West Ham travel away to Nottingham Forest for a 3.00 p.m. kick off today at the city ground. Desperate to follow up their fortuitous last-minute penalty win against Manchester United, Lopetegui had selection dilemmas across midfield and the forward line: Would he rest Lucas Paquetá in the middle of his preparation for both Brazilian parliament and FA enquiries into the ‘yellow card betting scandal’ and quite obviously off the pace in the last few performances.
And would Carlos Soler continue on the left or would Lopetegui see the light and start Crysencio Summerville, last week’s man of the match in just 45 minute cameo against Man U.
The starting line – up has just been announced and Lopetegui has made multiple changes to last week’s starting eleven! How it will shape up on the pitch is a bit of a head-scratcher: Summerville gets a start, three centre backs line up, presumably with Emerson and Wan Bissaka as more advanced wing-backs. And Lucas Paqueta starts whilst the duo of Summerville and Bowen play up-top. Three-five-two? Three-four-three? Five-three -two?
West Ham United:
Fabianski | Wan Bissaka, Todibo, Mavropanos, Kilman, Emerson| Rodriguez, Alvarez, Paqueta |Bowen, Summerville
Mohammed Kudus is of course suspended. Tomas Soucek missed the game through illness and Areola has also picked up a knock.
First half stats are all you need to look at to reslise this is not working……not 1 attemt on goal.
..
ATTEMPT !!!!! NOT ON TARGET..ATTEMPT..12 for them..
What is happening at our club again..
Hopefully me moaning we will score..but even if we do ..we have seriously gone backwards
After Danny Ings magnificent no look scuff to Summerville and miraculous penalty i’m surprised he’s not having a start so that Bowen can play to his strength on the right . Unfortunately Soucek sick and Westham’s midfield looks like it could be over run . Westham’s defense will fail if Wan-Bissaka and Emerson get caught out of position while trying to push forward .
Well with Soucek out with illness it was either Alverez or Soler . I like the 2 up front that could cause them problems with their pace just got to defend better than lately
Interesting he’s picked Casey from academy extra cover as centre back (although he can play through the middle).
Let’s hope they don’t get caught out by Forest’s quick breaks.
Must avoid conceding in first 10 minutes (normal style).
So 5-3-2 when defending. Or 5-4-1 defending.
More likely 5-5 defending knowing us. Or 10 defending. 11 including the goalkeeper.
3-4-3 attacking? Or 3-5-2 attacking?
Where is Soucek?
Souchek has a virus. He is off sick at home watching the game on tv. He hopes to be back to help out the lads next week.
Unbelievable..all that money spent and we are still playing bowen as a centre forward.
I mean ffs..
plus paqueta keeps his place…..I don’t.get this bloke …got lucky last week…can’t rely on teams missing open goals
Glad Summerville starts. We may lack creativity from midfield but that’s the sacrifice he’s making for solidity. Soucek will need to make alot of forward runs to support the front three. But at least a starting 11 that isn’t completely perplexing. COYI!
Soucek is not in the squad.
I like the changes, hopefully none of this hopelessly high line defence.
Soucek isn’t playing.