A Great Weekend For Hammer Fans - Are West Ham On Their Way To Safety?

After a thumping 3-0 win over Hull City, the confidence and morale of the entire West Ham squad must be sky high. Zola was actually smiling during the post-match interview, looking very much a relieved man. And he should be, after all, West Ham have achieved their first back-to-back victory since the 2009/2010 season started. Looking clean shaven and relaxed for a change, he spoke about how confidence is finally flowing into the team and how the talismanic Alessandro Diamanti is so important to the Hammer's survival cause. Maybe Zola has found that Tevez-like personality in the livewire Italian.

Two successive wins at home have moved West Ham up to 13th place now and they are now four points away from the bottom three. This will ease the worries and consequently relieve the anxiety of the players as they approach Tuesday's match against the wounded Manchester United at Old Trafford. Regardless of the Red Devils troubles, they are still amazing at home and will want to keep pace with Chelsea.

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An Optimistic Look Ahead, West Ham Can Beat The Dreaded Drop And Here's Why

The hectic Christmas fixtures have come and gone. And although West Ham ended the year 2009 dejected with that 2-0 loss to a very good Spurs side, we have every reason to rejoice. Why do I say that?

Well for starters, in the last three matches, West Ham have collected five out of a possible nine points while the rest of their relegation rivals only muster three points maximum. This has helped West Ham to move out of the bottom three.

Secondly, there is no question that West Ham has been notoriously anonymous in the second half of every game but interestingly, the last three matches have shown a reverse of that trend. We are now defending more in numbers, the midfielders (Collison, Diamanti) are tracking back to help with the weakest part of our defence i.e. the fullbacks. This has helped immensely in keeping the team's shape. The searing pace of the in-form Aaron Lennon was just too much to handle for any team in the Premiership so that's nothing to be ashamed about.


Thirdly, the return of Carlton Cole will boost the attacking third of our game. West Ham's next six fixtures are mainly against clubs in the relegation zone and lower half of the Premiership table therefore there is every chance that we can pick up valuable points from these matches. Maximum points even is not out of the question. The Cole-Franco partnership looked to be a lethal combination in the short time that they played together. Franco also did the business against Spurs, picking up a second yellow, making him miss the Arsenal FA Cup tie but will return for Premiership action after that. Smart thinking from this intelligent player.

Fourthly, talks of ownership interest are making its round intensely and there is every chance that the ownership issue can be settled before the January transfer market allowing the club to make player investment and strengthen the squad a bit more.

Let's take a look at the next six fixtures as the relegation battle heats up.

West Ham: Wolves (h), Portsmouth (a), Blackburn (h), Burnley (a), Birmingham (h) and Hull (h)

And the next six matches for the Hammers' relegation battlers are:

Hull City: Bolton (a), Wigan (a), Chelsea (h), Spurs (a), Man Utd (a), Wolves (h)
Wolves: West Ham (a), Wigan (h), Liverpool (h), Hull (a), Birmingham (a), Spurs (h)
Pompey: Arsenal (h), Fulham (a), Birmingham (h), West Ham (h), Man City (a), Man Utd (a)
Bolton: Hull (h), Arsenal (a), Sunderland (a), Arsenal (h), Burnley (h), Liverpool (a)
Wigan: Man Utd (a), Hull (h), Villa (h), Wolves (a), Blackburn (a), Everton (h)

All five rivals have much tougher fixtures than West Ham, which should feature well for the Irons. Portsmouth in particular will be decimated by players competing in the African Nations Cup. All five clubs face at least one of the "Big Four" as well as Champions League aspirants.

Zola and Clarke should be extremely aware that this is the best chance to get points on the board and massively improve West Ham's position in the league. To add more positivity into the mix, Jack "the new Gazza" Wilshere expressed his preference to come to West Ham on loan. If this is followed up by Gianluca Nani intently, then the Hammers midfield will have added the much needed class and creativity.

Confidence will be high after a successful Christmas period. A two-week rest and time to regroup allowing the West Ham players to recover from injuries (Parker, Noble and Ilunga) and their physical exertions together with a relatively easy fixture list surely represent a productive time ahead.

Come on You Irons!

Franco Injury Leaves Beating Portsmouth a Herculean Task

News have filtered through that Guillermo Franco was hurt in a freak training ground injury. This leaves West Ham and Gianfranco Zola short of striking options. So far goals have been hard to come by since the loss of Carlton Cole and now with Franco also out for two games, the situation is now extremely dire for the Hammers.

This makes the must-win match against Portsmouth an extremely hard proposition. So what should Zola and Clarke do to prepare and put a team out to face a determined and fired-up Portsmouth? Carlton Cole, Zavon Hines and Kieron Dyer are all on the injury list and thus there are no recognised strikers apart from youth teamers, Frank Nouble, Terry Dixon and Freddie Sears.

Looking through the player roster, one option is to play Alessandro Diamanti up front with Luis Jimenez as the second striker. With Junior Stanislas playing in the left midfield position vacated by Diamanti, there is every possibility that West Ham can get something out of this crunch match.

Alternatively, if Luis Jimenez is deemed too "soft" to face up to Tal Ben-Haim and Marc Wilson, then perhaps Zola can consider Jack Collison up front. The Welsh lad has notched two goals and three assists in 14 games this season. On evidence of his performance against Chelsea, he is regaining his form and confidence. With Diamanti feeding the balls through, this could be a winning combination. Julien Faubert, despite his inability to deliver crosses, can do the hard work on the right side of midfield.

Because the Hammers need to win this match, I would abandon the safety first tactic (we ARE playing at home!). Zola should drop the defensive-minded Kovac and play a more attacking midfield of Parker, Noble, Stanislas and Faubert.

