Pedro scored his first ever Hammers game
Pedro Obiang looks likely to be facing serious pressure following David Moyes’ aim of strengthening midfield this winter.
The manager is keen to bring in a ball carrying midfielder who can make things happen and get things going.
Obiang may not be seen as a player capable of doing that and Moyes is ready to launch a bid – with Bournemouth’s Harry Arter the man target.
Having assessed the squad over the past few games it is well known that he sees the middle of the park as his priority area but he is also looking hard at his defensive situation.
And Sam Byram is another he is currently unsure about along with Jose Fonte. Whilst both are currently injured, the new manager may make some decisions on both those positions as he bids to ensure the Irons surival.
Only three players? Football throws up varying views but I think there’s several others: Carroll (one trick pony/no goals this season), Ayew (goes missing), Kouyate (what has happened to him?) Cresswell (out of position too much/poor corner led to their goal), Antonio (looks knackered/too many injuries/poor body language), Reid (distribution poor, lacks pace, too many injuries).
Newcastle hadn’t won in 9 games and they could have been three up in the first half. Hope we don’t help Bournemouth break their poor run of no wins in eight. COYI
If you want to break a bad run all you need is a game against West Ham. ,,, or so it seems .
West Ham have broken the good runs of other teams don’t forget . But obviously not enough . I wouldn’t call Carroll a one trick pony ,,, you need to play consistently to score .
I would much rather wave goodbye to Ayew any day .
Disagree a bit. Antonio has a reputation for his engine and in my opinion is being over used and too much expectation, plus needs to go back on the RW. Obiang Ayew and Kouyate anonymous yesterday. Cant believe Im saying this but we desperately missed Noble too. We need Arter or Carvalho and another CB. Dont really know where all the talk of Byram not impressing is coming fron as he has been injured and unable to prove himself. Looked good end of last season, a bit green but hes a fighter and wouldnt have been turned or nutmegged like Zaba yesterday.
Sorry , but where did we miss Noble ? He commits to penalties , hits and hopes , but they are all professionals and his one attribute does not compensate for the rest of the crap he serves up . Hopefully the injury will linger on and we will have new faces to criticise. He should never be considered as a starter again . He is way past his best which wasn’t even very good .
A big NO to Arter!!
Carvalho would be great but cannot see the owners splashing that kind of cash.I dont think they truly realise how much relegation would cost them and spending £40 mill is a drop in the ocean in comparison.We need a solid midfielder with class who turns up every week and plays his socks off.After all the stick he has received this season i would still have Noble in before Obiang and Kouyate who blow more hot and cold then a good north westerly.Rice needs to be playing every week too as he is the future foundation of the club and will only get better with more game time.
Agree completely with RobbieM. Have previously posted here that Carroll, Ayew, Byram, Fonte, Collins need to go. Have also posted that ‘knock-kneed’ Reid is injury prone and so we need two centre backs, one ‘old school’ Bould-type and one other with mobility and height. A ball carrying midfielder would be ideal as would a destructive marauder with guile in the mould of Tim Cahill. I’d expect Moyes to be in for the experience and sheer nastiness of Marouane Fellaini. He’s a latter day McMahon or Souness. We do not currently have an enforcer around whom others can play-make.
My conjecture that 4 points from a possible 9 over the winter solstice would be realistic is seemingly prophetic. Maybe it will turn into a rather hopeful wish. Football has its own cruel irony. Prophecy and prediction can bite you in the ass in football. We may well cosh Bournemouth and WBA; we may well not. Either way these games will deliver their own destiny.
Mr Moyes is no messiah. Already turning on Antonio in public he has shown himself to have none of Slaven Bilic’s professional dignity. Ladling criticism and blame on to an individual in a public manner is repugnant. Say what you will about Michail Antpnio – and the press worked hard to denounce and demean our player as having no brain (and this is not racism?) – he’s no slacker. Unlike other ‘champagne Charlie’ footballers he played out of position to honour his contract in doing Slaven’s bidding. There is no need for Mr Moyes to harass one of our honest, open handed players. Whatever happens in this turbulent time, COYI.
We definitely need at least two players probably both in central midfield, I think if Moyes stops playing Reid on the right side of central defence a lot of the defensive problems will disappear overnight, he has a ball carrying central defender in Declan Rice its time to do away with the old guard and play a younger player who is already our best central defender and best defensive midfielder even though there are better defensive midfielder’s on the market namely Carvalho, put Rice alongside Ogbonna and you have at least two defenders that can read the game in the middle, when you add Zaba who despite his age still reads the game exceptionally making up for some of his shortcomings with pace and reduced athleticism, for me the vast majority of the problems were down the right half of the pitch, Rafa exploited the fact that Zaba was given no cover and Reid is not a very good or natural right sided central defender, it is where our problems have been for the last 3 years whether in a flat back 4 or back 5 it was only solid when Antonio used to do his share of tracking back and helping something for whatever reason he is much more reluctant to do these days, on the left side Cresswell is helped out ably by Masuaku, neither central midfielder yesterday had even a half decent game I can’t even remember seeing a tackle of interception from them, we were fortunately helped out by poor quality passing from Newcastle giving us the ball back numerous times one way or another. Moyes has to address that gaping hole in the middle of the field we also have no player that occupies the space in the lines between midfield and defence or attack so that is open space for any team with a playmaker to exploit. The simple solution is to just be compact compressing that space between the lines as we do against better teams, allowing them territory and posession and counter attacking to make use of the space behind them when they are pushed up, all this bolleaux about having to come out when you play at home is overrated it only works if you have sufficient quality to create multiple high quality chances, we are lacking in that area as are many teams at our end of the table but being compact we can defend well and giving lesser quality players like Antonio time and space on the ball to make up for their lack of technical ability and close control is imho more likely to give us positive outcomes home or away.
Agree 32 on Rice. Reid I like but is overrated & 5 year deal was mad. Meanwhile I think Collins is still reliable Ruff & deserves another year if as a squad player he would been better in back 3 at Newcastle then Reid.
Squad is to thin to do an overhaul & Ayew like him or not scores & decent squad player.
To me Byram could be good & has put in good shifts but still young & needs proper training.
Collins makes £30k nothing these days & wants to retire here deserves a testiminal & he held his own against Stoke.
So can’t sell to many players in Jan seeing that we have a 21 man injury prone squad.
But we need to get over this PL experience bc we don’t have the money & doesn’t hardly ever work out anyway.
But £30m over Europe can buy you a few good players