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Hammering Away Ep #29 - Bowen's On Fire
65 Plays1 year ago
On today's episode of the podcast, Jack and Joe discuss West Ham's 4-2 win over Brentford, Jarrod Bowen's West Ham legacy, Emerson and Paqueta's mind-blowing West Ham record, 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
Condensing Season's Challenges into One Episode
00:00:25
Speaker
Welcome back to the hammering lay podcast is episode number 29. And it should be like the first time in like five episodes, we have something good to talk about, but thankfully we missed a few weeks. So we got to sum up the entire bad part of the season in one episode last week. And now we can just go back to being like one of the best teams in the league statistically when, uh, Emerson and pick at the play. Yeah, I think we handled that like.
00:00:54
Speaker
pretty appropriately, just like pretend it didn't happen because it basically didn't, you know? Yeah. Yeah. It never happened. Like at this point, I, I, I'm just going to pretend that we got like a points deduction or something. Literally.
Guardiola's Ex-Players and Fan Reactions
00:01:12
Speaker
I mean, the chef of the United game was basically a points deduction. It's how it felt. Calvin Phillips points deduction. Yeah. Pep is nerfing us.
00:01:24
Speaker
He's cheating, dude. Has he ever sold a player who hasn't eventually become hated by the fans of the team that he got sold to? Even Jay Zeus and Zinchenko who were like the next coming of Christ when they first went to Arsenal. Now there's like huge like sex of that fan base that cannot stand those two. They call them double agents. Yeah. Like when they went over, it was like, oh, Pep was like giving his old buddy a gift to get his project off the ground.
00:01:51
Speaker
Yeah, but he also gave him a gift that wouldn't ever get him to the Promised Land. Who else have Sidi even sold in the Premier League? Raheem. In the last five years. Raheem, double agent. In the Premier League? He still gets his. They don't usually sell in the Premier League. They sold Ferranturas to Barcelona, just hard player, horrid. Gundogan. Gundogan to Barcelona. He's just like 35. They wanted to keep him.
00:02:21
Speaker
I can't think of anybody else who's really left. They ever sold any defenders in the Premier League? You know, they sold, um, ten sacks, F-ing, two middles, bro. Right. Uh, they sent Joe Consolo to Bayern. All right, fuck them. I don't care about them.
00:02:45
Speaker
They do want to sign Piqueta though.
West Ham's Winning Stats with Emerson and Piqueta
00:02:47
Speaker
And just for anybody who didn't see our tweet that went up earlier today as we're recording this, I'll just read it out because this is, just in terms of any West Ham stat I've seen throughout my time, like really for the team, I've never seen stats like this, especially at such a big sample size. So whenever Emerson and Piqueta start for us,
00:03:13
Speaker
We have a record of 14 wins, four draws, and three losses in 21 games. The three losses are at Anfield in September, who I think they've lost once at home in like 80 tries in the Premier League or something like that. They lost at Villa.
00:03:37
Speaker
who won 15 straight home games, which is, I think, it's the longest run in their history. I think it was the longest run in the Premier League for God knows how long. And at home to City, who almost seemed like they like playing at our place better than theirs. We have a win rate of 74%. We haven't lost. When Emerson and Pickett to start, we have not lost since October 22nd.
00:04:04
Speaker
which if you remember the amount of games that we played in December and November is obscene. We're picking up 2.4 points per game, scoring two goals a game and conceding just over a goal game, right? And that's from 15 Premier League games and cup ties against Arsenal, Olympiacos, Freiburg and
Impact of Piqueta on West Ham Dynamics
00:04:26
Speaker
Bristol City. And the Bristol City game wasn't even a win.
00:04:30
Speaker
I feel like you can even scratch that Bristol City. He was out there for 10 minutes. He was out there for 10 minutes. So they've won 14 times in 20 games and lost just three. Like I cannot even begin to wrap my head around those stats. I genuinely, I don't even know what to say. It's like,
00:04:59
Speaker
The impact that those that Paquetta has on not only Emerson, but the entire team is just, I've never seen anything like it in sports. He just elevates everyone. It's unreal.
00:05:16
Speaker
And like Emerson was like still good while he was out, but he just hits like such a new level with Paquetta. It's like, he becomes one of the best left backs in the league. It's crazy. So there's a few things I want to say about that. So A on the Paquetta point, um, cause I think it's important to acknowledge that. So because it has been out since January 5th, right? After.
00:05:44
Speaker
Sheffield United away, when Fornow started on January 22nd, we didn't even have another left wing option. And I don't even think Fornow, Cornet played on the left that day. Either way, there's no left wing option. So when Paquette does out, not only do we lose our best player and like our tempo controller, we lose the balance of our team because we just have nobody who can play on the left side. So either somebody has to go out there
00:06:12
Speaker
and play a position they're uncomfortable in, which is either kudos going away from where he's best, or it's Ben Johnson playing further up the pitch, or it's James White-Prouse, or whatever it is, it completely throws off the balance of our team. So that's A. B, if I can remember it, Jesus. B is that he is such a direct compliment to Bowen and kudos.
