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Hammering Away Ep #27 - Light at the End of the Tunnel
102 Plays1 year ago
On today's episode of the podcast, Jack and Joe discuss West Ham's 1-0 FA Cup loss to Bristol City, the Hammers' 2-2 draw at Bramall Lane, the potential transfer of Kalvin Phillips, and more!
Music by: LADI OGUN & @ANTlll
Blog: Hammering-Away.blog
Twitter/X: @Hammering_Away
Instagram/Threads: @HammeringAway_
Tiktok: @hammering.away
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Transcript
Podcast Returns and Transfer Market Chaos
00:00:25
Speaker
Welcome back to the Hammering Way podcast. We're happy to be back after a week hiatus, just like West Ham took a week hiatus and it was pretty uneventful, Joe, for about, what, 13 days of the hiatus, would you say? And then two have just been, I mean, I guess things were building in the transfer market, but the last two days have been crazy.
Saeb Ben Rama's West Ham Journey
00:00:49
Speaker
We're recording this on Monday. I mean, if you want to count
00:00:53
Speaker
Bristol City away is Oh, crazy. 60 minutes maybe were uneventful. I, I had already put that out of my mind. But you know what, we should talk about that. And I want to talk about that. We don't have a certain Algerian on the on the agenda list for today. Well, we don't, but we do now. You know, man, look,
00:01:22
Speaker
I will give a sane, clear-headed comment about this guy. I love Saeb and Rama. Thank you so much. You scored in the final. You had that little patch of form at the beginning of 21-22 when we thought you might be good. You had that assist against Fulham. You had leads away.
00:01:47
Speaker
But man, you are terrible at this score. Oh my god. What an awful, awful, awful player. Truly horrendous. He was good last year. Thanks for scoring all the penalties too. But wow. You are fat. You are a slob.
00:02:11
Speaker
I love you with all my heart, but good riddance. You are disgusting. And that's the funniest way to end your career at a team I can possibly imagine. And he deserves to end it like that in hilarious fashion. What a disgraceful ending to one of the most confusing players that has ever walked this earth. Literally.
00:02:37
Speaker
You actually could not script that any better for just like an ineffective 60 minutes followed by the outburst. Just the dullest 60 minutes that's ever happened. Just like he's like, I'm trying to think of a good dull tool. He's like a dull knife, trying to cut through that damn carrot. You can't get through it, man.
00:03:05
Speaker
And then all of a sudden, you just stab yourself in the stomach. This is what he is, dude. What is that? Who does that? Dude, I thought he got away with it for a second, too. I was like, yes. I saw that, and I was like pouring out, and I was like, ref. Somebody look at that. Dude, what an idiot.
00:03:35
Speaker
Um, I'm gonna actually, you know, I want to talk about him for a little longer because I do want to say like, I don't want to like abuse them or attack them too much because it's funny to do. Um, man, he was good at stuff once upon a time.
00:03:54
Speaker
Yeah. You know, his first season, he could beat his man. People forget that. The first year he was here, he could beat his man. And boys wanted him to get bigger. And I'm not blaming moisture and falling off, but he changed his play style, which is fine. And then Mr. Said bin Rama could not adjust. I also don't think people
00:04:15
Speaker
have taken the opportunity to be like, these Ben Rama performances are the same as last season. Just there's not a penalty to cover them up. I don't agree with that. I think that how good he was last year was hugely overstated because the entire fan base turned on Moyz and what better player to get behind when you turn on Moyz than Ben Rama. You chant his name for no reason. Good night. Moyz, dude, Moyz would like make a sub.
00:04:43
Speaker
right? And then there'd just be a chorus. It was the original, you don't know what you're doing. It's what it was. Oh man, that was, that was Fulham, right? They chanted Saeed Ben-Rami. He wasn't even on the pitch. I don't know if he got, I can't even remember. I don't think he was on the pitch. He got subbed off. He got hooked. He was terrible that day.
00:05:08
Speaker
He was absolutely horrendous foam away. And I thought he had a good season last year. He was probably one of our five best. I wouldn't say one of our three, but one of our five best last year. Maybe five is pushing it. And he scored some goals. But he was terrible that day. There was no reason for him to be on the pitch. It was awful. Yeah, I don't listen. I've been behind this guy probably longer than most.
00:05:36
Speaker
Dude, you stuck by him for longer. I foot flapped on him for about two years until this year. I gave him benefit of the doubt after benefit of the doubt after benefit of the doubt. But man, has he like made me regret every single time in the past like three months. I mean, this guy is ridiculous. He made an enemy out of like two Algeria coaches.
00:06:10
Speaker
beefed with Moist. Got himself a red card to end his career probably in England forever. Yeah. What's interesting about it is like, like, I thought the Moist thing was over, dude. They found common ground last year. Like they were together. And he buys, he buys kudos and then Amatix should be in the team. Are you out of your mind? You insane?
00:06:39
Speaker
And he's like, he's like, cause you saw the report that his application hasn't been there this year as much, which kind of sucks. Cause like, that's like kind of what we're built upon. I mean, it's apparent on the pitch, like, especially during the Liverpool game.
VAR Controversies and Refereeing Fairness
00:06:57
Speaker
Oh, dude. No, no. Cause that'll get me a legit angry with him. Yeah. I want to remember the funny, not the bad.
00:07:07
Speaker
The funny bad, not the angry bad. Because, dude, he was hilarious against Bristol City. He gave us the Declan Rice missed penalty. The wink. For him? Do you understand? For him to know where Declan Rice is, look at him, wink, and then miss the penalty. And you know what? He was our player at the time. So we were like, oh, top 10 respect moments in football. Fuck him for that.
00:07:36
Speaker
He should have put them in a goddamn grave. We should have had a three-nil at the goddamn Emirates, and Bowen should have taken it, or Ward Pouse should have taken it, and scored, which is crazy. I sent you a TikTok that you have to watch after this podcast. Declan Rice this weekend, when they played Palace, Declan Rice ran over to take a corner.
00:07:59
Speaker
And the palace fans are yelling at him. They're abusing him. So you West Ham reject, dude. West Ham reject. And he looks up and he like laughs a little bit and he smiles, puts down the corner and he gets an assist from the corner. My God. Never assisted a corner for us. That's scumbag. I'm going to look at it now. Don't look at it now. I'm looking at it now. You're recording a podcast. Looking at it now.
