West Ham 4 - 0 Man United - United Humiliated in Cup Quarters

West Ham cruised to a 4 - 0 win against a petty excuse of a Manchester United team. That is something you don't hear very often, but the Carling Cup quarter final showed that Sir Alex Ferguson had massively underestimated the London club.

It was a clash between the top and bottom teams in the Premier League, but by this performance, you wouldn't think that United were the team unbeaten this season and sitting proudly at the top. Their defense was an absolute shambles, their midfield created nothing, and the attack had nothing to work with. It was atrocious. West Ham completely outplayed United in the snow, as the visiting players seemed to take a break in their job as footballers, wondering aimlessly around the pitch, watching Avram Grants side control the game around them.

Jonathon Spector of all people - the former Manchester United defender scored two of the goals for the Hammers, both in the first half, and Carlton Cole scored the other two in the second half.

Victor Obinna of West Ham had a great game - a big threat to United throughout; being the source of most of the chances created. It was a player like this that Ferguson's side were missing. Johnny Evans had a bad game, and he knows it. He was turned too easily for Cole's goal, while the defence in general fell asleep for numerous West Ham attacks.

In truth, after the second goal went in, there wasn't really any way back for United. Sir Alex had no one on his bench who could come on and make an impact. No Rooney, no Berbatov, no Nani. the Scot had no options that he knew could change the game.

We all make mistakes, and Sir Alex made one today. Of course, no one could have expected that his team would perform so poorly, but he should have had one or two top players on the bench that he could rely on to create something if it came it. In the end, it did come to it, and Ferguson wasn't prepared.

West Ham have breezed passed the holders of the competition with ease, and humiliated the young United team in the process. Before the game United were unbeaten in all competitions this season. That record is shattered in pieces as the Red Devils travel to Blackpool on the weekend, but it is a huge confidence boost for the struggling Hammers who travel to Sunderland on Sunday on the back of a brilliant 4 - 0 win.

Transfer Deadline day Summary

"Deadline Day". Here, I found a definition for you all:

Designates the approximate point in time at which work begins in earnest; employee motivation is frequently observed to be "dead" before the deadline draws near.


"Christ, it's the nearly deadline already?! Hey Pete, put down the controller my friend - it's time that we looked at these shuttle schematics."

 

Football managers may not be studying the ways in human beings can safely be transported to the moon in a space shuttle, but they are spending millions on young men who kick a ball around for ninety minutes every week. To many, like me, it is extremely important. Yes, today is "Deadline Day" and that means SkySports reporters getting extremely excited about exclusive reports and proceeding in giving us all a headaches as they scream down the expensive camera lenses to us at our homes.

 

I'm going to then start with a transfer which surprised me somewhat. Alexander Hleb has joined Birmingham City on a season long loan. The former Arsenal man who is currently owned by Barcelona, has been described by Alex McLeish, City's manager as "top quality" and a player whom he thought he would only realistically get in his dreams (or on the FIFA football games maybe?). Birmingham's spending doesn't stop there though! No, because Hleb joins fellow new signing Jiranek (Centre Back) who came from Russian club Spartak Moscow for an undisclosed fee, while the Chilean winger Jean Beausejour is expected to complete his transfer to St Andrew's later today. The arrivals take Birmingham's summer signings to six in total, as McLeish has already added Nikola Zigic, Ben Foster, Enric Valles and Matt Derbyshire to his squad. With all those signings strengthening their squad, I am tipping Birmingham to finish in the top half of the table, creeping into the Europa League spots. This Carson Yeung fellow who has pumped millions in for new signings is sure to get his reward! Isn't he?

Next, and we are with Liverpool. They have completed the signing of Paul Konchesky on a four year deal. Some are surprised by the signing of the former Charlton, West Ham and Fulham left-back who has never really attracted interest from the top clubs, but Hodgson obviously got along well with his former player and believes he can fill the somewhat problematic postition (one of many at Liverpool) of left-back.

In addition, with only Fernando Torres and David N'gog as their star strikers - and I use "star striker" loosley with N'gog, Hodgson is trying to hammer out a deal for Carlton Cole - West Ham's "star striker". With reports that Ryan Babel had been in a helicopter over London today, you could be forgiven if you thought that maybe Hodgson was trying to use Babel as a makeweight for the deal, with Babel heading to Upton Park. However Babel dashed Liverpool's fans hopes that they will be getting rid of the dissapointing, un prolific and waster-of-the-ball-almost-every-time-he-gets-it, by telling his followers on Twitter that he is "going nowhere".

Owen Coyle supported claim's saying that he like to play "good football" by buying a young Brazilian. Rodrigo Moreno came from Benfica and will bolster Bolton's side with his ermm.... quickness. He can also play in the wide positions as well as up-front.

Moving from one Brazilian to another, and Manchester City uber-flop Robinho has joined AC Milan for around £12 million. The figure will increse, not that City need the money, to £18 million depending on how well he does etc.

With Wigan losing 4 - 0 to Blackpool and 6 - 0 to Chelsea on their opening to games, you would think they would improve their defence. Instead, Martinez has opted for better attacking options. He has signed Manchester United 21 year old promising center midfielder, Tom Cleverley on a season long loan as well as Chelsea striker Franco Di Santo.

Sunderland have smashed their transfer record fee with the signing of Ghana international, Asamoah Gyan for £13 million. It breaks their former record of £10 million which they paid Tottenham for Darren Bent.
Finally, speaking of Tottenham, they have signed a new goalkeeper in Stipe Pletikosa from Spartak Moscow on a season long loan.
AND BREATHE!

Liverpool Bag Defender and Midfielder

£10.7 Million Replacement

Roy Hodgson moved quickly to strengthen his squad after the departure of Javier Mascherano by quickly using the funds from his sale to invest in a replacement. A more attacking one at that, but one who will give good support to the attacking players like Torres, Gerrard and Cole in Raul Meireles.

The Portugese midfielder played well in the World Cup alongside fellow countryman Cristiano Ronaldo, so he is no stranger to playing with quality players. And now he has the chance to prove his worth at Liverpool, as he tries to live up to the £10.7 million that Liverpool have splashed out on him. The Portugese came from FC Porto who wanted to make some money out of him now, worrying that, with only two years left on his contract, that he could go for a free in two years time.

Konchesky

The spending for Liverpool doesn't stop there, as Paul Konchesky will undergo a medical to join Liverpool over the week-end. Hodgson confirmed that he had spoken to his former player earlier in the week, and with Fulham already prepared to let him go after bringing in a replacent yestarday in Carlos Salcedo, the move seems inevitable.

All Liverpool need now is a striker. With the only real established striker at the club being Fernando Torres, with David N'gog still learning, Liverpool still need a quality finisher in backup for some extra fire power. Reports suggest that this could be Carlton Cole of West Ham.