00:06:39
Speaker
Because how bone and cooties play, they want to be on from foot. They want to be high up the pitch. They want to be as high of the pitch as possible. They want to be in and around the goal, creating goals constantly, usually scoring them. So having a player like the cat down the left, who's essentially a midfielder helps kind of offset just how high up the pitch those two like to play. And it compliments them and helps them get the best out of their games. Cause they don't have to have responsibilities deeper.
00:07:07
Speaker
in the build-up when they just want to be up high, scoring goals. So it helps them in that sense. And then, yeah, it also comes down to him just being, you know, as good of a midfielder as he is. But those three midfielders, WordPress who check in Alvarez, like the platform that he has and just do whatever the hell he wants, it's incredible. Yeah, I mean,
00:07:31
Speaker
You look at Bowen's performance, it's really night and day. He's been pretty mediocre for about a month now. And all of a sudden, the ankle was bothering him. I'm sure it was the ankle, but at the same time, Paquetta comes back and immediately picks up right where he left off in December. I thought there was a little rust, to be fair. Especially in the first half, I thought that he didn't
00:08:01
Speaker
stamp his authority on the game as much. I didn't think it was actually, and how he was playing, it was almost like, okay, like, I'm back out here now, like, let me reacclimate to my surroundings. Whereas when he was playing every three days, it was like, you know, it was second nature, he was out there and he was picking up the ball and you could never avoid him. I think, like,
00:08:23
Speaker
part of why he, even though he was still trying to like, you know, settle in, um, he was still so impactful despite that. And it's just for the fact that we had someone playing his role and just the boost that it gives the team and, you know, the confidence that gives guys to play. I mean, we're proud of somebody we've talked a lot about in recent weeks, not being at his best. Um, people were getting on him.
00:08:49
Speaker
in the Brentford game, I thought he was really good. Because I think people can just be slow to stuff, man. He's limited in plenty of ways. But when he plays with Emerson and Paquetta, he feels that confidence to be a part of it. He gets involved with them too. He leads our press so, so well. Leads it so, so well. Really could not ask for a player with a better motor doing that position.
Sustainability of Formation Post-Piqueta
00:09:15
Speaker
When Paquetta is gone one day,
00:09:18
Speaker
Is this four, three, three, something that we can stick with, you know, maybe not, even if pick up the stays like, okay, suture love them, but like, maybe you want to find the more athletic. Dual winner to compliment Alvarez and WordPress. And I'm going to feel just because of how important athleticism is in the Premier League, but you know, that's nitpicking at this point. And I think the three months that we have left and hopefully going into June, we need to just enjoy.
00:09:48
Speaker
how good, not only the front three are, but just how good that 11 as a whole works together, especially with the maver Panos in there now. Yeah. Like we're going to be like, this isn't going to last forever. You know, these like one of these three guys never does. It's most likely going to be those most likely going to be Paquetta. And we're going to be years from now thinking back at how good these three are. It's, you know, and even with kudos, it's just,
00:10:18
Speaker
Man, like to have, I mean, Jared Bowen is 14 Premier League goals in February and he didn't score for eight games. Like, do you know how fucking crazy that is? To go on an eight game scoreless run and still have 14 goals before the start of March. That's crazy. And he's not even the one that we're worried about getting poached. He's the one who's under contract for seven years and like is probably going to be our captain one day.
00:10:46
Speaker
Yeah, like on par with Holland in terms of non penalty goals. It's ridiculous above Salah in terms of non penalty goals. And Keketa will probably go this summer, you know, you pray to God that kudos doesn't go to because that's a nightmare. But if you can hold on the kudos for two years, and that's the thing is like, if you can keep it to one big sale summer, you can manage that. And
00:11:10
Speaker
you know, Peketa leaving is going to be scary because of how much he does and how, you know, much harder it is to replace players higher up the field and further down the field in terms of recreating their impact because the things that Peketa does while Rice is amazing and, you know, probably a better player. Yeah, he's a better player. But the things that Peketa does are much more, I don't want to say difficult to do on a football pitch, but they're rare. Like Peketa's skill set is much rarer than Declan Rice's.
00:11:39
Speaker
I don't know. I mean, I don't know if I agree with that. Like there's truly no one that can replicate Declan Rice the way that, you know, I shouldn't say skill set as a whole, but like individual skills are rare. Like pick up this eye for a pass and ability to create the way that he does and control the ball in tight spaces, the way that he does and control tempo and, you know, manipulate space and defenders and you know, that little,
00:12:06
Speaker
You touch, I touch thing he does, or he passes any, you know, shoulder fakes and he, you know, if he faints and then he kind of comes back and he just keeps picking up the ball and creating that space for himself. That kind of stuff, I think is harder to recreate than ball carrying and, you know, ball winning. Yeah. This is, this is not to discredit Declan Rice in the slightest. Like he is, in my opinion, the best defensive midfield player in the world.
00:12:34
Speaker
And like you said, his skill set is, you know, pretty hard to recreate, but just in terms of replacing specific skills, I think it's going to be difficult. But I think that we can, we recreated ourselves after deck left, this 4-3-3 type thing with WordPress, like leading the press almost as a 10 sometimes. And we'll recreate ourselves again after Proketa goes, you know, I mean, you got to hit on a Striker though. You have to hit on the Striker sign when he goes.
00:13:04
Speaker
Yeah, I guess to the earlier point about rice, it's like...
