The January Transfer Window

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Haven't seen Everton, Southampton or Villa sign anyone to "push for European places"

I would be angry if we dont replace Haller, but at the same time I went into this window expecting nothing because it appears no teams are making any moves...and think in the current climate clubs know that being sensible is the right way as we never know when football (and revenues) will go back to normal

Snodgrass leaving really doesn't bother me, he's made what like 2 sub appearances all season....yea maybe we are short on depth but you have someone who's on £40k a week and has played 2 sub appearances that just isn't smart....hes our 4th choice CM (argubaly lower as Fornals could play their imo) and our 7th place winger

Yes Haller leaving is different....that does leave us short...but when Antonio is fit he just doesn't play....

It won't happen but IF antonio stays fit the remaining 17 games guess how many games Haller will start....probably none...and we may not be able to get £20mil if he doesn't play for another 6months (and even if he does play I don't think he'd ever get back to a £40mil player while he's with us)

I don't think Moyes wanted Haller to go, but im sure he was consulted and given that I don't think he rates Haller much (just my opinion obviously) wouldn't surprise me if he saw it how I see it

Do I want us to sign a new Striker, yes....but if I'm being honest I'm more concerned about how the current players are doing then who may or may not come in, and we are on a very good run and playing some nice stuff....don't agree at all with those suggest we've struggled in these recent wins, think they have been tight games but we've been the better in each and arguably had the chances to make the victory margins bigger

baracks_a_hammer

Comparing to Villa and Everton isn’t entirely valid. They were very active over the summer, both of them.

OldCastleSwift

Yeah, again, comparisons to other teams is largely irrelevant, IMO. I can't think of any other team that has got rid of two match day 18 players from what was already the smallest squad in the league.

thornburyiron

OCS our squad was by no means the smallest in the league. If you check the PL site for squads there are a few with the same or smaller than ours eg Wolves, Southampton, Leeds, Man City, Everton, Chelsea, Burnley, Arsenal to name but a few.
Players who were/are under 21s don’t count eg Rice for us. Some of those clubs I mentioned have squad players who won’t get near their bench.

Cuz1

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years said:

Haven't seen Everton, Southampton or Villa sign anyone to "push for European places"

I would be angry if we dont replace Haller, but at the same time I went into this window expecting nothing because it appears no teams are making any moves...and think in the current climate clubs know that being sensible is the right way as we never know when football (and revenues) will go back to normal

Snodgrass leaving really doesn't bother me, he's made what like 2 sub appearances all season....yea maybe we are short on depth but you have someone who's on £40k a week and has played 2 sub appearances that just isn't smart....hes our 4th choice CM (argubaly lower as Fornals could play their imo) and our 7th place winger

Yes Haller leaving is different....that does leave us short...but when Antonio is fit he just doesn't play....

It won't happen but IF antonio stays fit the remaining 17 games guess how many games Haller will start....probably none...and we may not be able to get £20mil if he doesn't play for another 6months (and even if he does play I don't think he'd ever get back to a £40mil player while he's with us)

I don't think Moyes wanted Haller to go, but im sure he was consulted and given that I don't think he rates Haller much (just my opinion obviously) wouldn't surprise me if he saw it how I see it

Do I want us to sign a new Striker, yes....but if I'm being honest I'm more concerned about how the current players are doing then who may or may not come in, and we are on a very good run and playing some nice stuff....don't agree at all with those suggest we've struggled in these recent wins, think they have been tight games but we've been the better in each and arguably had the chances to make the victory margins bigger

If he didn’t rate him why did he come out and say he rated him and his goals won us matches, was that a lie? If so some of the same posters are suggesting big Sam should have lied lol double standards

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

OldCastleSwift said:

Yeah, again, comparisons to other teams is largely irrelevant, IMO. I can't think of any other team that has got rid of two match day 18 players from what was already the smallest squad in the league.

Do we have the smallest squad in the league though?

