Boleyn View

My New Hero

2006-08-31T08:34:00.000-04:00

My new hero is Carlos Tevez. This is either real or an elaborate hoax. As one can see from the picture, his website is reporting that he has signed for West Ham. I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry. This is simply unbelievable. Here's hoping its tru and it doesn't mean us selling Nigel.

2006-07-10T09:48:00.000-04:00

World Cup Review Day -4

2006-06-05T13:00:00.000-04:00

US Related News:

Beasley is upset about Arena not naming the lineup. There seems to be a either a lot more coverage of the U.S. team or more dissension, not sure which. Hopefully that is a good thing.
'It's irritating not to know,' Beasley told a group of journalists at the U.S. base in the northern port city of Hamburg before a closed-door runout against Angola later on Monday.
Link

John Barnes has been awesome on Fighting Talk, now he has become an even more my personal hero by thinking the U.S. has a chance. Not that I agree with him mind you. The U.S. has to face Italy and the Czech Republic and then when they don’t win the group they will most likely be facing Brazil.
Who do you think will be the tournament's dark horses? Ivory Coast and the US, in the sense that I think they could perform above expectation in difficult groups. They both have players with top European teams and high-level European experience, which is so important.
Link

Pope wants to go out on a high note. That’s all fine and good, but his high note was probably 4 years ago. Since then he just hasn’t been that good. The other problem is the U.S. doesn’t have any future replacements. Berhalter is 33, Gooche is already starting, Conrad isn’t as good as Arena seems to think, and Carlos would have to play in the center for his club side before I consider him the future. Sure Spector might be ready, but I’ll wait for him to sign with West Ham (the most recent rumor) before I root for that.
"This is probably the end of my national-team career, but that's OK. We don't need field players playing in five World Cups," he says. "My desire is to go out on a good note. I want to be on this team that surpassed everyone's expectations. I want to have that as my last World Cup memory."
Link

Rest of the Group:

Ghana’s coach has started the mind games already. Not sure if that is the smartest thing in the world, taunting the Italians just seems stupid to me.
"Italy are the favourites. They are tough, but they (will) have to suffer to beat us," Dujkovic said.
Link

Italy’s growing scandal is hilarious. The people in charge act like they had no idea this could be going on. All one has to do is read The Miracle of Castel di Sangro, to know this is going on and is clearly ingrained into the society. Jurgen, the German coach, who probably should be the next U.S. coach (I mean he lives in L.A., he has trained with the U.S. team, and what other options do we really have?), hopes they have a good cup despite these problems. Well Jurgen here’s hoping that this does effect the Italian team, thus giving the U.S. the upperhand in winning the group.
"It won't be simple for Italy, but I wish them a good tournament. I hope they don't get distracted," said Klinsmann, who played at Inter Milan.
Link

Over the weekend, the Czech Republic went out and spanked Trinidad 3-0. Now maybe its because the U.S. play T&T so often, but we couldn’t beat that team by more than 1 goal throughout qualifying, and even then they were pretty even matches. This is the reason that this World Cup scares me. Italy is good. The Czech team is good and Ghana is an African team that isn’t well scouted. The U.S. has to win their first game against the Czechs if they want to qualify.
Link

Rest of the World:

Crouch scored 3, but it should have been 4, against Jamaica. A good warm up game for England as they won 6-0. With that performance Sven has penciled him in as a starter. Oh and he restarted a new dance craze, “the Crouch” or as the street performers in San Francisco call it, “the Robot.”

Link

FIFA plans on sending the referees home after a bad game. This wouldn’t be a problem if they entered the 21st century, add two more linemen or technology. Technology should easily make clearing up goals or out-of-play much easier. Adding a couple of more linesmen would certainly simplify things. Better positions, another pair of eyes trying to determine offside, with the referees making the final decision. That extra pair of eyes should also catch more dives, if FIFA really thinks that it is a problem. I personally don’t see it as widespread of problem and see of it more as a cultural thing. Notice how many foreigners get called divers and how rare it is for a local kid to be called that. (Lately there seems to be some comment that Crouch is a diver, I’m not so sure he is a diver as much as a uncoordinated giraffe.)
Link

May Rumors

2006-05-11T23:47:00.000-04:00

Kim Kallstrom
Age: 24
Current Team: Rennes
Home Country: Sweden
Position(s): Center Midfield
Players on the squad at the position(s): Hayden Mullins, Nigel Reo-Coker, Yossi Benayoun, Darren Fletcher, Christian Daily
Rumour
Stats