00:13:09
Speaker
Yeah, I see what you're saying like rice like a picket that has like more like his skill set is more rare like the skills that he has but like in terms of like putting
Comparing Piqueta and Rice's Unique Skills
00:13:18
Speaker
it all together like rice like made like, you know people tackle like rice people pass like rice but like and people carry the ball like rice but to put it all together like that in one player is like Obviously unprecedented joke. Yeah. Yeah, but I mean, that's why then you sign Alvarez to sit in front you know of the back four and then
00:13:39
Speaker
Soo-check takes on more responsibility and dual winning and, you know, WordPress's engine and leadership. And then you have Kudus' ball carrying and then you wanted to sign McGuire for the diagonals and the long passing that Rice had. You ended up getting Phillips later, which, you know, jury is still out how that wound up. I'm moving for him. I know that your jury is not out, but that's my point is that you can find players with those skills.
00:14:08
Speaker
It's a little bit more difficult to recreate actual chance creation. But then again, I mean, there are left wingers out there. You know, if you get the right striker and you know, I mean, I don't know how serious the slightly stuff is, but imagine that.
00:14:26
Speaker
He'd be perfect. He really would be perfect. Because he can run those channels and he can help. He gets involved. He can help create for others. He's not Ali Watkins in terms of creating for others. But he's not just going to stand in the box. He's not Haller. No, he's a true guy who's going to want to chase down nothing. He's going to play the dirty balls.
00:14:57
Speaker
Yeah, make something out of it like it like Antonio does. Yeah, with a little bit more polished. I think you would be amazing. That's a conversation for another day getting back to this starting 11. And I texted you this before. And I think I want to say it on here. Is that so especially when when mo kudos is played, just to make sure everyone knows this, when Peketa Emerson and kudos have started for West Ham, we've never lost the game. I think we've won 10 drawn one something
00:15:26
Speaker
something just ridiculous like that. Even acting like Kudus wasn't the plan or the exact plan coming into the season, right? Just because, you know, he became a more realistic option later in the window and we thought Peketa might be getting suspended forever. But going away from that, this three-man midfield,
00:15:52
Speaker
I think everybody can admit just because, I mean, the first time they were all available, they all started together. Even after we won at Luton, without Sucheck, Sucheck came back in. I think it's easy to acknowledge that it was Moy's plan to replace Rice by playing a three-man midfield with two new guys and with Sucheck. You know, and you can say like, okay, I wish maybe one of the two new guys was more athletic. Whatever. You wish Sucheck was more athletic. That might just be a me thing because I think
00:16:22
Speaker
athleticism as we move further and further into the modern game. I think athleticism is arguably the most important trait for midfielder to have. Absolutely. Obviously, along with like, being able to play midfield on the ball. But I think it's clear that the plan was to go with the three midfielders and then play Paquetta as one of the three, right?
00:16:46
Speaker
So, and then by playing Paquetta as one of the three, especially as the left winger, which he even did against Brighton, um, before we got kudos. By playing Paquetta as the left winger, he's basically able to create a fourth midfielder whenever he wants. And he's able to allow Emerson to do what he does best and give us all the width, higher up the pitch. And since Paquetta is another midfielder and has a high work rate, he's able to cover for him. Right. And that whole dynamic on the left side is essentially what the whole system is built off of.
00:17:15
Speaker
The entire system is built off of getting the best out of Pateta and Emerson and, um, hiding a midfield's lack of athleticism to get the best out of their games. Cause they all have things that they're all general, genuinely very, very good at. But I mean, you would agree that that's what the system's built upon, right? Yeah, absolutely. So when we've been able to play that system specifically with those five that I mentioned,
00:17:44
Speaker
that Moyes planned on going with this season. We've won 75% of our games. And people want to fucking sack this guy. His system is yet to lose. When he's got his personnel out there, we haven't lost yet. And you know, we could do things better. He could have done things better over the last two months. And you know, we could have signed somebody in January, which again, I think is more down the style 10 than anybody else.
00:18:12
Speaker
but you know, Moises take blame too. He's not perfect. And the squad needs more. But these are numbers that you cannot argue with. He's done an incredible job. And it's, it's so taken for granted that this is the year after rice. And that does not ever get mentioned. Never gets mentioned. Basically, essentially after like,
00:18:39
Speaker
the first international break and everybody was kind of done calling warehouse better than rice. We don't talk about it anymore. We know but we do not talk about it anymore. Because genuinely, because we don't have to. And we don't have to because of what Moyes has been able to establish here.
Moyes' Stability Post-Rice Era
00:18:56
Speaker
Because this isn't only stability, which is you know, the idea when Moyes is brought back on the second time was obviously let's get stability. And I think even the idea of the rice going
00:19:09
Speaker
with like how much you underperformed in the league. And then we won the trophy and say, okay, like we'll keep Moyes on for stability, right? This is not stability. This is, this is a team where if they, if we didn't lose Paquetta for two months, Lord knows how high up the table we're challenging right now. We'd be talking, we'd be talking about the champions league for sure. We would be because
00:19:36
Speaker
We are eight points behind Tottenham in fifth place. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We're eight points behind Tottenham in fifth place. That's not to say that we would have won eight points, but Bournemouth at home, Sheffield United away. Those two results can't turn from two points into six points. We can't get something from the United game. Like, I don't know, man. And it's not like I'm not trying to get too into the hypotheticals here.
