Flying Kiwis – March 9
Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)
And so after months of speculation, unfound rumours and general confusion, Winston Reid has finally extended his contract with West Ham. No big money move to a Champions League club after all, instead a six year and a half year deal to remain with the Hammers.
SIX AND A HALF YEARS!? He’s tied up ‘til 2021, and considering how close he seemed to leaving that seems like an unnecessarily long commitment. At 26 years old this’ll lock him down through his peak years – or at least ramp his market value up a few million.
So what changed? Up until a couple weeks ago it seemed certain that he was off on a free transfer, the tabloids were all over potential suitors. Liverpool were keen. So were Arsenal. Some offered that he’d already informally shaken hands with Tottenham. Sam Allardyce was firing bullets at him in pressers and Winston was trying to play it all down.
“At the end of the day, for myself, I feel comfortable here. I was speaking with the Joint-Chairman David Sullivan and everybody and felt like I was valued here. He was clearly very committed to getting the deal done and keeping me at the club, so I’d like to thank him for that and I’m delighted to sign for the next six years. My family are happy living here too. We’ve been part of the club living in London, so we weighed all the factors up and I’m delighted to be staying here." – Winston Reid to whufc.com
A few things could have changed. Cold feet? Hitting the free agent market is not the done thing in football. Players are rarely ever out of contract and the insecurity of that may have frightened him as it grew so near. We were constantly bombarded with talk of bigger clubs but what’s if there were no bigger clubs interested? What if that all just tabloid fodder? Without any guarantees, that’s a brave leap of faith for a 26 year old defender to be making.
And at the same time, he has a good thing going at West Ham. He’s settled in London, playing good football and playing it regularly. On another team he’d have to earn his place and maybe his style of play wouldn’t fit so nicely as it does with WHU. It means we won’t be seeing him in the Champions League next season but maybe mid-table EPL is simply the right depth for him? We don’t really wanna see our best footballer getting slaughtered in the press after giving away a late penalty for hacking down Lionel Messi or anything. Plus this West Ham team has some great young players. They’re building something there and Winny’s a key guy. Fellow first team regulars James Tomkins and Mark Noble both signed contract extensions as well this past month, and the club is due to move into the illustrious Olympic Stadium from the 2016–17 season onwards.
Still, just a few days ago Sam Allardyce was talking about having to bring in Jack Bauer to get the deal done. It’s a strange saga, and one wonders if West Ham’s poor recent form may have factored into it. Fat Sam hasn’t made too many new friends recently and with only one league win since Christmas, his job is far from safe. Anyway, check out Winston’s Fanbookz column this week for some insider stuff on his decision.
Still, just a few days ago Sam Allardyce was talking about having to bring in Jack Bauer to get the deal done. It’s a strange saga, and one wonders if West Ham’s poor recent form may have factored into it. Fat Sam hasn’t made too many new friends recently and with only one league win since Christmas, his job is far from safe. Anyway, check out Winston’s Fanbookz column this week for some insider stuff on his decision.
There was no game on the weekend for West Ham, and midweek they lost 1-0 at home to Chelsea. Pretty much nothing of note happened, other than Winston coming off after 8 minutes with a calf issue. Doesn’t sound too serious, expect him to play next game.
One last thing, Winston’s also sponsoring two football scholarships with the Wellington Phoenix Academy, starting this year. Love it.
Up Next: After the week off, West Ham head to Arsenal to try snap a six-game streak without a win. That one’s at 4am Sunday (NZT)
Tommy Smith & Chris Wood – Ipswich Town (English Championship)
Two games, a single point. Ipswich have now slipped out of the top six.
With 10 more games to play, Mick McCarthy reckons they’ll need 5 more wins. That’s to make the playoffs, but it could mean far more. The top four teams are all sitting on 66 points, Norwich are fifth with 65, followed by Brentford’s 62 and Ipswich’s 61. With only 1 win in 5 games, Ipswich are slumping bad, yet there’s still plenty of time and opportunity to turn it around.
First off they lost midweek to Leeds. 70 minutes of solid defending and conservative stuff from both sides was followed by 7 minutes of madness. Defensive mistakes at both ends gifted goals, before Billy Sharp pummelled one into the bottom corner for a 2-1 Leeds lead. It looked like Town had earned a valuable lifeline when they won a penalty for a handball, but David Murphy, top scorer in the Championship, saw his spot kick palmed away in the 84th minute. It stayed 2-1.
Chris Wood made his first Ipswich start in that game. He played 72 minutes before being removed, with only one real effort to speak of – a blocked shot in the box just before half time. Tommy Smith had a quiet game, not being called into action too often, though he did make one crucial clearance off the line.
