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Match Centre: 


 Odds: 
WHU: 5/2
Draw: 14/5
Brighton: 11/10

 Pre-Match Press Conference: 
N/A 

 Match Preview: 
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Well, it's the last game of 2025 in a year that few will look back on with favour or fondness.  Wrapping it up are bogey-side Brighton, who after a last minute outrageous goal in the away fixture cost us a vital victory, will fancy themselves (doesn't everyone) heading to the London Stadium.

It's another of those must win games for West Ham, and if the recovery doesn't actually commence at some point, we're fucked.  

There's been no press conference for this game, so not much to report on player availability wise.  Fullkrug is training with Milan already so he's not available.  Guilherme seems to have been ostracised for some reason despite a moderatly promising last cameo against Liverpool.  And Igor it would appear it's been decided isn't up to task.   Diouf and Wan Bissaka remain at the AFCON tournament.

Predicted Line Up:

Brighton play with a large number of overloads on the ball, and last time out we shifted to a back three quite successfully, so I'd expect to see something similar again in this game (just to get the natives uber-restless when the defensive looking lineup is announced):Subs: Hermansen, Myers, Golambeckis, Kante, Rodriguez, Magassa, Earthy, Soucek, Wilson

Predicted Result:

It is all starting to feel a bit last chance saloon for West Ham, despite the season still having over half left to run!  Lose this game and all hope will feel lost.  Brighton though seem to be missing some key players, and this presents us a chance at least.  Brighton created almost nothing against us in the first game so I expect that gameplan and pattern to largely repeat...with the outcome to be decided on the basis of how well our Maginot Line holds up to late pressure when Brighton come on strong.

Score: West Ham 1 - 0 Brighton (Bowen)

COYI

Oh well Nuno lost us another 2 points.
Line up was mediocre and bench far to negative.
Subs were almost the end of Nuno,was he actually trying to lose the game ?
Scarles could hardly walk,did KWP have an injury.?
Myers at right back wtf,surely you put Magassa there if so
Soucek did nothing but get in the way of his own players.
Marshall should have been on there for someone,Golambekis was never going to get on in a trillion years.
It makes no sense
Earthy should have come on for Paqueta not Soucek.

So people will say beat Forest and we not out of it so we'll keep Nuno, but he's done.
SO DEPRESSING
 

I’ll start to sound like a broken record, but I am beginning to despise Kilman. Have a fucking backbone, for £40m, if nothing else. This pathetic excuse for a centre half dodges headers. He has no interest in heading the ball. Not from corners against nor corners for. Not from long balls into us that, at 6’4, should be his bread and butter. There was a clearance on the line from Mavropanos that the commentators initially said was Kilman, my immediate thought was not a chance that was Kilman, and then came their correction.

He makes Matt Upson look like a warrior. Another centre half lacking anything like a pair of bollocks, who ironically, is being paid to commentate on how our centre halves lack a pair of bollocks. 

Massive Attack" wrote: ↑30 Dec 2025, 21:54

gpike wrote: ↑30 Dec 2025, 21:38 A hard watch but although Nuno makes some strange decisions what has he to work with? A striker who is gassed at 60 mins then we have to change shape . This is of course all down to Sullivan and the board. Need 3 or 4 to come straight into the team / squad in Jan or else we are done.

 

That's not gonna wash when they played with four 33 and over players for most of the game including Milner who is 40 this week. He should have kept Wilson on who wasn't fucked or injured as they couldn't deal with him. The boos that rang around the Stadium at the time he was hauled off all knew it too.

 

It's not "just" a centre forward we need though, bar at least three defenders! It's the right type of centre forward. Wilson is still a decent centre forward but will only feed off scraps in a defensive based counter attacking system. He hasn't got the pace or the legs to chase balls over the top. Same mistake we made with Haller, Scamacca and the crocked German. None of them were going to match Antonio's type of game and probably Antonio wouldn't have been the type of forward to play in a team based on front foot and possession. We never learn with recruitment.

Brighton had a lot more shots almost double ours, more than double on target, a lot more passes and keeping possession. We somehow managed to get away with a draw at Home against an old biddie Brighton side devoid of confidence having not won in ages themselves. Absolutely dogshit.

PRIMED FOR THE DROP.!

This is the bleed out.

COYI

After that display they should bd planning for their next win. About December 2026 in the championship

But Brighton are run professionally and have a long term plan / vision. They have a model that is geared to selling off some of the best players they develop. Employ cutting edge data analytics to get the best young prospects before they are too expensive. 

They have a “Brighton way” for their football philosophy and style based on high possession. All their teams at all levels pkay that way so that the young prospects seamlessly move up to the first team.  

