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West Ham United Season 2007-2008 PREMIER LEAGUE/COCA COLA CUP/FA CUP
= Dublin Hammers Meeting (Live on television). LP = League Position.PRE-SEASON FRIENDLIES 14.07.06. UK. Dagenham & Redbridge (a). 2-0. (noble, OG). 17.07.06. Austria. SK Sigma (a). 0-1. 21.07.06. Austria. Lazio (a). 0-2. (bellamy misses penalty). 24.07.06. UK. Leyton Orient (a). 1-1. (aston). 25.07.06. UK. Milton Keynes Dons (a). 2-3. (ephraim, upson). 28.07.06. UK. Southend Utd. (a). 3-1. (zamora, bellamy, ljundburg). 31.07.06. UK. Norwich City (a). 2-1. (aston, spector). 04.08.06. UK. AS Roma (h). 2-1. (aston, mc cartney). AUGUST 2007 11th Manchester City. (h). 0-2. "This was a performance that no one can have been expecting, and whilst hardly a calamity, serious damage to any pre-season optimism was inflicted. If a team with so many new players in it can come to Upton Park, and subdue West Ham with such relative ease, it does not bode well" from the OTT website. 18th Birmingham City. (a). 1-0. (noble-pen). "With a team missing the likes of Ashton, Ljungberg, Boa Morte, and Lee Bowyer, Hammers' fan could be forgiven for travelling to St. Andrews worrying about suffering a second defeat of the season. However, the Hammers continued their recent run of good results there, even if it took a dodgy penalty to win the points this time", "Bellamy chased what looked like a lost cause and tangled with the Birmingham keeper, and Halsey - after a quick look towards one of his assistants - took it upon himself to award a spot kick. Even Bellamy seemed a bit surprised, to the point where he did not even want to take the penalty himself. It was left to a brave and impassive Mark Noble to step up and seal the points." from the OTT website. 25th Wigan Ath. (h). 1-1. (bowyer). "Poor defending, the same sort of thing which allowed Manchester City to open the scoring in the previous match at Upton Park, worked it's magic with twelve minutes to go against Wigan. A match which had had few noteworthy moments before that, then saw the Hammers' defence switch off at a throw-in, and a loose ball which ought to have been cleared, was hooked over Green with an improbable and audacious overhead kick", "That the Hammers were then able to rouse themselves sufficiently to not only draw level, thanks to Lee Bowyer's first goal for the club, but almost snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, was as much down to the surge of a mixture of disbelief, anger and desire emanating from the stands, as anything else. Notable also was the prominent role that Dean Ashton had in the turnaround". from the OTT website.
28th Bristol Rovers (a). Carling Cup 2nd Rd. 2-1. (bellamy x2).SEPTEMBER 2007 01st Reading. (a). 3-0 (bellamy, etherington x2). LP:8th. "As quick of mind as he was quick of feet, Bellamy simply tormented a Reading defence", "Just over 5 minutes had been played when Bowyer's expertly judges ball released Bellamy from the right, and he cut in at speed to send his low shot into the far corner of the goal", "4 minutes into the interval Bellamy found Mullins, whi in turn gave the ball the Etherington, he played a one two with Bellamy, then drove his shot in at the near post", "Once 2-0 up, the hammers played havoc with Readings rearguard", "In stoppage time, Cole sent Etherington through to score his second with a long range shot". from The Sunday Times. 15th Middlesbrough. (h). 3-0. (bowyer, OG, aston). LP:5th.
23rd Newcastle Utd. (a). 1-3. (aston).“After the Fat Aussie had given the Geordies the lead fairly early on, memories of previous experiences of Tyneside tonkings might well have given us older fans a shudder, but this Hammers' side is made of sterner stuff, and for the last fifteen minutes of the first half, not only did Ashton bag his second goal of the season, but an unlikely lead might well have been snatched. Newcastle began to show their own past weaknesses, the tendency to collapse under pressure”, “Sam Allerdyce made substitutions and tactical changes which turned the tide back in Newcastle's favour. Charles N'Zogbia was the catalyst, setting up the Fat Aussie for his second goal, and scoring one for himself”, “West Ham, meanwhile, refused to thrown in the towel, though Curbishley's substitutions - Spector for Etherington - never seemed to likely to be sufficient to get them back in the game” from the OTT website. 26th Plymouth (h). Carling Cup 3rd Rd. 1-0. (aston) ”With so many changes made by Hammers' boss, it was perhaps a bit understandable that it took some time to break down the well organised and disciplined Plymouth Argyle defence. But, leaving it until the final few seconds of injury time was a little harsh on the visitors, and the nerves of the Hammers' faithful”, “At least the goal, when it eventually came, was worth it, not only for the fact that it was Dean Ashton's third in successive games, thus confirming that he is back with a bang, but the excellent technique he showed in scoring a wonderful volley”. from the OTT website.
