View from West Ham

[terryr]

Interesting to see their mood change ( across multiple boards) after Monday

"If we try to pack 9 men back give up 70% possession and counter against this **** Fulham side.....
Without Antonio we lack the personnel to turtle up against top sides, but at least it is about defending a great attack and hoping to knick a draw. Against the likes of Fulham we need to let all that attacking personnel we have get forward.
If Antonio is still out, I think you have to consider lining up like we did for the Southampton match before the Covid break. We played aggressively with Haller at CF and he was excellent (1 goal, 5 chances created)."

" As long as Haller isn't playing we'll have a better chance.

I'd go with:

------------------------------Fabianski------------------------------

----------------Balbuena---Ogbonna---Cresswell----------------

-Coufal----------------Rice-----------Soucek---------------Masuaku-

-Bowen-------------------Yarmolenko----------------------Fornals-


Subs: Randolph, Fredericks, Diop, Snodgrass, Lanzini, Benrahma, Haller.
Sadly the comments Moyes made after the Liverpool game probably means he'll start Haller again. But if he can't look good against Liverpool's weakest possible central defence partnership, with a kid playing at the back, then when will he?
I'm not particularly convinced by Yarmolenko either. But sadly we have no one else and he at least runs around a lot more than Haller. "

" We were even worse with Yarmolenko up front when he came on. He's also been generally dreadful in his last two appearances.
For me Haller starts but we play more attacking and get more players around him. This will really be the beginning of the end for him though if he's ineffective again."

" So important we now win these very winnable games
Would be typically West Ham to get that points haul from the first batch of games to then pick hardly any up in the "easier" run"

" Four at the back and up front I would like to see:
Bowen Lanzini/Fornals Benrahma
Haller
All within close proximity to each other and Haller. One of Lanzini or Fornals behind the striker"

" Different game this one. Fulham are the away side. We have home advantage.
No point changing a winning formation. Same starting team for me."

" I'd go 4 at the back - worked fine at the back end of last season against the lesser teams and this time we have a proper right back. The only question mark is with left back - Masuaku or Cresswell? Benrahma really should be making his debut here."

" Benrahma has plenty of goals and assists against them in his last few games.
Couple of extra days preparation should help us."

" They started the season conceding bucket loads, but have tightened up in the last three.
They have changed personnel recently and have loaned in from Chelsea and Man City as well as ex-Chelsea players.
I hope Haller is the best #9 on the pitch. However, I fear that I will be looking at MItrovic like I have Chris Wood, Glenn Murray and Andy Carroll in recent encounters and wishing Haller had a bit more of them about him.
Fulham are basically a championship team masquerading as a PL one. Scott Parker will be doing fantastically well to keep them up."

" It is time for a back four (more possession) and taking advantage of Haller.

---------------Fabianski----------------
Coufal-Balbuena-Ogbonna-Masuaku
-----------Soucek----Rice--------------
--Bowen-----Fornals-----Benrahma--
-----------------Haller-------------------

Randolph, Diop, Cresswell, Noble/Coventry, Yarmo, Lanzini, Fredericks
We need to attack Fulham with possession, throw balls into the box and use Haller."

" We need to attack Fulham from the off, we have the players to do it. I think the key thing is not to give up if Fulham park the bus, you've got to keep going and then more often than not you get rewarded. If West Ham ever want to show their fans that they have changed and are able to win so called ' bread and butter ' games this is the time to do it. We've scored in each of our last 6 games and we look more organised at the back. I would hope that we can give the likes of Benrahma more than 2 minutes if he does come on."

" The only worry with 4 at the back (and it's just one thing) is that stopping crosses into Mitrovic with that formation might be something we don't do properly. 4 at the back with Cresswell and I can see crosses coming in from that side and that's where we face the most danger. With our current formation, forcing them to be narrower I think would pretty much have them doing f*** all. If we are to stick to the same formation, we need to be much more attack minded and I would like to see Benrahma start, even if Bowen gets moved to the middle.
If Moyes starts with a back 4 and can make sure our FB's do their jobs properly then I can see us scoring 3 easily..."