Against Brentford on the weekend, the Trotters had the chance to leapfrog their opponents back into the six. Murphy had them in front too after only 9 minutes, a perfect start. However the nerves never quite cleared. Some mistakes defensively gave Brentford confidence, and the levelled it up in the 25th - Jonathan Douglas popping one in after a fine save from Dean Gerken.
But Ipswich survived until the break and came out much improved. A few chances at the end of the first had spurred them on, and in the second they really took hold. Somehow Murphy stabbed a sitter over the crossbar, Christophe Berra also poked one wide when he should have done better, and then Murphy then hesitantly got caught on the ball in a one-on-one situation. The chances were coming, and they weren’t taking them. Chris Wood came on with 26 left to play, and he had a chance of his own that he couldn’t quite direct goal-wards under close attention. He came on for Freddie Sears, who was booed as he made his exit. 1-1 was the final score.
Smith had a much tougher task on his hand himself against Brentford. He played a fine game too, making 16 clearances, 3 tackles and blocking 3 shots.
Up Next: 1.15am Sunday, away to fourth placed Middlesbrough (NZT)
Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)
There are solid wins, and then there’s this. PEC Zwolle storming back into form with a 6-1 rout of Cambuur on the weekend. And before you ask, yes Ryan Thomas did score.
In fact he had possible his best game of the season, playing 81 minutes before being subbed with the result long since decided. They were 2-0 up at half time, Thomas made it 3-0 on 61 mins and then Stefan Nijland came off the bench to score a hattrick. It was dominant from the start and enough to get them back up to fifth on the table. They managed a massive 15 shots on target in the game. Ryan Thomas with plenty of influence in setting those up.
Up Next: Twente vs PEC Zwolle, 8am Saturday (NZT)
Marco Rojas – FC Thun (Swiss Super League)
Well, you can’t put too much hope in an away clash with the five-time defending Swiss Super League champions. FC Basel were too much for Rojas’ side, rolling away to a 3-0 win.
The first goal came in comical defensive circumstances, three defenders and the goalkeeper all converging on a through ball in the corner of the box. The keeper and a defender collided, and somehow the lone striker, Shkelzen Gashi, got to the ball first. One touch past them all, a second touch to finish emphatically from a tough angle. 1-0 right before half time.
Thun had the best defensive record in the league before this game, but it was 2-0 a little after the break, retiring Basel legend Marco Streller heading in to polish off a counter attack, and soon after that, SSL top scorer Gashi added one more. It was Streller’s first game since his announcement, though there were no grand dedications or anything. All minds were on the midweek Champions League clash with Porto (after a 1-1 home draw in the first leg). Funnily enough, Streller spent some time on loan at Thun as a youngster, and also played 55 times in the Bundesliga for Rojas’ parent club, VfB Stuttgart.
As far as Marco is concerned, it was good news. He started and played 90 minutes. There weren’t too many opportunities for him to attack, he managed a couple shots and an offside, but getting 90 minutes against a top 16 Champions League side must have been incredible for a guy struggling to play regularly in the German third division a few months ago.
Up Next: Looking to get back on track at home against Grasshoppers, Sunday 8am (NZT)
Jeremy Brockie – SuperSport United (South African Premier Soccer League)
We’re sorry to report that the streak is over. In Jeremy Brockie’s fifth game for the SuperSport, he finally failed to hit the back of the net as his guys fell 2-1 at home to Ajax Cape Town. Brockie played the whole game, but after falling behind 2-0 inside half an hour, he was unable to wrestle this one back for his side, even after Thuso Phala pegged one back after 56 minutes.
Up Next: At Bloemfontein Celtic, 6.30am Thursday (NZT)
That All Whites Squad
Some curious names in Anthony Hudson’s latest squad, and some curious omissions. Tommy Smith backs out after making his return from hiatus last time, he’s presumably fully focussed on getting Ipswich promoted, but his buddy & teammate Chris Wood is in there. Winston answers the call, as do several debutants. A couple local youngsters and two unearthed eligibles in Themi Tzimopoulos and Ben van den Broek. The match does fall into a FIFA window, but given the way Hudson is building is squad, there won’t have been too much pressure for the top guys to be involved, so several A-League faces remain on the outer, as does Jeremy Brockie and the guys based in America (whose season is just beginning). The search for a backup to Glen Moss continues with a couple of ex-U20 guys having a go this time, and there's a noticeable lack of depth across the board. But that's what this is all for. Here's the squad, take a butcher's: