think this year is going to be Coles, watched him last­ night for England and superb. Now that the faithful­ have accepted him more he is playing with more­ confidence and he will come out of his shell this­ season

I'm not even going to hazard a guess until I know­ what our striker situation is going to be. At the­ moment it could be anywhere from 5th to 14th.

im going all out n say 5th but depends if we get a top­ class striker

Upson has got at least 4 good seasons left in him. If­ we let him go, what does it say to the rest of the­ squad, let alone the fans. If Upson goes, Green will­ want out too.

And how do you attract QUALITY strikers­ if they see you selling your best players. Sell Upson­ in 1 or 2 years time. He'll still have value and­ Tomkins will have matured by then to sit alongside­ Collins.

Ashton played no part in pre season so we have to­ assume NOT, or that he's offski.

is ashton fit now

Much as it pains me to say but if Man City offer £12­ million for Matty Upson maybe we should think about it,­ at 30 its probably the right time to cash in and with­ the choices we have for his slot we should be­ concentrating on a good quality striker

I would have let Tomkins go out on loan. it did wonders­ for Rio at Bournemouth.
Tomkins has a habit of letting­ strikers get on the wrong side of him. He's not the­ finished article yet. Plus Upson, Collins and gabbidon­ are all better than him, and we have Davenport for­ emergency cover.
James needs to be playing regularly­ and he's not yet good enough to be doing that at a­ WHU.

Freddie Sears has rightly been sent on loan for­ just that reason. It's just a shame we had to help­ Warnock.

I'll be surprised if we don't see at­ least 1 and hopefully 2 strikers coming in. QUALITY­ strikers is where we are woefully short.

tomkins is a great player he should get a chance, and­ why is sears gone, are they going to go throgh a full­ season with 2 players up front?

I am more than happy with our team until we get to the­ strikers.

We simply don't score enough goals.

I­ love Cole to death but he simply isn't a good­ enough finisher if we truly intend to break into the­ top 6.

If Ashton is still with us, and fit, then we­ need at least one productive striker to come in... TWO­ if Ashton goes. Coley is good for a third striker from­ the bench or covering injuries.

We haven't spent a­ brass farthing this summer, while teams like Sunderland­ have been splashing the cash (albeit for Granny Bent­ :)

We're liable to go backwards by standing still,­ and transfer valuations always go up in the last 2­ weeks of August.

I want less TALK of Gudjohnsen &­ Luca Toni, and more ACTION.

IMHO Steve Clarke has been­ an even better aquisition than GZ. we are mostly solid­ at the back, and with Lucas gone, we shouldn't be­ turned there anymore.

Optimistic only of a mid table­ position unless we can get some real firepower in.

While all the other teams keep spending on foriegners.­ Its nice to see that west ham is still training up the­ future england squad. I think this could be the best­ crop of youngsters we have had in awhile. Hey maybe the­ Hammers can pull off a coup or two this season. It work­ for Man utd. 10 years back

The problem with West Ham is that on our day we can­ beat anyone, including any of the so-called 'top­ four', but if we're not in the mood, as­ we're often not against mid to lower table teams­ like Bolton, Blackburn or Tottenham, we'll throw­ one or even three points away... Gianfranco needs to­ instill a ruthless streak, to tell his players that we­ need to get a stranglehold on games against these­ smaller teams and not to let them off the hook until­ the game has finished (and maybe not even then). If we­ can do that we can get past Everton and Villa as the­ main challenger to the top four (or five). We are­ capable of it.

News from Yahoo who's hot, whose not.
Dean Ashton,­­ Hull City want Ashton, but his astronomical wage­­ demands are proving a stumbling block.
Is this a­­ closely guarded secret is Dean Ashton surplus to­­ requirements at West Ham?
We are fans we buy shirts­­ and tickets, we give our support, don't we deserve­­ to know?

not a bad strting team, quite average in a lot of­ places though. ashton staying fit will be a big help­ for them, Jiminez should be a good addition and I quite­ like Ilunga and Behrami. Didnt realise Faubert was back­ with them, he should maybe start and I though Di­ Michele would have been held onto as he done quite­ well. not too much in the backup team though but I­ think a top 10 finish is likely although not really got­ a chance of top 8.

Come on you Irons. If we can keep Carlton Cole healthy,­ get him some help up front, I look for a good season­ and top 7. Ashton certainly has a nose for the goal but­ has proven to be too fragile for top flite football. It­ looks like a good squad with an exceptional manager.­ Great time for us Hammers fans!

Umm... small point, but Sally is right. West Ham grew­ out of the Thames Ironworks FC. So the Irons is their­ original nickname.

come on you irons

'X' Top half for certain again this season,­ hopefully less injuries to poke us up a few more places­ this season 'X'

from graham west ham will be ok next season , so fans­ get off their back . franco is doing a good job­ c'mon u irons, we will finish top 10 if we keep­ players fit , maybe win the cup too.