Fulham vs West Ham United | EPL | Match Thread | 14.9.2024

[stubbo-admin]

Match Centre:

Odds:
West Ham: 2/1
Draw: 27/10
Fulham: 29/20

Pre-Match Press Conference: https://www.youtube.com/live/zzgJ7yA0mH ... eGEpV1b7F3


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Pre-Match Preview: 




Live Watch-along:   https://www.youtube.com/live/9ut6YBsQ8sI


Live Streams: https://vipboxs.net/match/soccer/fulham ... d/12436941
(With all live streams be mindful they can carry viruses etc.  Don't click on any ads and use a VPN).

COYI

[Massive Attack]

One thing Lopetegui has got absolutely right about so far is persisting with the signing of Max Kilman. I lost count of how many negative comments I heard from both West Ham and Wolves fans stating he isn't good enough, overrated, way too expensive and the like. Only to then instantly hit it off for us slotting straight in to the Defence looking the part where even commentators are now suggesting he could well be called up to the England Squad in the future, which I said in the summer he would one day because he's that good. 

Making Bowen Captain I think was a smart move too as he's playing by example either chipping in with timely goals or assists just when the Team needs it. 

He has got to stop playing Soucek as a No. 10 though as it does neither him or the Team any favours. Now we have the Squad we do all fit, he needs to be starting more from the bench and brought on depending on what's needed. I'm not one to hammer him wverytime he plays as I value a lot of the unsung work he gets through as well as all the goals he's managed to score from Midfield but you just can't justify starting him where he does anymore. I don't event think it's fair on Soucek as that's not his game at all, he's a goal scoring Defensive Midfielder, that's it. 

Last complaint, he also needs to knock it right on the head starting Mavropanos ahead of Todibo now. I don't mind the idea of Mavropanos as a 3rd/4th choice back up but starting games ahead of Todibo needs to stop if he's not carrying an injury. 

[Full Rug]

West Ham v Villa  - Absolute SHIT first half - massive improvement second
West Ham v Palace - Absolute SHIT first half - massive improvement second
West Ham v Man City - Absolute SHIT first half - massive improvement second
West Ham v Fulham - Absolute SHIT first half - massive improvement second.


Has anybody noticed a pattern here?

I think massive improvement in each game has to be kept in context. We couldn't have been much fucking worse in most cases, and and I can't say we've genuinely been good for a whole half of football yet. 2nd half today we were still pretty pony, and scored with nearly the last kick of the game. Palace 2nd half until the goals wasn't great.

We could quite easily be sitting with Everton on 0 points, had Palace taken their chances when they played us off the park for an hour, and not got a 93rd minute equaliser today. The other 2 games we got exactly what we deserved, fuck all 

[Hammer and Pickle]

I don’t know.

If he starts with Soucek and Antonio next game, he’s surely some sort of saboteur.

[Takashi Miike]

I see the exact same problems that existed with Moyes. Players out of position (Kudus, the main one), already seems to have his favourites (Soucek, Antonio) that don't merit such loyalty under a new manager, and weird substitutions like bringing on Coufal every fucking game. Like the jock, he doesn't seem to give a shit about integrating any of the young talent, and how bad is the Brazilian kid if he can't even get a spot on the bench? He seems to be happy to grind out results rather than impose ourselves on the opposition, and when it goes wrong brings on players that should have started the game. That's possibly the only positive, that he's willing to make changes if needed but picking Soucek as a ten or second striker is a road to disaster, especially when he has much more talented players who could play in that position

[Massive Attack]

West Ham v Villa  - Absolute SHIT first half - massive improvement second
West Ham v Palace - Absolute SHIT first half - massive improvement second
West Ham v Man City - Absolute SHIT first half - massive improvement second
West Ham v Fulham - Absolute SHIT first half - massive improvement second.


Has anybody noticed a pattern here?

No, because we weren't absolute SHIT 1st half against City. 

[stubbo-admin]

Terrible line up first half. Sorted second everyone could see you need a playmaker if you play 2 defensive midfielders.
Ings grab a point.

Also pissed off no one picked up on my zoltaneering.

"p.s how many zoltaneering points do I get"

Pretty sure this invalidated it! SWT

[F 129 Row66]

West Ham v Villa  - Absolute SHIT first half - massive improvement second
West Ham v Palace - Absolute SHIT first half - massive improvement second
West Ham v Man City - Absolute SHIT first half - massive improvement second
West Ham v Fulham - Absolute SHIT first half - massive improvement second.


Has anybody noticed a pattern here?

[Full Rug]

I remember when Pep first came to the prem and everyone was laughing at him 


 

I don't know a single person who has ever laughed at Pep Guardiola as a manager. Only an idiot of monumental levels would do that.

Oh...

[Jasnik]

Terrible line up first half. Sorted second everyone could see you need a playmaker if you play 2 defensive midfielders.
Ings grab a point.

Also pissed off no one picked up on my zoltaneering.

