Transfer Deadline Day: It's weird because it's October

Lukerz

It’s like always, you can keep splashing the cash, or you can get the best out of what you have.

We have defended very well against two top 7 sides, with strikers in the top 5 in the league, & maybe Moyes has thought ‘this back 3/5 has got the best out of players, Balbuena has upped his game & Cresswell looks like a CB option too’.

Cuz1

But we all know it’s a ch we need a couple of bad games aka Newcastle and we all back to square one

Pengeman

Sky says "Said Benrahma: West Ham agree deal to sign Brentford winger" https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11743/12101595/said-benrahma-west-ham-agree-deal-to-sign-brentford-winger-see-bid-rejected-for-bournemouths-joshua-king but personal terms are yet to be agreed. With a few players already off the payroll, hopefully it can all be agreed. Sky says "the Hammers deal for Benrahma could reach in the region of £30m". For that I suppose we will have to win the league!

Yeoldhammer

I just don't get the signing at all. We need defensive reinforcements and good ones not squad fillers. Then we sign a winger where i have no idea where he fits into the current formation ?

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Yeoldhammer said:

I just don't get the signing at all. We need defensive reinforcements and good ones not squad fillers. Then we sign a winger where i have no idea where he fits into the current formation ?

Think he quite clearly fits in where Fornals does on the left wing and as a like for like replacement for Anderson

Pengeman

Yeoldhammer said:

I just don't get the signing at all. We need defensive reinforcements and good ones not squad fillers. Then we sign a winger where i have no idea where he fits into the current formation ?

I can see Benrahma as part of a 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1. I don't think Moyes will be able to play 3-4-3/2-5-2/5-3-2 in all games. Maybe Moyes sees other possibilities in Benrahma - deputy for Antonio, wing-back, one of the two strikers in 4-4-2? I can't see Lanzini or Yamolenko playing ahead of Benrahma and hopefully both will be sold now or in January.

Still, it is puzzling that Diangana sold and instead of a commanding CB we got Benrahma. Or is it a way for Gold & Sullivan to keep fans onside.

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

Well, despite what I’m seeing as quite a lot of negativity, I have to say I’m hugely excited about Benrahma joining.

He’s a mercurial talent and we love them at West Ham.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes said:

Well, despite what I’m seeing as quite a lot of negativity, I have to say I’m hugely excited about Benrahma joining.

He’s a mercurial talent and we love them at West Ham.

Yea I'm surprised at the negativity surrounding this news

We are buying the best winger in the championship, yet everyone was fuming when we missed out on Eze and sold Grady

Every neutral ive seen think that we are getting a wonderful player, lots of other fans saying their jealous...yet loads of our own fans are finding a way to make a it a negative....

The mind boggles

yoyo

It's worth checking out Sky sports website where there is a 3 minute clip of Benrahma.

Hamstew

I'm excited by him. Just confused about Grady.

alderz

Not disappointed to be signing an exciting player (maybe), but still disappointed that we let go an exciting player that we grew ourselves, and also still confused by the transfer strategy this summer.

The board could sign Sancho and id still be baffled why after Sullivan publicly moaned about us having too many. Didn’t he say we had 7 for 2 positions?

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

But Benrahma seems to be a replacement for Anderson, really.

We’ve let two wingers go and signed one, and I believe we will also sign a defender given we have freed up wages with Wilshere and Anderson going.

So we’d be improving the balance of the squad, and also bringing in a hugely talented player in Benrahma (hopefully).

Expat_Hammer

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes said:

Well, despite what I’m seeing as quite a lot of negativity, I have to say I’m hugely excited about Benrahma joining.

He’s a mercurial talent and we love them at West Ham.

As were Lanzini and Anderson lauded too. Look what happened to them.
We needed defenders to strengthen and what do we get, Dawson and a winger we already have too many of. Just think of it like your car, the oil light comes on, so what do you do, pump up the tyres?

GSB just love funding their buddy Salthouse. Just wonder if sulli gets a few bob back from Will in one of Rosies brown envelopes.

#GSBOUT

OldCastleSwift

alderz said:

Not disappointed to be signing an exciting player (maybe), but still disappointed that we let go an exciting player that we grew ourselves, and also still confused by the transfer strategy this summer.

The board could sign Sancho and id still be baffled why after Sullivan publicly moaned about us having too many. Didn’t he say we had 7 for 2 positions?

This is it; the issue isn't Benrahma, it's Sullivan and his 'strategy'. If Diangana was retained and Benrahma was signed in addition to a top class centre back, then no-one would have any complaints, but for an attacking midfielder to again be the marquee signing in a window where defensive reinforcements were the stated priority, Sullivan's motivations have to be questioned.

alderz

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes said:

We’ve let two wingers go and signed one, and I believe we will also sign a defender given we have freed up wages with Wilshere and Anderson going.

We didn’t free up Wilshere’s wages, we gave him pretty much all of them so that he wouldn’t come back.

ASLEFshrugged

I will admit to being a little confused with signing Benrahma as I don't see where he fits in.

We've scored 8 goals in the last three games playing Fornals, Antonio and Bowen up front and it seems rather bizarre to change a successful combination to accommodate a new player.

OldCastleSwift

ASLEFshrugged said:

I will admit to being a little confused with signing Benrahma as I don't see where he fits in.

We've scored 8 goals in the last three games playing Fornals, Antonio and Bowen up front and it seems rather bizarre to change a successful combination to accommodate a new player.

I'm all for competition, which Benrahma undoubtedly brings, but will Moyes be put under pressure to play him over Fornals, I wonder?

