14 Comments

Irons window excitement reduced to near zero!

So we head into the last eight days of the winter window with no new players on board and the excitement of this period reduced to almost zero!

It used to be a time for speculation, banter, optimism and debates but sadly this time around it’s been a bore with the manager regularly lowering expectations.

By this time next week there will be just a couple of days left before the window slams shut and despite all the hopes we would have had players through the door by now it hasn’t happened.

This has been our busiest season in many years and one wonders why with the manager calling in Rob Newman to the club why we are where we are.

Rob started work in September and has certainly had time to identify prospects and bring them to the manager’s attention but apparently none of them are good enough.

All we have heard from inside the club is that none of those put to him are considered better than what we have although it’s hard to see how that would be the case in terms of Masuaku, Yarmolenko and Fredericks for example.

The reality is that we needed players in early in January but instead were told by the boss that whilst he was trying there may be nobody coming in.

Yesterday he suggested we may get a striker but no promises and the waiting game simply goes on and on at a time of huge interest from the fans.

January has all but passed us by and the last two games ended in defeat. Surely it should and could have all been different under the manager’s personally organised scouting set-up.

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

14 comments on “Irons window excitement reduced to near zero!

  1. Just not good enough

  2. It’s so frustrating that it looks like we have blown our chances of CL football again this year because of Moyes dithering (and maybe any chance we had of keeping Rice). We have been in such a strong position but we’ve blown it with even 8th placed Wolves being able to go above us if they win their games in hand. Whilst we know we need a Centre-Half and a Striker, Moyes could have brought in Lucas Digne as we also know we going to need a Left-Back

  3. It is easy to spend a ton of cash. Look at Newcastle and Chris Wood. Would spending 25 million on him have made everyone happy. Of course not. Actually. It would have just given everyone more fuel to attack Moyes. Let’s be careful with all the manager criticism here, Hugh. Yes, we could be better if the best teams would sell us their best players on the cheap. But they won’t. I think we need to keep perspective. Would a top eight finish be perfect? No. Would it be a disaster? Also, no. Let’s settle down and see the big picture, IMO.

    • Completely agree with this comment. Give me common sense, clear-headed and diligent stewardship of the cash that we, the fans, generate for the Club, all day long in each and every transfer window, rather than excitement.

  4. We could and should be getting players in we have known we needed a striker since Haller left . We can’t rely on not bringing in a CB if we get another injury to any of them we’re back to square one . Let’s get it sorted! ⚒

  5. Great article and so true, the cynic in me is beginning to think Moyes put this scouting department in place to get a job for his son. Well they are costing the club a fortune and nothing to show for it. I see reported links this morning Calvent Lewis, Moyes has bought poorly last summer so lets not make another mistake in brining in a player who has absolutely no pace, cannot win a 50/50 battle and is over rated and by accounts has a big ego . If he end up spending big this window and gets it wrong again he has lost all his credibility.

    • So we want a striker. But not this striker. Either we want Moyes to do something, anything to calm our nerves, or we want him to make the perfect buy. Which one is it?

  6. Not one hint of a signing to strengthen key areas and not one minute of game time given to our young (U23) players who are regularly on the first team bench. Does DM believe in Johnson, Ashby, Alese, Okoflex or not? In the same period, Liverpool have played young players from the start without hesitation. When they sub on, it’s Milner, Gomez, close it down – not Masuaku or Fredericks. Where is our vision, our future? Signings and home grown. We are not even standing still at the moment, after all that work to get there

    • Not even standing still? This time two years go, we were in the bottom three.

      • I mean standing still from the first half of the season due to poor subbing – to blood the young men on the bench with game time rather than Yarmo, Masuaku, Fredericks. Great achievements Last 2 years agreed and grateful, but give the young players experience before injuries force us to throw them in or overplay others, the latter being what happened v Leeds and Norwich

    • So we thought that Coufal did a great job. But we want Moyes to play Johnson, or Ashby? And Zouma is our best CB, but we want him to play Alese, who plays in exactly the same position? And we all love Antonio, but why won’t Moyes play Okoflex? I am really confused. Maybe Moyes knows just a little bit more about the players that he sees each and every day than I do. But come on man, do something!!

  7. Sorry still ranting – a huge by the way is that Man U sent on three subs who all contributed to their win – not one of them was Lingard. Are we still pining for a bloke who can’t get a sub on appearance for the club he prefers to us?

  8. We normally make our signings in the last days of the window and don’t see this year being any different.

  9. Hear you Mikey but I didn’t advocate dropping any of the senior players – I am talking about blooding young players from the bench as appropriate to give them first team experience, so when we need a change they are a proven option. Coufal and Cress, Diop and Dawson, all very leggy against Leeds, third game in seven days, Zouma and Oggy still out, but no sign of the young men on the bench. Wheel on Masuaku and Yarmo or Fredericks to do what exactly? Meanwhile, Ashby, Johnson, Alese and Okoflex warm the bench but never play? Not even 5 minutes?

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