For lengthy periods of time in the past Andy Carroll being injured meant that the club was left relatively toothless up front, that is not the case now! Ninja medical guru Ray Lewin has seen to that, Andy Carroll's stupid sending off against Burney could now prove to be the catalyst that has been needed to freshen things up, Carroll's availability has meant that forward play has been rather one dimensional of late, and the big man's lack of speed has seen the team's counter attacking play extremely limited, all that should change in the game against Brighton at the London Stadium on friday night.
Slaven Billic has the opportunity at last of playing Diafra Sakho as a striker, his speed, strength and ability to harass defenders whilst still being able to track back have been sorely missed. The West Ham United manager had already taken steps to shake things up at Burnely by dropping Mark Noble to the bench in order to play an adventurous 4-1-4-1 formation, things were going swimmingly after Mikael Antonio had put Hammer's ahead, the Big Andy went and did his thing, two leading elbows, two cards in two minutes, early bath!
Cheik Kouyaté was immense in the middle of the park, his speed and dynamism transformed the way Hammers set up and played, hopefully he will be retained in the same role for Friday's match. Billic's options up front are potentially mouth watering, without Carroll as the target man Henandez can be freed up to be the 'fox in the box' that he undoubtedly capable of being, Sakho can cause chaos for opposition defenders with his movement off the ball, Antonio and 'Elbows' Arnoutovic could ping balls in from the flank.
The arrivals of Joe Hart and Pablo Zabaleta are now beginning to reach fruition, Zabaleta in particular oozes class and professionalism, a natural leader and he really cares! Jose Font is now looking like the International player he always was and 'Warrior' Reid is injury free and back to his combative best.
Possible line up for Brighton match: Hart, Zabaleta, Reid, Font, Cresswell, Kouyaté, Lanzini, Antonio, Henandez, Arnoutovic, Sakho. Subs: Adrian, Rice, Obiang, Ogbonna, Martinez, Ayew.
Good line up, very strong bench! - Ed
Comments
Its time for elbows to start
Its time for elbows to start to pay back ,im afraid Cress needs a long spell on the bench i dont see Arthur in there anywhere Nev dont tell me hes injured ,Chic needs to be playing more of a pivitol role not stuck out wide ,Ayew needs a new club
You are right, Authur should
You are right, Authur should have been in the squad instead of rice
instead of arnautovic mate
He has been pants since his arrival...dare i say an ayew number 2!
You cant judge a half fit
You cant judge a half fit Arnie after hes played what? 5 games?
half fit
Dont make me laugh...and if as you say is only half fit what are the coaches doing? what are the physios doing? and what is bilic doing picking a player not ready?? no what he is mate is another player "who can't be bothered" walking round the pitch not interested....funny though this half fit player seems to perform for his country.
Agree with mac...
Stoke fans warned about his attitude,& to date they have proved us right!
so fred
what do you have to say about carraghers and nevilles words about mr arnautovic? seeing as they have both played at the highest level you have to listen and take on board what they have to say.
A combined £45 Million worth
A combined £45 Million worth of 'talent'?
and tha would have bought us Carvalho
with something to spare. That's what I don't get with pennywise DS.
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE ASHES
your saying that DS is Pennywise? well spoiler alert mate or what!
quantity over quality appears
quantity over quality appears to be their remit.
Totally agree Nev...
Stoke & swansea fans must be pissing themselves with laughter!!
The chemistry s all wrong he
The chemistry s all wrong he s not built to be a wide man and chicpea has far to much to offer to be stuck out there Ant as well i se him in a more central attack roll i spose Martinez will qualify for his bus pass before Bilic considers him
I tend to think bilic didn't
I tend to think bilic didn't have a plan to accommodate Hernandez. In which case he is playing real life football manager without the knowledge to match!
Arnautovic has not provided
Arnautovic has not provided any crosses into the box for Chicharito or Sakho to tuck away. He does not seem to have that Chemistry with the team that he did at Stoke, despite playing the same winger role. Mind you when he scored for Stoke he did so from a more central role. Masuaku should be given more playing time as he seems to provide the best crosses so far from the left wing, that Sakho and Chicharito could feed on.
What is the online link for the match on Friday? Once again they are televising the match on the premium channel in Canada and not showing the replay on the normal channels. They only do so for clubs in the top six.
Finally, there is a shocking anti-semitic allegation against Hammers and Chelsea fans from this Spanish source:
http://www.football365.com/news/spanish-paper-blames-chelsea-west-ham-fa...
Why do they make such false allegations and throw West Ham into the mix?
Totally agree Toronto.i'd
Totally agree Toronto.i'd have Arthur he don't Fuka bout,crosses are put on a sixpence mate!
I agree with Arthur's crosses
I agree with Arthur's crosses. No one else ATM seems capable of putting I. A good consistent cross. This at the very least nullifies one trick and reduces other forwards threat.
Spot on stan..
Mas should be one of the first names on the team sheet imo in an attacking role,if we are not carefull he will get snapped up by someone else,& i believe westham will regret that!!
Because they are ill informed...
Ignore it mate!!
How dare they make up such
How dare they make up such stories dave/toronto ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi61EUX1QEk
Oh dear!!
I stand corrected then stan...though i do feel sorry for the fella with the big hooter!!;)