KUMB is pleased to announce that we've teamed up Bubbles, the newest and freshest Hammers fanzine to hit the streets on match days. As a result we'll be swapping articles from time to time, plus you can catch all of the match reports from KUMB on the pages of Bubbles.
Potential Cup winners?Every time I say it I think to myself 'but this is West Ham!' Yet we have overcome some serious odds and we've got ourselves into a very good position in the cup. The Scum are next - for those who don't know who I mean it can only be Tottenham. After beating Man Utd and Sunderland away we now have a quarter-final home tie against Spurs. What a day that is going to be.
Emotions will be running as high as ever come March 11th, where we're on TV for the third game running - maybe it's TV that is good luck? Or maybe it's just the fact that we're playing like a different team in the cup and looking like we could even (do I dare say it?) win the thing.
I was just as impressed with the Sunderland performance as the Man Utd one. Sunderland had only lost one at home all season until we came along. We looked like we were more up for it from the very start and we deserved every bit of our result. It was also fitting after missing so many chances that Freddie would come up with the winner from a more difficult opportunity. The crowd again were out of this world. It makes me so proud to be a Hammer when I see the team play well and the supporters there in their thousands.
Is it me or has Frank been playing really well? The criticism seems to have died down now that he is playing. And wasn't
it great to see him come on for England and set up two goals? He looked like the player that we always hoped and knew he could be. It was just a pity Joey Cole didn't play some part in the game. But he was carrying an injury so it was probably a
wise decision I hope he's fit for today.
On the subject of today - we've got no Paolo and as you should know by now we win very few games without him so it makes it extra difficult in beating an Arsenal team who will be looking to make amends after their joke of a performance against Man Utd - they should have watched the video of us!
Anyway back to Frank - He did really well at Bradford too, getting our two goals in a match that we made hard for ourselves (as we always do). We looked quite good and apart from Camara it was a good team performance.
It was great to see Suker make a return - he's been out for a while now but I still think that he is a great goal scorer and will get us goals if he is given the chance in the first team. Camara is useless - why try and deny it. There's no point in all this 'give him a chance thing' - he'™s crap - plain and simple. He couldn't score in a brothel. He needs to do something spectacular to get me on his side (like have a good game!).
Why Harry persists in giving him a game I don't know. Play Suker - he can play the game.
Viking the club in Norway who we've got Hannu Tihinen from are taking the p*ss, aren't they? I mean, they now want £4m for him. They're trying to take us for a ride and I don't blame the board for not paying it. I don't believe he's worth that. But there's not much chance in me backing the board after what they did with the Tottenham tickets - I mean putting the top price on them - that's the thanks we get for our support in the previous rounds. I knew they'd try anything to get back some money from the free coach thing. Nice one Mr Brown.
It's a big London week for us with Arsenal today, Chelsea on Wednesday and the Totts next Saturday. The cup game is the one I want to win the most out of them all. The cup is the only thing we've got to play for.
I was impressed with England on Wednesday. I thought it was quite a professional performance and to win 3-0 against Spain is never bad. It was a good match to try out some new players - Chris Powell seemed to do well which was good to see. Rio and Sol Campbell at the back in the defence - I always said England should have been playing them. Maybe Mr Eriksson will see this and play them both. I feel he's going to pick teams that win - not teams that everyone likes to see and not teams where he's a mate of the players.
He's going to pick teams that play good football and win games. But it will take time as England are no world beaters - they need to get their formations sorted out and get a balance of young and experienced players.
Thoughts go out to Bobby Moore. When you reflect on what he has done for football and West Ham it makes more sense to retire his number 6 shirt. It really would be a fitting tribute to him as he will never be forgotten (except by the official site who let the anniversary of his death pass without even a mention - ed).
If/when we beat the Totts there won't be another league away game for some time (Newcastle, around Easter I think). So hopefully Bubbles should be out then.
Next time I write I hope we're In the Final and in a decent league position.
Come on you Irons ...
Vinny Ryan
Noels View
After the Man Utd game I was thinking to myself 'was this just a one off?' When I saw Sunderland were the team up next in the Cup I was a little worried. But it turned out that I couldn't have been more wrong, and we got a fantastic result against a team who had only lost once at home all season.
I really do think that our name is on the cup and I don't care who we play as I think we are capable of beating anyone. And Spurs are just going to be next.
In the league it was good to finally get a win against Bradford. We haven't been having a great time of it in the league and it was our first win since Boxing Day. We've got Arsenal and Chelsea next and they're both going to be very tough. Hopefully we can get through these games with as many points as possible.
It was great to see Joe, Michael and Frank get into the England side. It just confirms what we've all been saying about our youngsters and the quality they can bring to the national team.
So from now on all concentration should be on the FA cup. If we can win that we'll be in Europe and have a trophy - What more could we want?
Noel
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