" We beat Fulham very comfortably about two years ago with a back four including masuaku

Cresswell has done very well tbf, but would be happy to see us go back to a four and have a go here

Fab
Coufal
Balbs
Oggy
Masuaku
Rice
Soucek
Fornals
Benny H
Bowen
Haller

Should be plenty enough"

" Mitrovic is the type of striker that Dawson would do well against."

" We really need to win here. It will show how far we have come if we win convincingly. More importantly it will put us 3 more points clear of them at the bottom."

" Benrahma in for Haller.
Fulham want the ball and overplay constantly. I think we're suited to this, we can strike with counters. For that reason, stick with the system and just use Masuaku on the front foot more and Soucek less reserved. It stays the same shape but a few players play more advanced"

" Be the most West Ham thing ever to deliver an insipid performance and lose 2-0"

" Despite the good points haul we are now quite low in table and 3 points would be extremely welcome."

" if there's any other team in this country that we can say we're the bogey team for, it's Fulham."

" Now, I'M going to sound self entitled..
With or without Antonio, if we don't comfortably win this game, I'm going to be SERIOUSLY dischuffed.
Fulham are clearly this season's whipping boys & no, a draw against them will NOT be good enough.
Don't even mention us losing.."

" If Arsenal, Wolves, Leicester, Spurs, Man City and Liverpool can't keep a clean sheet against us,.........."

"Need to get another win on the board. Fulham look absolute bobbins this season, need to stop being West Ham and play against Fulham with the same intensity that we did against Man City.
3-1 us, 2 goals from Haller and 1 from Lanzini."

" As much as I slated Haller against Liverpool, this will be the game that goes a long way to proving whether he will be an asset. If he can grab a goal and make one or two then he will give the critics a thumb in the eye.
Personally, I see him flourishing against their relatively poor defence, and us running out comfortable winners."

" I don't think that we will necessarily have more of the ball. Fulham keep it well but it's not particularly penetrative and they have tended to get done by silly defensive mistakes or overplaying in dangerous areas. I think if we were there then it's a game the fans would get annoyed with as the expectation is we should win comfortably and dominate. I'm not sure we will do either but instead, pick them off on the counter."

" Whatever happens, it should be Bowen, Fornals and Benrahma up top.
If we just play football, and not lump it, we should beat these. But we're West Ham, so who knows."

" This game could define our season. A few creditable draws against more challenging opposition will mean nothing if we don't take 3 points from this one.
Fulham have looked lightweight so far and we need to be physically tough and bully them into submission.
If we take this game too lightly and fail to dominate possession, we will give Fulham the points and an injection of confidence."

" The way we set up for this will tell you everything you need to know about Moyes.
I'm all for keeping a 'winning' formation, but come on its bloody Fulham, 4 at the back should be fine, it was good enough post lockdown last season against the league's poorest teams, we have a better RB now, plus we really ought to have a plan B with Antonio out.
Personally I will be disappointed if we go 5 at the back at home to this lot."

" I suspect you should prepare to be disappointed."

" I know I'm a West Ham fan ,b ut I'm still nervous about this one...."


"If it was any other team in the league I'd be with you but it's hard to remember too many games where we were even troubled by Fulham, let alone lost. Softest points available any time they're in the league.
It's like getting a small taste of what it must feel like to play us most years."

"i don't expect us to dominate possession as fulham are exactly the sort of team we do well against. they like to get on the ball and play beyond their faculties, which we'll be set up to exploit at every opportunity (which there will be plenty of).
wouldn't be surprised to see us put three or four past them if we can sort out the striker issue."

" Fulham are winless, struggling, managed by an ex player of ours and we have been in solid form. It would be 100% classic West Ham for us to piss this one up the wall.

