Lille sold out?

[Mex Martillo]

Is Lille sold out?
I cannot see how to buy tickets on whufc.com?

[Tomshardware]

Giroud's goal was superb, not bad for a near 39 year old.

Kilman gave him too much space. I do worry about our CBs. 

Yes but that was still a superb goal all the same. 

[BoleynGone]

EX has the 2nd game on against Lille. anyone have the line up and score ?

[Swiss.]

Giroud's goal was superb, not bad for a near 39 year old.

Kilman gave him too much space. I do worry about our CBs. 

[Sir Alf]

With Potter I am hoping ( dangerous ) his methods pay off longer term ( he’s supposedly a builder of teams over several seasons) but we need to see more progress than we’ve witnessed so far.  We still look like a team with the wrong type of players in key positions to play his controlled possession game.  Yesterday at the back, putting a foot on it, waiting ( for the opposition press? ) and slowly moving it side to side, backwards and invariably one of the defenders or Areola pumping it long and turning over possession.  I put that largely down to absence of midfield options and types of players to break their high press. Our CBs also reluctant / fear to step out with it.  We just couldnt play thru the 2nd 3rd of the pitch ( midfield). We havent been able to for years and under Moyesball it became ingrained. We recruited to play direct with quick, fast counter tactics.  We are still hamstrung by it and struggling to evolve. 

 Im hoping Potter is perservering with his method knowing that he will be getting players in midfield to carry the ball, provide the movement and pace thats needed? The final piece of the jigsaw so as to speak ?  Lets hope so.  Will Sullivan allow Potter to get his targets for centre mid? Will Sully insist on selling 2 or 3 before sanctioning more purchases?  And even if we get the ok to buy, will we get the Potter target or a Sully/Salthouse pick like Josh Brownhill?  Its critical we get this right or imo Potter could be toast by xmas

[Eerie Decent]

Having a belief in what you do, and having an outrageous ego, are 2 separate things.

Every person on the planet has an ego of sorts, but he doesn't strike me as someone who's ego is his problem when picking certain players, he's just not a brave manager. To be honest, I think West Ham as a club needs a manager with a big ego, which is why I never thought of him as a good fit.

But he's here now, and isn't going anywhere for the foreseeable. As I said, I of course be wrong but I don't think it's going to be quite as bad as most are suggesting, I'm hoping at least 2 more come through the door before the window shuts, and I'm hopeful that the squad, which looks more settled in general, have bought into him a bit more over the summer, and we won't be pushovers in most game.

I appreciate it's all a bit low hanging fruit, but this is 3 years of poor recruitment, and mostly shocking league form. I would replace him today given the choice, but it's not happening, so I'm gonna focus on the positives, until Sunderland slap us, then I'll be on here slagging him off probably.

[threesixty]

I think with Potter, it's the complete opposite of ego. It's a lack of bravery.

Still, much as the style of football is not my cup of tea, he as a manager is not my cup of tea, I don't think we're as bad as is being made out. We'll be mid table, get overrun by some teams, dominate the ball against others, a real mixed bag, but we won't get hammered and we'll be competitive in most games.

That said, it will be mostly boring, and we have to hope Bowen stays fit for most of the season. But it is what it is, and I'm going to go into it with a bit of hope. Or else, what's the fucking point.

 

 

Interesting about the bravery vs ego thing. I think pyschologically if you think you’re going to lose your job you tend to start doing anything to see what will work. The thing with him, at Chelsea and here is when things are going badly, continuously, he stays the same. That takes some massive belief in your methods. Thats not normal. Coupled with the smoothness of his chat, I really thinks he believes he’s the shit.

But anyways, I’m hoping it goes well for him i really do. he doesnt seem to be a bad person so I’d be chuffed for him if it works out. Just not actually seeing any evidence of it thats all. Diouf is the only game changer I’ve seen and would love to see how him and Summerville can work that left side.

One thing I’d point out is that after 6 months of barely doing anything we picked up points at the end of the season when most teams had nothing to play for. However, he did have something to play for, so he was pushing for results. When the league starts it’s going to 100mph out there, full intensity. If we are not at it 100% every team will get something out of us. Basically it’s going to be far harder this season for him than the last one. Finger crossed!

[Eerie Decent]

I think with Potter, it's the complete opposite of ego. It's a lack of bravery.

Still, much as the style of football is not my cup of tea, he as a manager is not my cup of tea, I don't think we're as bad as is being made out. We'll be mid table, get overrun by some teams, dominate the ball against others, a real mixed bag, but we won't get hammered and we'll be competitive in most games.

