West Ham: Alphonse Areola (GK), Jamal Baptiste, Emmanuel Longelo, Sonny Perkins, Harrison Ashby, Ajibola Alese, Mark Noble (c) , Alex Král, Andriy Yarmolenko, Pablo Fornals, Nikola Vlašić.
Subs: Darren Randolph, David Martin, Vladimir Coufal, Arthur Masuaku, Issa Diop, Manuel Lanzini, Said Benrahma, Keenan Forson ,Freddie Potts, Kamarai Swyer.
Zagreb: Livakovic (GK), Sutalo, Theophile-Catherine, Peric, Ristovski, Ademi, Gojak, Stefulj, Ivanusec, Orsic (c), Andric.
Subs: Cavlina, Zagorac, Moharrami, Lauritsen, Tolic, Misic, Bulat, Juric, Baturina, Dilaver, Menalo, Spikic.
Comments
Looking forward to seeing
How this plays out. Great to see so many getting a chance. COYI
A couple of mistakes by the
A couple of mistakes by the back four, but nothing serious. The boys are learning on their feet. None of them look out of their depth and seem confident . Maybe get a bit tighter with the marking.
Longelo is probably the pick
Longelo is probably the pick of the youngsters tonight. Not afraid to run at people.
Vlasic and Krail.
Golden opportunity for these two to step up but didn't impress.
What a difference a few years makes!
It wasn't too many years ago that Sam Allardyce threw a young team to the wolves at Manchester City. It was a horrible defeat, and back-breaking for the morale of the young players. I think Allardyce was responding, cynically, to fans who were critical of his playing selections. We were hoping he'd give a young player a chance once in a while, so he threw them all on at once in a match he figured to lose anyway. (You can probably tell I didn't much care for that!)
This felt TOTALLY different. The advancement to Europa knockout has already been secured. The Hammers were playing at home. Dinamo is still a good side, but not Manchester City. The goal given up early was unfortunate, but the young players were ENCOURAGED, by the fans, the manager and especially by Kevin Nolan. No doubt they gained an incredible amount of experience on the night. And they acquitted themselves pretty well too. This way of bringing the young players along helps them AND it helps West Ham's development. I could not have been more proud of the lads for how they played. So good to see! Agree with all the other comments here. COYI!
I wouldn’t play the same back
I wouldn’t play the same back four in the cut and thrust of a premier league game, but every one of those young men showed that they can be called upon at any stage . They still have a lot to learn, but don’t we all. For one of them to play alongside Zooma, Ogbonna and Rice would speed up their education. Well done all.