We have to change shape for this one IMO. Fulham might want to overplay a bit but if we go in and try the same balls over the top an into channels with Haller up top we may as well just write the game off before a ball is kicked. We either have to pinch in Fornals and Bowen and give them leave to do less defensive duties to give Haller the bodies close in to him to make him effective or we have to go to 4 at the back and put an extra body in midfield to create the bridge between the defensive midfielders and the attackers (either Lanzini in behind or Benrahma wide left with Fornals in behind). Can Moyes make the change? Can the team avoid the mental collapse we so often see from West Ham teams when playing "easier" opposition"? I hope so, but we are West Ham"

" Mitrović, their big striker has scored 2 goals so far, one a pen, in the 4-3 loss to Leeds United.
He also missed a pen when they drew 1-1 with Sheffield United.
Don't do it West Ham...
Perhaps he'll get sent off or a match-missing injury tonight.."

" Lookman looks really good for them, he will be a handful."

" Aye.
I'm demanding we win but I'm not expecting it to be easy.."

" Its our third derby for the season, and still no win. So I'm confident for the 2-0 goal diff win. 3-1 with the 5-4-1 being changed to the 3-4-1-2. As a few have said unchanged squad , Bowen to more up top with formals in the middle behind.
Our goal diff moving in the right direction.
Although being west ham, we could draw this , however team spirit is solid and not to many many fancy pants in the starting eleven. So we should be fine.
What
Haller, Soucek and Bowen, Lookman for theirs."

" Agree with that Lookman looks really decent and hopefully Rice can slap Loftus-cheeks. I don't think we will change anything and I also think Fulham will get 60-75% of the ball. I hope we get as fired up for this game as we were in the last 6 otherwise I could see us not winning."

" Fulham are 2 up v West Brom."

" I am quite glad Fulham won today. While some may argue they will get a lift from it, it takes away from their desperation to get something from this match. Also while they won, they were not very good, and West Brom were very poor. I don't think we were even close to that poor against Newcastle which was our worst performance of the season.
We should win comfortably."

" Huge win for them.
Will have given their confidence a big boost before playing us, unfortunately.."

" Slav made changes in time. It did'nt help, but he made them"

" As west ham fans, we all know that the most important thing about Fulham winning today is that it means that they won't be seeking their first win of the season when playing us..."

" Them winning tonight has done us a favour in the law of averages.
They'd have seen tonight as a must win, us as a 'great point'.
It won't be easy but we should grind out a win."

" Fulham like to play a passing game where they have a fair bit of possession. Hopefully this could founder on our newly developed defensive solidity and give us some good counter-attack possibilities. Of course knowing us we'll lose 3-0"

" Did you see them play tonight?? Bloody Hell!
They're going to do us 2-0"

" We won't lose, we'll be far too defensive for that."

" I'm going too lead with the chin here. Feel free to post this back to me when we lose 2-0!
I expect us to win against this mob. I appreciate that it would be very 'West Ham' to lose after our performances against the top teams, but I really do feel that we have a lot more steel about us these days. We are working well as a team, the lads want to play for each other and we seem to be enjoying our football. I am sure that Gollum won't let us sit back.
Having said that, Haller will need to 'Man-up' for once. He needs a performance. If not, then he really has burnt his bridges and I see no way back for him. Luckily, we have goals in this team and I see Soucek scoring a brace and Jimmy knocking in another, whist Mitrovic scores for them in our 3-1 win."

" Yes he needs a performance, and that tends to come from a run in the team and a bit of confidence. This is the same Haller who is our leading goalscorer this season, that many were clamouring for inclusion following decent pre-season and cup appearances. Burnt his bridges, seriously ??
He's a proven, decent player who will score goals, but that doesn't always mirror the views of the modern day fan who tend to judge on a very short term basis before turning full circle again and again"

" Fulham have not managed to beat us at our place in their last ten attempts in the league.
We have won six of those ten, including each of the last three, scoring three in each too.

Can't see this game bucking the trend.

We can set up the same but push the wide players on so much that it will pretty much be a 343 formation.

---------------- Fabianski ----------------
---- Balbunea Ogbonna Cresswell ----
Coufal ----- Soucek Rice ---- Masuaku
------ Bowen -- Haller -- Fornals ------

3-0 or 3-1 with Haller first goal (45s and 60s if you like a flutter)...
We will be sitting at the top of the bottom half as we go into the international break.
Happy lockdown..."

" Delighted to see that they broke their duck vs WBA.