00:20:07
Speaker
I mean, if you just go look at the average points that we were getting with Paquetta on the field, 1.9. If you add those 1.9 to the seven games that he missed, that would put us at 49 points, which would be two points above Tottenham and three points behind Villa and four. Which is just ridiculous to even think about.
00:20:30
Speaker
Um, which is, again, it's not to say that, you know, other guys can't be accountable and that we, cause you know, the reason that we're as low down the table as we are is cause it's a full team game, not an 11 game. And the squad depth isn't good. That's been known as the weakness of this team for a long time before we sold for now. Now you sell them and you don't replace them. Now, okay. Well, now we can speak out to has to play 12.
00:20:58
Speaker
14, hopefully 16, hopefully 18, hopefully 19 games between now and the end of May and June. Yeah, he's generally a pretty fit player. He seems to have this one little weird thing every year. I mean, if you think about his two injuries at West Ham, they've both been like super like a weird thing. It's like, maybe just doesn't like the cold. I don't really know what it is. Um,
00:21:29
Speaker
But yeah, the shoulder thing last year and then this calf thing this year. But you know, after the shoulder thing last year, he didn't slow down. And he did, he played every game down the stretch of last season too. He didn't sit. So he's gonna have to do it again. Bowen's gonna have to do it. Cootie's gonna have to do it. The midfield, there's four of them. They're gonna have to be able, the Phillips is gonna have to be able to play a part.
00:21:55
Speaker
And you know and you just got to hope that you got to hope and pray that these center backs don't cost you and that one of the two clowns find some kind of form Well, Bob upon us was great Yeah, I know so it's really just got to be one of them that has to find something and and you know zoom it was passable and
00:22:21
Speaker
like he was all right like he didn't wow me but you know no mistakes were made that's yeah that's that's arguable though i mean we should talk about him because look people are killing him yesterday i thought he was okay you know i didn't really think he did well i don't think he helped out maveraponos a lot i don't think he really did anything of that positive of an impact but again
00:22:51
Speaker
He wasn't an absolute disaster. The first goal is partially on him. It's not a good clearance and he's kind of in no man's land when they're coming back. But in my opinion, and this is harsh and this is honestly, I'll say it now. I gave Stu check, I think a seven, which is one of the lower ratings on the team on our Twitter account. I think I was pretty harsh on him because just in hindsight, I thought he had a really good game. The passing was really slick for him and he played it quick. He didn't give it away. He played it quick and he played it.
00:23:21
Speaker
meaningfully, which is, you know, the passes don't have to break the world. They just have to be quick enough to allow us to play quick because it's, we're at our best when we go fast. And he won the, won the ball back a ton and he, he's huge for us in that sense in terms of duels. But I think, I think for the first goal, he's so, so lazy. I think it's so lazy. I think it's, and honestly, I think it's why, because I was just so peeved at him for that. And then the chance he missed and it's like,
00:23:53
Speaker
No, but other than that it's just so lazy from him and I think and part of it is the lack of athleticism He's also he's jogging and he can see him. He's he can see him like he's he's gotta be better and he does that too often He's great when it's combative and do what he needs to fill space Better and it's weird cuz I know that he can do it It is it is kind of
00:24:20
Speaker
It is really interesting to think about how poor we've been. In those situations, generally, defending in transition, considering how good we are attacking in transition. Our defense is good, but we're good when we're set. I think that there's a pretty easy explanation. Not having athletes in the midfield.
00:24:48
Speaker
not having somebody specific. Yeah. That's like the one who is an uber athletic midfielder. But this is, this is where we miss him. Yeah. But it's not even like, like, it's not even like Suchak being a better athlete would have helped him in that situation. You know, like, it was like just him not being switched on. Yes. Yes, I agree. But like,
00:25:17
Speaker
Ima doing on his jog might be a little faster than Thomas Suchak's jog. But I also feel like he doesn't have those moments where he's not switched on. Yeah. Suchak has had a few of them over the past two years. I don't know. I think he was really good. I'm not going to get on his case. That just really annoyed me that he was just not aware for that goal.
00:25:43
Speaker
Yeah, a lot more blame they should have because I think that that's a midfielder's job. Like he has to cut that out. And he's not the only culprit. He's not the only one who does that. I'm just speaking generally. Yeah, it's like, so it's just a weird thing. I don't know. Well, I think it's also like when you're in transition, you're not it's like kind of tactics go out the window the same way tactics really go out the window after a certain point in any game. But
00:26:12
Speaker
Like you don't know where, like where is your, if you're set and you're a midfielder, you're like, okay, like this player, we've watched this film, like we've scouted this. I know where this guy is supposed to be. I know where he's supposed to be. Whereas if you're in transition, anybody could be running behind you at any moment. I think, I really do think it's, it's the athletes thing though.
00:26:34
Speaker
We've been getting killed there all year. Foam absolutely annihilated us that way. It's honestly what's led to a lot of our just droppings comes from the fact that we lack athletes. Yeah, I think that that's probably the biggest hole in our squad, especially with Zuma just athletically falling off a cliff over the last 18 months.
