West Ham Online

southbankbornnbred wrote: ↑16 Feb 2025, 10:14

Sir Alf" wrote: ↑16 Feb 2025, 09:44 Good summary Nutsin. Potter reverted to a back 4 and got central midfield wrong relying on the slowest double pivot central midfield in the Premiership. A back 3 seems a better fit but also when Paqueta dropped deeper we had 3 in the central mid and stopped Brentford having so much space to run into when they countered. As u say, Paqueta has to play deeper with the game ahead of him.

Not writing Potter off yet but he has to learn we cannot  play a 2 person central midfield of Alvarez and Soucek and that Mavro in a 4 man back 4 us going to be risky. Hopefully wont see either mistakes repeated?  Main other thing we need is Ferguson and Todibo to get and stay fit

Yeah, interesting summaries, Alf and Nutsin.

I also think it’s far too early to judge Potter. These are not his players and there’s just no way he’d have signed most of them. I’m not saying he’ll rip it up at West Ham (who knows), but his teams don’t generally look like us right now.

This old, slow and tired squad has a LOT of problems. But by far the biggest problem I can see is in central defence.

Nutsin summed it up nicely: “Mavrapanos still getting in the side as a starter makes you wonder just how good he must show at practice all week because on match day he is always one of the worse players on the field.”

Its not that Mavrapanos is any good - he’s fucking terrible. A mistake waiting to happen. It’s just that we don’t have any depth, and the other centre halves are also woeful - or injury prone.

We’ve spent (or agreed to spend) a small  fortune on some absolute dross. Kilman is the worst £40m footballer I’ve ever seen. He has the turning circle of an oil tanker and regularly gets destroyed for pace over ten yards - let alone 20+. It means we can’t really play, or get, high up the pitch quickly enough. So he forces us to play a way that Potter probably doesn’t want. Absolute waste of that huge outlay. Slow, off the pace mentally, and too easily exposed because of it. His saving grace is that he doesn’t really make “mistakes” like Mavrapanos - and he is a battler. It’s just that his physical attributes are poor for the modern Premier League, where opponents are often athletes more than footballers.

Mavrapanos was in excess of £20m. We've agreed to spend £34m on Todibo, who is a good player but injury prone - and clearly nursing his way through the season. And we spent £30m on Aguerd who started well, deteriorated under Moyes and then got loaned out by a hopeless manager who had no idea what he was doing.

Thats £125m worth of “talent” and we’re catastrophically poor at the back.

Fixing that will take some doing. Who, for example, will want to sign Kilman at his fee/wages - unless it’s a move like a return to Wolves for half the money?

Moyes and Lopetegui royally lumped us in it.

Mad Ferret" wrote: ↑27 May 2025, 15:21 Ah yes, he's back in light training - let's have him feature in a PL game.

Ridiculous idea.

Mad Ferret" wrote: ↑27 May 2025, 14:51 I must've missed when Cresswell was involved in a life-threatening car crash.

Mad Ferret" wrote: ↑27 May 2025, 13:55

Massive Attack" wrote: ↑26 May 2025, 17:45 Like I've said before they missed a trick not giving Antonio a token late Sub appearance 

That's one of the most moronic comments I've seen for quite some time.

Massive Attack" wrote: ↑26 May 2025, 17:45 Like I've said before they missed a trick not giving Antonio a token late Sub appearance at the last Home game. 

Fauxstralian wrote: ↑26 May 2025, 19:04 Not sure a sub is allowed on in a wheelchair 
He should retire & can be introduced on the pitch before the first home game of next season to say goodbye 

Massive Attack" wrote: ↑24 May 2025, 18:14 Dear God, go for a lie down, Bill. You're about to have a coronary..

Fancy getting this worked up about Soucek and all his contribution to the Team.

Massive Attack" wrote: ↑24 May 2025, 15:36

BillyJenningsBoots wrote: ↑24 May 2025, 11:54

Massive Attack" wrote: ↑24 May 2025, 03:33

Showing yourself up again! Come on then tell us where you got these stats about Soucek being a defensive midfielder cos we all know thats not how he was being played. If hes played so many games as a defensive midfielder the suggestion being that he doesnt venture forward, so he shouldnt provide many assists! Tell us how he's managed to get close enough to score all those goals! Fuckwit!

But lets face it no one here can figure out what your fucking point is! 

Transfermarkt - The same place that many people use to get Stats, even professionals in the game. Fuckwit! 

Not that it should be needed as he's mostly played as a DM both at West Ham and elsewhere. Only in your tiny brain would believe he's mainly been played as an Attacking Midfielder or the like. 

BillyJenningsBoots wrote: ↑24 May 2025, 11:54

Massive Attack" wrote: ↑24 May 2025, 03:33

BillyJenningsBoots wrote: ↑24 May 2025, 01:12

And no most of Souceks early games under Moyes were as an attacking midfielder 

Showing yourself up again! Come on then tell us where you got these stats about Soucek being a defensive midfielder cos we all know thats not how he was being played. If hes played so many games as a defensive midfielder the suggestion being that he doesnt venture forward, so he shouldnt provide many assists! Tell us how he's managed to get close enough to score all those goals! Fuckwit!

But lets face it no one here can figure out what your fucking point is!