MM bar and Club

 153 Barking Road, London E6 1LD

meeting point of the best WHU supporters in the world !!!

 

After the Boro match sunday 05/24/09

 

 

 

West Ham VS Boro 24.05.09:

 

The 24.05.09 had finally arrived, our third home game trip for the beloved Hammers, this time we were only a threesome, Matthias, Markus and I, Matthias and Markus had to work next day so I had to stay alone in London overnight. As usual we met at the Airport and flew with Ryan Air to Stansted Airport .When we arrived in London we decieded to try the National express coach to Stratford, we agreed that this option was the best and most cost efficient. Stratford is currently one huge building site, where currently the Centre for the 2012 Olympic Games is being built. The town itself is very nice but like everywhere it has it's run-down area's. From the bus station we went to our hotel '' Forest view'' Stratford, which proved to be very comfortable and clean, because the hotel is inbetween the bus station and Upton Park, I fully recommend it, the entire walk from the bus to the Stadium takes about 30 minutes but dont worry there are enough pubs en route to refuel!, the first stop we made was The Duke of Edinburgh in Green Street, the pub is really great. In this pub away supporters are allowed in and consequently there were a few Boro fans present but it was peaceful and we all watched the Millwall play-off game on TV which had not long kicked off, we then had beers in The Queens and The famous Boleyn pub, followed by a delicious burger. Then our paths seperated for a while because Matthias and Markus wanted to buy some Club merchandise from the club shop and I went to my meeting with the Essex boys (and girls) as agreed, bang on time I met Paul from the Essex Hammers at the Bobby Moore statue at 14:30, immediatly we got along famously, I must say Paul is quite a gentleman, Paul told me that he doesnt normally drink before the match but on this day it was an exception. From there we went straight to his match day pub called 'The M&M bar & club where he introduced me to Big Pat and some of his other friends, I think now that Paul is a Legend over Upton Park because he knows everyone and everything, after as much beer drinking as hand shaking, we were gone to the game .This trip we had tickets for the East Stand a beautiful stand with a good atmosphere about it. The game itself was dominated by the Hammers although initially not many clear cut chances were made, all in all the hammers were the better team saw off Middlesborough to the first division with aloud "cheerio", overall alot of supporting was done by the hammers with chants like: "come on you irons", "Bubbles" and "you are going down Alan Shearer", aswell as the Middlesborough fans supported their team well. But the actual highlight of the day still followed after the game. The pub tour with the Essex boys and girls. The first venue was the MM bar again which was now jammed full of people who have taken me into their hearts, thank you very much!!! Some more beers where destroyed as long with some raw eggs which where thrown towards some passing vehicles then because of the action one boy was taken into custody and the pub quickly closed it's doors. However London is full of great pubs and our next stop was a pub opposite called the Central because the guys can drink really fast and i wanted to defend the "krauts" reputation, so i did my best to keep up. This was a evening in which only Olli could keep our reputation high who at the same time celebrated the " mainz05" rise up with 20 cans of beer and ten bread roll meat balls (Olli to his wife the next day: " You were in the pub too?? I have never seen you there!!). After a while Paul and I drove in a taxi to Paul's local in Essex, the Landlady (Karen) was one of the girls with us There was live music played until the night and beers were now bottled. At sometime i lost consiousness LOL and now i only remember a long expensive journey through the dark east end of London in a black cab but i must have got the hotel well because i woke up and enjoyed my warm bed i had a cold shower and a great english breakfast and i went back to good old Germany, thanks for the great day Paul, Big Pat his son Luke, Charlie, Christian and Justine,, Matt, Mick and Tony and all the other boys and girls from Essex, you are wonderful. The only ones which are thinking about the next meeting are Olli and Big Pat. Why??? I have told both about each other , but when i look at these two strong guys i think the burger and beer dual would end in a draw, whilst the rest of us would be in the corner having sweet dreams of our beloved Hammers

 

© Hammer-Hearts Paul and Pascal

 

 

 

 

Stoke City vs WHU 17.10.09:

 

Hello Matthias

 

Stoke City away was quite a good time, despite the result.

They gave the away fans a decent pub to drink in before the game, right opposite the train station and provided double decker buses for us right to the ground and back. The Hammers fans were in good voice throughout the day, especially when we were held back at Stoke station and the police told everyone the Millwall train was going through, before we were allowed into the station (they played at Stockport) - a massive round of 'Bubbles' went up all around the station.

