David Moyes may have had second, third and even fourth thoughts about the possibility of moving in on Brentford’s Saïd Benrahma given the Alergian’s winger’s showing in the Playoff final last night.
Like so many before him, Benrahma has been hyped to the skies as a huge player with many supporters who, despite never seeing him play, believing he is a ‘must-have’ player.
It would be surprising anyway were the manager to go in that direction given the number of wingers on the books and although it’s not a great idea to judge on one game, it seemed to me that Grady Diangana is quite his equal after helping to fire West Brom to automatic promotion.
Benrahma made many solo runs, all of which ended in a Fulham cul de sac and produced one truly horrible free-kick which could have changed the game.
Should the Hammers be interested in Bees striker Ollie Watkins, there was certainly more encouragement as despite being in a team which was clearly second best on the night, he showed good movement and pace.
He would certainly appear to fit the bill as back up, or perhaps better, to Mikey Antonio and Seb Haller.
Wrong Berhami in picture.At least that one was half decent to last night’s one who seemed rather lazy, and We’ve had enough of those types.
Now corrected
So, reading this, you judge players on a single game? I really hope the club don’t do the same thing…
If you read the article rather than jumping to your preferred conclusion you will see I said that it’s not correct to do taht but based on what we saw last night
The biggest game of his career and he couldn’t be bothered. Got hooked also in the semi for same reason.
You’ve changed the picture.
realised the mistake minutes after publishing, not the end of the world. We all make mistakes
I heard we were looking at Brentfords LB too but I will say this that I would not buy any of them. Watkins is certainly not of PL standard, would be a total waste of money in this day and age. The player I would like is Eze, he looks to have the x factor. I also like the look of the sporting lisbon winger we are being linked to. I would send Diangana out to West Brom for another loan fee and bring in some revenue for these signings. We need a RB and LB too. The club need to back Moyes this window and of course we need to bring in revenue from player sales. In terms of revenue I wonder would the fans be prepared to buy full season tickets this year to finance the spending with the promise that they will get this back when we return to normal. It would be worth the club sending out a questionarie to the season ticket holders on this, I wonder is this something they have thought of ?
I paid in full for my ST Johnham but understand why others haven’t or are unsure as these are uncertain times. As for Watkins I have seen him a lot and he is the best striker in the Championship by a country mile, 8 out of 10 or better every game in the Soucek, Bowen category, last night he had no supply yet made loads of good runs, could arguably have had a penalty and provided an excellent assist, Trevor Sinclair likened him to Defoe, not sure I would as he is much more physical but in terms of consistency and an ability to create something out of nothing definitely.
Having watched the game last night I wasn’t blown away by any player on the pitch except Onomah for Fulham. He looked different class. Watkins looked like a slightly faster but more inexperienced version of Haller; do we need a striker similar to him? Benrahma did no defensive work AT ALL; we have at least 3 of those already. Neither are Premier League quality for me, not yet. As someone mentioned above, last night was their chance to shine and they didn’t. Maybe another season with Brentford would benefit them and maybe then make the step up. And as for the fees mentioned for them it just shows how ludicrous football is right now. I’ve seen talk of £15m for Lanzini and yet £20m plus for Watkins and Benrahma. I know Lanzini is having his problems but he has a bunch of years of Premier League experience. That means something in my book.
I prefer the explosive pace and skill of Eze, who would be a marvellous addition. And he’s a local boy. I agree about Benrahma…it was a bit like watching Manu on a off-day…
Quickly amended minutes after being published. We are not perfect and sometimes make small mistakes like everyone
Agree Hugh, Benrahma in all the big games hasn’t produced, he struggled in Ligue1 which suggests to me he has to develop aspects of his game before he is ready to step up. Watkins despite being starved of the ball by an excellent team performance by Fulham still affected the game, definitely PL class as I thought Rico Henry showed well in full back, would definitely consider him. Have a feeling one of the big clubs may come in for Watkins but we should try and get a deal done early whatever the cost, the longer we wait the less likely we are to be favoured.
No disrespect to Saïd Benrahma, and sorry for his disappointment last night, but for me, he has never been a player that I feel is a constant enough threat and he could easily disappear in games.
Last night should’ve been the occasion for him to shine as big players are able to raise their game on occasions like this……… instead I felt his performance was…Meh!
Having said that, I feel that his name has been less and less linked with us and Moyes in recent weeks.
We could get both John, Eze is an attacking midfielder not a striker despite all this rubbish about him being a number 10, he is no more a number 10 than Fornals, Lanzini or Anderson. If anything there is a bit more of the Mickey Antonio about him, Watkins used to be a winger but is now a pure finisher allbeit one that creates assists, both players would do well in our team.
I like the Eze – Mickey comparison. He’d fit in well. We don’t have a Watkins kind of player, he’d be very useful too….
Fingers crossed 😀
Personally I didn’t see enough to say we should sign him. I would avoid if others are better suited to PL as I can’t see him making it at that level. Just my thoughts .
I watched both Brentford’s last 2 games and Benrahma was pretty good against Swansea,his first touch he gave the ball away a la Anderson and I thought oh oh here he goes. But his assist was class and grew more and more into the game. Unfortunately for him and Brenford Parker had done his homework and neither he nor the team did themselves justice. Play off Finals are like FA Cup Finals in a way- the result doesn’t always go to plan. I’ve not seen Eze play so can’t really comment but as someone said in an earlier post he scored fewer than Hugill!!!