West Ham have lost their heritage and reputation for good football over the last few years. We on the other hand will not accept rubbish -does anyone remember Branfoot and a half full Dell with everyone waving their red season ticket covers. Branfoot drove my best mate away from supporting the Saints and he nearly drove me away as well. Even with the Deadly Dutch Duo we tried to play football even if it was with boys. I pay very good money to watch football and like everything else in life if you think it is poor value you don't buy it.
I'd say his true value is closer £6-7m and maybe £15m at his peak at Newcastle. Unfortunately he's (or his reputation) a victim of a manic deadline day signing that means he was signed for at least double his true value and a lot of expectation comes with that. In reality he is not a good footballer, from my observation he is technically very poor (really don't understand people praising his technical ability...), his first touch is terrible and his passing is inconsistent at best. He is one of the best headers of the ball around at the moment, and does have a decent strike on him, but these points combined make him an average striker. I can see him being a good fit for West Ham as his style suits their play well, but I think he's a dying breed. I'd even say he might make a better centre back than a centre forward... What worries me is Hodgson's desire to integrate him into the England squad long term; he really isn't what England need at all, and with the improvements in style and the shift in focus to short passing rather than big lumps, England shouldn't be looking at him at all.
Yep they are a good side to watch at times. It's as if some people want to want solely one style of football. It would be incredibly boring if every team was trying to play the same way. I'd rather watch West Ham than Barcelona. Barcelona are like watching paint dry.
Andy Carrol is on £80k a week not £100k. Absolutely top signing for us. Glad we didnt keep our interest in Lambert. Too old and on the way down. What a great day for West Ham United.
Well that makes a hell of a difference doesn't it? He's still being horrendously overpaid for the player that he is. He scored 7 goals in 24 games last season and you pay him 80k. Laughable.
Just worked out (i'm good at maths, me) that Andy Carroll's 6 league goals for Liverpool has cost them £3.33 million per goal. That's got to be a record! Incidentally, Rickie Lambert's 170 league goals for Saints has cost the club just £5883 per goal!
But not as massive as the difference in wages between Lambert, a much better goalscorer, and that long haired money grabbing moron.
In all fairness, the 35 million on Carroll isn't as bad as it seems. He was brilliant for Newcastle in the first half of the season, averaging a goal every other game, getting a few assists and was only 21. Liverpool simply didn't play to his strengths but West Ham have, and that's why he found a bit of form towards the end of the season. Probably around 10 million pounds is right; he's not desired to be kept at Liverpool but also can't be sold too cheaply. His 80k week wages, a huge 20k less than 100k (bearing in mind the average person gets paid about 15k a year), are ridiculous for any player at a middle of the table team.
I've tried to stand back and be neutral. I think he would be alright at Saints, though most would say he was far too dear. It is the wages that are ridiculous. No one at Saints gets anywhere near that...I would assume Nicola had lost his marbles if he paid him that. He is just not worth it. The wages Liverpool paid him would have prevented anyone else from signing him, so he was lucky to come across a team with a history of high wages.
Come on, they came to St Mary's against a team in form and did what they had to do to smash-grab a point. You'd see it differently if you were a West ham fan. I know someone who goes to Upton Park all the time and he said he'd be mortified if they played like that at home every week but they don't. One thing Fat Sam isn't is tactically naive.