29th Arsenal. (h). 0-1. LP:11th.The Hammers can count themselves very unfortunate not to have taken a share of the points, as Freddie Ljungberg had the ball in the Arsenal net in the second half, only for a seemingly errant offside flag to rule it out. Alan Curbishley seemed to send the team out to try and intimidate the previously suspect Arsenal side with a more physical approach, and it could easily have backfired, as Mark Noble - not usually one for such roughouse tactics - took Hleb out with a nasty tackle and should have received his marching orders; leave that sort of stuff to Lee Bowyer... Dean Ashton, whilst not scoring, did his England chances no harm, and neither did the implacable Robert Green, whose handling, command of his area, and close range saving, surely mean he can not be overlooked for much longer. from the OTT website. OCTOBER 2007 06th Aston Villa. (a). 0-1.
21st Sunderland. (h). 3-1. (cole, OG, bellamy). LP:10th.
27th Portsmouth. (a). 0-0.Solano missed the two best opportunities of the game, both with his head. Robert Grtenn saved a penalty in injury time to give us the point.
30th Coventry City (a). Carling Cup 4th Rd. 2-1. (OG, cole).Listening to this one on the Radio, they ran out of ways to describe how bad we were. Cole scored in the last seconds to put us through. NOVEMBER 2007
04th Bolton. (h). 1-1. (mccartney).A great first goal for the club from McCartney, then we hung on surviving several close shaves. We then threw it away in the final minutes of extra time with some school boy defending!
10th Derby County. (a). 5-0. (bowyer x2, etherington, solano, OG).“When the goal came it was West Ham who took it having wasted several earlier openings”, “Nolberto Solano had hit the bar with a superb 20-yard free-kick before man-of-the-match Lee Bowyer gave West Ham the lead they richly deserved”, “Solano's cross was headed down by Carlton Cole and Bowyer ran unmarked into the box to slide the ball home”, “Then three goals in just eight minutes put the game beyond doubt”, “John Paintsil found Matthew Etherington in the box and after a clever one-two with Bowyer, Etherington swept the ball home”, “A minute later Jonathon Spector saw his goalbound shot carried over the line by the unfortunate Eddie Lewis for an own goal”, “Bowyer then ran through unmarked on the hour to score number four after Solano played in Cole, who neatly crossed into the midfielder's path”, “there was worst to come on 68 minutes when Solano curled another delightful free-kick into the net, beating both the wall and the keeper from 20 yards out” from the West Ham Mad website.
25th Tottenham. (h). 1-1. (cole).Robert Green saves a penalty in injury time for the second time this season! Carlton Cole praised constantly on Radio5 Live commentary. DECEMBER 2007 01st Chelsea. (a). 0-1. LP:10th. Defended really well with Gabbidon the pick of the defence. Conceded late in the second half to a Joe Cole goal. Played with Carlton Cole up front as the lone stricker, but lacked any real threat in front of goal.
