I don't get why we are allegedly looking at rightbacks. I know Zabaleta will finally be gone at the end of the season. But has the club lost faith in Ben Johnson? He had his chance against Man City last season and looked very good in pre-season. So why can't we go forward with Fredericks and Johnson as our 2 rightbacks?
One of the rightbacks we were apparently looking at according to Ex is that Max Aarons at Norwich that is even the same age as Johnson!
I have been annoyed at a lot of decisions Pellers has made this season. But still having the past it Zabaleta on the bench over Johnson after his impressive performances in pre-season, when he can even play at leftback too has really disappointed me.
If we are looking at defenders, especially ones who may not necessarily walk into the starting XI, we really should look to the championship. There are several good young full backs and centre backs who are probably already better than what we have,
Jayden Bogle (RB Derby), Ben White (CB Leeds on loan from Brighton) , Nathan Ferguson (LB/RB West Brom), Dael Fry (CB/FB ‘Boro) , Joe Rodon (CB Swansea), Joe Wirral (CB Forrest), Connor Roberts (RB Swansea), Domenic Iorfa(RB/CB Wednesday) are all more than good enough to make our match day squad and probably affordable (with the exception of White who would be £25m+, but well worth it) . Ferguson could be a steal as he is out of contract in the summer and wants out.
There are also some good young attacking midfielders in the championship too. Eberchi Eze would be my first choice, and we are rumoured to be looking at Jarrod Bowen.
Han Noah Massengo at Bristol City is an outstanding young central midfielder but has only just got there and a little slight as he is only just 18.
For second choice goalie Essex Boy Dan Bentley from Bristol City would be a much better choice than Butland.
Almost all those players are 23 and under (iorfa is 24 and Bentley 26), and all bar Massengo are home grown, and pretty much all of them are better than any affordable signings we’ve made from overseas ( with the exception of Balbuena).
Always thought joe Allen was a tidy footballer and the sort of player pellegrini likes the problem is we have to many of these, we need a ball winner in the middle with a engine he don’t have to be a massive unit players like kante have proved that.
hammer1975 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 21, 2019 11:26 am
Kaveh Solhekol has tweeted that Spurs want to buy Diop
We don’t want to sell but value him at £50m
Mourinho was very complimentary about Diop when he was manager of Man Utd IIRC
Might explain the interest in Duffy and Dunk
I’d be very surprised if we dealt with Spurs - I thought the animosity at board level still existed.Equally I doubt BHA would break up their CB pairing mid season.
funky chicken wrote: ↑Sun Dec 22, 2019 1:32 pm
I have been annoyed at a lot of decisions Pellers has made this season. But still having the past it Zabaleta on the bench over Johnson after his impressive performances in pre-season, when he can even play at leftback too has really disappointed me.
Pretty certain Ben Johnson has been crocked most of the season. He's barely figured for the U23s. Kinda ironic given how well they're doing, and he was the one closest to breaking through.
I was looking at the complete list of January transfers under these prize plums a few weeks back, and if anything it's even funnier than you'd remember.
2 (two) in that entire span proved to be better than their transfer fee: Ba and Vaz Te. Perhaps two more who were about par for their fee in O'Neil and Snodgrass. Three quarters of those names were more than 7 years ago.
Outside those names it's an (impressive in its own way) sequence of service station £1 DVD bin purchases.
Good season or bad at the time, they buy lemons. With a manager under pressure who would be due big compensation there's no way we're spending anything this time either.
Jesus if things couldn’t of got any worse for the Hammers. We were meant to send some scouts to watch Flamengo at the weekend but due to yet another admin error the scouts ended up watching some pink coloured birds near a watering hole in Africa. When are we ever going to get things right
keithwright1977 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 23, 2019 11:21 pm
Jesus if things couldn’t of got any worse for the Hammers. We were meant to send some scouts to watch Flamengo at the weekend but due to yet another admin error the scouts ended up watching some pink coloured birds near a watering hole in Africa. When are we ever going to get things right
This thread is going to need you this year.
Stay healthy over Christmas, look after yourself and make sure you're ready for an intense January.
reo_coker20 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 22, 2019 10:02 pm
Always thought joe Allen was a tidy footballer and the sort of player pellegrini likes the problem is we have to many of these, we need a ball winner in the middle with a engine he don’t have to be a massive unit players like kante have proved that.
There are strong rumours from the Chelsea dressing room that Kante is a massive unit.
Last edited by Ironing Board on Tue Dec 24, 2019 4:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
I know Zabaleta will finally be gone at the end of the season. But has the club lost faith in Ben Johnson? He had his chance against Man City last season and looked very good in pre-season. So why can't we go forward with Fredericks and Johnson as our 2 rightbacks?
