Gianluca Scamacca Gone

[Gary Strodders shank]

"Taking to Twitter, the Italy international wrote: “Dear West Ham. “While my time in London didn’t go the way I had planned, some of my greatest life moments were made here. And for that I’m forever grateful Thank you to the players and staff for making me feel so welcome, and the fans for their continued support. “I will continue to support this fantastic club from home in Italy, and will be keeping in close touch with the lifelong friends I have made whilst in England Thank you for everything, Ciao.”"

[Manuel]

"Norf - We shall see, if we were to get Barnes then we would still have Barnes and Bowen on the counter, I'm really not sure how slow or otherwise Scamacca is and I don't think Antonio was ever that rapid? Didn't Moyes want Broja, another similar to Scamacca/Haller?"

[Norflundon]

Trundle I don’t think it’s essential we keep him but I do think it’s essential if we are going to keep any of the three forwards we have it’s him. Personally if was in charge I’d do everything I can to get rid of all three and get two new players in. I get the impression that’s what we are trying to do but not sure we’ll manage due to the ridiculous contract Ings has not sure we’ll get a permanent deal for scammaca hoping juve can get rid of vlhavovic as that seems the only way. Seems Antonio wants out but again he’s on big dough and with the 5/6mill fee it’ll be a big lump of our budget buying two forwards. If we do get rid of all three I’d like us tk spend big on one player and take a punt on a youngster.

[Norflundon]

Manuel Problem is it’s not a small tweak you can’t play counter attacking football with a centre forward that can’t run no matter how good a player he is. We would need to have a completely new way of playing. From seeing Moyes now for the 3/4 years we’ve had him personally I don’t think he is capable of coaching that type of football and although we have played very well under him at times I’ve seen nothing to say he can change his approach to the game. You are completely correct that it seems ridiculous that we spent that kind of dough on a player when it was blatantly obvious that he was exactly the same as the player we’d sold two years previously becacuaae he didn’t fit the way we play. Scammaca and Haller are virtually identical players. You couldn’t make it up. Tbf to Moyes though from what I’ve heard he didn’t want him in the first place.

[Lee Trundle]

Antonio scored 5 Premier League goals last season. I'm not convinced he's as essential for us as others make out.

[Manuel]

"Norf - Yes, hear what you are saying, which is why I said with a few tweaks, ie we will have to make some changes in and around him and get players closer to him. Think about it logically if Antonio goes there isn't really anyone else out there like him who we would bring in, so we would have to change it up a bit anyway. I believe Scamacca was a Moyes signing, so surely he must have had a plan on what to do with him before spending that money on him?"

[scott_d]

"Norf - you're talking about an Anotonio of old. The current Antonio doesn't run or move anything like he used to, which has made him pretty ineffective of late considering his shooting is woeful."

[Norflundon]

Manuel The fact he can’t run makes it impossible to play the way Antonio does. Yes he can hold the ball up as Antonio does and in some ways he is probably better at it as he has a far better touch. The big difference is as a centrehalf you know if the ball goes into scammaca feet you can get tight and try and win the ball every time he gets it played into him and considering most of the time he receives it he probably won’t have a player with 20 yards of him it makes it very hard to keep the ball. Every time Antonio receives the ball the centrehalf has a decision to make because Antonio has so much pace that if you get tight and try and win the ball and he rolls you it’s very unlikely you’ll catch him as there aren’t many centrebacks in the league as quick as him. If we were a possession based team like Brighton I think he could be a good player as he would rely on his touch and ability on the ball rather than his pace which he has absolutely none but there’s just no way our manager is going change the way we play. The only this fella will succeed with us is if Moyes gets sacked and we employ somebody like Graham potter where he won’t be asked to run.

[goose]

Thanks for proving my point. Absolutely clueless.

[Hammer and Pickle]

"No Rice has gone, we’ll see what’s in the offing with the transfer activity. What I’d like is a positive-minded approach so a proper full back to replace Cresswell and Emerson pushing up to create a four-man midfield unit. Give Paqueta the captaincy and let his football do the talking. IRONS!"

[Manuel]

"Fwiw, what I see happening is Scamacca replacing Antonio with a few tweaks to the system. Apart from Scamacca not running the flanks I don't think he is too dissimilar to Antonio in terms of being a number 9 holding the ball up, etc."

