April

Euro Cup Quarter Final leg 1

There are a total of eight games coming up for us in April spanning three competitions. First game of the month saw us entertained Dutch giants Ajax in The Boleyn Ground. We couldn’t take advantage with the fans cheering behind us and went behind in 19th minute. Despite creating more chances, we needed an own goal from Ajax for a draw.

Euro Cup Quarter Final Leg 2

The return leg saw both teams evenly match. There was a lot of chances created but the finishing from both teams was poor. There was no goals in the first half but we saw a breakthrough in 66th minute after Lorenzo Crisetig headed back the goalkeeper’s kick to the path of Yaya Sanogo who place a shot into the net of Ajax goal. We went through to the semi-final with that goal as our defence was impressive in this game. The Euro Cup saw four teams left and three were English clubs. We were drawn against Newcastle and Chelsea will face SLB(Portugal) in the other semi-final.

vs Liverpool

In between the Euro cup games against Ajax, our first league game was a difficult one. We were at home to face Liverpool. They convincingly beat us 3-1 in Anfield in December but this time round we managed to hold them at bay but we were also unable to break down their defence. It ended as a goalless draw.

Next two games was disappointing for us. We had to come back from two goals down to draw 2-2 against West Brom and we were no match for Man Utd in Old Trafford going two goals down.

FA Cup Semi-Final

We had to be content with a draw with West Brom few days ago. We face them again in this FA Cup semi final. They took a shock lead in 8th minute but their happiness lasted until 39th minute when they were down to 10 men. From that onward, we went offensive and Ryan Shawcross headed in the equalizer to make it 1-1 in the first half. We took control of proceedings after the break and a Miralem Sulejmani brace and a goal by new signing Andreas Llama gave us a huge win and set up a meeting with Man City in the final.

Euro Cup Semi Final Leg 1

Jack Collison put us in a disadvantage position when he was sent off 7 minutes into the game for a straight red card. Our heads were not down and Newcastle was finding it hard to break us down. Newcastle had a chance to go ahead in 11 minutes but the spot kick was saved by Robert Green. Instead Yaya Sanogo gave us the lead after the break in 57 minutes but Newcastle found the equalizer thirteen minutes later. We did well to force a draw but disappointed we didn’t take advantage of the home game to put us in a driving position.

vs Portsmouth

Last game of the month saw us face 16 place Portsmouth and i had to send in most reserves because of fatigue. As a results, we found ourselves two goals down under 15 minutes. Gianni Bruno pulled a goal back for us in 30 minutes and Liviu Ganea made it 2-2 six minutes later. Liviu Ganea put in his best performance of the season when he scored another two goals in the second half to win 4-2 for us.

May

Euro Cup Semi Final Leg 2

We had to fight for a place in the Euro Cup final against Newcastle in May. Newcastle exerted a lot of pressure early from the start.They went ahead in 37 minutes with a Leon Best goal and we were rather poor in the first half. Strong words were needed in the dressing room and we came out as a different team after the break. We got the equalizer in 59 minutes after Newcastle was judged to pull Yaya Sanogo’s shirt. Miralem Sulejmani smashed in the spot kick and it was 1-1. We had the advantage eleven minutes later after Ryan Shawcross headed us in front and put us closer to the final. Newcastle needed to score two goals with 20 minutes left. They didn’t really threaten except Jan Lastuvka had to make a save in 73 minutes. The whistle ended and we were through to the Euro Cup final. In the other semi final, Chelsea edged SLB and the final will be play in Porto. Before the two cup finals, lets switch our attention to the Premiership and see where we finish.

There was three games left and we were lying in 3rd place.

Remaining Premiership Games

There was a loss of form in the last three games which saw us winning one and lost two. Some of the players were simply too tired. We were poor against Wolves and Newcastle but produced an outstanding performance to see off Arsenal. After finishing all the games, where did we stand?

Table

We finished in 3rd position behind the two Manchester clubs. Along with Liverpool, we will play in the Champions League next season. Three London clubs, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal will play in the Euro Cup. There was agony for Southampton, Burnley and Swansea as they were relegated to the Championship. We still have two more games left. FA cup and Euro cup finals. Lets take a look.

FA Cup Final

It was a big day for us and a chance for us to win some silverware this season. The FA cup final in Wembley against Man City. We had a very poor record against Man City. We had yet to score a win against them. Things didn’t look good for us when Younes Belhanda had to come off 8 minutes into the game. Dzeko gave Man City the lead in 25 minutes and their lead was doubled two minutes from time after Tevez found himself unmarked to slide the ball in at the far post. The players were told not to give up and they put in a better performance in the second half. Yaya Sanogo scored a brilliant solo goal in 62 minutes to give us a glimpse of life. While we were searching for the equalizer, Augero killed the game off after a rash tackle from Ritchie De Laet completely missed he beat Jan Lastuvka one on one. We lost to the better team and could only claim runner-up.

Euro Cup Final

 This could be our biggest game this season. The Euro cup final against Chelsea in Portugal. We had a dream start 3 minutes into the game after Nicolas Lodeiro received the ball from the edge of the box, cut inside and unleashed a left footed shot past Petr Cech. Yaya Sanogo made it 2-0 in 31 minutes after receiving a through ball from Gianni Bruno. A corner saw the ball cleared as far to the edge of the box and Daniel Sturridge hit an unstoppable shot to the bottom corner in 39 minutes. One minute later a long ball pass into space for Yaya Sanogo to come out top again against Petr Cech. We held a comfortable 3-1 lead in the first half. Second half saw the Yaya Sanogo show continued as he hit two more in 60 minutes and 74 minutes respectively. The 60 minutes goal was a brilliance where he dribbled for over half the length of the field before firing the ball past Petr Cech. The game was as good as over with a 5-1 lead. Fernando Torres scored another goal for Chelsea in 77 minutes but it was too late for them. We were the Euro Cup champions.