00:08:29
Speaker
You're, okay. Saeed and Rama, ladies and gentlemen. Yeah, he took the, I'm not saying he scored the header, he took the corner. So he ran over to. He took corners for us, for Arsenal, I don't know when this started. I'm not even gonna lie, dude, what's messed up is that he was a good corner taker for us. Was he credited with the assist for Pacatas goal at Newcastle last year? We drew 1-1, he took that corner and picked up the score. No, I don't think so. Good.
00:09:00
Speaker
The less Premier League assists, the better for that guy. But yeah, I thought that was funny. Do you have anything you want to add on Saeed Ben-Rama? This will be the last time he gets covered on here, dude. There's been a lot of Saeed Ben-Rama talk on this podcast. Saeed Ben-Rama's son or Pablo Fornal's daughter. Final, final, final question of two of the absolute worst thinkers you'll get from both of them.
00:09:30
Speaker
Dude, yeah, we'll get to Pablito. Who do I think is a better player? Or who would I rather have? Just Pablito's son or Ben Rama's daughter? Is the other way around. Whatever. Ben Rama. He just, like, the emotions he's made me feel. Like, Pablito, like, I'll always love him. And he's made me feel a lot higher hot. Well, no, because Ben Rama scored in the final.
00:09:59
Speaker
Which is funny that Pablo scored in the semian and Said scored in the final. Yeah, I don't know dude, Van Rama is just funnier man. Like it's just like, I mean, I'll probably always have more love for for now because he's truly like one of us at this point. Van Rama is just such a like encapsulates
00:10:26
Speaker
when you think about former West Ham players, and you're like, wow, what a crazy West Ham career that guy had. And Vayrama has written, he has written his name every year. It's something. It really is. I really hope we never have another player like him, seriously. Dude, we might not. He was the last non-Moyze sanctioned signing. He was the last player that we bought that Moyze was like, nah.
00:10:56
Speaker
like, do not bring him to me. And David Sullivan was like, you will like it. David Sullivan was like, I'm scared for my life. These fans are gonna kill me in the street. You're gonna take Sidemen Rama. You're gonna like it. What did he say to him that they signed? Did he say something weird to him?
00:11:20
Speaker
They've been wrong. Oh, yeah, there's a video of the behind the scenes and Moyes is like walking through. He's like, oh, I'm excited. He walks by him. And then you see him like later in like the when I signed Corneille, he's like hogging on those two men. The fact that it lasted this long and that there were so many high moments. Somebody needs to make a documentary.
00:11:45
Speaker
of, of like their relationship specifically. I need like player interviews on this. I just have to know, dude. I gotta know. I think, I think Moyes came to love him last year. And I think Ben Rama. Not on it at all. Look. Whatever good credit he has is, is, is gone. It's been gone. He gave us Brighton away this season, man.
Transfers and Team Dynamics
00:12:10
Speaker
That assists, dude. Special.
00:12:12
Speaker
But you know, it stands out to me more than that, for some weird reason. Do you remember the chance he missed against Chelsea? He was offside, but he took it with his left foot for God knows what reason. Do you remember? No, it was like a small moment in the game, but he like was like one on one with a defender and he like took it on his left and like curled it all the way across the goal, like one towards the corner flag. Oh, I actually do remember that. Yeah.
00:12:43
Speaker
That's so, that's such an insignificant. Why does that stick out to you? Because I just remember him doing that and just being like, really, dude? You've tried to cut it on your right foot your entire West Ham career. Like now you're going to do this. Just try again. Another moment was as we performed this eulogy on Ben Rama.
00:13:11
Speaker
that I won't forget will be the against Brettford this season slamming the turf after Oh my god, dude. Oh my god. Any any player will ever get out of teammate ever.
00:13:32
Speaker
He's so in the right for that, dude. I cannot believe that. That's more points dropped, bro. Don't bring up times we dropped points. We're going to get the Sheffield United. I've been sued. It's driving me a little crazy. I'll try not to bring it up. But Ben Raman, whenever Ben Raman is beefed to one of our players, he's usually been in the right. He used to hate Sue Czech. Do you remember that? Yeah, dude.
00:13:59
Speaker
He's just not passing the ball. And it wasn't like the kind of thing where it's like, oh, you know, the pitch is big and like, you know, just sometimes players don't pass people the ball. Like he looked him off for like a good like four months, like five months. What year was that? This was last year, I think.
00:14:22
Speaker
Pretty sure this was last year during like two checks, like spell. Basically every time the two check had the ball, Ben Rama was like throwing a little fit in his corner. Dude, that happened against Villa. I remember that specifically, Ben Rama throwing his hands around because he didn't get the ball.
00:14:47
Speaker
I don't think anyone would expect it at this point. It is so funny, dude. Alright, that's enough. That's enough. That is enough. Former West Ham player, that's enough. Former West Ham player, Saeban Rama. Have fun at Marseille, you fat piece of shit. You fat bastard. You bitch. You bitch.
00:15:14
Speaker
For anybody unaware, that's a reference to Stephen A. Smith had a 50-minute rant about Jason Whitlock, who's another guy who used to work for ESPN, and just posted it, and was just calling him every name in the book. I might post that clip tomorrow. About the drama. Quote our podcast.
00:15:50
Speaker
It's time for Marseille fans to convince themselves he's the next pilot. But so this was the the transition I almost made it three minutes but I just needed more time with Said before I said goodbye it was he picks up at that player right and there's no VAR
00:16:09
Speaker
and it gets spotted and he gets sent off. A few years ago, Harry Maguire kicked Mitchie Bashawai in his genital area. His groin region? His groin region. And there was VAR, I believe, and he was not sent off. And now that we're good again,
00:16:37
Speaker
We're doing this whole threat to the top six, threat to the top four, VAR checking thing. Again, we have to go through this.
00:16:47
Speaker
And I mean, like, okay. Did Sheffield United like deserve a draw based on the balance of play? Like, yeah, probably. Did we do enough to win the game with our like general, like maturity, our experience, our just ability to grind out wins because we are a good team? Yes. We grinded out that win. We applied enough pressure. I think it was after like the 65th or 70th minute we really, it was after
00:17:14
Speaker
Uh, Brendan Diaz had a chance where he ran through one-on-one and he dragged it wide. Right after that, we really started applying pressure and it all led up to the Ing's penalty. And then score, comfortable, so comfortable. Um, Ream Brewster.
