Forum | General Discussion

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

Hammers are already at a turning point after only three games of the new Barclays Premier League season, currently 2nd in the League David Moyes's team should have and would have been 1st had it not been for woeful defending at home to Crystal Palace last time out.

Having spent relatively 'big' on players, the onus is on David Moyes as to exactly how and when he will utilise the new arrivals. The 'new' player who has been at the club the longest, Alphonse Areola, is unlikely to start against Southampton despite already having plenty of premier League experience at Fulham last season while he was on loan from PSG.

It is not like David Moyes to suddenly change things up, but needs must and the need is for the defence to tighten up. While the team are commendable joint top scorers of the League with 10 goals from their first three games, there are only five teams in the top flight to have shipped more goals than the five Hammers have.

Fans might suggest the positive 2 to 1 goal ratio is excellent and a definite departure from the dark old days of negative goal difference, however conceding FIVE goals in only three games is not a top four co-efficient, it is barely top six!

"LOYALTY IS PURE, NOT TAINTED BY THE LURE OF THINGS THAT MIGHT BE GAINED" so wrote English poet David Kernick, Moyes is most definitely loyal to his players, but sometimes pragmatism needs to overcome sentiment, and to that purpose Moyes should have no compunction to do anything other than start new signing Kurt Zouma in place of 'Les' Dawson.

Dawson has been superb since joining the club on loan initially from Watford, his transfer was made permanent earlier in the summer and he will still be an incredibly useful squad member as the club embarks on a serious schedule of games the likes of which it has never experienced before in all it's illustrious history.

In an ideal World Moyes would have had a couple of weeks to integrate Zouma into the defence, instead he will have had just a couple of days which is cutting it a bit fine, however the players sheer quality should see him start ahead of Dawson.

Remember when you were young and had to deal with the fall out from your impromptu 'full on' party, usually at your parents house while they were away or at your Uni accommodation? Having been 'caught on the moment' has it's consequences, in a similar way fans baying for new football players at their clubs can become all mouth and trousers, happy to have a drink and a laugh, but with little or no regard as to who is going to clean up the mess that is left when everyone has buggered off.

West Ham via David Moyes and the board, managed to rescue what was looking to be a dreadful closure of the transfer window by pulling off a string of top quality signings, nowhere near as many as had been hoped for, nevertheless those who were acquired are top draw and capable of walking into the starting line up of all but the most elite of teams.

The problem facing David Moyes, albeit a relatively pleasant one, is how to keep every member of his burgeoning squad happy? Obviously the International break means that most of the new players have only just arrived at the club ahead of Saturday's game against Southampton, so clever micro management will be required.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it", is rather an apt guideline for how to maintain the equilibrium of most 'soccer' teams, although the expression itself originated from American football. Although Hammers are currently 2nd in the Barclays Premier League, as well as being joint top scorers the club's goals conceded tally is a 'car crash' statistically!

Hammers have scored a spectacular 10 goals already this season, matched only by the state owned Manchester City, the comparison ends there though because City have conceded just the ONE goal, Hammers have conceded FIVE in the same amount of games, those extra goals along with silly points dropped, as happened against Palace, can be the difference between a champions league place or having to be in the conference, or loser's cup as it is known, or even NOT qualifying for European competition at all!

Having spent significant sums on players there is an obvious expectancy that said players will be on the team sheet, but that is NOT David Moyes' way. There is a distinct possibility that NONE of the new signings will start the game against the Saints, several will be on the bench, but who might start?

Well, as the forward line has been scoring goals for fun there is little chance that the Hammers manager would want to try and shoe horn new signing Nikola Vladic into the starting line up, he is far more likely to use the new signing as a Mikey Antonio replacement in the latter stages of the game.

As it is the team's defence that has been at fault recently, both Lukasz Fabianski and Craig Dawson will know that their time is up, at least with regards to being in the starting line up for Barclays Premier League games.

Alphonse Areola who already has a vast amount of premier league experience has got to be knocking at he door, he also has the advantage of having trained with the team for a significant period of time already.

Fabianski will probably retain his place, at least for now, but the player who is most likely to 'walk' is Craig Dawson who has been as poor this season as he was superb during the last! The major issue regarding Dawson's replacement Kurt Zouma, is that the centre back has only just returned from International duty with France and will have had just the ONE day's training ahead of what is a very important game. A win will maintain Hammers top four status, a loss or a draw would seriously dampen the club's upward trajectory and hopes of establishing itself as a genuine 'elite' club.

Is it too soon to start Zouma? Or to start Areola? Or indeed to start Vlasic or Krull? Hmmm such nice problems to have, for once! LN