Cresswell's Contract Extended

Comments

  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2019/october/09-october/aaron-cresswell-signs-west-ham-united-contract-extension

    I don't get this. What has he done to warrant a new three year deal? He's slow enough as it is for a PL fullback; by the time his contact's up he'll be playing at walking pace. His crossing is borderline hopeless, his tackling is not up to much since his knee injury and he wouldn't even be on the bench had Masuaku not been sent off at Villa.

    Very odd decision, unless the club are looking to make sure that we get decent money for him next summer (which I doubt).

    I'm not a fan of his, obviously, but trying to be objective this still doesn't make sense to me. No top 7 club would want him, so why does this club think he's a good enough player to get us there.
  • alderzalderz
    Personally, I don’t think he warrants a 3 year deal. But I do think he’s better than a lot of people give him credit for
  • MrsGreyMrsGrey
    OldCastleSwift said:

    he wouldn't even be on the bench had Masuaku not been sent off at Villa.

    But Masuaku was available after serving his suspension... and yet wasn't even in the squad.
  • MrsGreyMrsGrey
    If you think he should be let go (for free, effectively), then we'd need to buy a new LB as ?what - backup to Arfur? We need a HG player. That's expensive. Any ideas who we could get that would be willing to come and we wouldn't have to break the bank for?

  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    MrsGrey said:

    If you think he should be let go (for free, effectively), then we'd need to buy a new LB as ?what - backup to Arfur? We need a HG player. That's expensive. Any ideas who we could get that would be willing to come and we wouldn't have to break the bank for?

    Every senior player we bring in should be good enough for the starting eleven, so not back up for Masuaku necessarily. And we wouldn't need a HG left back in the summer if, say, we bought HG players in other positions.

    As for 'breaking the bank'; why not? We've spent record transfers for a centre back, a midfielder and a striker in the last two summers, so why not on a full back? They're such key positions in the modern game (look at how important Robertson and TAA are at Liverpool), so we should, IMO at least, be looking to improve in that area, because I don't think Cresswell is good enough for the level we're apparently aspiring too.
  • baracks_a_hammerbaracks_a_hammer
    I wonder why Pelle is reluctant to look in the champ for recruits? Andy Robertson and trippier came from champ standard clubs. Cresswell in his prime did. We have Fredericks who came from the champ but by the sounds of it, the club was already after him even before Pelle arrived. Of course Byram didn’t work out, but that was possibly largely to do with his injury problems.
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    MrsGrey said:

    If you think he should be let go (for free, effectively)

    His original contract was due to expire in 2021, so he wouldn't have gone for nothing next summer
  • MrsGreyMrsGrey
    baracks_a_hammer said:

    I wonder why Pelle is reluctant to look in the champ for recruits?

    We don't know that he hasn't.

    Maybe our scouts haven't found anyone he thinks is good enough.
  • YeoldhammerYeoldhammer
    Poor deal for the club. It was a position that needed to be looked at seriously next year imo. Alongside the other full back slot. Neither Cresswell or Masuaku are top 6 / top 8 quality imo.
  • MrsGreyMrsGrey
    We aren't rich enough to afford to buy outright a team of proven top 6 players.

    Some we'll have to make ourselves.
  • MrsGreyMrsGrey
    Out of interest, of the LBs who play for Spurs, Arsenal, Man U, Wolves + Everton, who would you want?
  • alderzalderz
    Ben Davies and Jonny, I think are both decent.
  • WHU_Champo_league_in_7_yearsWHU_Champo_league_in_7_years
    Digne & chillwell too
  • Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_MoyesJorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes
    Bring back Ilunga.
  • baracks_a_hammerbaracks_a_hammer
    If the manager or the coaches at the club genuinely think that Cressers has the key attributes required of a modern day full back for a club aspiring to be settled in the top 8 of the PL, then IMO they need to pay a visit to Specsavers
  • stevesteve
    :puzzled: Why has Aruthur been left out of the squad ,Has he upset pelle in some way could he be moved on ,Bring someone else in and cressie would be the back up
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    edited October 2019
    MrsGrey said:

    Out of interest, of the LBs who play for Spurs, Arsenal, Man U, Wolves + Everton, who would you want?

    Sessegnon, Rose, Tierney, Otto, Chilwell and Digne are all better than Cresswell, IMO
  • grey_til_I_dyegrey_til_I_dye
    Well, looks like Pelle should go then.