00:17:35
Speaker
makes just an absolutely ludicrous challenge. He's down the tunnel before he's even shown the red card for God knows what reason. He's already walking into the tunnel when the referee shows him the red card. I don't know what the hell that's about. Vladimir Kufal gets a yellow card for laughing or telling the referee he has to send them off. I don't understand that. The decision got changed to a red card. What did he really do wrong? Now he's on a yellow card.
00:18:02
Speaker
The second one is soft, but fine. Like, I get it. Now he's sent off. He's a clown, by the way. He just didn't have to do that. And then I was mad at Ariola because I was like, well, why are you coming for that?
Strategic Shifts and Player Performances
00:18:19
Speaker
But he gets fouled. If goalkeepers are so protected in the Premier League, across world football, why is our goalkeeper not protected when he gets elbowed in the face
00:18:31
Speaker
by an opposing team striker. Why is it a penalty for against him? And then if you remember, this just happened with Robert Sanchez earlier this season and Andre Onana earlier this season. Both have incidents just like that. And no penalty is given. The Onana one, he punched Dawson in the head. That was egregious. Yeah, that was a good point. It was egregious that that wasn't given. So I don't really understand how that's a penalty.
00:18:58
Speaker
But okay, fine. You want to give it because Ariel is reckless. Fine. Okay. We come down the other end and, um, a mod, uh, not a mod, a mod as of which, how do you say his name? Came to say his name. Whatever the fuck this, this Bosnia guy. No, but he, he is a good center back. Cause I want to say like, I like him. I know you, but it's a, it's a ridiculous.
00:19:25
Speaker
Challenge he tackles Bowen in the box and the referee gives a handball and the worst part is that it's because Bowen's hand is where it is because he's being tackled to the ground and the ball hits the defender on the back before it hits Bowen's hand and For now just trying to run on to the ball. So just don't even blow the whistle I guess if you don't want to give penalty because it's not a handball Because he can't move his arm. He's being rugby tackled to the ground and
00:19:56
Speaker
And how VAR doesn't look at that and give a penalty because they don't want VAR to be a storyline, guess what? It already is. And because these referees are too scared to make decisions like that at the end of the game, especially to make multiple decisions like that at the end of the game. Like, are we really just not gonna go back to the monitor because you've decided that enough is enough? Because that's the only explanation to not send him to the monitor there.
00:20:27
Speaker
It's the only one. That's my whole spiel. The refereeing all game was pretty terrible. It's two games in a row, by the way, where with Bristol City and Sheffield United, they made challenges early on. They should have been booked. Hamer should have been sent off for Sheffield United. He had a tackle on a counter attack on a yellow card where he took Bowen down.
00:20:57
Speaker
Didn't get anywhere near the ball. Just took them down. Committed the penalty. Yeah, and that's what I'm going to do. And then he commits the penalty from behind Ings, who's running an on-goal. They're both yellow card fences. They're both second yellows. He should be off. So this should have been down to 10. Long before the Kufo thing happened. Not to get you off, but this is it's because it's crazy because these are two huge points. Yeah, this one, this one hurts.
00:21:29
Speaker
Yeah, especially because we, we did everything you needed to do, especially in a game where we're missing all these guys again. Like, yeah, we really need every point we can get from this little stint, especially against, you know, team. It's going to get relegated this year. Um, yeah, this hurt. We, uh, we weren't great, but at the end of the day,
00:21:54
Speaker
the three points were stolen from us. Like, everyone did the job they needed to. Like, Ings, like, stepped up, you know. Bowen got in between the white lines. I don't think he looked right. His touch was loose. I don't know. He'll be all right, though. Like, Cornet scored a goal. Mois, like, allowed Ings to come deeper and play with the ball at his feet, and then brought Ben Johnson on to switch back into our 4-3-3 that's worked all year, played him in midfield,
00:22:23
Speaker
And my God, what a master stroke. Spectacular. For no reason. The best sub-appearance anybody's had this season for us. Absolutely. By far. I guess Ben Rama. Yeah. Right. Ben Rama. No, seriously, Ben. No, no, no. I agree that that's in the conversation. I don't think it is. Because the Ben Johnson substitute effectively won us the game.
00:22:51
Speaker
Cause you forget that there's the other chances we had. Ings missed two sitters. Bowen like missed a chance or two when you should have shot and you passed. Um, Ben Johnson slipped. You remember that pass he made to where Prowse where he like scooped it around the corner and where Prowse tried to take it down the line. He just dribbled out of bounds and nobody anywhere near him inside the box. I'll send you, dude, like the game could have been three, one so many times. It could have been two nil a few times. Like.
00:23:20
Speaker
We kind of shot ourselves on the foot, but it, I couldn't live with it if we had dropped the points on our own accord, but like to have the decisions made by referees that we dropped these points is really frustrating, especially because right in Drew today, we would be five points clear of seventh. Yeah. Eight points clear of ninth. It's good that we still have this cushion and that we didn't really get burned for it, but
00:23:49
Speaker
Still not great. Still not great. But it could burn us because the thing is, is like more than likely that exact fixture is three points for Brighton and it's three points reunited. It's three points for Chelsea. Who did Brighton draw? Wolves. We're good, dude. They're a good side, man. They are a good side, but. They're a really good side. We are better.
00:24:19
Speaker
Yeah, but we don't really have we won at the mall in you in the Premier League era? Yeah. No. Hey, legs. Oh, yeah. Nah, behind closed doors, whatever. Yeah. Yeah, they're a good side though, dude. They're only six points behind us, you know, we dog them. We did we put in the middle of their best patch of form in the season. Yeah, we embarrassed them. That was really what
00:24:50
Speaker
Like when we decided that, okay, we're really good, not just like pretty good. That was, is that, um, our small and united? And they continued to be really good. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I mean, special shout out to Danny Ings. Uh, if he can give us 70% of that.
00:25:17
Speaker
Even half of that for the rest of the season, just whenever his number gets called, like whenever we need to switch anything up. And then he could be sold next summer. He was playing like a different level of fucking energy. I think it's because, you know, deservedly so move on, move back above him in the pecking order. And he might've been sitting there like we're trying to offload him. He's probably getting calls.
