So this is it. The last time James and Will sit down to chat before West Ham embark on a first European final for 47 years. The next time you hear from us, we could either be Europa Conference League champions and looking ahead to another campaign of Europa League football. Or we could be entering a summer of unknown, with key players potentially looking for an exit due to defeat and a lack of continental competition for them to showcase their talents. Amongst all the excitement, anticipation an...
Jun 05, 2023•1 hr 21 min
So that's the Premier League season done and dusted, and a 14th-placed finish isn't the worst thing in the world, especially if we go on and win in Prague next week. West Ham's average Premier League finish is 12th, so it was a slightly below-average league campaign, but all of that becomes irrelevant if we win silverware and qualify for next season's Europa League. This week, James and Will share how their emotions are stacking up ahead of next Wednesday's final in Prague, answer questions from...
May 31, 2023•1 hr 20 min
West Ham United are in a European final for the first time in almost 50 years and it's a real struggle to come to terms with it. Little ol' West Ham are just 90 minutes away from not just winning a first major trophy since 1980, but a European trophy that will guarantee Europa League football again next season. How on earth did we end up here!? It's mind-boggling, especially when you consider the terrible Premier League campaign we've had to endure. Last Thursday's victory against AZ Alkmaar, se...
May 22, 2023•1 hr 43 min
We are 90 minutes away from a European final. Let that sink in. After last Thursday's 2-1 first-leg semi-final victory over AZ Alkmaar, West Ham only have to avoid defeat this week to book their place in the Europa Conference League final in Prague. It will be our first major final since 2006 and a chance to end 43 years of hurt since lifting the FA Cup in 1980. As a result of all of that, the Premier League has become somewhat irrelevant, evident in David Moyes' team selection in the 2-0 defeat...
May 16, 2023•1 hr 21 min
West Ham United are safe… well pretty much. A fantastic 1-0 win over Manchester United at London Stadium on Sunday put the Hammers seven points clear of the drop zone and only a miracle from the sides below would see the Irons drop into the Championship. And that means all our focus can now switch to winning the Europa Conference League, starting with this Thursday’s semi-final first-leg at London Stadium against AZ Alkmaar. James Jones has jetted off to Montreal AGAIN for work so Will Pugh hold...
May 09, 2023•1 hr 38 min
April saw us a welcome revival in form for West Ham but it ended in bitter disappointment thanks to two outrageously bad VAR decisions cost us at least two points from our games against Liverpool and Crystal Palace. Thiago's double handball in the area at London Stadium wasn't even checked by VAR, while Eberechi Eze's dive in the box at Selhurst Park WAS checked, only for the officials on the day to STILL award a penalty, despite there clearly being no contact. Both decisions were bad in their o...
May 03, 2023•2 hr 10 min
Only a few weeks ago we were fearing relegation and calling for David Moyes to be sacked. Now, we're looking forward to another European semi-final and are edging closer to Premier League safety, following a run of one defeat in 10 games. The last seven days have been the best of the season so far - thrashing Gent 4-1 on Thursday night to set up a Europa Conference League semi-final against AZ Alkmaar kicked things off, before we travelled down to Bournemouth to give them a good hiding, too. Now...
Apr 25, 2023•1 hr 57 min
The week started with a drab, underwhelming 1-1 draw in Belgium against Gent and ended with a wonderful, unexpected 2-2 home draw with Premier League leaders Arsenal in Stratford. The debate for some time now has been, would you take relegation if it meant us winning the Conference League, or would you prefer us to stay in the Premier League over winning silverware? It's a rather odd juxtaposition that we find ourselves as we head into a huge week in the club's history. We're 90 minutes away fro...
Apr 18, 2023•1 hr 23 min
Six points from our last three games aren't to be sniffed at, especially as they included two fortunate 1-0 victories and a 5-1 thrashing at home to Newcastle. That run of results leaves us three points above the relegation zone with nine games to play as we now switch our focus to Thursday's Europa Conference League quarter-final first-leg trip to Gent. Then we welcome league leaders and title hopefuls Arsenal to London Stadium on Sunday, which is gearing up to be one of the most predictable re...
Apr 12, 2023•1 hr 33 min
Welcome to the very first edition of a brand new weekly bonus episode we're bringing you on the We Are West Ham Podcast, where we ask you - our valued listeners - to send us your reaction and/or thoughts on the most recent game, current events, news and much more! We thought it was about time we got you all involved in the podcast as well, while also bringing you more content on a weekly basis. This week, we've got reactions from Reece, Laura and Michael, while James and Will also chime in with ...
