Relive every moment of every first team game since the beginning of the 2005/06 season. Our archive of matchday threads originally posted in the General Discussion Forum.
mumbles87 wrote:Wizz you cant seem to be objective about noble it's like your related
If you look at some match ratings from sky or the daily mail song was 6 and 6.5 and mark was 7 and 6 so pretty similar.
I am just calling it how it see it after watching him totally boss our midfield for us up at old Trafford. I couldn't give a monkey about what the daily mail thinks.
You're entitled to your view mate but I cannot comprehend how anyone watching us on Saturday would even contemplate leaving out Noble after Saturday.
Some people are beginning to think it's fashionable to leave him out. I'm glad Slav is in charge and continuing to pick him when fit and available.
Stoke were bloody awesome at the weekend, they are buzzing.
Should be a cracking match this one, too close to call a result - really looking forward to this though, have not said that about going to watch us v Stoke for many a year!
Adrian
Tomkins Reid Ogbonna Cresswell
Kouyate Song Noble
Antonio Zarate
Carroll
Is still a strong side - no harm in being a bit more packed in the midfield. The main problem is whether Andy can push on from what wasn't a bad lone front man performance last week.
Stoke it seems had their performance of the season (so far) against the Blue Mancs with Hughes' galactico rejects finally gelling and creating for fun. Losing 2-0 flattered Man City by all accounts.
Having said that they've only scored 13 goals (joint least with Villa) - the majority counter-attacking but also have the 3rd best defence,(14) and nobody usually passes their way through.
We also played a good game against the Red side with a depleted team, more than deserved our point and could/should have had more so it's a shame most of our creative players won't be able to match up.
But maybe the decision to give Payet, Lanzini, Moses, Valencia and Sakho the winter off leaves us ironically with a unlikely mix which might even surprise us. 0-0
Can We go ahead and change the Title of the thread to "A West Ham XI v Stoke City" due to all of the injuries we have? Jesus, there has to be some sort of gypsy curse against us or something. Either that or the more unlikely answer is a combination of Chadwell Heath and our training methods.
Due to the severity of our injury crisis, I would like to see the following line-up (4-5-1/4-3-3):
After the recent defensive display, the defense picks itself. Either Have Noble sit deep and have Kouyate and Song slightly further forward, or if we want to play more defensive, play Obiang in the deep role with Song and Noble playing in front, with Kouyate on the bench. Zarate and Antonio playing off Carroll and providing him with some width and support.
Even though it is at home, I would opt for the more defensive formation, due to the fact that we have so many injuries and Stoke are on fire at the moment. Obiang sitting deep and protecting the back four with Noble and Song in front of him to help track back and also provide a creative outlet. Harsh on Kouyate, who I am a huge fan of, but these injuries necessitate a change in formation IMO.
Despite last weeks performance, they don't score many. And we have virtually every attacking player moping around in the sick bay until 2016.
I'd normally say that would be a recipe for Bilic to hunker down and try to keep it tight, but he hasn't really shown an inclination to do that in any game since he arrived, god bless him.
Actually quite curious to see how this one pans out. Anything could happen.
0-0
