West Ham Forum's view on All-Star Game

[Lucky Strike]

http://www.kumb.com/forum/viewtopic....st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Since it's a 21 page thread, here are the highlights:

- They too perceive the turf as detrimental for the health of players.
- They vastly underestimate the MLS (that snob attitude we hear about).
- They liked the atmosphere (they recognize BMO as the best in North America).
- They hate Americans.
- They think North Americans are obsessed with statistics. That's probably true, I always get annoyed at how difficult it is to get a good/functional stats table for the EPL and Championship.
- A win was seen as crucial for some. They were worried that a loss would mean no end to the we-should-have-played-a-bigger-team-like-Liverpool argument. It is true, it sucked to get West Ham.

And most interestingly:

- They vehemently disagree that the All-Star team could compete in the EPL (a TV comentator on I forget which network believed they could). I personally genuinely think they could compete in the EPL and show well.
- Some West Ham fans tried to pull a lucky loonie trick by placing a one-pound coin at one of the corners of the pitch for good luck.

"Lucky quid" link:

http://kumb.com/forum/viewtopic.php?...b56f&start=700

[RealG-TFC]

They're as snobby as fuck. I'm glad I didn't blindly support them.

[I_AM_CANADIAN]

Seems like a lot of the people on that board were American, actually... judging from the first couple pages, at least.

[Raging Reggie]

from a lot of west ham supporters i ment at the bar yesterday they really really liked it and enjoyed themselves here in canada. The loved the fact that we sang oh canada over the "yank" national anthem. I heard that word a lot, "yank" ahhaha (i loved it. I aint to fond about a lot of the "yanks" stuff either). I had a grand time partying with them

[Dirk Diggler]

They're as snobby as fuck. I'm glad I didn't blindly support them.

Yeah, seriously. WTF is up with those who were cheering West Ham yesterday? I mean seriously, no one on the MLS All-Star team was nearly as bad, in terms of character, as Bellamy and Bowyer. One is a locker room cancer and the other is much of the same plus a racist. Not only that, they both picked up some mysterious injuries and decided to sit this one out. Yeah, they certainly gave us our money's worth

And some of the comments on their board is ridiculous. "The MLS All-Stars are in their mid-season form where as we only came off vacations". Yeah, except West Ham has been training as a team for over a century now where as the All-Stars just came to Toronto the day before....many of whom having already played a competitive game a day before that. There is no fuckin' doubt in my mind that if the MLS All-Stars were a proper club in the EPL, they would increase the winning margin on West Ham every passing game.

Also, seriously, they are West Ham fans. They need to get some perspective. Once again. Seriously. West.... Fuckin'... Ham. Nuff' said.

P.S. If the All Stars end up playing Liverpool next year, I'm gonna riot.

[I_AM_CANADIAN]

Ugh... Liverpool.

Still, it'd be nice to take their arrogant douchey fans down a few notches. God knows they need it, too.

[Billy the kid]

Interesting, one of them picked up on the whole anthem controversy.

"Ive watched the first few minutes of DVD so I know those watching on tv probably missed MLS big f*** up in opening ceremoies where they announced only TWO anthems would be played, the home crowd was not amused when God save the queen then US anthem were played , O Canada was sang over the star spangled banner by a pissed off crowd , then of course they pull out some mounties and colour guard for ocanada but by then was too late, damage had been done. MLS and MLSE mickey mickey mouse, I hope someone gets fired for that"

[BigD]

P.S. If the All Stars end up playing Liverpool next year, I'm gonna riot.

It probably won't be an EPL team to keep the variety ... maybe Real Madrid

[CretanBull]

Skill wise, the attacking players on the MLS All-Star team could form the basis of Premiership team. Overall though? Not a chance...they don't have the toughness needed and the back line is no where neer good enough - they'd get torn apart.

[CanuckPete]

Ugh... Liverpool.

Still, it'd be nice to take their arrogant douchey fans down a few notches. God knows they need it, too.

I am deeply offended by that.

And if I wasn't so much better than you, I would explain why.

[rocker]

Skill wise, the attacking players on the MLS All-Star team could form the basis of Premiership team. Overall though? Not a chance...they don't have the toughness needed and the back line is no where neer good enough - they'd get torn apart.

you don't think they'd even be a low-level premiership team?

I think they would. They could be better than Derby was.

The bench is also very good for the MLS allstars. There were guys on the bench that would had far more experience than typical bench players for low level premiership teams.

[Kickit09]

what a bunch of fuckin wankers!

[ExiledRed]

Favourite quotes:

"Only the f***ing Americans would give goal of the game to a f***ing penalty "

"boa morte has got the touch of a rapist, absolute useless plank of wood"

"This thread proves to me that football is a great game. You can talk absolute b***ocks about a nothing match and no-one can prove you're wrong."

[flatpicker]

Well I confess... I had been trolling the West Ham boards to gauge reaction...
looks like I wasn't alone!
and it looks as if you guys highlighted some of the posts I read.

