West Ham v Cardiff

West Ham v Cardiff
Npower Championship

• Venue: Upton Park
  
• Date: 07 August
  
• Kick-off: 1300 GMT
  
• Coverage: Watch live on BBC1; Listen on BBC Radio 5 live and BBC local radio; text commentary on the BBC Sport website
  

TEAM NEWS


West Ham's £3m signing Kevin Nolan has been given the captain's armband following his summer move from Newcastle.

Promising left-back Jordan Brown, who has featured
prominently in the pre-season campaign, is out for a month with an ankle
injury.

Cardiff manager Malky Mackay has yet to decide who his
first-choice goalkeeper will be, with fit-again David Marshall vying
with last season's regular Tom Heaton for a place in the team.

Wales international Rob Earnshaw and Scotland striker Kenny
Miller are set to lead the Bluebirds' new-look forward line following
their summer moves.



PREVIEW


Just the odd point here and there last season and this could
have been a Premier League match with Avram Grant and Dave Jones in the
dugouts; instead Sam Allardyce and Malky Mackay start new jobs with the
same objective - to get out of the Championship.

Cardiff might feel that they are unlucky to be facing West
Ham now, because for the moment Hammers' boss Allardyce still has Robert
Green, Scott Parker and Carlton Cole to call upon; any or all could be
sold before the transfer deadline. The addition of Matt Taylor from
Bolton and Kevin Nolan from Newcastle means that the Londoners arguably
start life in the Championship with a stronger squad than the one which
was relegated from the Premier League.

Cardiff have lost Bothroyd, Chopra and Bellamy, with the onus
for goalscoring now falling on Kenny Miller and the returning hero Rob
Earnshaw who scored more than a hundred goals for the club in his first
spell. Mackay has also recruited Scottish internationals Craig Conway
and Don Cowie and has high hopes for twenty year old Joe Mason signed
from Plymouth.

Both sides will be expecting to be in contention for
promotion and Sunday's match offers an intriguing early insight into
which is better prepared for the long slog ahead.



MATCH FACTS


Head-to-head


• Of 40 previous league meetings, West Ham have won 18, Cardiff eight with 14 draws.

• It's 31 years since the club playing away from home has won a league match between the pair.

• West Ham are pursuing a fifth successive home league win against the Bluebirds.



West Ham United


• Finished bottom of the Premier League last season, with relegation ending a six-year stay in the top flight.

• Not won in 10 league and cup outings, following a 3-0 home win over Stoke on 5 March.

• Sam Allardyce begins his sixth managerial appointment, and
is one of five sending out teams in the Championship this weekend for
the first time at a new club.



Cardiff City


• Starting a ninth successive campaign at this level, having failed in the play-offs for two seasons in a row.

• Former Watford boss Malky Mackay succeeds Dave Jones as
manager, and launches his career with the Bluebirds against a club he
used to play for.

• Avoided defeat in 14 of their last 16 seasonal openers.





17th and we aint kicked a ball yet . COYI

C O Y I

We need a "really nervous" smiley

the lads were all kept in a hotel last night ,,, lets hope they are more focused

Nicki wrote:We need a "really nervous" smiley

Would,nt let me save that one Nicki , will this do

West Ham United: Green, O'Brien, Ilunga, Reid, Tomkins, Noble, Parker, Nolan, Sears, Taylor, Piquionne
Subs: Boffin, Faye, Collison, Barrera and Cole

Cardiff City: Marshall, McNaughton, Taylor, Hudson, Gerrard, Whittingham, Gunnarsson, Cowie, Conway, Miller, Earnshaw
Subs: Heaton, Quinn, Parkin, Mason, Gestede

Found these if any one needs a suasage [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] , [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Strong side

COYI

Some good stuff early on, crying out for a finisher though.

Ilunga .. fcuk off and do not come back, finguck sunday league player

How finguck typical is that and it had to be that cnut Miller . There is no way we deserved to lose this game . Gutted

shit defeneding at the end, lots of pretty stuff in the middle and nothing at the end, unless we can turn possession into goals we will go no where. Absolutely fcuking dredful defending at the end the little scotch cnut hadnt had a kick all game, well pissed off, could have finished painting my shed.

And we go straight into the drop zone with the sheep fuckers going up to 7th , how finguck unfair is that .

Dont take your chances dude and it will always happen.

Sam better get shopping and finguck quick.

I thought Joey O'Brien didnt look to bad on the right but I have no confidence in Reid, even more so when playing alongside Tomkins. JT needs Faye back alongside him.

