Can we even play passing football?

[threesixty]

Something has bugged me for a very long time with our squad. Why is passing and controlling the ball so hard for us? This has been going on for years and years. Even in relatively successful times we have been mostly shit at passing and controlling the ball. I dont understand it anymore.

I feel like Moyes avoided fixing that issue and relied on low possession counter attacking so it wasnt a problem for him. The question now is that type of football so ingrained in West Ham as a squad and maybe an institution that its just too hard to change in a short space of time?

People may think it's a mad thing to say because of how expensive our squad is. But when you think about it, our best players are not good passing players or even players that control the ball well at all.
It feels like over the years we have assembled everybody on footballing earth who actually together cant do the basic job of a passing game.

And I'm wondering whether any manager could fix us? Gary O'Neil looked good last season I feel because Wolves in their DNA are a passing side. They have been for years since their Portuguese takeover and Nuno was there. So O'Neil doesnt have to worry about the basics, he can just think about tactics etc. I doubt he could do a job for us because the basics are not there. I think this would stump most managers. There's talk of Allegri coming in, but he would lose his shit about how bad our players are at basic football! He'd probably flop too.

Lopetegui must be thinking these guys cant even pass the bloody ball around?? I bet he cant believe it. How do you get to win a European trophy but can barely hold the ball?

I think we are the oddest club in European football. Nothing makes sense. So much talent on paper, squad worth x amount, and in a lot of ways cant even play the modern game. It's baffling how its got to this.

[Massive Attack]

Sorry, forgot to add the Midfielder I think he would like to sign but may be problematic being out of our price range which I suspect would be the case, is Ruben Neves. Again, he once relied on him at Wolves doing the business for him in the Premier League and performing the kind of quick quality Football he expects. He knows Neves well way before Wolves too, as he was the manager that gave him his chance to shine in the Porto Team and I think his debut as well as a youngster.

Ok, he may now be out of our price range but that is the type of quality player he likes in his side and Sullivans ended up shopping in Poundland for Rodriguez instead in the meantime which just won't do. 

This is one of the big reasons why im prepared to give Lopetegui the full season at least to build and mould the Team more in his style, rather than judge him too quickly relying on slow cloggers like Antonio (all due respect to him as father time is calling), Rodriguez, Fabianski. 

[Massive Attack]

If we're talking about Lopetegui right now this season regarding the quality of passing Football, I think he's realising now that the kind of Football he wants to play in the League, he hasn't quite got the players yet to really perform it. And if that's the case, I would agree with him as I'm not convinced we have the right blend yet.

For example, I recently mentioned we need a née young, quality Goalkeeper with quality distribution with his feet and hands. Both Areola and Fabianski aren't those chaps to rely on with quick, reliable distribution. Out of the two I'd choose Fabianski over Areola but it's still not anywhere close to ideal. It needs addressing if we want to see the progress we desire on the pitch and not what we currently see of misplaced kicks, poor decision making, slow play. They need to try hard in the Jan Window if they think they can get a suitable alternative in. As a short to medium term solution I have recently been contemplating we go after his old Goalkeeper Bono from Sevilla, who now plays in the middle east. He's something like 32/33yo and wouldn't cost a bomb with little competition to get him and a Keeper he could definitely trust and knows his strengths and weaknesses.

In the middle of the pitch too. Rodriguez ain't quick or strong enough to be that man in the middle regularly relied upon building attacks and breaking up play. I can see the ideas right, as I do see him play metronome on the ball with 1 touch passes occasionally but his overall play is still slow. Unfortunately Rice had gone before Lopetegui arrived, which was one of my gripes with keeping Moyes for so long as he benefitted so much from the likes of Rice where Lopetegui will never experience unless he now goes out and buys that type of player. 

Further forward not having a reliably fit, dynamic, regular goal scoring Striker up top is also costing us stretching Teams and moving their defence around like a mad man. Again, En-Neysri was his man at Sevilla and maybe he could go back in the market to get him which should solve that problem. We were linked heavily with him but can't remember now why that didn't materialise. 

Once you start including player's more designed and in line with his way of thinking and playing, then I believe we would start to see more of the decent, consistent passing Football that would turn our fortunes around, as we juet dont really have the right quality and balance just yet for what he demands.

In the mean time he's just going to have to persevere with some of the quality we still have to do some occasional damage. It will be in fits and starts though which isnt good enough, but can't get blood from a stone and have to play with the cards he's currently dealt with until more of the deadwood leaves the side and better players more suited to the kind if game he wants us to play.

[threesixty]

You only need 2 or 3 not comfortable on the ball and it can make the whole team look and unable to retain the ball

 

Maybe this is the main issue. For as long as I can remember we seem to always have a squad where there are 3/4 players that cant actually pass. They maybe useful in other parts of the game but their actual technique is so limited that it just means we can never control games against decent opposition.

I wonder if that is Lopetgui's real problem? The players he's brought in are technical players (Rodriguez, Soler, Killman). So he clearly thinks that proper passing and control is what he wants, but the players that are PL "battle ready", Coufal, Soucek, Antonio, Bowen for example, are not really pass and control players.
They are definitely productive, dynamic players in some aspects, but they just aren't blessed with control and technique.

We can get another manager that plays to the strength of the squad but isnt that compounding the problems? They will do what Moyes did and get in players that have little technique but are useful if you dont want the ball much, and then we are back to square one right?

Or is this really a transition period where we need to take the 1 or 2 seasons to really transform the squad into a more "total football" thing where every player can function properly. I'm starting to think its not all Lopetgui's fault sometimes, or that he is really stuck because of what he has to choose from.

When Coufal came on I saw how flat footed he was. It's amazing the body position some of our players have when receiving the ball. It;s so bad, they are facing one way and cant turn because they dont know how to receive the ball. Its just a mess.
 

[Sir Alf]

Its a multitude of things coaching the team properly to all move and press as one, having high levels of fitness and pace to make time and space, having every player with a minimum level of technique ( control and passing)

You only need 2 or 3 not comfortable on the ball and it can make the whole team look and unable to retain the ball, recycle it, crisp passing. We have the oldest slowest team in the Prem and possibly Europe? Our tactics make things even worse leaving us wide open.

Lopetegui only seems to know one way to get his teams playing. So many coaches get some success and learn a way of playing and have no tactical flexibility. So he’s trying to get a squad playing a style and system ill suited for them and the league we are in.

Nothing going to change without additional recruitment , the coach being sacked or him changing tactics to better suit the old, slow squad we have