Flying Kiwis – January 26

Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)

After a weekend of F.A. Cup upsets and shocks, West Ham were actually for a time the highest placed Premier League team so far confirmed through to the next round! That only lasted a few hours until Arsenal won through (and was pending a few replays too), but still who’d have picked that a few days ago?

Winston Reid was back in the line-up to face Bristol City having fully recovered from injury now. Despite the Hammers being on a good run of things, Bristol City came out with plenty of belief. In fact you could argue that they flat dominated the first half, thy just didn’t make it count on the scoreboard. In the end it was Diaffra Sahko’s 81st minute header that decided the game, giving West Ham supporters reason to exhale.

Meanwhile it’s really starting to look, as predicted in these pages many times, that Winston sticks with West Ham for the rest of the season. That’s what his coach wants, it’s what suits him best too. Earlier in the week saw reports that Reid was trying to force WHU into letting him join Arsenal immediately, though that was quickly rebuffed by the closest possible source.

He did have some things to say about transfers in his latest Fanbookz column, though only about how he doesn’t take much notice of it.

Winston’s in a tough place right now as far as his PR goes, trying to balance his own future ambitions with loyalty to the club that’s made him. He does have a dig at London traffic though – cue hysterical transfer reports: “REID WANTS OUT OF LONDON – LIVERPOOL OR MANCHESTER MOST LIKELY DESTINATION”

Up Next: Liverpool. At Anfield. 4am Sunday (NZT)

Chris Wood – Leicester City (English Premier League)

A famous night for Leicester City was witnessed at White Hart Lane on F.A. Cup Fourth Round weekend. Down by a goal away to Spurs, Leicester rally with a late surge, two goals in the final minutes – one with seven left on the clock and one in injury time – to seal an unlikely win and a place in the fifth round. It was also the game that saw the starting debut of record signing Andrej Kramarić, who was unfairly booked for diving. Leonardo Ulloa scored the equaliser, and Jeffrey Schlupp the winner. Chris Wood played no part.

So with Chris Wood having played only a handful of Premier League subs appearances before Kramarić arrived, it doesn’t look likely he’ll be seen too often from here on out. Manager Nigel Pearson has reportedly been fielding some interest but has gone on record as saying that he’s looking to strengthen the squad, not weaken it. Meaning he has pretty much no intention of letting players go, even a fifth choice striking option. Whether or not that includes loan options remains to be seen. The transfer window closes on the 3rd of February NZ time and Leicester City are currently last in the Premier League.

Up Next: Manchester United. At Old Trafford. 4am Sunday morning (NZT)

Tommy Smith – Ipswich Town (English Championship)

The Ipswich Promotion Campaign hit another slight bump in the road with a midweek loss to Brighton.

The night before had seen top-placed Bournemouth lose unexpectedly to Leeds, which left the door open for Ipswich to leapfrog them into first. That door didn’t exactly slam shut but Mick McCarthy might need to call a locksmith to get in.

Brighton, looking fresh and confident under new manager Chris Hughton, took the lead in the 19th minute thanks to a fine strike across the keeper from the edge of the box and the boot of Sam Baldock, however Daryl Murphy equalised only three minutes later. Brighton’s second was even better but the static defence of the Tractor Boys wasn’t pretty. Then right on the brink of half time nobody tracked Joao Teixeira’s run into the box and it was 3-1.

Ipswich are usually far more organised and committed than they showed in this game. Brighton outnumbered them in the midfield and were able to pass it around without too much pressure. Freddie Sears pulled one back with 12 to play but there was no equaliser forthcoming.

That’s three losses in four games in all comps now. Still, despite slipping to third behind Middlesbrough, they’re only a point off the top. Tommy Smith didn’t have a great game, it wasn’t really one played to his strengths.

Up Next: A ten day break before hosting relegation-threatened Wigan, Sunday 4am (NZT)

Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)

In a game between a couple of sides both fighting for places in Europe next season, Zwolle and Alkmaar had to share the spoils in the end. Alkmaar took an early lead from a corner but ten minutes later Jodi Lukoki levelled it up after Ryan Thomas played him in. A fifth assist of the season for Thomas. He had a good, solid game on the whole, passing the ball well and doing his bit on defence.

Both teams were able to create chances but neither could finish; there were only 6 shots on target in the game. 1-1 it finished and Zwolle hold on to fourth place for another week.

Up Next: 2.30am Monday at Utrecht (NZT)

Marco Rojas – FC Thun (Swiss Super League)

Swiss football is still firmly in winter break mode. Thun don’t get back into proper matches until the second week of February, although they did get through a pair of friendlies this week… which they lost. A 1-0 defeat to Hertha Berlin and a 3-0 loss to Greuer Furth (Marco’s old loan team). They’re back in freeing Switzerland now after a camp (and a couple games) in Turkey, and when the Swiss Super League resumes, Thun will resume in fifth place.

Anyway, here’s a little compendium of the players that went to Turkey (look out for a little kiwi in there).

Plus an interview he did with the club recently, which is super interesting if you speak German.

And for the mono-lingual readers, one he did with Jason Pine for Radio Sport. It’s pretty insightful, as Marco gives honest answers on the situation at Greuer Furth, his relationship with Stuttgart and his injury struggles. You can read that one here.

Up Next: A couple more friendlies (this time against Swiss sides)