Chip Shop Charlie 10:49 Sun Apr 3
Is this the best West Ham squad you've seen?
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Billy Bonds has named the current Irons squad as the strongest he can remember in his personal West Ham history.
The 1964-5 season was a fantastic season for us with Peters, Moore, Boyce, Hurst, Dear and Sissons to name but few.
Will the current squad outshine these past greats?
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Replies - Newest Posts First ( Show In Chronological Order)
Fortunes Hiding
4:35 Mon Apr 4
Re: Is this the best West Ham squad you've seen?
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And IF we'd held on at Chelsea.....
"Looks at betting slip"
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Chip Shop Charlie
4:13 Mon Apr 4
Re: Is this the best West Ham squad you've seen?
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busheyhammer85 2:57 Mon Apr 4
and then we'd be sitting pretty in 5th
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busheyhammer85
2:57 Mon Apr 4
Re: Is this the best West Ham squad you've seen?
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In my opinion Emenike had 2 maybe 3 had chances that a decent striker tucks away on Saturday.
If he scored we're out of sight and even a bout of inept referring cannot deny us 3 points.
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Mr Polite
2:46 Mon Apr 4
Re: Is this the best West Ham squad you've seen?
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Yeah, ideal situation is to keep your best - but move them down the pecking order by bringing in better.
Would love to see Sakho as 2nd or even 3rd choice as it would mean we have real quality in front of him.
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busheyhammer85
2:44 Mon Apr 4
Re: Is this the best West Ham squad you've seen?
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Polite...
Now I get you mate! Sorry, but slow on the uptake!
I really like Sakho... But we definitely need a bit more.
Gets injured a bit too much for my liking as well.
Carroll, Valencia and Emenike can all leave. None of them have done enough.
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Northern Sold
2:43 Mon Apr 4
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Ha ha Ha... I keep forgetting about all the young acorns on here...
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busheyhammer85
2:42 Mon Apr 4
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I wasn't even a twinkle in my fathers eye at that stage mate!! ;-)
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busheyhammer85
2:42 Mon Apr 4
Re: Is this the best West Ham squad you've seen?
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I wasn't even a twinkle in my fathers eye at that stage mate!! ;-)
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Northern Sold
2:41 Mon Apr 4
Re: Is this the best West Ham squad you've seen?
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Bushey..
1980-84... between the 5 of them they wracked up over 100 goals between them... and Paul Allen's total was 6 of them... so 95 goals between the other 4 and van Der Elst was only with us for 2 seasons and Brooking and Devo' missed a season each thro' injury...
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Mr Polite
2:37 Mon Apr 4
Re: Is this the best West Ham squad you've seen?
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I think it was me failing in an attempt to be funny Bushey.
'Diafra Sakho - he scores when he wants' or so says the song
We just need to get him wanting to score more fucking often.
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busheyhammer85
2:31 Mon Apr 4
Re: Is this the best West Ham squad you've seen?
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What year was that Sold(o)?
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busheyhammer85
2:31 Mon Apr 4
Re: Is this the best West Ham squad you've seen?
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I don't get your Sakho comment Polite... Maybe I'm just a bit slow on Monday's.
But Are you suggesting Sakho is the answer long term?
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Northern Sold
2:30 Mon Apr 4
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Devonshire
Van der Elst/Brooking
Allen
Pike
was not too shabby
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Mr Polite
2:29 Mon Apr 4
Re: Is this the best West Ham squad you've seen?
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Agee Bushey.
If only Sakho wanted to score more than he does. Such a waste for a player that is able to score when he wants only wants to a handful of times.
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busheyhammer85
2:26 Mon Apr 4
Re: Is this the best West Ham squad you've seen?
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Have we ever fielded a better midfield than Lanzini, Payet, Kouyate and of course the skipper, Noble?
I'll answer that... In my lifetime, NO.
We're playing the best football I have seen... If we manage to get ourselves a striker capable of scoring 20 goals we'll be a real force.
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SDKFZ 222
2:04 Mon Apr 4
Re: Is this the best West Ham squad you've seen?
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I was lucky enough to see the teams from 80-83 and 85-86 for virtually every match of those seasons. The team and squad from both eras were very good indeed.
However, whilst watching the team on Saturday v Palace, I kept on thinking to myself that there was hardly a weak link at all (except, for, perhaps Valencia, who is becoming more and more of a bit-part player) I had faith and trust in virtually every single player when they had the ball. It was quite noticeable when Valencia came on that he would run up blind alleys or get dispossessed quite easily, compared with most of the others.
With the teams from the eras I highlighted there was always at least two or three players, possibly more, whom I knew could get caught in possession, easily brushed off the ball, give away a stupid goal, etc, and would cause us to concede a goal or lose the match.
This current team seems to get better and better and every player seems comfortable in his position or in possession of the ball. I have faith in this team with every passing match.
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Far Cough
1:42 Mon Apr 4
Re: Is this the best West Ham squad you've seen?
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If I can use an NFL player as an example at least for me, Dick Butkus a Linebacker for the Chicago Bears in the late 60s, it would be hard to name a much better player in that position, similarly, Michael Jordan for the Chicago Bulls in basketball
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Alex V
1:35 Mon Apr 4
Re: Is this the best West Ham squad you've seen?
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tnb 1:56 Mon Apr 4
Interesting post, but I wasn't trying to say that. I was simply saying that I think prem squads are generally much stronger now than they've ever been. Comparing first 11s is more complicated, but comparing the size and quality throughout squads there's very little comparison imo in terms of strength and depth. I think it's really obviously generally true.
I don't know why we'd want to give West Ham such little credit - we've done so well in a very tough league. The opposition didn't just roll over.
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tnb
1:56 Mon Apr 4
Re: Is this the best West Ham squad you've seen?
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If I'm being generous then I think what Alex is trying to say is that if you put the centre forward from Team X now up against the centre forward from Team X 20 years ago then the former would be a better player, in terms of technique. But that's just the evolution of the game and the league. But that's the case with any sport. By that reckoning, Djokovic is the best tennis player ever, Bolt is the best sprinter ever...because sports constantly improve in terms of the limits of performance and often, as in football, in the financial backing behind them. But the end result of that argument is to say that whoever is the latest 'number 1' team or individual in any sport is by default the greatest. And that's clearly nonsense. Djokovic is not automatically better than Sampras or Agassi or Connors, Bolt is not automatically better than Michael Johnson or Carl Lewis be default - because it's not about who can post the best stats but about how you performed relative to the rest of the field. By the same token, Coutinho could probably outrun Keegan and maybe even beat him in a skills test.
But you can only judge a sportsman on how they perform at their time - how you beat who is ahead of you. So yeah, Cabaye is probably better than any other midfielder Palace have ever had - on a technical level - but that doesn't mean this team is better than their 90s one. And so on.
The point with our squad is not only that Lanzini and Payet and Kouyate and so on are excellent players. It's that relative to those around them in the league in their positions they are about as good as it gets. And I can't think of many other seasons where that has been the case.
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Lily Hammer
1:13 Mon Apr 4
Re: Is this the best West Ham squad you've seen?
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Paying attention to the word squad in the question, there is no doubt in my mind that this is the best. When everyone is fit and back from loan, we have so much strength in depth, it's new territory for me.
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BRANDED
11:26 Sun Apr 3
Re: Is this the best West Ham squad you've seen?
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Greenwood had no idea how to shore up. In that sense you could say that Billic is is heir. But I do think Billic does have a real sense of what defending is about and the players just need to be a tad smarter. The skills and energy and desire are really great.
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