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Crisis, What Crisis? No Zabaleta, No Reid, No Hope?

nevillenixon's picture
Submitted by nevillenixon on Tue, 31/10/2017 - 08:15

The last time West Ham United faced this Saturday's visitors Liverpool was on the final home game of last season, the drubbing left a very poor taste in the mouth! Fresh on the heels of nearly snatching defeat from victory at Palace, Slaven Billic's team is going to have to be completely re-jigged at the back with the news that Jose Font has joined James Collins and Winston Reid on the injury list, ally that to Pablo Zabaleta's suspension for having reached his yellow card limit and things look pretty bleak!

Aaron Cresswell had to go off at half time during the match at Selhurst Park so even he is doubtful for the Liverpool clash, Authur Masuaku is a fine replacement but does lack the defensive qualities of Cresswell. Sam Byram is a shoe in for Zabaleta and deserves his chance, hopefully some of the 'old master's' magic will have worn off on to him, match day cover for both Masuaku and Byram could be provided by Nathan Holland and Declan Rice, Rice can also cover for Font or Reid as he is a natural centre back. With Edimilson Fernandez looking strong in midfield the 'Academy' finally seems to be producing players that are up to scratch, the under -23's are doing particularly well which beggars the question of "when will Tony Martinez get his chance?" This lad bangs goals in for fun and he is most definitely NOT another Freddie Sears!

Mark Noble lacks pace and in certain circumstances vision, but he kind of makes up for those shortcomings with his endevour and passion which cannot be doubted. For the Liverpool match Noble might be first choice in midfield, but there are others who are much more mobile, a quality that might well be needed against a very mobile Liverpool team whose only weakness is in defence. Slaven Billic should be able to call upon all of his strikers for the match, it will be interesting to see if he will be prepared to take the plunge with Martinez, but previous experience shows that for some reason Billic lacks faith in his youth players and only uses them when he is forced to due to injuries, perhaps he sees the Liverpool match as a game too far for youngsters!

West Ham fans can take a defeat if their team has given their all, what cannot be tolerated is a lack of energy, displays like the one against Brighton turn the London Stadium in to the Toxic Drome Stadium very swiftly, Saturday's impending game is not a season changer, but a good result would turn the atmosphere around very quickly for Billic and his squad of players who would not be human if they were not affected by their fans negativity. Booing your own players if they make a back pass is a human emotion, but it doesn't help the players and hinders the overall result! - Ed

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asheshammer's picture

https://www.thickaccent.com/2017/11/01/pic-the-mnf-graphic-which-has-got...

and

https://www.footballfancast.com/opinion-2/analysis/bilic-to-blame-the-st...

Put them together and they make a very strong argument that West Ham are not well trained or managed. This, of course, is what some of us have been saying for a long time, but now we have the damn lies to prove it. I do not think anything other than a drubbing is in store for us against Liverpool, especially given the injury crisis in defence.

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141 users have voted.
Dartford Bhoy's picture

Forget defending, we are rubbish at it. For Saturday no one expects us to win so just throw caution to the wind and attack, attack, attack! Get people off their seats, make the Bowl of Misery roar and win back the support... go down fighting and change the toxic atmosphere to a cauldron of positive noise!

The one good no... great thing from the Palace game was the Ayew goal, one of the best this season, he did what all defenders hate... ran at them!

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132 users have voted.

Of the palace game as i was busy at the weekend,ayews goal was superb,more of that please,hes got it in his locker...
As for antonio at the end,it beggars belief what he was doing,if arnie or noble had of done that there would have been non stop abuse,so why on earth has ants escaped literally scott free from any blame??even if it was 5 mins to go,you get it in the corner & keep it there,there was 30 seconds to go & what he did was unreal...people can say palace deserved something from the game,but imo antonio has cost us 2 points & deserves dog abuse..

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203 users have voted.
La Vida Hammer's picture

Those stats should make him resign or justification to sack him without pay

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186 users have voted.

I think Ayew has really picked up his game and seems to have got the message. Surely, he has to start and hopefully try and boost the spirit into the rest of the squad. Mark my words, if West Ham do not play with the passion and the pace to match this energetic Liverpool squad, it could end up like another Brighton & Hove Albion result. Liverpool are vulnerable at the back, so can Bilic exploit these loopholes like he did in his first season at Upton Park?

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137 users have voted.

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