You don't have to be a West Ham fan to know that in this second half of the season, Andy Carroll has made a massive impact at Upton Park. You just need to look at some of the goals he has scored, not just how good some of them are (especially his second against West Brom), but how crucial some of them were as well (equaliser against Southampton, winner against Swansea). He has single-handedly dominated opposition defences, and no-one can criticise his work ethic and how much effort he puts into his game (attacking and defending).
He has been a crucial part of our season and it would be a tragedy to lose him. However, according to some newspaper headlines, unless Liverpool accept the £10 million we have offered for him, we can't afford him (due to the new financial fair play rules coming in). So in the meantime, we must look at some of the replacements that we could make if the awful thing happens and it turns out that we cannot keep him.
Firstly, it's appropriate to say that is replacement is unlikely to be part of our current squad. With Marouane Chamakh and Wellington Paulista likely to return to their parent clubs after unsuccessful loan spells, this would leave Carlton Cole (who may not be offered a new contract at the end of the year), Modibo Maiga (who could be sold after a poor debut season) and Ricardo Vaz Te. If Vaz Te can find a return to form he may be our current best option. I'm still not convinced by Maiga as he hasn't played that much this year, and apart from a fantastic goal against Southampton, hasn't proved himself when he has played. I'm also not totally certain on whether we should offer Cole a new contract. Last year he proved that he can score 15 goals in a season, and when he has played this year, he has made a massive effort and even got a man of the match award against Chelsea. However, his past Premier League goal record hasn't been good enough to warrant a new contract, and with the wages he will be paid, we could probably invest into a new player.
One name that has recently been thrown around a lot is Wilfried Bony. The £12 million rated Ivorian striker has scored 30 goals in 27 games for the Dutch club Vitesse and has been on Big Sam's radar for quite a while now. Although there has also been interest from Chelsea, Fulham and West Brom, we have so far come out as favourites for the star striker's signature. He looks a perfect replacement for Carroll with his goal-scoring record and the price for him seems an absolute steal. Whether he will want to take the chance on us, or whether he can cut it in the UK is yet to be seen.
Blackburn striker Jordan Rhodes is also one on the list of possible replacements. The 23-year-old has scored 25 goals in the league this year to prove that his 40 goal haul for Huddersfield the previous season wasn't just a fluke. After being valued at around £8 million, this may put off Big Sam for a player who has no Premier League experience, however he may be an interesting signing after clearly proving that he knows where the net is.
Aston Villa's Christian Benteke could also be a possibility, especially if Villa get relegated. 15 goals in a debut Premier League season is very impressive, particularly in a team like Villa that have been struggling for goals all season (then again we aren't much better). The big 6 ft 3 in striker looks a perfect fit for Allardyce's tactics and could hopefully continue his current form into next year if we were to sign him.
I would be very happy with Wilfried Bony as a Carroll replacement next year, well more happier than with Rhodes or Benteke anyway. A few other names being thrown around such as Adam Le Fondre, Adel Taarabt and Marouane Chamakh on a permanent deal I would definitely not be happy with. However, before we think about any of these strikers, I think we should focus all our efforts on trying to sign Andy Carroll. I think he could be a crucial member of our future squads and to progress as a club, we may need him.
I admit this post is slightly random, but recently I have been rewatching this goal by Kevin Nolan against Derby in the Championship last season for his first ever at Upton Park. Every time I watch it, it seems to get better. The supreme technique and prowess that he shows in this finish proves that he is of Premier League quality, and if he had scored few like that this season maybe it would get a lot of his critics off his back. In the end this didn't win goal of the season, but it was definitely a contender.
The footage is owned by Sky Sports and is provided by http://www.youtube.com/user/Marcizen?feature=watch.
In other news, West Ham are reportedly interested in signing the £4 million rated Fulham goalkeeper David Stockdale. He is currently surplus to requirements at Fulham and has spent the season on loan at Hull, whom which I am sure will want to sign him permanently in the summer, especially if they gain promotion to the Premier League which they are currently on course to do. This isn't the first piece of news we've heard about West Ham's interest in goalies as Manchester United's Anders Lindegaard and Manchester City's Costel Pantillimon are also reported targets, as well as the failed attempt to sign Paul Robinson in January.
In my opinion, I'd prefer Jussi Jaaskelainen to any of these names, despite his age, and I'm sure that they would all make descent back-up for Jussi, but at the moment I'm happy to stick with Stephen Henderson. During his time on loan at Ipswich this year, he has been one of their star players, and is one of the main reasons why they are currently not too worried about relegation after their complete collapse at the beginning of the season. I'd be fine with giving Henderson a chance, or even Raphael Spiegel, I just don't want to waste our money on a keeper when there are more important signings we should be looking to make, such as the permanent transfer of Andy Carroll. Maybe in the future for when Jaaskelainen retires, but for now Gold and Sullivan, keep your money in your pocket.
