Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)

From the Telegraph this week:

“Yeah, that is what the club’s ambition is,” Reid said when asked whether he felt West Ham could be ‘bigger’ than Tottenham in the near future. “It’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be hard work, we all know that. But we are here to work hard and try to achieve our ambitions.”

Right, yeah, umm… about that, Winston…

The last time that West Ham played at White Hart Lane, Harry Kane went and equalised in the 96th minute for a 2-2 draw. That was in February. This time it wasn’t nearly so close.

It was the Hammers’ first go without Dimitri Payet. True to expectations they struggled to create all that much on attack. Though the good news was that Alex Song was on the bench for the first time this season, and would take the field late on. Miguel Lanzini took Payet’s spot, the Argentine having impressed in limited opportunities so far. Reid lined up next to James Tomkins at the back. Andy Carroll started at striker opposite that man Kane.

Aside from the time he headed the ball right to Christian Eriksen’s feet on the run – which he made up for with a sharp tackle – Reid started off doing all that was asked of him. He won the ball in the air and he won it on the ground, sending it wide or lumping it forward as is the custom.

Spurs started patiently though they slowly tightened the screws and it wasn’t at all unexpected when they took the lead, 23 mins in. Reid had come out to block the shot from Dembele but the ball ricocheted to Kane, whose turn left Carl Jenkinson (on loan from Arsenal, remember) feeling like he was back in school after that lesson. Harry Hotspur belted it in for 1-0.

Ten minutes later it was 2-0 from a corner kick. Kouyate had rattled the Spurs crossbar with a bicycle kick (from a metre and a half offside) but Tottenham were on top and Toby Alderweireld was able to shake off Reid as his marker to get open at the near post and forcefully nod in the second. A quick goose step was what it took, Reidy left fuming at himself.

Alli then rattled the crossbar with a header on the rebound, and Harry Kane completely shanked a one-on-one after Reid’s tackle had catapulted into his path. It could easily have been more.

The first thing of note in the second half was Winston getting crunched on the ankle by Kyle Walker. Reid dropped like a sack of spuds in a fair bit of pain, though he rose to run it off. One of the next ones was Harry Kane driving a low shot into the bottom corner, Reid a fraction late in closing him down after Tomkins had handed away possession like free cheeses at the local supermarket. There’s something about Harry Kane when he plays London clubs, there really is.

Winston rose high over Alderweireld on an attacking corner but his shot went straight at the goalie. He also managed to throw Dele Alli into the crowd earlier, which was something. There were a couple of heated scrapes in this game but that wasn’t one of them. Winnie offered him a hand back over the barrier. This one was relatively heated, however, after Danny Rose had rugby tackled Carl Jenkinson.

Eventually WHU did get something out of the game as Lanzini pulled a sweet stepover on Kyle Walker and buried it past Lloris, but not until after Walker had already added a fourth for Spurs. 4-1 was the score. A wee bit embarrassing, really. Reid is clearly the best defender this team has and he made far fewer mistakes than most of the lads around him but he’s not immune as Alderweireld showed. One of the final acts of the game was Reid shinning a blocked Dembele cross about a sigh of relief over the bar.

West Ham remain sixth on the table, Spurs move three points ahead of them in fifth.

Ooh, and here's Winston laughing. A proper rarity.

Up Next: West Ham vs West Brom, 3.05am Monday (NZT)

Chris Wood – Leeds United (English Championship)

But of course, just as Leeds begin feeling like they may be turning their season around, they go right on ahead and lose 1-0 at home to the bottom team in the Championship: Rotherham. A team that had taken one point from six games, just lost 5-2 to Ipswich and have looked utterly devoid of confidence... and Leeds let them off the hook.

It was an unchanged team from the XI that beat Huddersfield (Sol Bamba returned from suspension but he broke his toe in training). After some initial back and forth, the game soon emerged clearly in Leeds’ favour as they produced several chances to take the lead late in the first half. Woody whipped in a couple sweet crosses. They kept up the pressure after the break but then conceded an absolutely terrible goal, Joe Newell popping up unmarked, untracked and unbelieving in the penalty area to head in what would prove the only goal of the game.