At least it won't be all "Fulham haven't won a Premier League game"..."

" Or some Northern twit to mention Mitrovic hasn't scored in league for 7 weeks"

" Fulham before Monday's result were starting to look better. They are & will remain near the bottom all season for me, my memory is not the best but we tend to always do pretty well against this mob, hopefully this continues.
Lookman for them looks very lively & will need to be watched.
Moyes I reckon will do a high press against these as their back 4/5 do not look the best.
A game Moyes will be targeting 3 points & rightly so, maybe a slight change of tactics for this game? We certainly need to get Haller more support which hopefully comes from the high press.
Going for a 3-1 to the mighty irons."

" Hope so, as in Tim Ream they have one of the worst, most dithering, error strewn, centre backs the league has seen since Gary Breen.
I doubt we will keep a clean sheet, but hope & expect to score more than them.... 7-3 to Irons "

" Obviously anything can happen this season, but I just think Fulham are too weak to spring a big surprise and we're too organised not to make the most of the quality in the team. I suspect it'll be a relatively comfortable but close win: I'm going 2-1 to us."

" I dreamt we lost 2-1. :012:"

"f*** you Premier League and West Ham you greedy pricks.
I will be protesting against this by eating £14.95 worth of pick n mix and watching a dodgy stream of the game."

" What's the point in half a dozen sweets?"

" Following our unlucky 2-1 loss against those cheating scouser which I am very disappointed with Salah for his theatrical act to get a penalty and his stupid look on his face has written over it. Now moving on to Fulham, I do hope our wheels will not come off like Aston Villa did as they lost 3 in a bounce so we need to keep our level on top at all time and not to let our head dropped. Fulham and Sheff Utd will be upped their tempo to get points from us so we need to be more upped than them. Need to keep eye on Mitrovic & Co. I would rather have Benrahma at the starting line up than the ineffective Haller which I hope he will be long gone soon.

Squad:

Fabianski

Balbuena
Ogbonna
Cresswell

Coufal
Masuaku
Rice
Soucek

Fornals
Bowen
Benrahma (leading the front line)"

" he next 3 games are more important than the first 7 in my opinion. Games that we can get something out of but in the past have failed to do. Doing as well as we have done in the last 6 games will be for nowt if we dont show the same commitment and team work rate. We have become a very good counter attacking team but feel against the mid table teams we need to show more than that. So get it out on the flanks (dont just keep lumping it to hallers bonce and hope for a lucky knock down). Get it wide, get some crosses in and give him a chance to do what we know he can do.
If we play containment footy (which has worked against the better teams, only conceding 3 and scoring 2 against city/ l-pool) we will struggle, looking for Moyes to find an answer to the Haller conundrum. As someone mentioned he has turned antonio into a striker and got fornals playing well in an unfamiliar position, now sort out haller.
We look pretty solid at the back.
Expect a win .....which is not good news, as my predictions to date have been garbage"

" What I have learnt when West Ham did get some points from the big boys, we always lose against the minnows like in 2015-16, we beat Liverpool TWICE, Man City away Arsenal away and Man Utd home, yet we lost a disgraceful 4-1 at home against Swansea who was struggling that time, only muster a draw twice against Norwich and away to Sunderland, lost 2-1 away to Newcastle who was relegated that time plus 4-3 home defeat against Bounemouth. West Ham would finished 3rd if results went our way instead of bottling it. That is a worry when you got some points from big clubs and to lose agianst the smaller outfit.

Last season, we lost TWICE to Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham except we beat Chelsea and 4 points against Man Utd but at least we beat Bournemouth 4-0, Norwich twice on 4-0 and 2-0, Watford twice but only drawn twice against Brighton so it wasn't too bad. Had Pellegrini stayed, we would be in the championship as we would lose at home to Bournemouth, maybe Watford.
Moyes need to work out for West Ham NOT to bottle it against struggling side as in normal case, the struggle side look at us on 14th and they will go gung-ho to get points."

" I think we will win this. We have too much talent in the squad and the team won't panic should they concede first.
Be an interesting weekend. Sheff U are away at Brighton and Burnley visit Chelsea. Should they both lose with the international break following, I could see the first managerial casualty of the season. As I type this West Brom have just hit the bar away to Fulham."