00:25:47
Speaker
He got calls from like a few championship clubs, not even ones that are like really competitive. I mean, Southampton, but like a few others. And he must have been sitting there like, no, like I'm not going to let my career end like this. You know what I mean? But no, yeah, like that's great for him. And because it started the Bristol City Cameo was good. He missed a sitter, which is whatever. I thought he was fine against Bristol City during the week. And then I thought,
00:26:15
Speaker
I mean, I was ready to kill him when we walked into the city, but I had made that decision before kickoff, to be honest. Yeah. I've been waiting to kill him for 18 months now. This is before we signed him. But then, you know, in Sheffield United, you saw some of the things that like,
00:26:33
Speaker
made you like believe in the signing when it originally happened because anytime you sign a player, you're going to try and believe. And it's like, you know, you saw him pressing and like winning the ball back, hide the pitch. He was one, I think he was, I forget the exact stat, but he was top five in some kind of pressing stat when we signed him last year. Um, like you see that close control of how a ball sticks to his foot. Like he's, he is good at that. Like that's something he's always been good at, even when he's been terrible for us.
00:26:58
Speaker
He is good at like receiving the ball to his feet, like close control kind of stuff and like making little tight turns. That's something he's always been good at. He's got to find the finishing touch again. He's never been in a drought like this. Yeah, it's kind of crazy. He really could have used one on Sunday. That's what sucks. He should have scored in that game. Helped us out though. He did everything he needed to do for us to win at the end of the night.
00:27:29
Speaker
But now I wonder what Moyes is going to do now. Cause he has a decision. Not really. Yes, he does. With kudos back. With kudos back and with Alvarez back. They both go back into the team. I know, but he has like, but what I'm saying is, and I think, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, cause I don't remember that correctly, but it wasn't like for now, I was just playing left.
00:27:58
Speaker
Bowen was playing right when Johnson came on, you know, it was almost like a diamond type situation. Um, and, you know, I've been watching that clip all day where Ben Johnson's laughing about, I mean, from a midfield on midfield. Um, but at the end, somebody asked him something and he goes, uh, pop any points at for now's, assumably, everybody else's name is pop. Um, but they're not going to ask him who's on the left. They wouldn't like, you know,
00:28:28
Speaker
They probably, and the way he points, it's like, okay, I was just wondering, like, I wonder if that was a dime that I'd maybe have to go back and watch it again. They were asking him who needs to be sold in the summer. Yeah. But like, what I'm basically saying is that I wonder if it stayed with bone and ends up top and then for now is kind of more in the hole. But probably not. But I guess what I'm saying is like, you know, Moyes especially,
00:28:58
Speaker
is going to want to reward Danny Eng's show performance. He's going to want to play him. Which he should. He should want to play him. But how do you plan? I don't think that there's a place for him in the team. Well, you drop, you just replace Corday.
00:29:27
Speaker
with kudos or or four nals yeah probably four nals right you play four nals or a cornet no i'm saying replace four nals with kudos play cool yeah on the left play yeah yeah play cornet from what but so what are you suggesting no because i'm thinking i'm thinking out loud
00:29:51
Speaker
Because Alvarez is going to be back. And Phillips are coming in. That's what I was going to get to. And he's going to start Calvin
Football Narratives and Team Morale
00:30:00
Speaker
Phillips. I promise you he was going to start Calvin Phillips. Yeah. I think it's easier to do the rest. So we're going to have Phillips, Alvarez, and Ward Prowse all playing. Yeah. And then that leaves three spots in the attack. And two of them.
00:30:21
Speaker
are the first two names on the team sheet. Yeah. So it's... If things go well over the next day or two at ATHCON, which, God help me, they better. They probably will. They probably will. But like, knock on wood. Even so, regardless, he might be back anyway, right?
00:30:47
Speaker
Yeah, but you might be rushing him. Because if he has to play a knockout game, then you might be rushing him if he comes back. Because they probably wouldn't play their knockout game until Thursday, Friday, or Saturday.
00:30:59
Speaker
Or almost like almost definitely because if tomorrow's Tuesday, there's almost definitely two days of group play left Probably don't play knockouts till Saturday. Gotcha. And then we play on Thursday So even if you lost Saturday get on a flight Sunday back in training Monday or Tuesday, you probably still start But then like what if they play one of the later knockout games that they play on Monday and
00:31:26
Speaker
I would rather him have a full week back with his good friends.
00:31:48
Speaker
ready to just take all his anger out on the Bournemouth backfield. Dude, that's a dream. I would love to put three or four past them. I know that they're a good side, but they don't have a really good record at the London Stadium, to be fair. I think we'll be fine. If we have Kudos back, I'd be pretty confident for that game. If we have Kudos in a midfield three, then we will have a midfield three.
00:32:17
Speaker
unless something tragic happens. Which I'd be surprised if Phillips falls through at this point. It looks like he's coming. We'd still have three players, even if he didn't. I'm saying somebody would have to get hurt in training or something. Again, knock on wood. But yeah, right before we talk about Calvin Phillips, I want to tell you, because do you know what happened in Gano's group today?
00:32:48
Speaker
Like, are you aware of the intricacies of all of the two different results and how they affect each other? No. So, Dana were up 2-0 in the 90th minute, right? And Egypt were up 2-1. And if Dana won, Egypt needed to win to finish second in the group in advance, right? So, Egypt's players are being told, Dana are up 2-0.
00:33:15
Speaker
They're gonna win, it's the 90th minute, we have to win, right? So then Ghana can see it in the 91st and the 94th minute. The Egyptian players, this information is never relayed to them because their game is ongoing. Nobody was able to tell them that Ghana, who did they play? Mozambique. Yeah, that Mozambique had equalized.
00:33:39
Speaker
So then Egypt concedes a 99th minute equalizer to Cape Verde and all the players are on the ground with their heads in their hands because they think that they're going out of the tournament and they have no idea that Ghana have also conceded an equalizer. Which is just so funny. Oh my god.
00:34:05
Speaker
Dude, this tour is crazy. It's awesome. It is crazy. And people joke about how crazy it is. I think it's awesome. Like, I think it's really awesome. Yeah, every coach are getting their asses handed to them in their own country. And these are like good teams that are like going to Afghan and like getting their asses handed to them. Another thing. Like, worldly team.
