The English Premier League (suck it, Barclays!) season is just around the corner, so we here at UF are giving you everything you need to know about all 20 teams with our award-winning analysis. And no, we haven’t really won any awards, but neither has Arsenal in five years and people still seem to care about them.
Official Name: West Ham United
Nickname: The Hammers, The Irons
Home Colors: Claret and blue
Trophy Case: FA Cup, 1964, 1975, 1980. UEFA Cup Winners Cup, 1965
2009-10 League Finish: 17th
2009-10 Average Home Attendance: 33,683
Team Legends: Bobby Moore, Trevor Brooking, Martin Peters, Billy Bonds, Phil Parkes, Alvin Martin.
Gaffer: Avram Grant.
UF's favorite Grant pic
Transfers In:
Tal Ben Haim -(5 month loan) from Portsmouth
Pablo Barrra (winger) from PUMAS in Mexico.
Thomas Hitzlsperger (Midfielder) from Lazio.
Frederic Piquionne (Forward) from Lyon ( Loaned to Portsmouth last season).
A balanced summer, Barrera will provide width and pace, Tal Ben Haim will strengthen the back line and create competition for Da Costa, Hitzlsperger adds depth to the well stocked midfield bench and Piquionne has a fan in new manager, Avram Grant to likely start up top with Carlton Cole.
Transfers Out:
Guillermo Franco (released).
Araujo Ilan (released).
Bondz Ngala to Plymouth.
Key Players:
The spine of the team, back to front:
Robert Green: A big season is needed by Greeno after this summer’s England disaster; Early mistakes will set the tone and leave the back four nervous.
Scott Parker: Midfield lynch-pin that West Ham are looking to build around– Was excellent last season.
Carlton Cole: Cole has stacks of potential but as yet, has failed to live up to the expectation. The player started 27 games last term, scoring 10 Premier League goals–a tally he will be looking to improve on this season under Grant. Cole also had to work with Mido, McCarthy and Ilan, who were all pretty poor. Cole will be looking to get off to a bright start alongside new acquisition, Frederic Piquionne.
Rising Stars:
Mark Noble: Noble is still just 23 years-old and has played 115 games for the Hammers–he is now a reg fixture and getting better every year. Last season saw him make one of West Ham’s midfield spots his and that is likely to continue this term.
Not this year:
Frank Nouble: Nouble (18) has been loaned out in the last couple of seasons and has only played a handful of games for the Hammers– Nouble may have to settle for another stint in League One or the N-Powership as he isn’t ready to crack the first team yet.
Freddie Sears: Sears (20) is widely regarded as a real gem and one for the future–He has been loaned out to Championship sides, Crystal Palace and Coventry where he failed to score in 36 appearances. Like Nouble, will may be loaned out again.
Stadium: The Boleyn Stadium, Upton Park.
The 'larger than life' entrance to the Boleyn Ground, Upton Park.
Drama: West Ham have finally left the financial disaster of the Icelandic Bank posse behind and now have steady, secure ownership with the two Davids (Gold and Sullivan). However, these two are extremely vocal and prone to rock the boat when issues on and off the pitch do not go their way.
Now that Grant is in the house, West Ham will look to stabilize its ship in the Premier league this season after a terrible season that had the club fighting off relegation.
There has been no notable drama over the summer except for the future of Scott Parker. The Davids have stated that Parker is not available ‘at any cost’, but the player himself would likely (he hasn’t said otherwise) welcome the opportunity to speak to Spurs. Keeping the midfield man is key for West Ham and his exit would be a huge blow to this season’s plans.
Tactics!: Under Zola last year, the side dabbled with the rarely used diamond formation (as well as the 4-4-2), which has been deployed at rivals, Chelsea with great success (and at League One Champs Norwich). But Zola is gone and his successor prefers the 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 formations. West Ham will certainly have some width this season and have strengthened in key areas, while securing players they rate on extended deals.
Question Marks: Kieron Dyer and Luis Boa Morte. Both players have a history of long term injuries and its unclear as to whether both will play a major part in the upcoming season. Boa-Morte has signed a new 2 year deal to remain at the club but I can’t see him starting early on.
Best 11:
Robert Green, Julien Faubert, Matthew Upson, Tal Ben Haim, Herita Ilunga, Scott Parker, Mark Noble, Pablo Barrera, Radoslav Kovac, Carlton Cole, Frederic Piquionne.
Rest of the squad: Jack Collison, Luis Boa-Morte, Manuel Da Costa, Alessandro Diamanti, Valon Behrami, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Benni McCarthy, Junior Stanislas, Jonathan Spector, James Tomkins, Fabio Daprela, Kieron Dyer, Peter Kurucz, Marek Stech, Danny Gabidon, Frank Nouble, Freddie Sears.
Rooting Interest: Only one American at West Ham and his favored right-back position was lost to Julien Faubert. He did play a lot of games on the left last term, but will he get the nod over Herita Ilunga? Not for me.
Important Fixtures: Saturday Sept 11th v Chelsea.
Prediction: 12-14th
If I was picking EPL teams based on team colors (the way I did MLS teams), I’d probably pick this team. :)
@Goosie: pick the original if you like those colors so much
Yeah. You should totally be a Burnley fan.
@Keith – I’m confused. Although I did decide to go with Liverpool because I feel like that would upset my uncle (who’s a Man U supporter) the most. And I really like their 3rd team kits (this is what you get when you have a complete newcomer to the EPL who lives in the US.)
Ohhhhhhhh. Gotcha.
@LE: 1874 is earlier than 1882.
–
QE effing D.
1825 is earlier than 1874.
If you count Burnley’s time as a rugby club, and discount that their first football kits were blue and white, and that they didn’t go to claret and blue until 19 effing 10, then sure.
Oh, I wasn’t talking about Burnley. I thought we were just demonstrating how smaller numbers come before bigger numbers.
@LE: We were. And I was demonstrating how the number of the years of Aston Villa’s founding, and when they adopted the claret and blue colors was smaller than either number for Burnley (or West Ham)
What happened to Hines?