 

The game wasn't too good. We played well enough, passed the ball around quite well and had the same amount of possession as Stoke City. But Carlton Cole was isolated up front on his own, Diamanti didn't have a very good game, the right and left backs didn't overlap and get up into the Stoke half very much, we lacked width and hardly created any chances all afternoon. As a result Stoke were able to contain our attacks fairly easily and now Neill and Collins have left, our defence looks a fair bit more fragile than it did last season, which could be seen especially from Stoke City's winner and second goal. Very frustrating result, even a Stoke fan in the paper the next day admitted that a draw would have been a fairer result, but you pay for slips in the Premiership and playing quite well but not winning has been the story of our season so far. The players - Ilunga isn't laying as well as he was last season, Diamanti doesn't totally convince at the moment, Faubert continues to improve from last season, but still makes mistakes - Tomkins is getting better and better and both Noble and Behrami had very good games.

 

Second from bottom, but we have an easy game versus Arsenal next Sunday!!

 

On a positive note (which probably won't be on the official site), very big news in a couple of the newspapers on the weekend that an American consortium have made a very serious bid to take over the club in time for money to be available to strengthen the team in the next transfer window.

 

Anyway hope you are well

 

Cheers

 

Andy, Bristol Hammers

 

 

Birmingham City vs WHU 12.12.09

Hello Matthias

 

I didn't go to this one, but from some of the reports in the papers and from people who went on websites;

 

The away support was very good - Birmingham Citygave West Ham 3,000 tickets which all sold and then gave them another 900 which also sold - the away end was packed, which is very impressive as most clubs only get a small corner of St Andrews.

 

You remember you said about going to a game in Birmingham and I said I thought it would be better for you to try a game at Aston Villa or West Brom (if they get promoted), as the Birmingham City v West Ham games have a fair bit of history of trouble before and after the game. Apparently Saturday was the same, and the police kept West Ham fans from getting to the station (a 25 minute walk) for two hours!!

 

The fans were really annoyed as the police were hitting out at normal supporters etc - it's not a great game to try and go to really, as finding a pub for a few drinks before and after the game is a problem.

 

Despite the good support there, the team apparently were very flat.

 

Hines is out injured, so with Cole also missing, we looked lost up front.

 

Kovac was said to have a particularly poor game as well as Stanislas, who is struggling a bit now to get into games at Premiership level.

 

Apparently we looked like we didn't have any attacking ideas, until Birmingham City scored a run of the mill goal through Bowyer (he didn't celebrate the goal too much)

 

After that Dyer came on and he went on an excellent run before having a shot from long range that hit the post with their keeper well beaten - it would've been an excellent goal - hope he can keep that kind of thing up, as we need someone like him on the pitch.

 

Diamanti had a couple of efforts from free kicks that weren't too far off, but all in all we were apparently very flat up front and scoring goals seem to look a problem now, with Cole out until the end of January.

 

We have Bolton away now on Tuesday night - we really need to take a point at least from this game, but although Bolton are a poor team, we have a terrible record at The Reebok and if I'm honest I think we look certain to get beat at the moment.

 

Sunday is then Chelsea.

 

So it's essential that we beat Portsmouth at home after Christmas.

 

There are continuing rumours about the club being taken over, but if we aren't I can see some of our better players leaving in the next transfer window - the current owners have made it pretty clear they're not going to invest and little by little they have seriously weakened us in the last 12 months, particularly in defence.

 

It's showing in the results now and I feel sorry for Zola.

 

To be honest I think we are in big trouble and it won't stop until we are sold...

 

 

 

Cheers

 

Andy, Bristol Hammers

 

OzHammers (Australian Hammers) on tour january 10

 

 

11th January 2010 - from London

My first London based report comes to you from the coldest UK Winter in 30 years. Snowed in here in North London and loving it!

Sadly Sunday's fixture against Wolves was postponed for the all-pervasive UK H&S (Health & Safety) reasons even though the streetscape around Upton Park was remarkably clear? We were told that even though the pitch was fine given the under pitch heating system, the surrounding streets were not safe and therefore the match could not proceed.

This is a great shame as in recent weeks the Hammers have been resurgent even though we have failed to claim maximum points and have failed to progress past our first hurdle in Arsenal in the 3rd round of the FA Cup.

Round Up
20th Dec - WHU v Chelsea
An all round terrific performance by the Hammers saw us earn a valuable point and, save for a poor decision by the AR in deeming Matty Upson's perfectly timed and executed tackle in the box on Daniel Sturridge in the 58th minute a foul, all 3 points would have been ours. A penalty was awarded to Chelsea and 1-1 was the way it stayed.

