Saint86

Maybe not papering over the cracks... But talk about spine... Tonight we had no larin, no azaz, no downes, no Jander, and no THB... That is our spine.

Wellington was the root cause of that error in fairness. Just dreadful for it.

He put it on a plate for Mubama to tap in 😅

Huge complacency and no intensity.

Really poor from Stephans, Wellington, and Peretz tonight. Bragg and akachugwu basically non events and may as well have not been on the pitch. Scienza scored a nice goal but really their reserve keeper should never have conceded it. Other than that he was a non event. Corners and set pieces were once again awful. No one really impressed for me. Larin's and Azaz's brief cameo probably the only time we looked like a dangerous attacking outfit. Own goal from Eckert (he's back to making his novice errors where he just walks eyes wide open in to avoidable fuck ups)... We've damaged our confidence and boosted a direct rival who was struggling.

Mubama statuesque in responding to what should have been a tap in.

How does Mubama not attack that cross FFS.

Don't get me wrong, I know Wellington's rusty.. but he's been to blame for so many west ham attacks. Giving the ball away, out of position, letting longballs bounce... Glad he's done this in a cup game.

Most worrying thing is the head loss from the side at 2-1

Wellington has been utter dog shit.

Let in 5 goals in 3 games. Defending has been fucking appalling.

Reminds me more of the interim period where we lost a few (before the run started). Basically Tonda walking into avoidable error after avoidable error and showing his greenness. Frustrating as totally avoidable tonight. We should have put their essentially u21 / reserve side to the sword first half. So complacent, no intensity, and now all of a sudden we're losing to a shit rotated side that bring in 4 of the best players (for their positions) in the league. Walked right into it. Schoolboys stuff.

This is really poor from us tonight. Walked straight into this.

Really poor from Eckert and the team tonight. Should have put them to the sword first half, basically a reserve side. Didn't put enough on the pitch, were complacent, didn't put them to the sword. And then stephens and Peretz have just gifted it to them... "It's an u21 side right? We'll pull it back..." Poor complacent attitude. Sloppy. Win the game, then make subs.

Are we even selling him though? Seems less and less certain now... i'm not convinced we haven't priced him out of a move to villa - perhaps on the basis/gamble that he'll not kick off and continue to give his all this coming season?

I looked into it and think it can be watched on now tv

He is basically a copy of Larin - two reasonably powerful forwards with excellent movement (especially for the championship) and natural finishers. Slots straight into Tonda's approach of rotating players in like-for-like roles and making sure the team is very well coached around that. The championship is just as much an endurance race as much as it is about star players and quality - and on that basis he looks to be a good addition. What it does mean however is that we are missing a proper target man striker (i.e., the ross stewart role), but equally we have players like Dobbin who can play alongside Larin/Mubama if we do need to go to a 2 up top and use their pace to exploit spaces their movement creates. It will be interesting to see how we manage against sides that park the bus - there were certainly times last year where being able to bring on both Stewart and Larin and get balls in the box was critical in getting decisive goals.

Can that be watched on Now TV?

Based on the press conference (and concerns over minutes), it sounds like we'll see a very rotated side for this one. Mubama over Larin. Wellington over Manning. Dobbin over Azaz. Suspect Quarshie may get some minutes over Wood (if not starting then second half sub). Fancy Romeo and Bragg to get starts as well. And ofc, Long in goal over Peretz. Don't get me wrong, we have a good squad and the way Eckert sets his team up and coaches the players we at least know that they'll know their jobs and play together well, but i fear west ham may go with a very strong side to try and recover some momentum. Personally i would want the win in this - builds are confidence up ahead of Millwall, and potentially upsets the start of West Ham's season just a little bit more.

Its a weird one for him. Hasn't worked out at Saints for whatever reasons, and he's spent most summers looking like he'll be going out the door and so not fully in the managers' plans... Equally, the club probably see him as someone who won't be signing another contract at Saints so don't want to waste time on him now / want to maximise transfer return. Its a shame, as I suspect things would have been different if (at some point) a decision had been made to fully use him and have him as a regular starter - There is little difference between a fully fit and playing Edozie and Fellows in my eyes... Perhaps we'll see that this season if he doesn't get moved out - suspect he's more of an asset than any compensation we'll get for letting him go.

Probably because they're good players with a higher ceiling than the championship... rather that than poorer shit players that prem sides have no interest in.

I don't disagree - I suspect that in January the club had no interest in the sale and that this time around it can surely only mean that a deal is very close. I guess it could also be the case that the club need this sale and have plans in case, and so don't want to risk anything.

Jander scored 2 league goals last season. Its a bit of a misnomer including him from a goal-scoring standpoint 😆. But i do agree - a loss of quality around the pitch is what will concern me, and especially if we lost Jander in CM (although i think that he'll be the last one we consider selling). THB is very good at attacking set pieces (ironically given i think he's poor at defensive ones - and he isn't the most physical), but i suspect we can get another good CB (for the champ) who can also score a few headers etc. I also don't think people should dismiss Larin, his movement is absolutely superb - with players like scienza, azaz, fellows etc feeding him in this side, he is going to fill his boots this year. We've got him from the start of the season, embedded in the side, and fully fit from the get go - he's going to be far better than last year. There is a case to be made for having to share the goals around the side because we didn't have a reliable CF last season (i.e., stewart and larin had fitness issues).

Tonda praised THB's professionalism, said he loves the club and wanted to play, but wasn't in the right headspace, and that it was the right decision to go with the boys out there today. Or something along those lines.... So basically the opposite of Watkins (or VVD if you prefer a saints reference).

Was on one of the post match interviews post stoke, can't remember if it was Tonda or Blackmore and tessem. Don't get me wrong, I think it's extremely unlikely that he'll turn down that move... But if he genuinely does care a lot about the club... And villa are this much of a mess, then it could happen (with Bowen levels of dedication). You would assume he's long gone.