Leeds still pushed for that goal they should already have had. A Chris Wood knockdown drew a great chance slammed wide by Antennuci before Wood himself headed straight at the keeper from 12 yards from one he should have done a lot better with.

It ended 1-0, a feisty Northern football affair. Yellow cards and fouls were not rare and the most dramatic moment of the game was a Leon Best elbow to the head of fullback Gaetano Berardi that left his nose dripping with blood. Berardi didn’t take it too kindly, getting up and pushing the Rotherham (and former Newcastle) lad right in the chest. Both men were sent off and depending on which side you listen to, at least one of them was far too harsh.

It was a hugely disappointing result for Leeds and had they been a little sharper it was one they could have won by a couple of goals, but they weren’t and they didn’t. Those are the margins. After two good wins, there’s a fair bit of momentum lost by this. Wood’ll be feeling it as much as anyone. He does some good things every week but the finishing just has to be better.

“We would have liked to have carried on the run but I won’t say we’ve turned back the wrong way. It was just one of those performances. We created enough chances but, bottom line, in both boxes we need to do better. That’s from me up top to anyone in the team. When we get a chance we have to score.” – Chris Wood

One thing to keep an eye on now is what Steve Evans does in the emergency loan market, which closes on Friday NZT. He’s promised to bring in some new talent and now it’s a matter of who he can find to live up to that promise.

Meanwhile the Massimo Cellino debacle continues as the embattled owner has kicked up a fuss this time over parking. Neil Redfearn, one of the many managers that Cellino has sacked as club Chairman, was refused a parking spot at the game on the weekend (Redfearn is managing Rotherham these days) and he called Old Celly “childish” for the whole affair. Redfearn joked that he’d have to take the bus to get to his car. Poor dude’s obviously never been to North Harbour Stadium.

Up Next: Away to Queens Park Rangers, 4am Sunday (NZT)

Tommy Smith – Ipswich Town (English Championship)

You can probably file this one under two points dropped as Ipswich drew 2-2 at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers despite twice taking the lead.

It was an unchanged team for Ipswich as well from their last game before the break, so Tommy Smith started alongside Christophe Berra. It took them a while to get into the game but once they finally did they made it count, Jonathan Douglas finishing off a slick move. Town then fair dominated for the next period of the match before Wolves went and equalised against the run of play. It was 1-1 at the break.

Smithy himself had defended very well, coming up with a nice block off of Jordan Graham for example, but he was beaten for strength at the far post for the first goal. Unable to hold off his man, Mike Williamson (on loan from Newcastle), who tapped it back for James Henry to score.

That took the wind out of the sails but as the second half got going they slowly built it back up. Smith headed one at the keeper. So did Luke Chambers. And then with 54 mins played they were back in front. Brett Pitman lobbed one back across on the slide and Daryl Murphy poked it in at the far post. For the next ten mins, Murphy, Pitman and Sears were an absolute handful up front but they couldn’t add a third to pad the lead.

Then with 15 left on the clock, Benik Afobe rose at the back post to equalise, the defence stretched out and Smithy helpless as the ball arced achingly over his head. Ipswich threw what they could forward to get those points back but no. 2-2 final score.

An annoying result from what was mostly a really good performance. Mick McCarthy said as much afterwards. That was their fourth home draw in five games, good enough to keep them tenth on the table.

Up Next: A nice, televised 1.30am kickoff away to Charlton on Sunday (NZT)

Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)

Whatever that little slump of form was about for Zwolle, it ended with a shuddering halt this week. They travelled to Roda JC (long-time home of The Godfather, Ivan Vicelich) and made their way back with a 5-0 victory. What’s more, Ryan Thomas bagged a double.

The first was from the penalty spot, Thomas had been named the penalty taker earlier this season but this was his first chance to show why. He’d earned the spottie himself by running at his fullback and cutting inside and he crushed the kick across the goal with his right boot, sending the keeper the wrong way. That was in the 14th minute but it was also to make it 2-0. Wouter Marinus had slotted one already.

