Close Encounters of the Tangent Kind

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Deano's back!
2007-07-14 23:36:00
I was just listening to an interview Dean Ashton gave to the BBC after West Ham's first pre-season game away to Dagenham and Redbridge. Deano came on at the start of the second half and got through the 45 minutes unscathed, even though it sounded like he took the brunt of a couple of heavy tackles. Understandably, he was absolutely delighted just to be on the pitch. It's unbelievable to think how long it's been since he broke his ankle in an England training session. Digging around to find out exactly when that was I came across an article on the BBC that reported that he could out for as much as 12 weeks...almost, try 48 weeks. It's great to have Deano back and he was unlucky not to score, hitting the crossbar with a header. The final score was a 2-0 win, with Noble scoring from a free-kick and Ross Smith heading into his own net. The starting line-up was Green, Paintsil, Collins, Gabbidon, McCartney, Reid, Mullins, Bowyer, Etherington, Cole, Hines. With, Ashton, Spector, Faube...
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Tv Ads
2007-07-14 01:28:00
I saw today that Konchesky is off to Fulham and I really didn't have any reaction to the news at all. Well, apart from I wonder if that means we have a new talented left-back coming to the club soon. I thought Pardew had done a smart bit of business picking up Konch but I think perhaps the lack of any real competition started to show in his first season. Once Curbs came on board I think everyone knew that a move was only a matter of time.Anyway, instead I started reading about Getafe getting into trouble for their latest football advert. They have managed to run into a tiny bit of criticism for showing religious imagery, such as Joan of Arc being burnt at the stake, Adam losing a rib, Moses in the wilderness, under the message of they'll all only sacrifice themselves for the team. Seeing as I only seem to pray at the altar of football I have no problems with that at all. It kind of reminds me of the scene in The Commitments when panning up Jimmy's wall, a picture of Elvis is hung...

Benayoun : A tale of three quotes
2007-07-12 21:35:00
Liverpool confirmed today that Yossi has joined them on a four year deal. You have to hope for their sake that it's a better confirmation than ours, after West Ham stated he had signed a new five year deal with us. Oops. What struck me on digging out that article from The Times is the quote from Yossi (May 25th) :I'm very pleased to have agreed this new deal," Benayoun said. "From the first moment I arrived at West Ham, the club felt like home to me. We have the best supporters in England. The natural thing for me was to sign a new deal and I'm very happy because I want to stay at this club. I'm sure we'll have a better season next season because we have players with a lot of quality. We will also have new players coming in to make us stronger and better. I'm very pleased because it is the best place for me.Oh really? But it turns out that we didn't actually get his signature on a piece of paper and he went on holiday instead. No problem though because after speculation that ...
More About: Quotes , Three , Tale , Quote

Possession is nine-tenths of the law
2007-07-11 23:16:00
I think it's a good job that Tevez is away playing in the Copa America otherwise by now I would have the distinct impression that West Ham have him locked away in a broom cupboard somewhere. And so, the next installment of the Tevez transfer saga is unleashed on a weary football reading public. First we had Tevez Wars, and now the League Strikes Back. I'm worried about where we're going to find rock flinging furry creatures for the final episode.Man Utd it turns out have had a lawyer working on a transfer for Tevez for over a month. That one completely blind-sided me considering I had them pegged as having spent their load on Hargreaves, Nani and Anderson. But, it turns out a two year loan deal could be done for somewhere in the region of 10 million pounds. Bugger.What, you may ask, is the problem now? As far as I can tell, after the arbitration action was dismissed, the state of play was : Sheffield United were left unhappy, the league were satisfied, West Ham were holding the r...
More About: Possession , The Law , Tent , E-ten