09th Blackburn Rovers. (a). 1-0. (aston).Curbishley whose tactical intervention proved to be the masterstroke, and just seven minutes into the half Ashton proved just how valuable he is to the Hammers by being in the right place at the right time to convert George McCartney's low cross”, “McCartney thought he had scored moments earlier when his close range effort was cleared off the line. Undaunted, he remained in a forward position and when Nobby Solano's excellent reverse pass found him out wide the Irishman sent across a delicious low cross that Ashton merely had to divert towards goal to give West Ham the lead”. from the KUMB website. 12th Everton. (h). Carling Cup Quarter Final. 1-2. (cole). We scored first, they equalised before half time. They scored the winner in injury time after a defenive blunder! 15th Everton. (h). 0-2. But following yet another insipid display by the Hammers there will be serious questions asked about the lack of firepower available to Curbishley”, “All of West Ham's decent chances came in the first half, with Ashton, Freddie Ljungberg and James Collins spurning good opportunities to open the scoring. In the second half they failed to test Blues keeper Tim Howard at all, as they slipped to yet another home defeat”. from the KUMB website. 22nd Middlesbrough. (a). 2-1. (aston, parker). ”In truth, West Ham had looked at sixes and sevens for much of the opening 45 minutes”, “the Hammers had barely looked like scoring until a hopeful punt forward by Parker was brilliantly controlled by Camara on the edge of the box in the final minute of the half. Dean Ashton, perhaps mindful of his poor performances in the last two weeks reacted immediately, blasting the ball into Mark Schwarzer's bottom right-hand corner”, “Parker himself started the move, whilst (substitute) John Paintsil and Lucas Neill were both instrumental in him getting it back on the edge of the box. Boro claims of offside were (rightly) ignored by the referee's assistant and the former Charlton man stepped inside Boro goalscorer Wheater before placing a precision shot inside Schwarzer's far post. Three points, thank you very much”.from the KUMB website.
26th Reading. (h). 1-1. (solano).“Quite why West Ham are struggling so badly at home is a mystery, but what is quite clear is that Curbishley's side lack the inventiveness required to break down teams who opt to sit back and soak up the pressure”, “Hammers at least created a number of opportunities and twice hit the post through John Spector and Scott Parker”, “Solano's goal, three minutes ahead of the break, was a thing of beauty, and brightened up an otherwise dull first 45 minutes”, “Dave Kitson who was West Ham’s undoing; the forward, who was a constant thorn in the side to West Ham's defence latched on to a Nicky Shorey through ball to twist and fire home the equaliser on the hour mark” from the KUMB website.
29th Manchester Utd. (h). 2-1. (ferdinand, upson).“it was so very West Ham; the same team that struggled to take a point against ten-man Reading just three days earlier were more than good value for a victory against the reigning league champions”, “Yet when Manchester United, already a goal to the good following Ronaldo's 14th minute opener, were awarded a penalty 24 minutes from time it looked like being a far different outcome. Jonathan Spector clearly handballed”, “Ronaldo, perhaps mindful of the fact that none of the three previous penalties Rob Green had faced this season had ended up in the net, fired his shot wide”, “13 minutes from time when Anton Ferdinand, starting his first game since his much-publicised trial, nodded home from a corner to level the scores”, “At that point Curbishley, and perhaps much of the crowd, would have settled for a share of the spoils. But West Ham had other ideas, and four minutes later Mark Noble's free-kick was brilliantly converted by the superb Matthew Upson, who leapt above a crowd of players to fire a header into Tomas Kuszczak's top left-hand corner”, “In truth the win was little more than West Ham had deserved. Throughout the game it was they who made the better chances” from the KUMB website. JANUARY 2008 01st Arsenal. (a). 0-2. ”A depleted Hammers side went down to two early strikes in this afternoon's Premier League clash at the Emirates”, “Goals from Eduardo and Adebayor gave the home side a comfortable victory - although it was far from a one-sided contest as West Ham created several chances of their own”. from the KUMB website. 05th Manchester City. (h). FA Cup 3rd. 0-0. “Despite reverting to a two-man front line the Hammers lacked the necessary punch to trouble the visitors, who will be firm favourites for the replay having yet to lose a game at Eastlands this season”, “Chances for either side were few and far between with City apparently content to sit back and soak up the pressure, playing just one man up front”, “Dean Ashton could have won the game for the Hammers in the closing stages - but he saw his strong header tipped over the bar by young City keeper Joe Hart”, “City will claim that they should have been awarded a first half penalty when Martin Petrov appeared to be tripped by Anton Ferdinand”. from the KUMB website. 12th Fulham. (h). 2-1. (aston, ferdinand). LP:10th “Simon Davies had threatened to spoil the script with an eighth minute free-kick that took everyone by surprise, finding its way into the back of Rob Green's net from all of 30 yards after evading a host of bodies”, “Thereafter it took nearly half an hour for a shellshocked Hammers side to find their feet”, “Freddie Ljungberg, who is finally beginning to recapture the form that persuaded Curbishley (or should that be Magnusson?) to bring him to Upton Park supplied a precise cross which Dean Ashton - back in the starting line-up - delicately placed in the back of Anti Niemi's net with a precisely-cushioned header”, “Ashton almost added a second with a thunderous drive from no more than 12 yards. Had it not been for what amounted to one of the saves of the season from the impressive Niemi, United would have taken a perhaps undeserved lead into the break”, “Mark Noble refused to give up the chase for a ball that seemed to be drifting out of play and drove it back into the centre where Ferdinand, perfectly placed, fired the winner into the roof of Niemi's net”. from the KUMB website.
