gdp's Comments

West Ham Till I Die : Twelve Things We Learned From the Doncaster Game

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 16:22:49 +0000

The the fact that we're at least not losing when we're bad or indifferent is a good point. Successful teams (whatever level they're playing) get points when they're not playing well. Although we haven't shown much pace or creativity this season we have had some backbone that was missing last season. I don't think we're an average Championship team. It's getting towards the end of the season, the average teams are mid-table.

West Ham Till I Die : Twelve Things We Learned From the Doncaster Game

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 15:17:13 +0000

At the end of last season I wanted the club to sell him, but he's done well this season. He works hard, breaks forward and has a go at the opposition full back. He's not exactly world class but I think he's the best right-sided forward we've got at the moment. Who would you play instead of Faubert?

West Ham Till I Die : Twelve Things We Learned From the Doncaster Game

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 06:15:12 +0000

Indeed. Even more I hope that Faubert is fit for the next game and we never have to find out.

West Ham Till I Die : Twelve Things We Learned From the Doncaster Game

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 05:56:44 +0000

Without Faubert, O'Brien and Vaz Te, would you play O'Neil wide right or someone else? Maybe Lansbury, or back to Collison?

West Ham Till I Die : Twelve Things We Learned From the Doncaster Game

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 03:58:05 +0000

When Collins came on Taylor was able to go forward. I thought it was an improvement but I don't know why it was done that late in the game. Maybe Collins is not fully match fit. Otherwise we could have started with Taylor playing left midfield/wing with Vaz Te on the right. We haven't got a fit right-back at the moment, hence McCartney playing there. Either someone plays out of postion or we recall Jordan Spence from his loan. When Vaz Te went off the team, apart from missing his pace and skill, looked out of shape. I like three central midfielders and one striker, with two out wide. It's been successful this season and it's how we started. When Baldock came on he didn't play wide. We had two strikers and no-one on the left. I would have preferred to see O'Neil come on with Collison on the left, just for the sake of some width and shape. Nolan's scoring so we don't need two strikers as long we can keep the ball and make chances. I think the point of O'Neil is that he's solid, works hard and he's a natural wide player. He's unspectacular but worth having. Collison worked hard today but he's off form. If Collison and O'Neil should both be on the bench, with Faubert, and now Vaz Te, injured, who plays wide right? I would pick O'Neil or recall Freddie Sears. Injuries are causing us problems. O'Brien was missed today, as was Faubert. When Bouba Diop plays in midfield Noble and Nolan can get forward more, likewise with Reid in defence and Tomkins in midfield. I hope Vaz Te's injury's not too serious, but he's had injury problems in the past. http://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/hibs-signi.... The Telegraph, Independent and West Ham site are reporting it's a hamstring problem. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competi... http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/footb... I still think we'll get promoted.

West Ham Till I Die : As I Wasn't Saying Yesterday... Olympic Lease Could Be Good News

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 15:19:15 +0000

I've thought the stadium move through so many times from so many angles I'll just be glad when this is finished with and we can concentrate on the football. It reminds me of the Parker saga in that respect. I was initially against the move, once it came down to us or Spuds I brought myself round to the idea. I've been through the pros and cons each way, so now I'll be happy either way. Either we get to stay at our home, maintain the history with the area and the soul of the club is not put a risk, or we get a spanking new, great big stadium which could potentially move the club nearer to the big boys of the Premiership. There's enough good in either outcome for me to look on the bright side either way. Having said that, God knows what goes on behind closed doors during this sort of thing and, as Iain says, I'm sure there's there's more legal wrangling and skulduggery to come.

West Ham Till I Die : Should Freddie Sears play wide or as a second striker?

Tue, 2 Aug 2011 22:50:57 +0000

I think Sears is well suited to either position, but I'd like us to play a 4-3-3 to I'll say he should play as a wide player. I'm a big fan of Sears. He's quick, willing and able to run at defenders, and he can finish chances as well. The wide players in a 4-3-3 need to be able to cover the opposition full-backs, something that wasn't being done when Grant played 4-3-3 with three strikers, and something that Sears can do. What Sears lacks in size he makes up for in tenacity, although of course he can chase down and tackle if he's in the middle too. It's great to see Sears begin to prove his doubters wrong and I hope to see him get a lot of playing time this season.