Video replays made it clear that this was no penalty. The AR had an excellent view of the incident and it was he who 'awarded' the penalty. The referee, Mike Dean, was left in a very difficult position and after consulting with the AR had little choice but to award the spot kick.

It is common for many referees to request ARs to check whether the referee has seen incidents in the box before flagging for penalties however one can only guess at the agreed instructions in this match.

I am very loathe to criticise such things and its all too easy to be wise after 7 slowmo replays, however I do think that this is a case where the official might have done better with the benefit of hindsight. 

The taking of the penalty itself was a lengthy exercise as Mr Dean required Frank Lampard to have 3 goes at it, all of which he converted. One of my Chelsea mates (yes I do admit to a few) complained bitterly that the referee was ridiculous and wrong for this decision. Mr Dean was spot on (sorry) and this is why (I have simplified the LOTG and have just dealt with the attackinf team's actions):

Neither team's players may encroach into the penalty area or the 'D' prior to the kicking of the ball by the penalty taker.

1.     If an ATTACKING team player encroaches prior to the movement of the ball AND the ball enters the net, then the penalty kick must be retaken as the ATTACKING team is deemed to have gained an advantage from the encroachment.
2.        If an ATTACKING team player encroaches prior to the movement of the ball AND the ball is saved by the keeper and cleared, then the penalty kick is NOT retaken, as the ATTACKING team has gained no advantage from the infringement.
3.  If a DEFENDING team player encroaches prior to the movement of the ball or the keeper advances forward of his goal line AND the ball enters the net, then a goal is awarded as the DEFENDING team has gained no advantage from the infringement.
4.      If a DEFENDING team player encroaches prior to the movement of the ball or the keeper advances forward of his goal line AND the kick is saved by the keeper and cleared, then the penalty kick is retaken as the DEFENDING team is deemed to have gained an advantage from the infringement.

Video replays show the Chelsea players well inside the area before the kick was taken on the first 2 occasions.

Such a shame for us that Frank is so good at penalties as he drilled all 3 into the net!

26th Dec - WHU v Portsmouth
2-0 to the Cockney boys!  A workman-like performance by most and an outstanding performance by the inspirational Scott Parker.

Alessandro Diamanti scored our 7th penalty of the season midway through the first half and Radoslav Kovac scored with a powerful header in the 89th minute from a corner to secure the most valuable of 3 points against our relegation and administration haunted opposition.

Unbelievably, WHU have been awarded more penalties than any other EPL side this season. This is amazing as I recall complaints for so many years now that we were always the ones denied spot kicks - its heartening that we are at last top of this list.

I was at this game and I can tell you that not only was the crowd relieved, I saw members of the WHU Executive in the Directors' box hugging and getting VERY excited when that 2nd goal went in to secure the win. They knew all too well how much that meant. We were not to be last at Christmas.

28th Dec - Tottenham v WHU
Tottenham became the first team this season to do the double over the Hammers, as we were completely out-classed at the Lane. We went behind in the 11th minute after several Spurs raids, mostly by Aaron Lennon down the right wing and it was he who delivered the cross to Modric for their goal.

We had risked Scott Parker, who was clearly unfit after his Portsmouth heroics 2 days earlier and he succumbed in the 12th minute to a hamstring injury. Ilunga followed 7 minutes later resulting in two major changes within the first 20 minutes.

Our Hammers never recovered and we were fortunate that we only conceded one more goal to old-boy Defoe late in the 2nd half.

The game was men against boys and we were horribly out of our league in this fixture. Luis Jimenez and Jonathan Spector are to be honest mediocre subs and it showed. Jimenez on his performances this season is just not good enough.

3rd Jan - WHU v Arsenal - FA Cup 3rd Round
Franco was suspended and injuries to Noble, Parker, Ilunga and long-term absentee Carlton Cole meant that we had a host of teenagers on the pitch.

Diamanti scored again just on the stroke of half time and had a game of great vision and industry however our newbees just did not have enough in reserve to hold off Arsenal. They brought on Diaby and Nasri whilst Eduardo stepped up a gear as they scored 2 great goals in the final 12 minutes to steal the game away.

In the absence of Parker, Valon Behrami played in the middle and had a superb game. Kovac again performed well but once again it's the star-studded talent of the opposition, and their subs, that are simply too much for our team.

We did play well though and were unlucky to lose and, as much as I hate to admit it, given our thin resources and perilous position in the table, we need to ensure we finish 17th rather than have a great cup run!

 

Aston Villa vs West Ham 17.01.10

 

Hello Matthias

I hope you are well mate - Bolton match would be great to meet up for a few drinks - I'll make sure I get myself a ticket for that one.

