Forum | General Discussion

During the summer transfer window much attention was paid to West Ham United's search for a striker, a search that ultimately proved to be unsuccessful. However although the need for a striker was blatantly obvious, the need for strengthening the defence was equally as important, to that purpose David Moyes signed Kurt Zouma from Chelsea in a bid to stop the club leaking goals.

Only two teams have scored more goals in the Barclays Premier League this season, but only one other in the top ten has conceded more! Hammers have 'got away with it so far due to a kind fixture list, now that is all about to change. Although he performed no worse than any of the other players during Hammers lack lustre outing to Southampton, Craig Dawson looks a shadow of the player he was last season. As we have mentioned before, maybe his lack of pace has been found out by opposing players who now know all they have to do is run at him at speed.

The cards are already poorly stacked for David Moyes ahead of Sunday's clash with 'Ronaldo' United, losing your only striker is bad enough, but having to face the 'Portugeezer' with Dawson as one of the centre backs is a frightening proposition.

Moyes has to play Zouma instead of Dawson for the League fixture, but he has to decide who plays on Thursday against Dinamo Zagreb. The home team would rather fancy themselves against Dawson as opposed to Zouma, but asking Zouma to play Thursday and then on Sunday might be perfectly acceptable to the player, but is it wise?

Defeat against Zagreb wouldn't be the end of the World, it wouldn't be ideal, but there would still be a good chance of redemption during the remaining five group games, whereas getting tonked by the visitors on Sunday would have a massively detrimental impact.

Of course there is every chance Manchester could go on and win Sunday' fixture irrespective of who plays for The Irons, but the nature of the game whatever the result will dictate how Hammers season is going to progress. The Southampton game aside, scoring hasn't been a problem, defending has, sort the leaky defence and the rest will take care of itself. - LN

With two games against Manchester United fast approaching on the horizon after Hammers fixture against Dinamo Zagreb this Thursday, much attention will be given to David Moyes' team selection, Whoever is 'in' on the night might not necessarily be 'in' for Sunday's Barclays Premier League clash, likewise those who play on Sunday will more than likely NOT play on Wednesday's relatively meaningless Moose Cup fixture.

The selection equation is further complicated by Mikey Antonio's 'brainless' sending off at 'Stephens' gate'. (The defender of that name knows!) Were Antonio to be available for the League game he might have been reserved for then, but as he has picked up a one match ban his role may be reversed, he CAN play against Zagreb and then sit out the League game before playing in the Moose Cup.

It would mean Moyes playing a much stronger team for the 'useless' Cup than he would have, normally he would have kept Antonio out, at least for the bulk of the game but he might as well make use of a valuable asset. However Moyes might elect to keep Antonio's hamstrings rested until the League game against Leeds on the 25th.

Nikola Vlasic has big boots to fill, fans will be disappointed if they are expecting Antonio 2:0 from the Croatian national player, he has similar qualities but is more provider than finisher, an aspect of his game that will doubtless be honed by Chicken Kiev and Psycho in the future.

Antonio's red managed to disrupt the plans that had already been laid out for the next FOUR fixtures, silly boy! His absence will possibly have a season changing effect even this early on and as such he should be fined a week's wages with the money going to a good charity. - LN

Hammers manager David Moyes has had to 'juggle' a team on limited resources consistently throughout his career, with the one obvious exception. He now finds himself having to do a balancing act as well, somehow through luck and good judgment he managed to get his team to a lofty sixth place in the Barclays Premier League.

The rewards for such a stirling performance unfortunately being a bit of a poisoned chalice, his tiny squad have to negotiate a minimum of an extra six very competitive games, some of which are going to be very testing to say the least. The club did back their manager with the funding to bring in most of his transfer targets, but it should be remembered that his 'shopping list' had been drawn up under the auspices of a financial crisis and was therefore tempered down enormously from what it would have been pre Covid.

Realistically Dinamo Zagreb are the team to fear in the Iron's Europa League group, so getting of to a good start will be essential if Hammers are to make meaningful progress in the competition. Moyes has to play a strong team, but at the same time he has to be mindful of Sunday's league game against top of the league Manchester United and the Ronaldo love fest!

Getting 'gubbed' at home would be profoundly bad for the morale of fans and players alike, so Moyes MUST start Zouma against the Mancs, but will he keep his powder dry by retaining Craig Dawson at the back? By his own admission 'Les' would admit that he has failed to scale the heights that he achieved last season, his performances thus far have been a polar opposite to those previously, which were mostly superb.

Whether time has caught up with Craig, or maybe his lack of pace has been noted by opponents, nobody knows? But he can't complain if he is dropped, it is a question of when and not if, and that when will need to be decided by a manager who will be caught between a rock and a hard place as he 'massages' his team selections. - Ed

Two points lost or one point gained? Irrespective of that question, a major talking point is how will Hammers cope without Mikey Antonio for the game against Manchester United? The Hammers striker picked up a 2nd yellow card in the closing minutes of what was a dreadful game. The 2nd yellow was harsh as there was no actual contact, however there was supposedly intent and therefore the 'conviction' stood! Antonio's 1st yellow was a bit amateurish, he could have been more professional in his tussle with the Saint's defender which earned both players a booking.

This was a poor West Ham performance, there is no other way of describing it, the team looked as if it comprised of a group of individuals who had all just returned from playing three International matches on the spin with only one day's recovery and one day's training, which it mostly did.

Hammers did give it a go, but players like Tomas Soucek didn't perform to their usual high standards, fortunately skipper Declan Rice was still alert enough to make a goal line clearance near the end of the match which would have given the home team the victory they deserved. Hammers started the 2nd half well enough and initially looked as if they would overpower Southampton, but as the game drew on it was the home team who were in the ascendancy, hitting the post as well as having the ball cleared off the line.

Prior to Antonio's dismissal, new signing Nikola Vlasic replaced a very 'off' Said Benrahma who was incredibly ineffectual. Much is expected of Vlasic and he looked pretty good while he was on the pitch, he is going to get thrown in at the deep end against a rampant Manchester United team featuring Ronaldo in all his pomp!

Schadenfreude Boy

However, there are agendas and there are serious agendas, for one particular player the need to prove a point goes a lot further than maybe for some others who want to do the same. The player who could well be described as someone with a 'serious' agenda is Nikola Vlasic, his previous time in the Barclays Premier League was miserable and he was 'bounced out' without really being given a fair crack of the whip.

David Moyes prophetically mentioned that he would be seeking goals from all areas, not just from Mikey Antonio, well it seems he is going to have a chance to test the water against the club that sacked him who now sit at the top of the League.

A bad day at the office whichever way you look at it, Antonio's red card was just the topping of a rancid pie! Hopefully the lack lustre performance was just down to jet travel and tiredness, unfortunately those same players who looked so devoid of energy are now going to have to jet off to Zagreb to play Thursday evening's Europa league fixture. They then return in order to face Manchester United on the Sunday and then again on the Wednesday in the Moose Cup before playing away to Leeds United on the Saturday.

The fixtures don't stop there, the following Thursday Hammers are at home to Rapid Vienna followed by another home game on the Sunday against Brentford, then the players are back on International duty again! When they return they will play three games in a week. Ed