The fans were clearly happy and my name was sang though i thought they would have a hard time pronouncing .

The board didn’t show any surprise and they were rather confident of the team capable of winning something.

Players Rating

I would say our season was down to the effort of the whole team. Two key players who stand out are Ryan Shawcross and Yaya Sanogo. I was especially delighted with Sanogo’s progress. His 41 goals in all competition carried us through this season. Liviu Ganea and Miralem Sulejmani also played a key part contributing 18 and 14 goals individually.

Awards

Yaya Sanogo not only win our fans over(He was the fans player of the year). He also won the English players young player of the year.

After the season ended, Yaya Sanogo saw his international breakthrough when he won his first cap for France against Argentina. What a season this turned out for him!

Man City did the double yet Jose Mourinho was not selected as the manager of the year. It was me who won the prestigious award.

New Sponsorship and Stadium Expansion

This season saw the club renew our new kit sponsorship deal that saw our revenue increase two times the amount.

The board also announced plans to expand the stadium by another 5098 seats for 6.75 million. This saw the stadium capacity increased to 40,500 seats.

We fell short to the title this season due to some poor form and performance from the reserve players. This was still a successful season for us. Qualified for the Champions League, finish as FA cup runner-up and winning the Euro cup. Next season will be exciting for us as we will be featuring in the Champions League. There will be some squad overhaul to help us better challenge for the Premiership title. This conclude my 2013/14 season report. Thanks for reading and i will see you in my pre-season report. If i miss any screenshot you may want to see, please let me know in the comment box.

Without further delay, here is another two months of results from our West Ham team.

February

vs Aston Villa

First match of the month was against Aston Villa. It was a match which we dominated everything but ended up as the losing side. The defeat was down to poor finishing. 64% possession and 21 shots created yet only 4 shots were on target. Very very disappointing result for the fans. Yaya Sanogo lost possession early in the second half, Aston Villa launched a fast counter attack and Agbonlahor made use of his pace to beat Robert Green. It was harsh for the fans.

We returned to winning ways after a poor start as we comfortably beat two bottom clubs, 18th place Burnley and bottom club Swansea. Yaya Sanogo redeemed his earlier mistake by scoring consecutively. We suffered two injuries in the Burnley game as key defender Ryan Shawcross and Marc Muniesa were both out for 3-4 weeks.

The Cup Games

We switched our attention to our cup games as we were looking to progress in the Euro Cup and FA Cup. Our first knockout round opponent of the Euro Cup was FC Steaua Bucharest. Liviu Ganea was welcome in his homeland but hurt the heart of Steaua fans by scoring the only goal in the first leg in Romania. We were also the better team in the second leg and though Yaya Sanogo gave us the lead in 28th minute, the rest of the period saw us struggled to overcome a well discipline Steaua defence. Our opponent next round is Sporting (Por) who defeated Lyon.

We had a sweet revenge in the FA cup 5th round over Aston Villa as this time our finishing touch was much better. We raced to a three goal lead in the first half and hold them until 83rd minute when they scored a consolation goal. 6th round opponent is Championship side Bristol City and we looked good to claim a place in the semi-final.

March

First game of the month was against 18th Southampton and there was no competition from a side that was struggling. A Yaya Sanogo brace, Younes Belhanda shot and first goal by Andreas Llama completed the rout for us.

vs Tottenham

This is the type of game we can’t afford to lose as the fans hate most losing to one of our fierce rivals. The game was pretty even as both team were on the offensive with us holding more possession. It was down to Yaya Sanogo who dribbled for almost half the length of the field and place a shot in. Robert Green was the man of the match for us as he single handedly kept out all Tottenham threats and won three points for us for the remaining period. The fans were clearly delighted. We lost Mark Noble to a broken foot in 40th minute and his season is over as he need few months to recover.

First knockout round 1st leg

First leg was played in The Boleyn Ground and both team played cautiously in the first half and it was pretty boring. We conceded a goal in 57th minute when Marc Muniesa lost concentration and allow Sporting to take the lead. We equalized four minutes later after a through ball from Nicolas Lodeiro put Yaya Sanogo through and the in-form striker didn’t miss. We need to attack in Portugal as no goals mean we will be out of the Euro Cup.

First knockout round 2nd leg

It was a raining evening in Portugal. We needed to go for the offensive as we couldn’t afford a goalless draw. Sporting had more possession but there was no threats on Robert Green’s goal. Both team fought out a goalless first 45 minutes. We stepped up the tempo after the break and a delightful chip from Younes Belhanda dropped into the net in 61st minute and we led 2-1 on aggregate. Sporting went all out searching for the equalizer but our defence held firm with the back four blocking everything that came to them. We were through to the Euro Cup quarter final when the whistle was sounded. Our quarter final opponent is Ajax.

vs Sunderland

In between the games against Sporting, there was a league meeting against md-table team Sunderland. We were a bit lucky as Sunderland played better than us but we triumphed due to the brilliance of Yaya Sanogo. His brace brought us another three points. He has already scored 34 goals this season and that’s a remarkable improvement from last season.

FA Cup 6th Round

We put in a second string side in this FA cup fixture but still proved too strong for Bristol City to handle. Miralem Sulejmani was the destroyer as he scored two and made one goal. Gianni Bruno had a rare outing and he didn’t disappoint with a goal in injury time. We had a good draw in FA Cup semi-final as either Blackburn/West Brom will be our opponent. The other semi-final saw both Manchester teams facing each other.

vs Chelsea

A difficult game coming up and it was against another of our fierce rivals Chelsea. They put us back-footed in the earlier periods as we struggled to take hold of any possession. Their advantage resulted in a goal in 13th minute after Lukaku hit a low shot from the edge of the box. We were rather poor after that but football matches can change in an instant. The last 10 minute saw us went into a crazy scoring spree as three corners led to three goals (Take a look at the highlight below). We went from one goal down to leading 3-1 after half time. Chelsea went for the offensive after the break and was rewarded when Lukaku scored from close range after some great work from Torres. The players were told to defend tighter and Chelsea couldn’t find a way through. Miralem Sulejmani had chance to make it 4-2 but his spot-kick was saved by Petr Cech one minute from full time. It was a hard fought win against a difficult team.

