The January Transfer Window 2020

[Pob!]

I wouldn't worry about anyone coming in for Diop. No club is going to bid for a defender that is on the bench for one of the worst defences in the League.

I mean if you was a Chelsea fan would you be begging your club to bid for a defender that struggles to walk into West Ham's team? I most certainly wouldn't.

Maybe he's on the bench for a reason. Sale pending.

[IronZ-79]

Can't see us selling Diop in our current position. He should be starting.

[il_martello_di_genovesi]

how we lack creativity, pace, goals and are poor defensively.

Creativity - We have Lanzini, Fornals and Felipe Anderson. Creativity should not be a problem. These are 3 very good players.

Pace - Has been a problem for a while, though I actually think some of this could be due to fitness. Since last season Masuaku has played less and Arnautovic isn’t here and the replacements (Cresswell and Haller) are not pacey options.

Goals - We lost 21 goals from last season in Arnautovic, Hernandez and Pérez and have replaced it with 5 goals. Haller can only seem to function if he can be bothered and if someone else does all the running and Ajeti doesn’t play.

Defensively - I think our CB’s are less of a problem and we have a top DM in Rice. The FB’s and lack of a midfield presence/energy puts too much pressure on.

Basically our Summer recruitment has been a mess. We’ve downgraded on goalkeeping options, midfield options and goalscorers and have taken what little pace we had out of the side. Who’s to blame for this? Probably all of them (Owners, Pellegrini, Husillos).

At the end of the day this is the team we have. Some very good talent and some utter ****, but the tactics leave us completely disjointed. Zabaleta and Snodgrass started on our right hand side against Van Aanholt and Zaha...what were we expecting to happen? Zaha completed more dribbles in a Premier League game this season than anyone.

[Wilko1304]

We have too many players starting regularly who should be squad players. Noble and Snodgrass are players you have as options and bring in when needed, not rely on desperately.

We have no system and no structure. This makes it incredibly difficult to scout specific players to suit us. Instead we will target generically good players, instead of the right players. At this level, small percentages matter and having a team full of good players who aren’t quite right means we are less effective than we should be.

We need smart investment. Doesn’t need to necessarily be big, but likely so. Two central midfielders, a striker with pace, a winger with pace.

Our midfield is the worst in the league, collectively. No club would consider a squad with Noble, Snodgrass, Sanchez and Wilshere to go with Rice. Sanchez and Wilshere are basically not players. We have three central midfielders, our team needs to play all of them, two of them aren’t good enough. It’s insane, absolutely insane. Just typing it out suddenly makes me less annoyed at Pellegrini: what the hell do you do with that choice?!

[denzel]

Diop has been written off now? Brilliant

[Crouchend_Hammer]

Creativity - We have Lanzini, Fornals and Felipe Anderson. Creativity should not be a problem. These are 3 very good players.

Pace - Has been a problem for a while, though I actually think some of this could be due to fitness. Since last season Masuaku has played less and Arnautovic isn’t here and the replacements (Cresswell and Haller) are not pacey options.

Goals - We lost 21 goals from last season in Arnautovic, Hernandez and Pérez and have replaced it with 5 goals. Haller can only seem to function if he can be bothered and if someone else does all the running and Ajeti doesn’t play.

Defensively - I think our CB’s are less of a problem and we have a top DM in Rice. The FB’s and lack of a midfield presence/energy puts too much pressure on.

Basically our Summer recruitment has been a mess. We’ve downgraded on goalkeeping options, midfield options and goalscorers and have taken what little pace we had out of the side. Who’s to blame for this? Probably all of them (Owners, Pellegrini, Husillos).

At the end of the day this is the team we have. Some very good talent and some utter ****, but the tactics leave us completely disjointed. Zabaleta and Snodgrass started on our right hand side against Van Aanholt and Zaha...what were we expecting to happen? Zaha completed more dribbles in a Premier League game this season than anyone.

I agree with most of this except I don't think Rice is a top DM. Not in the same way other teams have a player who can sit in front of the back four and allow others to play.
He is part of the problem at the moment IMHO.
Of course he should be in our team somewhere but i just dont think he is that effective at the role he is currently playing

[Wilko1304]

If you consider Rice a noteworthy problem, I worry about you. He’s our midfield. The others are ineffective. His defensive numbers are still excellent, he covers the right back and right midfielder constantly and has such a better tempo of pass than anyone around him at the moment. He’s also adding all the energy in there. It’s a shambles around him.

