Could've, should've

It should not have come to a late chance on the wrong side for Scott Parker for West Ham to beat Reading on Boxing Day at Upton Park. Parker tried to get the ball onto his stronger right foot and was unable to reproduce the magic that brought the Hammers a 2-1 win on Saturday at Middleborough. Instead, West Ham had to settle for a 1-1 draw against a Reading side that played 10 men for an hour.

I watched the Boxing Day match at the Globe, and I was chatting with someone about the game afterwards as I finished my pint of Beamish (I had but two pints -- it was a 7 a.m. kickoff). My theory is that, with the injuries that West Ham have, they are more comfortable playing on the road because they aren't expected to bring the game to their opponent. They are able to defend and counterattack, with little pressure to create early chances. At Upton Park, they have to push the play, and when they don't, the home fans get on them and the opposition gets a little wind in their sails that they aren't on the back foot. Given the lack of creativity and pace available to the side right now, it's tough for West Ham to be the offensive aggressor.

As happy as I am that Dean Ashton is back and close to full fitness, and as encouraged as I am by the improved play of Carlton Cole, the Hammers miss Craig Bellamy's pace and touch at striker. On the left wing, they had Matthew Etherington and Luis Boa Morte get injured at nearly the same time leaving them to play Freddie Ljungberg there. Ljungberg, at this point, is not a 90-minute player any longer. He has little left in the tank. As the guy that I was talking to Wednesday morning said, when Arsene Wenger lets a player go, there's a good reason. The Hammers, as I mentioned below, also miss Lee Bowyer and his ability to get forward and make timely runs into the penalty area. The other position that has been hit with multiple injuries is centre half. Anton Ferdinand has been out long-term, and then, just as James Collins was returning to fitness, Danny Gabbidon got hurt. Collins soon followed Gabbidon back to the physio's room, leaving Jonathan Spector, a natural fullback, to play centre half. Spector has had his good and bad moments in the two matches that I have watched him play in the middle of the backline. He conceded the free kick that led to 'Boro's goal in the 2-1 win at the Riverside, and he also was one of a few Hammers who could have, but didn't, mark Jeremie Aliadiere on the ensuing set piece. Aliadiere headed back for David Wheater to knock it home. Thankfully, Spector is playing alongside Matthew Upson, who has been a rock for West Ham this term -- he and Robert Green are the only Hammers to play every minute in the Premiership.

It was very frustrating to watch West Ham play with little urgency going forward against 10-man Reading, even though I understand the personnel limitations. Ashton was a step slow all day, and maybe I should have expected that, as Ashton was playing his second match in five days after having been injured for much of the past 16 months. (Ashton did have a goal-of-the-week quality strike for the equaliser against Middlesborough.) Cole, back from a hip injury, was the better striker on Boxing Day. Perhaps he wasn't able to continue any longer, but I would have preferred to see Henri Camara come on for someone other than Cole -- say Ljungberg. With Reading on 10 men, I think that West Ham could have risked playing 4-3-3 for 20 minutes at the end of the match. I suppose Alan Curbishley didn't want a repeat of the opening match of the season, when West Ham played 4-3-3 at the end as they chased the game against Manchester City and watched the Sky Blues score again to go up 2-0. This time, of course, there was already a point in hand, but there was also a man advantage. Getting back to Cole, he made a nice run that fizzled out but set the stage for Nolberto Solano to score the first goal of the Reading match. Unfortunately, the Hammers couldn't find another moment of brilliance like Parker's at Middlesbrough.

Not sure I'd enjoy that

As I was enjoying that pint of Beamish Wednesday morning, Manchester United were demolishing Sunderland on Wearside, scoring three in the first half on the way to winning 4-0. The match was featured in the back room of the Globe, and the Red Devil fans filled the room. West Ham had been on back there, but I moved to the front bar a few minutes after the second match began. The first two goals brought polite clapping from the back room. They were rather pedestrian goals for Manchester United. The third goal brought a more lively response, and watching the replay, I could see why, as Cristiano Ronaldo had curled in another perfect free kick from just outside the penalty area. The Man U fans were, relative to the first two goals, going crazy this time. They had twice as many fans back there, but the noise sounded half as loud as we Hammers fans were when Nolberto Solano scored to put the Hammers up 1-0 earlier in the morning. I likened the Man U reactions to a golf clap. Maybe I would feel differently if I supported Manchester United and got used to so much winning, but I hope I'm always moved a lot more than that by a West Ham goal. I hope I'm stirred that way a couple of times on Saturday against the Red Devils themselves as Carlos Tévez marks his return to Upton Park, but I'm not optimistic.

Doubly bad

I was crushed as I listened to Everton's late winner in the League Cup over West Ham at Upton Park. I had been eagerly awating extra time when Yakubu took advantage of a real howler to score the winner in a 2-1 Everton victory. It's simple why I was so disappointed: It was their best chance. The bigger clubs just don't concern themselves as much with the League Cup as they do the FA Cup. Just look at this chart put together recently by the Daily Telegraph:

Year	FA Cup	League Cup
2007	Chelsea	Chelsea
2006	Liverpool	Man Utd
2005	Arsenal	Chelsea
2004	Man Utd	Middlesbrough
2003	Arsenal	Liverpool
2002	Arsenal	Blackburn
2001	Liverpool	Liverpool
2000	Chelsea	Leicester
1999	Man Utd	Tottenham
1998	Arsenal	Chelsea

Four out of the last 10 League Cup winners came from outside of the Big Four -- I mean, Leicester won it in 2000. Sure, they were in the Premiership then, but still. I really, really liked the idea of West Ham playing a two-legged semifinal tie in the League Cup. Unfortunately, they were not at anything close to full strength when they ran into one of the hottest teams in the Premiership in Everton, a team that also is desperate for a trophy, unlike the Big Four.

Regarding that terrible goal that gave Everton their 2-1 win, I think the best way to look at it is as a failure of Robert Green, Danny Gabbidon and Matthew Upson, collectively. It was a long ball that none made a good, decisive play on. I agree that the centre backs caused the problem by failing to deal with a ball that they should have easily cleared, either up the pitch or at worst over the touchline. That said, Green, again, has to be more decisive when coming out for balls at the far third of his penalty area. He can't keep coming up short, especially if he hopes to play for England. It's a shame that Gabbidon made this mistake, because I've been re-evaluating my opinion of him. Here's what I was writing about him during and after the Blackburn game:

I have been kind of tough on Gabbidon. But he was very, very steady all day long, and he's finally got enough confidence to make clearances instead of just putting everything over the touchline or byline. He made a confident reversal with a man on him to clear down the pitch in the dying minutes of regular time.

My friend James and I were emailing about Fabio Capello after he was hired. (Quick verdict on Capello: Good hire, and thank God, because I'm tired of hearing about the England national team.) We also discussed the League Cup loss and the (at the time) upcoming Premiership immediate rematch with Everton, and he asked my opinion. Here's what I had to say:

I saw the replay of the Everton winner on Fox Soccer Channel's nightly Report program. Awful. I blame the centre backs as much as Green. Green would have stayed on his line if the two centre backs had dealt properly with the ball in the first place. He came late because they didn't do what they needed to do, and that's how mishaps like this seem to happen, in my limited experience watching football.

The problem for West Ham is goal scoring, of course. They are short-handed at striker and don't have enough creativity in the midfield to make up for it. I never thought I'd say this, but getting Lee Bowyer back would help some -- at least he makes runs at the appropriate time to take passes from the centre forwards. Bellamy could help more, if he can get fit and not pout when he's on the pitch. (Bowyer and Bellamy seem to have permanent snarls on their faces. As long as they aren't giving too much stick to the referee, I kind of like that about them, although I'd prefer a stone-faced midfielder who can create chances over either of them.) Green will need to keep a clean sheet for West Ham to win, I think.

Incidentally, it was interesting that on the weekend after the League Cup loss that two of the best keepers in the Premiership -- Petr Cech of Chelsea and Edwin van der Saar of Manchester United -- made some mistakes on crosses. For Cech -- regarded by some as the greatest keeper in the world, not just the Premier League -- it cost his side the game, as his misjudgement of Cesc Fabregas's corner kick allowed William Gallas to head home the only goal of a 1-0 Arsenal victory at the Emirates Stadium. I wasn't able to watch either Everton match. The League Cup tie wasn't televised in the United States, unless I missed something. It ran up against Matchday Six of the Champions League, which may have taken up all the satellite options. The 2-0 deafeat in the Premiership was available on satellite, but I couldn't watch it, as TMG and I were traveling for my cousin's wedding in Toronto. Just as well, probably, eh?

He would say that, wouldn't he?

I don't know how much help Robert Green had with this article, but Green wrote an impressive ode to the selection of Fabio Capello as England manager. Obviously, Green hopes to be called into the side by the new manager. I still thought it was well written and reasoned. I think it was particularly interesting to read Green's descriptions of being in the England camp for training -- especially that he has spent more time training at left-back than at keeper.

Eggy steps down, sells stake

There's a baseball writer in Chicago who frequently -- too frequently in my opinion -- uses allusions to movies and television shows in his articles. These references are a stretch in most cases, as far as I am concerned. TMG has heard me complain about him many times. So I feel a bit hypocritical in writing that Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson's moves to buy out Eggert Magnússon's stake in West Ham and take greater control of the operations of the club remind me a lot of the movie Fargo. Maybe it's just all the Scandinavian names.

In Fargo, as you may recall, Jerry Lundegaard (brilliantly played by William H. Macy) is a bumbling car salesman who tries to cover his losses at the dealership owned by his father-in-law (I thought that I had forgotten what led to those losses, but IMDB says that the losses are never explained in the movie) by hiring two men to kidnap his wife, with the idea that he will pay them off and keep the rest of the ransom money. When it comes time to give the money to the kidnappers, the wealthy father-in-law, Wade Gustafson, and his right-hand man, Stan Grossman, tell Lundegaard that they'll be handling the rest of the deal.

