Sheaf Saint

Sadly I think you are right. The timing of her resignation does seem odd. I know her position has been untenable for some time, and she has blamed it on lack of confidence from Sadiq Khan, but undoubtedly she would have been under pressure from the govt over Partygate, so has she perhaps jumped before she was pushed? Do they hold something incriminating against her and threatened her if the Met didn't deliver the 'right' outcome?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60345306 Kurt Zouma: West Ham boss David Moyes says defender available for Leicester City game

This is Everton's form over the last 4 months.. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/premier-league/formtabelle/wettbewerb/GB1?saison_id=2021&min=8&max=25 I watch them a lot with my Mrs and I've seen nothing in their performances to suggest they are suddenly going to improve.

I wouldn't be so sure. I know it was Frank's first league game in charge but they were abject the other night against Newcastle. There's no fight in them whatsoever. Reminded me of our very worst times under Pellegrino and Hughes with their lethargic sideways and backwards passing and comedy defending.

5 points from their last 14 games. W1 D2 L11 Even our dreadful run last season wasn't as bad as that, was it?

I wouldn't rule out Everton getting dragged in as well you know. They are an utter shambles at the moment. If Norwich had held on to beat Palace on Wednesday they would have been level on points.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60339439 Dagenham & Redbridge showing the kind of backbone with Kurt Zouma's brother (who only filmed the video) that West Ham couldn't bring themselves to.

I'm sure there is still more to come from Tella. Didn't Ralph claim last season that he is the most technically gifted player in the squad? He's still very raw and will get better with game time, I'm certain of it.

Seems like it's hotting up. I'm so relieved though that we have a strong, dependable statesman in No.10 who was previously an outstanding foreign secretary and absolutely definitely isn't up to his eyeballs in dirty Russian money. Makes me feel reassured and confident we can face down any potential threat.

That's disgraceful. He needs to be hauled in front of the PMGOL and made to explain himself for that. No ifs, no buts. As soon as he was made aware of a player down with a head injury he should have stopped the game immediately, whether he thought it was a foul or not.

I agree, and it's not like the ref could argue he hadn't been made aware of it. On the replays you can quite clearly hear Ralph shouting to him.

Yep. The way he looks to the ref with that vacant stare every time he falls over is rage inducing.

It wasn't most people though, was it.

Yeah he had a shocker really. Saying there was no opportunity to put the ball out of play when there was clearly a head injury, and then claiming Spurs were "robbed" by VAR when Bergwein was quite blatantly offside. He generally comes across as a fairly intelligent chap, but he's a crap commentator/pundit. They only got him on because of his connection to both clubs.

I think this is getting more and more unlikely by the day. He's getting better and better and I just can't see us being able to get him permanently. Either Chelsea will keep him and put him in their first team squad, or a richer club than us will offer much more for him than we can afford.

BTW - mods can you please correct the typo in this thread title? It's really not good for my OCD!

IMO, if no opposition player touches the ball between the foul and the goal then it is still the same phase of play. It should be as black and white as that really, not down to the ref's judgement of how long before the goal the foul was.

If you watch it again, Mando is down holding his head and slapping the ground in pain as soon as he hits the turf. I just can't agree with your assessment of it I'm afraid. He wasn't backing into Royal, he was just standing his ground waiting for the ball to come down to him not realising that Royal was about to launch himself forwards to try and win it. If the only way you can win a header is by clattering the back of an opponent's head first then it's not there to be won, and it's a foul.

Ah yes. But he was only with us for half a season and played in that terrible defence that saw us relegated.

My memory is failing me then. Edit: In fairness I didn't get to watch many games around that time because I was working most weekends. I only remember him scoring a cracker against Charlton (I think?) and he fell out of favour when Hoddle charge.

I had forgotten about Vignal. The only other French LB I remember us having was Colleter in the late 90s, but from what I remember he was a bit too casual so it's not a fair comparison to make.

Could he and Elyounoussi become our new Bridge and Marsden?

Showed it in the analysis afterwards.

We should be going into this with supreme confidence after tonight, and I honestly think Spurs are currently a better 'team' than they are so if we play like we did tonight there's no reason to think we can't beat them and exorcise the memory of that f**king horror show from last season. I'd have snapped your hand off for two points from these two fixtures so going there with 3 already is a massive bonus. After that we've got Everton at home and they look like a team that's already thrown the towel in to me. There's nobody in their squad with the stomach for a relegation battle and they are pinning all their hopes on a kid from their academy to pull them out of it.

Zahahahahaha!