West Ham Till I Die : Obinna Available on a Free, and Could Hitzlsperger Be the New Lucas Neill?

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 19:00:32 +0000

Fair enough, I thought it was funny. It occurred to me that another religious song, 'Bread of Heaven', gets used a lot as well, as in 'You're not singing, you're not singing, you're not singing any more' etc Just out of pointless curiousity, what to Man U fans put in instead of 'Kumbaya', or 'Demba Ba' ?

West Ham Till I Die : Obinna Available on a Free, and Could Hitzlsperger Be the New Lucas Neill?

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 03:57:35 +0000

I agree that Tomkins and Da Costa can do a good job, I just hope that they are not just fit enough to play but match fit and up to speed as well. If they are fit and on form they will be good enough. Tomkins in particular has been a success story in an otherwise bad season. He makes mistakes as any young player does, but overall he's done well and is an excellent prospect.

West Ham Till I Die : Obinna Available on a Free, and Could Hitzlsperger Be the New Lucas Neill?

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 03:41:21 +0000

I've been critical of Obinna due to him giving the ball away too much and whacking too many shots in to the stands, but I agree he's 'worth a punt on a free transfer'. If he can start playing more for the team he'll be well worth having. I think the team really clicked with Hitzlsperger in there. I think that Grant has wanted to play a three man midfield all season but we haven't had the players to do it. Parker, Noble and Hitz in the middle with Jacobsen, and particularly Bridge, coming forward from defence is good by anyone's standards. Hopefully it will able to take the pressure off the central defensive area and provide a platform for the forwards, an area that looks much better with the additions of Keane (when he's fit) and Ba. The table has looked bad all season, but for the whole season it's been close. It looks bleak, but there is still hope. p.s I thought singing 'Demba Ba' to the tune of 'Kumbaya My Lord' was brilliant :)

http://weloveyouwestham.blogspot.com/ : Back row view for the Olympic stadium (VIDEO)

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 15:42:54 +0000

Is this the back of the stadium at 80,000 seats? If so the back row will be closer than the view in the video when it comes down to 60,000. I agree that's still a decent view for the back row of a big stadium. The mention of 'steep' seats makes me think that the atmosphere could still be good and retractable seating is viable. Nice one for putting this up.

West Ham Till I Die : The Folly of Leaving Matches Early!

Sun, 13 Feb 2011 23:39:53 +0000

Good overview of the current position. I can just about understand it when fans leave early as a bad game can be so depressing and frustrating, but I've never done it myself. I have to see the whole match. Injuries in the defence have come at a terrible time, although it would have hurt us at any stage. A leaky defence has been blown open. My confidence has been a lot lower since the Birmingham game but it's still close. I think all three bottom places will come down to the last one or two games of the season. Dicks coming back would certainly liven things up and give people a lift. I don't mind the fact that Grant keeps his emotions under control but it means that we need personalities like Downes and Dicks in the set-up as well. I think it's a shame that the FA Cup gets talked down by some people. When we played Notts Forest the players had a go and their fans filled up the Trevor Brooking stand and made plenty of noise. I'm looking forward to the Burnley game.

West Ham Till I Die : West Ham Twitter Directory

Sun, 13 Feb 2011 17:23:26 +0000

Thanks for including westhamutdnews Iain. Here's a few more (I can't guarantee they're real, but as far as know they are) Players @dembabafoot @Win_Reid @CTANO11 @pablitobarrera Journalists @JacobSteinberg @DanSilverMirror

West Ham Till I Die : Farewell to the 'Theatre of Football,' but the Fans Must Be Onside!

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 03:56:17 +0000

Lots of good points made about the recent and more distant history of the issue and the drawbacks and opportunities for progress. The points about the ambition of the club are very well made. I came round to the move after it became clear that Tottenham are serious about moving in. It's come down to us or them. Any talk of an ideal solution with retractable seats, or a 25000 seat athletics stadium and neither us nor Tottenham moving in, or no track and a redeveloped Crystal Palace is now irrelevant to my opinion. (I'm not knocking SJ for discussing that, going through the options and issues in the article is worth doing). Tottenham moving in to our area would be a disaster for us. Neutrals and new arrivals to the area would be attracted to them. We would miss out on bigger crowds and the youth team may be damaged by kids in the area growing up wanting to play for them. It's a huge risk, but it could turn out to be the shot in the arm the club needs.