00:27:03
Speaker
But yeah, I thought it was harsh on him for the goal. He's definitely at fault. Like it's not only on suit, right? Like it's on Zuma too, but like when he's trying to create up all his momentum is always going to take him into no man's land. The midfielder has to fill that space. And, you know, so you checked it in and then Mavropanos let Maupe get across him too easily. It didn't close bits. I don't know what the hell Ariel is doing.
00:27:29
Speaker
Yeah, it was just like a really like suspiciously easy goal to concede like and then truly nobody stood in his way But yeah, it's infuriating because it's like we have to cut that shit out. We've conceded 46 goals now in 26 games. I Honestly, I think that if we can concede like 15 or 16 or less Goals are our last 12 in the Premier League We will be alright
00:27:55
Speaker
We will be just fine. We'll finish in the top eight, top seven, we'll be fine. Because we can score goals. But the thing is, if we're shipping 65 plus goals over the course of a season, you're not going to finish in a European place like that. That's ridiculous. That is ridiculous. Yeah.
Optimism with Paquetta's Return
00:28:13
Speaker
Well, Paquetta's back. We don't got to worry about anything ever again. Yeah. But you know what I mean? It would be a dream.
00:28:25
Speaker
if a Garrett could find for him. Because with Zuma, I would stick with Zuma for the everything game. I think Zuma's just your safest bet right now. Just because he's not as much of a maniac. And you know what? Maybe a few weeks out of the team, we'll do a Garrett some good. We talked about this in the fall. Maybe it'll do him some good.
00:28:49
Speaker
Mm-hmm. It's like put his head down and like earn his place back because he's gonna have to play on Thursdays Yeah, I mean And maybe a change in partner will be good for him. Maybe playing X amount of upon us will help him it could I mean like they
00:29:09
Speaker
In theory, they could compliment each other well, but also like they both love to rush out and try to win the ball back, but they also, you know, technically have good recovery pace to help each other out. I don't know. Uh, we've seen it a few times. It's, it's gone. Okay. A few times, you know, like he, uh, they played well together, um, against Arsenal, I think it was in the cup. They played well together in Europe, then, you know,
00:29:37
Speaker
There's been days, like, I think Brentford away, they started together. Did they not? Yeah. That was the worst game though. We can see the three. I thought his worst game was, um, Liverpool in the cup. My round was had the own goal against Brentford. Right. But do you remember in the cup at Anfield? Oh yeah. He's terrible. The five nil. Yeah. And he came back in the United game. He fucking showed out. Mm-hmm.
00:30:07
Speaker
I think he's a good player. I think, um, I think he's really grown into it now. And I think he kind of shows the kind of value that style 10 can bring because he's not only, you know, been good and you know, he, he is a moist defender and some aspects. Uh, but he also is an, uh, like he's an analytic crazy guy. Like he's huge. Like all the intended is huge. He's athletic. He could run and play with the ball a little bit.
00:30:39
Speaker
And I think that him now finally settling in and like, you know, showing some good form, he was awesome against Bournemouth. I think that that shows like the kind of value that Stuything can bring and can find. Because if Mavropanos, you know, if he takes his level of performance against Brentford and against Bournemouth and he can like bottle that up and against United, um, and Arsenal before and after Christmas, not the 6-0. Well, he didn't even play in that game. Well, he played in the second half. Anyways.
00:31:09
Speaker
If he can bottle up that kind of form and he can put it together consistently, people are going to start getting silly with their takes about it, which fair enough. And then that turns a 20 million pound signing into, you know, whatever the hell you want, volume that. I don't want to put a number on it, but I mean, we paint up it for a glare, you know, that guy sucks. And he's half the player. And my responses. Yeah. Hey, my response was really.
00:31:39
Speaker
make me a little uncomfortable though. He really looks like a Greek God. Like, you know what? His head is massive. That's a nice, that's a nice figure. Yeah, but his head is huge, dude, in his shoulders. Like he really like... Is that how all Greek people look? I feel like Greek people generally have large heads. That's crazy. Generally speaking. Generally speaking. Yeah, but he really does look like a Greek God out there. Good for him.
00:32:08
Speaker
Good for us. Good for everybody involved. Good for me. No, it's, it's time to get to the elephant in the room, not actually the elephant in the room, but we have not talked about Jared Bowen yet. Dude. I mean, well, well, well deserved, right? I think I texted you during the game and said,
00:32:37
Speaker
Cause I don't remember if we talked about this in the fall or not, but the clip he was scoring goals at, it was just like, well, people who score goals this often, you know, they score hat trick eventually. Like one day they score hat trick. And if it's ever going to happen for him, it's going to be, you know, this season with this team playing striker. And then, you know, it gets hurt. It's Bristol. He's playing like kind of terrible for a little while. He's not impacting the game. He, um, he had a chance.
00:33:08
Speaker
recently in a game. He had like a one-on-one. Against Manchester United. He had like a one-on-one dude. That's terrible, yeah. And it was just... Yeah, things were just not really going his way. And then he gets the hatchet.
00:33:29
Speaker
And three great goals, I mean, two real striker's goals. And the first one is an obscene finish that I don't think has gotten enough love, to be honest. This guy is yawning for anybody interested. It's 12.30 in the morning. Sorry. Yeah, I was going to say, absolutely has not gotten enough recognition.
