West Ham v Man City, Saturday 24th October, 12.30

Lukerz

Unless Rice drops in?

ianbishoplegend

I agree that he shouldn't play as a traditional centre back. I would also agree he shouldn't play RCB against more physical and direct teams. I would however choose him ahead of Balbuena and Diop to deal with Man City while having the bonus of Fredericks pace and tenacity to get out of jail on occasions. In the end he's probably going to play more like a traditional right back anyway - rather than a RWB. I would also wonder if Dawson would be a good shout for set pieces at the other end.

alderz

Lukerz said:

Unless Rice drops in?

To leave Soucek in centre midfield by himself against De Bruyne, Rodri and Foden?

OutcastLondoner

I feel like we're overthinking it. Same team for me. Maybe bring Diop in.

ianbishoplegend

Balbunea in the end could give a masterclass in South American defending. Or he could leave us 1-0 down to a superior team in 10 mins. Either way its all part of the fun

ASLEFshrugged

As Outcast says its more than moving 10ft, CBs and FBs have different roles and different functions. I'd argue that Coufal is our best FB, not only good defending but excellent going forward (ask Davinson Sanchez) and would be wasted playing deeper as a CB.

If CBs start marauding up the pitch they're going to leave gaps at the back which are going to get exploited. One reason why I prefer Rice as a midfielder is that it gives him scope to get forward, he's limited as a CB.

thornburyiron

I think Balbuena has been a bit harshly done by over Sunday. It was to be expected that he’d be a bit sluggish at the beginning as he’d been flying to, around and back from South America last week.

Lukerz

alderz said:

Lukerz said:

Unless Rice drops in?

To leave Soucek in centre midfield by himself against De Bruyne, Rodri and Foden?

Well you’d ask Fornals to tuck in.

Not saying I’d do it, just seeing how it could work. Rice is hardly going to get much influence in midfield in this game.

alderz

I don’t see why so many people want to mess with a winning formula. Yeah, it’s City, but we’ve just played really well with our game plan in the past three games, and got 7 points when most of us predicted 0. I say keep doing what we’re doing. Best case we get another surprising result. Worst case we get spanked, which is what happens every time we play them at home anyway.

EXETERHAMMER

Coufal I am sure could do a job if needed at right CB, but what message would it be for Balbuena and Diop if neither played.
I am more concerned about who starts up front.

BubblesNeverDies

2015/2016 season at the Boleyn we were 1-0 up in the 1st minute - ended 2-2, both goals by Enner Valencia.
My last time there and I took my nephew for his 1st (and last) time at Upton Park.
Also his first pie 'n mash for lunch and a Chinese - Chans in East Ham High Street North - for dinner.

thornburyiron

Coote has been taken off VAR duty after the Liverpool debacle and will instead be the 4th official at the City game Saturday.

ASLEFshrugged

I've carried this over from the Spurs thread cos I think Lukerz might have spotted something here

Lukerz said:

Also a cool tactical change Moyes made second half, which went to...

Coufal - Soucek - Rice - Masuaku
Fornals
Bowen - Antonio

But the two forwards were very wide & Fornals was basically a false 9.

Watching the game back, I thought Fornals was our best player. Absolutely everywhere even when we were 3-0 down. Some lovely passes he made all game & didn’t stop running.

If Antonio and Haller are both unavailable then rather than playing someone out of position as CF why not Fornals as a False 9 with Bowen on the right and Benrahma on the left?

OutcastLondoner

ASLEFshrugged said:

I've carried this over from the Spurs thread cos I think Lukerz might have spotted something here

Lukerz said:

Also a cool tactical change Moyes made second half, which went to...

Coufal - Soucek - Rice - Masuaku
Fornals
Bowen - Antonio

But the two forwards were very wide & Fornals was basically a false 9.

Watching the game back, I thought Fornals was our best player. Absolutely everywhere even when we were 3-0 down. Some lovely passes he made all game & didn’t stop running.

If Antonio and Haller are both unavailable then rather than playing someone out of position as CF why not Fornals as a False 9 with Bowen on the right and Benrahma on the left?

Even if Haller is available, it might be a system that suits him more if it means getting other players closer to him.