Radio Gaga
2007-07-10 22:06:00
I love that Jamie Carragher was so incensed by Adrian Durham on talkSPORT?s Drivetime show that he couldn't help but ring in and give him both barrels. If you missed the story I think it's worth reading James Ducker of The Times with 'An apoplectic Jamie Carragher'. Better yet I just found it online:How you can call a player whose played at the highest level a bottler is beyond me. Still, I suspect Carragher's retirement wouldn't have attracted quite so much attention if it hadn't been for the ridiculous 'bottler' comment. The Guardian are even having a poll 'Should Jamie Carragher be allowed to retire from international football?'. I would have prefered the poll to be 'Would you pick Jamie Carragher to play at the back for England over King or Woodgate?' I'm not sure there's an awful lot in it between the three of them.I've always found it difficult to understand a player catergorically ruling himself out of playing for his country, except if the body just can't ta...
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Scotland crash out
2007-07-09 23:17:00
Ah well, after thinking that Scotland might do okay at the Under 20 World Cup they instead went crashing out at the group stage, without winning a game. The mini All Whites didn't fair any better, heading home without a point as well. In case you want to catch up with what's been going on the official site has match highlights for all the games. Freddy Adu got a nice hat-trick against Poland in their 6-1 win. He also showed some lovely skill against the Brazilians, beating two defenders near the corner flag with a superb flick before racing into the box past another defender to get a shot away. Still, I suppose Freddy isn't really a newly discovered talent, but after hearing about him for a couple of years it's easy to forget he's still only 18.The other player that seems to be catching everybody's eye is Gio Dos Santos. He scored the first goal, an absolute beauty, against Gambia in Mexio's 3-0 win. If you believe the hype he's supposed to be the next big thing. He managed ...
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The pursuit of perfection
2007-07-08 20:39:00
I'll freely admit there might be an element of bias concerning my thoughts about the introduction of Hawk-Eye to football. Of course, I'm thinking about Bobby Zamora, Blackburn and a slightly dubious decision to award a goal that had clearly struck Tevez on the line instead of the back of the net. I say clearly because i had the benefit of watching it replayed by the commentary team again and again. Clearly technology that the referee didn't have as he blew his whistle to award the goal. At the time West Ham really needed that goal and that win is probably what kick-started us towards the heady heights of 15th in the table. If I was a fan of any relegated club I'd be more annoyed by that decision than any third party agreement. I believe that goal probably had more to do with keeping us up than any spurious piece of paper.Does it make sense to bring in technology that will slip the football into animated form to see if it crossed the line? Well, yes I suppose it does. Tennis has...
More About: Perfection , Suit

Asking for trouble?
2007-07-08 10:03:00
Admittedly, I might be a bit cranky from being in stuck in a car for most of the day, but I'm not best pleased by the latest striker news. I'm not talking about the ongoing Tevez transfer saga. Unfortunately there's no end in sight with that one and I'm not buying into any of it until the ink is dry on a piece of paper (preferably a legal piece of paper..). No, I'm talking about the news that we've agreed a fee for Craig Bellamy.I don't doubt his ability on the pitch. Bellamy does find the back of the net and I suppose that's all you really want in a striker. I'm just a bit fed up with all the off-field stories that were endured about West Ham during the last season. I'd love to believe that all the headlines we're going to get from this signing will be about brilliance on the pitch, I'm just not convinced.When you also factor in all the stories that tend to whistle around about Curbishley falling out with players I start to get very nervous. Who knows how many trees hav...

The High Court action and summer spending
2007-07-05 22:38:00
It's going to be a bit of a quick post today as I'm heading northwards to Tokoroa for the weekend. First, up Sheffield United are now heading to the High Court . You know I'm sure I remember something to the tune of 'we'll abide by the arbitration panel's decision'. Now, suddenly it's 'we're appealing because that there was something wrong with the arbitration process'... I mean you have wonder just who is going to be making money here. It couldn't be the lawyers could it? I'm not sure where they are going to head next after this. Anyone got the Queen's number?And, then there's the prospect of Tevez going to Man Utd. I really didn't think Man Utd would be spending something like 80 million pounds pre-season. No quotes from either side so I think I'm going to put it down to pure speculation or perhaps a bit of news to stir up the market for Tevez. Man Utd do need to add a striker to the squad but are they really willing to spend so much? It's possible it could be som...
More About: Action , Summer , Spending

Da Silva and Torres
2007-07-05 00:32:00
Although it may sound odd but I'm enjoying it every time one of the Premiership clubs lands a high priced striker. Arsenal and Liverpool signing Da Silva and Torres , respectively, really is music to my ears. When Torres finally put it in writing on a five year deal, the first thought I had was that's 20-27 million pounds (depending on who you read) they can't spend on Tevez. If the reports are true that Arsenal splashed all of the Henry money on Da Silva that's even better. It's widely believed that Kia is only interested in a 20 million plus figure for the little fella so I'm hoping the trend continues or better yet the coffers are beginning to run dry.There are two good articles in the Guardian, the first on Da Silva by Jonathan Wilson and the other on Torres by Sid Lowe, that are worth a read. Putting aside thoughts of diminutive Argentineans for one minute these buys are good for the league as a whole methinks. I was quite saddened to see Henry move across to la Ligua as I...

Arbitration finally over
2007-07-03 22:05:00
It really can't come as a shock to anybody that the arbitration panel dismissed the claim over Tevez. I don't see how the arbitration panel could have queried the process the original panel conducted and from the start it all seemed a hopeless cause for Sheffield United.First, let me say that I can understand how awful relegation is. Been there, done that, brought the novelty trap-door. Once you've been in the Premiership there is nothing worse than leaving it and heading back to the the Championship. I suppose it's understandable that if there is some avenue that could possibly soften the blow by financial compensation or even better an overturning of a decision that's it's natural to go for it. However, this didn't really seem to be the case here and at the end of the day relegation is not the end of the world. All Sheffield United fans have to do is look northwards at Leeds United to see how harsh life can really be for a football supporter.So much has been written about ...
More About: Finally , Fina , Ally , Arbitration