The 2012-13 Premier league season is almost over, and for West Ham it is the end of our first season back in the top flight. Which brings our minds over to who will win the Hammer of the Year award. Every year the same questions are raised: who has shown the most flair in a West Ham shirt? Who has given those match-winning (or match-saving) performances? Who has played the most consistently throughout the season? Everything adds up to who has been the best player of the year, and who will win join the list of greats (Bobby Moore, Trevor Brooking, Paolo di Canio, Geoff Hurst, Alvin Martin, Scott Parker) who have already received the most prestigious award that West Ham United have to offer.
Mohammed Diame - In his debut season at Upton Park, Diame has been outstanding. His powering runs forward combined with his skillful ability and crisp passes makes him a deadly force in attack, and his strong, tough defensive performances have also been crucial. He may not have scored as many as he'd have hoped, but the chances he has taken have been some of the most important of the season (including the goals to take the lead against both Manchester United and Chelsea) and if he did have a much more improved accuracy, he would definitely be one of our top scorers. He is also most likely to be our signing of the season as he was an absolute steal after signing for the Irons for free after leaving Wigan.
Jussi Jaaskelainen - After a somewhat shaky start, Jaaskelainen has become probably the most important part of our successful season. After leaving Bolton in the summer when they chose not to extend his contract, Big Sam swooped him up in the hope that he could rekindle his old form after being left out of the Bolton team for almost the whole of last year. Jussi hasn't disappointed. He has made more saves in the Premier League than any other keeper, and has kept that feet throughout the whole season. It seems that almost every week, I am talking to someone or describing another brilliant, generally match-saving stop from our main goalie, and he has single-handedly kept us in games that we should have been totally out of.
Winston Reid - The New Zealand international captain has been inspirational in our defence this year. In quite a lot of our matches in the league (especially away from home, and in second half's where we have been in front), our tactics rely heavily upon our defensive performances, and Reid has been the spearhead of our solid defensive work. He has also been made captain several times when others have been injured, and his captaincy is admirable to say the least. Also, he has been West Ham's most consistent performer since the beginning of the season, as well as being one of the most consistent players in terms of number of games (as the only games he has missed were the last couple against Liverpool and Southampton in which he had a slight thigh problem.
Mark Noble - Although he has recently been out for just over a month with an arm injury, when he has been playing, Noble has put in just as consistent performances as Reid. Last years Hammer of the Year has continued his form into this season, and he is certainly one of the most important additions to the team. For the first half of the season, he had made more tackles and completed passes than any other player in the Premier League, and has shown that he is a very calm and confident central midfielder to have if the pace of the game is going against the team and needs to relaxed. He has been integral to some of our best victories this year and has put up a really strong fight for his club and to attempt to retain his Hammer of the Year title.
Although these are the four players who probably deserve the award most, we must not forget some of the other incredibly valuable players that we have at this club and who have performed to high standards this year. Despite giving away 3 goals in 3 games that have all ended up costing us the win or even a draw (Reading, Swansea and Sunderland), James Collins has generally been very strong in defence and has made a great partner for Reid. Joey O'Brien has also put in very consistent performances and is always a big part of both our defensive and attacking movements. And based on the current form that he is in, Andy Carroll would most definitely be on this list if he hadn't been injured for half the season.
In my personal opinion, I wouldn't mind who got the award. I'm pretty sure it will go to either Reid or Diame, but I would really like to see Jaaskelainen get it. Robert Green was a hard act to follow and he has done it incredibly well, and in my view has been the most integral part of our year.
The big question on my mind at the end of Wednesday night's game was should I be disappointed with this result or not? On paper I would take a draw against Manchester United any-day and anybody reading this who didn't see or hear anything about the game until they started to read this would think I was stupid to be upset with a point against the new Premier League champions (well almost). But any West Ham fan that saw that game, is probably asking themselves the same question.
Firstly, the fact that for most of the match we were the superior side is incredibly encouraging. All season we have been incredibly dangerous at home, and we have only lost 4 games at home all season (all to teams in the top 7 of the league). This performance was no different, we looked consistently threatening in attack and pretty solid in defence too.
Our first goal came just 15 minutes into play, when Mohammed Diame started on one of his classic counter-attacking runs down the centre of the pitch and put a through-ball to Matt Jarvis on the wing who took on and completely bamboozled Rio Ferdinand to put in a cross which was headed across goal by Andy Carroll and finally finished off by Ricardo Vaz Te. A wonderful team goal!