That said, it will be mostly boring, and we have to hope Bowen stays fit for most of the season. But it is what it is, and I'm going to go into it with a bit of hope. Or else, what's the fucking point.

[Sir Alf]

Spot on Stubbo. That said, I largely agree with most of the recent posts. As I mentioned on the transfer thread, its almost unheard of for fans, pundits, ex players all to agree on something and yes even most posters on WHO. Thats got to be a first? 

3 weeks to address the central midfield and Sulivan, like Nero “fiddles” insisting we sell several excess midfielders and the likes of Emerson, Cornet before we can buy any more players !!! And of course this was the priority area all along.  Its like we never fix the engine of our car but have added a go fast spoiler, flashy stripes, tinted windows and the best blinging wheels money can buy. But this is an analogy that sums up our owner…. “Fur coat and no knickers” , the Del Boy of the football world… “you know it makes sense”

[fraser]

Fearon hasn't been seen since which I find utterly bizarre 

[threesixty]

The way the team play is the embodiment of Potters personality. On paper he looks good, says the right things, but ultimately is shit and just spends time trying to distract you from how shit he actually is,

What’s troubling me is the best the whole team has played in 8 months since he has been here is that 10-15 minute spell with Potts, Fearon, Guilherme and Paq in midfield against Man Utd. It was head and shoulders better than anything I have seen at this club for ages.

And it’s just ignored. Like it was a myth. Like it didn’t happen. We are not even trying to find a senior player to give us what Fearon gave us if he is not ready for PL yet. How can a manager see that and go back to the same crap he’s been doing for months?

The answer is EGO.
He cannot handle the way he thinks about football might be wrong. As it will destroy him emotionally. So he is going to double down on all of this, He wont change it. And we are just hoping like a broken clock it might just come right for us.

We should beat Sunderland,. Chelsea game is the benchmark for us. He will try to nullify them rather than out score them, but will we just fall apart and get spanked (which is the West Ham way nowadays)? Chelsea will tell us a lot about where this team are going. If we are not competitive against them, I think we are done. I know its early doors, but if we are still playing like last season, why expect different before Xmas?

 

[stubbo-admin]

So the moaning can carry on. The positive for me was that Potter did change something and we came back late to grab a draw. It wasn't a great display, the team looked overrun in midfield and unbalanced. Playing 3 centre backs is fine but you have to have them step out now and again to create an extra man. When one of them did this then we created something. We can't play out from the back and are struggling to hold up the ball if it's hit long. 

We also only seemed to realise we had some width in Diouf and Walker-Peters late in the game. Dioufs crosses and link up play are coming along. He is improving. I think he will be exposed against some of the better teams but it's promising for the young lad. He will need time. 

On JWP, he runs around a lot but isn't quick enough or combative enough to win us back the ball. When he has it then there aren't enough forward progressive passes - I know others have to make runs but often he slows it down and goes sideways. I really want to see a player in here that drives at teams. Clearly today he had a lot of corners and set plays. Delivery wasn't awful but was hardly in Payet territory. I didn’t feel we were likely to score from any of them. He is vocal and a decent player but in a midfield conceding space then I think he looks worse than he is. Neither Guido or Soucek are going to make a difference in there for the same reason. They aren't going to cover the amount of ground and don't carry a ball. 

Soucek is an important player though. He is a rare type of player that has intelligence to arrive in the box and find space, add an additional threat whether the ball falls to his feet or to his head. He is also a giant at defending oppositions set plays. He doesn't seem to suit a Potter passing system but he can be a game changer and his scoring record would be the envy of many midfielders.  

I'd like to see the development of players like Guillerme and Summerville. Players with pace that can cover ground, take on and commit other players, have a bit of flair. They are going to lose the ball a fair bit but then we do that anyway by not being able to hold it up or have the range of passing to open up a side. 

I think we will get better but not much better this season. It just doesn't look like the players suit the system and there are too many players that would need to be replaced. 


 

I agree with this. We have too many players who don't suit the manager. But it's not a great surprise when you have a squad that was built first by Moyes (deep sitting counter attack), Sullivan (know-nothing cսnt), Lopetegui (stupidly high line suicide ball), and Steidten (no real plan given the involvement of all the others). 

The likes of Guilherme and Summerville....good players, loads of talent and potential....but don't remotely fit the manager now. They might get game time as makeshift wingbacks, or as plan B if and when he goes to a 3-4-3, but by and large, they're 'the wrong players'.

Same is true of Paqueta, who's strongest skill is the throughball into space from deep, as well as being a decent tackler for a somewhat creative midfielder. Suited Moyes....not Potter or Lopetegui. He has been reasonable for Potter, but you have to swallow the fact he loses the ball A LOT and his pass completion rate for a no. 8 is really quite poor. 

