Aston Villa v West Ham, Sunday 22nd March at 2pm Zulu (For those further afield)

thornburyiron

I don’t think Fernandes is necessarily getting pegged back because if that’s what it is it’s taken clubs 30+ games to fathom it which is unlikely.
I think the absence of Summerville is making it harder for him to get forward as much as he would like

claretandbluesky

He was getting pegged back by the pressure asserted by the dominance of City and villa, the hope is that against lesser teams we can hold possession more and get him further forward to be an asset in attack rather than drawn into a defensive position.

alderz

Summerville’s a huge miss, obviously, but I also think that the plan in both of the past two games has been to sit in and defend, which limits our ability to do much of anything with the ball.

claretandbluesky

I agree and I think that's my point in that Fernandes has been really good of late and has offered attacking intent but has been needed so deep it's helped prevent us offering any threat, we need threat and I think him getting forward again and Summerville will provide that and hopefully the goals we will need.

Pengeman

There were some oddities in the Villa game. At times, Potts seemed to be playing deep to fetch the ball, a position used by Fernandes to play from the back and then maraud. Potts is no marauder and doesn't have Fernandes's range of passing.
Pablo seemed to be on the left wing instead of number 10. Fernandes was playing at 10 in the first-half, and we had little control of midfield. Too many players out of position or maybe they couldn't do what Nuno wanted them to do. Why does Taty try to commit so many fouls?

chicagohammer

Potts is a worry - I like him a lot but yesterday he was lost at sea, I agree with the sentiment that against our peer group we will likely be a bit more adventurous and that Summerville will help Fernandes and others provide that outlet.

ASLEFshrugged

Pengeman is spot on, too many players playing out of position and/or roles they weren’t expecting to

Pablo was playing on the left instead of his usual no 10 spot cos Summerville was missing.

If Todibo hadn’t got injured we have set up 3-4-2-1 as we did against City but instead we went 4-3-3 with Fernandes playing further forward than usual

We switched to 4-4-2 at half time with Traore and Wilson then ended up as 3-5-2 with Diouf playing on the left of the back 3

Little wonder we looked odd, maybe we were lucky to only lose by 2!

alderz

Potts in for Todibo was probably the wrong call. Potts wants to play in the same areas as Fernandes, but Fernandes can do a lot more from those positions so he was hamstrung somewhat. Either it should have been Traore to come in and make it a 4-4-2 from the start, or we should have stuck with the original plan and brought in Kilman, who presumably will have have to play again one day.

thornburyiron

Watched the highlights again yesterday and for their first goal, even though it was well executed, it looked like Potts turned his head away from the shot when he could have headed it.
He did that in an earlier game when we conceded as if he doesn’t like heading.

ASLEFshrugged

alderz said:

Kilman, who presumably will have have to play again one day.

Roshane Thomas, West Ham correspondent at at The Athletic, reported yesterday that Nuno doesn't trust Kilman and that he'll probably never play for us again

Sadly its behind a paywall otherwise I'd be able to read more although the article has been widely quoted on other sites like C&H

https://www.claretandhugh.info/injury-offers-stark-reality-he-may-have-played-his-last-game-for-west-ham/

Even though The Athletic is part of the New York Times they're fairly reliable on the Premier League

alderz

That doesn't surprise me, and I don't trust him either. But then I guess my question is why have him on the bench? Might as well have an empty seat if he's not going to be used regardless.

ASLEFshrugged

Good question

Nuno banished Ward-Prowse from the squad so having Kilman on the bench wouldn’t suggest Nuno has totally given up hope

Curiouser and curiouser, said Alice

Kuchinghammer

Last season, Kilman had a rock solid game against Villa. There must be something we don't know that has triggered this collapse.

Lukerz

I do think - for the Villa game & the late change - it would have made more sense to have gone with Kilman given we prepared for the match in a back 3.

ASLEFshrugged

The only thing I can think of is Todibo is usually on the right when we've played a back three while Kilman is more of a left sided player

Guess Nuno didn't fancy shifting Mavro or Desasi to the right and playing Kilman on the left or centre

alderz

Kilman played most of his football under Nuno at Wolves on the right of a back three, oddly.

ASLEFshrugged

Didn't notice that. Looks like he was switched to the left by Lange or Lopetegui then carried on on the left under O'Neil