By Hughie Southon
Gianluca Scamacca will be starting against Larnaca tomorrow evening at the London Stadium.
Manager David Moyes chose to answer the question many of us were asking earlier today given the speculation surrounding the player right now.
Having not been used off the bench against Aston Villa at the weekend and following inmages of him apparently looking despondent, there had been much talk about his future at the club.
It always seemed a little outrageous so soon after his arrival anyway despite the manager suggesting that he wanted more from him.
Commenting at his pre-match presser today (Wed) Moyes said: “Thursday is a good chance for Gianluca [to start].
“We want him back, he’s got something and we like him a lot. He’s a great boy and we really, really like him and we want him to do well.
“We want our Gianluca back to the one we had from August to November. The one we’ve got at the moment looks slightly different and we need him to get back to those levels because at those levels we could use him and he scored some goals and had some contributions when he was still growing into the league and getting used to it.
He’s missed quite a lot with injuries and illness, etcetera, but we want him to get back.
“Gianluca is an Italian international and he has so many good qualities. We really do like him a lot, so we just want to see them come out.”
“I think we find it with everyone who comes to the Premier League has to get used to the level of intensity – it’s not anybody from Italy and it’s not just Gianluca,” he said.
“You hear me, but you certainly hear other managers say it takes players time to adjust to the level, the speed and intensity and the regular demands of the games Premier League.”
“Do I think he’s going to come back soon [to his best form]? I hope so.”
Got to play to his strengths and attack not sit back !
Who knows what goes on behind closed doors?
David Moyes got us used to seeing a squad, over the previous two seasons, that would die for each other on the pitch.
Quite a few new signings were made over the summer, and so far this season we don’t seem to be seeing that same togetherness in the squad.
Possibly just the disruption of the newcomers settling in, or perhaps we’re just reading too much into it, and actually things are still sweet with the squad.
How often as West Ham fans have we seen this relegation scenario?
A couple of wins, some distance points wise between us and the bottom three, and the pressure lifts. All of a sudden our form guide suggests that if we’d been playing this way all season we’d be top six.
But a loss, the pressure builds, every game is a cup final. Mentally, it must be exhausting.
More so for those who joined the squad over the summer, they came to push on for Europe and instead find themselves in a relegation fight.
Roll up the sleeves boys, time to front up, baptism of fire for you new fellas. If we survive this season, next won’t be a shock to you, and we can push on again for Europe and domestic honours.
So as for Scamacca, I don’t believe for one second that he’s sooking (Aussie for sulking), I don’t believe for one second the squad isn’t rallying around him (and each other).
I do believe they are training hard, seriously, and focusing on just “one game at a time”.
My hope is that they are doing it with a smile on their face, creating that squad mentality of “dying for each other on the pitch”, taking the **** out of each other and joking with each other.
All of those things that bring you together as a team.
Forever the eternal optimist, I think we will survive, and whoever is at the helm next season will have a squad of guys who can achieve amazing things.
There is a lot of talent in this team, it just needs to find it’s voice and sing a song of “one touch attacking football” that scares the ****e out of all we play.
You score 1, we’ll score more.
Come on you Irons, play like we know you can.