I hope Gracia said some stern words at full time. I think we need to rethink the amount of time Deeney stays on the pitch when he starts from now on. Seriously what is so bad about starting Grey for a full 90 minutes against Everton in two weeks? I can almost be certain he will be more eager to run into space and at least try to get into goal scoring positions than Denney has as of late. Like somebody else above said - he needs a good run out being consecutively chosen. With our current wing back problems we cannot play 5 at the back as we are so weak in that area. 3-5-2 Could be a viable formation when everyone is back from injury. We still do not know for sure how well Deeney and Grey can play as a pair up front, because we have no back up - and no I am not counting Sinclair or Okaka as backup for obvious reasons. I am happy with Krak the greek wonder much more lately despite his fumble for their second, he seems quite assured in the area and comes for crosses. Gomes may have to play second fiddle for a bit, but that's a pretty good backup. Seeing David Moyes on MotD this morning made me want to smack him in the face, he is so slimy. Gracia did not hide away from the performance which is something Silva would of done, so kudos there from me.
C'mon - hands up who misses seeing this guy? I can bet 75% of the missed chances by Grey and Deeney he would of buried..
He ran himself into the ground on Monday. Sadly this was while celebrating scoring a penalty and giving the bird to his own fans.
He was utterly useless and cowardly against Gillingham and rightfully never played for the club again.
What chances would those have been yesterday? I remember none at all. First time at the London Stadium yesterday and I think its terrible for football. The view is dire and there is absolutely no atmosphere. Its a hike from Stratford, the rain didn't help, and then huge queues to get searched. Huge gaps between upper and lower tiers all round look ugly. When they go down to the Championship, (which will be soon), then it'll be shown up for the white elephant that it is. I love our ground even more after going there. As for the game, well a West Ham friend of ours who we met afterwards said we were one of the better teams to play there this season !!
It probably is, but as a sole striker, his main job is to hold the ball up and bring others into play. When he can’t do this either, we should worry.
MV scored a cracking goal for Derby yesterday, and he has been knocking them in for fun recently, I was always against letting him go
So was I but to be fair, his replacements in Oulare and Okaka have meant that we've not really missed him. Its not as though we have been short of a goals from the strikers over the last couple of seasons.
Oulare is knocking them in for fun in the Belgian Canon Colour Copiers 3rd Division and as soon as he is eligible for a work permit, will be ready to play for us, as long as we can fight off interest from Man City and Bayern Munich. You may recall that his time with us was hampered because he was still growing. He's actually as big as Andre the Giant now. Anybody want a peanut?
Getting dominated by James Collins ffs. Has anyone thought he's maybe not good enough for this level?
Couldn't have said it much better myself. Vydra at the time was past his expiry date with us, same as Ighalo. Both were good move ons at the time and I still agree with it. Funnily enough we haven't replaced either of them since but I guess that's another conversation which I hope Gino etc plan on sorting for good in the summer once Troy moves on to whereever. The queues to get searched were pointless as the searches themselves might as well have been done blindfolded. What a terrible stadium to play football at, the noise all around from both sets of fans was probably the poorest I can remember in recent years and that includes the big clubs whose stadiums are full of tourists. The gap between the top tier and bottom only contributes to this. I'd absolutely hate watching my club there every week. Deeney in James Collins pocket all game is pretty much all that needs to be said about the performance yesterday. Another 2 big games now with Everton and WBA, hoping for a minimum of 4 points from those two...
But shots on target still doesn't tell the whole story. One of those was from 25+ yards and dribbled through to the goalkeeper. Hardly even counts as a chance as it was never close to being a danger.
17 goals in 31 games so far this season. Will join a prem club in the summer if Derby don't go up. His agent will see to that !!! Will score the 10-12 goals a season to keep someone up.
General theme of our match threads, win a game: Deeney is back, he’s still got it etc etc. Lose a game: Why isn’t Okaka playing, look! Vydra is scoring goals in the championship (just like he did for us)
Disappointing after Monday night. I thought we deserved a draw and probably would have got one had they not fluked their second against the run of play. What a sh1t hole the Olympic stadium is. It didn't seem to bother me last season (the result probably helped) but everything about West Ham away is now dire - the long hike from Stratford station through the hideous shopping centre, past the Soviet style flats and on through the wastelands that surround the 'Brady Bowl' while being policed all the way by an army of Samalians in luminous coats with 'stop and go' boards - the whole experience is dreadful. Feel sorry for the Hammers fans who have to endure this every week.