Its Friday so did some digging...plus its a slow day

West ham have used 22 players in the league (including Snod/Haller), one 1 of those being U21 or younger (Rice is now 22). Of those 21, 17 have played more than 270 minutes (3 full appearances)

Everton have used 23 players, whom 2 are 21 or under. Of those 23, 16 have played +270 minutes

Saints have used 22 players, 6 being 21 or under. Of those 22, 15 have played +270 minutes

Villa have used 20 players, 1 is 21 or under. Of those 20, 14 have played +270 minutes (obviously Villa have played less goes due to their covid issues)

Read that how you will, obviously there are variables but even taking out Haller i can't see how we have the smallest squad and maybe this is the theme....because all 4 teams mentioned are all "overperforming" with "small squads"

alderz

Whether we have the smallest squad or the largest squad is kind of irrelevant, IMO. We could have 45 centre backs on our books, it's not going to help our massive lack of depth up front or in central midfield. If we'd gone into this window with our exact squad and sold a centre back I wouldn't be worrying about the depth, but we've sold our only cover up front, and 50% of our cover in CM.

alderz

Cuz1 said:

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years said:

Haven't seen Everton, Southampton or Villa sign anyone to "push for European places"

I would be angry if we dont replace Haller, but at the same time I went into this window expecting nothing because it appears no teams are making any moves...and think in the current climate clubs know that being sensible is the right way as we never know when football (and revenues) will go back to normal

Snodgrass leaving really doesn't bother me, he's made what like 2 sub appearances all season....yea maybe we are short on depth but you have someone who's on £40k a week and has played 2 sub appearances that just isn't smart....hes our 4th choice CM (argubaly lower as Fornals could play their imo) and our 7th place winger

Yes Haller leaving is different....that does leave us short...but when Antonio is fit he just doesn't play....

It won't happen but IF antonio stays fit the remaining 17 games guess how many games Haller will start....probably none...and we may not be able to get £20mil if he doesn't play for another 6months (and even if he does play I don't think he'd ever get back to a £40mil player while he's with us)

I don't think Moyes wanted Haller to go, but im sure he was consulted and given that I don't think he rates Haller much (just my opinion obviously) wouldn't surprise me if he saw it how I see it

Do I want us to sign a new Striker, yes....but if I'm being honest I'm more concerned about how the current players are doing then who may or may not come in, and we are on a very good run and playing some nice stuff....don't agree at all with those suggest we've struggled in these recent wins, think they have been tight games but we've been the better in each and arguably had the chances to make the victory margins bigger

If he didn’t rate him why did he come out and say he rated him and his goals won us matches, was that a lie? If so some of the same posters are suggesting big Sam should have lied lol double standards

I hate Piers Morgan but I really rate his interviews absolutely destroying any Tory MP who comes onto his TV show.

I don't know why you're so obsessed with Sam Allardyce and truthfulness suddenly, but it seems like it should go without saying that situations are not completely black and white, no matter how much you seem to be trying to categorise them as such.

Cuz1

I totally agree with you alderz and if you take the time to read my posts I’m suggesting people can’t have a pop at other managers and praise ours for the same, and obsessed with big Sam thank you for your observation

alderz

alderz said:

Whether we have the smallest squad or the largest squad is kind of irrelevant, IMO. We could have 45 centre backs on our books, it's not going to help our massive lack of depth up front or in central midfield. If we'd gone into this window with our exact squad and sold a centre back I wouldn't be worrying about the depth, but we've sold our only cover up front, and 50% of our cover in CM.

Also, as an aside, transfmarkt say we have a squad of 23, which is the smallest number in the league. They also say we have the second oldest squad in the league (28.6 average age), which is probably another reason why more bodies would be good.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/premier-league/startseite/wettbewerb/GB1

baracks_a_hammer

Agree with Alderz. The issue is the balance of the squad.

If it’s a wage affordability thing we should look to move out a couple on loan. For me the obvious ones are Diop (which should be do-able) and Yarmo (more tricky)

Then if we managed to get in Arnie, a c/m and a l/b or lwb then it would be a better balance in spite of losing snodgrass and Haller - even if all are on loan. We might even be ok on the l/b front for now with Johnson, but one single chink in the Soudec axis means starting Noble, and that will likely not end well.

Lukerz

Soucek, Rice, Fornals, Noble - CM options
Yarmolenko, Bowen, Lanzini, Benrahma - attacking options
Antonio - striker option

We are short up top. Sort that out & maybe a LB on loan & we’ll be sorted.

thornburyiron

Alderz transfmarkt are wrong. Check out the PL website and look at the 20/21 squads. There are clubs with smaller squads than ours. Also given that 25 is the max squad size excluding under 21s and academies transfmarkt have only us and City fewer than 25 with everyone else with anything up to 30.

buffybegood

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years said:

West ham have used 22 players in the league (including Snod/Haller), one 1 of those being U21 or younger (Rice is now 22). Of those 21, 17 have played more than 270 minutes (3 full appearances)

Pretty sure, for squad registration purposes, Rice is still classed as u21.

