By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
Caught up in the hullabaloo of West Ham’s team announcement last night ahead of the Carabao Cup fixture against Fulham was the fans’ very own version of Where’s Wally? Except on this occasion it was a case of: where the hell is Edvin Austbø?
The Norwegian winger was not only absent from the starting line-up but the squad as a whole. With Nuno Espírito Santo stringing four central midfielders across the middle of the park and not starting with any wingers at all, it was indeed a mystery why one of West Ham’s biggest signings of the summer, and a player chased relentlessly by Nils Koppen, was nowhere to be seen.
Some have attributed Austbø’s disappearance to comments made last week in which he indicated the Hammers were a stepping stone to greater things. Speaking to West Ham Zone, via Stavanger Aftenblad, the winger made his ambitions pretty clear.
“The goal is to reach the Premier League, and that’s West Ham’s plan too. I’d like to play for an even bigger club in the future, even though West Ham is huge.
“The goal is to become so good they sell me, but first, we’re going to achieve a few things along the way.”
Did Austbø’s comments upset Nuno?
Personally, I’m not so sure.
After all, Malick Diouf said far worse last season and was still selected by Espírito Santo. Saying that, once it became clear Aaron Wan-Bissaka favoured international football over a relegation scrap, ruthless Nuno hardly selected the right-back again.
Indeed, Wan-Bissaka’s relationship with Nuno deteriorated to the point where there was really no way back, so we know the West Ham boss is perfectly capable of making brutal selection decisions.
West Ham lacked balance at times on the flanks against Fulham and the League Cup would have seemed an ideal opportunity to include Austbø. But the fact that Keiber Lamadrid wasn’t selected either leaves me wondering whether the decision was tactical rather than anything else.
Kante played left midfield for West Ham
West Ham source plays down Austbø absence
Claret & Hugh did approach a source about Austbø’s omission and were informed cryptically: “Don’t read too much into it.”
And I’m inclined to agree.
There was a similar reaction when Lewis Orford disappeared completely from the Hammers squad a couple of weeks ago. He was subsequently recalled and is clearly still in Nuno’s plans.
Austbø has already shown glimpses of what he can offer since arriving in East London, including a goal and an assist against Derby. One unexplained absence is certainly curious, particularly given his comments last week, but for now that’s all it is.
For the moment, I’m going to assume the new signing hasn’t done a Marco Boogers.
Would suggest that it has nothing to do with what he said,after all every young player has ambitions to play at the top level,but not all say so.
He wasnt nowhere to be seen, he was there and took part in the pre match warm up on the pitch. He was in the sub group with Bowen, Tatty and co. I commented to my son how it was strange he was warming up but wasn’t listed in the sqaud. Shows he wasn’t injured and I put it down to possibly being a sub sub, in case someone pulls out during the warm up?
Diarrhea. Edvin Austbø would be pleased to know that his current disability is not being disclosed to the public. One sneeze could blow his cover.
It happens.
COYI
indicated so it’s how people inturpret it I would suggest he probably meant that he wants to improve his game and move on (isn’t that exactly what Rice did) Then we can sell him for a fortune NOBODY will complain then If that is true about Nuno He shouldn’t be a manager
I think it was not a bad performance
Second half towards the end we were bombarding them
Some better finishing we could have won
Cup not our priority but enjoyed the game
Nice to see Pablo score,everyone was so pleased for him. His team mates especially
Looks like a team all pulling in the same direction and fighting for the team
Well done boys
Looking forward to Saturdays game
It was just the best B team he could get away with and some big guns on the bench in case we were in for a chance of getting a win.
Prioritising promotion,
Nothing more than that
It definitely seemed tactical, but it also definitely didn’t work. Good job it was a cup game. Hopefully we will return to using our excellent wide players, and something of Boiro, on Saturday.
Hardly a mystery I’d suggest. The Norwegian league runs from March to November so before joining us he would have played the best part of a season already. By joining us he’s made his season potentially fourteen months long – March to the following May. To avoid burning him out presumably we’ll look for opportunities to rest him.