Saint86

We were missing 6 of our 7 best players... That is hardly the "A-team" (THB, Jander, Azaz, Larin, Manning, Downes) - People should be pissed off because we rotated so much and because the squad is not good enough currently. We also had Akachugwu making his first senior start, and Wellington's first minutes of the season. We'd have struggled to go with a significantly weaker starting 11 given the available players (who we aren't trying to ship out).

Equally, there was essentially no chance of premier league football before he came in 🙃

Its exactly like at times last season under Tonda where (at times) he does unfortunately show us how green he is as a manager tbh. I mentioned on the transfer window, but we field a side with none of its spine and then expected it to play well. No larin, no azaz, no jander, no downes, no THB... That is walking into a cock up with his eyes wide open (like at times last season before the run started). Its very frustrating and disappointing as ultimately the west ham side was there for the taking if we had gone just a little bit stronger. I'm willing to forgive it this time, but needs to learn from it and not do it again. Should have started2 of Downes, larin, and azaz and taken them off at 55min etc. and made sure we had enough core players on to drive the team an maintain control and standards. He does also need help with the squad - The jander injury and Charles sale has left us horribly exposed. Ditto THB being unavailable. Thats 2 of our best 4/5 players and 3 very good players for the champ, whilst at the same time we've been nursing Larin and Azaz's fitness coming back after the summer.

Good post. I think (with a good season) I can see about 70 goals with the current players being feasible. Last season, Peretz was averaging circa 1 goal against per game... So really that should be enough. However this year the defence has been atrocious (Jander being missed a lot imho). I will be very surprised if we do all the business the clubs wants to do tbh. There are just too many players they want out the door. Suspect we'll get 1 maybe 2 in, which will likely be a CB and CM. On Dobbin Vs Stewart, and the 4M Vs 9M. I think that's slightly unfair as in reality we can expect to break even or make a profit on Dobbin. So realistically it's £4M on Stewart Vs likely comparable wages on Dobbin - and only one of those 2 players wanted to be here and wasn't a walking sick note. A better point is how exactly the club think dobbin is a back up for azaz (he is a different player being asked to do Azaz's role - which he then can't do as well as azaz), and did we have £9M to prioritise on that this summer - looks unlikely.

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. Also no manning.

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.