A one – one draw was the headline from West Ham’s first pre-season fixture this afternoon as Nuno Espírito Santo rang the changes and swapped the whole eleven starters for the last half an hour. Therefore the ‘takeaways’ are somewhat limited with the priority being getting minutes in the legs and the lungs: But talking points emerged ahead of Wednesday’s next game at Stevenage.
The re-integration of James Ward Prowse?
Too early to say – but with West Ham’s lack of depth in the centre of the pitch it was interesting to see JWP return to a West Ham shirt after disappearing under Nuno last season. The Hammers have a skills shortage and you’d just wonder whether Nuno and he have kissed and made up for the good of the club. Ward Prowse looked composed in the centre of the pitch albeit against modest opponents and – another couple of appearances pre-season might show Nuno’s thinking.
Kilman – the jury is out on his suitability this season
Defensive frailties haven’t gone away
Did West Ham look more solid with Golambeckis at centre back for the last 20 minutes – or was I just imagining it from too many games watching Max Kilman. The Mavropanos / Kilman pairing at the start of the game looked a little rusty – and it is far too early to tell how well the duo will fare in the Championship.
New look midfield needs strengthening
Without doubt, West Ham need a new midfielder: Kante looked combative as the deeper lying ‘number six’, Earthy ahead on the left and Lamadrid in particular started well in a kind of ‘right-sided roaming number eight’ role. He was pretty much all over the pitch in the first half, popping up in several different positions and to be fair, for a first start, didn’t look half bad.
Lamadrid has an intriguing free, almost roaming role
However, Nuno must be pulling his remaining hair out waiting for one decent attacking midfielder to arrive and fill the huge void left by the departures of both Paquetá and Fernandes.
If anything, the lack of a playmaker is my most obvious take away from that first pre-season encounter. Both Earthy and Orford in the last 20 minutes had their moments but neither look to be the solution.
However, early days and pre-season is just that. The football proper is back. And how nice is to to look forward to a season free of VAR!
Is Magassa injured?
I’ve seen this question asked in many circles but no one has yet offered an answer.
Martin, do you are any of your contacts know?
If we end up playing the majority of next season with a midfield 2 of ward prowse and soucek I will despair Martin, it doesn’t work on any level whatsoever but I’m really fearful that’s exactly what will end up happening. We have a lot of work to do in the market if we are to have any chance of going up next season as what we have now (plus the outgoings yet to happen) is woefully short of the quality required. I like kante but the rest of the midfield is a real concern unless things change
Agree about JWP and Soucek, but I’d like to see guys like Potts and Magassa and Kante and Orford get a run out. Solution isn’t always buy buy buy more players – look at what happens when we panic buy players like Fullkrug and Pablo! No point in developing talent at the Academy if we just write them off and don’t give them a chance.