The Hammers have just Michail Antonio as a recognised first-team striker after the sale of Sebastien Haller to Ajax this week.
Antonio has struggled with hamstring injuries over the past few months and has a special training programme to protect his hamstrings.
Moyes speaking to reporters yesterday admitted this week that West Ham were “not really” ready to replace Haller immediately and could be left with just Antonio until at least the end of the January window.
West Ham fans will remember Sam Allardyce previously deploying a West Ham false nine against Chelsea in 2014 resulting in a 0-0 result spoiling the West London club’s titles chances.
Chelsea’s then-manager Jose Mourinho preedictably accused West Ham of playing ’19th-century’ football
Thanks Sean – I think BFS also used a false-9 in our victory over Spurs that featured Ravel Morrison’s wonder goal (after Defoe had missed a sitter for Spurs at 0-0) – prompting BFS to rename himself “Allerdeci”
I think in the 0-0 19th century football Chelsea draw BFS deployed his famous 6-4-0 formation
I hope that Moyes will be a bit more creative with his false-9 lol
Oh come on..I like Moyes but this is so stupid…should never have sold him without a replacement.. a less than mediocre haller is better than having no striker…struggling to het my head round this ..crazy …thats just me though
Worth the risk in selling Haller given all the negative publicity we fans have generated about him its a miracle anyone wanted to stump up £22million!
I cannot believe we sold our only fit striker without a replacement, that is absolute negligence as far as I’m concerned. False 9 why, why should we have to if we were run by competent owners?
I didn’t mind Haller and thought he had been OK in the past few weeks but it seemed obvious that he wasn’t suited either to the pace and physicality of the Premiership or the systems favoured by Pellegrini or David Moyes. I’m surprised we received an offer as high as we did for him – never mind how much we paid – so I’m fine with us taking the money now when it’s offered. I’m also surprised at the argument that you don’t sell before you buy, given the general disappointment about Haller for 2 further reasons. Firstly, the indications are we are actively in the market for a striker (or 2) – if we weren’t, then I’d be concerned. Secondly, we have other attacking options – Yarmolenko, Bowen, Behrahma plus a returning Antonio. If we were in the relegation zone and had upcoming winnable matches on the horizon, then I wouldn’t have been happy with Haller leaving. As it stands, I’m looking forward to seeing what tactics David Moyes uses for the next few games and who he brings in. It’s all positive for me. COYI.
Spot on…… My viewpoint entirely.
COYI
Couldn’t agree more. Haller was improving, though inconsistent. We have options that haven’t been tried.
Geez… Sully now is time to back your manager big. No twisting or razzle dazzle. If you dont have the resources or ambition you should leave our club.
False nine is pathetic option. Maybe works here and there but then what when we need a change?
I quite enjoyed that scoreless draw against Chelsea. The constant defending and the increased nervousness and agitation of the Chelsea squad and Mourhino made things very tense.
Drama at its best.
I agree Gary D – I think that Ginge Collins was sent off with about 15 minutes remaining – it was possibly one of Roger “the relegator” Johnson’s best performances for us – but I remember being very happy after the match – it definitely felt like a victory
Hopefully BFS wont try to do that to us when we play WBA this month
I wanted us to play a false nine even when we had Haller. I think we would be better without Haller, since we could bring in an extra attacking player like benrahma or lanzini and keep the back three. Could have rotated the striker position between Bowen, benrahma etc to keep the opposition guessing.