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Moyes' Noble Dilemma

nevillenixon's picture
Submitted by nevillenixon on Fri, 19/06/2020 - 11:11

It has been over 100 days, but the anxieties of supporting West Ham United will be flooding back for most fans as they anticipate the club's return to playing Barclays Premier League football, despite some strange new hair styles the players remain the same, only they are mostly fully fit. The term fully fit and West Ham United is a bit of an anathema especially when looking back at the list of the 'perpetually injured' players that the club have signed, all the way back to Kieron Dyer (remember him?) and beyond.

As we have previously mentioned, and has been reported widely by story starved journalists, only three players currently have 'issues' regarding their fitness. Two out of the three are considered to be Hammers' stalwarts, so David Moyes has a bit of a selection dilemma which could have great bearing on which division the club will be playing in next season. EPL predictions vary from different sources, most are forecasting survival for West Ham United, but the team that the manager selects is going to be up against a high flying and extremely fleet of foot Wolves team looking to build on their European success.

Moyes is at a cross roads now, one that many, and there have been many, managers at the club have had to contend with, should he start Mr West Ham Mark Noble? Having been written off more times than a dodgy rental car, Captain Mark or nobbs as he is known by the players, has clearly stated that he cannot keep playing game in game out because he hasn't got a lot left in the tank. That said, his pure determination and love for the club enables him to push his 34 year old body to the limits and beyond, but he pays the price physically and unfortunately errors creep in to his play as he endeavors to attempt to play the football that is in his mind, as opposed to that which his body can cope with.

Ominously, the home game against Nuno Spirito's Wolves to be played on Saturday at 17:30 Hrs in the London Stadium is featured as a highly predicted away victory by EPL picksand various other platforms, without Captain Noble who does have a 'niggle', the team can look and perform like a ship without a rudder, normally Angelo Ogbonna would be the seasoned professional to take over the captaincy from 'Nobbs', but he too has a niggling injury that has prevented him from training fully, so David Moyes may be forced in to using an alternative line up, one that could possibly obviate the phenominal pace of the Wolves attack.

When it comes to pace, both the injury prone Ryan Fredericks and the accident prone Authur Masuaku have it to burn in abundance, they could match the Wolves strike force for pace, but that would essentially require others to 'double up' when required, not many of those players available for selection have that capability. The new ruling regarding the amount of substitutes that can be used and the amount of players who can be on the bench could be a game changer for David Moyes on paper, but as we all know the game is not played on paper, instead it is played on immaculately manicured surfaces that would put a bowling green to shame.

At the end of the day there are six teams in the mire, and only three will survive, EPL odds currently favour survival for the Irons, however the situation might already have altered before a ball is kicked at the London Stadium, with fellow relegation candidates Watford and Brighton both having played their games earlier in the day. Bournemouth play their's after the Hammers game, by which time the League may well look an awful lot different, especially if things don't go David Moyes' way! - Ed

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Without Noble we could be light on 'on field management'...I said the other day we lack spine without him and with him we could be giving away free kicks outside our box as often happens. I hope we can get a point, or on a lucky day, all three, but not sure we have glue required to cement the team together...can they prove me wrong?
We'll see at 2.30am over here...COYI

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