Forum | Non-Football Related

According to reports emanating from Hammers 'goose green' training ground, midfield dynamo Pablo Fornals and forward Andriy Yarmolenko will both be available for today's clash with London rivals Arsenal. 'Yarmo' is at best now seen as a 'fringe' player, whereas Fornals is seen as an integral component in the 'Moyes machine'.

The extremely generous, some might say quite ludicrous, terms of Yarmo's contract beggar belief, £115,000 per week for a player who has been unavailable through injury for vast tracts of time, in fact he has played only 53 games scoring ten goals in the process during his entire time with West Ham. Astonishingly he was offered a FOUR year deal, which expires on the 30th of June 2022, despite having a propensity for picking up injuries.

Yarmolenko's current market value is £5 Million, the problem is no one will be willing or able to match his outrageous salary, so it looks as if the club are going to be stuck with him unless they do a similar deal as was done with Jack Wilshere, just to get him off the books.

It is worth bearing in mind that both Yarmo and wheelchair were Pellegrini signings, their combined £225,000 per week wages ate up a staggering £11 Million per year, so far the cost of these 'dalliance' signings is in excess of £30 Million! How David Moyes would love to have had that money at his disposal?

Unfortunately for Moyes he has had to do the housekeeping that involves trying to offload the players who are crippling the club with their lucrative deals, eventually they will all be gone, but not before a considerable amount of fiscal pain.

Fornals, on the other hand, is young, fit and increasing in value, he along with 'Fab' are the only players Pellegrini signed that have been any good, the rest have been very expensive mistakes! So the fitness of Yarmolenko is neither here nor there, but Fornals is a different kettle of fish, fans will be praying that he will be available, because the other options available could fill them with fear. - Ed

Apart from the obvious delight many Hammers fans feel at the Europa League demise of the team currently occupying 8th place in the Barclays Premier League team, Tottenham, there is a more serious point of contention that needs to be raised, namely that if a squad containing someone who is supposed to be one of the best strikers in the World, and a player who receives £600,000 per week from a combination of Real Madrid and Spurs payments, should be able to progress, at least to the quarter finals stage.

Now it is possible to say that the North Londoners were inept on the night, having spent most of the game playing for a draw, following the 'special one's' boring but generally successful operandi. However, it is not just Mourinho's men who have 'suffered' in Europe, the extra games combined with a compressed domestic schedule has definitely had a negative impact on the progress of British teams.

As West Ham approach what those across the pond like to call 'the end game' part of the season, there are genuine hopes that a European competition spot can be attained, in this the weirdest of all seasons, probably in the Europa League as a Champions League spot is probably just a step too far.

"Be careful what you wish for" If David Moyes DOES steer the team in to Europe, the paucity of the squad would be hideously exposed, wafer thin is an understatement, the need for an extensive overhaul of the squad is obvious irrespective of the team's final league place.

There will doubtless already have been 'contingency' talks about the costs involved in European competition, especially the early stages of the Europa League, there will be the argument that it is pointless expensively equipping a squad to compete in Europe if there is the possibility of a 'slip up' similar to the events of last night.

A Euro place is a bonus that can cut both ways, and if the owners of West Ham do really want to take the club to the next level, they have to back David Moyes in the transfer market significantly, but not to the excesses of his predecessor Manuel Pellegrini. - Ed

Almost inevitably, and especially given the 'injury crisis' the England International team manager Gareth Southgate has had to cope with, Jesse Lingard's fine form for West Ham while on loan from Manchester United has been rewarded with a recall to the National squad, having not prominently featured since the 2018 World Cup finals.

This is what Gareth Southgate had to say regarding Jesse Lingard's recall: "We have injuries in attacking areas which have opened up an opportunity for Jesse. I have to say his performances for West Ham have been excellent. We know he can perform at that level. Ideally, you would be saying he needs to do it for longer but that has not been the option this time around. We have lost Jack Grealish, Jadon Sancho and one or two others like Harvey Barnes and James Maddison. There is a space there, we trust Jesse and think he can play a big part in these three games."

Excellent news for the player who had been left out in the cold by club and country, not so good for West Ham, who will see a key player who's availability will be crucial if the club are to achieve European qualification, going off on England duty for three games, he is hardly likely to return refreshed is he?

Lingard and Declan Rice will team up for England, fellow Hammers Tomáš Souček, Vladimír Coufal, Saïd Benrahma and Łukasz Fabiański are also on International duty. Other 'friendly' fixtures have been cancelled as a result of Covid-19 restrictions.

Of course the major worry is that Lingard might get injured while away with England, and let's face it, Hammers have had more than their fair share of players getting crocked on International duty.- Ed