I couldn't help think of this turn of events as I read the stories -- particularly the ones in Friday's paper that followed up on the scoop by Jason Burt of the Independent -- that told of Gudmundsson's concern at the reckless wages granted by West Ham under Magnússon. (It's only partially because his name is Swedish that this makes me think of Freddie Ljungberg.)

The Guardian reported in Friday's edition:

But a number of decisions [Magnússon] took as chairman, most particularly in player-wage negotiations, did alarm Gudmundsson and may be considered to have contributed to his departure.

The Times's Friday story also suggests that Magnússon was too free with the wages:

It is believed that his handling of the Carlos Tévez affair, culminating in the Argentina forward's sale to Manchester United, did not impress fellow members of the board. Neither did the glut of new players signed this year, many of whom were handed lucrative contracts in the region of £70,000 a week.

Burt reported that Gudmundsson will invest £30.5 million in the club, not for the transfer kitty, but on new training facilities and the expanded scouting network that Gudmundsson wants. Other reports suggested that the money would also go towards the planning and development of West Ham's proposed new 60,000 seat, £250 million stadium on the Parcelforce site near the West Ham tube stop.

The Times also mentions that West Ham are looking to hire a technical director, something that has been reported before. Manager Alan Curbishley will have great say over this hiring, the Times says, and it will be clear that the technical director has no say over the first team, the report says.

From a wire story on the changes:

Gudmundsson has appointed his trusted aide Asgeir Fridgeirsson as vice-chairman and Mike Lee, the former Premier League, UEFA and London 2012 Olympic bid communications director, to be a board member.

The new board will comprise: Gudmundsson (chairman), Fridgeirsson (vice-chairman), Lee, Thor Kristjansson, Gudmundur Oddsson with executive directors Scott Duxbury (chief executive) and Nick Igoe (finance director).

In the Telegraph, David Bond writes that the moves ensure that Gudmundsson has a much tighter control over the club. It dissolves three boards who oversaw the various goings on at West Ham with a single board. Perhaps I don't understand exactly how these football PLCs are set up, but I have to wonder how much of a difference it makes when one man increases his stake from 95% to 100%. Wasn't Gudmundsson already in full control? I supposed that these moves may further cement his direct involvement with the club, especially with the appointment of his right-hand man, Fridgeirsson.

I'll say this: If Gudmundsson's ambitions are to be met, then players like these two will have to be bought and kept by West Ham, rather than snatched out of the club as soon as they "prove" that they can play in England.

Not that impressive, really

It was a few days after the fact, but I finally got around to watching Everton's tie last week at Goodison Park against Zenit St. Petersburg in the UEFA Cup. I wanted to watch it as a preview of West Ham's two matches this week against Everton at Upton Park: Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the Carling Cup and Saturday in the Premiership. Everton beat Zenit 1-0, and it wasn't the most impressive display for the Toffees. Zenit played 10 men for about an hour, and yet, they had nearly as many chances going forward as Everton. Playing at home against a 10-man side, Everton seemed tentative attacking. Given how tightly West Ham are playing at the back of late, I like their chances this week. Everton, unlike the three top sides in the Carling Cup final eight (only Manchester United among the top four has been eliminated), are going to be taking this one seriously.

West Ham have been taking the League Cup seriously, too. Will manager Alan Curbishley be taking the cup tie seriously enough to start Robert Green for the first time in the Carling Cup this year? Curbishely won't say. Freddie Ljungberg is expected to be back for the match, taking the place of Nolberto Solano, who is cup-tied and therefore ineligible. I was disappointed to find out that this match does not seem to be available on TV anywhere in the U.S. The match was moved up a week before the rest of the Carling Cup quarterfinals to accomodate Everton's UEFA Cup match next week.

Dec. 12 also marks one year since Curbishley joined West Ham as manager two days after the dismissal of Alan Pardew. Besides a good League Cup run, Curbishley seemingly would be happy with a nice, quiet season with a mid-table finish. I'd love to see more, but I can't say a solid 9th or 10th in the Premiership would be so bad. I have my own anniversary regarding West Ham coming up on Dec. 17. A year ago on that date, I happened to catch the end of West Ham's 1-0 win over Manchester United at Upton Park, which was Curbishley's first match at the helm. That 15 minutes or so that I saw are what hooked me on football in general and West Ham in particular. For the first five months or so, I wasn't sure that was a good thing.

I have a ton of notes on the Blackburn game, but I haven't organized them into a post. I hope to get to it soon.

Style conscious

The West End of London is the stylish side of town, and Roman Abramovich expects style out of his £300 million side. Abramovich's expectations led to the sacking of José Mourinho earlier this year and was replaced by avuncular Avram Grant. The Israeli manager was supposed to bring beautiful football to Stamford Bridge, but outside observers don't see it that way, and it wasn't any different when West Ham crossed London for the early game Saturday.

The Guardian and the Independent both sided with Alan Curbishley's view that the "new" Chelsea isn't any more stylish than the old, very successful one. After the game, Curbishley said that not much has changed under Grant, but that he got some of his big players back (Frank Lampard and John Terry), Didier Drogba's hot and Grant just told them to "get on with it." The Independent's Sam Wallace also disagreed with Grant's claim that West Ham did nothing but defend in their 1-0 loss at the Bridge. Wallace put it down to poor finishing from Carlton Cole and substitute Dean Ashton that West Ham didn't get a point.

I did not watch the match. It was a 6:45 a.m. start here, and it was also TMG's birthday. Frankly, it's hard to imagine me hauling myself out of bed early enough for that match anyway, but there was simply no way that I could justify waking TMG up for a match at that hour on her birthday. I saw the highlights of the match on my recording of the Aston Villa-Arsenal match (a heck of a first half in that one, but I knew the score when I watched it, so I skipped the second half). The highlights were very Chelsea-centric, and that's no surprise, as once or twice a week I see someone walking around downtown Chicago wearing a Chelsea track jacket or something else in blue with "Samsung" across the front. All of that is a long way around of saying that I saw very few West Ham chances, so I can't confirm or disagree with Wallace's contention. I saw a couple involving Nolberto Solano and one involving Luis Boa Morte.

Wallace also slipped in a dig at Ashton, saying he was the size of a linebacker rather than a centre forward. Being so new to watching the game, and especially the EPL, I don't know what Ashton looked like before his injury. I never saw him play before this season. But even to me, he does look rather large in the upper body these days. A player like Craig Bellamy is fairly ripped, too, but not as bulky as Ashton. Perhaps he overdid the upper body workouts while his leg was immobilized.

As to Grant's claim that West Ham deserved more yellow cards, both the Times and the Telegraph suggested that John Mikel Obi's challenge on Scott Parker in the first half was the most vicious of the match.

West Ham remain 10th in the table and take on Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Sunday. Blackburn are coming off a 3-1 dismantling of Newcastle and have the week off from UEFA Cup action. I'll get to watch this one, as it's on Fox Soccer Channel. It also pits my side against the one favored by my friend BT, who would be better described as a Brad Friedel fan. They both grew up in the Cleveland area.

Going, going...

West Ham manager Alan Curbishley reportedly wants to thin out the squad a bit in the January transfer window and is no longer interested in summer targets Eidur Gudjohnsen and Adriano. Besides the fact that Adriano doesn't want to come to the East End, why wouldn't West Ham want him? Curbishley likes the atmosphere inside the club, apparently, and that's nice, but the Irons have scored 19 goals in 14 Premiership matches. Yes, their top strike partnership of Dean Ashton and Craig Bellamy have both been out for much of the season, but, when healthy, neither one of them is a fit Adriano. Again, it's a moot point, because Adriano doesn't want to come to West Ham anyway.

Even without reinforcements coming in, one striker could be on the way to Fulham, the Independent report said:

Which of...
West Ham's strikers
Is sought at the Cottage?
That's Zamora.

Yeah, I'm not a song writer.

Before my time

The Times posted a list of the greatest matches in West Ham history. They are all well before I started watching, although the run-in last season was mentioned by one of the readers who posted a comment.

That's Spurstainment!

I greatly enjoyed this article/column on Tottenham Hotspur by David Hytner of the Guardian. I watched all three of the Spurs matches covered in it (starting with West Ham at Upton Park, then two matches at White Hart Lane: Aalborg (Denmark) in the UEFA Cup and Birmingham City). Ramos's willingness to make changes and emphasize the strength of Spurs -- its attacking -- is refreshing and probably the right course, given the players he has to work with. It won't always work, as Sunday's loss to Birmingham City shows, but it will stand Spurs in good stead if they ever figure out their backline. Their transfer activity has been so focused on attacking players (Darren Bent, even Garreth Bale, despite being a fullback, is an attacking player), when they need another centre half, and perhaps a utility player who can play at both centre half and as a holding midfielder. But they're always entertaining, at least.

Speaking of Spurs, I'd like to mention that Fox Soccer Channel's Bobby McMahon agreed with Mike Riley's calls in the West Ham-Tottenham match.

Green bottles, then saves

When the U.S. team in the World Baseball Classic failed to advance past the second round to the semifinals, there was quite a bit of handwringing in America. There was a lot of criticism of overpaid American players not caring enough about the competition. There were questions about why Americans couldn't win at the game we invented. And a few weeks later, no one seemed to care. (A caller to Fox Football Fone-in made the point that the England failure reminded him of USA Basketball -- good point.) Something tells me that English football fans will still care come the week before Christmas that England didn't qualify for the 2008 European Championship. During every game that I watched this weekend -- four of them -- everything was related back to England's failure to qualify. Fans booed English internationals on the visiting teams. Announcers sympathized about what a tough week it's been for them. Sunday's West Ham-Tottenham match particularly exhibited these qualities, what with England's former No. 1 Paul Robinson in goal for Spurs and one of his potential replacements at the other end in Robert Green. The match also featured nearly a dozen potential English internationals.