[stubbo-admin]

The irony was that in the last ten minutes when we were lumping the ball forward, that's when we wanted Soucek on the pitch, but he'd come off as he's absolute gash at playing actual football.

He's the guy you bring on with ten mins to go, not the guy you start with 90 to go.

As for Antonio, he's basically pointless now. Doesn't have 'beast mode' anymore. Where defenders used to bounce off him, now he bounces off them, and his pace doesn't take him past them anymore...plus his touch is like it's always been....diabolical. Time to wheel him out in the cup games...would rather see Ings play, who can actually receive and pass a football, or Bowen through the middle which means we can get Kudus head right and him back in the right position.

Always frustrating that fans can see the seemingly blindingly obvious, but these highly paid 'experts' appear oblivious.

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[threesixty]

Must be more to the Duran thing. Apparently they turned down 40 offers for him. So it wasn’t just us. 

I still don’t get how you can go from Duran to Fullkrug though. Totally different players. That concerns me more.

Right now Ings and Fullkurg are very similar so if we want to use a no.9 properly we really need to sort out that midfield. I just can’t see Soucek starting again. It’s just mental. I don’t care how many goals he’s scored. 

I remember when Pep first came to the prem and everyone was laughing at him because he insisted on playing out from the back and they were getting caught out a lot. He doubled down on it because he was embedding a style in the team. He dealt with the first shit season because that’s how you create a style. Even bombed out “England’s no1” cos he couldn’t do that style. 

thats how it has to be. You have to drop people who can’t do what you need, even if you don’t get results in the short term. Right now I’m not sure what style he’s going for? Our second half display was totally different from the 1st. So what style is this guy going for?
 

[Fauxstralian]

And maybe Villa were right with their valuation of Duran
Looking an absolute blunder to pass on him now
Biggest mistake since we signed Alex Song & passed on some bloke called N’golo Kante

[Fauxstralian]

Not seen the game BUT …. Still Soucek, Still Antonio … still not anywhere near where we need to be

That said dicked for 5 at Palace & Fulham last season & have won 2-0 at Palace & got a point at Fulham. Better but more to come hopefully 

[Full Rug]

That was a serious load of fucking shit, and no amount of justification about him apparently changing the game with his subs can hide that. That starting line up was a crime to football, and desperately throwing on about £150mil worth of footballers in the slight hope you might Nick a goal? Fraudulent stuff.

He's got 5 more games to improve things, to at least see some form of style of play. That today was fucking diabolical, as every game so far has been. We were diabolical for an hour against Palace and should've been 3-0 down. Bournemouth was horrendous. Not impressed whatsoever with this start.

Guido - Alvarez
----- Soucek-----
----- Antonio ----

Starting with that central 4 in the Premier League in 2024? Wow. ignore alone the fact the fact of what happened on international duty with the busted flush up front, that is a disgrace.

[Vexed]

cսnt looks like he's paid to have a scalp scraped of a corpse and just grafted directly on his much smaller head. Probably our best striker right now on one goal. Fucking hell. Should have bombed the grinning simpleton Antonio out of the club this summer, fucking lumbering around and falling over. Couldn't trap a bag of cement today. But it's OK we've got a really fucking slow old German to come back that we got mugged for. Jesus fuckin christ. 

[Gank]

Ings isn’t a shit footballer, nor is it his fault he is paid so much. He was an inexplicable purchase for a team managed by Moyes as he was never going to get to show his strengths.

Lopetegui might just get something out of him and he’ll deserve it too, he’s always taken his chances to impress and seems a great professional (easy to be when you’re on that kind of money but he’s a grafter when he doesn’t necessarily need to be).

Now that Antonio has - surely - used up all his credit and the Kraut is injured, Ings probably starts against Chelsea and whatever the result, I hope he gets on the scoresheet. I just feel he deserves a bit more recognition. If it wasn’t for his exorbitant wages we would be saying how hard done by he has been when signed at his prime.

[Takashi Miike]

[Hammer and Pickle]

Interview on the official site.

 

 

Thanks.

Nice sign of him taking responsibility for that shocking starting line-up then.

[Vexed]

I aint fucking interested in what Mr fuckin pidgin English has to say tonight. That cսnt needs to start getting his lineups right, play the bunch of expensive cunts we brought in for him and start showing some semblance of having a fucking plan when we go into matches. We should have seen improvement by now and we aint, we're fucking terrible. Fuck knows what these cunts are doing while the rest of the league are fucking training. 

[stubbo-admin]

Interview on the official site.

[Gank]

I haven’t seen one, but I can barely understand him in any case.

[Hammer and Pickle]

Hmmm ….

No sign of a Lopetegui post-match interview out there. Anyone?

[RootsRadical]

COYI

Lop has probably won more trophies than virtually all the Prem mangers have combined.

You're a fucking idiot.

[Gank]

Agreed, and instead of getting him on scoring goals to vindicate that decision, he doesn’t even start him.

[Vexed]

Fucking furious about Duran. As if we bought grandad german instead? Fuuuuck. 

Villa been jammy as fuck today to be fair. 
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