Sorry for neglecting the blog a bit, I promise I will now post more regularly now, seeing as my uni work for the 8th was all handed in and now I have the rest of the month to start background work and typing on my dissertation. But for now I will talk about, surprise surprise, West Ham.

(That’s another promise; I will start to talk about more general football issues after this one along with talking about West Ham.)

Since my last time, we have signed two players and won an FA Cup match at home to Brighton 3-0. In the first half both sides looked poor and there was not much to write back home about. The second half however saw West Ham step up a gear and play the way they are capable of and should have been playing much earlier in the season. Boa Morte directed play on the left and moved inside at time4s to great affect. Benayoun and Tevez on the right were brilliant. The link up play and feeding off one another was top notch and heartening to see going into the massive home game against Fulham. The icing on the cake though as Mark Nobel’s goal. Anyone that knows me will know how much I love the guy and the commitment he (and Tevez) put into the tackles and general play was the kind of leadership and guts we were missing when Reading stuck six past us.

In my last post I said:

“Nigel Quashie is another name that has been mentioned. Relegated a number of times and in the last two seasons for two different clubs. Beyond that I have seen him put in some good battling performances but he isn’t in my opinion of the quality we need to get ourselves out of the mess we are in.”

And I stick by it. He is another body to the squad and fits the Curbishley bill of leadership and experience but at £1.5 million (rising to £1.75 depending on survival/promotion) I think we have paid too much. The club is not exactly strapped for cash now but for me, £750,000 would have been fairer but that’s just splitting hairs. I wish him luck but just hope long term plans are not being made with Quashie as a focal point.

The transfer rumour mill has continued to spin with talk of Lauren and Freddie Ljungberg potential targets. Neither will happen in a million years and if they do I will… well I do not know what I would do but some of the talk about Joe Cole as well will never happen in a million years. Day ten of January and with two signings under Curbishleys belt, there have been no exits. Anton Ferdinand has been linked to Spurs and Newcastle, Reo-Coker’s agent linking him to any of the top clubs and Etherington was the rumoured makeweight in a deal for Boa Morte (one which proved to be untrue). Who knows what’s going to happen but one thing that’s for sure is Javier Mascherano will never again play in a claret and blue shirt. The two things he will be remembered the most for is for the way he will be considered a flop and to an extent he has been but not through fault of his own and for the “Comical nibble” from little shit Defoe. He wont play for Liverpool as the rumours go as that would be against FIFA ruling about playing for multiple clubs but he will never play for us again. Also as he has not played since Chesterfield in the Carling Cup, it would seem that time is also up on John Paintsil.

Who knows though? Its not as if I have been right all the time (or even once :P)