Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)

A few folks have touted Winston Reid to be on a Champions League team next season. The way things stand, he won’t need a transfer to make that happen. His West Ham side are sitting in a dizzying fourth after beating the defending champions 2-1.

Winnie and James Collins had the unenvious task of marking Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzecko. Tell ya what, too, they did damn well! Dzecko struggled to get involved while Aguero was nicely isolated. West Ham went with the usual long ball approach, but unlike in the past this time it was with direction. Diafra Sahko and Enner Valencia are superb in the air and were good enough to play off of each other too. At half time they were 1-0 up, a freakishly glorious pass from Alex Song putting Valencia in space and Morgan Amalfitano did the rest.

Winston Reid brings his own aerial threat from set pieces. He and Collins hugged Aguero and co. pretty tightly, and neither are afraid to stick the boot in. That comes with some risk against guys of this quality, though the only dangerous moment was a free kick Reid gave away on the edge of the box. Nothing came of it.

At 1-0 City still seemed confident, even if their midfield was being mauled by the one-man army of Alex Song. That changed when Sahko scored his sixth goal in six starts. City upped the ante, hitting the crossbar twice (one of them you’d expect Aguero to score usually), while Adrian made a bunch of top saves. David Silva pulled one back with a slippery, gliding run (falling on Winston’s leg as he hit it, probably causing a certain Anthony Hudson a few late night worries). That was it. The Hammers held on for a great win and Russell Brand got all giddy inside.

Up Next: A visit to perennial spoilers Stoke City, 4am next Sunday (NZT)

Tommy Smith – Ipswich Town (English Championship)

T.Smizzle was a non-playing sub in midweek as Ipswich got rolled 3-1 by Cardiff. He was back in business on the weekend though, getting in all 90. Heck, he even scored a goal!

Unfortunately the match with Huddersfield wasn’t the bounce back they’d wanted. Fullback Tyrone Mings, the Championship Player of the Month for September was suspended after picking up a fifth booking for the season against Cardiff. That meant that Smith found his way in to centre back with Luke Chambers covering out on the right.

Huddersfield were arguably the better side in the first half, but Tommy Smith grabbed the first goal – a header from a corner. Top stuff, a really nice header actually. Christophe Berra scored 10 mins into the second half, again from a corner. They looked like they were on the way to a valuable win but Hudds changed things up. A switch in formation and attitude and it was a different game. Chambers gave away a penalty with 20 to play after tussling with Grant Holt on a long ball. The momentum was all with the opposition and the equaliser came in the 82nd. 2-2 the final score and there was a testy scene where Mick McCarthy confronted some booing fans after the final whistle. Part of that was aimed at the ref, part at the fact that Ipswich are now five games without a win and slipping on the table again.

Weird coincidence: The fella who set up the equaliser was also named Tommy Smith. Could imagine it’s a pretty popular name.

Up Next: Off to bottom of the table Blackpool, 4am Sunday (NZT)

Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)

74 minutes for Ryan Thomas this week, as Zwolle twice came from behind at home to draw 2-2 with Heerenveen. A solid game for Ryan, he had a couple dribbles and got a decent number of touches. However he didn’t manage a shot or a cross and his passing was a little sloppier than usual. It was an entertaining game though and a decent point. It does mean that Zwolle slip to fourth behind Feyenoord but they stay ahead of Heerenveen in fifth.

Disappointed about the result today. Thought we deserved the 3 points. But a nice send off for boer after the game #clublegend
— Ryan Thomas (@Ryan__Thomas_) October 26, 2014

Up Next: 7.45 next Sunday morning they get a shot at that third place against away to FEyenoord (NZT)