Burnley (H) Saturday 2nd Nov, 15:00

alderz

I’ve not done one of these before so here it is

Pearces_Left_Foot

We need a win big time the season is beginning to slip into another year of just staying up. Travelling home last night the amount of people who are feeling low about watching West Ham was as high as I have seen in a long time. I want a good performance and a good result.

Lukerz

Fabianski
Zabaleta - Balbuena - Diop - Masuaku
Rice - Obiang
Diangana - Anderson - Perez
Arnautovic (c)

Adrian, Ogbonna, Fredericks, Cresswell, Snodgrass, Antonio, Hernandez

Given all the injuries we posses, that is not a bad 18 given the circumstances. Although I don't rate Antonio & their are question marks about Hernandez, that is a bench of 7 senior players.

Personally I feel we need to pick an attacking line-up for this game & go for it. We are in need of a win. Perez has barely had a kick so far but scored a couple in the limited time he has had. He scored last night. Anderson needs to be persevered with. I understand calls for him to be dropped but he is a player who will blow hot & cold. Burnley are a stubborn side but have conceded loads of goals this season in comparison to last season where they seemed to get a clean sheet every other week.

Think it needs to be a case of basically telling Obiang & Rice to just sit & the front four try & create problems.

You sense it will be a tight game. I'm going 1-0 to us.

steve

;ok agree Lukerz that looks like the best team we can put out .snodgrass would give us the spark we need (never thought I would say that )but bring him on if we need him .perez should get his chance after his goal ;pray for any type of win

ASLEFshrugged

We played two in central midfield in our first four games this season, we lost all four, conceded 10 goals and scored two

Since we switched to three in central midfield we've won two, drawn two, lost two, conceded five and scored seven.

Our "attacking line-up" scores fewer goals and concedes more.

Why on earth would we drop Snodgrass?

Fab
Zab Rocky Diop Arthur
Obiang Rice Snoddy
Grady Arnie Anderson

McHammer

Fab
Zab Rocky Diop Cress
Obiang Rice Snoddy
Grady Arnie Anderson

alderz

I don't trust Masuaku tbh. I think Gunnarsson and Lowton are very hard workers and very good at their jobs on the right, and he will be a liability (he always is, IMO). I'd much rather see Cresswell, but I accept that that doesn't seem to be likely.

I would also like to see Anderson dropped. His inconsistency needs to be called out by Pellegrini, and he has started every league game so far. I would have him on the bench and tell him to go out and actually earn it.

My preferred lineup would be:

Fabianski; Zabaleta Balbuena Diop Cresswell; Rice; Diangana Obiang Snodgrass Perez; Arnautovic

but I think Masuaku and Anderson will play ahead of Cresswell and Perez.

OutcastLondoner

I thought Perez was pretty bad again yesterday when he came on and a simple header doesn't really change that.

alderz

Outcast

I don’t really disagree, but imp Anderson needs to be dropped even if it’s jusy for an hour, and Antonio can’t be the one to replace him.

SuzanneClaret

Agreed.

Home win ;wahoo

Lukerz

Would be good to just see Masuaku played as a LW for one match ahead of Cresswell to see if we benefit from his pace further up the pitch.

Fabianski
Zabaleta - Balbuena - Diop - Cresswell
Rice - Obiang
Diangana - Anderson - Masuaku
Arnautovic

That has got some decent pace to it & quick feet. I know Anderson has disappointed but maybe with two fast runners either side & Arnie back up top we can get more out of him.

jay_in_cpt

i'd make just 1 change to your starting 11 Luke, move Arnie to where u have Anderson, & move Chicharito to where Arnie is...
Anderson can do with a bit of a " you don't play well enough for a few matches in a row " u pay the consequence of being given a rest/dropped, don't think it'll happen and hope Anderson plays a blinder!

Hamstew

I like that or have Snodgrass instead of Anderson

ASLEFshrugged

Lawro has predicted a 2-0 win for us, the best we can hope for is a draw.

