One of the interesting articles from the weekend got lost as the protests and the subsequent defeat to Crystal Palace took centre stage with Graham Potter’s home form the subject of a barrage of criticism. The manager replacement stories took front page headlines as first Nuno and then Slaven Bilic were built up as possible candidates.
An article by the sun.co.uk, almost as a footnote, discussed summer signing Mads Hermansen’s place at West Ham:
“West Ham bosses have made it clear they expect results to improve….They have also been frustrated by the form of summer signing Mads Hermansen, who was Potter’s first choice in goal….Hermansen was dropped for Alphonse Areola against Crystal Palace following a string of errors early this season.”
It seems like I am the only one thinking that perhaps Hermansen has had a raw deal and suffered from West Ham’s defensive frailties. It is absolutely agreed that the Dane made some poor goal keeping errors against Sunderland and then withered under the Chelsea barrage: Who wouldn’t have.
Sadly he’d only played one competitive fixture since groin surgery and had virtually no preseason. Was it a failing of Potter’s to march him straight into the starting line up against Sunderland? In hindsight, absolutely.
How long did Jarrod Bowen wait for a start under Moyes after signing from Championship side Hull City: I have a feeling he was integrated over several fixtures whereas the young Dane was chucked in at the deep end.
Several fan sites have already written him off: Hopefully that is a bit premature, Having seen how well he performed for Leicester last year, I do sense there’s a lot more yet to come when he gets another chance. Apart from anything else, the Hammers have well over £15 million invested in young Mads: Good players don’t suddenly become bad overnight.
Good keeper Martin Potter was totally wrong to play him Hed only been here a few days Bad defence shot his confidence Plus the man had been out injured for three months
So Sullivan has let it be known indirectly (via The Sun), that Hermansen was not his choice……. sounds familiar!
There was no need to buy him typical of Potters incompetence.
He isn’t a good keeper because he is too small how can the ball find the net when he was 2 feet off his line and at full stretch the ball went above his fingers into the net. Another disaster
But, they DO – quite frequently, at West Ham, Martin. That is a part of the reason that we are in the mess we are in. Names ? Our last 3 strikers come to mind; as does Todibo, Ward Prowse, Kilman, Alvarez, Aguerd etc. etc. I could go on – but won’t.
Yes, I would like to give Mads benefit of the doubt at the moment.
Unfortunately, West Ham have never been great defensively going back to the year dot, but the current defence ( albeit with no help from midfield) have taken it to a new level !
Being a Goalkeeper in current West Ham team bit like being at The Alamo.
Let’s give the young fellah a chance – hopefully at some point, we can give him some protection and then reassess.
Investing in a decent striker was a priority. So, we sign a ‘keeper from a relegated team that no-one else was interested in, and a has-been injury-prone freebie striker in his 30s that nobody other than us wanted either.
“Next level”.
Aguerd didn’t do so bad on the champions league last night, sums up our transfer strategy.
And if we’d signed him and not played him people would have been complaining about it.