I actually think Fornals is more of a No10 than a winger, but that position doesn't exist in what Moyes is playing at the moment, so it'll be interesting to see what happens. I suspect Fornals starts v Spurs and Benrahma will have to force his way into the team.

baracks_a_hammer

We sold Grady and quite clearly it was said we had an abundance of wingers. And that other areas would be addressed by virtue of the sale using those monies. Well we have had Coufal (who possibly wouldn’t have been bought but for Fredericks’ injury) and now another winger comes in. We let anderson go and were seemingly ok for snodgrass to go too on the last day. The issue here isn’t benrahma. It’s the utter chaos surrounding our transfer strategy (if you can deem it as such). I for one an utterly confused. But then again seeing the common denominator (salthouse) perhaps I am not.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

But we've lost two attackers

This isn't a straight swap for Diangana for Benrahma, Anderson has also left the club

ASLEFshrugged said:

I will admit to being a little confused with signing Benrahma as I don't see where he fits in.

We've scored 8 goals in the last three games playing Fornals, Antonio and Bowen up front and it seems rather bizarre to change a successful combination to accommodate a new player.

But by that logic we don't need defenders either, as we have two back to back clean sheets

The way I've seen is it we've lost 2 wingers and brought in 1, their is a risk invovled but ino we've levelled up as Benrahma at this point is further in his development than Grady and Anderson confidence was shot

If Benrahma can be on the left what Bowen is on the right then this is very exciting

Also think that atm, we are playing counter attacking football as its against the bigger teams, but when we come up against the teams we will need to break down, we'd appreciate the added guile and creativity he brings

Lukerz

There is also every chance that Moyes has thought about utilising Fornals in the middle, should we suffer an injury/suspension to Rice or Soucek (or self isolation).

This also goes with the idea of Rice being an emergency CB, & needing to replace him in the middle. All of a sudden you then have midfield options of Rice, Soucek, Fornals, Noble & Snodgrass, plus CB options of Ogbonna, Balbuena, Diop, Dawson, Rice (not to mention Cresswell). I also highly doubt we will play a back 3/5 all season.

Imagine if Masuaku is absent. That then means Cresswell goes LWB & we need to find anther CB. That could be Diop or Dawson, or it could be Rice. We then need a CM. Currently, it’s Noble or Snodgrass.

You can then move Fornals centrally, & play Benrahma on the left of the front three. It could be Lanzini on the left, but Moyes may feel he is done with him. It could be Yarmo or Bowen, but neither are as good there as the right (Yarmo may not be rated). We could use Antonio, but he is one of the most in-form strikers in the league. Do we lose him to the left & bring in Haller?

I can see how Moyes might be thinking.

Yeoldhammer

He just cannot go to a back 4 with Cresswell or Masuaku playing LB there it never works.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Yeoldhammer said:

He just cannot go to a back 4 with Cresswell or Masuaku playing there it never works.

Worked last season after the restart didn't it?

Pretty sure we played a back 4 every game after the restart, and those before the restart and we did pretty well

Yeoldhammer

If Moyes wants to accommodate Benrahma in a 4-2-3-1 the club need to sign a new left back.

Yeoldhammer

One of Benrahma's supposed weaknesses is that he doesn't track back. This isn't going to help Cresswell or Masuaku sure up that side of the pitch.

Lukerz

At the moment I think there are ?’s over two positions, CB/LM.

I think there is a feeling that Fornals is doing a good job there, whilst also realising that he has ineffective games & is more of a central player than a wide left midfielder. Equally, there are question marks over both Diop & Balbuena, plus Cresswell is not a proper CB.

Lukerz

Yeoldhammer said:

He just cannot go to a back 4 with Cresswell or Masuaku playing LB there it never works.

In the Leicester game, it often went to a back four as Masuaku pushed up, becoming more of a LW/LM. Cresswell often came right across.

OutcastLondoner

I think Fornals is fine in this formation because Masuaku reduces his defensive load but also allows him to come more central. He floats into a number 10 role, especially on the counter.

The business we’ve done does mean we need a winger as backup. I struggle with this transfer because early on in the window, I would’ve been happy to see it happen and expected someone like Anderson to fund it. I’m just unsure of what position this business leaves us in. I think Benrahma will try hard because he wants to impress but I’m also a bit worried that he’ll want to move in two seasons because he wanted one of those big clubs in the first place. Which is fine, but at his age he might not sell for too much.

IronHerb

He's not long turned 25. He's not going to be past it at 27 is he?

ASLEFshrugged

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years said:

But we've lost two attackers

This isn't a straight swap for Diangana for Benrahma, Anderson has also left the club

We haven't "lost" Diangana as he didn't play for us last season and with our current tactics we only have places for two wide forward/wingers.

We have Lanzini, Yarmolenko and Snodgrass as back up so it could be argued that both Diangana and Anderson were surplus to requirement. Maybe Moyes would have been happier to see other players leave but those two were the only ones we received actual offers for.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years said:

But by that logic we don't need defenders either, as we have two back to back clean sheets

The obvious difference is that we only have five possible CBs to fill three places and if we do end up having to use Rice there's a big hole to fill in the midfield.

OutcastLondoner

IronHerb said:

He's not long turned 25. He's not going to be past it at 27 is he?

He'll still be a good player but it's around the time you get questions about the size of a big fee. If we're paying £30m plus for him, then if he does push for a move in two years, I think it would be hard to make something back.

Hopefully that's all irrelevant, he does really well, so does the club, and we have Captain Rice lifting a trophy.