West Ham v Bournemouth - Sat 18th August 3pm Match Thread

grey_til_I_dye

Even a broken leopard can change his shorts twice a day...

Kuchinghammer

and you sometimes have to go there the long way to come the short way back, Grey ;hmm ;luck

Lukerz

I think you could argue that if Pelle wants us to play a high defensive line, with a back four, then at the end of the day that is what needs to be enforced early on. I suppose some managers would argue that away to LFC is not the way to go about doing it & maybe leave it for that game, sit deep, play a back five & try it against Bournemouth. But he obviously wants us to play a variation of 4-4-1-1 and press high up the pitch, play an offside trap etc, so maybe he accepts there may be a couple of early thrashings whilst we adjust to it & get it right, but the sooner we start playing it, the better.

grey_til_I_dye

Kuching

Well, I wouldn't start from here...

Pearces_Left_Foot

Looking forward to seeing our new signings hopefully a nice 2-0 win and a few beers

PrestonHammer

Ogbonna always seems to be 4 or 5 yards behind the rest of the defence, which is fine if we have the ball but not fine of we are trying to play the opposition players offside.

claretandbluesky

playing high is such a hard way to play for defences as it almost breaks a natural instinct to be goal side when looking for offside and against very fast players they just look for you to come as high as you dare so that it can be played in behind you knowing they will get there first. Could be a steep learning curve whilst this new defensive system beds in.

Lukerz

Also if the rest of the team don’t press the other players, it is ridiculous to play a high line. Your midfield and wingers need to force the opposition to rush their passes. You need to dominate possession and press when out of possession all over the pitch to play a high defensive line. Otherwise you just look stupid like we did for 3/4 goals on Sunday.

Lukerz

It was like when I used to attempt the offside trap tactic on FIFA

ianbishoplegend

I did like Creswell at the back last year, we looked much better like that. I would love to see Zaba-Diop-Creswell as a back 3.

BubblesNeverDies

Aslef, yeah I think I see a pattern developing there ;biggrin

Lukerz

ianbishoplegend said:

I did like Creswell at the back last year, we looked much better like that. I would love to see Zaba-Diop-Creswell as a back 3.

I like Masuaku but I think getting Cresswell back as our main LB would be a big bonus. He wasn't amazing last year but I thought he did very well adapting to LCB & he still managed to collect 7 assists. I think he offers us a bit more solidity at the back.

ASLEFshrugged

A fullback playing in a back four has a lot more defensive responsibility than a fullback/wingback playing with a back three.

Cresswell is probably the better choice in a back four.

SuzanneClaret

I’d just like a defender to defend.

Full back / right back / left wing back / back in black / back for good.

I don’t care what he’s called I just want - in the first instance - for him to defend.

Colchester_Iron

....and not attribute all four goals conceded to the missing defensive midfielder.

If only the (presumably) attacking midfielders could contrive to score four goals....

BubblesNeverDies

Suze, I think you're being a little too demanding - defenders defend, whatever next? ;biggrin

PrestonHammer

Suze you forgot Back to Black.

Fortuneseeker

Colchester_Iron said:

....and not attribute all four goals conceded to the missing defensive midfielder.

If only the (presumably) attacking midfielders could contrive to score four goals....

They were too busy covering for having no defensive midfielder!
;whistle

IronHerb

They were too busy covering for having no defensive midfielder!
;whistle

In which case they better stick to being attacking midfielders.
;biggrin

Giant_Hammer

When Pelle came in I thought great an attacking minded manager which means we'll endeavor to score more than the oppsition in a high scoring game. Can't complain, we're already half way there. ;biggrin

Pearces_Left_Foot

Lawro says draw Merse west ham win

BubblesNeverDies

Loss written all over it then. ;wahoo

steve

pretty much ;whistle

baracks_a_hammer

In lawro’s comments he basically intimated we were a pushover v Liverpool and that Palace (whom Liverpool play next) will not be. As little as we think of Lawro, it is sad to read something which basically says the likes of Palace are much less likely to be turned over from a defensive perspective than we are. Whatever Pelle has in mind for our porous defence, I hope he implements it quickly

claretandbluesky

I think time will show Liverpool to be exceptional this season and so for me tomorrow will be far more informative. The positive part of last week is that if there are flaws in the system Pelle hoped to play perhaps Liverpool will have done us a favour by exposing them early. Hopefully they have been tweeking in the week and can line up tomorrow with greater solidity.

adecoker

I just misread the previous comment. For one horrible moment I thought that someone was suggesting that the squad had hopefully been twerking in the week in preparation for tomorrow's game.

Lukerz

4-1 Irons

claretandbluesky

It could happen Ade, it could happen, some new south American training method!

Bazshuayi

Well someone needs to get to the bottom of it...

# wiggle it, just a little bit (acid groove!) ;bee ;wahoo ;nolan

Lukerz

Ex says there are ‘a few’ changes to the side tomorrow.

;hmm

Cresswell in
Hernandez in
Yarmolenko in
Diop in