The Wayne Quinn Derby: West Ham v Sheffield United - Monday 15th February 2021; 18:00

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

A point here and we surpass last years points total

Hoping for all 3, but this will be a tricky game, and think going off this weekend results so far highlight how there are no guarantees in the Prem this year

Lukerz

Ex says Balbuena, Diop & Antonio all have pre KO fitness tests.

Yarmo, Randolph, Ogbonna, Masuaku out.

Not sure what’s up with Randolph? Seems to still be ‘out’ yet I always see him in the training pictures.

I honestly would not pick Antonio. Bench at best. Let’s back ourselves to win without him. Will make our job harder but I don’t wanna spend 90 mins waiting for his hamstring to go.

MunichHammer

We need to go right from the start. If we score early then that just piles on the pressure and they will open up.
We need to play like we did v Palace when pressing was excellent and everybody had purpose.

IronHerb

If Antonio is fit then he plays, end of.

ASLEFshrugged

The only thing reported about Randolph is that he picked up a "knock" in training just before Doncaster in the Cup (23 Jan).

Maybe its a wrist/hand thing so he can run, etc. but can't handle a ball

yoyo

In an ideal world an early goal for us will draw them out. Should then leave room for a mobile attack from Lingard, Bowen, Benrahma and one other to get behind them. As I say, ideally

OutcastLondoner

IronHerb said:

If Antonio is fit then he plays, end of.

Everyone said this last time and we lost him for ages. If he still hasn’t been judged fit, then there’s a risk there. If the choice is between maybe not getting points today or maybe not having him for a month or two, the choice is easy for me.

IronHerb

If he plays tonight then he has been deemed to be fit. If he's not 100% fit then I don't want him to play as you only get 75% of him tops.

Yeoldhammer

If he is fit he plays.

We didn't buy a striker in the transfer window, time for the manager and owners to suck it up. If he is made of glass so be it. Absolutely no one should be protected from now till the end of the season if they pass the necessary tests to be able to play even if we have 3 games in 7 days. If they cant do it and don't have a backup to slot in should have sorted that out in the transfer window.

steve

If we dont win this ,Might as give up .If Antonio is fit then play him .Also we should offer Sheffied utd that if we loose we swap places with them ,If we win we get Lundstrum for nothing

OutcastLondoner

I don’t get that at all. Why should Antonio suffer from mistakes made by management/owners?

If he has to play because we don’t have others, what’s the point of risking losing him for even more games. We can’t miss one premier league game to be a bit cautious?

I’m surprised we’re even having this conversation again after what happened earlier in the season. It was the same “if he isn’t injured, he has to play” and we ended up struggling without him or anyone to fill his role. I really don’t think injury is a matter of you’re fit or you’re not. We could probably gain a lot more from him having a few more days rest.

Fortuneseeker

Outcast, Although I see what you are saying what about the next game & the one after that how long do we wait before we risk him again as every time we play him we are doing exactly that?

baracks_a_hammer

You can’t not play him just because he MIGHT get injured IMO. If he’s passed fit to play he should play. He could get injured at any time, even if we held him back a couple of games. This isn’t an exact science.

MrsGrey

Lukerz said:

It’s getting to that time where an overachieving side would start to fall away.

For the record, I think we are overachieving so far. I fully expect us to finish below 6th. And I'm OK with that.

yoyo

I agree, I'm loving the ride we're on but realistically think we'll drop 2 or 3 places by the end of the year. Obviously I hope I'm wrong but it's a big ask to expect everyone to stay fit

IronHerb

I think most would agree MrsG. 👍

The pre season hope on this forum was for mid table mediocrity with no relegation worries and some cup runs. To all intents that has been achieved imo.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

I was hoping for stability, consistency and no relegation scares

We've succeeded in all of the above, we have by and large been competitive in every game even the ones where we haven't been at our best and the team looks settled whereby everyone knows what is expected of them

Yes we could go into a poor slump of form, who doesn't, but generally I've been delighted with this season and am optimistic we will have a good end to the season (even even we do end up closer to 10th by the end of it)

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

I tend to agree that we should leave Antonio out if he's anything below 100% fit.

It isn't just the risk of him aggravating an injury - it's also that, when he's below par, he is miles less effective.

If he can't make those sprints at full speed and pressure the defence and run the channels, he isn't anywhere near as useful.

Let's face it, he isn't in the team for his clinical finishing.

IronHerb

Don't think anyone is disagreeing with that Preston.