Anyway, regardless of how many players have been used, I doubt any of the other clubs in the league currently only have 19 places in their Premier League squad used up, given that's all the registerable pros in total we have at the club (although that does rise to 20 if we want to include Reid).

Our squad is threadbare in the extreme, and it's only that we've been uncharacteristically fortunate with injuries that we haven't been seriously stretched so far this season.

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

Interesting that our injury record has been so much better this season, and wonder if it's a coincidence that Moyes also has the team as fit and strong as I can ever remember a West Ham squad being.

Maybe we're just in better shape because of good management. It doesn't prevent freak injuries, but maybe it reduces strains and tweaks etc.

baracks_a_hammer

We are lucky to have a nucleus of players who can play game after game, run themselves into the ground and yet still look after their bodies well

Cress
Oggy
Rice
Soucek
Fornals
Bowen
Coufal

A big part of why we sit 7th IMO

Lukerz

The Guardian reports Liverpool are ‘circling’ Declan Rice with West Ham prepared to accept £50m due to the coronavirus pandemic.

yoyo

Keep him another year, wait for the pandemic to ease and get 70m for him

OutcastLondoner

Lukerz said:

The Guardian reports Liverpool are ‘circling’ Declan Rice with West Ham prepared to accept £50m due to the coronavirus pandemic.

From their rumour round-up, which includes rubbish websites, not their own reporting

OldCastleSwift

Lukerz said:

Soucek, Rice, Fornals, Noble - CM options

On paper, maybe, but no way would I trust either Fornals or Noble in a midfield two.

Cuz1

Tomori to ac Milan on loan for the season

ASLEFshrugged

I can't see Moyes letting Rice go with just over a week to sign a replacement. If Rice leaves it will be in the summer not in the middle of a season.

Cuz1

And not for £50 million

Fortuneseeker

Aslef, Why? Haller left 2 weeks ago with no replacement signed as yet. GSB would sell Declan if it suited them. 😉

alderz

thornburyiron said:

Alderz transfmarkt are wrong. Check out the PL website and look at the 20/21 squads. There are clubs with smaller squads than ours. Also given that 25 is the max squad size excluding under 21s and academies transfmarkt have only us and City fewer than 25 with everyone else with anything up to 30.

I don’t think it makes sense to claim that our squad doesn’t include Rice, so I’m not sure why people are keen to exclude U21s from any other squad.

Transfermarkt is based on players that have played or are registered, I believe.

If a club has 25 over 21 year olds, and 5 20 year olds that play, I think the squad has 30 players, personally

ASLEFshrugged

The "£50m for Rice" story comes from 90mins, they claim "West Ham are expected to lower their demands and may even now settle for something closer to the £50m mark" "ahead of the summer transfer window due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic". It mentiones that Chelsea, Liverpool and both Manchester teams are all interested.

So £50m not confirmed, not in January and not necessarily Liverpool

https://www.90min.com/posts/declan-rice-valuation-50m-chelsea-transfer-man-utd-man-city-liverpool

thornburyiron

Alderz according to the PL we have 23 over 21 players and 44 under 21s so by your logic we can say our squad is 67.
My point was not every club has a full 25 complement of over 21s so we do not have the smallest squad

alderz

thornburyiron said:

Alderz according to the PL we have 23 over 21 players and 44 under 21s so by your logic we can say our squad is 67.
My point was not every club has a full 25 complement of over 21s so we do not have the smallest squad

I think you have missed the important part of my post which was that I was talking about U21s that play. Either way, if you don’t think our squad is small or imbalanced then I’m not sure what to say

alderz

And, I just had a look out of interest.

Of the 23 man over 21s the PL have registered for West Ham, 2 have left this window, two are the 3rd and 4th choice keepers, and one is Nathan Holland who hasn’t even had a sniff around the first team

claretandbluesky

That Balbuena's full name is a mouthful. A good job they don't put full names on shirts anymore.