00:33:54
Speaker
Yeah, that, that definition is just unreal. I think, I think, I think people were just excited with it, you know, being a Paquetta assistant. No, it was Emerson. So the second one was Paquetta? The second one was everybody's favorite right back. Oh, right, right, right. Right. I don't know why I thought it was, I think, I guess Emerson was just looking like Paquetta out there for a little bit. The commentators always do that. Emerson's like, come on, man.
00:34:25
Speaker
I guess I fell victim to it. You fell victim. Yeah, that finished. I mean, first of all, the way he takes it into his feet and how quickly he's able to get it out of his feet is A. And then to hit it as hard as he did and have it going off the near post like that, it's a thing of beauty. And thank God for us, for him, because we've got another international break coming up in three weeks.
00:34:55
Speaker
I feel like honestly scoring that hatchet kind of earns him his call up again. Because if he goes another few weeks out scoring a goal, who knows? Not that he's getting his head again. Not that he at this point needs to be
00:35:15
Speaker
like, you know, earning his call in the middle, in between every international break. You know, I feel like he has enough credit in the bank, or at least should, considering his output this season. Yeah, his output is a joke. And, you know, it's something that I think England will need come Euros. And I think, you know, just generally they can use a player like that because he gives them something different to what their other wide players give them. Like, he's more of a
00:35:45
Speaker
Like we were talking about earlier, he likes to be higher up the pitch. Whereas a lot of the guys in England have like soccer and realish and photo and want to come collect it and play with the ball and create, which, you know, not to say he should start over any of them right now. And then, you know, he could also, he could play off Kane, play off Tony of maybe like, you know, he's a very nice piece for them to have. And if we're being serious that that's, that's a team that should win silverware this summer.
00:36:15
Speaker
I mean, it's, it's been like that for years, but no, but this is, this is the tournament. And in my personal opinion, like I think Euro 2020 was like their big chance, obviously. And they should have won that final, like their better side in Italy. They choke through that game away, whatever. Um, and don't, no reason for rice to come off in that game. But like coming into that tournament, France were the favorites and you know, you could argue.
00:36:45
Speaker
that France are the favorites for Euro 2020, 2024. But I think that like England stand toe to toe with them now with the squad that they have. And I think that they should be considered the favorites. Yeah, I mean. Yeah, like in 2020, like they were really good, obviously, but they were still like a little young. And I feel like that squad has
00:37:15
Speaker
And then France is like. Just, you know. Mm hmm. Sorry, I mean to cut you off, I was thinking. But yeah, like in 2024 now, like those guys have all like gotten better. Like they're honestly like if you compare this this year, the team that they're going to be taking into the Euros this summer to the team that. Played against.
00:37:40
Speaker
Italy in the final, like they're like, you just, just rice in of himself is a much better player than he was three years ago. Rice hadn't played a European game yet. Exactly. Like that was his, that was his first, that was his first tournament. That was his first tournament. That's crazy. Yeah. And now, you know, now since then, Declan Rice has gone to a Europa League semi-final. He's won a European trophy. He's finished.
00:38:11
Speaker
They used to, we finished sixth that year. They finished seventh in the Premier League, won a trophy, moved to Arsenal. He's played in Champions League. And I mean, he's gotten better at basically every aspect of his game. And he was world-class then. So, you know, he's a perfect example. I mean, soccer is such a more mature player. And it's crazy thinking that Bowen should and is going to be a part of the squad. And, you know, the way he's playing, like he's not out of place there.
00:38:42
Speaker
Like, yeah, like he's not gonna start, you know, a knockout game, but like, look, man, you need a goal. You need a goal. And like one of those right wingers isn't giving you talking what you like. It's like the 100th minute stay for the night. Look, this is the guy you want to have. This is somebody what we have 12 Premier League games left. He could score six more goals. He could score 20 goals on Premier League. See how insane that is.
00:39:09
Speaker
in terms of like, just like us. Yeah, in terms of West End players. Yeah, like our our crew like, you know, record for Premier League career is like, 60. Like he got a third of the way there in one season. So that that's what's even crazier. So I was looking at the chart if when he he scores
00:39:35
Speaker
Six or seven more goals. I think he has 41 primarily goals now. Jared Bowen. Noble is second on the list with 47 or 48. Or no, no, no, Decanio is second on the list with 47 or 48. I think Noble's got like 40 something. But basically, Jared Bowen, if he gets hot again, scores a brace here, another brace there, a few goals here or there.
00:40:02
Speaker
He could be our second all-time top scorer at the end of the season. It would be a shock to me if he is not our second all-time Premier League scorer and hasn't scored 50 Premier League goals by January 1st, 2025. Do you know how crazy that is? It's so crazy to think about that he's going to be shattering all these records soon. It's common, man.
Bowen's Scoring Record and Club Potential
00:40:32
Speaker
He's just developed so fast. And you think about Antonio, you know, and as good as he's been, West Ham legend, all that good stuff. He's got 61 primarily goals. And the way he did it is not like, well, he's been here since 2015 Jeroboan signed in January, 2020. Like this is a guy and he only scored one goal that first year.