00:34:35
Speaker
Yeah. And another thing I would say about, well, I think Senegal are doing well, but Ghana in particular, Ghana and Senegal, because people will just kind of make sure Senegal are doing well before I keep going. But people are, you know, they like to act like, oh, like,
00:34:54
Speaker
Yeah, they are. Africa, you know, the African nations aren't the same like, you know, coaching or the same tactical prowess. They just shut the hell up. Okay, like there are plenty of good African coaches around. And some of them are coaching national teams. But another thing that I would say is that Senegal and Ghana in particular, have proven that in a very recent World Cup.
Potential Signing of Calvin Phillips
00:35:17
Speaker
And one of them is going out of the tournament unless they can get some help.
00:35:22
Speaker
It's crazy, dude. It's pure passion. That's what it is. There's really no explanation for it. And Egypt has one of the best players in the world. Grant's out. He's hurt. But it's not like he makes a mockery of this tournament. The other thing that's really interesting about Afcon is, you know,
00:35:47
Speaker
We all as Westerners, Premier League fans, fans of other teams in Europe, look at this tournament and groan. Like, ugh. Like, kudos is gonna be out of gear. It's gonna be out of like, Liverpool fans, Salah's gonna be out. Like, you name it. But these guys love it, man. And I love that for them. I'm still gonna feel inconvenienced by it, but that's just because, you know, I'm rooting for West Ham. But, like, if kudos,
00:36:18
Speaker
was not gonna go out in this stage or at the round of 16, I would want him to win it. Because at that point, what is it to us? You know what I mean? Having said that, if he's back very soon, I'm ecstatic he's coming home. Ecstatic.
00:36:35
Speaker
I don't think I've ever seen a player that distraught in my whole life in any sport the way kudos was distraught when he got when he's doing his post-game interview today. I disagree. I've seen more distraught players in my life. I don't know. I really don't know. I'll think of them as ample freedom. Look up. Say what you guys say.
00:36:58
Speaker
just just a look on his face. It was like, it's incredible what this means to me. It's not even like this is like his last afcon or anything, you know? Oh, dude, he's so young. And this is his team. And this team is gonna get better, bro. Like, and surely he knows that as like one of the first, I don't know if I'm totally correct, but as like, not an inaugural, but like a very early days right to dream academy graduate. He was like the first notable right to dream. Yeah, he's the face of this shit, dude. Like,
00:37:29
Speaker
He knows, he knows that he's going to be leading a serious team. Yeah, he was, I mean, he was like beyond tears. He was like, just empty. He's like in shock. And the craziest part is that they took him off. And that always drives me crazy, because I get it. You know, your best attacker is tired, he's giving you so much to take him off, like how to get fresh legs to defend.
00:37:56
Speaker
But, you know, it drove me crazy. It drives me crazy about this Ghana game. And I'll give you another time. It drove me crazy. If I'm remembering correctly, yes. The England game against Croatia, they took Sterling off. I might get slated on here. And it was 2018. So people will remember whatever they want to remember about became Sterling.
00:38:18
Speaker
He was England's only out ball in that game. And kudos against Arsenal in particular for us has shown he is an elite out ball and can help you relieve pressure just through his ball carrying, ball control, his ability to keep it. Helps you relieve pressure so easily. So it's like, why are you taking off the player on the team? Who can relieve your defensive pressure better than anybody else in your squad? I've never understood that.
00:38:44
Speaker
Yeah, it makes no sense. And we used to do the same thing last year with Paquetta when we used to sub him. I was like, what are we doing? Nobody keeps the ball as well. Yeah. Keeping the ball is part of defending, especially when you're defending deep. We do a lot, and we have to. Having Paquetta and Kudus is what makes us so dangerous, because we can get ourselves out and relieve ourselves a little bit. And just pass it around, keep it, and just catch our breath.
00:39:13
Speaker
Draws out, catch our breath. Like, it's huge. That's why Antonia was so big for us when we went to the Europa League semi-final. This is what we do. But we can get back to Calvin Phelps. I just wanted to tell you about that Egypt Ghana thing I thought was hilarious. It was hilarious. We've been texting about this for a few days. I'm so excited if we can get this over the line. And, you know, with West Ham, you can only
00:39:44
Speaker
take it with a grain of salt in the hope that things are going to be okay. We seem incredibly keen on him, Moyes especially. We seem weirdly willing to get close enough to a loan fee for Citi to engage in positive talks with us. We seem very willing to pay a sizable amount of his wages, if not all of them.
00:40:11
Speaker
I guess I'm asking when the rug is going to get pulled out from under us, but if he can get this done in the next few days, he gets a week to train with us. Dude, this is a serious, but this is what we were saying. He's a 40, 50 million pound midfielder. No matter what the hell you want to say about it, that's who he is. That's what he was bought for. And that's what he would have gone for to another club where he would have been a success if he didn't go to his super team. And you know, it is a little worrying how things went at City, but Pep's been nothing.
00:40:38
Speaker
but I'm complimentary of him for a while now. And also, the big worry for me is that some of these injuries have taken a physical toll. But if Moise, and he still played for England, so we have games where we can watch him and we can be like, no, he's still there. But yeah, not to say everything about him, but we can get him in, my God. Yeah, and I think that
00:41:06
Speaker
the general consensus among West Ham fans is that everybody's pretty excited about them. But I really don't think that we're truly grasping the magnitude of the player that we're bringing in. This guy was on the verge of becoming our record signing. We bid $50 million in January 2022. We bid $59.
00:41:34
Speaker
Yeah. And the same day we put 50 million pounds for a Fina. The next day we did 50 million pounds for Darwin. That was like his best window. He's just like, fucking, he's just like, he's just like, watch this ball knowledge. We're not gonna get anybody, but like, look at how much I know.
00:41:55
Speaker
He was on the phone with Luis Diaz. He had the translator on the phone, dude. That's the craziest story ever. Luis Diaz was like, yeah, it was me, the translator, and Luis Diaz. I was trying to sell him on. What the hell are you talking about? Do you think Moiz ever got the chance to talk to his dad?
00:42:21
Speaker
Stop it. The news came out, he's like, damn, like, he's a good guy. David Moyes was like, I feel this one on a personal level. And Luis Diaz's father has interacted before. No way, dude. No people checking in on Moyes about Luis Diaz. Hey, Gaffer, you all right? I saw you. You're good friends. You did that. It's ridiculous. Yeah, Calvin Phillips. Good stuff.