"They've just had a decent win against West Brom. This isn't going to be as easy as some are suggesting."

" We never do things easy mate..I bet you it will be one big struggle Saturday.I hope I am so wrong."

" West Brom were poor, but as you say, if we think we can just turn up, we will be in for a shock. They will certainly get a boost from tonight."

" This will be a very different game compared to the last few. We will have to be on the front foot with the majority of possession, rather than hitting them on the break with 35% possession, so this may suit Haller much more"

" Good news the hooray Henry's got their first win
Full steam ahead now to give them a good flipping over
3-0"

" Are you free Mr Haller?

Not at the moment Mr Masuaku, I am having a little stroll in the field.
We need Mollie Sugden up front, her pussy isnt shy going into the action.
Seriously, if Haller cant perform against Fulham, then he never will. I can understand why Moyes kept the status quo against Liverpool and it almost worked. But maybe in this game we dont need Fornals and Rice / Soucek can focus more on coming out to support the attack. Get Haller in there with Benrahma and Bowen and have Masuaku and Coufal pepper the box with crosses, both are capable.
These next few are the games now where Moyes proves himself and getting results is far more important than the ones we already have."

" Glad Fulham won. Our record playing teams due for a win speaks for itself and has done for years. But the natural pessimism that comes with supporting West Ham tells me this will be a score draw. 1-1"

" Last chance saloon for the sloth.
Breaking into a gentle trot would be nice.
We're in a similar position to where we were last season under Mr. Dead before we played Palarse. Not as many points but our start wasn't as difficult then. And like Fulham it was a game we were expected to win.
I went. Wish I hadn't. But the burger on the boat was nice."

" I'm more confident of some sort of result now that Fulham have registered their first win. Pretty much an away banker if they'd still been looking for their first 3 points."

" I'm almost certain that Moyes will play exactly the same side as he did against LiVARpool. Hopefully with Fulham being a lesser team compared to the cheating slag own fan killing front bottom micks we'll be able to give the fat mardy French front bottom some more support while he lumbers around slowly, sweating. Hopefully he'll have a bit more fitness and a couple fewer pies in him by the time we play Fulham.
It's a draw all day long."

" I really hope we don't let them play and give them more confidence.
Lookman will cause us problems. Very direct, pacy technically good and likes a shot.
Ideally we would switch to 4 at the back and get more creative players on the pitch to keep pressure on them but I can't see Moyes changing it unless there are injuries. Rest some players perhaps?"

" If we really have improved under Moyes then we will know that on Saturday.
For years we have always turned up to big games and been poo against teams we should be comfortably beating.
For lesser teams we seem to have this weird mentality that you have thinking it is insignificant.
Then when the players don't put a shift in because their mentality is not right fans like you will be one of the first to front bottom them off.
If we play how we have done at the start of the season in every single game we would be a top 8 side.
Mentality is key. Thinking teams like Fulham are nothing special will see us finishing way below what we are capable of."

" Saw highlights of Fulham at Sheffield and thought they were the better team
Lookman was dangerous but Mitrovic had an off day & missed a couple of chances you'd expect him to score incl a pen.
They were similar v Palace.
Poor at the back but created enough especially through Lookman.
With those two , LoftusCheek & Cairney they have a threat
Let's see how they get on tonight.
Well I won't as Fulham v WBA definitely isn't worth £14.95 of anyone's money"

" Fulham are struggling for goals although their build up play is decent. Will watch them tonight see how they shape up against WBA. I don't really think we can call any team "sh*t based on league position so early in the season.

The assumption we are going to win the next batch of games because we got points against the top 6 teams is IMHO a bit too simplistic. We should be able to have more possession but will we be able to open up the teams that do not take the game to us? We have been struggling with that for the last 5 seasons. And now without Antonio's physical presence we will have to find a way to get in behind defences. We have been effective in recent games due largely to being good on the counter. Wont be like that so much in these upcoming games and we might find it much harder than some expect. We shall see soon enough.
Haller will start I expect. I too think he is just too slow and not physical enough to cut it in the Premiership but would love to be wrong."

