24 Comments

Jury out on Slav’s striker decision

Slav off for hip op on Wednesday

I was surprised to read Slaven Bilic’s comments that there would be no more “exciting” signings during the summer transfer window.

We reported some time back that the manager had made up his mind he needed no more front men and club insiders added that anyway it is ” hard to bring in a top class strikers to sit on the bench.”

Slaven elaborated on that,  claiming effectively, that he didn’t want first and second choice players feeling threatened by further additions but isn’t that what makes a top club?

Before going any further may I add that it is possible to disagree with the manager without wanting his head, a point I mention only to ward off the attacks of those who live on on one extreme wing or the other.

Returning to the issue of striker I do find it odd that we are in a position where should anything happen to Chicharito we are reliant on  Antonio, Sakho or Carroll to lead the line.

Carroll isn’t my cup of tea when he’s fit given that his presence simply encourages the long ball game but his fitness can’t be relied on of course.Others feel differently and that’s fine.

At this stage – much as I want him to make a fantastic return – the same fitness remark applies to ‘Sak’ so I would have thought another striker was a must.

Given after signings and sales that so far there has been a net spend of  £6m or £15m when you factor additional costs and add-ons, there’s loads of money available.

CandH was told yesterday that we may not have necessarily seen the end of the signings but Slav appears to have ruled out a striker regardless.

That’s a big, big decision and one on which the jury has to remain out given our injury history.

 

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

24 comments on “Jury out on Slav’s striker decision

  1. If sakho is as fit as they say and he is out of the woods then that’s fine in my book , forget the doll he’s a splinter waiting to happen ! But sakho needs to start on Friday and test the water with him otherwise its Russian roulette, injury’s can’t be predicted that just happens lol , sods law as they say, its midfield I hope he strengthens and a centre back like which was hoped for by a few of the brothers , Martinez could be that striker IMO the kid knows where the goal is and is getting better every time I see him, its the service that’s the problem , one #10 ain’t enough 😉😉

  2. “Loads of money available”.

    Surely you’re confusing purchase price and wage cap here.

    Even if you’re privy to the club’s available transfer budget in terms of headline figures, we could have 200m available to spend and if no room on the wages front, wouldn’t mean anything.

    Only way around that is shifting other high earners, or increasing certain types of revenue (which doesn’t include sky money or sugar daddy loans).

    • Going down a different,ish route , when the twins took control we were in 100 mill of debt !
      How many years is that 6/7 ? Were still in a 100 mill debt according to sully yesterday ?
      How is that possible , anybody got a conspiracy theory or actual facts 😂 Hugh ?
      I ain’t got a Scooby ? TV money etc,etc,etc that’s my yul bryner impersonation 😂😂

      • I can’t figure that one out as well lazurus.
        He always likes to remind us about the debt when he can.
        Maybe they are like me that if i owe £100 on my credit card i can pay the whole lot off in one go but rather choose to pay £10 a month instead 🤣

        • Yes ,strange ain’t it , 💰💰💰 ring sherlock and get the bloodhounds out mate , there’s a mystery that needs to be investigated 🔦🔎 maybe its the money they lent and are keeping the interest going 😎 Nigel will know 😜

    • Conmensurate recduction in wages with loss of players. I’m not sure how seriously anybody takes Platini pay cap anymore anyway. They expected to spend over £50m. They are way off that. It’s also been heavily intimated there will be more signings of perhaps ypunger players. Pay cap thing is fine

  3. The papers say(so it must be true) our scouts were watching Jimenez in training for the emirates cup, based on the way the media have been handled maybe Slav is playing the press with the no more exciting signings line, we are still at least one striker short, Antonio and Ayew are not strikers they both look pretty poor in that position even if they get the occaisional goal neither can hold the ball up, Hernandez can’t hold the ball up either for that matter but he does need midfielders and a number 9 that can feed the ball in behind the defence something again that both Ayew and Antonio are poor at. Its still a long shot but maybe Martinez can step up but if not we need a target man to give us that option.

