westhamfans.org

The continued concern about the fitness of Hammers midfield dynamo, Pablo Fornals, means that David Moyes has a serious selection decision to make. Last time out, without Lingard who couldn't play, and Fornals who had picked up an injury during the victory over Leeds, Moyes elected to start club stalwart Mark Noble, and the result was clear for all to see.

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.

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.

Big Mich Antonio, or Mikey as his manager likes to call him, is the ever popular and effervescent 'false' striker employed by David Moyes to fill the expensive void left by the club's most expensive signing Sebastien Haller. The sale of the aforementioned to Ajax at an astonishing £25 Million loss, necessitated more game time for Antonio who has struggled with hamstring and thigh issues, mainly hamstring, ever since his arrival at the club from Nottingham Forest.

Mark Noble's comments, regurgitated by the Star, in which he discusses announcing his retirement and the club's potential to be playing in Europe next season, seem to make little sense, which is probably due to some amateurish copy and pasting!

Any one in the media who criticises David Moyes's achievements at West Ham does so knowing they are being at the least slightly disingenuous, the Hammers manager has exceeded all expectations in this his first full year in charge.

When the team sheets became available ahead of the Irons game against Manchester United, the inclusion of Mark Noble in the starting line up came as a shock to most West Ham fans. Now hindsight is a wonderful, but eventually an ineffective influence on the final outcome of the 1-0 defeat against Man U, but on reflection David Moyes would admit, at least privately, that  starting with 'Nobes' was  probably the wrong decision, perhaps Noble's new contract took one of the most experienced Barclays Premier League managers' eyes off the ball temporarily.

Manchester: Henderson, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire (c), Shaw, McTominay, Fred, Greenwood, Fernandes, James, Rashford Subs: Grant (GK), Bishop (GK), Bailly, Alex Telles, Williams, Tuanzebe, Matic, Diallo, Shoretire
West Ham: Fabianski, Coufal, Diop, Dawson, Cresswell, Johnson, Rice, Soucek, Noble (c), Bowen, Antonio Subs: Martin (GK), Trott (GK), Balbuena, Alvez, Coventry, Lanzini, Benrahma, Odubeko

Many Hammers fans have been questioning the 'wisdom' of allowing home grown talent Oladapo Afolayan's potential move to Bolton Wanderers on loan with an option to acquire the player on a free transfer at the beginning of next season. David Moyes alluded to the issue in his most recent comments regarding Hammers strikers, or the lack of them to be more precise. His own frustration with Odubeko’s situation, which is complicated by Covid bubble arrangements, is obvious.

In order to undermine the implications of Hammers remarkable form this season, certain sections of the media have chosen to infer West Ham United would be nowhere had it not been for the 'imports' of Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal from Slavia Prague.