Hammers matched their more wealthy and illustrious visitors for pace and determination, before losing out narrowly through 'THAT PEN' miss on Sunday. Bruised and battered, no one with one obvious exception, had anything left in the tank at the end of the game, so to go again against the same opponents, so soon after the match is going to require a team reset.
The issue for David Moyes is that his B team does not boast the power of the Mancs in any way shape or form, so how does he approach the game? Obviously he doesn't want to see his team embarrassed by selecting only youth players, like a certain Sam Allardyce once did to 'teach fans a lesson' who had the temerity to suggest he wasn't using the youngsters enough!
On that occasion Allardyce threw the youth players under the bus, on the 5th of January 2014 West Ham faced a tricky FA Cup tie at Championship side Nottingham Forest. Allardyce gave debuts to youngsters Danny Whitehead, Callum Driver and Sebastian Lletget, as well as handing George Moncur his first start. As a statement of intent, the team sheet may as well have come in the form of a hand delivered white flag. Allardyce was completely unrepentant about sacrificing both the club’s chances of Cup success and the well being of his academy players.
After all, there was no bunce or fiscal gain for the manager in using youth players for the Premier League, far better for Big Sam to use his 'associate' Mark Curtis' clients, Andy Carroll, Matt Jarvis etc, etc. Although the 'Moose Cup' is essentially a 'dead rubber' there is still an element of pride involved, and those peripheral players who are selected will five it their all, unfortunately the opposition 'peripheral' players will be wanting to do exactly the same but are far more expensively assembled.
At the end of the day it is 11 v 11 and although ex-loanee Lingard will start and probably score a hat trick against the club that gave him salvation and redemption, there is no reason why whichever line up Moyes starts with cannot give it a go, after all the players ARE ALL professionals and should jump at the chance of showing their capabilities.
We don't expect Hammers to get anything from the game, but we do except the players selected to show enough grit and determination that the home side will know they have been in a proper scrap by the full time whistle! - Ed