00:41:01
Speaker
Then he scored eight in the Premier League, 12, he had six or seven, six in the Premier League last year, which this is off to be honest. And now 14. I mean, what he's doing, we've never seen somebody score goals at a club like this. I mean, DeCannio, but 20 years ago, if,
00:41:28
Speaker
Typically speaking, if guys score at the clip that Bowen is scoring at right now, they're not going to be a West Ham player for much longer. And he's all but essentially said he's going to be here forever. And I think it would take a lot to lure him away, especially within the time it's going to take him to break this record.
00:41:54
Speaker
You know, cause he's got so, he's under contract until 2030. So, you know, you don't even think about his contract running down until like January, 2028. He doesn't even cross your mind. And then if the team wanted to sign him between getting
00:42:19
Speaker
us to accept the bid and getting us to feel like, ah, maybe he doesn't want to be here. Maybe we should just, you know, deal with this. The amount of money that that would take and convincing for Bowen, it's just, because it's not like Paquetta where if a city comes in, the head's going to turn or with rice, he's running down his deal. Like, and to be fair, Bowen is not a player like Rancia Paquetta. Bowen's play style, you could argue, might not fit
00:42:49
Speaker
that well, a top six club. I think he would succeed at a Liverpool, but just theoretically, obviously Arsenal aren't going to want to, but in Arsenal or City aren't going to want to meet it, but in Arsenal or City, like he's not going to play there. They're not going to do what they want them to do. Now at United, they play with enough chaos. Yeah, I think they're a hundred million pound right away.
00:43:14
Speaker
I think there's certainly places for him out there. And it's not every place, but in terms of like big six clubs, like he would be fine. Um, but yeah, he's, he's made such a clear manifestation that, that he wants to stay here and he wants to build something here. Um, and it's just so rare to see like it just in the, in the, in the modern game in general, you know, and he really,
00:43:43
Speaker
Like they did a great job, not only like, you know, developing him, but like, you know, instilling that, like that mindset into him. Yeah. And I'm gonna, I think I'm going to go out on a limb here and say something a little crazy, a little crazy. And maybe it's short sighted, you know, we haven't, we haven't seen the Canada play for West Ham.
00:44:13
Speaker
or anything like that. Maybe we saw Pi, he was only here for a year. I think that Jared Bowen is well on his way and on the path to becoming the greatest West Ham United player of the Camarilla era.
Bowen vs. Rice: The Greatest Player Debate
00:44:36
Speaker
Better than Rice? Yeah, because look,
00:44:41
Speaker
Greatest and best are two different words, right? We start there. Those are two different words. There's being just the best, and then there's the legacy. You want to talk about best, then you talk about piet, and then you talk about deck, and, you know, the canny, and piqueta. But you talk about greatness, and you talk about legacy. Jared Bowen signed for this club,
00:45:11
Speaker
As the second signing under Moyes in his second stint, we were in 17th or 16th, just above the relegation zone, signed on deadline that he took a public transportation train down to the Olympic Stadium to sign the contract. Nobody knew where the hell he was for like three hours. But he comes in, it's basically the jewel and the crown.
00:45:39
Speaker
of that January transfer window from Moyes. Cause you know, Souta hugely important player, again, one of the best signs we've probably ever made in the Premier League era. But Bowen, you know, he's English, he's a winger championship top goal scorer, everybody's super excited for him. And he's the one who like comes in and you think of David Moyes and then you think of Jared Bowen. Jared Bowen is the David Moyes era West Ham, which if we're all being honest with ourselves,
00:46:07
Speaker
is the best era that we've ever seen at this club in the Premier League era. In the Premier League era, I should say. Indisputably. Yeah, I mean, the trophy is what really just takes it beyond anything else, the heights that we reached in the early 2000s and late 90s. And that's part of what I was going to say, challenging that like Bowen being the greatest.
00:46:33
Speaker
you know, West Ham player, the Premier League era. It's kind of difficult to argue with Rice being like an academy guy, like coming through the ranks and then captaining our side to its first ever European championship. Let's see, but that's what I was beating around the bush too, who scored the goal? Who had the goal? Who scored the goal? I know who scored the goal. And who was the worst player on the pitch for West Ham that night in your estimation?
00:47:03
Speaker
And my estimation, my estimation, my estimation is different than other people's estimation. I'll hold you right now. Yeah, that was horrendous that day. Yeah, he won. He won a few challenges towards the end. And then he had, he had a few moments, but man, he was, we were all nervous that day.
00:47:24
Speaker
They just, Fiorentina did like a good job of like not engaging him, like just like keeping the ball like in the air or, you know, just keeping it away from him as far as possible. They just didn't allow him to impact the game the way he would have wanted to. But that's what I'm getting at. Right. So now Jerry Bones was, and you also have to remember what creates legacies more than anything. Moments. And what's the biggest moment that you could have in a football match?
00:47:53
Speaker
A goal scoring the winning goal of no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Just any goal is in any senior football game. The biggest moment you can have is a goal. Jerr bones going to be. Unless something horribly tragic happens is going to be our all time primarily top goal scorer. It's going to be our all time European top goal scorer. He's going to have scored a goal in a final to win us our first trophy in 45 years.