Is he good enough for the Premier League? I liked Vydra, but his first touch wasn’t always the best which is not something you get away with as Gray has found out.
We can endlessly discuss the validity of shots on target, but no one should overlook we are down to the bare bones. It's like we're playing games with half a team every week. It has a massive impact and I think we're now doing well considering the team we're selecting every week.
If the luminous Somalians keep the West Ham rabble off me whilst they are setting about each other that's OK with me. I think it's written somewhere (the Apocrypha?) that you should never feel sorry for a West Ham fan.
'Academy of soccer', mate. And all those cheeky, chirpy , cheery cockneys....... You're right about the stadium, but don't feel too sorry for the fans - too high a percentage of thugs with a gross sense of entitlement. Their club fought tooth and nail for that stadium.
I don't get the down to the bares bit. For sure we have a lot of injuries, but we aren't fielding lots of Under 23s. Yesterday we fielded Deulofeu, Richarlison, Doucoure, Deeney, Pereyra, Prodl, Capoue, Gray, Holebas etc. Karnezis has looked decent since coming in for Gomes too. How many of our currently injured players would have started yesterday? Gomes, Chalobah and Cleverley, maybe Kaboul?
He's a superior player in terms of finishing and technique. The only thing I would question is his work rate. I think Gray might have him on that one.
Disappointing day after Monday night. Can't add much that hasn't already been said. As others have said, awful stadium, terrible lack of atmosphere and desperate attempts to create atmosphere through hyped up announcements and bubble machines. Loved the instructional/ public information video at half time telling fans to be nice and not swear at each other.
We only had 17 fit senior players yesterday and against Chelsea too. This is my opinion, but the squad players are not good enough for an extended run of games. Zeegelaar and Janmaat are not good enough, even if they have had good careers and are experienced players. We're playing Holebas at centre back, and he's not even very good at wing back. Marriappa is the only player who has consistently raised his game from the pool of squad players, so he does get a lot of credit for his form in this current crisis. We've been playing Watson until the last couple of games, and now Capoue is being used. Capoue will give the occasional good performance, but he's not consistent. He will fluctuate and you need players that will give a performance in 8 out of 10 games. He's not this type of player. I will give Karnezis credit for his form since replacing Gomes, but we're missing Cleverley, Chalobah and Kiko, especially Kiko, as the void he leaves is massive. Don't forget Hughes, Kaboul and Cathcart would improve the situation also. I believe the gap between our first choice players and some of the squad members is too great.
Kiko has probably been our biggest loss recently. Their first goal wouldn't have happened had he been fit.
Yes nobody can deny we have a terrible injury crisis, but I was just putting a view forward that we still have plenty of experience, and that 'bare bones' implies something worse. Even with a fully fit squad, the poor recruiting we've done means one of Gray-Deeney-Okaka has to start up top, while either Holebas or Zeegelaar is our left-back. Injured players always tend to assume legendary status in their absence too.
Google says that people who search for Obbi Oluare also search for Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo, but i know I haven't.
The squad players may be experienced, but most of these "squad" players are not good enough. There have been a lot more hits than misses this season with recruitment. Kiko, Chalobah, Richarlison, Deulofeu, Hughes even Carrillo and Karnezis have all been good. We may be adding Lukebakio and Ndong to that list once we see them play. There have been mistakes, but had we been more injury free, those mistakes wouldn't be quite so relevant. We'd be able to get through this season and rectify the situation in the summer. I'm not sure where the legendary status bit comes from. It's very clear to me that Chalobah and Femenia have been huge losses to this team. Had just those two been available for the entire season, I believe we'd already be safe by now and looking at a top 10 finish. We've been a bit unlucky, as Chalobah's replacement in Hughes also got injured. Janmaat's always been a bit random in his defending, but this season his form has reached a new low. Before this season started I think most would have thought he was good enough to fill in for Femenia, and to even challenge him for a first team place.
You were near me. One guy was so angry he had to cross the stairs to swear at the West ham fans, then fell down the stairs to their amusement. Summed up the day for me.
Vydra might be a superstar in the premier league or he might not. He's definitely better than Gray though. Faster, better touch, better finisher. Gray has the edge on work rate I suppose, if you want to throw him a bone.
