Arsenal away 25th Aug, the battle at the bottom, can we keep it below 5?

MrsGrey

Although, depends if we've already submitted squad list?

PrestonHammer

Play him as a ringer, nobody would know the difference. ;whistle

MrsGrey

Although for what it's worth, I don't think he'll be signed. I think it's just the club being nice and letting him train with us, for fitness.

steve

so noble has a back problem ,and Collins wont be re signed according to pellegrini

chicagohammer

Noble has a back four problem — fixed it for yer
;wink

ASLEFshrugged

It would be exactly the same as with Evra last season but as Pellegrini said "James asked to train here and he was a player of West Ham of ten years, so the door is always open for him to work with our squad."

I think that's a "no".

steve

Or we might review Collins after our next few games ;whistle

IronHerb

So Noble won't be playing on Saturday and Ginge won't be signing.

Pearces_Left_Foot

Merse and Lawro unsurprisingly predicting we are going to get stuffed

Yeoldhammer

Can't blame them, Another 4-0 pasting to follow is probably worth a punt if you are a gambling man.

Lukerz

Suppose with fans thinking like that we can’t blame the players for downing tools either?

Yeoldhammer

why not ? i'm not the one playing or being paid 50k+ a week.

Cuz1

Keep the faith I have for nearly fifty years lol

Lukerz

Sorry but if we expect a 4-0 humbling before a ball has been kicked, then the players are entitled too as well. Why should we expect them to have any more confidence in themselves than we do.

I’m pretty confident of an improved display and possibly a point. Pellegrini will get it right in the long term. I have complete trust.

Pearces_Left_Foot

For me I would like to see some improvement in the middle of the pitch. I am interested in what Pellegrini is doing to address the issues . If I see a better shape and overall performance than Liverpool game then I will look forward to the Wolves game abit more.

Yeoldhammer

Idris Elba has us down for a 6-0 loss

Lukerz

He's a Gunner.

Yeoldhammer

Got to feel for Fabianski probably getting Swansea flashbacks with this West Ham Team.

grey_til_I_dye

Got to feel for Pellegrini.

2 games in and already facing waves of negativity.

baracks_a_hammer

I don’t feel sorry for him. He’s got a job to do and he needs to crack on and start putting things right.

If he’d been following the club for a while as is being said, he would have been well aware of the large swathes of discontent through the club - so he ought to have known what he was signing up to

Fortuneseeker

baracks,

He should also have known which key postions he needed to look at to address with any new signings!

Lukerz

Who’s to say he hasn’t addressed them? Not seen Sanchez or Obiang play under him yet.

One thing is for sure, Noble and Wilshere need more than 180 mins to get a rhythm going as a pairing.

baracks_a_hammer

Noble/Wilshere are not a pairing that will stop the goals going in IMO.

But time will tell

Fortuneseeker

Lukerz,

I like Obiang but we had him last season and we still conceded alot of goals, somebody with some time on their hands can probably prove that when he was in the team we had a better record of keeping the goals against figure down.

If we weren't going for a serious upgrade in a central defensive midfield role we may as well have kept Kouyate than go out at the eleventh hour and get Sanchez IMHO.

Lukerz

The problem is that Pellegrini is different from our other managers; like Curbs, Sam & Moyes. He is not looking to picks sides to 'keep teams out', but to get us dominating the game & keeping possession. It's a complete mentality shift. The more we control the game, the easier it is to keep the opposition out. He doesn't want to resort to a more defensive, restrictive formation of five at the back because he feels he can get us performing well in a 4-2-3-1 (or variation of). Whilst we all know 'points are more important' or 'you don't get time in PL football', you shouldn't sacrifice what you want to achieve when you have just invested in a new management & spent £100m on new additions. Pellegrini knows he has to get this across asap, hence why he has started implementing things immediately, even though players are probably 1) still not match fit 100% & 2) not on his wavelength yet.

The whole five at the back is a bit of a red herring. It is put forward as a solution for our defensive inadequacies, yet we played it for the majority of last season, under a coach known for 'organisation', & still conceded LOADS of goals. So it doesn't immediately solve anything it seems.

Pellegrini has decided Noble, Wilshere, Obiang, Sanchez & Rice are good enough to perform in that midfield area in a two. We've only seen two of those for more than 45 minutes. We have until January to see if they can adapt. I personally agree with him, but it will take a while for them to develop an understanding & come to terms with what Pellegrini wants. After a while I expect to see us regularly having 60%-65% possession home & away against the bottom half, mid-table sides, & scoring a lot of goals. It's gonna be a bit hit & miss between now & October because we don't have many 'easy' fixtures on paper for him to 'bed in'. I can't say whether selling Kouyate was a mistake after two games, because I haven't watched Sanchez or Obiang play (who may perform differently under a new manager).

I like his vision of playing football on the front foot. His record suggests he will succeed, even if it looks a way off currently (based on two games). Klopp arrived at Liverpool with a vision, & in his first months as manager, many accused him of being no different to Brendan Rodgers. Look at them now; second favourites for the title.

If you want to move away from 'relegation battles', you have to switch your mentality. It might be a bit dodgy in the early days but Pellegrini has had success at every club he has managed. I hope he sticks with his ideology & keeps getting it across to the players. I have complete faith in him. ;ok

Expat_Hammer

Yeoldhammer said:

Can't blame them, Another 4-0 pasting to follow is probably worth a punt if you are a gambling man.

Nah, I think we'll only get two, maybe three if we play great

IronHerb

Fortuneseeker said:

Lukerz,

I like Obiang but we had him last season and we still conceded alot of goals, somebody with some time on their hands can probably prove that when he was in the team we had a better record of keeping the goals against figure down.

If we weren't going for a serious upgrade in a central defensive midfield role we may as well have kept Kouyate than go out at the eleventh hour and get Sanchez IMHO.

In League games 1.9 conceded when he wasn't playing and 1.7 when he was (approximate figures)

secrethammersfan

Lukerz, from your mouth to God's ears!

buffybegood

Match day ;scarf ;scarf ;scarf

EXETERHAMMER

;pray A point or three please