Highlights

vs Bolton

Last game of the month was against Bolton. It was an epic match for the neutrals. The defending from both side was suicidal. We started by scoring early and went 2-0 up under 7 minutes. Bolton hit back to 2-1 in 22nd minute and we led 3-1 in the first half. Bolton fought back strongly and scored two further goals to make it 3-3. There was worries as they went searching for the winner. Luckily for us substitute Liviu Ganea scored the winner from close range in 81st minute after coming on a minute earlier.

Full Results

We didn’t have a good start against Aston Villa but recovered to go thirteen matches unbeaten in all competitions.

Table

We have climbed to the summit of the Premiership for the first time after our rivals dropped some points during the run-in. 2nd place Man City is one point behind us but holding a game in hand. So we could drop to 2nd place anytime if they win. A Champions League spot is most likely achievable as we hold a thirteen points lead over 5th place Tottenham.

Players Rating

 Yaya Sanogo finally realized his potential this season at the age of 21. I believe there are many more good seasons to come from him. We have a very balance squad as you can see from the screenshot. All players contributed to their means.

Remaining Games

There are a few tough games for our remaining fixtures. Can we win our first Premiership title? What about the FA cup and Euro Cup? Stay tune and find out in the next report. Thanks for reading this updates and i look forward to any comments you have.

There are a number of tough games coming up which we will meeting the traditional top four giants. If you remember, we performed poorly last season against them. Lets see whether there is any improvements this season.

November Results

We started November with two big wins against Sunderland and M.Tel-Aviv in the Euro Cup. Playing with two strikers saw the partnership of Yaya Sanogo and Liviu Ganea blossomed once again as they scored six out of the nine goals.

vs Chelsea

First of the traditional big four we will be facing. We were away to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea who ditched their older players for youth. Their first team strikers were Daniel Sturridge and Romelu Lukaku. Playing a counter attacking game with fast tempo, we were able to match Chelsea in terms of shots and had more possession. We took the lead after Yaya Sanogo robbed the ball off their defender and pass to Cristian Rodriguez. Unselfishly, he passed to Liviu Ganea who scored in between the legs of Petr Cech. Chelsea equalized seven minutes later after Raul Meireles score an inspiration goal from almost 30 yards. Both team had chances in the second half. It was us who triumphed after Yaya Sanogo received a long ball, broke the offside trap and score with his left foot.

Last game of the month was at home to 15th place Bolton. We were frustrated by the resolute defending of Bolton for large periods and it took 79 minutes for right back Jordan Spence to power a goal from right side of the box. It was an unconvincing win for us.

December Results

vs Liverpool

Liverpool was lying in 3rd place. It was an awful afternoon for us. We were destroyed by the brilliance of Christian Eriksen. He and Steven Gerrard controlled the midfield for them and we were no match to Liverpool. They hit two goals past us in the first half and added another one in 60th minute. Our consolation goal came eleven minutes from time when Yaya Sanogo was put through by Francesco Grandolfo, our young Italian striker. Seldom did i saw a team that overruns us like this.

Few changes were made in this Euro cup fixture as our next game was against Man Utd at home. Despite dominated the match, we were held to a 1-1 draw against Anji. Ryan Shawcross put us ahead in the first half from a corner but Samuel Eto’o equalized for Anji in 55th minutes. It was an unfair goal as the lead up to the goal was clearly a foul on Shawcross. The referee did nothing and two points were dropped. In the other match, M.Tel-Aviv and Athletic Bilbao drew 1-1 . We were delighted to know we have qualified for the first knockout round after holding a four point lead over Anji with one game left.

vs Man Utd

Next game was against Man Utd who was lying right in front of us. We found it hard to get going as Man Utd played better than us. However we took an early lead nine minutes into the game as Jack Collison put Yaya Sanogo through. Man Utd raised their tempo and was rewarded in 34th minute after a cross to the penalty area was put in by Danny Welbeck. We had a few escapes in the second half as Man Utd went forward to search for the winner but Ryan Shawcross was a rock for us in defence. He cleared every danger in front of him and the game ended as a draw. This game came at a big cost as Liviu Ganea and Yaya Sanogo both picked up an injury. Liviu Ganea is out for 4-5 weeks and Yaya Sanogo will return to action in 8-10 days time.

After the loss to Liverpool and two consecutive draw with Anji and Man Utd, the rest of the games in December surprised everybody as we embarked to six wins in a row.

Francesco Grandolfo was given a chance to partner Miralem Sulejmani up front with Ganea and Sanogo out. He seized the chance and scored two in the game against West Brom as we won 3-0.

Next was our last Euro Cup match Miralem Sulejmani put in his best performance as he hit a hat-trick and scored five goals in Spain. Final score 5-2. Our first knockout round opponent is FC Steaua Bucharest. If we get past them, we will face either Lyon or Sporting Lisbon.

Euro Cup Table

We had two easy games coming up against bottom half teams Portsmouth and Wolves. Portsmouth was easily brushed aside 2-0 as we controlled the game from start to finish. We were shocked by Wolves in the first half as we went behind in 10th minutes. We regrouped and hit back with three goals after the break. Yaya Sanogo made a happy return when he score two under eight minutes. Ryan Shawcross headed in our third goal to make it 3-1 when the match ended.

