Xabi Alonso has sent a response to David Moyes over his West Ham hopes for the crunch clash with Bayer Leverkusen.
Football is a funny old game isn’t it.
Thousands of West Ham fans filtered out of the London Stadium early as their side showed no signs of getting back into a 2-0 defeat to Fulham on Sunday.
It came just a few days after West Ham’s gut-wrenching defeat by the same score in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final at Bayer Leverkusen.
For many the defeats signalled the end of the campaign for the Hammers.
Losing to Fulham means West Ham’s chances of securing a European spot in the Premier League now look very bleak.
The same can be said about the team’s prospects of overturning a 2-0 deficit against one of the best teams in world football right now.
Hammers hoping for hangover
It says everything about what makes football so beautiful that a few days after the dismal display against Fulham, many Hammers fans go into the do-or-die Leverkusen clash full of hope.
The same hope that has seen us left devastated too many times to remember. But also the same hope we were all filled with on that wonderful night in Prague 10 months ago.
West Ham have a history of upsetting the odds when least expected.
We are a club that relishes the underdog tag. It is like a call to arms for fans when West Ham face adversity or are being dismissed. Indeed it is in these situations you truly see the best of the Hammers faithful down the years.
David Moyes, like supporters, has hope too. And while he may have said it with a laugh and a joke, his comments about hoping Leverkusen are nursing a hangover for the second leg are in tune with what many fans are clinging onto going into the game.
Moyes hopes ‘big German beers’ help West Ham
Videos showed the wild celebrations of the German side when they won their first ever Bundesliga title at the weekend. Beer and champagne flowed.
As Moyes said himself – ‘and rightly so’.
The Scot said he hoped the team were all drinking ‘those big German beers’.
If there is even the slightest hint of Leverkusen being half a yard off their usual game then West Ham MUST be ready to take advantage.
But Xabi Alonso has sent a response to Moyes over his West Ham hopes for the Bayer Leverkusen clash.
Not only is Alonso confident of getting the job done, the Spaniard says he sees no sign of any hangovers.
“We were ready for Sunday after the first leg,” Alonso said, as reported by Reuters.
Alonso sends message to Moyes over West Ham hopes
“We had a clear idea that on Sunday we have a great chance and that we were taking one day in case of winning to enjoy it.
“But from Tuesday, our focus, our mind, has been on tomorrow’s game, on West Ham. We will have enough time after that to reflect.
“But now is the time that we are in Europa League and we have a great opportunity to make it a great season, so far it has been very good but it can get even better.
“A few of them (big German beers), probably, but not too many.
“We had some control to get ready for tomorrow and for sure it was a moment to enjoy it, but we have talked enough about what happened, about the celebrations, now let’s talk about what’s coming tomorrow and West Ham.
“Until this moment, the team, the players they have given me no reasons to doubt them,” Alonso said.
“Because of the commitment, because of the concentration, the mentality they have had, so I have no reasons to have doubts about tomorrow even after a big success.”
