David Moyes could be forgiven by resting many of his first-team regulars for the Premier League game against Crystal Palace with a top-four place up for grabs.
Not to be complacent against Doncaster Rovers but it is an ideal game for West Ham’s ‘B team’ to prove themselves to the manager. Please not the inverted commas before having a moan up LOL.
Darren Randolph is likely to give Fabanski a rest and continue to be our cup keeper.
Craig Dawson and Angelo Ogbonna should also be rested to allow Issa Diop and Fabian Balbuena to re-form their partnership in the centre of defence.
Starts for Ryan Fredericks and Ben Johnson should allow Aaron Cresswell and Vladimir Coufal some downtime too.
Mark Noble and Pablo Fornals can deputise for Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek if required.
Manuel Lanzini, Andriy Yarmolnkeo, Said Benrahama and Jarrod Bowen can lead the attacking line leaving Michail Antonio to rest.
Predicted Starting XI: Randolph, Johnson, Diop, Balbeuna, Fredericks, Noble, Fornals, Yarmolenko, Benrahma, Lanzini, Bowen
One of the ironies of modern soccer is that, in my opinion, massively overpaid players, can be injured indefinitely (like Jack Wilshere) or rested for playing too much and still receive their full salaries – where else in a capitalist society could this happen? If I could not work – no pay! If you are a professional, fit and properly trained soccer player you should not need to be rested. In the good old days of Moore, Peters, Hurst and later, inter alia, Bonds and Brooking, did they ever need to be “rested” ? I think not!
Something wrong with your employment contract , Bill .
Couldn’t agree less . The FA cup needs to be taken very seriously . And our next premiership game against Palace should be a continuation of our intent to keep the momentum going . That is not our best team and is far removed from our intention to grow . We are not ready for Europe but a cup win would and could prepare us . If we are to grow we need to accustom ourselves to the pressures of success . Qualifying for Europe is a dangerous road to take but there is something about this recent west ham that fills me with hope , not to be confused with pipe dreams . I have witnessed too many disappointing times over the years ; not taking the cup seriously and that horrible day in 2006 . We need a cup run to get the fans excited .
That same excitement can infect the players and I sincerely hope it does . A Europa cup place is not out of the question either .
Bill Richards, couldn’t agree with you more, flipping pitches are like billiard tables ( not like mud baths of 70’sand 80’s…I mean really you need a rest because you battle to play 3 games in 7 days… These overpaid footballers are wrapped in cotton wool nowadays imho😔