Arsenal was having a poor season as they were lying in 9th place. We were doing most of the defending from the start but we gave Arsenal a shock after Yaya Sanogo rounded Lukasz Fabianski and put us 1-0 up. Arsenal had a chance to equalized but Jan Lastuvka kept the score as it was after blocking Nikolas Bendtner’s shot. Few minutes later Yaya Sanogo had to come off with a sprained ankle and this time round, he will be out for few weeks. Arsenal came all out with the backing of their fans but Jan Lastuvka put in a man of the match performance and saved every shot coming at him. The only goal was enough to spring an upset for us.

I had to employ a 4-4-1-1 formation with my first choice strikers out in December’s last game against Newcastle. There was some worries about our attacking powers. Nicolas Lodeiro was employed behind Gianni Bruno to provide some support. My nerves was calmed when Gianni Bruno gave us the lead from the vision of Nicolas Lodeiro. Lodeiro also contributed two goals in this game along with the goals scored by Ryan Shawcross and Miles Addison, we mastered a 5-1 win over Newcastle.

Change of Season Expectation

Half the season gone, we were lying in 3rd place. The board offered a change of season expectation. We were offered 2.2 million and 650k wages. I won’t be too happy as that’s the money left from my summer transfers. The wage was the same and i chose the minimum target of Euro Cup qualification.

New Signings

Two youth signings were pre-arranged and the transfer was concluded in January.

Andres Llama

A promising young Argentinian midfielder who can play in a few position up front. His contract was up and i snapped him up for 1.2 million. His attributes is pretty impressive at 18 years old and he will be slowly introduce first team action to aid his progress.

Ferhat Kaba

First Turkish player for us. Ferhat Kaba joined us for nothing after his contract expired with Galatasaray. He will stay in the reserves as the competition is too strong for him now. Great pace and a potential ability of 4 stars. He will be a key player for us in a few years time.

January Results

We kicked off 2014 against Fulham. Francesco Grandolfo was given another chance and he showed he had a future in West Ham with another brace to increase his tally to 4 goals. Midfielder Lukas Marecek was delighted to score his first goal for the club in this game which the game finished 3-0 to us.

Our FA cup tour started against League 1 side Watford. We failed to take advantage of the chances created and needed a replay. There was no repeat of that in the replay as we thrashed Watford in Vicarage Road putting six goal past them. Gianni Bruno got his first hat-trick and Jack Collison scored two. Kieran Trippier also had a good game creating three goals for his teammates. We had another injury to our attacking player, Miralem Sulejmani was injured in training and will be out for 3-4 weeks. Our next round opponent is Championship side Nottingham Forest.

In between the FA Cup matches, we had a meeting against 11th place Blackburn. Our first half performance was awful. A banana shot in 14th minute saw Blackburn took the lead. We did nothing to suggest we were going to win the game. Very strong words were told in the dressing room, we came out as a different team and turned the game around. Liviu Ganea who returned from injury equalized for us just two minutes after the break. Our comeback was confirmed by Ryan Shawcross who powered in his eleven goal of the season.

Next was against Everton whom we had a good record. We dominated possession and created lots of chances. We managed to score three but Jan Lastuvka was very poor in his positioning allowing Everton to crawl two goals back. Andres Llama showed what he is made of and was crucial to our win as he provide two assist for Younes Belhanda and Liviu Ganea.

vs Man City

After a series of good results, we had climbed to 1st position in the Premiership. There was one more game left for us in January. It was against one of our closest rival Man City. Our counter attacking strategy was useless in front of the creativity of Ganso and Aguero. Both of them torn our defences apart. Though we equalized soon after the first goal but Man City was just too good for us.

Table

We are lying in 2nd place behind Liverpool with them having better goal difference. Liverpool and Man City have one game in hand and we could drop to 3rd place if they win but it is very tight on top. We definitely have a say on the title if we continue the form.

Players Rating

This season is a big contrast in performance compared to last season. A lot of players have been performing well for us including the fringe players. Ryan Shawcross and Yaya Sanogo are the two main man for us carrying the team forward. We have a very balance squad as i give my players chances to prove themselves. So far i am happy with their contribution.

Remaining Games

There are 15 games left for us and our run-in doesn’t seems easy. Hopefully we can win something this season. Sorry this is quite a long report. I will conclude the report here. Thanks for the patience and reading this. I will see you in the comment box. See you soon.

I guess the title must have got you wondering. In my pre-season report, i mention i am going for a 4-2-3-1 formation. Though we are getting the results and master some high scores but somehow the play is not what i am looking for. Using a fluid philosophy and a lone striker see us keep losing the possession and i feel the players are not comfortable with this information. I decided to switch to a standard 4-4-2 in October using a balance philosophy and standard strategy. The play finally gets better and i will stick to this for the rest of the season. Now lets get to the games.

August Results

Liviu Ganea will miss the games in August as he suffered a broken arm in pre-season friendlies and will be back at the end of the month. We have two league games and two Euro cup qualifying games coming up.

First game was against Fulham a team that finished 15th last season. Fulham took a shock lead in 3rd minute through Bobby Zamora before we hit back with two goals by Jack Collison and Gianni Bruno in the first half. With the support of their home fans, Fulham found the equalizer eight minutes before full time. I thought the game was heading for the draw but we had the last laugh after a deep cross saw Nicolas Lodeiro headed past the goalkeeper three minutes into injury time and claim three valuable points.

Next league game was against Blackburn and we shown no mercy at home thrashing them 4-0. The fans witnessed a debut goal by Ryan Shawcross and Younes Belhanda also scored his first goal for us with his head. Mark Noble was the man of the match as he hit a penalty and got his second goal from the edge of the box.