We are tye antithesis of this. A megalomaniac owner who thinks he knows best and runs it like a market stall on the never never.

The fact that Max Kilman is a professional footballer is truly astounding. 

Paqueta's transfer value diminishes with each passing game.

gpike wrote: ↑30 Dec 2025, 21:38 A hard watch but although Nuno makes some strange decisions what has he to work with? A striker who is gassed at 60 mins then we have to change shape . This is of course all down to Sullivan and the board. Need 3 or 4 to come straight into the team / squad in Jan or else we are done.

 

We need to learn how to win a game before we start planning too far ahead. Sooner rather than later would be good.

It was unfortunate Todibo went off. Probably our most improved player under Nuno.

onsideman wrote: ↑30 Dec 2025, 21:48

gpike wrote: ↑30 Dec 2025, 21:38 A hard watch but although Nuno makes some strange decisions what has he to work with? A striker who is gassed at 60 mins then we have to change shape . This is of course all down to Sullivan and the board. Need 3 or 4 to come straight into the team / squad in Jan or else we are done.

 

Yep. And how is it that we could ALL see that in the summer but seemingly no one at the club could?

 

Sir Alf" wrote: ↑30 Dec 2025, 21:46 We aint beating Wolves. They have been improving only narrowly beaten by Pool last game away and now rrawing at Mancs.  Their first win coming next week. Kilman hatrick own net. Hes sooooo slow but tyrm wuite a few in our team are.  

2nd half was like a bunch of teenagers giving an old mans team the run around at times. The speed thing is so important to win the loose or 2nd balls. We couldnt get near them at times and its been a theme for many years. 

We just dont seem to produce or recruit players with speed and athleticism very much. 



 

 

Think we got what we deserved over the last two games - one point. A bit fortunate tonight with the missed penalty, bit unlucky on Saturday.

Scarles was excellent for us tonight, looked every inch a PL player.

Find myself slightly mystified with the subbing of Magassa. 

The club have to give the manager more to work with up front so we don't have benches stuffed with academy CBs and defensive midfielders.

Worst thing we could do is keep this wanker in charge to face a Wolverhampton bear pit against not one of his old sides but two immediately followed by Marinakis Forest hungry to beat him in to the ground. 

And as predicted Kilman and Paqueta let us down. If i can see it a mile off why cant Nuno? 

 

gpike wrote: ↑30 Dec 2025, 21:38 A hard watch but although Nuno makes some strange decisions what has he to work with? A striker who is gassed at 60 mins then we have to change shape . This is of course all down to Sullivan and the board. Need 3 or 4 to come straight into the team / squad in Jan or else we are done.

 

There’s no getting away from the truth.  We are most definitely one of the three worst teams in the league and are doomed. 
As we all know this is mostly down to Sullivan and his ineptitude. The last two seasons he’s appointed three of the worst managers in our history and as long as he is pulling the strings we’ll be in trouble.
Him and Gold promised that under them the club would be reaching a new level. Well that’s certainly true. The problem is that we’re in such a fucking state that once Bowen has gone (and I wouldn’t blame him one little bit) I’m not confident we could even compete in the championship, especially when playing in a half empty toilet bowl.  
Sullivan and Brady have ruined our club and unless they’re ousted we only have years of yet more failure ahead of us. 

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Why didnt he have Marshall Ajala or Landers on the bench instead of Golambekis?  

As per the last 20 mins we hardly got in there half and were lucky they didnt score. 

We look leggy, out of ideas and absolutely nothing going forward 

As i said earlier backing him in the transfer market seems brainless as he must only have a few more games left way it is going

That team at the end there would be shit in the championship. How is he expecting to score a goal shoving Mayers at RB and Soucek and Kante in the middle.....genuine question?

Down hill as soon as he took Wilson off! Just conceded and took our attacking threat away. Lucky to hand on.

We aint beating Wolves. They have been improving only narrowly beaten by Pool last game away and now rrawing at Mancs.  Their first win coming next week. Kilman hatrick own net. Hes sooooo slow but tyrm wuite a few in our team are.  

2nd half was like a bunch of teenagers giving an old mans team the run around at times. The speed thing is so important to win the loose or 2nd balls. We couldnt get near them at times and its been a theme for many years. 

We just dont seem to produce or recruit players with speed and athleticism very much. 

 

Alfs wrote: ↑30 Dec 2025, 21:38 I'm not chucking in the towel just yet. Beat Forest and we'll be 1 point away from them at worst.

The same Wolves side who are currently drawing Man Utd at Old Trafford that was deemed 1 of our best recent performances to put that in perspective.