Note that he isn’t even able to play as a DM any more because the team is too awful to have one.

[szola]

We've invested in two players during the summer window, and this thread keeps on rolling

[Ozza]

We've invested in two players during the summer window, and this thread keeps on rolling

Crazy isn’t it, only once have they spent in Jan from what I can remember and that was with the Payet money they’d had since the summer

[Crouchend_Hammer]

If you consider Rice a noteworthy problem, I worry about you. He’s our midfield. The others are ineffective. His defensive numbers are still excellent, he covers the right back and right midfielder constantly and has such a better tempo of pass than anyone around him at the moment. He’s also adding all the energy in there. It’s a shambles around him.

Note that he isn’t even able to play as a DM any more because the team is too awful to have one.

I never said he was a noteworthy problem. Nor did he say he is a bad player in anyway
However, I don't think he is suited to the role of playing the role he is supposed to be playing which is sitting in front of the back four.
Could he be good at it if he had better players around him? Maybe. He isn't going to be a Ndidi or a Fabinho though.
I would rather we bought a proper DM and allowed Rice to play more of dynamic role, similar to that which Dembele used to play for Spurs
Isaac Hayden would be my choice

[Wilko1304]

Well, you brought it up without being asked, Crouchy. You mentioned he was a problem completely of your own accord, so it was worthy of you noting it.

He isn’t currently playing as a holding midfielder. He has played his best as one. I think he has the talent to play ahead of a natural holding player and I think he has the ability to play behind better midfielders as a holder. Unfortunately, an imbalanced side, a struggling side and a lacklustre midfield is obviously going to drag down his performances somewhat. Saying that, he was weak defensively on one occasion yesterday, it was just unfortunate that it then led to a goal.

[Aurora borealis]

Diop is a good enough defender for our team. Sadly there is no transfer window where you can buy a winning mentality. (I would even go for a season loan). Just hope we go for the Young and hungry ones in this window. AND in the summer. Which of the current players will still be in the squad when we play in the Championship? Most of them will probably not, and thats the good thing, because otherwise they will be eaten alive!

[e17]

Diop and Rice and their young careers deserve better than West Ham United as managed by Pellegrini

What a waste of what could have been the absolute backbone of a brilliant team

[hammerddh]

Diop and Rice and their young careers deserve better than West Ham United as managed by Pellegrini

What a waste of what could have been the absolute backbone of a brilliant team

110%

[hammerman11]

I would be thinking of leaving if I was them and especially if they don't sack pelle soon !

[Wilko1304]

Diop and Rice and their young careers deserve better than West Ham United as managed by Pellegrini

What a waste of what could have been the absolute backbone of a brilliant team

A little harsh. Rice has spoken glowingly about his treatment from Pellegrini when being brought into the team. He has improved under him too.

Diop was prioritised when brought in and given the space to make mistakes and play himself into development for a long period. He was never perfect, had his issues and was not jettisoned. He went out of the side when the two men now in the team played better than him. He's been treated well and given a lot of trust at a young age. I do hope he gets time in a back three.

[keithwright1977]

Diop shouldn’t be on the bench. It’s another Pellegrini decision which makes no sense. At Everton the only positives were our CB’s and he dropped Ogbonna who has been our most consistent performer this season. Balbuena should not be playing ahead of Diop. I have actually had no issue with Diop or Ogbonna for most of our games this season.

A lot of top managers can see the potential in Diop, if we let him go he will become one of the best defenders in the world one day. Wait and see

[Johnny_C WHU]

It appears we have to sell to buy again, so realistically who do we sell in a numerical disadvantageous squad to raise enough money? Most of the players I wouldn't give a tenner for! To be fair there are literally a handful of players I wouldn't particularly want to sell, Rice, Diop, Fabianksi, Noble (sentiment) and Antonio everyone else is fair game!

I think our priorities for our current needs are a midfielder and a striker. I would consider selling Yami and Anderson; even though on their day I like them a lot, they are too inconsistent and one of a few with some value. Who would I replace them with? Diagana (spelling..) and Holland. I like the look of Haller but it currently doesn't look like we can get the best of him so he would have a price too.

[denzel]

Diop and Rice and their young careers deserve better than West Ham United as managed by Pellegrini

What a waste of what could have been the absolute backbone of a brilliant team

Bingo

[funky chicken]

Diop has been written off now? Brilliant

You are literally the only person on this thread that has suggested that.