……….Since 1966

Peter Gilbert. 21.8.00

10 Things
I)West Ham were originally known as Thames Ironworks FC and were formed by employees of this ship building yard in 1895.
ii) They entered the FA Cup in their initial season against Chatham and the London League in their second.
iii) In June 1900 the club wound up as they were short of funds, a month later they were re-launched as West Ham United. Connection with the Ironworks/ Ship Building was not broken for another four years. But you can see why they are called 'The Hammers'
iv) Last season they had their highest ever finish in The Premier League; 5th.
v) They have won the FA Cup three times
vi) They have had four European Campaigns, winning the Cup Winner's Cup in 1964/65 when Ron Greenwood was their manager.
vii) We all love them because of Bobby Moore, Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst who were highly instrumental in our World Cup victory in 1966.
viii) How times have changed though: in their three post-war FA Cup Final appearances 1964, 1975 and 1980, all of which they won, they used 30 different players, 29 of them were English, the other one was a Scot named Ray Stewart.
ix) Alf Garnett is their most famous supporter.
x) Their manager used to play for them.

If statistics are anything to go by, then we haven't a prayer in this game. We haven't won at Upton Park since sometime ago in the long forgotten 1960's. It was 1966 actually 31st December, to be precise we beat them 1-0 and a certain player named Sinclair did the business for us. Jackie Sinclair it was , a Scotsman, a nippy goal scoring winger. We've come pretty close on occasions since then with some thrilling high scoring games but an actual win has eluded us since that New Year's Eve back in 1966.

So it's good to get this game out of the way early on in a season and early on in a new manager's regime. Anything that PT can pick up here will be a bonus, he's on a very steep learning curve at the moment but after one game I for one feel that I have learned something:
PT seems to prefer 4 4 2, since that is the line up he started with against Villa.
He doesn't go in for man to man marking.
He likes players to pass the ball the way they are facing.
He is capable of switching the system during the game to create a change of strategy.

Looking at our players as a fan I also felt I learned something.
Flowers: Needs to quicken his distribution, he doesn't seem totally fit.
Rowett: Composed, some class, not prone to panic, a gentleman player in all the right ways.
Davidson: Composed, calm, perhaps a little ponderous at times.
Elliott: Needs to improve his passing from the back but an inspirational captain.
Taggert: All heart seemed to be struggling with his fitness, seemed bad tempered and ill at ease.
Impey: Growing in confidence but running out of time to make a real significant mark.
Savage: A good game against Villa, you can't keep him down, he's a winner.
Lennon: Played too deep against Villa didn't look very mobile but a huge influence on the team.
Izzett: A surprisingly slow start, more to come.
Collymore: Looked human, finding his way back after a nasty injury, I have every confidence he'll come good.
Akinbiyi: Played with his heart on his sleeve, occasionally too quick for his own good, when he gets a couple of goals I think we could have a little diamond here.
subs:
Eadie: Sorry but I can't see him being effective as a wide player or an attacker. He could perhaps convert to full back.
Walsh: What can you say he's still Mr. Leicester City.
Subs not used:
Cottee, he should have come on.
Gilchrist, his time will come I believe.
Royce: be patient I think we're going to need you.

Against Villa we missed: Guppy and Sinclair rather badly I thought, we needed some speed from the back and a strong left sided option to open the opposition up.
Of course Statistics don't count for anything since 90% of them are made up on the spot, but we've got to break our duck here sometime and PT could be just the man to do it. He's well connected down in the smoke and he might feel a little more gung ho on his old manor.