West Ham Online

Anybody have a stream for the game?

"“You can't judge him on pre-season and you can't judge him on the first game of the season.” Exactly. He could play the best game ever versus Aston Villa and turn out shit. Or, he could have an absolute stinker and turn out to be great. We are a team in transition. Because we’ve signed some good players we’ve given ourselves a good chance of hitting the ground running. But like most things in life, nothing is a given, eh."

"Scott - I think the point here isn't that he has had a couple of poor games in pre season, i.e a couple of ricks, sloppy passing etc,. it's that he has looked slow, flat footed and has poor positional sense, far removed from what you'd expect from a 40 mil experienced PL defender imo. But yea, let's see on Saturday."

"This is how I see it. There are 3 price ranges for players. You have ¬£10m - ¬£30m for young players with potential - or, for instance, your Fullkrug‚Äôs who are possibly worth more, but because of their age, there‚Äôs no sell on value. Then there are your ¬£30m - ¬£40m players, like Kilman. He‚Äôs played over 100 games in the Premier League, therefore, he‚Äôs fairly established. He‚Äôs also still relatively young ( for a centre back)so he‚Äôs not going to be cheap. Yes,we might have paid ¬£5m - ¬£10 million over the odds, but that‚Äôs probably down to the home grown rule. Then there are the ¬£50m plus players - the cr?®me de la cr?®me who are good enough to play for the best teams. Of course, I hope Kilman turns out to be a 50m plus, player - but that goes for every player we sign. If you ask me, paying tens of millions for any player is ridiculous, regardless of how good they are. But that‚Äôs crazy world of professional football for you."

"You can't judge him on pre-season and you can't judge him on the first game of the season. Well you can, of course. But let's give him a chance to settle in. Some can move clubs seemlessly, others need a bit of time. Pre-season is also just a warm-up. We can look very different when the the season kicks off."

"FWIW, I don't think he's a bad player, and I think he'll improve our defence (but that wasn't exactly a difficult task)."

":-) You have to reserve real judgment of course until the real games get underway, but for me it's hard to turn a blind eye to how slow and cumbersome he has looked pre season. If he looks crap on Saturday then it's a problem, as there is no settling in excuse whatsoever for this player."

"I am having that! hahaha In all seriousness, I reckon we might get a few more posts about his ""worth"" as the season goes on. I think it'll be hard for him to live up to his price tag. There also was a lot of suggestion we were paying that price because he'd be our captain. Looks like that is Bowen now."

"Nah, you're not having that, I've only mentioned his fee a couple of times and on this occasion only to put his performance into context, where you were going on about it for days, if not weeks. Anyway, more important than what is said on here between a bunch of cunts, have we dropped a bollock or not? I think Saturday will tell us a lot more."

"jhahaha knew it. Manuel 2:58 Thu Aug 1 Re: Official Transfer rumours and gossip thread Lee - Ffs, are you going to go on about the Kilman fee all season, son?"

"I could have sworn you were one of the ones who told me to pack it in when questioned dropping £40m on him, Manuel."

*writing before Far Cough has a fit.

"SUM - I thought the same with Kilman he looks big and awkward, has a physique like a lower league player. And no I'm not righting him off, he's a 40 mil defender ffs, just voicing a concern, will be interested to see how he looks on Saturday."

Played some good football until the subs came on. Both goals were as good as you will see anywhere. the build up to Paueta's goal was about as good as football gets. Still leaking goals for now.

"So who is this COYI cսnt? I‚Äôm all for free speech but this bloke is a complete tosser. I was a huge Moyes fan as some of you know and defended him till the very end but even I‚Äôm excited to see what Lopetegui can do. Kilman will be fine alongside Todibo, stop worrying."

Glad others are starting to realise what an absolutely duff signing Kilman is. To spill £40 million on this chump is simply embarrassing. Relegation battle ahead.

"Kilman needs to lose weight. He’s too big and sluggish. In this day and age you’ve got to be athletic. I’m not necessarily saying he’s all fat, by the way, it could be he’s carrying too much muscle. Look at the pictures of him standing next to our other players and he makes them look small - even the bigger ones. He reminds me of Ogbonna when he was struggling with his injuries and he was overweight. Once he sorted that out, he was fine."

"Who organised (or rather didn't organise) the cup presentation? Absolute car crash. From the team's body language it was clear that all of them - including Bowen as he was given the cup - would rather have been somewhere else, probably professionally warming-down in our state-of-the-art dressing rooms."

"Kilman - Let's not look away here this is a big worry imo, happy to be proved wrong next week in a real game, but he doesn't look anywhere near a 40 mil CB, bad positioning (no mans land) and slow on the turn, yes he looks comfortable on the ball but that is secondary to actually defending. I think Soucek will go but wouldn''t be upset if he stayed, he can be useful, as opposed to JWP who is a footballer that runs around but seemingly doesn't do anything, but ''comes alive'' on free kicks and corners...seriously just fuck off and take old man Ings with you."

"Our first and hopefully not last silverware of the season! Only saw the highlights but an improvement on the other games played recently, still a lot to do but getting there i feel COYI"

"Soucek got another 90 minutes lol,but he was good."

"We definitely kept the ball for longer periods than we did in most games last season. However, the speed of passing still needs working on. Still slow in transition through the middle third. Scored two good goals from open play. Bowen's control of Paqueta's through ball was superb. The quick interchange close passing and finish of Paqueta's goal were also brilliant. A lot of work to be done in defence, I thought Kilman looked a little bit better but not great. I hope Todibo attacks the ball more than both Kilman and Mavropos do. Maybe they have been holding back in these preseason kick about, then maybe not! I still predict a shakey start to the league"

"We definitely kept the ball for longer periods than we did in most games last season. However, the speed of passing still needs working on. Still slow in transition through the middle third. Scored two good goals from open play. Bowen's control of Paqueta's through ball was superb. The quick interchange close passing and finish of Paqueta's goal were also brilliant. A lot of work to be done in defence, I thought Kilman looked a little bit better but not great. I hope Todibo attacks the ball more than both Kilman and Mavropos do. Maybe they have been holding back in these preseason kick about, then maybe not! I still predict a shakey start to the league"

RichT You didn't watch us much last season then... where we couldnt string more than 2 passes together. I watched the first half it was like watching a completely different team..oh hang on it was a different team.

"Oh really I must have watched a different game, I thought it was the same old shit……don’t dig me out yet but I can’t see any improvement for Villa…. Let’s see then ye"

"a lot better after the US tour, roll on next week!"