EPL Season 2015/2016

[Jim05]

Payet brace gives West Ham a 2-0 win over the Toon

[jakovasaurus]

Payet is a different class.

Would walk into any side in the league at the moment (City maybe the exception)
£11m looking like an absolute bargain of the century, considering what others paid for some players.

[whufc]

Payet is a different class.

Would walk into any side in the league at the moment (City maybe the exception)
£11m looking like an absolute bargain of the century, considering what others paid for some players.

Yep, will be surprised if we can hold onto past this season.

Moses debuted for us last night and looked threatening, first touch and match fitness was slightly off but definitely adds another dimension to us.

WIth Moses, Payet, Sakho, Lanzini, Creswell, Koyaute its the fastest counter attacking i have ever seen from a hammers side.

Wouldnt be often as well that our bench had the quality of James Collins, Andy Carroll, Nicola Jelavic, Pedro Obiang, Michail Antonio and Carl Jenkinson sitting on it. Thats with Alex Song being out as well.

Typically West Ham i could really see us finishing in the top 6 this year.

[jakovasaurus]

I'm praying the fact Payet is 28 and not 22 means teams may keep hands off. That and the two David's will be touching themselves in the shower every night about signing him so they will whack some ridiculous price on him if anyone comes sniffing.

But Yeah, song and valencia to integrate back into the squad soonish. No idea how they all get involved.
Zarate all but gone in January I'd imagine as there's definitely no room for him anymore. And he will sook about it. Amalfitano too, unless he's enjoying training with the youth team too much.

Tomkins was bloody superb again this morning both out of position and when moved to CB. Really hope this is the season he and Noble finally get the call ups they deserve.

[whufc]

I'm praying the fact Payet is 28 and not 22 means teams may keep hands off. That and the two David's will be touching themselves in the shower every night about signing him so they will whack some ridiculous price on him if anyone comes sniffing.

But Yeah, song and valencia to integrate back into the squad soonish. No idea how they all get involved.
Zarate all but gone in January I'd imagine as there's definitely no room for him anymore. And he will sook about it. Amalfitano too, unless he's enjoying training with the youth team too much.

Tomkins was bloody superb again this morning both out of position and when moved to CB. Really hope this is the season he and Noble finally get the call ups they deserve.

Hehehehehe

Im a huge Zarate and Amalfitano fan but unless their work rate increases 100% there simply isnt a spot for them.

It is hard to guess how at full strength Bilic will line the squad up. For away games i think he will stick the current formation but have the two more defensively minded midfielders in Koyuate and Obiang starting where at home he may play two upfront or like last night one up top with the 3 attacking mids, Noble with free reign and Koyuate as the defensive mid field option.

My personal fav is Lanzini, doesnt waste a ball, amazing passing ability

What would be your full strength side? I think mine would be

Adrian

Tomkins, Ogbonna, Reid, Creswell

Koyuate, Song

Moses, Payet, Valencia

Sakho

That makes Noble the obvious unlucky one, at his best his playing simple first time balls and doing the things that go unnoticed like covering good zones at his worse he can be horrible, risky balls, terrible fouls in ridiculous positions, slows the play up to much. Last year was probably an example of that where we saw the best and worse of him. The captaincy seems to have taken him to another level though and his linking up with Payet brilliantly.

Its not an issue we are use to at West Ham

[jakovasaurus]

I like Amalfitano, but he's a loose cannon and if Bilic doesn't want him around the squad that's good enough for me.
Zarate for me is an incredibly lazy hog who plays only for himself.
If he learnt to pass he could be anything. Wouldn't be sad to see him go or stay tbh. Unless he kicks up a stink and causes problems staying and not playing.

As for our best team, yeah **** knows. But what a good problem to have. Apart from left and right back. We have really good depth all over the pitch. (Randolph sure silenced some doubters including myself)

I'd probably go

Adrian
Jenkinson Tomkins Reid Cresswell
Noble Song
Moses Payet Lanzini
Sakho.

That leaves a second team of

Randolph
O'Brien Collins Oxford Ogbonna
Obiang Kouyate
Antonio Zarate Valencia
Carroll

And shit, we've put out infinitely worst first 11s than that in very recent times.

I think Noble has always been thought of as a defensive mid. And he's not. Hence the poor challenges. If he plays further up the pitch he's one of, if not the best passer in our side (when he plays within himself and doesn't Hollywood too much) and I'm a sucker for the fact he walked home from his debut at UP so having as homegrown a hammer as you can get in the side is something I love.

[jakovasaurus]

Just realised that second 11 I named would probably be the most expensive 11 in west ham history too lol.

