Today’s trip to third tier Burton Albion offers West Ham challenges that many of the clubs senior players won’t have experienced for a long, long time. The perils of bumpy pitches, opposition fans close to the action and eager opponents looking to make a name for themselves with a Premier League scalp – will make life uncomfortable for the Hammers side used to the vast green swathes of London Stadium’s carpet-like turf and antiseptic atmosphere.
However for several – Jarrod Bowen and Max Kilman amongst them – lower league football was their route to the top and so today’s trip will come as a reminder of their roots.
Whilst this FA Cup tie comes at a crucial juncture in the Premier League battle, it doesn’t have to be a diversion. Reputations are made in cup clashes and for one or two fringe players, opportunity might just come knocking. Make a name for yourself today and a Premier League future beckons.
However what is evident from yesterday’s ‘inside Rush Green’ customary pre-game training video is that for the Hammers this is very much ‘business as usual’: No late additions to the senior squad in training with Ezra Mayers and Ollie Scarles being the only two academy graduates featured.
Not added to first team squad for last minute training – Keiber Lamadrid
No sign of West Ham’s young on-loan Venezuelan Keiber Lamadrid – many fans will have hoped to catch a glimpse of the youngster should Nuno feature a ‘B’ side to start against Burton and the player himself would surely hope to feature, having travelled half way around the world on a four month loan.
There’s a ‘vacancy’ in the squad right now with Pablo sidelined for an extensive period: A young, energetic winger with energy to close teams down in the latter stages of games could be just what the doctor ordered.
However the signs are that Nuno is taking the tie extremely seriously and will be fielding a strong side rather than incorporating the likes of Lamadrid, Kanté or Lewis Orford – which is high risk when several senior players could do with a break ahead of the last twelve games.
The full squad ‘reveal’ will be at 1115 this moring as the game kicks off at 1215 – and we’ll bring it to you first.
You got that BADLY wrong! Debuts (full) for two academy players.
ah well, makes up for getting it right last week. Nice for all you readers to know its ‘human’ not AI generated LOL
Burton are on poor form at the bottom of league one, they will raise their game for the occasion but it’s form teams at the top of their divisions who raise their games who are a threat, which is usually the sort of team that gets through to this round in the cup. In that sense they’re unusual.
They won’t roll over and die but they will be very outclassed. They will need to put in a lot of effort that will be difficult to maintain. I think we’ll win in 90 minutes, likely 2-0
We should never assume our younger players are better than established league one players .
They might have potential but how many young players ever make it to become premier league regulars …. Not many !
We don’t play another premier league game until next Saturday evening so let’s keep the momentum going rather than throwing the tie and causing doubts again in the squad !
Let’s hope he doesn’t, he should play the kids Burton are low on confidence and the players need to recharge for the final push, Kante has been on the bench for ages its time to reward him, otherwise we might as well of loaned him out to a championship side and got him experience which would help for next season.Definitely high risk with the forwards, if Taty, Bowen or Summerville get injured we are screwed, time to give their muscles a rest to recover we still have 12 cup games in the league at high intensity all of which are a ticking time bomb and sometimes players in cup games show levels that no one thought they had and it gives them the chance to progress which is good for the long term.