It’s been a shambolic start to the season and many would say it is very much in keeping with The West Ham Way. We seem to effortlessly go from feast to famine in what is a familiar scenario for all long suffering West Ham fans.
Perhaps we’d all dared to dream that a move to a shiny new stadium would alter the Irons DNA that seems to allow us to spontaneously combust whenever we get a whiff of glory.
In this video I give my own opinion following an evening of reflection (straight after the game was probably not the best time to be reflective) and suggest a formation and starting 11 for the next game.
Let us know your thoughts on who you think should start the next league game at home to Southampton. . . . .. it probably won’t be hard to better my offering.
Are you and your mate Gio wetpants in disguise? Are you wetpants.in.disguise? Are you wetpants, are you wetpants, are you wetpants in disguise?
Give it some time, the team and management need time to settle at the new (fake) home. Also need to adjust to something as simple as the size of the new pitch.
The team just needs to dig in and up their game to Antonio. Last season they seemed to do that each game at our old (real) home.
We’ve been lucky with our signings in recent years. This season the new signings have not quite clicked yet. Still think Feghouli, Arbeloa, Fletcher, Zaza, Nordveidt and co are an improvement on O’Brien, Valencia.
Annoyingly for me the defence needed back ups especially as we let a Tomkins go. Tomkins is a massive loss in terms character and ability at the back.
Randolph and Oxford have to start next game. Also is it just me who thinks Kouyates performance levels have dropped off a lot.
**** me please don’t sing that song again you will get us in trouble lmao
I dont think they are Wet Pants but I have seen them come into contact with one,maybe they caught the Doom Disease
No Kouyate has been below par so far imo as well.I think you are right there.Who knows maybe he is carrying a slight injury or knock.
I’ve never heard him called that before. . . . . do you know something I don’t?
Your selection will certainly give us some stability in defense which hasn’t been the case. I do worry about the gap between the front and midfield with that line up , unless we can play counter attacking football like we did last year . This year we have got a tad too big for our boots and are trying to dominant the game which was the case against Watford and West brom which left us fully exposed to a counter.
So i would go with that back 4. I would place Antonio up front because he is the only player that looks like he can score right now and i would make all the strikers work 1 hour harder in training sessions. The current strikers movement to create space for runners is no happening so let them work that out in training:)
I wouldn’t play Oxford there i would go back to the 5 midfield with Payet and Lanzini up with Antonio leaving us 3 strong players to hold down that midfield. Nordviet Center Midfield where he plays best.. Kouyate and Fegholi for width down the right Mid.
Or maybe Nord Kouyate and Noble and keep Fegholi as a fresh sub to unleash later in the game.
Non of these strikers are even coming close to scoring!! They can watch and learn from Antonio how to find space and be a handful.
What also doesn’t help is having a striker that every time he’s passed to he loses the ball then doesn’t chase back to win the ball, I’ve always been taught you defend from the front.
Also until we get the defence sorted I wouldn’t play Payer and Manu together, even though going forward they look the most likely to unlock teams it makes us to lightweight in midfield and put a lot of pressure on our fragile defence.
As somebody else pointed out Ayew is excellent when played as a striker but clearly the defence needs some attention. I don’t know if Oxford is the answer but he can’t be any worse.
Great posting Gonzo. Agree purchases have been quantity not quality driven and,despite the millions spent, we are no better than last term whilst others continue to improve their first elevens. As for a starting eleven excluding those injured, (I emphasise this as the likes of Carroll, Sakho and Ayew would be shoe ins), I’d be inclined to play Fegholi on the wing instead of Lanzini. I don’t think we can moan about a lack of defending as a unit and yet play two strikers, Lanzini and Payet in the same side. So I’d go with a 4-5-1 of Randolph, Arbeloa, Reid, Ogbanna, Arthur, Kuoyate, Oxford, Fegholi, Antonio, Payet and Fletcher. I’d have Lanzini, Obiang, Noble, Zaza available from the bench, whilst counting Zahas appearances and doing a Robert Green when he gets to 14!!!
You can see from Billics posture he has a lot on his mind. Calleri looked a great prospect and looks homesick at 22!! Zaza was a last min rush deal because of the injury to Carroll and the chance to offload the wage of Valencia. He makes a run and if the ball doesn’t come to him thats it!! he closes the run shop up!!! Tore looks like he has no clue what he should do or go or be lol. Nordviet has sulked since taken out of center Mid.. Boy add that to all the other stuff going on and you can see why he has a lot on his shoulders right now. 2 wins on the bounce is what we need to lift Billic and the team!! Come on you ironsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss ..
Also add the long term injuries to Cresswell , Asknew and the Sako saga.
100% with this starting line up and comments in regard to the very average playes we have brought in to expand the squad for a comp that we are no longer in., We have made exactly the same mistake as Spurs after they sold GB. We should have got Lukaku ( worth 6 points aginst us) at 50 mil ( if not him someone of similar elk), kept Tomkins and got cover for a LB and Rb job done!
Owners looking for bargains all the time and yes it sometimes pays off but rather buy quality to begin with. Also they disrupted the strikers we had with talk of ” a quality striker” coming in. Sako must be laughing his head of at Zaza, he has the first touch of rocking horse and about the same pace too!