"  I just don't think we need to be defending 5 at the back against shitty Fulham.
And I'm not one of these getting excited about Cresswell and Masuaku "playing well". Both of them aren't good enough to take the position of left back, so what we have is 2 inadequate players taking the role that 1 capable player should take.
If we play 4 at the back, it allows us to bringing in Benrahma and play a striker."

" errr. did anyone see the WBA game?
This might not be so simple....."

That's it for this week

[/b]

[Mr K.Dilkington]

they seem very confident...hopefully to their detriment. Need to watch for bowen and benrahma if they both play but wet spam are not nearly a side to be feared.

[rebel]

Bowen is a threat, need to double up on him when he gets the ball.

[mrmicawbers]

Sounds like a really educated bunch.Lets hope their players underestimate us too.

[Fulham 442]

I'm desperate to win this one.  My husband is a West Ham fan and I will never hear the end of it if they win, especially if we put in a rubbish performance.  Just hope we can build on the result from the West Brom game....

[rebel]

I'm desperate to win this one.  My husband is a West Ham fan and I will never hear the end of it if they win, especially if we put in a rubbish performance.  Just hope we can build on the result from the West Brom game....

I think we can and will, preoviding Parker builds on the WBA performance, too often concentrating on the opposition, negates our strengths, I hope Parker doesn't try and micro-manage every aspect of the match. But we will need to raise our level of performance again.   

[Maidstone Lee]

West Ham have had some decent results so far will be a very tough game. If we do win, hopefully we can build on it and start to climb the table.

[SP]

This time, I hope the ref doesn't allow the WHU player to score with his hand & take no action despite numerous replays on the large screens.

[alfie]

Instead of us always worrying about what the opposition will do, it's about time we make the opposition worry about what we will do.

[Statto]

Annoying how we're going to be seen as absolute pony because of those humiliating first few games. The reality is our current squad is closer in terms of quality to West Ham's than it is to West Brom's or Sheffield United. We'll probably still lose, because we always do lose to them, but they're the sort of bang average mid-table side we should be taking points off on a good day.

I'm sure if we were Leeds their tone would be totally different.

[Somerset Fulham]

Hooray Henrys. 

It does make me laugh.

[Fulham 442]

Hooray Henrys. 

It does make me laugh.

Yes indeed,  it's right up with "Does your butler know you're here?" which they have sung to us in the past!

[filham]

We usually struggle  against West Ham but playing in that enormous empty stadium must be difficult for them, they must be missing the advantage offered by the fans at Upton Park.
COYW , an away point is possible.

[SP]

Hoping that Tooting old boy Antonio isn't fit to play.

[The Rock]

We'll see. I like how the one went on about Ream. I'd think our back for will and should be unrecognizable to them. Maybe there's a reason we've been looking better these last few games and handily beat West Brom. I hope there is at least.

[hovewhite]

Think a point at the spammers at least.

[Jem]

I'm desperate to win this one.  My husband is a West Ham fan and I will never hear the end of it if they win, especially if we put in a rubbish performance.  Just hope we can build on the result from the West Brom game....

I know the feeling. My in-laws and their extended family are all West Ham. I dread this fixture like no other.

[Mince n Tatties]

Instead of us always worrying about what the opposition will do, it's about time we make the opposition worry about what we will do.

Correct Alfie.
Too much time spent worrying about other clubs
whoever they are.....It's 11 v 11...Get into them.Coyw

[Fulham 442]

I'm desperate to win this one.  My husband is a West Ham fan and I will never hear the end of it if they win, especially if we put in a rubbish performance.  Just hope we can build on the result from the West Brom game....

I know the feeling. My in-laws and their extended family are all West Ham. I dread this fixture like no other.

Me too.  At least when we played them at the Cottage he was always at the opposite end of the ground to me!!!

[FFCBadger]

I do hope Lemina is fit...judging by our coy nature when it comes to talking about injuries SP's comments give me some hope.
I think he gives more offensively than Reed so if we play the same team as Monday I think we can catch them out  049:gif