Aston Villa...

About 2,000 West Ham fans made the trip up to Aston Villa, which is less than in previous years, but just after Christmas, a Sunday 1.30 kick off, live on television, all in all it was quite a good turnout and the away fans were in good voice, despite most of us not expecting to take anything from the game.

Before tha match most West Ham fans were agreed on one thing...

We are all now bored of the takeover talk and rumours and want the situation to be sorted one way or another in the next few days.

The match wasn't a classic, but it was a very welcome and hard fought for point, that takes the Hammers out of the bottom 3, ahead of a few games that are very winnable.

The story of the match, was that Aston Villa were not on top form, and met a West Ham team who for a change on away games were very well organised and resiliant.

Up front we were short of ideas, but that's to be expected as with injuries and a lack of squad cover (thanks to our current owners) we are totally short of options.

For the most part of the game, the youngster Frank Nouble had to play up front on his own and put in a very creditable performance, not only providing a willing outlet, but also managing to cause the Villa defence problems on a couple of occassions - early on, he also created our best chance of the game all of his own work, taking the ball past a couple Villa players, before just failing to get a decent shot in on goal.

Hard to tell what type of player he will develop into - he certainly has the attributes to trouble defences, but as yet he hasn't really looked like capping that with goals, but it is early days and full credit to him for battling up front alone and managing to give Villa something to think about.

Elsewhere, we were very well organised and didn't look like conceding silly goals from errors, that had led to previous defeats away from home, when pocession wise we'd done well.

Villa were limited to a handful of chances and these were handled extremely well by Robert Green, who provided the most memorable moments of the game, pulling off 3 very good saves - the last of these came in injury time in the second half - just as we were getting ready to applaud the team off from a well earnt and hard draw, a clever shimmy from Agbonlahor saw him right through on goal with a chance to score a very late winner and undo all West Hams good work.

It would've been an unfair ending to the game, but was not to be, as Green anticipated the move very quickly and came out of his goal just in time to get down to the ball and block Agbonlahor's effort.

Not the most exciting of games, and until Diamanti and Stanislas came on as substitutes in the second half, we were very short in attacking ideas, but full credit to the organisation of the team - Villa, who are very good from set pieces, had more than 15 corners, but we still kept a clean sheet.

A win now from one of the up and coming home games in the next few weeks, should see us stay out of the bottom 3 and hopefully give us a bit of breathing space, but it is still tight at the bottom of the table, and a long way from over.

Cheers Matthias - will send you a Portsmouth report sometime next week.

All the best

Andy

  FC Burnley vs West Ham 06.02.10

 

Burnley was a bit of an old rough and ready town to visit, so not knowing the place, we took the option of grabbing a quick taxi to the Cricket Club right next to the ground for a few pre-match drinks.

 

West Ham sold out their allocation, but I think feelings were mixed as to what we'd get out of the game and where the rest of this season is heading.

 

New owners in and 3 new strikers were reason for a bit of optimism, but we'd only managed two draws (and only one goal) from our last two winnable games, so a lot was resting on the 3 new faces.

 

Personally thought that this game would give us 3 points and represent a turnaround in this dissapointing season, especially as we at last had a bit of firepower and Burnley had lost something like their last 4 games.

 

It wasn't to be though - was a dark wintery day in Burnley, and our opening play didn't do a lot to lift any spirits in the full away end.

 

Overall it was a mystery how we didn't score more than the one goal, but even more of a mystery as to why we started the game for the first 20 minutes, like a team that were safe just going through the motions.

 

Burnley were up and at us right from the start, while we took far too long to get going - After the game Zola mentioned the difference between the two clubs in the first 20 minutes, but it is his job first and foremost to instill the motivation and drive into the team, and I can't understand why we were so slow to get going.

 

Burnley's first goal didn't really come as any surprise, but the manner of it was shocking really - while we haven't exactly been firing on all cylinders up front lately, we do seem to have tightened up at the back, and not been making the kind of defensive mistakes that had cost us a fair few points earlier on in the season.

 

Cue on 14 minutes a 50 yard ball from Burnley, that should've been bread and butter for an England international like Upson - instead of getting his head to the ball, he got caught in two minds, allowed the ball to bounce, was then beaten for pace by David Nugent, who lobbed Robert Green and put the home side one up.

 

As well as a lead it also gave Burnley the opportunity to grow in confidence, although we did eventually create a couple chances in the first half, and there did appear to be a front two understanding between Cole and McCarthy, even if we weren't exactly ripping their defence apart.