I made my first Sunday morning trip to the Globe to watch. TMG was in London visiting her sister, so I went by myself. I walked in about 7:10 a.m. and sat at the bar, a stool down from another fan sitting by himself. I didn't recognize him as a Hammers fan till later. I exchanged pleasntries with him after a West Ham win last spring -- possibly the 3-0 win away to Wigan -- but we never introduced ourselves that day or Sunday. I wondered how things worked with the alcohol, because I knew that Chicago ordinance restricted sales on Sunday mornings. Well, now I know: 10 a.m. is the magic hour. In the meantime, I had a pot of tea and ordered a Western omelette (hold the cheese). By game time, another Hammers fan showed up -- he was meeting the gentleman two spots to my right -- and we three claret and blue supporters faced about 10 or 12 Tottenham fans. They appeared to be a supporters group, as they were handing out T-shirts (or maybe they were fleeces -- it was damn early in the morning) that they had ordered.

I didn't like the start to the game for the Hammers. They were trying to make a lot of longer passes and not holding possession. Tottenham, as usual, were strong on the attack and had the better of the play for the first 15 minutes or so. They nearly had a goal in the eighth minute, but Aaron Lennon was ruled offsides. It took a mistake in the 20th minute by Younes Kaboul to get West Ham going. Luis Boa Morte, playing upfront with Carlton Cole again, pounced on Kaboul as he bobbled while trying to clear. Boa Morte blocked his clearance, controlled the ball and got it on the right side to Nolberto Solano, who slid a pass across to Cole for a tap-in goal. For most of the rest of the half, I liked the way the Hammers were playing: shorter passing and a lot of possession. Tottenham had a chance that was the most controversial call of the day. Just a few minutes before halftime, Robbie Keane ran under a ball into the box and Robert Green came out to play it. Keane chipped it over Green, hit the ground and then popped up screaming for a penalty kick, which also would have resulted in a red card for Green. The Independent said the play was inconclusive even after video replays. The Guardian repeated Curbishley's "mischevious" suggestion that Keane reacted to the contact after he saw the ball was going wide. Watching the replays several times, Green's trailing leg appeared to nick Keane, but I think it would have been a harsh result to call for a penalty kick there. Keane appeared to be going to ground on his own anyway. The Tottenham fans at the Globe echoed Keane's screaming.

The second half bought a tactical change by Spurs manager Juande Ramos -- Kaboul was removed in the 55th minute for striker Darren Bent. Tottenham played three at the back for most of the second half, with Dimitar Berbatov dropping a little deeper -- maybe 3-4-1-2 best describes the formation, but then, what do I know? Hammers manager Alan Curbishley acknowledged after the match that he didn't understand what Ramos did, and the Times suggested that perhaps it's good that Curbishley doesn't want the England job. The Telegraph suggested that Curbishley wasn't the only one who didn't understand what Ramos wanted: for at least 10 minutes, neither did Spurs. I thought Curbishley eventually made the right move when he brough Dean Ashton on for Boa Morte, but I question why it took about 17 minutes after Spurs started playing with three at the back. Perhaps it was because of Ashton's fitness after nearly two months out of action, but putting pressure on that back three seems to my inexperienced eyes to have been the proper tactical response.

I've never played organized football, and I know little about being a goalkeeper, but one thing that I have learned: If you come off your line, you have to get to the ball. Even I could tell that Green was making a mistake when he came for the free kick by Jermaine Jenas in the 66th minute. The ball was coming in at least 12 yards ahead of the goal line, and there was a cluster of players between Green and the ball. He didn't get close to punching the ball, and instead, Michael Dawson headed the equaliser. If Green has a weakness, it's his decision-making on balls in that 10-12 yard area of the box. He looked very uncertain of himself throughout the second half against Bolton, as the Wanderers continued to pop high balls into the top side of the box.

From there, the Irons had some good chances. Robinson made diving saves to his left on Scott Parker and Ashton, in both cases with Cole being instrumental in the set up. The Guardian named Cole its Man of the Match, and I have to agree that he was excellent. He and Ashton looked very good together. The final good chance went to Tottenham, of course. Lucas Neill was whistled for a penalty for tugging mightily on the shirt of Jermain Defoe in the penalty area just into stoppage time. The TV analyst thought it was a bit harsh, but when you practically pull the opponent's shirt over his head and give him a good shove while you're at it, it's tough to complain about being called for a penalty. Defoe had replaced Keane, so Spurs were lacking their usual penalty taker. I was relieved that Defoe had a go instead of Berbatov. Much like the Portsmouth draw on the south coast, the penalty was taken by no better than the second-best penalty taker on the pitch for the opponent -- Benjani instead of Niko Kranjcar in that earlier case. That said, Defoe's try was better than Benjani's and Green did well just to deflect it onto his left post. When he collected the ball a moment later, he turned to the away supporters located behind him and showed them his club crest, tugging on it with his left while the ball was in his right. The Guardian noted the irony that Green's spot-kick save overshadowed both his error on Jenas's free kick and Robinson's solid play.

After the match, as we had a pint, I chatted with the fan to my right. He asked how I came to root for West Ham, and I told him about my friend Phil getting me watching, and last year's Manchester United fixture at Upton Park getting me hooked. He told me that he grew up in the area and has long rooted for the Irons. I said that I enjoyed going to a match last year, even though it was a terrible game, losing to Watford, and then we talked about how much the neighborhood had changed since he lived there. The pleasant conversation and a pint of Beamish (the Globe no longer carries Guinness) were nice cappers to an entertaining derby draw. The day would only get better, as TMG returned from London that evening.

Testy Tévez

Carlos Tévez was sent off with a straight red card while playing a World Cup qualifier for Argentina last week, and Tim Vickery, the BBC's South America football writer, says that the ensuing suspension could ruin Tévez's place in the Argentina side. Tévez didn't start in Manchester United's Champions League match Tuesday home to Sporting Club de Portugal (generally called Sporting Lisbon, but announcer Derek Rae noted that the Portuguese aren't so, uh, sporting if you call them that), but he came on at half and transformed a sleepy Man U side that trailed 1-0. Tévez scored the equaliser by deflecting a Cristiano Ronaldo shot (at least he was originally credited with the goal; it was hard to tell from the TV replay, but it perhaps was an own goal), and Ronaldo scored the winner on a brilliant free kick in stoppage time. United clinched their group with one game remaining before the knockout stage.

As much as I miss watching Tévez in claret and blue, it is some consolation to see him shine on the Champions League stage.

A likeable Texan

The Guardian featured American and Fulham forward/midfielder Clint Dempsey over the weekend. I didn't know Dempsey's story before I read this. I like him even more than I already did after reading it.

Vote now

The U.S. Soccer Federation has its annual "best of" vote going right now. Two Chicago bars are in the voting for best soccer bar: Ginger's Ale House and the Globe. I have voted for the Globe a few times already. When I was there Sunday to watch the Tottenham match, they had a flyer on the inside of the men's room door asking for votes. The flyer noted that Ginger's had won the previous four years -- without mentioning Ginger's by name -- and asked if the Globe's patrons were going to allow that to happen again.

EDIT: Link corrected.

Results versus excitement

Even I have to admit that last term's West Ham-Tottenham match was probably the best one that I got to see in 2006-07. I had recorded the match while traveling on business, I heard the result and the details of how heartbreaking the loss was, but I still watched it when I returned, and it didn't fail to compel. Just as I'd happily trade the excitement of beating the drop last term for a nice, safe finish in the top half this term, I'd be plenty happy with a 2-0 home win Sunday as the Hammers and Spurs meet at Upton Park to end the two-week international break.

West Ham's troubling injury situation improved somewhat during the break. James Collins and Freddie Ljungberg each played two international matches. Scott Parker and Dean Ashton played in a reserve match. Mark Noble and Hayden Mullins are back in training. Quite happily, manager Alan Curbishley notes that he will have some tough selection decisions to make. On the downside, striker Craig Bellamy's groin injury remains a problem, and it may require a more invasive surgery that would sideline him for a "prolonged period." Midfielder Lee Bowyer is out on suspension for accumulating five yellow cards, and also had hernia surgery during the international break. On the injury front for Tottenham, perhaps the best news for West Ham is the continued absence of centre-half Ledley King. Tottenham's problems have largely been at the back: Spurs have conceded 24 goals in 13 matches in the Premier League this term. Spurs are an exciting side to watch because they have excellent attacking options upfront and are weak at the back, so they tend to keep their opposition in the game.

Minnows still swimming

While I was at my parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner, I recorded the FA Cup first-round replay between League Two's Stockport County and Staines Town, a member of the Ryman Premier Division, or three levels below League Two. It was a treat near-equal to Mom's turkey dinner to watch the part-timers from Staines Town beat a team from the Football League for the first time in its history on penalty kicks. The match was 1-1 after extra time, but Staines Town's keeper, Shaun Allaway, managed to turn aside two of the five penalty shots while his mates put in the last four to send Staines Town through to the second round. Stockport''s manager Jim Gannon summed things well when he said that his team played well, but couldn't finish its chances. That was true in the second half, at least. Stockport County had the Staines Town net under siege for much of the second 45 minutes.