00:48:24
Speaker
Like he's going to be here for 10 plus years. He's, he's going to be the captain. I think his interview after the game tells you that he's going to be the captain one day. Um, I'm going to do quick research right now and see the most goals. A West Ham player has scored in a Premier League season.
00:48:50
Speaker
Because let's look at that now, because this year he has a chance to probably break that. Let's see. Okay. So if we checked them like three weeks, I could almost say he already broke it. Um, I'm gonna just make sure I'm looking at this. Okay. So the most goals at West Ham United players ever scored in a permalink season is 16 goals, but Apollo to Canada in the 1999, 2000 season.
00:49:20
Speaker
That's nothing. Jaron Bowen is actually on this list, he's third. Is that the season? Yeah. So 16 Decanio, 2000, 15 John Hartson, 98, 14 Jared Bowen, 2024, 14 Marlon Harrowood, 2006, 13 Trevor Morley, 94, 13 Tony Cottie, 95.
00:49:49
Speaker
And then 12, Jared Bowen, 21, 22. Well, we better make sure that we're first to this tweet when it's ready to go. I know. Trust me. I know. A lot of 10s in here. A lot of 10s. It's Hamasuchek, Kalan Antonio, Mark Bornadovich, Diaphrasacko, Carlton Cole, Kevin Nolan, Jermaine Defoe, Dean Ashton, Whittle List. And then there's Jesse Lingard and Fleet Band. I mean, now I'm just far down the list.
00:50:18
Speaker
I was just about to say Jesse Lingard in his half season better be coming up. Yeah. But this is what I mean. And it's not to say that Rice isn't one of them. It's not to say that Rice isn't number two when it's all said and done and when we move further away from this arsenal thing. But I think, I prefaced it as saying something crazy. But I think that we really are
00:50:48
Speaker
watching a guy forge his way as, you know, the West Ham player ever. There's obviously, you know, Mark Noble will always be Mr. West Ham and you know, Declan Rice is always going to be Declan Rice. He is one of three people that ever captain us to a trophy. Hopefully he's one of four one day soon, but Jerry Bowen with all the accolades and all the goals and all the things that are going to be next to his name,
00:51:20
Speaker
and he's gonna captain us one day and he's gonna be here for the rest of the decade.
Bowen's Future as West Ham Captain
00:51:24
Speaker
He's gonna spend the full decade here at minimum. That goal-scoring record that he eventually attains, it might not even be reachable. That's what I'm saying. So he's gotten 14 Premier League goals now. We have 12 games to go. Let's say he scores four more, right? Go conservative. He scores four more.
00:51:49
Speaker
Finishes the season with 18 Premier League goals. He will be on 45 goals all time in the Premier League. He'll be two goals away from second on the all time list. The record's 61 with Antonio. Let's say Antonio scores one more. Just to be safe. Gives us one last memory. He's on 62. He's 17 goals away. He can break that within a two year period. So he can be the record holder.
00:52:18
Speaker
by the end of 2026. And then it's just about how many he can score after that. And he'll be what? In 2026, he'll be 29. I was gonna say 29 or 30. He's got plenty of time. Maybe he'll score 100. That's the dream. But that's, that is a long way away. Before we go,
00:52:48
Speaker
every 10 months Saturday. How are you feeling about it?
Confidence in Winning Upcoming Matches
00:52:53
Speaker
I'm feeling damn good because we're back. We are back. There's nothing else to say about it. I just can't stop thinking. They haven't won in nine games. How does that make you feel? It makes me feel scared, bro. Going to the Goodison now. They need a result. They just got their points deduction lowered.
00:53:15
Speaker
We just tweeted out that we've never lost with Emerson, Peketa, and Kudu's line. It's all coming together for a 1-0 loss to Sean Dyche. Listen, I don't play with all this black magic. It's all like, oh, it's Dyche. Oh, they haven't won in nine games. No, we're just nice. This is a game we should win, and we're most likely going to win it for that very reason. If we win this game,
00:53:45
Speaker
We put ourselves in a really good position because then we have Burnley at home in between the European games. And if we can, you know, if we can handle business against Freiburg and we can beat Burnley, that'll be nine points from nine. And then you advance going into a game against Aston Villa before the international break at home.
00:54:04
Speaker
Who knows? I've had that, that game marked on my calendar since October 22nd. I know, I know, I know. Haven't we all, haven't we all. Anyways, thank you everybody for listening with us tonight. Um, hopefully we have another one to talk about after everything's in game. Hopefully we have some more Jared Bowen goals talked about, so we can get a little bit crazier with those things. Let us know what you think. Do you think Jared Bowen is on his way to becoming the greatest player?
00:54:34
Speaker
that this club has ever had. I know, I know it's a heavy statement, but when you think about the different things he's done to build this legacy, he's damn, damn short got a shot. When you think about how long this team has sucked, it makes it a lot easier to think about. Be nice. No, we, we fucked it.
00:54:57
Speaker
I mean, you know, he's competing with really one other era of guys, if you think about it. Yeah, this era, and then the canio era. Um, yeah, thank you everybody for listening. Follow us on Twitter at hammering underscore away on Instagram at hammering away underscore. The tick tock is hammering away and then the blog as always is hammering dash away dot blog. We will talk to you next week for listening. Peace.