 

McCarthy was prevented with a great chance to score the equaliser - a surging run from the excellent Parker (our man of the match) saw him release the ball to our new striker, who rounded the keeper.

 

I was already jumping up and down as McCarthy struck the ball towards goal from a few yards, and as I've not seen any highlights, I still can't believe how he didn't stick the ball in the net - it was either an extremely wasteful strike, or an absolutely superb clearance?

 

What with McCarthy being our biggest signing in the transfer window, it was probably fitting that he wouldn't start the second half due to injury...

 

We were the better team in the second half to be honest, but Burnleys second goal had the air of the inevitability all over it.

 

Collison (who had a very dissapointing game) bundled over one of their players just outside our area, and their defender Danny Fox curled a very well struck free kick right into the top corner of our net.

 

To be fair that could have been game over, but to our credit we upped our game completely and at the end were unlucky not to grab a share of the points.

 

Both Noble and Collison had had poor games and both were substituted, for Ilan (the new Brazilian signing) and Stanislas - both would have an impact.

 

After the introduction of Stanislas we actually started to look a decent force going forward, created a big number of chances and got their defence looking shakey (although their keeper had a great game throughout)

 

Cole had a goal dissalowed for offside (I'm fairly certain it wasn't), but as our pressure continued it finally paid off in the 81st minute, when their keeper and Mido both went for the ball and missed and our new striker Ilan tapped in from inside the 6 yard box.

 

At last something to cheer and with 10 minutes left plus injury time, there was a sense in the air that all might not be totally lost and with the chances we were creating an equaliser was on the cards.

 

It wasn't to be though - even though Mido agonisingly struck the post from close out in the final minutes of the game.

 

On the positive side, we now look like we're capable of creating chances and now have enough new faces up front to hopefully start putting some of them away. Faubert still looks like he's improving (and put in a couple of good crosses overlapping the midfield) and Parker continued his form of being immense in recent games.

 

Negatives - well the result is a shocker, especially after the wins of the other clubs around us on the same day - got the impression that we were very slowly but surely climbing out of the relegation zone - this result puts us right back in it. Noble and Collison had poor games and have to start having more of an impact.

 

Worst was our attitude in the first 20 minutes - if we turn out like that against clubs close to us in the relegation zone a couple more times this season, then we are in trouble.

 

 

  Liverpool FC vs WHU 19.04.10:

 

Liverpool away....

 

Lifeless, lacking in energy, unmotivated and a total washout....

 

No idea why West Ham turned up at Anfield on Monday in the state they did, but there you go.

 

Travelled to the game  with the news that Torres wouldn't be playing, and I was hopeful that we'd nick something from the fixture.

 

An unusual spirited away performance at Everton, a home win against Sunderland, maybe we could even follow up that good work with our first win at Anfield since 1963?

 

That feeling lasted all of 5 minutes as West Ham shaped up to put an absolutely shocking performance, that ranged from abysmal to comical, peaking somewhere at a vague attempt at damage limitation. Most of the game we were chasing shadows, unfortunately when we actually caught up with them, the shadows came out on top from the 50/50 challenges.

 

I think our best tackle throughout the game came from Radoslav Kovac, a full blooded old fashioned no nonsense lunge. Most impressive it was too, even if he'd seemed to get his zonal marking a tad confused, taking out his colleague Jonathan Spector.

 

The most disappointing aspect of the game was that as soon as Benayoun opened the scoring on only 19 minutes, the overall attitude of our players suggested straight away that the result would be nothing other than a home win from then on in.

 

Ok we were missing Scott Parker, but that is no excuse for some of our players trotting around in a game that had seemingly been written off before kick off. Half of them looked like they'd turned up for a testimonial.

 

A very average Liverpool performance, without them breaking sweat or shifting up a gear, saw them score three goals, that were all fairly simple and straight forward. On the flipside I vaguely remember us having a shot on target in the final few minutes.

 

Despite all that, it was still actually a great trip, due solely to the fantastic support the team got from the away end, particularly in the second half, when with the game effectively over, the singing was non-stop and even the stewards began laughing at a 20 minute version of the Hokey Cokey and hundreds of us waving our shoes in the air to the tune of 'shoes off, if you love West Ham'.

 

For all the times when players get a bit of unwarranted stick from supporters, there are plenty of other occasions where our fans support is far better than the inept displays in front of us deserve.

 

This was undoubtedly one of them, just a shame that whilst a few Liverpool forums and media reports took their hats off to it, only a couple of the players could be bothered to come over at the end and acknowledge it.

 

Roll on next season....