Forum | General Discussion

Ahead of last night's FA Cup game few people have Hammers a chance against Man U at Old Trafford, ultimately the home side prevailed with an immensely flattering score line, but things could have been SO different had the normally immaculate Nayef Aguerd not had an absolute stinker of a night AND Big Mikey Antonio hadn't fluffed his lines on at least TWO separate occasions!

Aguerd's display was a one off that happens to even the top players in rare games, he will be fine for the next game away to 'Bogey' team Brighton & Hove Albion. However, Mikey Antonio's performance wasn't a blip, more like a continuation of a poor run of form stretching back the entire season!

Antonio busts a gut for the club and will always give it his all, but as he will be the first to admit, a striker he is NOT! That was plain to see last night when he could have and should have scored when put clean through on goal with only De Gea to beat, but worse was when he was again bearing down on goal with Said Benrahma running into space square of him and yet he elected to go it alone with a shot from an impossible angle whereas Benrahma would have had a tap in from close range that he would NOT have missed.

For once David Moyes cannot be blamed for the 'Antonio' situation because new signing Danny Ings was cup tied, oh and how he was missed! It is not beyond comprehension to envisage Hammers could have left Manchester as victors if only Ings had been playing, he would have had an absolute field day against the complacent home team.

Hammers could have been at least two up, possibly three before the break, such were the proliferation of chances on offer as Hammers completely dominated the home team. Alas it was not to be, Mikey huffed and puffed until he was replaced by a clearly unfit Bowen and the team played deeper and deeper until it was too late.

Gianlica Scamacca was brought on for the remaining five minutes which saw Hammers concede two goals which gave the final score such a false reading. The Premier fixtures on the same evening proved to be rather good and hopefully if the team can put in a shift like they did last night (errors excluded) there is every chance the club can claw itself away from the bottom of the table and begin to think about next week's 'Con Cup' game in Cyprus. - Ed

Ahead of tonight's FA Cup game David Moyes was hardly the man to inspire his troops ahead of them going over the top! "I am hoping we can give them a good game, we have to defend against so many good players in the Premier League," Moyes told the media. "Rashford is one of them and we played them earlier in the season and we were really unfortunate. David de Gea played really, really well to keep them in the game or we could have had a positive result. It was very close in the league, and I am hoping we can give them a good game this time around."

Talk about negative Nancy, the way Moyes was talking was like the beginning of an Autopsy, NOT inspiring his team ahead of a fixture where the opposition might be vulnerable due to winning the Moose Cup at the Weekend and ahead of a crucial Premier League game against bitter rivals Liverpool!

Setting your team up to survive might have been valid when there were replays in the FA Cup, but there aren't replays anymore! Games go to extra time and Pens now, so why play for a draw by being defensive? Moyes might as well go for it, realistically no one expects a Hammers win so why not let his players have the freedom to express themselves, you never know what might happen. - Ed

No the Hammers manager hasn't embarked on a mind advancing programme, or an Estj based getting to know yourself while you are threatened with being thrown off a cliff weekend retreat course! We are discussing whether David Moyes really does need help, he is notoriously stubborn to the point of 'cutting his own nose off to spite his face'!

There is stubborn and there is sheer bloody mindedness, the two bare the same resemblance but are different, however the outcome of having a person 'afflicted' with either trait being in charge of a team of strong willed multi millionaire footballers is almost entirely predictable and NOT good for fans of the relevant club, not it's owners.

In an emergency it is possible to run across the M25 without getting killed or seriously injured, but it doesn't mean a person should attempt it even once, let alone regularly. The game of top flight football has moved on immeasurably in the last millennium, even more so in the last decade. Players rarely get 'frozen out' by managers now, with the obvious exception of Ten Haag and The Preening One, the boot is firmly on the other foot now and it is the players who hold ALL the Aces.

So with that reality in mind, playing players out of position should by now be a practice consigned to the rubbish bin, however certain managers insist on their "it's my way or the highway' philosophy with the consequent loss of form and more importantly to club owners, the player's value. Time and time again David Moyes has chosen to ignore the thousands of voices urging him to pick teams that are capable of playing on the front foot AND where they play in their correct potions. Moyes might have got away with it in the past, but he has become a one trick pony who's trick has been exposed!

What worked a couple of seasons ago clearly doesn't work now, the welcome victory over perennial losers on their travels Forest masks the fact that prior to the match the team had regressed alarmingly, summed up by the utterly insipid and inept performance against Tottingham a fortnight ago.

Small shoots of recovery are beginning to show in the form of Tomas Soucek being 'allowed' further up the pitch with Declan Rice dropping a little deeper, and Moyes actually starting a 'proper' out and out striker! Mikey Antonio has played in every position for the club bar goalkeeper and has been an incredibly loyal performer, but a striker he is NOT! There is no question that he is a goal scorer but he is far more suited to 'bullying' the opposition than being a 'fox in the box', so starting Danny Ings was at last a step forward for Moyes' 'mind expansion'.

With summer signing Gianluca Scamacca now also available David Moyes AT LAST has the option of using Mikey as an impact sub, a role the 32 year old would relish even if he pretends he doesn't. Staring the game WITH an out and out striker is half way to the fans Nirvana wish of having TWO strikers on the field at the same time!

We are not suggesting Moyes has to go gung ho and play two up front all of the time, but surely he knows that the best form of defence his team can have on some occasions is to attack, rather than sit back and waiting to be picked off! -LN