Ilunga is always going to cause problems on the left..........by problems I mean for us.....always looking to go down cheaply and theatrically whilst the opposition are on the break.

Im not sure we can play Nolan, Parker and Noble in the same midfield either.

Matty Taylor was the only bright point really.

Poor from Greeno for the goal as well.

I thought all the new boys played well today . Taylor takes a nice free kick and was unlucky a couple of times , there goalie definatly saved them today , Green never even got the ball it went between his hands , bad after doing a couple of good saves . As you said a bit too cramped in midfield , 3 good midfielders but not all together . Illunga , still a liability , Sam we need to replace him and spend some dosh on some goal scorers . Dont like the idea of being in the drop zone already , bit too much like last season

I'm fcuking pissed off

Need a LB, CF and RB quick, or all these lowlifes will be taking the piss! Behind millscum already, good job Bristol let in 3 yesterday or we would be bottom!

new boys looked good, taylor, nolan, obrien, put in a good shift and looked up for the fight

Sears.. oh dear no where near enough
parker .. didnt look up for it
ilunga ... should look for another proffesion.could not pass a fart without shitting himself
tomka.. good game, covered everything
noble .. tried worked hard final ball not good enough
reid.. not good enough..tried hard though
green.. should have done better with the goal
piq.... time to ship out showed nothing

we seriously need a finisher , if not two
i would get rid of Ilunga and bring in two left backs
one right back
sam has his w**k cut out sorting this out

still finguck pissed off

I thought O'Brien done ok at right back dude.

Kray JR wrote:I thought O'Brien done ok at right back dude.

back up mate , would ship out poorbear, should not have mentioned the RB in the above post as it was not an issue today

Soory dude, time delay I was replying to Motty didnt see your post till after.... 8)

Enjoyed having a few beers in the supps with Max, Tony, Suzanne, Alex, Kirsty and her sister Debbie.

Atmosphere good in the ground, although almost empty in Sir Trev's North bank......plenty of expectation....and a great reception for BFS and the newbies.

Started brightly
Some good ideas
Ideas not paying off
Atmosphere gets edgy
Half time...praying that Sam will kick arse
Second half, same as the first
Nothing at all down the left from Illunga to the front :|
Substitutions gave us 50% hope :shock:
Enjoyed seeing Cole stand on the ball
Left with ten minutes to go, mostly to beat the traffic, partly cos we could foresee the outcome
Text Darran, asked him to let me know final score.
Text from Darran with the news that Illunga had fucked up
Ended badly with a 0-1
Same old :?:

Decent left back and a proper goalscorer would have seen this game wrapped up by half time.......Scotty had a bit of a mare....he needs to sort his future out because he wasn't fully focused imo.

Future games.......do the gelling together whilst in training please, not here!
Not all doom and gloom - I see more spirit within the side. A few things to iron out, but I believe Sam will fix it.

C O Y I

Oh well shit happens and now the first game is over and we lost all down to a fcuk-up . During the game I thought we was doing well , the passing from most was better than I witnessed last season apart from a few . Parker did,nt really seem up for the job and backed off from a few tackles probably as he dont want to get injured for the Ingerland game . Taylor had a good game and he will be an asset this season especially with his free kicks , he was a bit unlucky to have not scored from at least on of them . I felt a bit sorry for Illunga but silly mistakes like what he made today cost us a point , and that late in the game that was all we was gonna get . I think also we was very unlucky one post/crossbar , one cleared of the line , we certainly had more chances , we need a goal scorer and I dont think we have that in Piq or cole , 20 goals between them is all we can bank on this season and that aint good enuff . So G&S splash some more cash , sell Scotty and get in Long .

Doncaster away has to be 3 pints . COYI

BFS says

"From our point of view we've mastered the
game, created numerous chances and today was one of those days when we
were not clinical enough to punish the opposition and then we paid the
ultimate price right at the very end," Allardyce told Sky Sports News.

"We've lost a game we really should have won. I told the players that
you don't always get what you deserve but don't go and throw a game
away, and that's what we've done.

"A point is not the end of the world after a good performance, it should have been three, but you get one and you move on.

"But we didn't even do that so it's a hugely disappointing day for
everyone. As ever the expectation is high and we haven't lived up to
that expectation today.

"I just hope it's one of those days. It didn't go for us. The quality
of our finishing is really what let us down. With the numerous chances
we had we weren't clinical enough.

"And we had a bit of misfortune, the Piquionne one was a fantastic
finish that rebounded off the post instead of going in, and James
Tomkins' header was going into the net but just came off the defender.

"So that's the unlucky side today, but when we had the opportunities the finishing just wasn't good enough."