Staines Town, just a bit west of London and south of Slough, will host another League Two side, Peterborough Rovers, in the second round. Staines Town is not the lowest-level club through to the second round. Harrowgate Railway of the UniBond League First Division North, or the eighth level of English football, will host League Two's Mansfield Town. Harrowgate Railway are one level below Staines Town and Horsham, also of the Ryman Premier, who will be home to Swansea City of League One in the second round. Fox Soccer Channel is scheduled to show the Horsham-Swansea City match live and the Harrowgate-Mansfield match on tape delay. I'm hoping for a little more giant killing.

Shirt sponsor name-drops West Ham

During halftime of the Arsenal-Wigan Athletic match this morning, I saw a commercial for XLtravel.com, one of the sites that is part of West Ham's shirt sponsor XL.com. The commercial is aimed at American youth club teams who may want a football training holiday in England. The commercial depicts a head coach quizzing his players on some of the game's vocabulary differences between America and England -- rules versus laws of the game, grass versus pitch, soccer versus football. Then an announcer describes what the travel packages include, such as training with European coaches, playing local clubs and even attending Premiership matches. When the announcer finishes, it's back to the coach and his players:

"Now what team are you not supposed to like when you're at West Ham?"

"Millwall!"

"Excellent."

The XL commercials that I'm more familiar with depict American fans of the Premiership trying to support their teams and looking out of place. The one that I've seen the most shows a Man U fan wearing a Wayne Rooney shirt and watching a match on his laptop while in a bar. He cheers a Rooney goal while two other patrons look at him as if he's crazy. It's a benefit of the shirt sponsorship deal, I suppose, that West Ham got a mention in one of those commercials.

Scapegoats

The long run-up to England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008 gave pundits and fans plenty of chances to opine on why the Three Lions will be at home next summer. Manager Steve McClaren gets the blame from most. Highly paid Premiership stars caught a lot of stick, too. And, just to balance out the self-flagellation, some have criticised the number of foreign players in the Premiership and the Football League. West Ham manager Alan Curbishley was among those who suggested that Premiership teams should be required to field a minimum number of English players. Meanwhile, the Sports Minister in the British government called for an investigation into the effects of foreign players on the national team.

Martin Samuel of The Times (see below, too), however, said the most important issue is the state of youth football in England. The mistake, as Samuel sees it, is forcing young players to play 11-a-side on a full-sized pitch too early in their development. The mismatch between their size, speed and strength and the size of the pitch leads to a game that is solely about the handful of fast-growing players who have enough strength to kick a clearance. Samuel nicely details how this set-up hurts player development. Well before Samuel's column or the fall qualifiers, the magazine FourFourTwo dedicated a three-part series to youth training in other countries and how England could benefit from those examples. One article in the series specifically addressed the issue of younger kids (around the age of 10 or 11) playing on full-sized pitches and how that stunts their skills development.

I think England would be crazy to require a minimum number of English players on Premiership sides, even if it were legal under European Union law. The league has become the most popular in the world, and messing with that seems ill-advised. Moreover, I don't see how watering down the top domestic league is going to help the England side. Better to ensure that English players get better training and develop into better players. That would be the most direct way to improve the England national team, wouldn't it?

Samuel savages MyFC.com

I enjoy reading columns by Martin Samuel of The Times, so I was a little disappointed to see him viciously rip the whole idea of MyFootballClub.com. I agree with the skepticism about the ability of members to pick the team, but Samuel writes like a member of the football insiders club who can't stand the idea of admitting anyone else to the club. He sees no possible positives from this concept. Too bad for him.

Former Hammer FA Cup winner dies

Graham Paddon, a member of West Ham's 1975 FA Cup winner, died earlier this week. He was 57. Paddon joined West Ham in December 1973 from Norwich, the club for which he played 290 League matches. Paddon helped keep West Ham up that term. Paddon joined with Billy Bonds and Trevor Brooking in midfield and, eventually, Alan Curbishley, too. Paddon also was a key member of the West Ham team that lost in the finals of the Euorpean Cup-Winners' Cup in 1976.

Ferdinand cleared

A Crown Court jury needed just 90 minutes to find West Ham centre-half Anton Ferdinand not guilty on several charges related to a fight outside an East London nightclub a year ago. The jury seemingly agreed with Ferdinand's claim that he acted in self-defence, fearing that he was about to be robbed. Another defendant also was cleared.

A different kind of international

There was something from the Derby County demolition that I forgot to mention. When Nolberto Solano scored on a free kick in the 69th minute, he became the first West Ham player from outside the United Kingdom to score a goal for the Hammers this season. Prior to his beautiful strike, West Ham's goals had been scored by players who are from one of the Home Nations: England (Lee Bowyer, Matthew Etherington, Dean Ashton, Mark Noble, Carlton Cole), Wales (Craig Bellamy) or Northern Ireland (George McCartney). The Peruvian will be busy during the international break, as Peru host Brazil and visit Ecuador in World Cup qualifying. Solano was nearly edged out by American Jonathan Spector, whose trickling shot through traffic caused an own goal in the 55th minute. At first, I could see a case for crediting Spector with the goal, as it appeared that Derby's Eddie Lewis (also an American) had fallen over the ball on the line, but no, replays showed that Lewis tripped trying to play the ball. For now, it's an own goal, although Spector was hoping that a ruling would go in his favor.

Quite an experiment

MyFootballClub.com says they have agreed a deal to buy a team: Ebbsfleet United. The club is in the Blue Square Premier League, one step below the Football League. The team, formerly known as Gravesend and Northfleet, sit ninth, six points out of a promotion playoff spot. The board and management will remain in place after MyFootballClub complete the purchase of a 51% interest in the club.

I think they may have to adjust their model a bit. I don't think putting team selection to a vote makes a lot of sense. The big strategic decisions definitely lend themselves to the wisdom of crowds, and I think they can be successful in that area. I also think that the club's fan-members can be very helpful in spotting talent around England and elsewhere, and that could be an advantage in scouting that other teams at this level won't have.

I don't see how the entire group of fans can help a lot with team selection when they aren't watching training and may not even be able to see many of the matches, either in person or on television. Is the Blue Square Premier League featured on the BBC, Sky or Setanta? I wouldn't think so. I suppose that concern will lessen if Ebbsfleet United move into the Football League. I wonder if members will be able to watch matches on the web that aren't otherwise available, and maybe even clips from training. That would seem to be a way around my concern, or at least to mitigate it somewhat. Otherwise, they are relying on the recommendations of the head coach (no longer titled "manager") and what's the point of putting those to a vote unless the members have enough opportunity to watch the players in action and know their current fitness?

Moreover, what happens when a player knows that he is popular and starts slacking off but still gets picked in the side? The manager, Liam Daish, seems happy with the new arrangement, which will change his title to head coach. But I wonder what the effects will be on his ability to lead when he is no longer solely in charge of selection. Maybe my concerns won't apply to non-league players. Maybe I'm just thinking of these things because I'm used to well-heeled athletes in all the sports I follow. David Sullivan, co-owner of Birmingham City, made some of the same arguments in discussing the concept with BBC.com. Sullivan, whose team has been in and out of the top flight throughout his 14 years in the boardroom, was much more dismissive of the chances of fans helping much at all. His comments were condescending, really, saying that fans don't know the inside details on player transfers that drive which ones get made. Well, they will have that information now, won't they? I will say that secrecy could be a problem for this club.

On the other hand, maybe the fan-members can help the head coach from falling into the trap of predictability. Maybe there's something to be said for formations to be chosen based on the accumulated wisdom of 20,000 football-mad people who have collectively watched millions of games, rather than just relying on the experiences of the staff, who, while presumably professional and expert, must necessarily base their decisions on a much narrower set of experiences.

I do see a lot of potential here for this to work. I think there is a lot of scope for improvement on the business side. Fans as owners may bring more eyes to bear on what the ground needs, for example. It's a way of taking a non-league club up, I think, as having thousands of members lending a hand would give the club resources that their competitors simply don't have.

Taking advantage

Lee Bowyer is not the player he was when he was part of a Leeds United side that reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, but then, Derby County's back four won't remind anyone of a side capable of such heights, either.

Bowyer scored two in a 5-0 rout that left Derby bottom of the table and inched West Ham into the top half at 18 points, ahead of Newcastle United on goal differential. The Times and the Telegraph both focused on Bowyer's performance. Besides the two goals, Bowyer also picked up a yellow card, his fifth of the season, leavng him suspended for the match after the international break against Tottenham. It matters little, as it turns out, because Bowyer will be out after hernia surgery. Bowyer is at least the third West Ham player to have hernia surgery this term, following Craig Bellamy and Mark Noble.

The Independent's game account concentrated on Derby's travails and their manager, Billy Davies. In an offhand way, the writer mentions that it would be a waste for West Ham to sign Adriano, on evidence of their form Saturday. First off, Adriano is not coming to the East End, no matter how much his YouTube clips make me wish that were happening. But, given that Derby are missing three centre-half defenders, does the writer think that Adriano would not be of some use to West Ham against a real back four? The Guardian called the match Derby's worst loss of the campaign, given West Ham's injury woes. Both the Independent and the Guardian named midfielder Nolberto Solano as the Man of the Match. He was the player who caught my eye the most on Saturday, too, as TMG and I watched with my friend scotto at Ginger's (more on that below). Solano's passing helped West Ham go forward for most of the game, he hit the crossbar on one free kick and then slammed home the fifth goal from another free kick. Fortunately, Solano didn't have the chance to misfire on any headers this time, unlike at Portsmouth.