Marek Štěch
Age: Under-17
Current Team: ?????
Home Country: Czech Republic
Position: Goalkeeper
Players on the squad at the position(s): Roy Carroll, Shaka Hislop, James Walker, Steven Bywater
Rumour
NOTES: Looks like he's pretty good. Will be playing in the European U-17 Championship Final on Monday with the Czech Republic team. Hasn't given up a goal during play.
Oh and for those who can read Czech, this article seems to speak highly of him:
Link

Rudi Skacel
Age: 26
Current Team: Hearts
Home Country: Czech Republic
Position(s): Center Midfield
Players on the squad at the position(s): Hayden Mullins, Nigel Reo-Coker, Yossi Benayoun, Darren Fletcher, Christian Daily
Rumour
Stats
NOTES: Not sure exactly what position he plays, but probably an attacking midfield role in the mold of Nigel, or Yossi.

Julio Arca
Age: 25
Current Team: Sunderland
Home Country: Argentina
Position(s): Left-Back, Left-Wing
Players on the squad at the position(s): Paul Konchesky, Mathew Etherington, Kyle Reid
Rumour
Stats

Liverpool Already Planning Victory

2006-05-11T14:14:00.000-04:00

Link

Come on you Irons, mess 'em up good.

US National Team

2006-05-01T10:31:00.000-04:00

US team will be announced live on ESPN at 6 tonight.
Here is a list of media predictions
Link

Here is my prediction:
GK (3)
Keller, Hahnemann, Howard

Arena has made some babblings towards bringing players that have been to the World Cup, and one idiot, seems to think that Meola, might make the team. I don't see how thats possible. I also don't like the fact that Hahnemann wasn't given a chance at all, so I'm already pretty sure that that choice is wrong.

D (8)
Gooche, Bocanegra, Chern, Lewis, Hejduk, Gibbs, Spector, Dunivant

Injury concerns are there for Carlos, but realistically he is still our best defender. Gooche is solid. Chern is a great RB. Gibbs if healthy will be a good backup. Dunivant's play in the lead up to the selection, required his name to be called. Lewis and Hejduk are really midfielders, but their play has been at the back, so i figure they are good backups for both.

MF (7)
Reyna, Donavon, Mastroeni, Olsen, Dempsey, Beasley, Convey

Look I really wanted to pick Adu. But considering I'm pretty sure that Olsen has been added to the lineup already, and the others all deserve to be there, I couldn't. I don't like the fact that Adu is getting treated like he can't play (at club level), seriously watch this video and tell me he can't play. The rest are the usual suspects. Though I feel we are really weak at DM because of O'Brien's injury.

F (5)
Johnson, McBride, Wolff, Twellman, Casey

Casey is the only surprise, that and the fact that I put Landon in the midfield. Thats how coach has been playing him, so thats where he goes. Besides until he proves that he can play at a level higher than MLS, I won't like him.

What would your team be?

Useful listing of players:
Link

The Case For Marlon

2006-04-29T19:30:00.000-04:00

England going into this season was sitting pretty at the forward position.
Owen had scored 13 goals in limited league time (20 starts and 15 subs) for Real Madrid. He joined Newcastle were he proceeded to almost save Souness' job. .
Rooney was looking to improve on his 9 goals in first season.
Defoe was looking to build off 13 goals in 28 games.
This year it has all gone wrong.
Owen then broke his foot against Tottenham. The losing returned for Newcastle and Souness got fired. Owen has since returned, but injury rumours are still there. He might be game fit in 6 weeks time, but its going to be a long road.
Rooney broke has now broken his foot in a losing effort against Premiership Champions Chelsea (saying that makes me sick). He is listed as out for 6 weeks, just enough time to be back right before the World Cup starts.
Defoe lost his place to Mido and Keane. There were questions going into the season about Owen's place in the squad if he wasn't starting for Real, so I don't see why the questions won't also exist for Defoe.
Both Sven and Rafa have an infatuation with Peter Crouch. The guy isn't any good, he doesn't score goals (6 in 31 games) he doesn't make goals (4 in 31 games).
I believe that Darrent Bent has to be on the team. There is no doubt in my mind that the 18 goals he has scored in the Premiership have earned him a spot.
If I were Sven (and how I wish, they guy gets more girls than a rock star), I would take 5 strikers. I would take both Rooney and Owen as long as they are semi-fit. I would take Darren Bent to be a starter. And I would take Jermain Defoe to be my backup to the backup (like I said who knows if Owen or Rooney are going to be fit enough to play). And finally (the entire point to this post) I would take Marlon.