[goose]

Just when you thought maggot & Pickle couldn’t get any dumber….. Nobody has said Moyes is changing the style of play. He’s just won a European trophy. The second half of the season was stronger than the first. He won’t be making any huge changes. And as for this shit: “Since this has to involve Scamacca it means no Soucek” Absolutely clueless.

[Hammer and Pickle]

"Think the idea is Moyes has the summer to completely revolutionise his approach, find a way of getting the best out of the players available and move on without Rice. Since this has to involve Scamacca it means no Soucek as well, or at least much less of him and the kind of anti-football he implies. Very much hope he scores that 20 goals he’s promised then."

[Russ of the BML]

Fuck me. The thought of another season with Antonio up front. Makes my blood run cold.

[Russ of the BML]

"I think now all the talk from other players, Moyes and Scamacca himself needs to stop. The bloke needs to get his head down and prove what he's all about. Apparently had an injury all last season. So why was this not communicated then? Probably not even true that's why and its being used to cover up Moyes mis-management of the bloke. So, he's injury free, Moyes now knows he can't play as a lone striker. So over to Moyes. Seyt up the right way and I'm sure we'll see the best of him. But if we're going to play Moyesball then flog the bloke and stick with the battering ram up front."

[ironsofcanada]

I did see that the club did choose to include Moyes praising him in training a couple times in the Australia video they put out. New bond forming?

[Texas Iron]

Yet another crap Moyes signing… Moyes wasted countless millions on stupid useless incompatible signings for his Stone Age brand of football…

[Eerie Descent]

"pdbis 2:13 Fri Jul 14 Antonio to start as our main striker it is then Whether he starts the season, he will without a shadow of doubt be our most important striker once again. No one can feed off scraps, run the channels, and bulldoze their way through like him. Halcyon days indeed."

[Norflundon]

Unless you’re going to play possession based football like Brighton arsenal this bloke is absolutely useless We should be taking whatever we can get and moving on. Same for Ings I don’t see any point of selling Antonio for 6million. If you can get the other two off the wage bill be saving over 200k a week and get somewhere between 25-40mill in to buy a new first choice striker. Or sell Antonio as well and buy a new first choice striker and take a punt on a youngster as back up I’d be over the moon if we can get rid of fornals and Soucek as well two dreadful players

[Norflundon]

Unless you’re going to play possession based football like Brighton arsenal this bloke is absolutely useless We should be taking whatever we can get and moving on. Same for Ings I don’t see any point of selling Antonio for 6million. If you can get the other two off the wage bill be saving over 200k a week and get somewhere between 25-40mill in to buy a new first choice striker. Or sell Antonio as well and buy a new first choice striker and take a punt on a youngster as back up I’d be over the moon if we can get rid of fornals and Soucek as well two dreadful players

[ironsofcanada]

"Are people still assuming he's leaving because of pull quotes without context? Roma aren't going to pay what we paid for him, nor is any Italian club. We stayed pretty firm on Rice's price despite quotes saying he wanted to leave. No reason not to see the same here. To me, Antonio to Galatasaray is more likely."

[Sir Alf]

Looking that way currently pdbis. Moyes claiming he needs to reward those that won the Euro Conf league and leaving new signings on the bench? It’s not an unimaginable scenario but I’m trying to be less pessimistic ( as dues for winning something after a 43 year wait ) so hoping Moyes surprises us

[pdbis]

Antonio to start as our main striker it is then.

[Sir Alf]

"Think u maybe right H&P :-( I will wait until we are into the season but for me Souceks selection is the barometer of change. If we start with him every game, assuming we get 2 new central midfielders and keep Downes , then it’s hard to see how we can improve possession and evolve. He’s one player but does feel like playing one short in that middle third of our team at times"

[goose]

Maggot and Pickle 1:07 Fri Jul 14 Re: Gianluca Scamacca Signed So I think we are all agreed that he needs to play with a second striker Absolutely no-one has said that apart from you. a midfield 3 of Fornals/Downes/Paqueta would get absolutely destroyed every week in the PL. you really are clueless.

[Hammer and Pickle]

"OK so a 4-3-3 with a midfield of Fornals, Downes and Paqueta. Would have Scamacca hanging back and arriving late but anyway, it’s all moot as he’s not ditching Soucek."