Meanwhile, the Observer, in painting the direst possible picture for Derby, said the loss was all the more troubling for the Rams because the Hammers will be "scraping around the bottom half" come May. Really? That's in stark contrast to other accounts, which note West Ham have managed to stick mid-table despite the injuries. One thing, as I have mentioned previously, is that the schedule is going to become more difficult. West Ham have played eight of the 10 teams below them in the table, but only four of the eight above them. And one of those teams below them is the next opponent, Tottenham, who have lately righted their listing ship with new manager Juande Ramos. But that can wait till after the international break. Saturday, at least, a depleted West Ham did what they needed to do against a team that looks unlikely to make a charge off the bottom.

We decided to give Ginger's Ale House a try. I liked the experience, but I have to give it an incomplete for now, through no fault of its own. Derby-West Ham was the only match at 9 a.m. Saturday, following the Sunderland-Newcastle derby and preceding Liverpool-Fulham, so it wasn't a day that lent itself to an electric atmosphere. When TMG and I walked in a few minutes before 9 a.m., we were the only customers. Our bartender/server was fun to chat with and provided excellent service. TMG and I ate before we got to the bar, but scotto had the traditional Irish breakfast and seemed pleased with it. We'll give it another try sometime, and maybe grab a meal there. I think I will go to the Globe for the Tottenham match on Nov. 25. TMG will be flying back from London that day, coincidentally.

Ground share with Spurs?

I think it's easy to forget that, while clubs compete fiercely with each other, there are many opportunities for them to be business partners, too. The Telegraph wrote last week that Tottenham Hotspur has approached West Ham about a ground-sharing arrangement for a couple of years while White Hart Lane is expanded. The funds that West Ham would earn from the arrangement, the Telegraph reports, could help the Hammers develop a new ground on the Parcelforce site near the West Ham tube stop.

Ferdinand affray trial

West Ham defender Anton Ferdinand is defending something besides his net this week: Ferdinand is standing trial on charges of assault and affray connected to an incident outside a nightclub in October 2006. Ferdinand claims that he acted in self-defense as he feared that his pricey watch, worth £64,000, would be stolen. Lee Bowyer stood trial on similar charges when he was at Leeds United. One of Bowyer's Leeds teammates was Anton's older brother, Rio Ferdinand, who was in court to lend his support. Maybe Bowyer can offer his younger teammate some advice.

Revenge has to wait

I've been keeping track of developments at Queens Park Rangers, because my friend James is a lifelong supporter of the Rs. Financial salvation has come to Loftus Road in the form of an investor group led by the owners of the Renault Formula One team. In addition to promising new funds for players, the new owners have brought in an Italian manager, Luigi De Canio (the first time I saw his name, I thought for sure that it was misspelled and should be Di Canio, like Upton Park hero Paolo Di Canio, but no, it's right...). I make it a habit to check the fixture list each week of the league season to find out the opponent for QPR. Saturday, their opponent was Crystal Palace in a London derby. That led me to send James this email last week:

James,

I just saw the fixture list for Saturday. Good luck to QPR against Palace. I never paid any attention to Palace before, but they went and hired that whinger Neil Warnock, so now I wish them relegation -- so long as the team at Bramall Lane goes down with them.

Heh.

Sadly, Palace nicked a point with a late equaliser. Both QPR and Palace sit in the relegation zone for now, but QPR has been coming on, with 12 points in their last seven matches (three wins, three draws, one loss).

At least the disappointment was free

I'm glad that West Ham-Bolton was on Fox Soccer Channel and that I have a DVR, because I would have been even more ticked off than I was if I had had to drag myself out of bed early on a Sunday morning to watch that game. For the first time this season, West Ham gave away points that they were about to book, with a stoppage time goal leading to a 1-1 draw with a team sitting 19th on the table. West Ham remain at 11th.

The Hammers came out fairly well, at least. West Ham pressured Bolton from the kickoff, for the better part of 20 minutes. Midfielder Nolberto Solano triggered the corner kick that indirectly led to the first goal of the match with a nicely weighted deep ball down the center that lone striker Carlton Cole and a defender battled over. Eventually, the other defender knocked it over the byline for a corner, which Solano took. His ball into the box was knocked around a bit and came out to midfielder Lee Bowyer on the right corner of the 18-yard-box. His ball back in wasn't decisive either, but eventually it was knocked around to McCartney, who finished expertly with his weaker foot, the right, and knocked it home on the volley in the 19th minute. It was McCartney's first club goal in nearly 200 matches for Sunderland and West Ham. Ironically enough, he had missed a chance with his right foot during last week's League Cup tie away to Coventry City, and the BBC Radio announcers had noted that he hadn't scored a club goal and preferred shooting with his left foot.

Just a few minutes later, McCartney cleared off the line. The tide of the play turned that quickly, as Bolton were threatening an equaliser. The ball McCartney cleared was a shot that Lucas Neill had deflected up in the air. Bolton had the better of play for the last 25 minutes of the half. Kevin Davies, named Man of the Match by the Guardian, caused a lot of problems on the balls in the air near the edge of the box and inside it. Bolton would press that strategy even more in the second period.

Managers can never let injuries become an excuse, but West Ham added their 13th player to the injury list when midfielder Hayden Mullins came off in the 50th minute, replaced by Jonathan Spector. Injuries have pushed Spector out of his role as a backup full back and into midfield. Injuries also have left the Irons with just Cole and Henri Camara for strikers. Camara has not played much first-team football since coming on loan from Wigan Athletic, and it showed Sunday when he replaced Cole in the 72nd minute. Just a few moments earlier, midfielder Matthew Etherington sprung Cole for his best chance of the game with a nifty diagonal ball, but Cole couldn't beat Wanderers keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen. Cole looked a bit tired at times Sunday, but it's tough playing up front by yourself for the third time in nine days, even if Cole has rededicated himself to being fit, as manager Alan Curbishley mentioned last week after Cole's winner against Coventry.

In the 73rd minute, Davies headed smartly off a nice diagonal pass into the box, but the ball hit the top of the crossbar, fortunately. For a while, I could hope that that missed opportunity was the last that Bolton would get. Meantime, the Irons had a few more almost chances. Luis Boa Morte, playing on the right side, even though he prefers the left, had a chance to set up Etherington streaking in on goal, but the cross was terrible as Boa Morte tried to deliver it with his left. Etherington had to track down another pass from Boa Morte near the corner a moment later. Camara and Neill both clumsily played their way out of chances in the 89th minute. Curbishley said after the match that his charges should have been looking to run clock instead of going for the second goal. Spector had to clear off the line in stoppage time, and then the equaliser came in the 93rd minute, on yet another high ball into the box. Kevin Nolan slipped a half-volley past Robert Green after another bit of pinball in the box. Green seemed tentative for most of the match on dealing with the balls lofted into his area. We'll find out Friday if that tentativeness keeps him out of the England squad for two matches (one friendly, one Euro 2008 qualifier) on the next international break.

The annoying thing, besides the frustration of dropping two points by conceding a stoppage time goal, is that Bolton have been there for the taking so far this term. That was especially true Sunday as the Wanderers were missing Nicolas Anelka, their leading goal scorer, who would have been the best player on the pitch had he been healthy. After traveling to the East Midlands for Saturday's match, West Ham will see an increase in difficulty level after the international break: home to Tottenham, away to Chelsea and Blackburn and then Everton at Upton Park. It is somewhat unlucky that West Ham did not get to play Tottenham or Bolton when they were hapless, before they changed managers. The full three points are needed against Derby County on Saturday.

League Cup tie scheduled

West Ham's Premiership battle against Everton will come just a few days after they host the Toffees in the League Cup quarterfinals. The draw for the Carling Cup was Saturday. Playing Everton, who have UEFA Cup duties during the week of Dec. 17, necessitated the match being played a week earlier than the other quarterfinal ties. Of course, either way, the Toffees would be West Ham's opponent for two matches in a row. The winners of the quarterfinals will face off in two-legged semifinals in January.

Potential can be a cruel word

There were more stories in Thursday's papers about Carlton Cole finally realizing his potential as a striker in the Premiership. When I think of the pressure of having one's potential broadcast at a young age, I always think of two baseball players: Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry. They were young, superstar teammates with the New York Mets in the mid-1980s. Drugs and alcohol derailed their careers, especially in the case of Strawberry. As Cole says, that potential often was stunted by a lack of first-team chances, and when those chances came, he often was not 100% fit. Injuries and, he acknowledges, some unspecified personal habits both stood in the way of his previous form. Given that he was a next-big-thing with Chelsea as an 18-year-old, I'm going to guess that those unspecified personal habits were birds, booze and late nights. His habits must not have reached the extent of that of Gooden and Strawberry, who were suspended and fell afoul of the law several times each. Injuries to Dean Ashton, Craig Bellamy and Bobby Zamora have left Cole as the only option up front, and he is taking advantage of the opportunity, so far.

Update: This story in the Times, which I did not see till this morning (Nov. 2), quotes manager Alan Curbishley on how the managerial staff challenged Cole to improve his fitness over the summer in order to ensure that he would be ready if opportunity came knocking.

Chicago connection

I never noticed that Jamie Trecker, the senior soccer writer (that's his title -- don't blame me for using soccer instead of football) for Fox Sports, is based in Chicago. The free weekly Chicago Reader did notice, however, and their fall book special contains a story about Trecker's new book, Love and Blood: At the World Cup With the Footballers, Fans, and Freaks. The story describes Trecker's professional history and a health problem that afflicted him last year and almost kept him from writing the book.

And while I'm on the subject of Chicago, the Fire advanced tonight to the Eastern Conference finals in the MLS with a 2-2 draw in Washington giving them a 3-2 win on aggregate in the two-legged tie. Two goals in a three-minute span in the first half did the trick for the Fire. I considered going to the home match in this round, and I'm tempted to do so this time around, too.