16th Manchester City. (a). FA Cup 3rd. Replay. 0-1.Aston missed a great chance in the first half of a slow game, boa morte didn’t look up to see Ljungberg unmarked and instead shot from an acute angle, his shot was off-target! They had 2 or 3 attacks and scored from one of them... disappointing! Should have been all over by then.
20th Manchester City. (a). 1-1. (cole).A better game than the last one, with west ham by far the better team. Coles goal was a peach, he flicked it up and with an overhead kick, shot low into the net. City equalised shortly after with a goal from vassell. Off-side and standing in front of Green, but not interfearing with play according to the ref! West Ham bossed the game, how they didn’t score again I’m not sure. Another game we should have won. By far the better team. 30th Liverpool. (h). 1-0. (noble-pen) 10th. ”Mark Noble's injury-time penalty gave West Ham a deserved victory over Liverpool at Upton Park”, “Noble slotted the ball low past Pepe Reina with virtually the last kick of the match after Jamie Carragher had brought down Freddie Ljungberg. Earlier, West Ham's Luis Boa Morte twice missed from six yards out while Xabi Alonso headed on to his own bar. Lucas Leiva missed from eight yards for the Reds while Fernando Torres' shot was saved by Robert Green”. from the BBC Sport website. FEBRUARY 2008 02nd Wigan Ath. (a). 0-1. I saw the brief highlights on MOTD. Our defending resembled the Keystone Cops at their finest! Pitch resembled a ploughed field. Disappointing! 09th Birmingham City. (h). 1-1. (ljungberg). According to the radio, we were by far the better team. We scored early and then promptly gave away a penalty. We had the chance to score but didn’t... again, disappointing. Bowyer was sent off in the final minutes after a poor decision by the ref, however this decision was over-turned by the FA during the following week. 23rd Fulham. (a). 1-0. (solano). LP:10th Cole missed 3 good chances in the first half. Than late oin the second half, Solano won a 50/50 ball against the fulham keeper, the ball rebounded off his arm and into the net. Ref gave it... fulham were not happy... we were! MARCH 2008 01st Chelsea. (h). 0-4. West Ham found themselves outclassed at the Boleyn this afternoon by a Chelsea side looking to get back on track following last weekend's Carling Cup defeat. Three goals in the space of five first half minutes put the visitors firmly in command before Ashley Cole added a fourth in the second half to add insult to injury”, “The only cheer on a miserable day for Hammers fans was the dismissal of Frank Lampard ten minutes ahead of half time for violent conduct”. from the KUMB website. 05th Liverpool. (a). 0-4. No surprises really, last time we won at Anfield? 1963! Torres hat-trick. 09th Tottenham. (a). 0-4 “So, with Spurs barely getting the ball out of their half we then went 1-0 down and it was a goal that had “stupid” written all the way through it. Berbatov backed in on Spector then threw himself forward in the way that everyone knows he does with the exception it seems of premiership referees. Ferdinand fell asleep as Huddlestone’s cross found Berbatov’s run, the header gave Green no chance”, “Things went from bad to worse a couple of minutes later. Ljungberg gave away a foul on the right and once more Ferdinand was napping as Berbatov placed an identical header past Green. There we were, all the good work of the first few minutes undone by naivety and lax defending”, “The second half saw us hold our own for all but the last few minutes. Indeed we managed to have a few efforts and there were periods where we kept the ball rather well.”, “Berbatov broke the record for “furthest away from an opposition player when diving but still winning a free kick” when losing the ball and throwing himself up in the air. Such “skills” will be a major asset when he eventually disappears to a bigger club in the summer”, “This result was depressing insofar as once more defensive lapses let us down. However there was for once the odd ray of light and if we’d taken our early chances it might have been a different game”. from the KUMB website. 