Marlon has been good this season. He started the season slowly, by missing easy chances, but now has 14 goals and 4 assists in the Premiership. He is 21st in the Actim ratings (compared to Defoe's 45, Vassell's 74, and Crouch's 76). His goal scoring record in the Championship is similar to Bent's. He has scored in big games - Boro in the Semi-Final. He has a bright future, and getting at least one player on the England squad would be the cherry to this season (the whip cream will be us winning the FA Cup final).

FA Cup History

2006-04-28T17:51:00.000-04:00

West Ham have been in the FA Cup Final four times, and have won three.
Liverpool have been in twelve finals and won six.
Only three teams who have been in four or more finals have a better record in the finals. (See Link) One of those teams The Wanderers no longer exist. Another, Blackburn Rovers, hasn't been back since 1960. Leaving only a hated rival, Tottenham Hotspur, as having a better record than West Ham. This points to history being on West Ham's side. I'm hoping we see a 2-1 vicotry. Here is the historical record of West Ham in the FA Cup, from the fabled White Horse game to our most recent win (the last time a non-premier league team won the Cup).

1923	Bolton	0-2	Loss	Link
1964	Preston	3-2	Win
1975	Fulham	2-0	Win	Link
1980	Arsenal	1-0	Win

Some of my best friends are ...

2006-03-13T19:02:00.000-05:00

The worst defense to being called a racist is to use the "some of my best friends are" defense. I mean does it really prove you aren't racist, because you are nice to some people? It still may mean you make over derogatory over generalizations.

What is football about? Is it about winning? Is it about winning with the money you have?
Arsene has built an amazing squad with relatively limited resources compared to the other two major squads. Who should care about the lack of English players? The FA should but not by forceably creating roster spots. Instead they should give bonuses to clubs to develop English talent. Create acadamies that the lower leagues can use to their advantage. This would allow the lower league clubs to develop good young players and either get promoted OR sell young players for profit. It also would allow young players to stay at home. Even when the team gets into the Prem, then you give them two years in the Prem to take advantage of the academy. Letting the Premiership clubs take advantage of an academy team is clearly unfair.

I know that the FA has some sort of academy program already (I am pretty sure that Theo Walcott was involved). I was however unable to find any information on the web.

Basically Arsene has collected a deck of cards that are only hearts and diamonds. But lets not forget who he just signed, the aforementioned Theo. Why shouldn't he build his team with the best available parts at the best cost? Arsenal doesn't have the finances to go out and BUY an academy, something that Chelsea has been doing. So get over the fact that there were no English players in the squad. There would have been but for injuries.

Link

God, Roeder and firing coaches

2006-02-27T11:37:00.000-05:00

A little over a year ago, I posted this on BigSoccer on 2-15-05:

See I thought Alan would have been fired after Rotherham (even though we picked up a point thanks to the referee).
Now we have this debacle. I mean come on, how can you not score with a one man advantage? Or for that matter not take advantage of the oppostion by putting some new blood into the game (of course you are kind of limited when you don't actually put a forward on the bench, and your best player is Steve Lomas who was past his prime 5 years ago).
This was another joke loss for Pardew. The funny thing is if you look at Pardew's record, after his first season with Reading, every season has had exactly 5 less points earned than the previous. He is not good, he never was good and just hanging around praying ain't going to get it done. God almost did us a favor when he cause Roeder's head to explode, now we need for Brown to attone for that mistake (and the mistake of not paying McClaren more than Boro) and kick Pardew to the curb.

I truly thought that Alan had to go otherwise we would end up much like we did at the end of the Relegation Season. Like a ship without a rudder, the team was playing like crap. Since then the team has made it to the Premiership and has amlost as many points (1 away) as in the aforementioned Relegation Season. Most refused to actually blame Roeder for that season and instead blamed Brown. Well I think Brown deserved some of the blame but that blame should have resolved around the failure to fire Roeder early enough. I mean Harry walked out after the board refused to let him waste some more money (a Song or Camara anyone?). That was seemingly the right move. The hiring of Roeder was a clear mistake and it only came after everyone else rejected us. Then he got us into 7th, but our defense was the 4th from bottom so it should have been clear that either without more goals or a better defense we were due for a fall (thats why I think the offseason should resolve around finding a right winger comparable to Matty and a RB comparable to Konchesky, plus some general depth). So as the team played awful football, Roeder was clearly losing control, but still no moves. And that is why I have and always will believe that God almost did us a favor when he cause[d] Roeder's head to explode. People thought that you can't say that about Roeder thats just mean. Well look at what Brooking did when he coached the team and look at what Pardew did with the team in 3 seasons. Pardew has clearly gotten the most for his money out of his signings.
I now find myself rejecting most of my above statement. Its all about what have you done for us lately and Pardew has done amazingly well in his first season at the top. Now rinse and repeat and I might actually be a happy Hammer.

RB Rumours

2006-02-26T17:26:00.000-05:00

The rumours were all out there before the deadline. First it was Gabri, then we ended up settling for Scaloni.
Now the rumours are coming back, guess its a slow news month. As you can see to the right I have added a Rumours section, with links to the players information.
Today's rumors are for RB. Both Glen Johnson and Danny Mills are being rumoured to be signed. It won't be both, but either one should be a suitable starter. Signing Glen would be a phenomal signing. He fixes the RB problem, he's young, and he's still well liked by the fans (unlike DeFoe who made a major mistake after relegation). Danny Mills was an international, and his status as such was lost because of the awfulness of the Leeds team in general.

Link
Link

Legend

2006-02-23T10:00:00.000-05:00

What the stats mean

GP	Game Played
G	Goal
A	Assist
MWG	Match-Winning Goal
SPG	Set-Piece Goal
SOT	Shot on Target
SC	Successful Cross
FW	Winning a Foul
CW	Winning a Corner
PKM	Penalty Kick Missed or Saved
BS	Blocked Shot
PI	Pass Intercepted
TW	Winning a Tackle
ST	Last-Man Saving Tackle
CS	Clean Sheet
FC	Foul Committed
PC	Penalty Committed
OG	Own Goal
YC	Yellow Card
RC	Red Card

Goalkeepers
W	Win
L	Loss
T	Tie
SV	Save
PKS	Penalty Kick Save
CS	Clean Sheet
GA	Goal Allowed

Etherington, Ferdinand, & Reo-Coker - 2-22-06

2006-02-22T20:45:00.000-05:00

The first of many tables of stats.

Name	Position	GP	G	A	MWG	SOT	SC	FW	CW	CS	BS	PI	TW	FC	YC
A. Ferdinand	Defender (Center)	26	2	1	0	4	2	20	0	6	25	72	42	18	3
N. Reo-Coker	Midfielder (Center)	20	2	3	1	2	8	29	2	6	3	69	70	45	3
M. Etherington	Midfielder (Left)	26	2	5	1	7	45	30	28	-	1	35	34	14	1

Bored and Only Tangentially Related

2006-02-21T17:56:00.000-05:00

Interesting post about the talking heads on Fox Soccer Channel. The concern about Sam focusing on the UEFA Cup instead of the FA Cup is possibly the dumbest criticism that I have seen in a while. Its not like its Man U or Arsenal who can afford to change focus easily enough. This is a team that needs as much money as they can get, especially with the age of the club.
HOWEVER, I would love for him to focus on the UEFA cup instead of the league or the FA Cup (especially with West Ham playing twice during that stretch.

The other criticisms that I have seen are that he plays ugly football with the only focus being to win. Well if the England's coach's job is to entertain and not to win, okay don't choose him. I mean Sven has been entertaining hasn't he? Heck he's even won games, 34-15-10 which is a point percentage (pp%) of 63.3. But Sven has done this, this, and some more of this, and then there was this. I mean he sure was entertaining, and hell his comments weren't any worse than the last England coach, Hoddle who said:

You and I have been physically given two hands and two legs and half-decent brains," he was quoted as saying. "Some people have not been born like that for a reason. The karma is working from another lifetime. "I have nothing to hide about that. It is not only people with disabilities. What you sow, you have to reap."

