Forum | General Discussion

West Ham: Areola, Scarles, Todibo, Mavropanos, Wan-Bissaka, Fernandes, Soucek, Bowen (C), Taty, Summerville, Pablo
Subs: Hermansen, Ward-Prowse, Kilman, Diouf, Kante, Wilson, Magassa, Potts, Walker-Peters

Sunderland: Roefs, Mukiele, Ballard, Alderete, Reinaldo, Hume (C), Sadiki, Le Fee, Mundle, Mayenda, Brobbey
Subs: Paterson, O’Nien, Geertruida, Cirkin, Rigg, Diarra, Adingra, Isidor, Talbi

An eye for age? The Hammers certainly like the concept of signing a cheaper central defender this summer, and as time has passed, it has become blatantly obvious what the Hammers plan is for the remainder of the transfer window.

In search of a central defender to reinforce the backline, the Hammers have officially shortlisted Axel Disasi, Fabian Schar, Tyrone Mings and Victor Lindelof.

These are the domestic names of interest as the Hammers still remain keen on other international targets elsewhere, such as Charlie Cresswell, but it appears to be that every player the club attempts to move for is either too expensive or not to Nuno’s liking, which, in translation, indicates that the telephone lines are down between Nuno and the board or perhaps there’s a small aspect of miscommunication… wonder if it’ll be ironed out.

All of the listed names appear as a waiting list for the Saudi League, not another Premier League club! But the truth is West Ham’s options at the moment are dire, they’re nothing short of liabilities, and Nuno has inadvertently still been desperate to sign one, hence his comments after every match since the transfer window has opened, claiming that “we need to rebalance the squad”.

Rebalancing for purpose, or for the sake of making the fans happy, is the question to be answered at the moment. It has been confirmed that Nuno is delaying the process of signing a centre-back, but that is only because he isn’t happy with the options that have been provided towards him by the club’s chief scout and target provider, Agent DS.

With the exclusion of Charlie Cresswell, for whom Toulouse have rejected a €20,000,000 bid by German side Wolfsburg, the remaining targets are likely to cost around the £5,000,000 to £10,000,000 mark. A cheap price for a defender and little to no enthusiasm to fork out more funds, as it will break the imaginary money border that has been set.

Leadership is one factor, but being old, frail, or simply not good enough won’t provide the Hammers any benefit. It’s a huge risk with an old reward, sometimes old is gold, but that’s only in rare cases. - LN

Stooges out? No! Sullivan has decided to get involved in the mix himself, and who could expect a Sully special throughout a transfer window?

The Hammers are set to sign Venezuelan winger Kieber Lamadrid, who’s a 22-year-old who recently achieved a call-up to the national team, however, it feels that perhaps diving into his previous stats isn’t exactly purposeful, given the true reason we’re set to sign the youngster.

David Sullivan loves a South American, and there’s no better than getting an entire country on your side, is there? No player has ever gone directly from the Liga FUTVE, the Venezuelan league, straight to the Premier League. Keiber Lamadrid will be the first player in history.

However, he’ll have to impress, seeing as it’ll be a six-month loan, which will cost a small fee, and the Hammers will have an option to buy of £1,000,000 in the event that they want to sign him. It is also uncertain at this moment in time whether Nuno has embraced the signing of the left winger, but whether he wants to or not, the potential shirt sales have soared through Sullivan’s eyes, and he’ll do anything to get this deal over the line now.

It does appear that Sullivan is attempting to soften the blow of inadvertently forcing a signing upon Nuno by being open towards signing Adama Traore this window, which logically should transpire to now being an easier deal after AFCON is officially over.

But for now, the dire need of a centre defender lives on, the club are allegedly looking at targets to sign, but ‘their’ focus at the moment remains with signing two wingers, one for the left side, one for the right.

Hammers fans will hope that this deal does transpire to be a success, the club will not want another Luis Guilherme, but at least if it doesn’t work, it would’ve just cost the Hammers time and a measly £1,000,000, but let me assure you, the shirt sales will certainly surpass the fee that might be paid for him.

It took 70 days for West Ham to return back to winning ways in the Premier League, Wilson’s heroics at the end have seen the Hammers nick all three points against Spurs, a thrilling first half which in hindsight should’ve put the game to bed, but a second half which saw West Ham on the backfoot, let to Nuno subbing on Wilson which ultimately won us the game.

A first half of thrilling action, the Hammers got away under the right foot against Spurs, and Nuno made his old side look like Spuds! Thomas Frank’s side sat there and woefully defended any chance that was placed at them. Pablo had the ball in the net, but a fairly blatant foul by Taty led to it respecfully being ruled out, which would also happen again after Bowen turned in a chance from a corner but was fairly offside.

Though once again, Summerville decided to star against another London club, he carried on his form from QPR and thumped the Hammers into the lead, a MOTM-worthy performance from him.

A new formation, a new result. There are several positives to highlight for West Ham and Nuno this afternoon, but also a few areas that need addressing. It wasn’t admirable to see the Hammers sit back and take on the wraith Spurs forced upon us, but fortunately, it was damage limitation, and once the smallest bits of momentum had changed in Nuno’s favour, in fairness to him, he differed from his usual substitution mistakes, decided to sub on Wilson and hunt, to which he did.

Credit where credit is due, a mesmerising performance from both the central defenders, Todibo as well as a not fully fit Mavropanos, were dominant across today’s game…thankfully, there was another ‘man’ who didn’t ‘kill’ our defensive abilities, especially given that you always want to get the ‘max’ out of your players.

An aspect of hope, an element of belief, has now been reinstated amongst a broken group. That’s now two wins on the bounce for the Hammers in all competitions and something that Nuno will take great pleasure from. Positivity and form amongst players can almost be a make-or-break factor when walking into the beginning of the game, and with this vital victory against ‘The Spuds’, who knows what can happen now. - LN