Tuesday night under the lights at the earlier time of 7.30pm at London stadium marks Graham Potter’s first game in charge at home and his first Premier League game. The squad has endured a torrid few weeks with several long term injuries to Antonio and Fullkrug whilst Todibo, Bowen, Emerson – possibly- and Crysencio Summerville are out for the time being.
So it is likely to be a makeshift – looking West Ham Xi which Potter announces to take the fight to Fulham. The main points of interest will be to see if Ollie Scarles continues his run in the side at left wing-back, having performed so well in Friday’s losing encounter with Aston Villa. I’m interested to see what kind of midfield the head coach puts out: His preferred ‘style’ was said to be a ‘box’ midfield (two attacking and 2 defending) along with 2 wing backs and three central defenders. Whether Potter feels he has the skills in the fit players to do this – after less than a week on the training pitch – is going to be one of the main talking points:
The West Ham team is published and the details are:
Fabianski | Wan-Bissaka Mavropanos Kilman, Emerson, | Soucek (c), Rodriguez Alvarez, | Kudus, Paqueta, Soler
Which we’ve assumed is ‘back to the future’ with a 4-3-3 layout owing to the injury situation which is well documented. No Summerville tonight, presumably he hasn’t recovered from last weeks hamstring injury. Shame.
3 big points in a great win for West Ham and we earned our luck as Fulham gifted us 2 goals. Ings nicked the ball on the edge of the box and Paqueta slotted it in to make it 3-1. Then Fulham fought back to make it 3-2 and chewed fingernails as West Ham brought on Irving, Cress and Scarles to grab an important win and take us to 12th position.
Difficult first 20 minutes where we were very compact but no out ball with runners and no touches in their box. What a turnaround with a disallowed header from great free kick, and an outstanding finish from Soler after awful attempted crossfield ball. Great press from Alvarez.
2 minutes 10 seconds later, excellent dribble from Kudus across the box to Soler and a pin point cross to back post where Wan Bissaka cut back to Soucek to put us 2-0 ahead. Fulham have been dissapointing but hit the bar twice from Harry Wilson and Raul Jiminez and 8 attempts. West Ham looking much more positive with 2 goals from only 2 attempts.
6 minutes in to the 2nd half Fulham just pulled one back to make it 2-1 which should have been saved. Much more open game with Fulham looking much more dangerous conceding free kick right on the edge of our box. Ferrera hit the wall. Danny Ings surprisingly brought on to replace Kudus in a big call from Graham. COYI.
It might be interesting to see how Rodriguez plays. Most of us think he is 2 bob, but in the short time potter has been there maybe he can somehow get more out of him. Tough game though even if we were at full strength.
Shame to see Summerville injured and hope he is back soon as he was outstanding against Villa. Gutted that Ollie is not starting but encouragjng to see 3 Academy players Scarles, Casey and Orford plus Guilherme on the bench.
Looking forward to seeing progress tonight against a strong Fulham team with Raul Jiminez back to his best. Looks to be Paqueta playing as a deeper striker with support from Kudus. Every time I see Graham’s interviews I feel more positive about his methods and he just said on TNT there is no ceiling about what we can achieve. COYI ⚒️⚒️
Haven’t seen this line up predicted by any of the experts on this site, or any other, for me feels good to have faith in an English manager who is articulate, family oriented, deals with the media and players in an understanding way. Given time 🤞we have a long term manager who helps the club and their supporters to future success.
Great chance for the boys selected to go out and enjoy themselves without constraints of too much pre-planning. Natural instinctive football played with enthusiasm.
Who knew?
COYI
A tough game with so many injuries which gives more emphasis on all the players to step up, especially Kudus and
Paquetá.
Maybe Alvarez will be part of a back three, otherwise it’s a midfield full of similar players
Not much strength on the bench, Summerville out is a blow.
Oh god ..not sure whatcto think about that lineup
.no cyro….no pace in midfield at all …..god ..prove me wrong