[therisingblues]

Great win by the Hammers! Highlights on the TV news and everything.
I think our goal difference is now the second best in the league at 11-6. I also don't ever remember us being as high as fifth after the first couple of rounds. I think in the early nineties we started top after a good first up win and then sunk to our usual mid table spot.
I missed a lot of soccer with the virtual non coverage of English premier league in Japan, so what's West Ham's best finish for a season? Also can anyone remember us being this high after 5 rounds?

[Jim05]

Great win by the Hammers! Highlights on the TV news and everything.
I think our goal difference is now the second best in the league at 11-6. I also don't ever remember us being as high as fifth after the first couple of rounds. I think in the early nineties we started top after a good first up win and then sunk to our usual mid table spot.
I missed a lot of soccer with the virtual non coverage of English premier league in Japan, so what's West Ham's best finish for a season? Also can anyone remember us being this high after 5 rounds?

West Ham had that pretty good patch in the late 90's?
Reckon they finished top 10 for 3 or 4 years straight and may have finished as high as 4th or 5th one of those years. Others will know exactly

[jakovasaurus]

Great win by the Hammers! Highlights on the TV news and everything.
I think our goal difference is now the second best in the league at 11-6. I also don't ever remember us being as high as fifth after the first couple of rounds. I think in the early nineties we started top after a good first up win and then sunk to our usual mid table spot.
I missed a lot of soccer with the virtual non coverage of English premier league in Japan, so what's West Ham's best finish for a season? Also can anyone remember us being this high after 5 rounds?

86 we finished third and had a chance to win the league. Those boys still talk about how they let that one slip.

Last year we were fourth at Christmas.

[Bully]

any A league side could be NEwcastle at the moment.

great win by the spammers yes, but the toon are a shambles at the moment. Mclaren will be gone by October

This is after fat man Mike Ashley said at end of last season "we will spend as much as it takes to get us into the top four for the 2015/16 season "

[jakovasaurus]

Only the two Manchester sides spent more than the barcodes in the summer

[therisingblues]

Great win by the Hammers! Highlights on the TV news and everything.
I think our goal difference is now the second best in the league at 11-6. I also don't ever remember us being as high as fifth after the first couple of rounds. I think in the early nineties we started top after a good first up win and then sunk to our usual mid table spot.
I missed a lot of soccer with the virtual non coverage of English premier league in Japan, so what's West Ham's best finish for a season? Also can anyone remember us being this high after 5 rounds?

86 we finished third and had a chance to win the league. Those boys still talk about how they let that one slip.

Last year we were fourth at Christmas.

Back in the days we followed soccer results in tiny print on about page 8 of the sports section.
I have followed West Ham since 1980, when they won the FA Cup. I was 8 at the time and they got a bit of exposure on the TV due to their success. I thought they were a good alternative to Liverpool and Man U who everyone else seemed to follow. It was a bit difficult to keep up with events before the internet though.

[whufc]

I use to ring up a British football hotlin

It would have the scores on there about ten minutes after games and would just a recording that read the scores out in divsion and then alphabet order

Cost about $1 per minute which obviously was a lot back in the 90's

Dad use to let me though coz he was a mad hammer fan

Would then try and catch highlights on the nights news which was rare being west ham

Watched the sbs Monday review show religiously and then bought the British football weekly paper every Wednesday

[Spargo]

I remember back in the early 90's getting home in the wee hours of a Sunday morning, invariably "full as the last tram" and tuning in to the BBC & listening to the late, great James Alexander Gordon read every score from every division.
(sometimes waking up later and forgetting how Southampton went & having to ring channel 9 to find out the results again )

[whufc]

I remember back in the early 90's getting home in the wee hours of a Sunday morning, invariably "full as the last tram" and tuning in to the BBC & listening to the late, great James Alexander Gordon read every score from every division.
(sometimes waking up later and forgetting how Southampton went & having to ring channel 9 to find out the results again )

I use to love the bbc broadcast

Oh oh oh there has been a goal at Upton Park

Nervous pause of silence

And it's been the away sides dominance that has been rewarded with a goal

**** **** ****

[mighty_tiger_79]

Oh the endless nights listening to Sportsworld on a sat night-sun morning.

Was lucky enough to get too listen to the sunday night-mon mornings up until very recently when changed jobs.

When Birmingham beat Arsenal in the final of the Cup I was listening to it while working at the Airport.

noone has ever seen anybody so happy at 4am

[therisingblues]

West Ham have top of the table and yet to conceded a goal Man C away at 5:30 Saturday English time. Anyone know what time that is here?

[Jim05]

West Ham have top of the table and yet to conceded a goal Man C away at 5:30 Saturday English time. Anyone know what time that is here?

That will be the 2am Sunday kickoff

[therisingblues]

Thanks Jim.
Exactly the wrong time for a game to start.
An important game in the context of staying in touch with the top 5. The other sides have easier games, Man U play Southampton and Leicester have Stoke from memory. Arsenal don't play this weekend I think.