West Ham Till I Die : BBC: Hammers Get Olympic Stadium

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 00:56:55 +0000

The reason I switched to being in favour of the move was that it became obvious that Spuds were serious about moving in. If Spuds move in with Champions League football it would be a huge missed opportunity to re-engage with the local people and attract bigger crowds. I'm not suggesting that anyone would switch sides, but neutrals and people that move into the area might well be attracted to it. The thought of kids in East London growing up wanting to play for Spuds seems very very wrong, and could potentially damage the youth system we have. And their plan makes it look like a shopping centre http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12_03/2018Spu...

West Ham Till I Die : BBC: Hammers Get Olympic Stadium

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 00:38:22 +0000

Good point, it won't be official until the meeting on Friday

West Ham Till I Die : Guest Post by Theo Theodosiou: Piquionne's Sending Off

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 15:30:32 +0000

The main point for me is not that he was booked for running in to the crowd, but he was booked earlier for kicking another player. Players sometimes celebrate with the crowd and get booked but they don't get sent off because they didn't get themselves booked beforehand. I agree with Wembley1980. West Ham is supposed to be a decent club. I am appalled by the fact that we seem to have two strikers (following on from Obinna's display against Birmingham) who, at least in the heat of the moment, seem to think it's ok to kick opposing players. This is on top of the shocking lack of professionalism of leaving the team to cope with ten men and leaving us with a reduced squad when they get suspended. Referees don't get to use discretion as much as they used to. It's not their fault, they get told to rigidly apply the rules and have referees assessors sitting in the crowd or watching videos afterwards. They're just doing they're job, just like the rest of us when we go to work and have to follow rules set down by someone high up the company who doesn't understand the situation on the ground and doesn't let us use our own judgement.

West Ham Till I Die : West Ham 2 Birmingham 1: Spector-tastic!

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 06:09:44 +0000

Excellent win. We needed to take a lead to the second leg and we've done it. The main thing for me today, apart from the result, was that our two best players (in my opinion) were home grown - Tomkins and Noble. Both of these players have had good seasons and I think it's no coincidence that when the club faces hard times it's these players (along with Parker and Green) that have shone through. Team selection: Grant is only partly responsible for the team selection, the rest is down to who's available. Ben Haim's gone back to Portsmouth, Ilunga's injured, so the back-four that played was the only viable option. More talented players are more versatile. Reid has done well in the middle, Upson has to adapt, playing out of position. I don't know what has happened to Gabbidon recently, perhaps injured, perhaps on he's way out. Grant deserves credit for the substitutions. Much like the Barnsley game we lost the initiative and the subs helped turn that around. Formation/tactics: Grant likes to play 4-5-1 when we don't have the ball, changing to 4-3-3 when we have possession. Doesn't always work (the wide attacking players get pinned-back by the opposition, leaving our striker isolated) but it did today. We don't have good enough players to be able to press the team all over the pitch, so by stringing five across midfield, with four behind, the only ways the opposition can score are individual defensive errors, set pieces, or playing like Barcelona. Man of the Match: I agreed with the official choice, Tomkins, although Noble, Spector and Reid were also on good form.

West Ham Till I Die : A 'Footballing Epipthany' for Victor Obinna?

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 06:01:18 +0000

Since he came to West Ham he's looked good at times but the end product is usually woeful. Either he passes it to the opposition or he whacks it in to the stands. Kicking another player just tops it off. He has it in him to be a good player with the right coaching, but we have our own young players. We can produce quality, we need to buy experience. This is one of those things where I hope I'm wrong. I'd love it if he sorts himself out and does well.

West Ham Till I Die : For Once Lady Luck Smiles on West Ham

Sun, 2 Jan 2011 23:31:17 +0000

I'm very very pleased to see Sears in the team and doing well. I think he's come in for a lot of unjustified criticism which might stem from impatience and frustration with the more senior players in the squad. He seems to have gained a lot from a well-received loan spell at Scunthorpe. Sears is a local boy who has risen through the ranks, scored on his debut, had a successful loan spell, and now has a lot to offer the first team. I'm not saying he's the second coming, and he still has to prove himself, but I will give him my full support because it's players with talent and a story like his that make me proud to be a West Ham fan.