Irons 2 Brentford 1
By Hugh Southon
The Irons continued their pre-season winning ways with an often impressive victory over beaten Championship play off finalists Brentford.
I can’t often remember being disappointed to see a friendly end but that was the case today as the lads often played the sort of football to give us much hope ahead of the season.
The one sour moment came when Michail Antonio went down with a hip injury after falling awkwardly and we will attempt to find out the score with him later today.
On the face of it his injury didn’t look too bad and it may well have been a precautionary measure to take him off but it demonstrated the concerns some of us have given his injury track record and seemingly a back up striker not high on David Moyes’ priority agenda.
Andriy Yarmelonko gave us the lead after four minutes having been played in well by Pablo Fornals and after Brentford’s Forrs equalised late on in the first half Tomas Soucek was on hand to convert Antonio’s brilliantly executed assist in the second half.
Soucek was a hugely imposing player at the heart of midfield and his second goal in two friendlies showed what a massive asset he will be this season.
Yarmolenko is responding well to the challenge Jarrod Bowen’s arrival is putting him under and both Anderson and Lanzini appear to be putting pressure on each other for the creative role – Lanzini may be in front at this stage.
The Hammers were in control and held possession well for long periods and both looked far more effective and up for it when the arrived for the second half.
At the back Fabian Balbuena was given an extended run out and did nothing to harm any opinion Moyes may have formed about him.
At this stage of the pre-season we can all feel pretty happy about where we are and it’s particularly good to see us moving the ball well, creating chances but the coaching team may still need to do a little work at the back.
Do we know whats happened to Rice Diop and Snodgrass. They seem to have disappeared !
Probably all been on holiday and given positive tests. Personally I thought that was pre-season friendly tedium in large parts. West Ham going sideways and backwards, not really creating much. Do wish Haller would put himself about a bit more, give the defence something to worry about.
Rice was in the gym this afternoon.
yep story up
Think it’s obvious what the 13 or 14 will make up the first team, but where is the squad.The fringe players are just not up to it. We only need 2 or 3 early injuries and we’re in major trouble.
Hugh. Very biased report which is unusual for you. Our two fullbacks were dreadful. Johnson is heads above Fredericks. We must sign a new LB because Cresswell is embarrassing. Balbuana is poor and I was disappointed Baptise was not given any minutes. As for the game in general I thought Brentford were slicker than us and created more chances.
I also agree that overall there was much to be pleased with, but I do think it is a little unfair to say Moyes doesnt see a striker as a priority when he hasn’t even got the funds for a defender. In fact there IS no money.
Our predicament was highlighted after a crude challenge on Antonio that hopefully won’t prove to be too bad an injury. But whether pre-season or in the middle of it, our lack of depth WILL be exposed unless we have an injury in midfield.
Balbuena still concerns me, as there was an incident during the game when he did his usual thing after losing his player, leaving him with an open goal…. Premiership players are less wasteful.
Masuaku also worries me as he often fails to prevent an opposition cross from being completed….which will lead to goals against us. Whilst on the other side, I would only consider Fredericks as our back up right-back….even at this stage.
It isn’t all doom and gloom, but if we haven’t got the incoming players that we need lined up, I’d be a little worrried that we might make progression from last season, a touch harder than it should be.
You may consider it unfair but sadly it’s the truth Cat = he is looking for defenders
I agree totally with you Hugh, and also understand his concerns as we have needed better full-backs (especially at left-back) for a few seasons now.
But if he had the funds, I’m sure he would be looking to beef up the upfront area also, which was probably why he was looking so hard at Eze.
Unfortunately we are a bottom half or bottom 6 team and with injuries to key players it will be a long season yet again… Rice is our best player by a mile at 21 years of age if he leaves we are in for an even longer season than last… COYI I’ll kerp the faith because that’s all we have ⚒️
We’re losing all our targets to other teams because we have “no money due to the pandemic”… but we seem to be the only club in the premiership in this predicament!! Come on Sullivan – short arms, deep pockets!