Skating by

By all accounts, Coventry City outplayed West Ham Tuesday in the fourth round of the Carling Cup, but a stoppage time goal by Carlton Cole saw the Hammers win 2-1, pushing the team to the quarterfinals for the first time since 1999-2000. After Wednesday's action, the League Cup's final eight is now set. All eight are Premiership sides, not surprisingly.

I listened to the BBC Radio broadcast of the game via WHUTV. I just signed up for a club membership, and it comes with a three-month subscription to WHUTV. It's the first time that I have listened to a soccer match, and I found it a mostly satisfactory way of following the game. The announcers were understandably critical of West Ham's lackluster effort for most of the match. Fortunately, Coventry could not finish its many chances in the first period.

The refereeing was again a topic, and Rob Styles was again at the center of the chatter. Styles was the referee who gave Chelsea a much undeserved penalty shot against Liverpool a few weeks ago at Anfield. That enabled the Blues to forge a 1-1 draw. Tuesday night, Styles seemed to miss two huge calls, one for each side. Both the Guardian and the the Independent wrote about substitute Jonathan Spector flicking a ball on with his forearm during the play that led to Cole's winner. I have watched the highlights three times -- once each from Sky Sports, Fox Soccer Report and WHUTV -- and I did not get a good look at that aspect of the play on any of them. I thought that there would be a close shot of it on Fox Soccer Report, because they're usually pretty good about showing complete highlights, but there was nothing. Perhaps there just wasn't a good shot of the play. Neither paper mentioned the other play that probably should have resulted in a free kick for West Ham just outside the penalty area and a straight red card to Coventry, but the Telegraph did. I have seen the replay of this play several times, and it sure looked to me as if the final defender took Luis Boa Morte down. Boa Morte almost made it past him unscathed, but he was pitched forward by the defender's interference. The Times mentioned neither of these calls, but instead noted that the match also added to West Ham's injury list, with both centre-half Anton Ferdinand and midfielder Hayden Mullins knacked.

The draw for the quarterfinals is Saturday. Matches will be played Dec. 18-19, with the winners playing in two-legged ties in January.

Not flashy, but substantive

West Ham's game away to Portsmouth did not have the amazing goals that typified some of the other games this week. I am watching the Premier League review show as I type this. I just saw the goal that Carlos Tévez scored on a 1-2 with Wayne Rooney -- Tévez lofted a ball to Rooney into the box, who controlled and then gave it back to Tévez with a back heel. There were none of those brilliant finishes in the game on the South Coast. There were some great saves, especially by Robert Green, in a nil-nil draw that was a lot more entertaining than that scoreline would indicate.

The Telegraph saw the game through the prism of England's Euro 2008 failures, particularly in goal. David Miller also praised the two teams for attempting to play football that is more articulate than most teams attempt in the Premiership. The Independent also looked at Green's chances to play for England, and gave the opinion -- with which I agree -- that Green's saves earlier in the match were better than the penalty save that dramatically preserved a point for the Hammers. The Guardian added to the Green for England theme and also noted Carlton Cole's fine play. Cole set up both of the frustratingly close chances that Nolberto Solano couldn't finish. The Times painted Cole's play of late as his first steps toward redemption. The Times noted Cole's battles with injury and his less-than-friendly reception at Upton Park when he has played. I thought Cole's good play against 'Boro was somewhat overlooked, so I'm glad to see him get his due for another fine game.

Craig Bellamy was problematic Saturday. In the first instance, he still has abdominal soreness just a few weeks after he had a hernia operation and had to come off after halftime. In the second, Bellamy spent most of his time on the pitch complaining to the referee. Bellamy got into it with Pompey defender Hermann Hreidarsson. Both were booked in the 25th minute, when Bellamy swiped Hreidarsson with his boot as he walked past. It was a silly booking for Bellamy to earn. That said, Hreidarsson showed himself on several occasions to be a very chippy player, with Bellamy as provocateur or not. Bellamy also seemed strangled with West Ham's different shape on Saturday. I read it described as 4-3-3, 4-1-4-1, 4-5-1 and 4-3-2-1, but in either case, Bellamy played on the right, dropped back behind Cole as the lone striker. (I am far from expert in these things, but I think 4-3-2-1 is the best way to describe their shape.) Matthew Etherington came on at half for Bellamy, and Etherington's work with George McCartney continued to help West Ham threaten up the left side.

Next up for West Ham is a League Cup tie away to Coventry on Tuesday. With Bellamy hurting again and Dean Ashton and Bobby Zamora also out wiith injury, I would expect Cole to be the lone striker up front again. Luis Boa Morte could spell Cole, I suppose, but getting back one of the real strikers would be better. Next weekend, the Hammers welcome Bolton to Upton Park. When these teams last met, Bolton was playing its first match with Sammy Lee as manager. I was in an Irish bar in Venice watching Tévez score two and set up a third in the first half hour. Lee is gone, having been replaced by Gary Megson. I'll be watching this one from the comfort of home, as it's scheduled to be on Fox Soccer Channel.

Phase II starts

Less than a year after taking control of the club, Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson is beefing up the management at West Ham to provide the structure needed to take on the challenge of building a new, larger ground for the club. That project is considered key to making good on Gudmundsson's goal of regular European football for West Ham. The changes include Eggert Magnusson relinquishing his executive duties, although he will retain his ownership stake and remain as non-executive chairman of the club. The move was foreshadowed, I think, when Gudmundsson gave his first interview to the English press two weeks ago in the Observer. Gudmundsson noted that Magnusson was important, but mostly as a public face. Now, this first phase of their ownership is over, and Magnusson will step back from the forefront.

A former spokesman for the 2012 London Olympic committee is thought to be a possible hire. West Ham tried to convince the organizing committee to build the Olympic stadium in such a way that West Ham could occupy it as their ground after the games, but the club were turned down and now are seeking to build their own ground of about 60,000 seats near the West Ham tube stop.

The Digger column in the Guardian reported that the London subsidiary of Gudmundsson's Landsbanki brokered the sale this week of a 6% interest in Arsenal's holding company to Alisher Usmanov, a Russian who increased his stake in the holding company to 21% with the purchase. Gudmundsson has many contacts in Russia, having founded a brewery that he later sold to Heineken for $400 million, the Digger wrote. Gudmundsson also was fighting fraud charges in Iceland at the time; he was eventually convicted on five minor bookeeping offenses.

McCartney fined by IFA

The Irish Football Association fined West Ham defender George McCartney and Sheffield United winger Kevin Gillespie undisclosed amounts for their fracas last week. The Northern Ireland teammates tussled just before the flight carrying their side home from a Euro 2008 qualifier in Iceland took off for London. The fines will be donated to charity.

A brief burst, but shaky defending

It was frustrating to watch the closing minutes of Arsenal's second-half destruction of Tottenham on Saturday knowing that West Ham and Middlesborough had already kicked off. The Gunners were well on their way to a 3-1 victory at White Hart Lane, but Fox Soccer Channel was committed to showing the entire match and then switching to the Hammers-'Boro clash. It was even more frustrating watching their studio hosts blather about the game while it was going on. The game was on a flat-panel screen mounted behind the hosts as they spoke aimlessly about the prospects for the two teams. At the very least, they could have put the game up on the screen while the studio hosts were talking.

As it turns out, I probably didn't miss much that I wanted to see. Not because the teams were still scoreless when FSC finally allowed us to watch around the 32nd minute, but because 'Boro apparently had much the better of the play, from what I read. However, the Hammers put on a second-half blitz, keyed by Carlton Cole, Lee Bowyer, Matthew Etherington and Dean Ashton, to win 3-0. It helped that 'Boro couldn't nail the many chances that West Ham allowed. Sanli Tuncay, an early substitute replacing an injured Jeremie Aliadiere, misfired on several good chances, although keeper Robert Green also held him at bay with a terriffic save. Cole, who came on after Craig Bellamy suffered a groin injury, found Bowyer sprinting into the area and deftly served him for the first goal, and he also provided the (mishit) cross that Luke Young directed into the net for an own goal a few minutes later. Cole narrowly missed scoring late, although by that time, the focus was on Ashton. He scored his first league goal this term -- and his first in a senior game since the 2006 FA Cup final -- on a cross from Etherington. Watching with friends at the Globe, I thought that Cole got a touch on the cross, but I watched the replays a few times at home, and it looks like he did not get to the ball. In any case, Cole's play was a key to the three-goal spurt in barely 15 minutes. Only the report in the Guardian had much to say about Cole's play.

Freddie Ljungberg came on for Ashton, marking Ljungberg's first action since the opening week against Manchester City. Etherington's play could make it more difficult for Ljungberg to get a game. Scott Parker remained on the sidelines. James Collins paired with Matthew Upson at centre-half, rather than Anton Ferdinand, but I did not hear or read anything about why Ferdinand didn't play. I also have not read any update on Bellamy's condition.

Newcastle stumbles

Derby County won their first league match this term with a 1-0 victory Monday over West Ham's next opponent, Newcastle United, at Pride Park. New signing Kenny Miller struck from well outside the penalty area in the 39th minute to account for the scoring. The BBC recap indicated that Newcastle could have been rewarded two penalties in the match, but added that Derby County in general had the better of the play and deserved the points. Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce seemed to blame his side's heavy participation in internationals last week for the sluggish performance.

The match against Newcastle Sunday on Tyneside represents a step up in class for West Ham's schedule. Three of the next five matches are against teams currently in the top half of the table, with Sunderland and Portsmouth sitting 14th and 15th. Arsenal, currently top of the table, visits Upton Park on Sept. 29 and then West Ham is away to their kit twins, Aston Villa, on Oct. 6. Newcastle had a chance to leap above West Ham in the table, but instead slipped to 10th with the loss in the East Midlands. West Ham are sixth. I mentioned to a friend who supports Manchester City, who are second, that it was nice to see some different names near the top, but really, other than City, it's the usual four at the top. Wigan are sitting ninth, which is also a change after the club fought relegation nearly all of last term. Of course, it's very early in the campaign.

