West Ham are not, apparently, the only side struggling to bring players in this summer though there are a host of mitigating circumstances for the Irons, newly relegated and with a shareholder battle occupying most of the clubs energy and a head of recruitment only recently employed.
Nuno and Koppen have struggled to recruit, with much still to be done in the last month of the window
Portsmouth, too, have faced challenges in recruiting this summer and their manager believes they’re chronically under strength for tomorrows Carabao Cup fixture due to be played in front of a record breaking crowd.
“Mousinho has made no secret of the fact he wants six more new signings“
Don’t we all. Ironically they have outspent their east London opponents this summer, as their manager confirmed:
‘The market has been really difficult, you look at some of the money which has been spent again in the Championship. We have spent more than we’ve ever spent before in my time here and that is brilliant, but you are still competing against sides who are willing to do that as well” (Portsmouth.co.uk)
So more than likely, both sides still have a couple of weeks’ frantic work ahead of them and the two teams sent out tomorrow will have little resemblance to those fielded by either team by the close of the window.
Portsmouth have 9000 fans heading up for the Saturday afternoon kick off: West Ham’s 50,000-plus will see the stadium almost at capacity, even with the Irons likely to use significant numbers of youngsters, as Nuno hinted this afternoon.
Whether either side can be judged on its performance in what has almost become a final preseason warm-up is doubtful. Winning, though, is a habit and the Hammers will hope to start their season in the right way.
I hope the long term plan is to develop youngsters (Magassa, Kante, Earthy, Orford, Lamadrid, Ajala, Fearon, Scarles, Battrum,…) many of whom could become talented players for the club, with as many as possible starting and using a blend of youth and experience with Alvarez, Soucek organising players, pulling back into position, covering, in order to steady the ship when pressure is on in a 2-1 game and the likes.
That is why I’m looking forward to seeing manager’s approach. Hope it is quick, attacking football (styled on the U21 team) with intelligent use of the players at his disposal, only NES often seems to go for tried, tested, failed, instead. Chance to turn a new leaf, has a very interesting squad at his disposal regardless of recruitment.
Sincerely hope NES does not play too safe because a lot of the younger players (including Diouf) naturally play attacking football while experienced players stop it becoming too reckless – Diouf really is a case in point, far more reckless than Scarles (who is playing well), but good attacker.
As the season progresses the team will naturally evolve as players manage or fail to grab a starting spot, become reliable 1st subs and so on.
I still can’t believe Pompey didn’t bid for Freddie Potts