Am I missing something? Sporting Lisbon are a pretty good team aren't they? And this was just a pre season friendly wasn't it? So how comes we outplayed them, scored three times without Carroll and Diame in the team, and the match was played in a ferocious fashion with the Lisbon coaching staff doing their nuts when we scored and when only 3 minutes added time was allowed at the end of the game?
Anybody who didn't see the game might think we were lucky but they couldn't be more wrong. Lisbon's first goal was a decidedly dodgy penalty and their second came from a free kick that should never have been awarded: Cole was fouled but he was penalised in a ridiculous decision. DRS would clearly have shown a hotspot around Cole's rib cage!
By the time Lisbon scored that second goal, we had Elliot Lee on up front, Sebastian Lletget on for Nolan and, most amazingly of all, one Pelly Ruddock in the centre of defence in place of Tomkins. Add in Morrison, who started, and that is four kids whose combined age might just about add up to Jussi's!
The goals were superb. The first came from a Boomtown (on at half time) throw, with Maiga back heading the ball into the six yard box and Nolan drifting in behind his marker to steer into an empty net. We were still cheering when Boomtown slipped a pass into Morrison and Ravel buried a shot into the corner from 25 yards. Brilliant! Then Cole sent in a cross and who was that rising, Carroll fashion, on the edge of the six yard box to glance home a header? Only Ravel again! This kid may be good as well as a thuggish arsehole!
Unsporting's goals apart, with both credited to the referee for the assist, we were rarely troubled. Reid made a brilliant goal line clearance after a fantastic twisting run by Carrillo, but that was genuinely it. We bossed the bloody game!
Of course, the last time we had a great pre season was under Avram so we shouldn't get too carried away, but Boomtown looked good, Maiga looked a bit better than last season, and Morrison was, excuse the pun, a ravelation! Add in Carroll, Diame and Collins and who knows, it could be an exciting season!
We even drew a mysterious penalty shoot out at the end of the game. Lee scored his which is promising. Morrison missed his. But who cares?
Player ratings: Jussi 4 (two bad errors); O'Brien 6, Tomkins 6, Reid 8, Taylor 5; Noble 6;
Morrison 8, Nolan 7; Jarvis 6, Cole 7; Maiga 6 Subs: Rat 7, Lletget 6, Lee 6, Ruddock 5 (wasn't he a striker when we signed him?)
It's as if you have awoken from a coma, HF. Are you still in Romania?
ReplyDeleteI think Ravel got a taste of being part of a team last year at Brum and he really fancied it. Gave him the impetus to stay focused this pre season. I would be stunned if he didn't make the 25 man squad now. Sam may be stubborn but he's not an idiot.
And you will be pleased to know I have caught the cricket bug. I have enough of an understanding of the game now to have listened to my BBC5 app for hours during the recent tests. I understand now how addictive it can be.
Welcome back.
Cheers Dave. back in UK at moment but back out to Bucharest soon. Have been traveling: Bulgaria, Dubai, Italy. Looking to buy a property in Calabria so not been much time for close season speculation. And, of course, there's been the little matter of the Ashes. Flew back for the Lords test. Biting the finger nails this morning but the Aussies are now playing for pride. Glad you have the bug!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, if you want to watch it, check out whoop whoop. Great internet stream!
Watched the game here on tv in Portugal with portugese commentary. They gave the name of the sub centre half as an African name (sorry it was only on screen briefly) not Pelly Roddock.
ReplyDeleteYes 0028, they called him Rapunzel! I'm trusting to the OS that it was Ruddock!
ReplyDeleteHF, please write a post, to explain to alot of thick people. Why getting scott parker on loan would be a terrible decision.
ReplyDeleteIt won't happen Fred, unless Spurs pay 80% of his wages. We need to invest the money on a striker or two.
ReplyDeleteLike negredo! Ha ha ha
DeleteI know it won't happen. But all on the org and the web is people saying how we should get Scott Parker on loan. I even included him on a top 5 most overrated players post on the org. According to some he dominates the midfield and knows when to sit and when to join the attack. Foreverwestham.com had about 10 seperate posts about him.
ReplyDeleteThe minute they stopped play on day four, with heavy rain forecast for today, they would have needed more than half their wickets by lunch to even have a prayer. But Im a newbie so I could be convinced otherwise.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Aussies got a bit greedy. Dont you think they really should have declared a bit earlier? Perhaps when the lead hit 300? They needed time to bowl more than a few extra runs.
It's such a great game.
Fred, Parker is shot. I don't think Sam would want him over Diarra or Ravel at this point regardless of wages. We need a striker that can play wide. Remy would have been great but he likely wanted Toon anyway. Probably regrets not going there last year.
Ruddock came as a defensive midfielder
ReplyDeleteThe chap who came on was Mpanzu, full name Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu. He was a midfield youngster signed from boreham wood. West ham and Big sam obviously see him as a defender. Good result last night, althought we bypassed the midfield too much for my liking. We weren't mixing it up enough and played too direct for large parts of the game, but when the midfield did get the ball...
ReplyDeleteTo all the neysayers, welcome to the new West Ham; a team with a fighting spirit. We missed that during the Zola/Grant fiasco years. Bring back the attitude of Billy Bonds!
ReplyDeleteThat said, it looks like we have a legend in the making with Ravel Morrison. Sir Alex looks like he was accurate in his assessment of the boy. We need Big Sam to sit on him for a couple of years to get his head right and put his nonsense of the past behind him. Then, who knows what the upside is.
This preseason has been excellent so far and has me very excited for the new season. Keep up the good works lads! COYI!!
You know the difference between soccer and rugby? Sporting plays football, your team kind of rugby ... first learn to play football and then come talk.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back from your holidays HF! Nice to see you have already chimed in with 3 Leeds United Blogs and surprisingly a few about West Ham !
ReplyDeleteI guess those Leeds fans must miss you more than us as they are 4 to 1 ahead in the comments ratio.
Maybe you need them more than us with your massive Leeds fanbase always backing up your Blogs.
West Ham played well against a referee that is practicing to give another title to Porto. That´s how things work here in Portugal.
ReplyDelete"Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteYou know the difference between soccer and rugby? Sporting plays football, your team kind of rugby ... first learn to play football and then come talk.
6 August 2013 17:36"
Someone plays some real BAD football if they lost against a rugby team hahahah
Good morning! Let me give you the perspective of Portuguese supporter of Benfica. First of all Sporting,currently as team is not so good. In the last league they ended up in seventh place. After some economic difficulties that were forced to transfer many of more expensive players(but not very good!) As for their lack of fair play has a lot to do with the new president that despite being an improvement on the previous, behaves like a kid who got a football team to play. Staying on the bench, celebrating with the players, comment on final results instead of coach ... These things! He says he doesnt like to loose!!
ReplyDeleteTheir players this year are a mix of some of the last year(with lower wages), some second or third line signings, and their youth and B team. Must surely be one of the teams in Europe with the lowest average age.
Let me explain the penalties in the end. The tournament is three teams, so a draw between the 3 can happen so they use the penalties as a tiebreaker!
Greetings and hope that your team does well in this year league.
0354, and the really amusing thing is that you LEEDS fans can't stay away from the West Ham blog either.
ReplyDeleteCHEERS FERNANDO.
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm from Portugal (Not a Sporting fan) and I don't know if it's already been said here, but the penalties shoot out was in case that at the end of the tournament there was 2 (or even the 3) teams with the same amount of points. For instance, if Sporting had beaten Braga (who defeated West Ham) there would be a three way tie and the penalty shoot outs would be the tie breaker.
ReplyDelete