Our Euro Cup 4th qualifying round saw us drawn against GNK Dynamo from Croatia. We were the better team in both legs as we scored eight times against them. The total aggregate score was 8-1 and our Euro Cup saw us drawn into Group H with Athletic Bilbao, Anji Makhachkala and M. Tel-Aviv. Both Bilbao and Anji seems to have some good players and will be our closest challengers.

September Results

It was a difficult match against Everton who is very strong at home. It was a match enjoyed by the fans but certainly not the manager as both teams produced a goal feast. A Tony Hibbert own goal and Ryan Shawcross header saw us took a 2-0 lead in the first half but Everton pulled one back before the half time whistle. They equalized in 68th minute but another own goal get us back on track again. Yaya Sanogo scored his first goal in 83rd minute this season and we had a two goal lead. Everton showed their determination as they made it 3-4 three minutes before full time. There was some nervy moments but we held on and got the win away from home. Nicolas Lodeiro was injured in this game and will be out for at least 5 weeks.

There was still some gap between us and Man City as we couldn’t handle their attacking players consist of Tevez, Ganso, Aguero and Nasri. We couldn’t stop a cross from Nasri in 36th minute and Ganso took advantage and scored the only goal of the game.

vs Anji Makhachkala

Our first European match was against Anji Makhachkala. They have very technically skillful South American players and the biggest star is Samuel Eto’o. The game turned out to be easier for us. Yaya Sanogo received a through ball to give us the lead in 22nd minute. Anji was down to 10 men seven minutes later for a professional foul in the penalty area. Miralem Sulejmani stepped up and scored his first West Ham goal since he joined us. Anji managed to reduced the deficit to 2-1 in 59th minute but a brace from Ryan Shawcross and a late goal from substitute Adryan saw us won 5-1 in our first Euro Cup match. A great start for us.

Next three games saw us conceded quite a number of goals. The 4-2-3-1 formation saw quite a number of goals scored but it seems the defence is more fragile than last season. Next game against Aston Villa saw us took the lead thrice but there was always an instant reply from Aston Villa after we scored. I was unhappy with the defence.

Our League Cup participation was ended by one of our fierce rivals Chelsea at home. It was a game we should have won. We were holding a 2-1 lead for 90 minutes but a counter attack saw Fernando Torres forced the game into extra time when he powered a goal two minutes into injury time. A mistake by James Tomkins saw the referee awarded a penalty to Chelsea and Frank Lampard didn’t miss in 116th minute. We were out of the League Cup 3rd round for 3 seasons in a row. We should have done better than that.

Last game of the month saw us faced one of the relegation favorites Swansea. A Yaya Sanogo brace and a Bressan goal saw us took a 3-0 lead under 66 minutes. Slowly we allowed Swansea to crawl back into the game when we conceded two goals under four minutes. There was eighteen minutes left on the clock. Luckily for us, Miralem Sulejmani made sure of the three points when we hit them on the break in injury time.

October Results

We welcome Athletic Bibao to The Boleyn Ground and despite both side were open up in numerous occasion, both teams couldn’t find the net and ended up in a goalless draw. Next was against 19th place Burnley and we should have won this game with ease. We welcome back Liviu Ganea back from injury and he scored his first and our second goal in the game. This is the last match for our 4-2-3-1 formation. We just can’t stop conceding at the moment. We hit four goals past Burnley but also conceded two.

Next game against Tottenham was a match we couldn’t afford to lose as they are one of our fierce rivals too. Changing to a 4-4-2 formation saw a better play from the players. Finally i started to see some neat passing around. Both teams gave their all in an exciting match having 20 shots each. A powerful header from a corner in 33rd minute saw Tottenham triumphed over us in a fiercely contested match. I was disappointed with the result but delighted with the display.

Last two games against M Tel-Aviv(Euro Cup) and Southampton(Premiership) saw the Yaya Sanogo show. He seemed lost in a lone striker role but flourished when he has a strike partner. Both games saw us gaining big wins with Sanogo scored seven goals in two games. I feel the players are feeling more comfortable playing at a standard 4-4-2 and please that the decision to change may be correct.

Table

Nine games played and we are currently lying in 4th place with 19 points. Man City is the leader as they hold a five point lead over us. We have already conceded 15 goals in just nine games and that is slightly less than half of what we conceded last season.

Euro Cup

 There is no clear favorites yet in our Euro Cup group as three teams has a chance to qualify except for M Tel-Aviv who has lost all their games.

Players Rating

Yaya Sanogo is our top scorer with 14 goals and 5 assists. Ryan Shawcross is the best among the new signings. He stands out with his ability to score goals in set-pieces. With the rate he is going, i am not surprise if he gets double digit. There is quite a bit of rotation going on among the players and you can see some of the other players are contributing in their part.

Coming Up Fixtures

Coming up games will see us finish our Euro Cup group games and we will also be meeting the traditional top four teams. It will be a test to our performance for the next two months.

Even though our results are good but i tend to focus on sexier football. I just can’t stand my players passing go array and keep losing possession. The team is simply not capable of playing fluid football. Keeping a balance and standard formation seems to bring out the best from the players. I don’t mind losing if the display is good. I hope i make the right decision. Well friends, this concludes my report. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Appreciate if you have any questions or comments for me. See you soon..

The board is trying their best to secure more money for us as they announced a new kit sponsorship programme which saw a 1.5 million increase.

Now it’s time see how much is the board offering us for players purchase.

Board Expectation

The expectation is getting higher this season. The board expects me to qualify for the Euro Cup at a minimum. Well that’s what i have chosen. In return, i am given 28.5 million for players purchase and 650k for players wages. That’s a lot of money in my opinion. With the money available, i immediately get to work and start looking for suitable players. But first, we need to free up some wages by letting go some old guards.

