to beat with three at the back and Obiang in front of the defence, but also struggle to create against Stoke’s five-man midfield. Lanzini tries a lot of dinked passes but nothing quite comes off while Ayew looks too slight to play the lone striker role.

Kouyate has to make an acrobatic clearance from Walters’ dangerous cross early on. West Ham’s best chance comes from a corner when Grant makes a great save from Ogbonna’s firm header. In added time Payet's free kick goes just over the bar and that’s about it for the first half. The Stoke fans treat us to Delilah and the Christmas onesies on the big screen are quite entertaining.

Bilic has seen enough and brings on Fernandes and Fletcher with half an hour left. Three minutes later West Ham take the lead as Noble feeds Payet on the left and Dimitri’s delicate cross appears to be headed in by Antonio, although his header has taken a deflection of Stoke’s Whelan and it’s credited as an own goal.

JEEPERS KEEPERS

West Ham start to look capable of getting a second until Adrian dashes from his line to try to clear a hopeful pass from Adam. With four defenders back there’s little danger but the keeper fouls Walters and should conceded a penalty — but  ref Andre Marriner plays the advantage allowing Bojan to produce a crisp finish from Walters’ cross.

West Ham’s confidence dips and Fletcher, after producing some neat touches, dwells on the ball too long in a couple of late attacks. The ref tries very hard not to book Joe Allen, much to the outrage of the bloke next to us. At the end Charlie Adam almost wins it for Stoke with a free kick that is rather nervously tipped round the post by Adrian.

“I wish I’d stayed locked in the loo at the Clyde Best Café,” quips Nigel.

The good news is that there’s no crowd trouble and none of our players have been chased by armed motorcyclists.

“It’s starting to feel like a proper West Ham season,” muses Michael as we trudge through the chill air past the riot police guarding the shouting tunnel to Stratford, contemplating a relegation struggle.

Then it’s a pint in the Stratford East Theatre’s Workshop bar and the sobering thought that our next four opponents are Spurs, Man United twice, Arsenal and Liverpool.

PLAYER RATINGS: Adrian 4; Kouyate 6, Ogbonna 6, Collins 6; Cresswell 5, Payet 6, Noble 6, Obiang 6 (Feghouli n/a), Lanzini 5 (Fernandes 5), Antonio 6; Ayew 5 (Fletcher 5).

Boleyn bound

Exciting moment. The first copies of Goodbye To Boleyn have just arrived and the cover looks great. It's published by Biteback on November 15 and was inspired by this very blog. Click on the link for more info…

Andy Carroll chased by armed motorcyclists

Just another day at West Ham. Andy Carroll has been chased by armed motorcyclists (he says they made gestures indicating they had a gun) as he drove home from training. Slaven Bilic thinks he was targeted and says the villains were after Andy's watch and that he is "a brave man". Luckily Carroll managed to drive back to WHU's training ground at Rush Green and alert the police. 

Meanwhile David Edmonds the chairman of the London Legacy Development Corporation has resigned and it's estimated in the Guardian that moving the retractable stands back to football mode in the summer will cost a whacking £8 million instead of £300,000. One thing about supporting West Ham — it's never dull. 

Having a Mayor

Yet more stadium stuff… Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has ordered an inquiry into the spiralling costs of converting the Olympic Stadium into a football venue. It's emerged that the bill has gone up another £51 million to £323 million. And it turns out that Alto Seating Solutions the company responsible for converting the stadium into different modes has gone bust. Instead of costing £300,000 to convert each time the process has to go out to tender, greatly increasing costs. The cost of the roof was also much more than expected. 

Meanwhile the Evening Standard reports that because of the demise of Alto Seating Solutions West Ham won't be able to play at home next season until September as the stadium has to be converted from the World Athletics Championship. 

Long term you do think it might be better if either the landlords sold the stadium to West Ham or abandoned athletics and just rented it for football, rugby and concerts. That way the stadium could be in permanent football mode and there might even be a way of extending the stands closer to the pitch.