West Ham recruitment and general grumbling

IronHerb

Moyes: "You could buy a top goal scorer who wouldn't work as hard as our forwards.

We had Haller who fitted this bill but he was roundly criticised for his lack of effort. Seems Moyes can't win.

OldCastleSwift

It's the all or nothing attitude that I can't get on board with. It seems he'd rather run the current squad into the ground rather than compromise on signings. Some might see it as admirable, others might see it as a tad irresponsible.

thornburyiron

I think his point is new signings if they’re big would be expected to go straight into the team but that may not necessarily improve it in the short term. A new season is different but it could be disruptive in the short term.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

My problem is more how there hasn't been any striker in world football that we could identify

And while I get that he's looking for Antonio mk. 2, it's good to have variety for instance, a poacher who can nick a goal in the final 10 minutes of a game

MrsGrey

OldCastleSwift said:

It's the all or nothing attitude that I can't get on board with. It seems he'd rather run the current squad into the ground rather than compromise on signings. Some might see it as admirable, others might see it as a tad irresponsible.

Depends on your interpretation. I don't see it as a ' he'd rather ' but that he's being pragmatic and dealing with the reality of what it is.

OldCastleSwift

I would argue it is quite literally the case that he's rather run the players he has to exhaustion than compromise on signings, because he's had the best part of three windows to reinforce upfront but hasn't.

I understand that he wants what he wants, but if it's not available then I'd like to think there was a compromise in world football that would mean not risking injury to Antonio and Bowen by playing them every minute of every game.

The 'reality' you refer to is Moyes’s reality; that a new striker has to essentially be a clone of Antonio otherwise it's not happening.

Fortuneseeker

I would rather not have a clone of Antonio as he is not the complete or even nearly complete forward. There are plenty of strikers out there who would be an upgrade on him. Awaits a response name them.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Think this summer we'd accept bids for Benrahma, whether teams would bid for him is another matter

Think he's got obvious talent which may encourage bidders but think his time here is running out

Don't think he does enough to be a mainstay for a top half prem team, turns 27 before the end of the summer window and it seems clear Moyes isn't his biggest fan (and likely vice versa).....with Moyes going nowhere its hard to see how he turns it around

Think we paid total £25mil for him including the loan fee, so I think we'd accept around £20mil to reinvest in someone else....especially with Lingard surely being high up on our radar reducing the need for Bennie even moreso than right now (although I'm worried Lingard will go Newcastle with them flying and backed with this grand objective)

steve

guess Newcastle might bid 20 mill for Benrahma,Cant see anyone else

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

steve said:

guess Newcastle might bid 20 mill for Benrahma,Cant see anyone else

Tbf he's shown some touches of class, and his championship form was as good as any

Can see some interested teams in the Prem and abroad, although yea £20mil is probably a little steep

Think Newcastle will be Looking for better players than Benrahma

ASLEFshrugged

Moyes plays 4-2-3-1 so if we are going to compete for Europe ideally we need two players to cover each outfield position and currently we have six attacking midfielders.

Its almost certain that Yarmolenko will leave at the end of the season so we're actually going to need another attacking midfielder in the summer.

Can someone please explain why we would sell Benrahma and leave ourselves with just four players to share three starting positions between them?

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

ASLEFshrugged said:

Moyes plays 4-2-3-1 so if we are going to compete for Europe ideally we need two players to cover each outfield position and currently we have six attacking midfielders.

Its almost certain that Yarmolenko will leave at the end of the season so we're actually going to need another attacking midfielder in the summer.

Can someone please explain why we would sell Benrahma and leave ourselves with just four players to share three starting positions between them?

I think the fact Moyes said we were interesting in Dias this window and we apparantly bid for raphinha shows we're interested in an attacker and one whod walk into the first XI......probably because none of Fornals (less so him but hes hardly irreplaceable), Benrahma, Lanzini, Vlasic have shown the levels Bowen has

Also it seems pretty clear Moyes isn't interested in the notion of having two players for every position given the current squad proving the opposite

Fortuneseeker

ASLEF, re Benrahma probably because there is an upgrade for him available somewhere in Europe which is want we should be looking to do in a few positions.

