Wolves v West Ham - Monday April 5th 20.:00

steve

Now Antonio has had a couple of weeks to really get 100% fit .He needs to step up ,I do feel that he has been holding himself back since he came back

Brother_Sledge

If we do go 4 at the back then Cresswell has to play wider with help from left midfield. Diop and Dawson need to be covering all of the middle - too often against Arsenal he was left exposed 2 v 1 which cost us 3 goals and 2 points.

yoyo

We look so much better being adventurous and on the front foot , like first half against Arsenal, than playing too negatively, like the second half or the Utd games. I hope Moyes has taken that on board

claretandbluesky

I hope we can get 4th, I think we will get 6th-7th but I will be happy wherever if we go for it in each remaining match. I will disappointed if we offer up another Man Utd performance. As everyone has said its been a great season, but we have been at our best when we have a real go not when parking a bus.

Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool still in Europe where each match is difficult at this stage, that could very much offer us an advantage.

Lukerz

So back to 5th with a draw, 4th with a win

OldCastleSwift

Quite some noise on Twitter about Rice being injured. He was definitely feeling his right knee towards the end of the Poland game, and people have picked up that he hasn't been in any of the training photos over the last few games.

Massive loss if the rumours are true.

Cuz1

Gives moyes the chance to fit noble in again tho 😂😂

Lukerz

Well I think it’s perfectly reasonable for Rice not to train given he played 90 mins for England on the Wednesday night. The training pics are from Thursday & no doubt Lingard trained due to only playing 5 mins. Not sure his absence in the training pics means anything & Moyes mentioned nothing in his press conference.

OldCastleSwift

He was due back at Rush Green on Friday, judging by his own Twitter comments. I'm fairly sure that the club's media team would have been all over him (as they were with our other international break headliners Lingard and Soucek) had he been there over the last few days.

Obviously hoping he'll be fit for tomorrow, but him seemingly not training doesn't bode well.

Lukerz

I have just done a few searches, seems various rumours stating he is out, ranging from 4 weeks to 4 months, some stating he is in a protective boot, he’s done his medial cruciate ligament, Noble’s starting tomorrow etc

But nothing concrete, although given the noise that is being generated I am starting to worry

OldCastleSwift

No, nothing concrete. The facts are he was feeling and flexing his knee on Wednesday night and hasn't been photographed at training since.

The speculation (on my part at least) is because Lingard and Soucek got their own 'welcome back' tweets from the media team and Rice didn't, which suggests he hasn't been in training, and there seems to have been a bit of a PR push around Noble in a few posts, which could suggest he's playing.

Nothing from Moyes, but that's to be expected; he won't want Wolves knowing this far out that our best player is injured.

If I were a betting man, my money would be on a Noble/Soucek pivot tomorrow night.

Lukerz

I’d much rather Souček/Fornals

Lukerz

OldCastleSwift said:

No, nothing concrete. The facts are he was feeling and flexing his knee on Wednesday night and hasn't been photographed at training since.

The speculation (on my part at least) is because Lingard and Soucek got their own 'welcome back' tweets from the media team and Rice didn't, which suggests he hasn't been in training, and there seems to have been a bit of a PR push around Noble in a few posts, which could suggest he's playing.

Nothing from Moyes, but that's to be expected; he won't want Wolves knowing this far out that our best player is injured.

If I were a betting man, my money would be on a Noble/Soucek pivot tomorrow night.

Yeah I suppose it’s very unlike our media team to not get pics of Rice after his return given his performances for England

claretandbluesky

That would be a massive blow and without being defeatist the end of any slim hope of a champions league spot. I really dislike our players playing for England after the Dean Ashton incident and if Rice is out for the rest of our best season for years it will seem cruel.

MrsGrey

What would you be saying if you WERE being defeatist

OldCastleSwift

Declan himself has been unusually quiet on social media too. Not that it means anything, but will add to the speculation.

If he is carrying an injury, he's probably in a bit of a dilemma. He'll have one eye on the Euros now he's established himself in Southgate's side so won't want to risk aggravating anything, but will also want to help West Ham cement a European place for next season. I wonder which pull would be stronger? 🤔

Lukerz

Well I imagine it would be Noble.

But I would go

Fabianski
Coufal - Dawson - Diop - Cresswell
Fornals - Soućek - Lanzini
Benrahma - Lingard
Antonio

And I would recover what we lose in Declan with Lanzini and Fornals playing around Souček centrally.

Hamstew

Yep doesn't sound good on twitter. I'd be surprised if he wasn't injured but if he is let's just hope it is something minor.

Lukerz

Wolves play a back 3/5 normally?

Moyes may go:

Fabianski
Diop - Dawson - Cresswell
Coufal - Souček - Fornals - Johnson/Masuaku
Benrahma - Antonio - Lingard

Lukerz

Hamstew said:

Yep doesn't sound good on twitter. I'd be surprised if he wasn't injured but if he is let's just hope it is something minor.

Do we know where the rumour originated from?

Dodger58

Maybe it could be Coventry’s chance to show what he can do ...

Hamstew

I'm not sure really Lukerz. Tbh I wasn't that worried about it until one of the guys from West Ham TV tweeted that he had heard it's true from a reliable source. That obviously doesn't mean anything for sure but you do just get a feeling sometimes from twitter.

Lukerz

Yeah 👍 we’ll be alright

Rice is one of our most valuable players but we all thought we’d be in trouble when Oggy went, plus Antonio before that, Masuaku etc.

Time for somebody else to step up (if it is true) & we get the 3 points tonight. What an incentive; 4th with 8 games to go.

OldCastleSwift

From what I can tell is was a random fan account that tweeted it first. In isolation you'd probably ignore it, but with the other factors thrown in I think it's easy to see how it's escalated.

If he is out I reckon Moyes will go with a back five to give us more defensive cover, probably with Noble and Soucek sitting in front and our plan will be to frustrate and hope Bowen, Lingard and Antonio can catch them on the break. I expect to see:

Fab
Dawson Diop Cresswell
Coufal Noble Soucek Johnson
Bowen Antonio Lingard

Pearces_Left_Foot

Moyes said there were a few knocks and bruises but nothing serious on players returning from international duty

thornburyiron

Dodger Coventry is no longer a Hammer, he’s in belgium

Fortuneseeker

thorn, isn't that Josh Cullen who is now playing for Anderlecht?

Was this tweet on this random fan account made on April 1st? I really hope it isn't serious.

Hamstew

Coventry is definitely a hammer and not in Belgium

ASLEFshrugged

Coventry has been on the bench twice this year and played for the U23s last month so he's definitely an option

thornburyiron

Yes you’re right I was thinking of Cullen.