00:42:51
Speaker
Well, yeah, he, um, I actually totally agree with what you're saying. And, you know, us both talking about it in this way kind of like makes me feel like, like, we're not crazy. Like we're not like starved for signing. And we're just like, like whatever sign we make, we're going to be like, this is like the huge deal. But this is a player who has started in an England team that's gone to a final, right?
00:43:21
Speaker
He's deemed good enough by Pep Guardiola to be brought for City. They don't buy players for no reason. He's a rare mess. They didn't need homegrown players as I'm sure he played a part. And I think a lot of people could have looked at that transfer and been like, I don't know. But having said that, I don't think people really remember just how good Calvin Phillips was.
00:43:44
Speaker
He was getting... He's a dog, dude. And he was getting the Duck and Rice comparisons. Everybody gets them. But think about all the other players who have been compared to Duck and Rice. Would you take them? Some of them. Some of them. Well, I mean, I guess, you know, there's the long staffs of the world. I'm talking about, like, real comparisons. Yeah, I mean, I would take all of them. Yeah. And it's just like... This is a legit top six player.
00:44:13
Speaker
Yeah, he's, he's versatile. His career has taken a weird turn because he didn't make necessarily the right move. For us to get our hands on him, I think is a really big deal because he gives us a passer. He's more mobile than Stuchek. Like, I think he wins the ball back better than Stuchek. Obviously, he's not going to be as good in the air. For the record,
00:44:36
Speaker
I thought he was awesome in the air. I thought he won every set piece they put in the box. And it also gives us an option to rotate. He can play six, like with Al Resmus' time. We can go back to playing Pivot. Which I think we will, which is really cool.
00:44:56
Speaker
I think we will, to an extent. I think WordPress will get pushed a little more into the quote unquote 10. But I think it'll stay kind of like this to keep the kept out on the left. But we do have the option, like if we are able to sign a left-winger, OK.
00:45:11
Speaker
maybe WordPress isn't going to play this game. Maybe we have a Europa League final in the middle of the league for some reason. But like, oh, like AC Milan on Thursday, like at the ball or at the same zero, like I guess we got to rest for this Premier League game because it's a semifinal against AC Milan. Like you can kind of switch things up in that hypothetical scenario. Yeah, this is just
00:45:42
Speaker
There's a reason we're selling out $6 million for a loan plan. Yeah. That's the other big thing is like, we're not, you know, big on that. And like, and by the way, there's no like option of eye claws or anything like that. We're doing this again, his like good braces and we'll tap them up, but I'm sure we'll try to get them permanently. And I'm sure, you know, if things go well, we will get them permanently. Cause it's not like city, you're going to keep them around.
00:46:09
Speaker
Um, I would be nervous about some of the competition, but I would, if he comes here and the other thing is like, I was thinking this earlier, we're going to shove out four or five, 6 million on a loan fee. We're going to pay him 120, 150,000 a week, which is a lot of money. I truly believe a big reason the club is so willing to do this is that we think that he might be the difference between top six and not top six. They think that we can, or not Europe league.
00:46:38
Speaker
Yeah, like they think that we can bring him in and that he's going to raise the floor of our midfield and like just raise the levels and just give us another just like added bit of quality that we don't have right now. And no matter what you think of us, you check. I like to check. He's had a great year, but like, Calvin Phillips makes it so much better.
Player Futures and Club Strategy
00:47:00
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. This is this is exciting. This is really exciting.
00:47:08
Speaker
do you think I mean, this might be conspiracy theory, like schizo level thinking here. But do you think that can you can you foresee in the future? Specifically in the summer? Yeah. Yeah, I'm nodding at you. I know what you're gonna ask. This this kind of turning into a paketa for for Phillips.
00:47:38
Speaker
kind of, not a swap, but, you know, him coming this way and Paquetta going the other way and this loan being the precursor to that. I don't think it hurts anything. I think that that's definitely in the cards. I think the big thing for Paquetta is the betting thing, really.
00:48:02
Speaker
Like, what's the deal with that? What is the deal with that? It's silly at this point, because, you know, like, he's not he's he's not going to get because there's just too many moving parts, like the guy getting the English like F.A. He's got to get like permission from the Brazilian police. Like, like, come on. He didn't he's not going to get caught. Granite jacket and get caught. But his granite jacket's case dragged like two and a half years.
00:48:35
Speaker
So, Paquetta's good too. I don't know how Citi feel about that. Maybe they look at it and they're like, these are it. Like, we'll go get him. Because I think he would be great for second. He would be really fucking good for Citi. They could use him, especially Bernardo Silva's probably going to leave. The Bruyne is getting older. We want to get Pep's hands on Paquetta so we can turn him into a robot. Because it's going to take him a year to mold Lucas Paquetta. It's taken him a year to mold players before. And Paquetta's...
00:49:05
Speaker
from what I can remember about any of these players is the most expressive one that they would sign, have signed on the pep. But yeah, for a long-winded answer, but I don't think that that's out of the realm of possibility. At all. And the other thing I think is that we just...
00:49:29
Speaker
kind of have a good business relationship with Citi. We never haven't done business with them for a while from what I can remember, because they didn't get rice. But we have always seemed to have, it's like the same thing with the fan bases and the mutual respect between the two clubs. It seems like that also has to do with the hierarchy of the two clubs. And I think Stuyten just makes us an easier club to deal with generally.
00:49:56
Speaker
Not because he's easy to deal with, but just because like, you know. The only room I wanted David Sullivan in was the Declan Rice War Room. Dude, that was his deal to make. He earned that one. And God damn it, he did great. He was waiting his whole life to do something exactly like that. Dude, he's been trying to demand $100 million for a player since 2016. He could not wait to sell a player for $100 million.
00:50:27
Speaker
And man, did we have Aristotle by the balls. Dude, people really thought we meant people. 85 million rising. I want to talk about something. So over the summer, when we were going to sell deck, the first bid was what, it was 60 plus 10, 60 plus 15, right? Yeah. And like, we all laughed at the ones where we're not going to accept that. For whatever reason, right? So, uh,
00:50:55
Speaker
or a sign and everybody's like, oh, like the deal is progressing well, like talks are progressing well, which obviously because we're always gonna sell him. And then like the second and third bid were like 80 million, right? Or like 80 plus 10 or 70 plus 10. And everybody starts freaking out and is like, how dare you sell him for that low? Like David Sullivan, what are you doing? It's like, it's just a bid, man.
