Hold on a second, back up just a little bit. Our insider this morning confirmed to Claret and Hugh that Nuno was being ‘fully backed’ and was not in any danger of being sacked or replaced with any of the assorted runners and riders that hearsay had assembled over the weekend. No ‘must win’ Forest game. Apparently.
But buried – almost as an afterthought – within the club source’s words was the confirmation that West Ham have indeed already signed their second striker:
“We’ve just signed two strikers the manager wants, spending over €50m.”
Taty Castellanos, Welcome to West Ham United. For better or worse!
Castellanos is a Nuno pick and has been confirmed as ‘signed’.
After Niclas Fullkrug’s disastrous summer ’24 arrival and the departure of Danny Ings and Michail Antonio, West Ham had been suffering with no goal threat – until the veteran Callum Wilson was signed on a ‘free’ last summer. The 33 year old’s immediate impact – four goals in eight – shows Hammers fans and evidently the board what we’ve been missing . Sullivan has moved immediately to sign not one, but two new strikers in a desperate bid to score the goals to win the points.
At the risk of sounding ungrateful, the job is only half done. The Hammers need a replacement for Max Kilman now. Not in July. Two strikers, between them, offer a huge busload of potential to develop into the potent strike force Nuno – or whoever – needs.
But we have to keep goals out at the other end. So Mr Sullivan, grit your teeth and see the job through with a quality centre back to replace Max Kilman who should be dispatched for some other unfortunate side to endure his keystone cops – style defending. Supporters have seen enough. I’m sure you have too.
I like the sound of Castellanos, I looked on the West Ham website, and it sounds like he has that fighting spirit we need. I’m not sticking up for the board (it’s entirely their thought that we’re currently 19th), but it is easier to sort out one part of a team at a time with transfers, now we can turn our full attention to getting defenders urgently. It’s still January and we can still avoid the drop, pessimism won’t help anyone at this stage.
The centre backs have really cost us this season.Todibo looks fine now but the other 2 are just a mistake waiting to happen in every match.Kilman is the worst CB i can remember at our club and that includes Roger the Dodger.
I’ve been thinking about it and if we don’t get a strong CB in like Cresswell this window, I’d rather play Magassa at centre back over Kilman.
He had a tough game at the weekend but it might be a solution for the rest of this season that suits everyone… Magassa moved to CB, play Potts and Fernandes as a midfield 2 behind Paqueta (who can then be a bit more free to do what he wants… which he does anyway). Fernandes is really good but seems to do his best work a bit further back in the 8.
Long term I think Magassa is more of a CDM but given our situation and the fact he has played CB previously in his career, he’d offer a lot more than Kilman and give some much needed athleticism to the backline.
And if Nuno wants to play the 5 at the back when AWB and Diouf return, a centre back three of Todibo, Mavrapanos and Magassa (stepping into Midfield when we have possession) looks a lot better than what we’ve had on the pitch so far to me.
You don’t know what you’re doing Sully. JUST LEAVE
Personally I’d play soucek as CB over the 2 clowns we played against Wolves and make him captain. If tobido isn’t fit soucek and the young lad to start for me pace in one aerial ability in other, both put a shift in.
Just as essential as another Centre Back, we also need an experienced leader in midfield.
Someone who is an organiser and a winner and who can rustle a few feathers to get this lot performing – we really missed a trick with Xhaka, as he is exactly the type of player we now need.
Agree with your every word. The two strikers need to get us three goals a game for us to gain a point, such is the disaster that is our central defence.
Spot on with Kilman mate At long last people have seen through him
Lets just hope there don’t have a relegation cause in their contracts!
I’ll bet they do
I can’t any player in their right mind signing for a sh@t-show like West Ham without a clause that allows them to leave if and or when we drop.
It’s funny that, when we find ourselves in a serious relegation battle, funds have suddenly become available to buy new players.
It pretty much says it all about this lot.