Yossi and Katan Not Taken to Dubai

The Guardian reports today that Yossi Benayoun and Yaniv Katan did not travel to Dubai with the rest of the players but were sent to Marbella in Spain. When asked about his feeling at being left behind the paper reports Katan as saying that "Sometimes the best thing is not to react". The paper also claim that Benayoun looked unhappy with the decision of Alan Pardew to substitute him on Sunday.

Israeli citizens are not allowed into the United Arab Emirates and the Israeli Foreign Office advises them not to travel there. So it begs the question why the trip was booked there in the first place. Even Brown can't be stupid enough to have done this on purpose, so it must have been a horrible mistake. However once the mistake was realised surely an alternative venue could have been found. Benayoun is a young man who has left clubs in the past because of home sickness and this will hardly have made him feel at home.

So West Ham arranged a shambolic trip away which was then followed by a shambolic performance on the pitch. Great mangement.