The best we have in our team now is the wingbacks and the centre backs. They all suit the system. But the defence can only play out and step out of the midfield push higher, and they can't for reasons Alf has told us about many times. 

Potts is a good young player, but he needs to come into a functioning setup to play that role. JWP is limited but does at least take care of the ball. And we've talked about Paqueta who is the only one that can knit it together, and set the wingbacks away, but turns the ball over too much.

Alvarez doesn't have the tactical discipline. Soucek is a situational "special teams" player, and Irving a jack of all trades, master of none.  As for Guido...snail paced.

So the team is like a ring doughnut now...plenty round the edges including some sugar, but the middle is hollow. 

And we've got a manager who loves a bit of theory, but lacks the dynamism. He might eventually get us playing some pretty football if he's given time (all be it lacking effectiveness), but likelihood is he'll flatter to deceive, and as we all know to be successful under Sullivan is no easy task. 

So we're stuck in a void. Pre Season has shown we'll win games. The front two are pretty lethal. The wingbacks will create chances, and there's always plans B with throwing Soucek in. But we lack the substance to take a game by the scruff of the neck, and that's not changing anytime soon.

[Massive Attack]

Now, consider that we don't HAVE to play this inappropriate 5-3-2 formation.


 

With hundreds and thousands on. 

[Gank]

Sir Alf, please stop talking for a moment.

Now, take a long, deep breath.

Now, consider that we don't HAVE to play this inappropriate 5-3-2 formation.

That's all. Now look back on your posts on this thread.

[Massive Attack]

But today Paqueta had a stinker for much of the game.  

 

 

When was the last time he had a really good game? He's something like a 1 in 14 man these days when it comes to turning it on. His poor form has worn thinner than Nobles hairline.

Outrageous when you consider how much we paid/pay for him and genuinely carried him as a passenger in our side still living off that 1 pass over 2 years ago now. The betting scandal excuse only goes so far I'm afraid. He is afterall supposed to be our most creative player yet the stats compared to other's shames him. He didn't assist a single goal throughout the entire season and only scored 5, 2 by way of the penalty spot having played in 36 games. Joke output.

[goose]

The lad who played centre midfield for them looked handy. Number 17 called Makua.
20 years old.

[Tomshardware]

Giroud's goal was superb, not bad for a near 39 year old.

[Massive Attack]

I've tried to like the bloke but I just cannot see what JWP brings to the party. 
People moan about Soucek being a passenger, but this guy is another level. 

A passenger that set-up 11 goals and score 7 goals (18 goals in total) himself in his only full debut season with us and helped us to 9th in the League and the Quarters of Europa League going out to Neverlosing.

Did you just happen to know that off by heart? 

Nope, I had to double check to make sure I wasn't imagining things during his debut season for us. Turns out he was better than I first thought, especially for a passenger. 

[bell]

I've tried to like the bloke but I just cannot see what JWP brings to the party. 
People moan about Soucek being a passenger, but this guy is another level. 

A passenger that set-up 11 goals and score 7 goals (18 goals in total) himself in his only full debut season with us and helped us to 9th in the League and the Quarters of Europa League going out to Neverlosing.

Did you just happen to know that off by heart? 

[Massive Attack]

Cant say I agree with you on start Guido  Roots but certainly JWP and Potts as a pair too lightweight. But today Paqueta had a stinker for much of the game.  

We could well be in the position of losing Paqueta & Alvarez. I hope they have replacements lined up and are not thinking JWP & Potts are the answer.
Alvarez should be kept and played in the hole infront of the back 3 to break up play and stop teams strolling through our midfield IMHO, that's his game. 
Paqueta is a bit of an enigma just not consistent enough but let's see how he does when the real action starts now the ban is not hanging over his head.
I like Soucek, he gives us a presence at both ends of the pitch & we look better when he is on the pitch.
There is a player somewhere in Rodriguez but he's another one who hasn't shown it yet.
If Potter doesn't address the midfield & insists on starting JWP every game  we will struggle again next season.
So much deadwood still to shift, WTF are Cornet & Emerson still doing at the club if they clearly have no future?
Where was Guilherme?
Bowen & Fulkrug are developing as a partnership but why wasn't Wilson on the bench, idiotic.

Playing out from the back is boring, we can't do it and it's already becoming outdated. 
The most successful sides last season don't do it. 
Potter is yesterday's man.

Club is a fucking circus.
Rant over.

 

Potter, you wet cardboard personified, insipid, fucking possession for possession's sake boring sideways passing gutless wanker football peddling no mark, personality void, out of your fucking depth, rabbit in the headlights fucking useless waste of spunk from the cock of a beige tramp from beige city, Hapless County, Cuntsville. And take your silly fucking mate with you, the cսnt is nicking a living. 