More Bad Boy Inc. fodder

West Ham defender George McCartney just wants to fit in, I guess. While on international duty this week with Northern Ireland, McCartney added to his club's burgeoning reputation as Bad Boys Inc., as the Guardian's The Fiver football email calls the Hammers. McCartney and winger Keith Gillespie tussled on the team's flight back from Iceland after the Northern Ireland side lost 2-1 to Iceland on an own goal by Gillespie. The Belfast Telegraph reported that the dispute was over a passport -- I can't figure out what that could possibly mean. The United Kingdom is not part of the Schengen Agreement that allows travel across many European borders without a passport, so both players needed to bring their passports along. Did one player leave his back at the hotel, necessitating a delay? Who knows.

McCartney rejoined the Northern Ireland side after about two years away. The Belfast Telegraph said the exile came from McCartney's refusal to play for former national manager Lawrie Sanchez, who is now the head man at Fulham. Gillespie, meanwhile, is the most experienced player on the national team, earning his 57th cap in Wednesday's match. Another interesting twist to this story is that Gillespie plays for Sheffield United. McCartney's refusal to play under Sanchez and his club both could have added fuel to whatever dispute developed between the two.

McCartney joins three of his club teammates in having notable disputes with teammates. Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer, famously, were sent off while teammates at Newcastle two years ago. Bowyer struck the first blow on Dyer, who responded in kind. They say that they long ago patched things up. Craig Bellamy was accused of attacking John Arne Riise in February as the then Liverpool teammates were part of a night out during a training camp in Portugal. Bellamy was accused of hitting Riise's legs with a golf club, according to news accounts. That incident is part of why Bellamy is a Hammer today, I'm sure.

Bowyer, too, is infamous for his acquittal on criminal charges in a beating near a nightclub that involved one of his teammates when he played for Leeds United. I knew that he had played for Leeds, and I knew that the club has had a checkered history of late, but I learned a lot more about Bowyer and especially the club in a feature story in the September issue of FourFourTwo. I'm guessing that for fans who have been following the sport during this period, there wasn't a ton of new information, but I was fascinated by the narrative of Leeds United's fall from Champions League semifinalist to relegation to League One in the space of six years. I'm interested enough to read a good book on it, if one has been written.

Bellamy gets good run in

West Ham striker Craig Bellamy missed Saturday's Euro 2008 qualifier for Wales against Germany, as his wife and baby daughter remained in the hospital after the little girl's recent birth. The fairer Bellamys left the hospital in time for Craiggers to score twice and help force an own goal by Slovakia in a 5-2 Wales victory in Trnava, Slovakia, Wednesday night. Wales manager John Toshack called Bellamy's performance scintillating in his first match as captain of the Wales side. The starting XI also featured two West Ham backliners -- Danny Gabbidon and James Collins.

The Welsh would pretty much need a miracle to qualify for the finals. They sit tied for fourth, with Slovakia and Cyprus, in Group D, having played eight of 12 group matches. Even if they managed to win all four of the remaining matches -- three of them on the road, including a visit to group leader Germany -- they would be on 22 points, just two more than the second-place team, the Czech Republic, have accumulated through nine matches.

England beat Russia 3-0 at Wembley and Scotland pulled off a 1-0 upset of France in Paris. Scotland sits atop its group, ahead of both World Cup finalists from a year ago, Italy and France. England now needs a win and two draws to guarantee qualification for the finals next summer. What will the critics say and write now? I'm just glad that I can look forward to Premiership action again on Saturday.

The long wait

I will be glad when this week of international play is done and even more glad when West Ham take the field at the Boleyn Ground against Middlesborough. I understand that England have underachieved and are in danger of missing out on the finals of Euro 2008. But I've had enough of the complaining about the team's performance in the national newspapers. I can see why England had to go to "Second-Choice" Steve McLaren as the manager. What manager secure in his club job would want the England position?

The only thing for West Ham to do is tend to their injured players and hope that key players such as Welsh striker Craig Bellamy don't add to the injury woes during international play. The side was bolstered at the very end of the summer transfer window with the permanent signing of Newcastle midfielder Nolberto Solano, a Peruvian, and the signing on loan from Wigan Athletic of Senegalese striker Henri Camara. Solano, who will turn 33 in December, had wanted a move to the London area to be closer to his family, much like the former Newcastle player whose injury necessitated his purchase -- Kieron Dyer. Camara, 30, was apparently surplus to requirements at Wigan, perhaps not clicking with new manager Christopher Hutchings.

It will be quite interesting to see the new signings and some of the injured players back in the squad. It's starting to get a bit crowded in the midfield, if Scott Parker and Freddie Ljungberg return to fitness, but if there are too many healthy at once, that will be a new and better problem to have. There's always the January transfer window to relieve the pressure, too, especially if Julien Faubert looks ready to return around that time.

One last bit of news to catch up on: West Ham drew home to Plymouth Argyle of the Championship. The Pilgrims, from England's southwest coast, advanced to the third round with a 2-0 win home to League One's Doncaster Rovers.

If only I'd seen it...

I don't have much that I can say about Saturday's 3-0 win away to Reading, except that I wish I had been able to watch it. TMG and I were in St. Louis for the Illinois-Missouri (American) football game that day. I thought that I had a bar lined up to watch the match, but there was some confusion about what hour the bar would open on Saturday. Their website said 10 a.m. -- or shortly after halftime -- but an email to the bar brought the reply that they would be open for the early games. I should have replied to that email to clarify the exact time that they would open. Because I hadn't, we decided to skip it, as we were in for a long day as it was without getting up two hours early only to find the bar shuttered.

The match accounts indicate that West Ham used its pace all day to frustrate Reading, counterattacking quickly. On two occasions, I read, West Ham scored off corner kicks taken by Reading. Most of the match accounts that I read centered around the 6-0 defeat that West Ham suffered away to Reading on New Year's Day. I'm glad that that result is well behind West Ham now.

Interview with Big G

The Observer won the first interview with an English newspaper for Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, the man who owns 95% of West Ham United plc. Eggert Magnusson is the public face, but Gudmundsson has the deep pockets. Gudmundsson and Magnusson came together after Magnusson left the UEFA board and let it be known that he was interested in keeping his hand in football. The article details some interesting episodes in Gudmundsson's life -- one of which makes it clear that he had had the life experience to endure last term's trials and tribulations -- and provides an answer to the criticism of foreign owners in the Premier League: Icelanders such as Gudmundsson and Magnusson are practically English, the banker says.

Good follow-up

The Independent had a fine story at the outset of the summer transfer window about the anxiety that many players face when they are out of contract and looking for a new club. Earlier this week, the paper followed-up with Rhys Weston and found his destination: Walsall, a Midlands club that won promotion straight back to League One last season.

What did he expect?

This is old now, but I still want to point it out. Yossi Benayoun's agent said the midfielder is disappointed that he is not featuring more for Liverpool and that he may have to switch to a "medium-sized team" if the situation doesn't change. Oh, really?

Everyone is aware that Liverpool have a huge squad and rotate a lot of players other than the stalwarts such as Steven Gerrard and, new this season, Fernando Torres. Unless you are a superstar, if you expect to start in nearly every match, Liverpool isn't the team to join. It's just a necessity for a squad that expects to advance deep into three competitions (Champions League, Carling Cup, FA Cup) in addition to the Premiership.

If playing time was such a key concern for Benayoun, he should have signed the contract that was on offer from West Ham.

The big conundrum

OK, I got a little too excited yesterday about Adriano. He's not coming to West Ham. Adriano favors a move to Lazio, which made the group stages of the Champions League, and doesn't want to leave Italy. This is where these transfers all get tricky for West Ham. To reach European football, West Ham have to improve their team, but, at least in the transfer market, to improve their team, West Ham have to be able to hold out the prospect of European football. Offering lucrative wages isn't enough on its own.

The Irons are renewing their efforts to acquire younger midfielder Giles Barnes from Derby County, upping their bid to £5 million, according to the Independent. Left-back Nicky Shorey seems likely to come to West Ham from Reading, provided the Irons increase their offer by a million pounds, to £6 million. Shorey is the likeliest to happen before the summer window closes on Friday. Barnes is close to being fit and that deal could happen this week, too, with the Hammers probably motivated by Kieron Dyer's broken leg. Adriano will have to remain on the wish list for January.

I'm going out of town Friday, so I probably won't be able to write about the conclusion to the summmer transfer window in a timely fashion. I expect to be able to watch the match away to Reading, however, and will follow up with a post on that, although perhaps not until Monday.

A good run spoiled

A cup run is an admirable goal for a side like West Ham. Looking to consolidate their relegation escape by moving into mid-table this season, a good run in either the FA Cup or the Carling Cup would give supporters something to make them believe that West Ham are headed for bigger and better things eventually. The Hammers' first step in the Carling Cup brought a 2-1 win away to Bristol Rovers, but came with another terrible injury blow, too. Midfielder Kieron Dyer was stretchered off inside of a quarter hour with what is believed to be two broken bones in his lower leg.

"I think from us we see the League Cup as a competition we can do well in," Curbishley said. "We have seen Middlesbrough, Bolton and Wigan get to the final in recent years so we attacked it with that in mind. But at the moment we feel the luck is against us." It's no wonder Curbishley feels that way. West Ham signed four midfielders this summer, and all four (Dyer, Julien Faubert, Freddie Ljungberg and Scott Parker) are out with injuries right now, with Dyer and Faubert (Achilles tendon) being the most serious. One of Curbishley's major signings in January, Matthew Upson, was injured nearly the entire time after he came to Upton Park from Birmingham City. (As an aside, notice, too, that Curbishley called it the League Cup, rather than use the sponsor's name -- West Ham has a sponsorship deal with Carlsberg, not Carling, after all.)