There definitely was a lot of talk, both on the board and by WHU fans sitting by me at the game, about the quality of our turf.
I think the main issue they have is the bounce it has.
I can't seem to find any other complaints about it... but I was hearing over and over about how the ball would not be doing that on grass.

[Canary Canuck]

That's my problem with the turf. It's too bouncy. The ball bounds along the surface and takes forever to settle. On pristine grass the bounce is killed a lot sooner allowing passes to roll.

[zeelaw]

Ugh... Liverpool.

Still, it'd be nice to take their arrogant douchey fans down a few notches. God knows they need it, too.

Liverpool would run over MLS All Stars

[brad]

Liverpool would run over MLS All Stars

Like Chelsea or Real Madrid did?

[I_AM_CANADIAN]

Liverpool would run over MLS All Stars

If Chelsea at the height of Abramovich's spending couldn't, I doubt Liverpool could. They've only even managed a second place finish in the Premier League once. For some reason, they just tear up European competitions.

[zeelaw]

Like Chelsea or Real Madrid did?

nope they lost

[zeelaw]

If Chelsea at the height of Abramovich's spending couldn't, I doubt Liverpool could. They've only even managed a second place finish in the Premier League once. For some reason, they just tear up European competitions.

nope liverpool would win

[Antoshka]

Favourite quotes:


"boa morte has got the touch of a rapist, absolute useless plank of wood"

[I_AM_CANADIAN]

nope liverpool would win

[CretanBull]

you don't think they'd even be a low-level premiership team?

I think they would. They could be better than Derby was.

The bench is also very good for the MLS allstars. There were guys on the bench that would had far more experience than typical bench players for low level premiership teams.

They'd be Derby calibre, but they weren't really a Premiershiip team - they fluked their way in and were gone as soon as they arrived

For some perspective, Angel is one of the top strikers in the MLS....he couldn't get off the bench in Aston Villa when they were a mid-table team.

[I_AM_CANADIAN]

While he was there, I seem to remember Villa fighting against relegation for a couple years... And he scored 66 goals for them, not too shabby.

[mr k]

I would have doubts if MLS players can handle an EPL season phyically as most are on the smaller side. If you scan through EPL rosters, 6 foot+ players are more the norm than being uncommon.
Plus, EPL players are overall better athletes; so even if football skill level was on par, EPL players would more often win the one on one battles.

I see the MLS all-star type team as a lower ranked EPL team that would eventually get relegated. Results from these all star games are meaningless as I only saw about 2 hard tackles and West Ham didn't have the fitness yet to play at a typical EPL pace.

[kitchener-TFC]

- They liked the atmosphere (they recognize BMO as the best in North America).
- They hate Americans.

hahaha

Interesting, one of them picked up on the whole anthem controversy.

"Ive watched the first few minutes of DVD so I know those watching on tv probably missed MLS big f*** up in opening ceremoies where they announced only TWO anthems would be played, the home crowd was not amused when God save the queen then US anthem were played , O Canada was sang over the star spangled banner by a pissed off crowd , then of course they pull out some mounties and colour guard for ocanada but by then was too late, damage had been done. MLS and MLSE mickey mickey mouse, I hope someone gets fired for that"

[CretanBull]

While he was there, I seem to remember Villa fighting against relegation for a couple years... And he scored 66 goals for them, not too shabby.

He had 44 goals in 6 seasons in the Premiership, on average scoring 1 goal every 7 games. In his last two seasons he had 4 goals and 3 goals, and as I said couldn't get off the bench when they were a mid-table team.

He went from 4 goals in 23 games in his last season in at Villa, to scoring 19 goals in 24 games in his first season for NYRB.

Could he play for a team like Derby? Sure...but no one would considering him a Premiership-quality striker.

A guy that we just saw - Dean Ashton - is considered to be a pretty average striker in the Premiership...in his off season form he looked better than Angel.

[ExiledRed]

^^ i think the issue is less to do with the quality of strikers, but more to do with the quality of defence betweeen the two leagues.

[CretanBull]

^Yup, I agree. Like I said, the top attacking players could find a spot in the Premiership but the backline would get torn apart. I'm not sure if there's a single defender in the MLS that could play regularly in the Prem.

[Oldtimer]

It was fun reading through most of the thread, thanks for posting it.

I see that the frustration of being a mid-table EPL team is very similar to being an MLS mid-table team. Always the fear of embarrasing defeats. They sound so much like us in the pre-season! Including analysis like:

Green - No real mistakes.

Neill - Sell this clown.
Ferdinand - Couple of errors, not his best.
Davenport - Championship please.
Widdowson - Two goal saving pieces of work. Too small really.

Faubert - Terrible. Useless.
Mullins - Need to move on.
Parker - Offers nothing but clattering tackles.
Etherington - Pace looked off, but back.

Ashton - 2 goals nothing else.
Cole - Hard work, sh*t finishing.

SUBS: Collison, Stokes, Reid were anonymous. Stanislas looked sharp. Boa Morte as per.

So much like the negative comments we saw on our board pre-season.