westhamfans.org

West Ham assistant manager Stuart Pearce, or Psycho as fans used to call him while he was playing for Forest, England and latterly West Ham, has never been short of 'direct' communication, so his apparent absence on match days has come as some surprise to Hammers fans, has he fallen out with David Moyes?

Very interesting read this article, the full length version goes on to reveal that Ravel Morrison was asked to sign a new deal while at west ham, on improved terms, despite having TWO years left on his contract, just so long as he changed agents to Mark Curtis, who happened to be big sam's agent as well as chicken kiev's, winston reid, andy carroll and several others who were at the club, Morrison didn't want to show any disallegiance to the agent he then had and declined the offer, this was a short time after Morrison had 'dismantled' Tottenham on their own ground.

It's been a long time coming, but David Moyes looks like a man who has had a great burden lifted from his shoulders, he finally appears to have put his 'Manchester United ghosts' behind him. One of the ironies associated with this strangest of seasons, is that Moyes path to redemption has been partly paved by another United exile in the form of Jesse Lingard.

West Ham: Fabiański, Diop, Dawson, Cresswell, Coufal, Rice (c), Souček, Johnson, Lanzini, Lingard, Bowen Subs: Martin (GK), Fredericks, Baptiste, Alves, Coventry, Noble, Fornals, Benrahma, Odubeko
Sheffield: Ramsdale, Basham, Egan, Ampadu, Bogle, Lundstram, Norwood, Osborn, Stevens, Sharp (c), McGoldrick Subs: Foderingham (GK), Baldock, Lowe, Jagielka, Bryan, Maguire, Burke, McBurnie, Brewster

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Michail Antonio's hamstrings seem to be some of the most widely scrutinised parts of the human anatomy since the attention given to Jane Russell's cleavage during her appearance in Howard Hughes's 1943 movie The Outlaw.

One by one potential 'emergency' strikers are disappearing from the short list compiled by West Ham, the latest to become unavailable is ex-Chelsea striker Diego Costa who is in negotiations over a two year deal to sign for Brazilian team Palmeiras.

West Ham manager David Moyes is no fool, he has overseen in excess of 500 top flight games, and as such his experience tends to shine through.

Tuesday evening's hard fought, but ultimately unsuccessful, FA Cup 5th round cup tie against Manchester United unfortunately highlighted West Ham United's paucity of strikers, with Big Mich Antonio 'rested' and his 'replacement' Andriy Yarmolenko looking like a fish out of water as he tried to lead the line. The Ukraine international endured a torrid time before leaving the field with ligament injuries that could see him side lined for the rest of the season.

Manchester: Henderson, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Telles, Matic, Fred, Van de Beek, Greenwood, Martial, Rashford Subs: Grant, Shaw, Tuanzebe, B.Williams, Fernandes, James, McTominay, Amad, Cavani
West Ham: Fabiański, Coufal, Dawson, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Rice, Souček, Bowen, Noble, Fornals, Yarmolenko Subs: Trott, Fredericks, Johnson, Diop, Balbuena, Alves, Lanzini, Benrahma, Odubeko

The consequences of standing by one's convictions are that sometimes you have to pay the price, West Ham manager David Moyes decided to buck an old Hammers tradition of buying overpriced has beens just to keep people happy in the short term. This 'positive' way forward does however come with the caveat that in the short term, David Moyes has only one recognised striker who's services he can call upon, and of course that striker isn't actually a bona fide one, Michail Antonio is essentially a winger who David Moyes helped turn in to a front man feared by opposition defenders.