The Dictator and the Hammer

[winterburnsilva]

Ok, that was a bit of a disasterous start for the u18s, going down 2-1 at home to Reading and having three players limp off the pitch with various injuries. It started so brightly too, with Korrey Henry getting himself on the end of an excellent Mason Barrett (Man of the Match, 8.3) cross after just 7 minutes to give West Ham u18s the lead with a bullet header. This came a few minutes after Henry had already had a great chance after a long ball hoof up the field by Tyler Forde that the Reading defence failed to deal with. It was only a great point blank 1-on-1 save by Gabriel Rosario that prevented the first goal being scored earlier.

Then the injuries started, Louie Watson went off after 9 minutes with a bruised knee (out 1-3 days), Reece Hannam followed him on 21 minutes with a bruised ankle (out 1-3 days). The latter injury forced me to shuffle around at the back, bringing on Ethan Miller and switching Barrett from right to leftback which didn't seem to throw him off his game at all as he was the standout player for the Hammers. Throughout the game he seemed to be creating chances for Korrey Henry that the striker just couldn't take, bar the early goal. He managed to totally fluff two 1-on-1 chances, sending them both high and wide, as well as tamely heading straight at the keeper when anywhere else would have been a goal and then finally hitting the post for a mixed afternoon of work.

Reading scored their two goals within three minutes of each other, a real sucker punch for West Ham u18s who had largely been the better side in the first half. First was the result of a fast counter-attack after Malyk Hamilton had hit the post from a cross at one end, Reading u18s broke up the field, Conor Lawless crossed for Jack Nolan with the defence all over the place to easily slot home the equaliser. The winning goal was thanks to a mistake from Mason Barrett who was caught dithering in the box rather than hoofing the ball clear. Lawless and Nolan played a quick 1-2 to take the keeper out of it and meant the former could tap into an empty net. Not great defensively from West Ham u18s for either goal which was a shame, as they were solid up until that point.

There was still time for another injury, as Odysseas Spyrides, himself only brought on in the 65th minute, went off again on 81 with sprained knee ligaments leaving the Hammers down to 10 men and will now be out of action for 4-6 weeks. Then to compound matters West Ham u18s missed the last glorious chance of the match right before full-time, as Malyk Hamilton managed to outpace two defenders and surged into the box, where Korrey Henry was totally unmarked, If Hamilton had crossed it would have been an easy tap-in for Henry and a deserved equaliser, instead he selfishly elected to shoot himself at the near post which the keeper easily managed to keep out.

So not the best start for West Ham United u18s, up next is an away trip to Norwich City in a week's time.

[winterburnsilva]

Premier League- Match 1

West Ham United Lineup

Adrian starts in goal with Joe Hart being ineligible against his parent club, with u23 goalkeeper Nathan Trott on the bench. The defence is pretty much what I consider the first choice with Pablo Zabaleta, Winston Reid, Angelo Ogbonna and Aaron Creswell lining up at the back. The same goes for the midfield with captain Mark Noble making his 349th league appearance for the club with Pedro Obiang lining up beside him. The attacking midfield is still a little bit of a patch-up job, with youngsters Sead Haksabanovic and Edimilson Fernandes being somewhat thrown in at the deep end against one of the title favourites. The two fullbacks on the bench, David Carmona and Arthur Masuaku can at a push cover the AMR and AML positions respectively, with 17-year old Domingos Quina promoted too soon out of necessity to cover AMC. Wout Weghorst is still recovering from his minor injury, so Toni Martinez gets a spot on the bench as backup for Javier Hernandez.