Apr 09, 2023•10 min
When you're in a relegation battle, you have to win at all costs. In West Ham's case, the cost of Sunday's victory over Southampton was the sheer lack of optimism the performance gave the fanbase that it will be the game to spark a recovery. We simply had to beat Southampton to avoid slipping to the bottom of the table, instead climbing as high as 14th and a point above the bottom three. But the performance wasn't exactly mind-blowing. If anything, it was mind-numbing. But the three points are a...
Apr 04, 2023•1 hr 41 min
We're approaching April hoping that David Moyes has found the magic formula over the international break. West Ham have a run of incredibly important fixtures in both the Premier League and Europe, in a month that will no doubt dictate what the immediate future holds for the football club. It'll either be Premier League football or the Championship for us next season, while there's also a chance of competing in the Europa League if we can find a way of lifting the Conference League in Prague, wh...
Mar 28, 2023•1 hr 23 min
The 1-1 home draw with Aston Villa didn't give us much hope that the players or the manager are up for the battle to stay in the Premier League. Towards the end, when it was clear Villa weren't too fussed about the result, you wanted to see some fight and effort to find a winner. Instead, Moyes brings Cornet up front instead of Scamacca and we play the final 10 minutes out without barely having a shot on goal. It was like they didn't realise we're in a relegation battle! But at least we have one...
Mar 14, 2023•59 min
It's fair to say we didn't really expect to take anything away from the AMEX on Saturday, but no one saw a 4-0 thrashing, did they? The performance was unacceptable, the result even more so, and now we're back to square one after some positive signs in the win over Forest a week earlier and the FA Cup defeat to Man United at Old Trafford. The performance on Wednesday night had much of the fanbase believing we'd turned a corner. West Ham outplayed United for 70 minutes before a late defensive cap...
Mar 07, 2023•2 hr 1 min
It's been a while since we won a football match, let alone one so comfortably. David Moyes returned to a back four against Nottingham Forest, citing the need for more midfielders post-match, and also gifted Danny Ings his first start since signing for the club. The result? A 4-0 thrashing, Ings scoring twice and West Ham looking utterly devastating in the final third. Arguably for the first time this season. It was a must-win game and that's exactly what we got. But is it a sign of what we shoul...
Feb 28, 2023•1 hr 30 min
There have been intense calls for David Moyes to be sacked after Sunday's 2-0 defeat at Spurs, despite going into it unbeaten in four matches. Many are unhappy with the system Moyes is sticking with, his approach against the so-called 'big six' and the poor results that have inevitably followed. But is all of that the real problem? Defensively we're no worse off in terms of stats, but up front we're really struggling to make a real impact. That's where it appears to be all going wrong. This week...
Feb 22, 2023•1 hr 27 min
NOTE: Sorry it's a bit late this week, life (and gout) got in the way a bit! Back to normal next week, we promise! Things are looking and feeling a little more enjoyable at the moment, aren't they? We're unbeaten in four, have just one defeat in our last seven in all competitions and have conceded just three goals in our last five. Moyes' semi-permanent switch to a back five appears to have worked a treat as the likes of Tomas Soucek, Vladimir Coufal, Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio all show gl...
Feb 16, 2023•1 hr 12 min
The 1-1 draw at Newcastle last weekend gave us plenty of hope that West Ham are beginning to turn a corner. Despite the mini-meltdown at the beginning, conceding twice in the opening three minutes (thankfully only one counted!), Moyes' men recovered well and put in a solid display at one of the hardest places to visit this season. The performance suggested things are beginning to return to something like normal after a woeful first-half of the campaign, but can they keep it up and push on? This ...
Feb 07, 2023•1 hr 23 min
It was a relatively quiet transfer window for West Ham, with just two players through the door and a handful of exits, but there does seem to be a more positive at the club at the moment. The 2-0 FA Cup victory over Derby County on Monday night made it three wins and as many clean sheets from our last four games - which is the kind of form we just couldn't see coming only a few weeks a go. But, we've drawn Man United away in the FA Cup 5th Round - the fifth time in the last seven seasons we'll m...
Feb 01, 2023•1 hr 29 min
West Ham won a Premier League football match, but all is not what it seems. While the three points were desperately needed, it doesn't change much where David Moyes' future is concerned. A run of fixtures that include Newcastle, Chelsea and Tottenham in February means we're not entirely out of the woods just yet and it's likely we'll be back in the thick of before too long. Meanwhile, Craig Dawson - the wonderful, beautiful, amazing Craig Dawson - has left the club and everyone's really upset ab...