OutcastLondoner

Fortuneseeker said:

Outcast, Although I see what you are saying what about the next game & the one after that how long do we wait before we risk him again as every time we play him we are doing exactly that?

I’m just saying to rest him for one game. It’s been a week since he asked to come off. I’m not saying we should be resting him at any time, just that when he shows signs of fatigue, we be cautious. Because when he does play, we push him to the limit.

I would be really happy for him to play if he’s 100% fit but I don’t actually see any sign that we’ve learnt anything from before when we’ve got it wrong, so that’s why I personally would rather an extra week’s rest.

Cuz1

Think I’ve had brought another striker so we wouldn’t be having these debates ref Antonio’s fitness

IronHerb

But we didn't.

OldCastleSwift

The odds were pretty stacked in favour of Antonio picking up an injury between the window closing and the end of the season, so Moyes not bringing anyone in was definitely a risk. Thinking Yarmolenko was a suitable replacement was also a risk, IMO, but even that option is out of the door now.

But we are where we are. Personally, I don't think Antonio is 100% fit, so I don't think he should play. Like Herbie says, if he can't run at 100% intensity then you lose the biggest part of his game, so there's almost no point in playing him if there's a doubt that his hamstrings won't last.

The options are limited. Odubeko could start, but I'd be surprised if he did. Bowen could play through the middle but he's also not been 100% lately. So for me, it's got to be Lingard with Benrahma and Bowen/Fredericks either side, and hope Soucek can make plenty of third-man runs into the box.

Still think score draw is the most likely result. I'm going 1-1.

Fortuneseeker

IronHerb, as the old saying goes "Fail to prepare, Prepare to fail". I genuinely believe we have a decent chance of qualifying for the new fangled Europa League & I doubt we will have another chance for a while so we need to seize the opportunity.

MIAHammer

IronHerb said:

I think most would agree MrsG. 👍

The pre season hope on this forum was for mid table mediocrity with no relegation worries and some cup runs. To all intents that has been achieved imo.

So far yes but there is still a job to do.
My criteria of success (for the foreseeable future):
- Consistently top 10
- Safe from relegation by Feb/March DONE
- Never flirted with relegation DONE

A cup run was not in my list and I wouldn’t really say we did that well. Who did we beat? And in both of our exits we played pretty poorly.

So far 2 out of 3. We still have to finish top 10 for this season to be deemed successful. If we lose today there are 3 teams within 3 points with games in hand and better GD. 3-4 bad results and we could be in the bottom half again albeit not near the relegation zone.

Don’t get me wrong. I think we’re having a great season so far. I just don’t want it to fizzle out.

alderz

Lingard will probably start up front if Antonio doesn't, and I'm pretty happy with that. The thing we miss most when Antonio doesn't play is his pace and willingness to run, because without him we don't have an out ball. Lingard can offer that. The thing he doesn't offer is the strength to hold up play alone or the aerial presence to win balls in the air, but if we adapted our approach even slightly he would suit the role, I think.

baracks_a_hammer

I’m in the minority in deeming 10th as a successful season.

Consistently this or that is a bit of a cliche for me. Bournemouth were deemed as that before it went pop for them.

Someone like Moyes finishing in certain positions for several years at Everton is not so much of a benchmark for me because it was so long ago. Things chop and change so quickly now. We now have indifferent seasons for Arsenal Spurs Chelsea and even Liverpool this time round. It’s not a time for wondering, we’ve got to grasp the moment. We’ve already flunked in the cup where Man Utd were clearly off colour on the night.

Perhaps I’m being too greedy. I don’t care if I am.

I remember too well the old saying of West Ham “coming down with the Xmas decorations“ in the 80s/90s.

OldCastleSwift

I think at the start of the season, finishing 10th would absolutely have meant a successful season.

But finishing 10th having been 5th at the halfway point would be slightly disappointing, IMO, particularly as we did little in January to really consolidate that position.

puddleglumhammers

Our attitude to attackers is so poor. Surely we could have bought a half decent striker.
Now we have no Yarmolonko, and Odubeko looked poor after coming on as a sub vs Man U and then getting subsituted himself. We had another 2nd team striker Afolayan, who got a run out vs Doncaster, scored and looked OK and then got sent on loan somewhere. Crazy. Not so much all eggs in one basket, but we don't even have a basket at all.

Lukerz

Antonio us out, ‘having felt his hamstring in training in the week’