15th Blackburn Rovers. (h). 2-1. (aston, sears). LP:10th. “Spector was drawn out wide to deal with Pedersen but never looked anywhere near getting close enough to deal with the cross which was well dispatched past the helpless Green by Santa Cruz”, “Green launched the ball forward, Zamora got the flick on to Ashton whose clever flick got him goal side of Samba. Escaping what appeared to be a tug back, Ashton latched on to the ball and sent an exquisite finish over the advancing Friedel to level the scores”, “Now we all want a youngster to do well and the cheers Sears received on entering the pitch were more than ample evidence of this. The youngster instantly endeared himself to the crowd with a spot of chasing down to block a Reid clearance. This wasn’t a one-off either”, “So then to the moment that one young lad will remember for the rest of his life. Neill dispossessed the Blackburn midfield and played a fine ball into the box for Ashton who held the ball up well before playing a superb back-heel into the path of Sears. The youngster’s first shot was parried by Friedel but came up invitingly for Sears to put home a diving header. If his arrival had woken up the crowd the goal set them into ecstasy. Let’s face it we were all as proud as punch and made up for the lad. I’ve just seen photos of Sir Trevor taken at that point and his smile said it all”. from the KUMB website. 22nd Everton. (a). 1-1. (aston). “Teenage striker Fred Sears was the width of a post away from being a Hammers hero for the second Saturday in succession”, ‘The youngster kept his cool and picked his spot - but could do nothing but watch as his deft flick agonisingly rebounded against the post and away to safety”, “Despite going a goal down early on the Hammers were more than good value for their point”, “Tomkins could have marked his debut with a goal - but his fifth minute header from a Mark Noble corner cannoned off the crossbar with Howard flailing. Three minutes later the young centre-half was given a harsh reminder of the difference between reserve and Premier League level when he was outfoxed by the experienced Yakubu who left him for dead before smashing the ball beyound Robert Green to give Everton an eighth minute lead”, “Dean Ashton should have levelled the scores on 32 minutes when he fired wide from eight yards after a mix-up in the Everton defence left him with just Howard to beat”, “It is often said that a 'little and large' partnership works best up front; Sears and Ashton lent weight to that particular theory as they combined superbly to stretch the Everton defence time after time”, “Lucas Neill, sent in a wonderful cross which Ashton latched onto to send an unstoppable header beyond Tim Howard” from the KUMB website. 29th Sunderland. (a). 1-2. (ljungberg). We took the lead, missed a couple of good chances, they scored the winner 3 minutes into injury time! APRIL 2008 07th Portsmouth. (h). 0-1. The curse of Harry Redknapp continues. Newspapers reported a dull game, with very little goulmouth action? 12th Bolton. (a). 0-1. “Alan Curbishley's side made it three defeats in a row after yet another uninspired performance”, “the Hammers were simply outplayed by the opposition”, “The Irons mustered just two meaningful efforts on goal all afternoon in a season where they have managed to score just 35 goals from 34 games - a record bettered by all but the three teams in the relegation zone” from the KUMB website. 19th Derby County. (h). 