00:51:22
Speaker
Like, all the tweets says that they bid 80 and that Arsenal are hopeful. We're not gonna, like, settle down. They didn't know who they were dealing with. They doubted the king. They did, they did, they did. And it's like, forever you can call him David Sullivan, money hungry. Like, dude, like, he's gonna hold out. He knows what he has here. He knows he's dealing with a bunch of suckers. Knew exactly what he had.
00:51:52
Speaker
But it's interesting, because now, I mean, I'm kind of going off that deal and how things are going now. So we have to essentially sell the buy, right, in January. Yeah. To an extent, we have to sell the buy.
West Ham's Evolution and European Ambitions
00:52:10
Speaker
And the FFP restrictions are getting tighter on clubbies. And what is it called that Everton and Forest were charged with?
00:52:21
Speaker
health and something, not health, but like about keeping quip running. So we're trying to stay in those restrictions and they're getting tighter. A, are you worried about how much money there is to spend in the summer or in future summers? And B, not to answer my own question, but
00:52:47
Speaker
You know, I think that this also comes into play with like league finishes and like Europa finishes is that we are given money for these competitions. Like, I don't know. And then also the other question came that I wanted to ask you was about Paqueta about kudos and in particular, those are two assets that I do not foresee being at West Ham long, long term. Um, so how do you feel?
00:53:18
Speaker
Just about the current state of things, current state of West Ham United and how we may need to do the whole we're selling a player for 80, 90, 100, 120 million thing a few more times and continue to replace them the way that we replaced them this summer. Are you confident? And like, how do you feel about that in general? Well, the guys that we're selling are pretty irreplaceable, you know?
00:53:48
Speaker
That's the issue. It's great that we're going to make like 40 to 50 million profit on each. More. More possibly, which is insane. We've never done that. I think that first of all, I trust like the recruiting structure right now.
00:54:16
Speaker
You know, we have, we have a, like a head of analytics. Now we have studied, we have moist, we have a lot of like really sharp guys in the building right now. And our recruiting, like infrastructure is the best it's ever been in the history of the club. Um, financially, it seems like we're going to get covered by those, by those, uh, by those outgoings, which is bittersweet, I guess. Um,
00:54:45
Speaker
I, again, I, I trust that we're, that the club is being run, not like circus anymore. So we'll, we'll, we'll stay within those, those FFP, especially as we're doing so well. We just won a trophy. Um, we've been in Europe four years in a row that those things have financial incentives, you know, the league finishes are been pretty solid since Moise got back. Um,
00:55:13
Speaker
You know, I don't know the rules, but it could be a dangerous game to play though, like when you look at Lester and stuff. And I think that that's something that I actually really like about Moyes is that he's shown that he can operate in the transfer market. So, you know, you've seen the downfall of clubs like this when they put too much in the manager, you know what I mean? And now the manager gets their guy and it kind of doesn't fit the club's vision. And then.
00:55:42
Speaker
He's too close to it. And now these signings at WorkMoys has shown the ability to make signings. And he, you know, is the one, like you said, that started building up that backroom staff. And now you bring Stuyton in, he brings in, I think his name is Han, and then it's bringing in his brother and there's plans of more appointments in the future. Um, so I do trust them a lot to replace these guys, but it's kind of crazy to be like, man, like, Hey, like, damn, like we're going to lose like kudos. We're going to lose Beketa one day.
00:56:11
Speaker
But it's also kind of crazy to think like, man, West Ham might become like a hotspot for European talents to prove himself in England. Yeah, that would be pretty, that would be something wouldn't it? We tried, we tried that with like Haller and Felipe and it didn't work out for either of those guys, but. Worked for Haller. I guess. To be exact, he'd prove himself in Ajax.
00:56:36
Speaker
Yeah, he had to go, he had to make another stop to get a historic Champions League campaign. Which was, that was crazy. But yeah, this is just a really great place to be playing right now. If you're highlighted as a guy who's going to come and fit here, this is where you want to be. And I think
00:57:03
Speaker
Like, kudos, his England career couldn't have gone any better. Paquetta's career in England really couldn't have gone any better than it is right now. Considering he's already got his move lined up to the biggest club in the world. Well, I think that's another thing. I think the profile of Declan Rice started it originally.
00:57:27
Speaker
And, you know, Paquetta and Kudus are really big profile players. Bowens becoming more and more of a big profile player, especially within the English game, within just primarily conversations. Um, and then he scored the goal in the final. And, you know, there's going to be guys who are sitting around Europe and thinking, Hey, I kind of like what they're doing over there. Like, man, like Kudus is like.
00:57:50
Speaker
sick, like the aura, but like, I'm being serious. Like, like kudos. Yeah. You got Salah Salah doing his like celebration. You got players in the championship. I think it was at Mavaditi did a celebration scored against the car. Didi and Nisa Raku. Yeah. Squared in his Cardiff. And I think somebody did it in Europe, but like, and like we're three straight years in Europe, like the profile of the club is rising and has been rising for a little bit. And I think
00:58:20
Speaker
that if we can qualify for Europe again this year, give a good showing of ourselves in the Europa League, we really did this. Like our profile could really start to skyrocket. We're going to play in the club world cup. Dude, that's what I imagine. Like we play in the club world cup. That's crazy. And then like the other thing is like players will look at rice and they get the cut that gets us moved to city and they'll look at kudos, which that, that is one that could turn into a real,
00:58:48
Speaker
real nasty like transfer thing, just because he, he is only 23 right now. We'll be 24 until August. And the clip that he scores goals at from a variety of positions, the dribbling ability, the ball striking, the ability to track back and tackle the ability to press, like how explosive of an athlete he is.
00:59:17
Speaker
He's going to demand a comical price tag. I like, I said on our hammering away Twitter account that I think he's going to be our club record sale when it's also done with his career, writes his career, because his career, um, bones, I'm not going anywhere. God willing. Um, but yeah, like players will be able to look and they'll be like, Hey, I can go there. I can play for a team that is consistently really good in the best league in the world, the most much leading world. I can make a name for myself there.
00:59:48
Speaker
And then they're not going to hold me hostage. Like they're going to do what's best for the club because we better look like if we can show that we don't have to hold these players hostage, like we used to, like we used to be so desperate to hold on to our guys. I'm sure we still will be desperate to hold on to our players, but you would hope like between Moyes and some of the staff he's hired and then now bringing inside and then like analytics who can find us.