Their first was disappointing from our point of view. Shinji Kagawa went on a speedy and skillful dribble to wrong-foot Winston Reid and pass the ball into the feet of Antonia Valencia who needed only to tap the ball into an open net after being left completely unmarked by Joey O'Brien. As Valencia was making his run, I was screaming at O'Brien to cover him instead of moving to intercept the other attacker running in from the centre, but as Kagawa played the ball through, O'Brien had already committed himself as well as Jussi Jaaskelainen who was left helpless as Valencia could do nothing wrong.
After another spell of West Ham possession early into the second half, which included a disallowed Kevin Nolan goal (that hindsight maybe shouldn't have been as the foul that the referee blew for wasn't actually a foul) and a wonderful reaction save by Jaaskelainen from a Robin Van Persie volley 3 yards out., West Ham took the lead once more after a beautiful back-heel from Vaz Te on the wing finally found Diame who turned from his marker and fired in a wonder strike with his weaker foot for one of our goals of the season.
Unfortunately, it was what came next that really hit home... and hit hard. Kagawa from outside the penalty area, took a shot which deflected off James Collins, onto the post, onto the other post and into the path of Van Persie for him to equalise for United. The painful thing is that Van Persie was quite clearly a yard offside, which the assistant referee did not notice. A famous victory over one of the best club sides in the world was taken away from us by a refereeing howler. Some decisions can cost clubs tens of millions, and lets just hope that that wasn't one of them.
So, to sum up this really was a game that we could have and should have won. However, there are still some clear positives and negatives to take from this.
Starting with the negatives:
1. Kevin Nolan - If Nolan wasn't captain he wouldn't be in the side, and that's the short and the long of it. Another inconsistent performance from our joint top-scorer hasn't filled any Hammers fans with confidence, and the fact that he hasn't scored at home since November is worrying. A return to form is definitely needed by our skipper or he could be shown the door out of our first team.
2. Mohammed Diame's fitness - Diame has easily been one of our best players this season, and is a strong contender for Hammer of the Year. But it seems like he has to be subbed off in the last 10 minutes of every game or he gets completely worn out. In the Southampton game he was forced to play on due to the injury to James Tomkins and you could clearly see the fatigue affecting him and he simply had no energy left. This is a big issue which really needs to be resolved for next year.
3. Defensive worries - This is mainly focusing on United's first goal in which Valencia was given far too much room and easily put away the equaliser. This was a very uncommon incident for our defence and we can only hope that this can be fixed quickly. Our man-marking on the wings needs improvement.
And the positives:
1. Ricardo Vaz Te - The Portuguese striker enjoyed a very timely return to form with his first goal since October and his return from injury. Vaz Te looked much more confident in this game and looked much happier to take on defenders and even try a shot or two. His running back to defend should also be commended and his defensive work was very intelligent and safe (which is what is always needed from defenders). Hopefully he can continue this run of form and score a few more goals before the season's close.
2. A return for Mark Noble - Last year's Hammer of the year made his first appearance since recovering from an arm injury by coming off the bench to replace Gary O'Neil in the second half. The midfielder looked fit enough and made some very descent passes and tackles, the stuff we've been seeing from him all season. His return is a very important one for our side and will most certainly make our selection committee's job a lot harder.
3. Andy Carroll - Big Andy has looked absolutely unstoppable in his last few games. The centre forward has not only scored 5 goals in 7 games now, but was once again named man of the match for the second home game in a row. Carroll's aerial threat and defensive work has been top class recently and I'm sure almost all West Ham fans will want to seem signed permanently in the summer.
With only 5 games left and a top ten place up for grabs lets hope our team can push on from this draw and grab a few more wins before the season ends.
West Ham: Jaaskelainen, Demel, Collins, Reid, O'Brien, O'Neil (Noble 67), Diame (Taylor 82), Nolan (Collison 82), Vaz Te, Jarvis, Carroll
Well after a long 4 month break, Hammer Time is back! A lot has happened at Upton Park since then: the deal to buy the Olympic Stadium, the return of past hero Joe Cole, ongoing talks of a new contract for Sam Allardyce and a return to form and fitness for Andy Carroll.
As of today you can expect a new post on this blog every other day, including: match reports, news and rumours, videos and lots more.
Don't forget to like our facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/hammertimepage?ref=ts&fref=ts and check out my mate Jamie's website http://www.letstalksport.org.uk/ in which you can also see some posts and articles from me. Also, we will have a Hammer Time twitter page coming soon so keep your eyes peeled for that.
I wish our team good luck for the rest of the season, and COYI!!!