Transfer Out

A lot of old and aging players were released. They command high wages which is a heavy burden to the financial stability of the club. Some of them were not in my first team plans and were released too. 7 million was received and we have some extra money added to the transfer funds.

Transfer In

We have a busy transfer activity in the summer. Lots of new players joining us this season. A total of 12. There are one of two still under conclusion, so there maybe more joining us before the transfer window. Some of them are young players who go straight to the reserves. The rest are either first team or backups. Let me introduce the more important players who will go straight to the first team and some future stars.

Ryan Shawcross

Stoke was relegated last season and i poached Ryan Shawcross from them for 13.25 million. He will be the new captain of West Ham football club. A commanding center back who is strong in the air and hard to beat. He will also pose a threat for the opposition defenders during set-pieces. Still young at 25, he will surely reach his maturity in two years time.

Younes Belhanda

My second most expensive signing. Moroccan international Younes Belhanda join us for 7 million from Montpellier. I know his ability in FM11. His attributes is already awesome at the age of 23. Fast, hardworking and the ability to get past defenders, we have signed a real gem.

Miralem Sulejmani

Serbian international Miralem Sulejmani was snapped up for free after his contract expired in Ajax. There was no competition for his signature and he joined us after agreeing a four year contract. He is very versatile who can play any position up front. Great pace, flair, dribbling and first touch, should be a solid player for us.

Cristian Rodriguez

National teammate of Nicolas Lodeiro. He was transfer listed by FC Porto and i paid 950k for his services. His attributes looked great and i think the price is a bargain. Very creative and hit ball with good technique. He will develop a good understanding with Lodeiro up front.

Future Young Stars

Marc Muniesa

I can’t believe when Barcelona transfer listed one of their brightest prospect for 550k. I made my move and i got him. Dubbed the new Manuel Sanchis, i am looking at him to command a first team place soon. He certainly has the ability to be a world class defender. Look at the reaction of Barcelona fans towards their board when his move was completed.

Adryan

Another potential world beater in the likes of Brazilian youth international Adryan. He is only 19 and will not see plenty of first team action but will become an understudy to Nicolas Lodeiro. Time is on his side. I hope to see his quality fully matured in a few years time.

Lorenzo Crisetig

We signed another young talent in our ranks. Lorenzo Crisetig’s contract at Inter had expired and i managed to persuade him West Ham is the right club for him. His physical and mental attributes are excellent. He just need to work on his technical side and he can become a key player for us in future.

The rest of the players are Nampalys Mendy, Francesco Grandolfo plus three young Danish youngsters Frederik Lysholt Brix, Soren Moller and Frederik Lassen(On loan at Crawley).

Revert Back to 4-2-3-1

This season i got a few wingers in and i am going to revert my formation back to the 4-2-3-1 formation that served me well in my Telford story. Last season i have no choice but to rely on 5-3-2 formation as there is no budget for us to buy some good wingers.

Friendly Games

The friendly games went well for us against some strong teams. Not only we won most of the games but there are plenty of goals scored. Ryan Shawcross look very solid especially chipping in some goals and assist during set-pieces. The bad news is Liviu Ganea suffered an injury and will probably miss our first few games in August.

Title Odds

We are consider one of the favorites as we are priced the same odds as Tottenham. Man City is always the favorite as long as the money from Qatar keep pouring in.

Coming Games

We will kick off the new season against Fulham. The Euro Cup 4th round qualifying draw was also made and we faced GNK Dinamo of Croatia for two legs in August. We should be able to progress as their only biggest star is 19 year old Mateo Kovacic.

This season saw a lot of changes but it is something i am please about. The squad is younger, our average age is 23.21 years old. We have the youngest squad in the Premiership. I am particular please as we have quite a number of young and talented players. There are a few more coming from the youth squad so the future of West Ham looks exciting. This concludes my 2013/14 pre-season report. Thanks for reading this updates. If you have any comments or questions for me, please leave it in the comment box. See you..

First game of the month was against 13th place Exeter. Our previous meeting ended as a draw. We got off to the worst start when Exeter took the lead in 20th minute. Their lead lasted three minutes after their defender scored an own goal when attempting to clear a certain goal from a Oliver Nicholas header. We took control of the game but no further goals in the first half. We kept up the pressure after the break. Greg Mills scored a stunner in 52nd minute to put us 2-1 up. Another own goal from a Exeter players in 61st minute rounded off the win for us. A great start but Bristol Rovers won as well.

Next was against 10th place Huddersfield. We need to keep on winning to have a chance of 2nd place. The always reliable Oliver Nicholas deflected the ball into his own net when he tried to block a shot in 16th minute. Daniel Johnson had a good chance to equalize from the spot kick but he blasted it wide to the fans frustration. We had numerous chances to score but the players were having trouble putting the ball in the net with the main culprit Berkan Cakir. The game ended with us being the loser.

We will be meeting 11th place Carlisle. I was worried about the effects due to the defeat in the previous game. The play from the team was fabulous. The strikers took their chances well but Carlisle had a goalkeeper who was unbeatable. He kept us out with every shot that we threw against him. Carlisle had a breakthrough in 36th minute when the pace of their striker was too much for us. We don’t have much luck ended the game with our second consecutive defeat which signal the end of our aim for an automatic promotion spot though we still have a slim chance if Bristol Rovers lose all their remaining matches.

Next was against 22nd place Bradford who has been struggling since promoted with us. I told the players we needed a win. This was a game where defenders of both teams shone. Both teams had chances but defensively both teams were unbeatable. A disappointing draw. After the draw, we had to settle for a 3rd place finish. It was disappointing after such good work in the last few months.

