Mass of Moyes problems calls for big bonus game bravery

Regular readers know I’m an eternal Hammers optimist but let’s be honest tonight looks a nightmare.

We have:

O the possibility of playing a right back in Ngakia who has demonstrated he doesn’t want to be here;

O our best midfielder Declan being perhaps forced to remain in the back four;

O a captain who will surely find it impossible to play two effective games in four games;

O a £35 million Brazilian who was bought to cause havoc but seems unable to go past a player

O two other midfielders in Yarmolenko and Wilshere who clearly aren’t fit with Snodgrass unfit

O and no out and out and out striker.

Then there’s Aaron Cresswell who was destroyed by Adama Traore on Saturday and could be again this evening.

There’s optimism and then there’s reality – tonight looks about as difficult as it gets and I can see only one of two answers and none of them carry more than the slightest hope of helping us towards a result.

At the back I think Moyes has to use Balbuena  despite seemingly not fancying him allowing Declan to give us a little more mobility in midfield replacing Noble who could well be struggling to play this second 90 minutes.

The only alternative appears to be using Wilshere in a defensive midfield role and nobody can be ready to make such a gamble surely.

Yarmolenko is a no no for me – just don’t like him – and have never been sure what he’s supposed to offer and as for Anderson – he has to go.

Lanzini looks the only option and we can only pray that tonight he will explode into the sort of action we once saw from his relatively regularly. Unlikely but Anderson?No

Given that this is very much a bonus game which nobody is expecting to win let’s roll the dice up front with Haller missing and throw in the kid Xande Silva with Antonio moving right as cover for either Johnson or Fredericks.

I expect very little of that to happen as Moyes is not the most adventurous but given he has already been complaining about an overcrowded fixture list he would do well to start using the squad at his disposable rather than sticking to a preconceived best eleven plan.

We expect nothing tonight and as such here’s my revised team having given it some thought since Saturday:

Fabianski; Fredericks, Diop, Balbuena, Johnson; Rice, Soucek, Bowen, Lanzini, Antonio, Silva.

Scorecast: 3-1