Forum | General Discussion

Ahead of Hammers 'next cup final', the words used by Mark Noble to describe the sequence of seven games that will determine the club's European destiny, a crumb of 'injury' comfort has been revealed, it may be conjecture or 'porkies' but David Moyes stated the following in his pre-match presser this morning.

"Aaron Cresswell picked up a bit of an injury on Sunday and we need to check him out and like every other club we’re getting bumps and bruises. We’ll make a decision on Aaron today. He’s a doubt but we hope he’ll be OK". Moyes added that Michail Antonio and Declan Rice are not in contention, but are working hard in order that they can be able to participate in some of the remaining fixtures.

Hammers injury list has become a situation that now requires incredibly dextrous handling in order to see the 'forest for the trees', put simply there are very few options available for the manager to navigate his way through the final stretch, the team is running on empty, and there is a genuine fear that the wheels might come of the 'Hammers band wagon' during the tricky trip away to Newcastle, one of only two teams to beat the Irons at the as yet Unnamed Stadium.

The Toon are fighting for their Barclays Premier League survival, and willbe desperate forthe win, their recent results have relieved the pressure somewhat, and it is hoped that will slightly diminish their approach, a draw up at St James' would not be a bad result, a loss would be 'challenging'.

Seven more excruciating ninety plus more minutes to go, so, hair loss, heart attacks et tout, bring it on - Ed.

Part of the function of an 'elite' football manager is to be able to detach oneself from the previous incumbent and all their associated errors, this involves developing 'blinkers' with regards to the purchase price paid for players by the outgoing manager.

Aristotle Onassis was once asked how he was able to deal with the huge investments that he made, "quite simply" was his retort, I just shave the zeroes off the end of the figures, and then it becomes easy". David Moyes has had to do much the same with all but three of his predecessor Manuel Pellegrini's extravagant signings, the Hammers manager is not prepared to continue 'flogging a dead horse' in order to utilise players that he has judged to 'not fit' his program for the club.

Felipe Anderson was dispatched to Porto on loan, a move which has been an absolute disaster, as the player who cost WEst Ham £36 Million has hardly had a kick of the ball, a situation that has seen his value plummet to below £10 Million, next up was Le Sulk, Sebastien Haller, his 'sudden' move to Ajax is supposed to have come at a £25 Million loss to the club, although there is a fair amount of conjecture that the £45 Million purchase price of the striker from Eintrecht Frankfurt had been massively exaggerated.

We won't dare even go in to some of the other signings that have been sent off, particularly Roberto, his name still strikes fear in to young children! Of all Pellegrini's signings only Issa Diop, Lukasz Fabianski and Pablo Fornals cut the mustard, the rest were expensive mistakes.

Another player destined for departure, but who wasn't signed by Pellegrini is Manu Lanzini, he just hasn't been able to recover properly from his ACL injury that he received while on international duty back in 2018, it is a real shame, he has an extremely difficult task ahead of him trying to get in the starting line up instead of Fornals, Benrahma and Bowen. There is interest in Lanzini from several clubs, but alas his value, like Anderson's has really dropped, if the club get £20 Million for the pair it will be lucky, when Anderson was flying and prior to Lanzini's injury, their combined value was in excess of £70 Million!

Moyes has to rebuild from the foundations up, and to do so, the foundations he uses have to be firmly situated and able to withstand the rigours required of them. - Ed

They knew it wasn't a case of if, but when, the medical emergencies would begin to rack up at Hammers' Rush (Goose) Green treatment room, and so it has come to pass. Apart from Michail Antonio's specially cordoned off 'hamstring area', due to the almost perpetual need to leave the space free in order to accommodate his huge thighs, there is the Yarmo (not there) crypto trade complex funded by his £115,000 per week wages.

Added to the list of perennials recently were Aaron Cresswell and Mark Noble, each player picked up an injury in the nail-biting victory over Leicester City during the weekend, Cress seems to have a 'mild' hammy injury that will keep him out of action for between two to three games.

Ben Johnson can deputise for the scouser, but after that, the cupboard is definitely bare, or down to the bare bones as 'Arry used to say. Ant & Dec's injuries are not ideal, but the team has coped so far, neither player can be relied upon to be playing in the claret & blue for the remainder of the season, although each one may well get to play a cameo role in the last few fixtures, there are after all only SEVEN games remaining of this most extraordinary season.

Making the treasured fourth spot in the Barclays Premier League would be an astonishing achievement by David Moyes, his staff and his players, but realistically it might just be a 'bridge too far', especially the game against Chelsea, although that game will be played at the unnamed London Stadium.

There is of course still a chance that the Irons will sneak through, but even if that was the case, there would be an enormous need for extra recruiting, and unfortunately it seems very unlikely that the club's owners have the actual wherewithal to finance an assault on Europe.

It is not as if this season's scenario will ever be repeated is it? This unique season has given 'smaller teams' like West Ham a once in a lifetime opportunity to mix it with the big boys, and even if the European adventure' is relatively short lived, fans will at least have had the chance to experience what it is like dining at Europe's top table, even if it is only for a fleeting moment in time. - Ed