To make matter worse he mentions the crowd trouble at the Burnley game last season and says "There is a different mood at the London Stadium now, so let's hope we don't see any repeat of that kind of unrest" two days after a couple of numpties ran on the pitch.

The bookies like 1-0 to us but 1-1 isn't far behind.

I have a nasty feeling that this its going to be 0-0 with Hart keeping a clean sheet at the London Stadium for once.

OutcastLondoner

alderz said:

Outcast

I don’t really disagree, but imp Anderson needs to be dropped even if it’s jusy for an hour, and Antonio can’t be the one to replace him.

Fair point about Anderson. I think i'd prefer Masuaku on the left over Perez though.

ASLEFshrugged

Also no Noble.

Since December 2014 we've won twice without Noble in the starting line up, the last time was Huddersfield (H) September 2017.

alderz

Outcast ;ok

I hadn't thought of Masuaku on the wing, but actually I wouldn't be opposed to that at all.

BubblesNeverDies

Alderz, if I'm not mistaken, I seem to remember that being suggested quite a while back, perhaps last season. He's got the pace and ball skills and if he was relieved of the main defensive role he might even be a revelation.

alderz

Bubbles ;ok

I definitely think he's capable of it, and I have definitely seen the suggestion on here and other places before, it just slipped my mind when I was writing before!

Adam

I remember Masuaku played left wing a couple of times under Moyes. He did alright. He’s obviously very capable of getting past players.

grey_til_I_dye

Re: Anderson, I think it is difficult. He's clearly struggling to settle in, and find his form. On form, you'd drop him, but then, how does a player develop his game, and find his confidence, if he isn't playing?

Guess that's why managers get the big bucks.

OutcastLondoner

Alderz ;ok I think he worked as a wing-back because he's actually probably a winger who can do some defending but shouldn't be the last line.

I think as a left back this season, he's tried to be more responsible about getting forward but still isn't very good at the defending part, so we end up with him offering very little. As a winger, he's probably the best competition for Anderson and one of our most direct ways of creating chances.

alderz

I remember him swinging in a couple of fantastic crosses for Arnie last year, and he definitely does most of his best work as far away from his goal as possible. Also, Cresswell isn't exactly a bad backup at leftback.

Pearces_Left_Foot

I think Cresswell was one of our top assist providers last year can't remember where I saw the stat it was something like 7 assists last season

Lukerz

Top assisting defender in the league last season ;ok

Lukerz

To me it is a no brainer to try it. Masuaku did well as a LWB last season, has glimpses of good attacking play, sometimes really good all round attacking performances (Chelsea h, Stoke a, Bournemouth a last season).

Masuaku can play in the top third of the pitch, assist defending when necessary, offers pace, trickery, quick feet, but it also allows him to push back the RB/RM for Burnley & then allows Cresswell that extra yard for when he does support to sling in a decent ball with a bit more time.

May as well experiment for at least a half.

horshamhammer

Almost getting into must-win territory for me. Coming into a good run of kinder fixtures, the losses we've suffered can be argued away (new manager, new system, new players etc) but at some point you've got to start getting the points. That time is now.

welovethehammers

I'd like to see:

Fabianski
Zabaleta - Balbuena - Diop - Masuaku
Diangana - Rice - Obiang - Snodgrass
Arnautovic - Hernandez

Depending on how the game is going we may choose to bring on Cresswell for Hernandez and push Masuaku up. Could be good from a defensive point of view. So we'd look as follows:

Fabianski
Zabaleta - Balbuena - Diop - Cresswell
------- Rice -- Obiang -- Snodgrass -----
Diangana ------------------------ Masuaku
---------------------- Arnie --------------------

Or again (depending on how the game is going) this team could also work if we want to focus on attacking:

Fab
Zab - Bal - Diop - Mas
-- Rice -- Obi -- Snod --
Ant --- An'son --- Diang
---------- Arnie --------

Hammerex

Sorry put it on the wrong page, will do it again later.

MrsGrey

Don't worry, I'll move it over with my superpowers ;biggrin

steve

;hmm superpowers Mrs grey anyway you could send some of those to our players................please I did say please