I think that Sam will do fine. His focus is on winning. And when you don't have the cash you can't go out and get Rooney or Reyes or a Drogba. Instead you go out and get the flair players who are coming to the end of their career. They buy into your system and you slowly develop younger players. Plus if the nationalistic (or racist as the British call it) interests get their way he's English. Martin O'Neill is the only other person who has the same kind of profile. O'Neill for Leicester had a pp% of 48.3 for Leicester City and Sam has a pp% of 51.4. Both got their respective teams promoted. Both have made it to the League Cup Final (of course O'Neill went one better by winning it). If they are going to go English then Sam is probably a better choice than O'Neill. However if they go beyond the Isles, then I would try to hire Guus or Capello. But hey what do I know, I'm American.

Link
For a really good list of Eriksson's life as England coach take a look at this timeline.

FA Cup and the Return of the Champions League

2006-02-20T00:49:00.000-05:00

I believe that if West Ham beats Bolton they will go on to win FA Cup. (One can dream can't they?) Neither team looked very good on Saturday, but I thought that Bolton applied better pressure and looked the better team. They got one goal called back on what I initially thought was a correct offside call. However on review the luck was definitely in West Ham's favor.
Review of the Match

However in the meantime West Ham don't play until March 4. The replay is being figured to be on the 7th if Bolton get through to the next round of the UEFA Cup otherwise it will be the next week. Either way it means to straight matches against Bolton. Bolton is the one team I dreaded in this round. Yes Chelsea, Manchester United, and Liverpool are 1, 2, 3 respectively in the league, but they wouldn't raise any expectations. With Bolton on the otherhand, we might think we had a chance so the possible loss would be bad for morale (as we have already lost twice to them this season).

With the return of the Champions League on Tuesday, I would like to make some predictions.

	Teams		Predicited Winner
Bayern	-	Milan	Milan
Benfica	-	Liverpool	Liverpool
Real Madrid	-	Arsenal	Real Madrid
PSV	-	Lyon	Lyon
Chelsea	-	Barcelona	Barcelona
Rangers	-	Villarreal	Rangers
Bremen	-	Juventus	Bremen
Ajax	-	Internazionale	Internazionale

Yes I picked Bremen and Rangers. I love Thomas Schaaf, based on his record in the Bundesliga. As for Rangers, thats just me taking on a flyer. Why can't Mcleish swan song be getting Rangers to the next round?

David Bellion

2006-02-18T19:16:00.000-05:00

He's mouthing off. He isn't very good, and was basically known for pace and thats about it. I wonder how Bellion actually thought he would be a starter?

Bellion: I lost my head, especially as the manager told me when I arrived I was going to be first choice on the right wing all season.

I'm not sure how he thought he would be better than Shaun Newton. Besides he's not even a good right wing, he's a bad out-and-out striker.
Stats from league games:

	Games	Goals	Pens.	Assists	Shots	Corners won	Succ. Crosses	Fouls won	Passes failed
2005	8	0	0	0	0	1	1	6	25

	Shots blocked	Tackles won	Last man tackle	Fouls conc.	Pens. conc.	Own goals	Interceptions	Yellow cards	Red cards
2005	0	4	0	3	0	0	3	0	0

Link

Roy Carroll

2006-02-16T22:13:00.000-05:00

Bad news is afoot, specifically regarding Roy Carroll's back. I thought that the most recent doctor's reports had been positive. It sounds like they were positive but things have not progressed as the doctor's would have wanted. Pardew's take:

He is going to see a consultant about a minor operation to correct it as he hasn't seen much improvement.
I don't want to say he will be out for the rest of the season because the lad is a bit worried anyway, but I think he will be out for five to six weeks.

Link
Link

I love numbers

2006-02-15T23:44:00.000-05:00

I love numbers. Numbers can help quantify quality.

In football the use of stats seems next to non-existent; I hope to change that. Stats are used in the Premier League, to create the Actim Index. I hope to have a post explaining some of this or at the ver least the usefulness of it.
West Ham currently has 3 players in the top 16 of the Actim Index. Before the season started if you told me that we would have one in the top 20, I would have laughed at you. Of all the players on the least I am personally very glad that Marlon is in the top 6. He is so good, and the number of comments about him being "lazy" before the season started bordered on racism. I think with him and Ashton up front West Ham is set for years to come.

My plan is to put up the stats for the season so far and occasionally update them. The best source I have found so far is Yahoo's fantasysports. Soccerbase is good for career stats and Football 365's stat page is good for team stats. If you have any better sites feel free to add them in the comments.

My First Real Post

2006-02-14T21:22:00.000-05:00

And its a link to a Manchester United related video.

There is no justice to this.

Link