Next we were meeting another bottom team Leyton orient. Our automatic promotion chances had faded off but we still need to finish on a high. We had the habit of conceding first and it was no different in this game. Alex Billington failed to prevent a cross and saw them scored in close range. We had to wait till three minutes from half time before young Sean Howarth equalized for us after their goalkeeper failed to hold the ball from a header by Oliver Nicholas. Second half saw us missed a few chances but Oliver Nicholas headed in an injury time winner for us.

Last game of the season was against 21st place Gillingham. Bekan Cakir gave us an early lead in 4th minute when he hit a goal with their goalkeeper off the line. They gifted us our second goal when their defender show the finish touch of a striker. It was 3-0 after 15 minutes when Greg Mills scored with his head from a Josh Morris cross. They managed to pull a goal in first half injury time. We extended the lead after the break when Josh Morris scored a 30 yarder goal. A sensational goal. Even though they made it 4-2 five minutes later but no effect on the end result.

I forgot to take a screenshot on the table but we missed out on the automatic promotion by two points. Sheff Utd and Bristol Rovers won automatic promotion and we have to go through by the play-offs.

Play-offs

Telford vs Portsmouth

Plymouth vs Charlton

We were drawn against Portsmouth who had a lot of former premier league players. I was glad to play the first game in their home ground. The match started by Portsmouth taking the initiative and had better chances. We had our goalkeeper Sam Walker and Oliver Nicholas to thank for as both of them neutralize the threat by the Portsmouth players. We had one good chance in the second half but Thomas Hitchcock couldn’t take his chance. Our playoff first game ended as a draw.

We returned to New Bucks Head for the second round. It was a sell out match. 6300 fans were here to support  the players. Ismael Fonfana gave us high hope when he got into a great position to score a goal for us. Portsmouth was poor today. They only managed 4 shots in the whole game. Though we had most of the possession but we had to wait until full time injury time before Ismael Fonfana score again. He was the hero for us who single handedly brought us to the final. In the other match Plymouth beat Charlton and will play against us in Wembley.

It was a do or die match for us. Our record against them was good. We never lose to them is the last two meetings. The whole stadium is full of noise. Close to 52000 fans in total. Plymouth seemed determined to promote as they gave us some scares early in the game. Slowly we were finding our feet and starting to threaten their goal. Both teams wasted some chances and it was a goalless draw in the first half. Our midfield was solid and we were able to dictate the tempo of the game. Our breakthrough came from their throw in in 52nd minute. Our defender managed to clear the ball and Ismael Fonfana spotted the run of Alex Billington on the left flank. He brought the ball all the way to the 6 yards box drawing the goalkeeper out of position. Alex Billington then spotted the run from Daniel Johnson at the center and passed the ball to him to scored in an empty net. Plymouth reacted strongly and Sam Walker had to make a reflex save in 80th minute to deny the equalizer. They had a man sent off in injury time and that summed up the game. We WON by a single goal and were PROMOTED. We were on our way to the CHAMPIONSHIP.

The fans were clearly rejoiced and the board simply could not believe we could win the promotion. But it was true.

This is the full table. We join Sheff Utd and Bristol Rovers to the Championship next season. There is agony for Chesterfield, Bradford, Leyton Orient and Oldham as they will be playing League 2 football. It is a big achievement for the club as we will be facing some of the big clubs at Championship level. At the same time, a bigger challenge awaits us as the competition in Championship are extremely tough. The toughest in my opinion.

Mr reliable Oliver Nicholas is our most consistent player and he is also the fans player of the year. He managed to scored 10 goals with his head this season. Alex Billington has also matured after a difficult period initially. Our original squad is quite small so i don’t intend to release too many players. I am giving some of them a chance as we have the youngest squad. I like to see whether there is any improvement from some of the young players. It also seems i am quite popular with the other managers as i win the manager of the year award instead of Sheff Utd manager.

We have created another miracle and this is our 4th straight promotion. I am looking forward to the new season and i believe you too. Meanwhile thanks for reading and the support. I will return with my Championship pre-season report in a few days time.

We didn’t have a good start managing a goalless draw with Colchester. Then the players suddenly went on a great run and won the rest of the games remaining. This should be our best month of this season.

First game of the month was against 15th place Colchester. This should be the kind of game that we need to claim three points. A bit of bad luck on injuries. Three players including Aaron James, Thomas Hitchcock and Ismael Fonfana picked up a knock and had to go off. It disrupted the balance of the team. We had chances to win the game but Colchester defended superbly. We were forced a goalless draw and had to be content with a point. The injuries were not serious as the trio will be back after 1-2 weeks.

We were facing 21st place Rotherham and there was no excuse. We need to win if we have to challenge Bristol Rovers for that 2nd place spot. Rotherham goalkeeper made a great save early denying Berkan Cakir from scoring . He couldn’t do anything when a fast counter attack saw Greg Mills running down the right flank and squared the ball to near post for Berkan Cakir to open his scoring for us in 23rd minute. I thought there were more to come. However the players repeated the mistake of failing to widen our lead. Rotherham was clearly running on a patchy run as they rarely threatened our goal. They had no further chance when they had a man sent off in 78th minute. We couldn’t score further and won by a single goal.

Match Highlights

After two away trips, we returned to New Bucks Head to face 6th place Plymouth. Not an easy game for us surely. There was not many chances in the first half. We managed to take the lead in 21st minute with the brilliance of captain Daniel Johnson after a long time out injured. He hit a shot inside the six yards box and managed to squeeze the ball past the goalkeeper. 1-0 to us in the first half. Plymouth had chances to equalize but our two center halves Oliver Nicholas and Sean Howarth did well to neutralize the threat. Oliver Nicholas managed to force an own goal in 68th minute from a corner. Plymouth did nothing to show they were capable of coming back and it was a great win against a good team. Right back Cristian Marquez picked up an injury and will be coming back after few days rest.