Here are my two suggested possible lineups.

The Flat Back Four's Alternative #1 lineup (4-4-1-1):
--------------------------------- Green

Faubert --------------- Tomkins ------ Upson ------------ Ilunga

---------------- Parker--------------------------- Kovac

Collison -------------- ----------- ---- ------------------- Noble

------------------------ Jimenez

-------------------------- ------ Diamanti



The Flat Back Four's Alternative #2 lineup (4-1-3-1-1):
--------------------------------- Green

Spector --------------- Tomkins ------ Upson ------------ Ilunga

------------------------------- Parker

Faubert -------------- Noble ---- ------------------- Stanislas

------------------------ Diamanti

-------------------------------- Collison


Heck, if Arsenal can win playing without an out-and-out striker, then so can West Ham! Though Zola and Clarke have to contend with a crippling injury list, if the Hammers play with passion, determination and an attacking mentality, we can get three points from this game.

Come on you Irons!

The Boy's Done Good!: West Ham's Guillermo Franco

Guillermo Luis Farcuason Franco was a little known entity when he signed on free agent status to West Ham United. At the time of signing, the Argentine-born Mexican international striker had just completed international World Cup duty for a jittery Mexico side unsure of qualification.

Admittedly, I first saw Franco in the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup where he played a major part in Mexico's triumphant campaign. The striker scored twice (including a penalty) against Costa Rica in the semifinal and once more in the 5-0 battering of USA in the Gold Cup final. Mexico coach, Javier Aguirre heaped praise on Franco for his "target man" hold-up play and "team contribution" after he came on as a substitute in the 5-0 drubbing of the USA during July's Gold Cup Final.

He looked a very effective player with great technical skills and an eye for goal. The only negative part was his age (33), his suspect fitness and he can be injury-prone.


So far however, his sterling performances for West Ham have shown no such worries. Particularly pleasing was his performance against Chelsea last weekend. Playing as a lone striker, he showed strength, guile and lots of effort. Because West Ham's central midfield were preoccupied with keeping Lampard and Ballack, he kept coming in deep to pick up the loose balls and then releasing Diamanti on the left and Collison/Faubert on the right. It was Franco's through ball to Collison which won West Ham the penalty.

He has more than made up for the loss of Carlton Cole, putting in great performances week after week as the focal point of the West Ham attack. But it was his partnership with the injured Cole that really caught the eye. The Franco-Cole partnership coincided with possibly the best West Ham form this season, winning two matches, drawing two and losing two. West Ham also scored 15 goals during that period. Begs the question, what if Carlton Cole had not suffered that knee injury, doesn't it?

Overall, he has connected on 190 out of 280 passes i.e a passing efficiency of 68%. Franco has shown that he has vision by creating 12 chances so far for his Hammers team mates. His assist tally is currently at one but there will be more, I am sure. His goals to shots ratio is 14% which is comparable to the in-form Bobby Zamora.

Zola had this to say about Guillermo Franco settling so quickly into life in the Premier League:

"Franco has been very good for me. He's proving to be a very good player for us. He's been a very good gain for West Ham United.

"He is an excellent guy, he works very hard and, above all, he's a very intelligent player. He does the right things for the team and I'm really impressed with him."

His never say die attitude and intelligent play have endeared the naturalised Mexican to the Upton Park faithful, earning him adoration and adulation alike. With Franco leading the attack, West Ham, buoyed by the excellent result against Chelsea, will surely want to make all that effort count when Portsmouth comes a-visiting on Boxing Day.

The series of The Boy's Done Good! also consist of:
Bolton's Tamir Cohen
Chelsea's Michael Ballack

West Ham Players On International Duty: Player Performance

Over the international weekend, several West Ham players were in action for their respective national teams. Here are the players performances which I have compiled from matches I have seen and other football news reports.

Robert Green and Matthew Upson saw first team action as England routed Croatia 5-1 in a one-sided match. Robert Green had a great game with some very assured goalkeeping and excellent positioning. He was unfortunate to let in the solitary goal but he would have taken heart from a solid and confident display. He has proven that he can be counted on whenever called upon by Fabio Capello.

Similarly Matty Upson showed just why he is so highly valued by the West Ham faithful. It was a calm and powerful display from Upson, giving the Croatian strikers very little to work on. His passing were slightly wayward but his performance was a good one. While the first choice central defensive pairing will Ferdinand and Terry, Matthew Upson will be the most obvious backup if either one of the central pairing were to be injured or suspended.

Carlton Cole was not on the subs bench although he was at the match. No doubt he would have put in a decent shift if called upon.

Playing in the UEFA U-21 2011 European qualifier, James Tomkins again showed why Zola was able to accept Aston Villa's bid for James Collins. He can make defending look really simple like Rio Ferdinand.

Danny Gabbidon did not have a very good game against Russia for Wales. His foul on Kerzhakov resulted in the second goal from Russia after Wales had worked hard to equalise. Nevertheless, it was good to see him back working himself into full fitness for both club and country.



American Jonathan Spector had mixed reviews for his USA performances against first, El Salvador and later, Trinidad & Tobago. Shaky and nervous against El Salvador as USA sneaked a 2-1 win but Spector redeemed himself with a good defensive display against the Ticos where he kept first Tinto and then Edwards quiet the whole game.

Soon-to-be new Hammer, Guillermo Franco played in Mexico's 3-0 win against Costa Rica. He scored an easy second goal for El Tri. Equally dangerous with both feet and excellent in the air with a great leap, he would make a capable backup for Carlton Cole. You can see ten of his best goals HERE (while Franco was playing for Monterey).




Ex-Hammer James Collins also played in the Welsh defeat and was excellent. West Ham will miss this big man.