Jan 24, 2023•1 hr 7 min
We agreed last week that David Moyes simply had to get at least four points from West Ham's next two games in order to keep his job. But after losing 1-0 at Wolves, that's now mathematically impossible and leaves us in the bottom three of the Premier League and facing a monumental relegation clash against Everton at home on Saturday. There has been lots of talk since the Wolves defeat that Moyes is on his way out, but the shortlist of potential replacements is worryingly underwhelming. Why wasn'...
Jan 17, 2023•1 hr 5 min
Last week West Ham announced the sad passing of co-owner and co-chairman David Gold. Regardless of fans' feelings towards Gold and other members of the board over the years, we must always remember that Gold is a human being who has lost his life. A father. A grandfather. A brother. He was also one of us. A West Ham fan. He famously grew up opposite the Boleyn Ground and played for the club at schoolboy level. So regardless of his role to play in all the issues at the club over the years, you si...
Jan 09, 2023•1 hr 34 min
All good things come to an end, don't they? After two wonderful years under David Moyes, we do appear to be nearing the end of his second spell following two poor performances and defeats directly after the World Cup break. The loss at Arsenal probably wasn't a surprise but the performance at home to Brentford simply wasn't good enough, despite Moyes finally deciding to drop Tomas Soucek and to play Lucas Paqueta in his favoured No.8 position. Now we face Leeds, Wolves and Everton in a trio of l...
Jan 03, 2023•1 hr 18 min
The World Cup came to a dramatic climax last week as Lionel Messi shut the door on the GOAT debate by finally getting his hands on football's biggest prize, although Will is still adamant he's not the greatest player to have walked the land. But now the World Cup is over, it means we're closer to welcoming West Ham back into our lives. We're all excited about that, of course, but that'll rub off pretty quickly by Boxing Day evening. Stock up on plenty of wine, mince pies and bubble & squeak,...
Dec 21, 2022•1 hr 16 min
It's been nice having a break from the stresses of West Ham these past few weeks but the reality is where edging closer to welcoming the boys back to action - it's just a shame it's going to start the way it ended as we prepare to visit league leaders Arsenal at the Emirates on Boxing Day. But before that inevitable disappointment, James and Will get together for a quick catch-up and discuss their thoughts on the World Cup so far. Nayef Aguerd's Morocco have already made history and are now just...
Dec 12, 2022•51 min
Who knew we'd all be so pleased to be getting a six-week break from West Ham after the last two years. Defeats to Blackburn and Leicester over the last week have ensured we head into the World Cup break in terrible form and in serious danger of being sucked into to a relegation battle when we return to face Arsenal away on Boxing Day. The performance against Leicester wasn't atrocious by any means but we still failed to score any goals, which is the whole point of football isn't it? It's been ou...
Nov 16, 2022•1 hr 7 min
NOTE: Apologies for the sound quality on this week's episode. Will had serious Monday morning tech issues! The defeat to Crystal Palace had the David Moyes boo-boys out in force on Sunday and it's easy to see why. Looking back, West Ham under his stewardship seemed to have peaked in Lyon back in April. Since then it's been all downhill and now we risk going into the World Cup break in the bottom three of the Premier League. We can avoid that by beating Leicester City this coming weekend, of cour...
Nov 07, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Another Premier League away game, another failure to put the ball in the onion bag. After having plenty of chances but failing to score at Anfield, the Hammers offered a repeat showing at Old Trafford on Sunday and failed to make Man United pay for their sub-standard showing. We huffed and we puffed in the final 20 minutes but just couldn't find the back of the net as David De Gea planned to dominate our nightmares over Halloween. In another repeat showing, Will continues to insist that if you d...
Oct 31, 2022•1 hr 24 min
West Ham's performance in the 1-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield was encouraging, or at least that's what James thinks. Will, on the other hand, disagrees and was "angry" with the fact we didn't capitalise on Liverpool's poor form by converting at least one of the eight shots on goal we had. And then there's the win over Bournemouth, which ended up being more straight forward than we were expecting, albeit via a very dubious VAR decision going our way (for once!). Will thought Said Benrahma was ...
Oct 25, 2022•1 hr 14 min
Another game and another farcical VAR decision that has cost West Ham points. It wasn't the alleged foul throw that caused anger after the 1-1 draw against Southampton over the weekend, it was referee Peter Bankes clearly obstructing Jarrod Bowen's attempts to defend in the build-up to Southampton's first-half opener. It was clear obstruction, yet the goal stood. That said, should we be looking at the draw as a good point or two points dropped after having 25 attempts at goal, 14 corners and ove...
Oct 17, 2022•2 hr 10 min