Match Highlights

Next was against 15th place MK Dons. Daniel Johnson gave the fans something to cheer about early when he cut inside and gave us the lead. There were plenty of action after the goal. It was us who doubled our lead after Oliver Nicholas scored his traditional header from a Alex Billington corner. MK Dons can do nothing to stop us in the first half. Greg Mills was dangerous on the right flank. Three minutes from half time whistle, he delivered a good cross for the oncoming Berkan Cakir to tap in our third goal of the game. We continued our dominance after the break but we were unable to extend our lead. MK Dons had some good chances but they couldn’t take it. They had a man sent off in 79th minute and clearly no chance of taking anything from this match. They managed to score a consolation goal in injury time but it was too late.

Match Highlights

7th place Charlton was under-performing. They were predicted to finish 1st place in League 1. We settled to the game fast and the players were much clinical in this game. If not for the goalkeeper and woodwork, we should be scoring 2-3 goals. Instead we had to wait until 41st minute before Daniel Johnson scored an outstanding goal. A speedy and low shot to the bottom corner. He has been running in a rich vein of form for three games continuously. Three minutes after the break, loanee Jonathan Ramage who was pushed up to strikers position made a good turn and hit the ball to the top corner. The whole team performed tremendously and a good win for the sell-out crowd.

Match Highlights

Last game of the month was against 13th place Brentford. Both teams were evenly match and both goalkeepers were having a busy time early. It was Brentford who took the lead after their left winger scored from a tight angle. We equalized in 37th minute when a sudden burst of run from Jonathan Ramage left their defenders behind and he slide the ball past the goalkeeper. It was 1-1 in the first half. A laser guided cross from Alex Billington in 53rd minute saw Jonathan Ramage received the ball with great first touch and scored his second goal of the game. Brentford was dangerous always and we had to be very alert to held on for the win.

Match Highlights

A great month saw us climb up to within two points from Bristol Rovers. We have never been so close before. If we can keep up the good form, i don’t see why we can’t overtake them. This month saw Daniel Johnson and Jonathan Ramage scoring for fun to help us the wins but the best player is left back Alex Billington. He fulfill his defensive duty well and provide the assist for his team mates to score.

I picked up my first manager of the month award after leading the team to five victories.

These are the remaining games for us before the season ends. If we can keep on playing like this, i don’t see why we cannot overtake Bristol Rovers. There is a problem though. Some of the loanees with short term contract will be leaving us next month. They are the ones who are pushing the results for us. Hopefully we will keep on playing well without them.

There you go friends, there is high hopes for us now. Do you think we can take that automatic promotion spot our own? Please stay tuned to find out. Thanks for reading this updates, see you in my final report for 2013/14 season.

We crashed out of the FA cup at the hands of cardiff. There was also a loss to Bristol Rovers. Both losses were very unlucky as we controlled the match and had more shots. Luckily we managed to win the rest of the games which pushed us up higher.

We had to face Championship side Cardiff for a place to FA cup 5th round. We looked very strong at home and the cardiff goal was under threat for numerous occasion. But the players kept missing easy chances. Though Akwasi Asante gave us a lead in 11th minute but he was guilty to miss a few. Cardiff showed their experience when they scored with their second chance in 37th minute. It was 1-1 in the first half. Second half was frustrating for the fans as we should have buried the game early. Instead, a set-piece saw their defender jumped the highest and headed the ball in. We threw the game which we should have won with ease but that is football. Ismael Fonfana was injured again but he will be back after few days.

Match Highlights

Our first league game was against 7th place Southend Utd. They were having a poor run so our chances of winning was good. Our play was much better compared to previous month. We took control of possession and influential defender Oliver Nicholas headed us in front in 33rd minute. Loanee Jonathan Ramage doubled our league when he hit the rebound of his own shot in injury time. Southend Utd played better after the break. It was not enough to threaten our goal. They scored a goal from the spot kick after we were judged to push their player inside the box. It gave them a chance to search for the equalizer but we held on for the win.

Match Highlights

Another difficult game coming up was against 3rd place Bristol Rovers. Berkan Cakir had two early chances to score in the first half but he blasted the ball wide. That really summed up our game. Bristol Rovers had little creativity and Sam Walker basically had nothing to do for the whole game. Luck was not at our side. Somehow they got a goal through a deflection from Oliver Nicholas four minutes from time. We didn’t have enough time to search for the equalizer. An unlucky loss.

Match Highlights

We were meeting another top team 8th place Doncaster who is chasing for a play-off spot. It was the same scenario like the previous few games. We were the better side but we seemed to have problems in putting the ball in the net. Our first goal finally came in 66th minute after Thomas Hitchcock scored his first goal since returned from injury when he hit the rebound from a Akwasi Asante shot. Akwasi Asante then made sure of three points in the last minute after he converted a cross by Greg Mills.

Match Highlights

Last game of the month should be easy for us as 19th place Chesterfield had suffered four straight defeats before coming to New Bucks Head. The scoring problem had been following us throughout February and it was the same in this game. The fans and the coaching team had to endure nervy moments as the goal just won’t arrive. We had Jonathan Ramage and Thomas Hitchcock to thank for as both combined to score the winning goal for us in 78th minute.

Match Highlights

Three good wins saw us consolidate our position at the top. We climb to 4th place six points away from 2nd place Bristol Rovers. We won’t be giving up to fight for that automatic promotion spot. The injured players are returning back so that give us more squad quality. I am please with the players display as they play really well. They just have to be more clinical when present with chances.

There are six games in March for us to grab as many points as possible. Tough fixtures will be against Plymouth and Charlton. I am fairly confident with a play-off spot but we need to do really well to overtake Portsmouth and Bristol Rovers. Hopefully we can do it.

Thanks for reading and the support to Telford. See you soon in my next report.