Reo-Coker moving on
2007-07-02 21:51:00
The buzz around Reo-Coker moving to Aston Villa is still being widely reported at the moment. Some say that he was due a medical over the weekend but ultimately it didn't happen because West Ham and Villa still can't agree a fee. I really have mixed feelings about Reo-Coker leaving. I know a lot of people have slated him last season for a complete lack of form or not being interested since January, after all the stories about Arsenal wanting him, or that he's just plain overrated. But, I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet. He's the kind of young player I want to see coming into the club, not leaving. There's always been a bit of hype about his abilities, probably stemming from becoming West Ham's youngest captain under Pardew as well as captaining the England Under-21 team. One thing that's never been in doubt is his engine, he never seems to tire. The question marks tend to be over his shooting and passing (surely something that can be fixed with a bit of coaching)....
More About: Moving , Ving

Julien Faubert
2007-07-01 20:21:00
I'm actually quite excited by West Ham snapping up this French starlet. It has to be said, before yesterday he had only come across my radar because I knew there had been speculation with a move to Rangers. Once we were strongly linked to signing him for 6.1 million pounds, I naturally became curious as to who we were getting. At 23 he's already broken in to the French national side and last season was a regular in a Bordeaux team that finished second, bagging 5 goals. He's been described as 'A strong, pacy and versatile player' and has been primarily playing on the right-side of midfield. Although, he did start off his career as a right-back and I have read a recent quote that he still regards that as his best position.Then I came across this highlights reel :Judging a player from 3 minutes of footage might seem a bit slack on my part but I really do think there's something special about this one. He's definitely capable of crossing from out wide, has genuine pace and an abs...
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FIFA Under 20 World Cup
2007-07-01 01:44:00
I suppose it might be too soon after the U21 Championships to be turning my attention to another competition for tomorrow's talent but the Under 20 World Cup kicked off yesterday. Not that anyone seems to be taking much notice, at least not in the internet circles I tend to read in. Only Jen Chang from Soccernet seems to be interested, giving us the best individual talent, as well as the teams to watch. Unsurprisingly, it's those pesky South Americans who are the ones to watch with Brazil and Argentina bringing strong squads to the party (although Brazil got off to a shaky start losing 1-0 to Poland..). What did surprise me was that England weren't represented in Canada at all, which made me realise I know nothing about how qualifying works for this competition at all. Does England have an under 20 team? Erm no seems to be the answer. It seems like these days Europe send off their top 6 teams from last year's under 19 championship. Which seems a bit odd when all the other region...
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Copa America
2007-06-30 02:48:00
I'd heard that Tevez had scored a good goal after coming on late for Argentina against USA, so I thought I would see if anyone had posted a video. I have to admit this wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I'm guessing it was a disgruntled USA fan who edited the goals, as the America n penalty is put to the music of Rocky and the four Argentinean goals to some circus music.. bizarre? I think so. Amusing? Definitely, as it feels the footage has also been filmed by some handheld camera... heh heh Ah well, it's worth it just to see Tevez's calm finish at the end.Interestingly, the first bit of concrete news about Tevez's future has popped up with it being widely reported that he has decided not to join Inter. Understandably he wants to wait until the Copa America is finished before thinking about anything else and for some reason Inter decided to impose a deadline on a response. If you're serious about signing a player, I don't know why you'd put yourself out of the running by s...

16.5 million for Bent?
2007-06-28 23:16:00
Surely the English transfer market is going to implode at some point if the amount of money flying around for English talent continues. No one can convince me that Carrick was worth 18million and now Bent for 16.5million seems a very high price for Spurs to pay. Not that I'm not admirer of either player, but both have yet to establish themselves into the international team, so where do the prices come from?When you consider that Spurs scored 57 goals in the league last year, I think 10 of those coming from Defoe - do they really need to sign Bent for that kind of money? It might be a prelude to Berbatov moving on, certainly I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't at least a few enquires to his availability after this transfer, but it seems unlikely. It appears that he's content with the prospect of European football next season and why would they want to cash in on him if their ambitions are real? So, Bent for the bench then? All in all I would have thought somebody with a left ...
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Time for kickoff..
2007-06-28 10:30:00
I guess this is mainly going to be a football commentary blog. I've tried to write for several football websites before but invariably it all ends up being reduced to match reporting, and to be honest there's only so much fun you can have there. After awhile it feels like all you are doing is either praising or criticising players and frankly there's more to life.So here I am. I'm not expecting to get an audience or a readership. I think this is more about me trying to make some sort of coherent sense out of the footballing world and the sensationalist journalism that seems to follow it. It definitely feels to me that after reading some of the stories out there recently I've been pushed steadily towards the ranting chasm and these days the edge is disappearing fast behind. If you ever find yourself constantly commentating on websites ranting about articles on a daily basis you'll know what I mean. I suspect this blog will be more like being stuck in a room with an old geezer w...
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