Cuz1

Two metres apart would be closer than he’s ever had lol

puddleglumhammers

If for some reason Aguero does not start then maybe both teams will play with false number 9's, giving 5 centre backs not a lot to do. Could be a weird watch. Or maybe we could drop Fabs and play with a false 1.

yoyo

We tried a false number 1 last season for a while...Roberto!!

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

So City played what can only be described as a 4-2-4 that morphed into a 3- 3- 4 against Arsenal

They took a chance as they pretty much went man for man with Arsenals front 3

Id be surprised if Pep does that as Antonio would fancy himself against pretty much hang centre back 1 vs 1

Gotta keep it tight and keep it compact, they get an early goal here we may never get the ball back

IronHerb

But this isn't the City team of 2 or 3 years ago where you never got any possession. They are fallible at the back, they don't have David Silva, Aguero isn't match fit and De Bruyne maybe injured.
We are playing well and just need to concentrate. As last week end, there's a point for the taking.

COYI

BubblesNeverDies

Herb
As last week end, there's a point 3 points for the taking. Fixed it for ya

IronHerb

I'll take that Bubbles 👍

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

It’s important we attack them from the off. You could see in the Leicester and Leeds games that the opposition started by sitting off and trying to keep it tight, but once they started having a go in return City looked very shaky.

I just hope we don’t get rinsed by them at home again. It’s getting exhausting.

Lukerz

We have attacked them in the past, & ended up several goals down. It has to be a balanced approach. If we push up as high as we did in the first 15 mins at Spurs, it will be game over.

Nice & condensed in the centre, force them wide, deal with crosses into the box & try & force them to cut us open with their quick passing style. When we get the ball, I would be looking to send one over the top of their back line for Antonio to chase down, with support from Bowen. Those two can cause issues on their own if the rest of the side is solid. It’s obvs a bonus game, as the score last season was 0-5, so not much to lose, but we can certainly give them a game based on our recent levels of performance.

We know when you get at their back line they can look shaky.

baracks_a_hammer

Right now, Man City should be feared less than Spurs IMO. I mean Son and Kane are totally on fire.

Lukerz

Going to be very hard for Noble to get into the squad on a matchday at the moment.

Haller & Benrahma you would assume will soon be incorporated into the squad. Haller is our only other striker.

When you add Randolph, that leaves 5 spaces left; which has to incorporate the likes of Dawson, Diop, Fredericks, Noble, Snodgrass, Lanzini, Yarmolenko & Benrahma. Three are going to miss out.

ianbishoplegend

Lukerz said:

Going to be very hard for Noble to get into the squad on a matchday at the moment.

Haller & Benrahma you would assume will soon be incorporated into the squad. Haller is our only other striker.

When you add Randolph, that leaves 5 spaces left; which has to incorporate the likes of Dawson, Diop, Fredericks, Noble, Snodgrass, Lanzini, Yarmolenko & Benrahma. Three are going to miss out.

Strong bunch there. The subs are pushing 1st team. I think its time Lanzini became more of a traditional centre midfielder to get more game time.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

IBLA, I wouldn't like Lanzini as a CM

Unlike Fornals who has a bit of grit about him, Lanzini is a bit too lightweight to play in a midfield double imo

Think Lanzini is more of a attacking midfielder, beating people with dribbles,then he is a playmaker, spliting defences with passes through the lines, so I think his style would get us into trouble if he loses it in the middle of the park

Very talented player, but definitely someone who excels further forward

But we have some really talented players that won't play much and may not even make the squad as Lukerz mentioned

BubblesNeverDies

I think Noble would/should accept that his days in the first 11 are over, barring a glut of injuries.

claretandbluesky

BubblesNeverDies said:

I think Noble would/should accept that his days in the first 11 are over, barring a glut of injuries.

I would be surprised if he hasn't, he seems a level headed guy and he cant be looking at the team at present and see who he would displace, certainly not Soucek or Rice who would be his natural position. He will have a role to play this year in seeing out matches we are winning and covering for injury but he is not realistically going to be starting.

OutcastLondoner

He still makes the match day squad based on being the only CM, in my eyes. Snodgrass will probably cover there as well but it's worth having Noble around. He probably soon needs to start making a transition into the coaching staff.