Everton vs West Ham Preview
West Ham boss Graham Potter HAS to start Evan Ferguson against Everton on Saturday.
The Hammers manager confirmed what Claret & Hugh reported this morning regarding Niclas Füllkrug’s return to fitness, with the German striker set to be available for selection against Wolves on 1st April.
That leaves just one match for Ferguson to feature before facing direct competition for the No.9 role.
Forget, for a moment, that Potter has so far refused to use a recognised striker in his first eight Premier League games. But if we assume he will eventually revert to a traditional forward, it’s surely Füllkrug who will get the nod.
After all, West Ham have invested £27m in the big German, and as a contracted player, he should be the priority.
Ferguson, on the other hand, is only on loan from Brighton, with no obligation or option to buy. Factor in that Potter has shown little inclination to deploy the young Irishman in attack, and things look bleak for the loanee.
“He’s where we expected him to be when he came in. He came in as a young player who has had time out with injuries,” Potter said of the 20-year-old today.
If that’s the case, one has to ask—what was the point of signing him in the first place? Potter’s comments today are a far cry from his remarks when Ferguson arrived, which suggested the striker was ready to play.
Ferguson has had little impact for West Ham
Fergusons was signed to cover Fullkrug and Antonio absence
At the time, a delighted Potter dismissed doubts over Ferguson’s availability, pointing to the fact that he had featured for Brighton against Nottingham Forest on 1st February.
Whichever version one chooses to believe, the reality is that West Ham have taken on a player who was either unready or unneeded.
But if Ferguson doesn’t start against Everton on Saturday, there really was no point in bringing him in at all. In short, the club desperately needed a forward who could play in February and March to cover the absence of Fullkrug and Antonio . . . it hasn’t happened and now our main striker is back.
Any further appearances beyond this weekend would simply be getting a player fit on Brighton’s behalf rather than focusing on preparing our own forward for action.
West Ham will either sell Fullkrug or get the striker ready for the Premier League next season. But either one will necessitate him playing as much as possible in the final 9 games.
Surely it’s not beyond the wit of man to try to fathom out Potter’s dilemma, instead of crashing around in the proverbial china shop . We know that FULLKRUG is serious injury prone , to get anything like 50% playing time out of him in the rest of the season will be a big coaching achievement , with an improvement in his value ( if he still intends leaving ) . with Ferguson the problem is similar but different. Potter’s approach seems to cotton wool him to allow to steadily progress back to physical and then match fitness , with limited time for both , again 50 % playing time is unlikely , especially as there is no hurry , there is no advantage in trying to make an overnight roaring success, only to see his value rocketing . I think POTTER will almost certainly have to continue with stop gap variations until he can properly solve the C.F. crises , which is another story.
I wonder if were just trying to get him on the cheap at the end of the loan.
Like Harry Redknapp tried with Dani all those years ago when we had him on loan. Didn’t quite go as he intended though.
Common sense needs to prevail.
Start Ferguson & Guilherme.
Give fans what they want.
Time to wrap Fullkrug in cotton wool and ease him back in slowly_seems to be Potter tactic.
Who cares….can’t wait for this dismal season to finish….awful season
Well, with a name like yours, you obviously have other things to worry about! 🚽😂
Don’t bank on it. Two managers whose main policy is not to let a goal in. So 0-0 is a likely outcome.