The Telegraph described the challenge from Joe Jacobson as innocuous. Curbishley ripped Jacobson's challenge:

"I think the Bristol Rovers player has got to be very disappointed with his tackle. As far as I can see he has lashed out after losing the ball and caught Kieron in a difficult area."

I saw the play on Fox Soccer Report, but they insisted on having a big "Carling Cup" logo with the team names that obscured the challenge, basically. All I can tell is that it appeared that Jacobson hit Dyer on the back of the leg. A free kick was awarded, but no card was shown. The Times noted the effect of Dyer's injury on England's Euro 2008 bid.

I have watched Dyer play twice for West Ham and once for England (in the June friendly against Brazil), and even with that limited exposure to him, this injury hits me hard. I thought Dyer was off to a nice start for the Hammers, and I liked his interactions with Craig Bellamy, reprising their work together with Newcastle.

The injury understandably overshadowed Craig Bellamy's first two goals for West Ham. Both were scored in the first half in West Ham's 2-1 win over the Rovers. Striker Dean Ashton's return to the starting lineup also was expected for the Carling Cup tie, but his girlfriend went into labor, so Ashton stayed behind and will be available for Saturday's fixture away to Reading.

Intriguing transfer news

Brazilian striker Adriano has been linked to a move to West Ham from Inter Milan. The Independent reports that a £15 million transfer fee is close to being agreed. Adriano wants a permanent move if he's going anywhere, not a loan deal, as Manchester City was interested in. The Guardian is still reporting that Inter and West Ham are discussing a loan deal. The club statement on Adriano acknowledged that discussions are taking place, that a loan deal is a possibility and that "the figures that have been quoted in the media are inaccurate," as the deal is not far enough along for the money to be agreed. Adriano isn't the biggest Brazilian name being linked to the Premiership as the Ronaldinho-to-Chelsea rumors are hot.

Adriano, 25, has been criticized by club and country, with accusations that he parties too much. Yet, he has been a force for both Internazionale (43 goals in 99 appearances) and Brazil (25 goals in 36 appearances), the Independent's Jason Burt notes. I was unfamiliar with Adriano (I'm really regretting that I didn't start following football before the 2006 World Cup finals -- I would be familiar with a lot more players) so I took a look at some video of him on YouTube. I saw a magnificent finisher with the left foot, a deft touch on the dribble and a talent in the air. The longest compilation features highlights from both club and country. Two shorter complilations also offer a mix of highlights, this one weighted to Inter clips and this one a little heavier on Brazil footage. This last one is devoted to his work for Inter and possibly Parma, where he went out on loan in the past. There's one amazing play that is featured in several of the videos. I can't even find the words to describe it. You'll know what I'm talking about if I just tell you this much: The clips show Adriano and a defender running to the goal line to the keeper's left, near the edge of the 18-yard box.

The final touch lacking

I finally got to watch West Ham's 1-1 draw home to Wigan Athletic on Monday night. I went to the Globe Saturday morning, but was soon informed that West Ham-Wigan was the one fixture that morning that wasn't available on satellite. I stuck around for a little over an hour, and then I left to meet TMG and her friend for brunch.

Frustrated that I had gotten up early on a Saturday and not seen my side play, I decided to take the plunge with Setanta Broadband. I was disappointed to find out that the matches are not available on demand. I could not watch the match when it first aired late Saturday afternoon, so I had to wait till Monday night. The set up, at least on my two Apple computers, was poor. I have a cable modem broadband connection, but the site seems to rely on Flash, and Flash is poor on Apple computers. I will have to try watching on TMG's PC. If you're seen The Bourne Ultimatum, with its shaky, hand-held cameras and quick cuts, you'll get a decent idea of what the broadcast looked like. Occasionally, the screen looked like a LeRoy Nieman painting. Still, I was glad to be able to see the match, finally.

The biggest play of the first half was a no-call inside Wigan's six-yard box. It appeared that Mark Noble was hauled down around the 27th minute. The defender definitely got his arm around Noble a bit, but the midfielder also seemed to lean into the Wigan player. With the picture quality, I can't say whether it was deserved or not. A few minutes later, Craig Bellamy thought he had his first goal for West Ham, but he was called offsides. Again, it was too hard to tell with the video quality that I was watching. Wigan's Jason Koumas beat Robert Green in the 41st minute, but his shot hit the upright.

Early in the second half, West Ham continued to have the better of the chances, but just couldn't finish any of them. Lucas Neill, making his season debut, received a pass from Kieron Dyer and had a shot, but he hesitated. Instead, he returned the ball to Dyer, but he was now offsides. A couple of free kicks and a corner kick also provided some opportunities in the first quarter hour of the second half. Dean Ashton came on as a substitute for Bobby Zamora around the 60th minute -- I was forced to play with the video options occasionally to reset the sound, and each time, I would lose a bit of the action -- and Lee Bowyer came on for Hayden Mullins in the 65th minute. The final substitution saw Luis Boa Morte replace Bellamy. I must acknowledge that this troubled me. Moments later, Wigan struck first, with a circus bicycle kick by Paul Scharner leaving no recourse for Green. Two minutes later, some good play by Boa Morte and Bowyer -- and no one could have been more surprised by that than I was -- nearly brought the equalizer. Then, even more stunning, a minute later, they combine for the first live-ball goal for the Hammers this season, by Bowyer. Boa Morte also had some nice play the rest of the way with Ashton. West Ham had a few decent chances the rest of the way, although they almost conceded in the 90th minute with a weak back pass to Green.

Through three matches, the Hammers have won four points and sit 14th on the table. It's an OK start, nothing more. The six teams below West Ham on the table have all played four games, so that's a positive. A negative is taking only one point from a possible six at home so far, but that's balanced a bit by taking all three in their only away match.

A first step

Lee Bowyer and Luis Boa Morte were kept off the field. Alan Curbishley managed to keep out of his team's way. And Mark Noble ranged all over the pitch at St. Andrew's and buried a penalty shot, as West Ham left Birmingham with its first points of the seaon in a 1-0 win.

Bowyer and Boa Morte sat in favor of the players who came on at halftime of the Manchester City loss, Hayden Mullins and Matthew Etherington. Scott Parker and Lucas Neill remained out of the lineup with injuries. Jonathan Spector again filled in for Neill.

For me, it was my first visit in nearly four months to the Globe. TMG dropped me off around 8:45 a.m. With Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United playing on Sunday, it wasn't as packed as it was in the final weeks of last season, but there was a solid crowd on hand. The Irons were on the front TV with the sound on. I gave the Reggina scarf that I bought in Italy to the manager, and then I sat down to await the kickoff.

The first half was not pretty to watch. A couple of the accounts that I read described it as awful or dreadful or something similar. The first 15 to 20 minutes were poor for West Ham, but it was clear during that interval, too, that Birmingham weren't going to provide the fluid opposition that Manchester City did. About midway through the half, however, West Ham started to put some pressure on the Birmingham goal. New Hammer Kieron Dyer could have won a penalty in the first half when he was taken down in the box by a Birmingham defender around the half-hour mark. He darted in on a deft pass from Craig Bellamy. Noble hit the upright on a free kick taken just outside the penalty area.

West Ham continued its pressure in the second half, but they were having trouble finishing any of the chances that they created. It took a penalty call in the 70th minute to break the deadlock. Dyer returned the favor from the first half and sprung Bellamy for the run that led to the penalty with a nice diagonal ball. As Bellamy closed on the ball, Birmingham keeper Colin Doyle came off his line and slid in Bellamy's path. The disagreement is whether he got a touch on the ball before taking Bellamy out of the play.

Colin Malam in the Telegraph questioned the penalty call. (He also described Dyer's debut as "disappointing." I'd say it was a decent debut, especially for a player who signed just a few days before the match. Dyer, as I think he's always done when fit, showed great pace and creativity.) Another Telegraph writer, Martin Smith, was more complimentary of Bellamy and Dyer, noting that they picked up where they left off when both played at Newcastle. The Independent called the penalty rightly granted, and noted that "the home side survived a host of bad misses while creating precious little." John Ashdown in the Guardian also found the penalty properly granted, and he called Dyer's debut "impressive." Ashdown noted that with Dyer, Freddie Ljungberg, Scott Parker and Julien Faubert joining, West Ham has added an entire midfield and said Noble may have to work for his place in the lineup. Dyer, Ljungberg and Faubert all play on the wing, or at least prefer playing there; only Parker plays central midfield as a first choice.

Curbishley made only one substitution, bringing on Danny Gabbidon in the 82nd minute for Spector. One report last week -- in the Times, I think -- noted that Curbishley perhaps tinkered too much against Man City. The Hammers played their best football at the outset of the second half, and their improved play was keyed by Etherington, who subbed in for Boa Morte. The flow was disrupted, however, when Etherington was shifted to the backline when Dean Ashton came on. On Saturday, with his lineup clicking and the Hammers playing an opponent who played in midweek while West Ham were resting, Curbishley was wise enough to leave things alone.

Duncan Mackay in the Observer reported that Bellamy allegedly was involved with a scuffle with some Birmingham players who accused him of diving on the penalty. I did notice Bellamy having words with a few of his opponents as he left the pitch. "Just keep walking, Craiggers," I said. (I have found myself referring to him as "Craiggers" during both games so far. I don't recall whether I heard that somewhere else.) Whatever happened after they were out of camera range, West Ham were able to walk out with a win, ultimately.