It's funny cos it's true!

[RootsRadical]

ag ag ag Vexed.

[twoleftfeet]

Cant say I agree with you on start Guido  Roots but certainly JWP and Potts as a pair too lightweight. But today Paqueta had a stinker for much of the game.  

We could well be in the position of losing Paqueta & Alvarez. I hope they have replacements lined up and are not thinking JWP & Potts are the answer.
Alvarez should be kept and played in the hole infront of the back 3 to break up play and stop teams strolling through our midfield IMHO, that's his game. 
Paqueta is a bit of an enigma just not consistent enough but let's see how he does when the real action starts now the ban is not hanging over his head.
I like Soucek, he gives us a presence at both ends of the pitch & we look better when he is on the pitch.
There is a player somewhere in Rodriguez but he's another one who hasn't shown it yet.
If Potter doesn't address the midfield & insists on starting JWP every game  we will struggle again next season.
So much deadwood still to shift, WTF are Cornet & Emerson still doing at the club if they clearly have no future?
Where was Guilherme?
Bowen & Fulkrug are developing as a partnership but why wasn't Wilson on the bench, idiotic.

Playing out from the back is boring, we can't do it and it's already becoming outdated. 
The most successful sides last season don't do it. 
Potter is yesterday's man.

Club is a fucking circus.
Rant over.

 

If we lose Paqueta there's literally not a single creative player in the squad. We'd be fucking dead. Starts every single game for me. Fuck knows why Alvarez hasn't played, by all accounts (didn't see any of it) was fantastic in the dago Cup and we're nowhere near solving the massive midfield problems. Absolute incompetence that we've left this most important position as our lowest priority and are heading into the season with the worst midfield in the league from last season. Cunts. Fuck off Potter, you wet cardboard personified, insipid, fucking possession for possession's sake boring sideways passing gutless wanker football peddling no mark, personality void, out of your fucking depth, rabbit in the headlights fucking useless waste of spunk from the cock of a beige tramp from beige city, Hapless County, Cuntsville. And take your silly fucking mate with you, the cսnt is nicking a living. 

The site moron in full flow.

[Forest Gate Ugly]

The goal that he and Bowen contrived to score between them at Spurs means he’ll always have a place in my heart. 

[Massive Attack]

I've tried to like the bloke but I just cannot see what JWP brings to the party. 
People moan about Soucek being a passenger, but this guy is another level. 

A passenger that set-up 11 goals and score 7 goals (18 goals in total) himself in his only full debut season with us and helped us to 9th in the League and the Quarters of Europa League going out to Neverlosing.

[Pub Bigot]

Has he even scored from a free kick for us yet? He must be potters golf mate. 

Nope. 

[Full Claret Jacket]

So the moaning can carry on. The positive for me was that Potter did change something and we came back late to grab a draw. It wasn't a great display, the team looked overrun in midfield and unbalanced. Playing 3 centre backs is fine but you have to have them step out now and again to create an extra man. When one of them did this then we created something. We can't play out from the back and are struggling to hold up the ball if it's hit long. 

We also only seemed to realise we had some width in Diouf and Walker-Peters late in the game. Dioufs crosses and link up play are coming along. He is improving. I think he will be exposed against some of the better teams but it's promising for the young lad. He will need time. 

On JWP, he runs around a lot but isn't quick enough or combative enough to win us back the ball. When he has it then there aren't enough forward progressive passes - I know others have to make runs but often he slows it down and goes sideways. I really want to see a player in here that drives at teams. Clearly today he had a lot of corners and set plays. Delivery wasn't awful but was hardly in Payet territory. I didn’t feel we were likely to score from any of them. He is vocal and a decent player but in a midfield conceding space then I think he looks worse than he is. Neither Guido or Soucek are going to make a difference in there for the same reason. They aren't going to cover the amount of ground and don't carry a ball. 

Soucek is an important player though. He is a rare type of player that has intelligence to arrive in the box and find space, add an additional threat whether the ball falls to his feet or to his head. He is also a giant at defending oppositions set plays. He doesn't seem to suit a Potter passing system but he can be a game changer and his scoring record would be the envy of many midfielders.  

I'd like to see the development of players like Guillerme and Summerville. Players with pace that can cover ground, take on and commit other players, have a bit of flair. They are going to lose the ball a fair bit but then we do that anyway by not being able to hold it up or have the range of passing to open up a side. 

I think we will get better but not much better this season. It just doesn't look like the players suit the system and there are too many players that would need to be replaced.