BubblesNeverDies

Benrahma is a bit of a puzzle isn't he. He works hard, also defensively, and has good ball control, but he just seems to take too many touches and doesn't seem to be aware of what's around him. He gets in good positions and then doesn't really know how to exploit them.

yoyo

We may well sell Benrahma ( I hope we don't and persevere, there's a good player in there ) and leave ourselves short, after all we sold Haller and left ourselves short.

Fortuneseeker

yoyo, Are you trying to tell me we are short of a striker surely not! 😮

Dodger58

Benrahma is also short

OutcastLondoner

Benrahma's definitely replaceable if we can find a better player. I do think when he takes too many touches it's because there isn't always a clear option or movement in the middle. Lanzini does the same. Last season he was much better at playing an early ball to the runner. Somehow we need to fix that for whoever plays that position.

He's weird though. Was really good two games ago then got dropped and has been awful in his last two sub performances.

jay_in_cpt

Happy to replace Benrahma, just feel he’s not consistent enough and too often makes the wrong decisions, hasn’t got that footballing brain IMO, Lanzini IMO way ahead of him…

But there are far more work to be done in the summer if we want to carry on and try to remain in top part of table or improve…
If Benrahma stays, can’t see him being a regular starter

whupathman

jay_in_cpt said:

Happy to replace Benrahma, just feel he’s not consistent enough and too often makes the wrong decisions, hasn’t got that footballing brain IMO, Lanzini IMO way ahead of him…

But there are far more work to be done in the summer if we want to carry on and try to remain in top part of table or improve…
If Benrahma stays, can’t see him being a regular starter

good squad player, but he sees himself as a starter, he keeps making wrong choices, if he sorts that out then he is a starter. I fear he is not self aware enough to work on that, but could be wrong.

yoyo

Benrahma is hard to work out. I so much want him to succeed but wouldn't mind being part payment back to Brentford if we can take Toney.

alderz

whupathman said:

jay_in_cpt said:

Happy to replace Benrahma, just feel he’s not consistent enough and too often makes the wrong decisions, hasn’t got that footballing brain IMO, Lanzini IMO way ahead of him…

But there are far more work to be done in the summer if we want to carry on and try to remain in top part of table or improve…
If Benrahma stays, can’t see him being a regular starter

good squad player, but he sees himself as a starter, he keeps making wrong choices, if he sorts that out then he is a starter. I fear he is not self aware enough to work on that, but could be wrong.

I’m not sure I get the impression he seems himself as a starter. He clearly doesn’t want to always be the one coming off when he does start, but he never seems to be moody when he comes on, to me at least.

ASLEFshrugged

yoyo said:

Benrahma is hard to work out. I so much want him to succeed but wouldn't mind being part payment back to Brentford if we can take Toney.

Absolutely not, Toney is a nasty piece of work, diving and fouling. We can do a lot better than that!

alderz

I like Toney

Bazshuayi

I have to say I think the pressure on Toney to carry the team and do about 3 players jobs doesnt help. I think he'd do really well in our team and take over pen duties too as he's excellent at them

ASLEFshrugged

Sorry, everything I've seen of him says to me he's another Zaha

If he plays the way he does at Brentford I'd feel embarrassed to see him in claret and blue

Bazshuayi

Bowen, Antonio, Cresswell… how long til Rice is crocked for a complete set!

#general moaning

OldCastleSwift

Bazshuayi said:

Bowen, Antonio, Cresswell… how long til Rice is crocked for a complete set!

#general moaning

We completely trusted to luck that our key players wouldn't get injured and, somewhat inevitably, it's backfired.

Time will tell how much of an impact it'll have, but to lose Antonio, Bowen and Cresswell in a matter of days is typically West Ham.

Lukerz

Let’s wait & see. Antonio may have been cramp/spasm & would understandably not want to risk it ahead of Thursday. Cresswell has been feeling his groin the last two games. Bowen, we don’t know. Let’s see who we have available come Thursday.

whupathman

We have a mini window of sorts open now so we can get players in who will be better than our injured players purely on the basis they are not:p we need them in the bench if nothing else as options, they can move on in the summer if we sign them sort term, or even go back to their clubs in the unlikely event of common sense prevailing