It was a rampaging game from the PECers. Thomas so nearly made it 3-0 when the ball fell to him with the GK off his line. His gorgeous little clip was destined for the net if only it weren’t for the defender that managed to header it away as he stumbled backwards. If that was a close call he wasn’t taking any chances with his next shot, firmly curling one into the top corner of the goal from the edge of the box very early in the second half. Sublime.

Before an hour was played, Lars Veldwijk made it 4-0. Roda had their chances and they had two-thirds of possession but they relied on mistakes for the best of them and there weren’t that many. Zwolle then killed them on the counter. With the result all settled with time to spare, Thomas came off after 67 mins. Stef Nijland added an injury time exclamation mark.

What a game from Thommo. Outstanding. It was his second double in Dutch footy – the first came in that legendary KNVB Cup Final win over Ajax (who they just happen to be playing next). It also got him a gig in the AD.nl Team of the Week, shout out to Ryan.

Listen to the lad chatting about the game:

Up Next: PEC Zwolle vs Ajax, 2.30 am Monday (NZT)

Henry Cameron – Blackpool (English League One)

A bit of a one-off here, Cameron made his All Whites debut against Oman the other day and was very impressive before being stretchered off with injury. Well it turns out the fears were pretty justified because that knee damage turned out to be a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament and young Henry won’t play again this season. Devastating. But the club are backing him to come back as fit as ever.

Up Next: Rest and rehabilition

Bill Tuiloma – RC Strasbourg Alsace (French Championnat National)

It seems that Billy is slowly edging his way into the Strasbourg reckoning, earning himself a spot on the bench for the cup game against FC Sochaux-Montbéliard this week.

Not only that, but he was the man called upon after Yoann Salmier was forced off with injury after only 12 minutes. He ended up putting in a long shift as well. Strasbourg fell behind soon after his introduction thanks to Florian Martin, though they levelled in the 22nd minute from the penalty spot. Oumar Pouye took the spot kick. It was a tight, competitive game, which Strasbourg probably had the better of late in the first half after Florian Tardieu was sent off for Sochaux. However the game shifted when keeper Olivier Blondel was given the flick for a foul outside the box and it was 10 vs 10. Eventually it took extra time and with five minutes of that remaining, Karl Toko Ekambi scored the winner on the break for Sochaux.

A disappointing cup exit in the seventh round (this was a game postponed on account of the attacks in Paris), they’ll resume their league stuff on the weekend a point off the top with a game in hand. League 2 promotion is definitely on the cards. Good to see Tui get his moments as well.

Up Next: Home vs Avranches, 8am Saturday (NZT)

Tyler Boyd - Vitória S.C. (Portuguese Primeira Liga)

Otherwise, Boyd continues to plod away commendably with the Vitoria Seconds, playing 14 times so far this season (6 of them subs appearances, as was the case this week in a 1-1 draw away to Leixões) and scoring once. He’s settling in surprisingly well for a foreign player and, as that article says, this is a team that takes good notice of its reserves.

Up Next: VGII vs Feirense, 4am Thursday (NZT)

Jake Gleeson – Portland Timbers (American MLS)

Following his (semi) starring role as the reserve keeper called into action for a key playoff game (kept a clean sheet, dawg, check the ‘chives for that one), Gleeson has kept his spot on the bench just in case. The Timbers have sailed on into the conference finals, where they’re playing FC Dallas for a spot in the MLS Cup Final – the grand decider. First leg was on Monday arvo NZT and it was a huge 3-1 win for PTFC. Ex-Birmingham defender Liam Ridgewell scored one, Dairon Asprilla another and Nat Borchers a late one that could be crucial in the scheme of things. Asprilla’s was a beauty too.

Hey and in Portland when you score a goal, they slice of a bit of tree trunk for ya. (But it’s Portland so they also plant another one to replace the one they carved up).

Things keep on the way they’re going and we may have a kiwi MLS champion. Following in Ryan Nelsen’s considerable footsteps, albeit from the bench. In the other conference, Columbus Crew will take a 2-0 lead into their second leg in NYC against Bradley Wright-Phillips and the New York Red Bulls.

Up Next: Return leg is Monday in Dallas, kickoff time tbd (NZT)