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Anxious Wait For Moyes

nevillenixon's picture
Submitted by nevillenixon on Tue, 10/11/2020 - 13:14

Having successfully navigated a very tricky opening sequence of Barclay Premier League fixtures, Hammers manager David Moyes now has to anxiously await the return of all his International players from their respective countries of allegiance. West Ham have suffered disproportionately with regards to players picking up long term injuries while on International duty in the past, and it is hoped with a combination of better communication and individually tailored fitness programmes that the risk of injuries is mitigated as much as is humanly possible.

Vladimir Coufal, Lukasz Fabianski, Darren Randolph, Declan Rice, Tomas Soucek and Andriy Yarmolenko conclude the UEFA Nations League group stage, while Fabian Balbuena continues his 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign and Said Benrahma and Sebastien Haller are involved in Africa Cup of Nations qualifying. Arthur Masuaku was initially called-up by DR Congo for home and away ties with Angola in Group D, but will now not be joining up with his national team.

Having five first team starters going away on International duty, as well as three other match day substitutes, is a matter of pride for the players and the club, but the caveat of potential injuries does rear it's ugly head. On the one hand fans want to see their best players performing on the International stage, however the fall out as a result of players picking up injuries can be far and wide, and in some cases devastating!

The International break does give Michail Antonio and Angelo Ogbonna welcome time in order to overcome their respective injuries, which is good, however fingers will be crossed that the bulk of the players return injury free and ready to take on where they left off.

The next two fixtures, against Sheffield and Villa, were supposed to be part of the 'easy' phase following the 'dreaded' beginning of the season fixtures that many thought would see the Irons propping up the Barclays Premier League, but such is the nature of this unique topsy turvy season that anything can happen, the Fulham match being a case in hand.

Grinding results out against determined 'lower' placed clubs is just as important as lowing away 'elite' clubs, you can't have one without the other if continued steady progress is to be maintained this season. There may never be such a good chance of doing really well, the expensively assembled squad at David Moyes' disposal, albeit only recently influenced by Moyes himself, was guilty of seriously underperforming last season and need the intervention of Moyes to avoid the catastrophe of relegation.

Moyes will doubtless use his time working with the players who have not gone away, but he will have one eye scanning the news of his player's international fixtures, it should be remembered that Fabian Balbuena had around three hours preparation the last time he returned from South America.

Let's hope everyone gets back healthy and fit! - Ed

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Nev keeping my fingers crossed no injuries are suffered

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moore2come's picture

Couldn't agree more Burkie. I know the pandemic starved us of football for months but shoving in friendlies along with qualifiers is a real pain in the backside. Too many Intl games

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