2-1. (zamora, cole). LP:10th “So unconvincing was the victory that a minority of fans still booed the team off at the final whistle”, “The Hammers had started the game with the local trio of Tomkins, Noble and Sears for the first time, completely dominated the opening 20 minutes of the game and deservedly took the lead when Bobby Zamora nodded home a Lucas Neill free kick from close range”, “The second half was a far different story and it was the visitors who controlled the game for long periods”, “former Hammer Mears struck a deserved equaliser for the visitors”, “Cole popped up in the six yard box to convert a low cross from Freddie Ljungberg which had followed an exquisite one two between the Swede and Mark Noble on the edge of the box” from the KUMB website. 26th Newcastle Utd. (h). 2-2. (noble, aston). “Despite racing into an early two goal lead the Hammers were pegged back by goals in the final five minutes of the first half”, “And with no further goals after the break each side will have come away reasonably happy with a point - although having enjoyed 17 shots to Newcastle's five the Hammers should perhaps have been toasting all three points”, “Mark Noble opened the scoring in the tenth minute before Dean Ashton made it 2-0 shortly after”, “Both sides had chances to win the game after the break, however the Hammers were particularly unlucky to be denied what appeared to be a cast-iron penalty in the closing stages” from the KUMB website. MAY 2008 03rd Manchester United. (a). 1-4. (aston). Apart from Aston’s goal, scoring with a great overhead kick, not too much good to say on this one. A poor performance. Two nil down within 15 minutes and a stunning goal by Carlos Tevez! 11th Aston Villa. (h). 2-2. (solano, aston). Man of the match, Robert Green made sure we finished above Spurs with a string of fine saves to keep us in the game. Solano gave us the lead with a free-kick, before Villa took control, scored twice and should have had a few more! Aston saved the day with a well struck equaliser a few minutes before the end! West Ham United Goalscorers 2006-2007 11 x Dean Aston. (Carling Cup x 1).6 x Carlton Cole. (Carling Cup x 2). 4 x Craig Bellamy. (Carling Cup x 2). 4 x Lee Bowyer. 4 x Nobby Solano. 3 x Mathew Etherington. 3 x Mark Noble. (pens = 2). 2 x Anton Ferdinand. 2 x Freddie Ljungberg. 1 x George McCartney. 1 x Scot Parker. 1 x Freddie Sears. 1 x Mathew Upson. 1 x Bobby Zamora. 4 x Own Goals. (Carling Cup x 1). West Ham United Live on Television 2007-2008 1. BRISTOL ROVERS 1 vs WEST HAM 2.Tuesday 28th August 2007 (7.45pm kick off). LIVE ON SKY. 2. NEWCASTLE UTD 3 vs WEST HAM 1. Sunday 23rd September 2007 (1.30pm kick off). LIVE ON SKY. 3. WEST HAM 3 vs SUNDERLAND 1. Sunday 21st October 2007 (4.00pm kick off). LIVE ON SKY. 4. PORTSMOUTH 0 vs WEST HAM 0. Saturday 27th October 2007 (5.15pm kick off). SETANTA. 5. COVENTRY CITY 1 vs WEST HAM 2. Carling Cup 4th Rd. Tuesday 30th October 2007 (7.45pm kick off). LIVE ON SKY. 6. WEST HAM 1 vs BOLTON 1. Sunday 4th November 2007 (4.00pm kick off). LIVE ON SKY. 7. DERBY COUNTY 0 vs WEST HAM 5. Saturday 10th November 2007 (3.00pm kick off). LIVE ON SETANTA. 8. WEST HAM 1 vs SPURS 1. Sunday 25th November 2007 (1.30pm kick off). LIVE ON SKY. 9. CHELSEA 1 vs WEST HAM 0. Saturday 1st December 2007 (12.45pm kick off). LIVE ON SKY. 10. BLACKBURN ROVERS 0 vs WEST HAM 1. Sunday 9th December 2007 (4.00pm kick off). LIVE ON SKY. 11. WEST HAM 1 vs READING 1. Wednesday 26th December 2007 (1.00pm kick off). LIVE ON SKY. 12. WEST HAM 2 vs MANCHESTER UNITED 1. Saturday 29th December 2007 (3.00pm kick off). LIVE ON SETANTA. 13. MANCHESTER CITY 1 vs WEST HAM 0. FA Cup 3rd Rd Replay. Wednesday 16th January 2008 (4pm kick off). LIVE ON BBC1 14. MANCHESTER CITY 1 vs WEST HAM 1. Sunday 20th January 2008 (4pm kick off). LIVE ON SKY 15. EVERTON 1 vs WEST HAM 1. Saturday 22nd March 2008 (5.15pm kick off). LIVE ON SETANTA. 16. MANCHESTER UTD 4 vs WEST HAM 1. Saturday 3rd May 2008 (12.30pm kick off). LIVE ON SKY. |