01:00:11
Speaker
more and more bargains, like, apparently they love, uh, Solly on Woo, the South Korean right back. We get him for a million and he comes in. If he's like for real good, like that's a long way away, but like now that we have the recruiting team, we're like building up the infrastructure to be able to replace these players and find the different ways of scoring goals. But like you said earlier, no, this is sort of the duck on rice because what a difficult player to replace. And we had to add a whole new body in the field to do it.
01:00:42
Speaker
But goals are the hardest thing to come by in the sport. Yep. Yeah, that's a whole tangent. But I just think it's really interesting because we could, for real, like I said, become a hotspot. It's interesting because and what makes us different from other clubs is that
01:01:04
Speaker
you know, we are like a stepping stone for like the elite guys that prove themselves in England. But there's also like, we are like genuinely competing for things. Like there is reason to stay. So like, there's kind of that twofold, like attraction that we have is that we're competing every year in multiple competitions. We already have a trophy under our belts. Yeah.
01:01:32
Speaker
Rice left, we're not just, we're bigger than Rice. And he's succeeding after he left. And we're succeeding. And we're succeeding, yeah. Which does not get enough praise. Like people go, wow, good we are. It does not get talked about enough that we sold a 100 million pound midfielder and just like didn't miss a beam. Did not miss a beam. The club has really never been in such a good place. Such stability.
01:02:01
Speaker
It's crazy to me. But Moi's out though. Yeah, yeah, everybody's Moi's out. For God knows what reason. Oh, I forgot what I was gonna say. I'm trying to remember now. Say something so I can try to remember. Okay.
01:02:25
Speaker
Oh, oh, I was going to say that, um, so like as in Villa, right? Newcastle, Brighton, these are other clubs that are on the web. We're on aspiring to be on the level. And we'll see what happens with Villa and the conference league or, you know, if they qualify for the champions league. Um, you know, Brighton are going to be in a dog fight to be in Europe for two straight years. Newcastle are level on points of wolves right now. They slipped below Chelsea, their intent. We are the one of these teams.
01:02:55
Speaker
that's shown a consistency both in the league and in terms of just quantifying for Europe in general, because obviously 14th last year is not a good league finish, but we won a trophy six and seven years before that. Now we're on sixth in late January. Um, if we can still finish in the top six or seven, or even if eight becomes a conference league place, hopefully we finish in the top seven just for everybody's sanity. Um, you know, we have like a real,
01:03:25
Speaker
thing that we can present the players on, you can be like, we are not an aspiring project. We're not trying to do something. We're not an exciting young project. We are a proven well oiled machine. Like this is what we do here. Yeah. You know what I mean? And if you're in Europe, if you're in Europe for straight years and we win another knockout tie this year, dude, that's, that's just a team of legit European pedigree who's competing in all competitions and to finish European places in the primarily.
01:03:55
Speaker
And it's hard to find that for a lot of these players who want to go play for the big six because of the money that's there, you know, Newcastle will attract their players. It's a different message to say, this is what we're going to do. You like, we want you to be a part of what we plan on doing. It's, we want you to be a part of what we are doing, what we are, we want to continue doing. Yeah.
01:04:24
Speaker
You know, it's almost like, you know, when you try to sign players, especially high profile players, it's different. Like, because they're getting hired to do a job, but a lot of times you go and you interview for the job for players, like who do, especially like for Bizio, it said how big of a part style template and getting that over the line. There's no reports of a release cause for now that there was with the Brighton deal. Um, we are.
01:04:50
Speaker
uh, not auctioning ourselves, but we're applying to be a part of their careers in a way. We're the ones that want to sign them. They don't want to work for us. Like we have to go to them and we have to show them why they need to come play for us, especially these high profile players that are going to be the ones that make the difference for us. Like if it was like a forget the, and the longer we can go on like this, the more we can just be like, like, what do you mean? Like, who are we? Like, look at what we've done.
01:05:21
Speaker
Like we don't have to be like, you know, like twiddling our thumbs, like little guy in the room, like trying to make it big. Like we, like we are a part of this level of football. If we can qualify for Europe again this year, I should have the Asterix on it. Yeah, man. It's really exciting times watching us build like this. And I'm happy it's a positive conversation because that, that Sheffield United game really could put
01:05:51
Speaker
No. Really took the wind out of us, but it goes back to Phillips, right? He seems incredibly willing to come here and obviously there's a variety of reasons for that. He needs to play if he wants to go do the euros. Um, I think he knows he'll play here every week because Moyes loves them. Um, you know, Newcastle don't want to pay the fee, right? And aren't serious parcel. I let it go. Who knows if you play there.
01:06:19
Speaker
But more than that, he sees us as a place where he can come, and he's going to play in big games. And this is a place where he can come in and succeed. And the fact that players that are playing from Manchester City look at us and say, I can go here, I can make a name for myself, or this is like a place I can go and showcase my talent. And I can succeed and I can stay in the England team. Because you think about it, man, like,
01:06:45
Speaker
I was like, think about it. If you sign Phillips, we'll have somebody at Euros, and that's pretty cool. I was like, we're going to have two players at Euros. We might have three if things go wrong for Anderson and Ajax. It's really exciting. I really pray to God that next week, Calvin Phillips is a West Ham player. I'd love to see him out there at the London State, and it's Bournemouth. We might wake up tomorrow when he's a West Ham player. I wouldn't get that far out of ourselves.
01:07:16
Speaker
We're insisting. We are insisting. Fabrizio says that we're insisting. I love when he says that too. It's special. Thank you everybody for joining us today and listening. Hopefully next time we have some transfers to talk about.
01:07:37
Speaker
As always, you can find the blog at hammering-away.blog. We have an article about Calvin Phillips up there that you should read about what he would bring to West Ham, why we want to sign him in the first place, and some of the tactical versatility stuff that we talked about today. Follow us on Twitter at hammering underscore away, Instagram hammering underscore, and the TikTok is hammering.away. Yeah.
01:08:04
Speaker
I was gonna say that blog, which is hammering that away on top of this old blog. Thank you very much for listening, and we will talk to you next week. Peace. Hyper, hyper, hyper.
01:09:51
Speaker
So,
01:11:00
Speaker
So.