    • Ayew’s true position is a bit of a mystery. If he’s not a striker, he’s hardly an out and out winger or midfielder either. I’d play him as a second striker, depending on the formation deployed…… but then we have Lanzini as first choice attacking midfielder. It will be interesting to see what Slaven’s starting eleven is. At least we won’t be depending on Carroll this season and if Sakho is as ‘strong’ as the fitness team say he is it’ll be a bonus.

      • I agree TRB that we don’t know his true position, he does score goals that is indisputable but do we need / want more from him ? Hopefully Slav has a plan to get more out of him, I would like to see him creating more for his team mates and giving the ball away a lot less often and still scoring his share of goals 😀

        • Me too. Maybe we’ll get more than half a season from him this time….. He might be good for a dozen or so goals

  4. You forgot Andre Ayew, Hugh. He’ll score a few for us. Then there’s Marko A. who can play the strikers role if required – though I see him deployed as a left winger mostly.

    • No he didn’t TRB , he doesn’t rate him 👎👎👎 me neither 👎😎

      • Let’s see what he does this season. I look at our current squad and see goals coming from more than the usual 3 or 4 suspects. 🙂

  5. I only believe we are finished buying when the window closes. We were very interested in the wide man at Lazio, and if he ever changes his mind about coming to us, we would jump at the chance. He can play wide attacking midfield or up front, so covering several positions. With him covering left wing Arnie is also able to play up front. If we don’t get him I think we will settle for BooziBooBoo ( I think ) from Montpellier.

    • BooziBooBoo,i reckon you must have already been on the boozi Fishy 😂

    • That’s yogi,s brother fishes stealing all the beer out of the hampers 😂😂 I fancy him alongside lanzini , west ham supporters love a flair player and he fits the bill IMO 👍

  6. What he said makes sense to me.You try keeping 5 or 6 top class players happy.Get to Jan they will be crying to go out on loan,especially if they are internationals in world cup year.
    Just saying 😃

    “I don’t expect any more ‘exciting’ signings because you don’t want to be overbooked in certain positions. You have to respect your players and those who are number two, because you don’t want them to be number three in their position”

    Makes sense to me 😃

  7. We have Little Pea,Carroll,Sakho,Ayew,Martinez,Antonio if needs be + i expect one more to come in.As Lama said you cant keep them all happy.Every club most probably wants half a dozen top top quality forwards but they wont stand for being third choice.
    Just look at Giroud,Ihaenacho,they are not happy being down the pecking order and its easier for clubs like City and Arsenal to make players want to stay.We are not in that position of strength so i understand exactly what Bilic ment.if he had said something silly i would dismiss it as rubbish as he isnt teflon in my book but this time round i get what he means.

  8. aaah crafty old SB, just heard Neymar is on his way to London on a private jet….

  9. I’d give Martinez a shot on the bench this season

  10. Agree w Roy I like Toni he could gives us a shot. And AC will never be fit and doesn’t seem to care about it either. Sahko w is Back could do great or could end up injured real quick bc back Injuries it’s hard to say 100% bc they effect legs knees etc.
    I think if Feg is Sold and Snod I would really like to see Ryad Boudebouz who created more chances then any player in all of Europe last season Including likes of Payet Ozil Eriksen and KDB at 117 chances 70 of those hit tgt. And scored 10 goals and 9 assists in Ligue 2 for £14m or less this is a must buy for me. He is right sided so him and Lanzini could work together and Versatile and with our injuries he can play #10 RW RM CF CM.
    And I would like Perez if we could for £13m he is a very rounded striker which we haven’t had in years. Can hold up play link up and create w decent pace.
    But I think we need a CB bc Reid is our Focal point and if he and Ogbonna are injured like last 2 seasons and Fonte is streaky think Rice is bright but w Zab playing 3 @ back will be harder.
    So If could get Ryad and Chris Smalling or someone like him Mid 20s experienced. Those 2 signings would make me happy we need a creator still and he reminds me of Gylfi who think we would all love but at 27 too has 4 good years in him. And price is right.

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