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John travels with West Ham first team

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Photo by Nick Turchiaro/ISIphotos.com

The pieces are in place for it to be the weekend of the landmark appearance for Americans across Europe.

After Tim Ream was named to Bolton's matchday roster and Charlie Davies was named to Sochaux's, West Ham announced that centerback George John will be part of the 20-man traveling party for the club's match at Peterborough United on Saturday. That in itself does not guarantee playing time, but it is a step in the right direction for a player in need of minutes to make his mark in the coming weeks.

John has yet to make his first-team debut with West Ham since joining the club on loan from FC Dallas. Time is ticking away on that loan, which is set to expire March 5, at which point West Ham has an option to purchase John's contract outright. The math is simple: the more opportunities John has to perform before that deadline, the more of a sampling West Ham has to work with before determining whether to go ahead with a full transfer.

Hope to see John complete his transfer to West Ham? Which potential appearance this weekend are you anticipating the most?

Share your thoughts below. 

Comments

  1. “IMO most MLS teams are worthy of the tail end of the EPL or the Championship, hence Rogers at Leeds.”

    What do you mean by “worthy”?

    And what do you base this opinion on?

    There are probably a lot more players in MLS who could play for the teams you mentioned than people give them credit for me, but the talent level is not so much the problem.

    The problem is that lower level EPL and Championship teams are geared to play many more games, under much more pressure than “most MLS teams”. RSL or Sporting might do well but from an organizational standpoint, they would have to be much more robust and need to expand their squads and support staff. And if you did this they would no longer be the same teams.

    I think it’s a mistake to worry about whether RSL or the Rapids could compete with Wigan or Stoke. It’s all useless hypothetical crap and I’d much rather watch RSL anyway. Watching most lower level EPL teams is about as much fun as watching Congress in session.

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  2. boosted,

    John has been in one reserve match. I wouldn’t read too much into it. That is all I said.

    That other stuff you wrote has nothing to do with me.

    And please don’t forget to take your as directed.

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  3. So in your opinion it wouldn’t be any less encouraging to hear about John stinking it up in training and in training matches?

    Or maybe to prove his worth he shouldn’t ball hard in training and reserve matches and instead save it for the first team appearances that surely would be warranted by underwhelming the manager! 😛

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  4. “stealing the show in the only reserve team match he’s played in.”

    Be careful when evaluating a player’s performance in reserve matches.

    The players in them have a wide range of concerns and motivations. There are regulars coming back from injury and thus being very careful. Then there are the kids who might need exposure to older vets. Then there are the no hopers who are there just to make up numbers.

    In other words it’s pretty hard to say what you are getting and the competitive level varies so widely that a few years ago Redknapp pulled Spurs out of their reserve leagues and sent all his guys out on loan.

    His rationale was loans were a better way of getting your guys competition.

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  5. He was out all of September, October, and November, and is now back out injured again. In that context I’m a little leery of calling him a fixture. People used to make similar arguments about DmB at Rangers and City. A fixture should be more, well, fixed.

    Don’t get me wrong, it seems like Norwich likes him when healthy. I just think it’s “yay Americans Abroad” malarkey to act like someone who’s missed a whole chunk of the more lengthy Championship season — MLS’ “too long” fixture amount put to shame — has made a “huge contribution.” I think a set of roughly 10 Americans are starters who do well by being abroad and the rest it’s a salary vs. PT vs. reputation vs. name-dropping matrix as to whether they’d be better off abroad or in MLS….and then there’s a set in some leagues like the lower German divisions, Scandinavia, etc., who if they came home might not even start here…..and who ironically should stay there because they’d probably play more there than here.

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  6. Having both started and been bench material on good teams, they tend to have inertia regarding personnel….why mess with a good thing? The marquee signing goes straight into the lineup, yes, but the whole deal is GJ is obviously not on the fast track. That doesn’t mean he’s going home at the end of the loan, but it just seems to be a closer question if they have a full roster and are in 1st place and you’re trying to snag a foothold, and you’re still at the “just dressing” stage.

    Also, since we’re past Jan. 31 aren’t we at best in the realm of extending the loan til the summer window, then “we’ll see?” Like I was hinting, today’s Championship depth might be tomorrow’s EPL released player. If they’d signed him in January I’d be more confident he’d stay.

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  7. More like 7 or 8 weeks, do the math (Dec. 10 first return appearance, back injured by Feb 4).

    It was serious enough to yank him 6 minutes to halftime. And having had hammy injuries it’s generally something you wrestle with until the next long break, tweak is a nice way of saying he aggravated without pulling which means he’s not close to in the clear yet. I thought I was past mine once, scored two goals in a game, repulled it celebrating the game winning second.

    And I go back to the basic issue being claimed “huge contributions” by Zak. The thrust of my response was one of these things doesn’t belong……EPL fetishism.

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  8. He’s been playing (and playing VERY well) for the past 2 1/2 months. He did recently tweak his hamstring (as did the other starting defender), but even the manager said it’s not serious. Did you watch the Chelsea game? He was a beast.

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  9. John was brought in for depth.
    As with any player he will need to earn a starting spot with his performances when he comes in and spells their -very good- starters.
    West ham will play 2x a week for the next month or so.
    so if that opportunity does not come tomorrow it will certainly come Tuesday.

    Accounts on the team website has him performing well in training and stealing the show in the only reserve team match he’s played in.

    He’ll be fine, John is one player you’d be foolish to bet against.

    http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/faces-first-kick-george-john

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  10. West Ham may be bringing him along slowly but (a) tick tock tick tock and (b) this is the Championship not the EPL. IMO most MLS teams are worthy of the tail end of the EPL or the Championship, hence Rogers at Leeds.

    I would say that trialing at a team winning their league, while superficially appealing and offering the carrot of potential next year EPL, may be a slippery, risky thing because a strong team top of the table probably has less incentive to mess with their lineup than probably anyone else. Recall Altidore at Xerez. I can’t believe he wasn’t worthy, but I can believe roster inertia on a good team.

    Also, FWIW, you might want to be on firmer footing for potential EPL next year than just making the dress 18 for the Championship version. Cause they’ll likely be signing people if promoted.

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  11. You can’t be serious about Whitbread, he has been out most of the year with his hammy and was subbed out injured again recently.

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  12. George John will impress for Westham and get bought out, become a key player down the stretch to lock down promotion and then start for Greece in the Euros. 🙂

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  13. Forgot to mention Whitbreads, Onyewu’s, Edu’s and Bocanegra’s huge contributions for their respective clubs this year as well. Also Tony Taylor having a good year in Portugal as well. So excited to see who will be selected for the U-23 roster against Mexico and for the USMNT roster against Italy.

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  14. Most looking forward to seeing Davies get some minutes this weekend. He is 1 of 3 FWDS selected to the game day roster so he will definitely be in contention for some meaningful minutes at striker. Ream has more of a chance actually getting on the field versus John. But nonetheless it is very exciting times for U.S. players. Dempsey scoring goals, Donovan assisting on goals, Altidore netting a brace in mid week, Gyau and Morales getting playing time with their respective first teams, Rogers making gameday squads, Kljestan playing really well at Anderlecht, Diskerud going to Gent, F.Johnson, D.Williams, Chandler and Bradley all playing well in their resepctive leagues, Lichaj regaining full fitness again and is in contention to see first team minutes at either RB or LB for Aston Villa, Terrence Boyd getting praised by Jurgen Klopp and Klopp saying he will be a regular fixture in the Dortmund first team, and now Davies looking like he is primed to make an impact for Sochaux and who knows maybe getting a call-up for the Italy friendly. It has been a good couple of months for American players in Europe.

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