    Either he's sanctioned this deal, and is, apparently, no judge, or he didn't sanction it, in which case he is a weak 'yes man' to the board. Either way, he clearly has no idea what he is doing.
  • baracks_a_hammerbaracks_a_hammer
    Not really?

    I think a few of us are just calling out what we believe to be a baffling decision - whoever it was that made it.
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    Grey - people are allowed to think a player isn't good enough without it meaning that they want the manager sacked because that player got a new deal.

    If Pellegrini thinks Cresswell is good enough for the PL for another four years then fine. Happens I don't. As you keep saying, it's all about the onions.
  • Cuz1Cuz1
    I must be watching games differently to some on here because in my honest opinion I don’t think he’s been that bad admittedly not to the standards that got him a England call up but certainly not bad enough to bomb him out either
  • FortuneseekerFortuneseeker
    Are there any better left backs currently playing football, yes, should we be able to afford to buy them, well that is a completely different discussion which many on here agree to differ on. :whistle:
  • MrsGreyMrsGrey
    Gareth Bale :wahoo: :scarfwal: :biggrin:
  • BazshuayiBazshuayi
    The lad Stevens at Sheff Utd (spit) :hmm: Wouldnt be a bad choice come the Enda the season... :whistle:
  • jay_in_cptjay_in_cpt
    edited October 2019
    Cresswell is blah blah, I am not going to slate Pelle for this, but he saw fit to sign Carlos Sanchez, so for that it's a massive :doh:
  • LukerzLukerz
    edited October 2019
    One thing I would say, regardless of whether I agree with the extension or not, I think some fans (not saying on here, mainly on social media & a couple of other forums) I think have been a little quick to forget the contributions of players like Cresswell &, in particular, Reid.

    We as fans pride ourselves in loyalty from our players, & you have a couple of players here with around 400 appearances between them for our side, who have been written off a bit of late.

    Are there better LB’s out there? Yes. Let’s remember Cresswell did a pretty good job as a left-sided CB during the Moyes reign too. He had an average season last year & the first one in the LS, but he has contributed a lot as our LB over the last 5 years.

    Personally, I think Masuaku will be a top LB in a year or so & I think he will wrestle his way back into the side over the next month & be our main man again. But, as a back-up left back, there won’t be many better than Cresswell.
  • BazshuayiBazshuayi
    Firstly, from a stats query perspective.... Every team has a small percentage of ignorant idiots attached to it. I'm going to take a wild guess its 6.4%. obviously with Millwall for example, the 6.4% is actually reversed to the normal fan base (93.6% scum).

    In the past, I hoped for loyalty to from the players (especially when our next relegation seemed around the corner!). Money wasn't anywhere near the factor it is now. With the amount of wages on offer in the modern game, if anyone stays more than a couple of seasons its a bit of a surprise.

    We grew up dreaming of playing for West Ham. If that had been the case for me I'd never have left the club unless it wanted me to go.

    Now though (if I was 35 years younger) the big clubs would come calling for me with pots of money and I'd have an agent that pushed through the move for me. Obviously that team would be Liverpool and I'd be obliged to go (and in doing so boost West Hams funds to take us to the next level :lol: ). :run:

    I think I got sidetracked on that last paragraph :puzzled:

    Oh yeah, Cresswell... Wot Lukerz said :wink:
  • imagelostimagelost
    Am happy with cress-well ,, could be a plan in all this, Europey cup , for a start
  • welovethehammerswelovethehammers
    edited October 2019
    He's had a good couple of games recently but that's been it. In the last few years he's been a bit inconsistent and imo I think we should've been preparing for him to move on. I feel people have been praising Cresswell quite a lot recently when I feel it's just a couple of good games... nothing more (form is temporary). He's no way near Sanchez level of poor however I think he's one of the worse players in our squad.

    For me, Masuaku is the better option. Neither are great defensively but Masuaku at least offers more going forward (even if Cress has scored two recently). Also he's more likely to improve whilst Cress is more likely to regress (and perhaps also offers greater versatility as he can potentially play in a left-wing position or left wing-back position).

    I wouldn't be surprised if we looked at bringing in a fairly young and inexpensive, up and coming left-back. We've essentially got the same options on both sides of the pitch if we sign a young left back. In the long term we'd have:

    RB: Frederick in possession of the jersey, Johnson coming through, Zabaleta the experienced head
    LB: Masuaku in possession of the jersey, young player coming through, Cresswell the experienced head

    Having said all of that, I still think he's been a great servant to the club and have a lot of respect for him. It was a joy to watch Cresswell overlapping Payet during the Billic days.
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