⚽ West Ham Utd 1-0 Southampton: (2/4/23)

[Ironing Board]

So you want to fit Cresswell in at LB by dropping our LW (who is our top scorer and has the most assists and most chances created) for an attacking midfielder to baby sit him so he can take a few corners?

How did I drop him?!

[Billbobtrev]

Moyes has no excuses. He has to throw the proverbial kitchen sink at these upcoming fixtures. Hopefully Emerson starts over cresswell . If fabianski is fit Moyes will start him . And Bowen on the left with benrhama on the right I want to see our wingers being more direct . I've long thought it's why we're not scoring enough.

[West Ham Matt]

Whilst we are at lets get Mark Noble back in the team too.

If Cresswell is the answer, what is the question?

[Bubbles Fortuna]

Moyes has no excuses. He has to throw the proverbial kitchen sink at these upcoming fixtures. Hopefully Emerson starts over cresswell . If fabianski is fit Moyes will start him . And Bowen on the left with benrhama on the right I want to see our wingers being more direct . I've long thought it's why we're not scoring enough.

Benrahma and Bowen have spent their entire careers as inverted wingers, why would we swap them?

[BoleynInsider]

What the f*ck is a secondary assist?

The one after a tertiary assist. Would be very interested to see how many tertiaries Cress has compared to Emerson.

[EvilC]

He does fine when Fornals is covering. One positive is it stops people targeting the right side! :lol:

Not sure that’s the case, teams spent most of last season running through our left side. Whilst it might suit Cresswell, it doesn’t suit Fornals or the rest of the side to have Fornals holding his hand.

[JohnnyLyall]

Having Fornals babysit Cresswell is one of the main reasons our poor form started..

[NWhammer]

Already dreading this game and we play on Sunday

Areola

Coufal Zouma Aguerd Emerson

Rice

Paqueta Lanzini

Bowen Scamacca Benrahma

We’ve just watched Rice play that disciplined defensive midfielder role brilliantly for England (again). We need him doing the same for us.

[westlondonhammer]

There is no escaping that this is a must win... any win (ugly or by a cricket score) is essential. Not winning will be a poor result.

If Fab is fit he comes back in for me. We've looked ropey at corners after it being a massive strength since Areola came in. While he distribution is better, I think our ability to defend crosses trumps that as it becomes an easy weakness to expose.

Did Scamacca do enough in the last European game? There is certainly a debate that he did but it's not clear cut. Any of our top 3 can give Southampton a headache on their day. I'd be comfortable with any of them starting.

I'd stick Coufal back in there too... the rest pick themselves.

We're probably looking at our best 11 on paper... time for them to start performing like they are.

[Puff Daddy]

I was shocked by what that guy Nick revealed in that podcast, yet I wasn't, all at the same time

[1895Hammer]

Having Fornals babysit Cresswell is one of the main reasons our poor form started..

Absolutely right! At PL level you simply cannot afford to have a defender who’s presence means another player’s main role is to baby sit. We effectively play with 10.5 men doing it, Emerson, ideally with Cornet in front of him, gives us a far better overall shape and adds some of the much needed pace. Cresswell has been an excellent player, but his days as a PL starter are done, don’t doubt his ability on the ball, but physically he struggles to compete now and opposition know it and exploit it.

[Bubbles Fortuna]

I was shocked by what that guy Nick revealed in that podcast, yet I wasn't, all at the same time

So shocked you posted it on multiple threads.

[Liam]

if we ever went 4-4-2 there is no way Moyes would trust Benrahma.

Cornet maybe but more likely Fornals.

[il_martello_di_genovesi]

For me the biggest thing Emerson seems to have going for him is he is not Cresswell!

Or maybe, just maybe, it could be due to the fact that Emerson has performed very well in 2 different positions since coming into the side?

[Colours never run]

What the f*ck is a secondary assist?

It's the one just after the 3rd, 4th and 5th assist.

[Puff Daddy]

So, Sullivan will take a narrow loss, even 2, or 3 narrow defeats and he will still keep him. Only complete mullerings might force him to change his mind. That's fair enough

[Sticky]

If Cresswell is the answer, what is the question?

Name the only Premier League player to have brylcreem in his little man bag.

[mumbles87]

What the f*ck is a secondary assist?

quiet an underused stat but very important

ill use rice as an example, he has 4 assists this season according to leons thread, but 14 points (2 per assist and 1 for a key contribution , which is a secondary assist, so thats 6 secondary ones)

anyways so say declan runs 40 yards up field.. passes 2 yards to antonio who crosses for bowen to tap in.. all declans work isnt recorded .. but he did massive work to get that secondary assist

much like how many times are cresswells crosses headed back accross goal to be finished by someone else?

[sutts07]

We need to win and I have a sneaky feeling that we will.
2-0


How I'd start...

Areola
Coufal Zouma Aguerd Emerson
Rice Paqueta
Bowen Fornals Benrahma
Ings

If we hadn't scored after 55mins...

Areola
Coufal Zouma Aguerd Emerson
Rice
Bowen Paqueta Cornet
Antonio Ings

If we were not winning by 80mins...

Areola
Coufal Zouma Aguerd Emerson
Rice
Bowen Paqueta
Antonio Scamacca Cornet

[djbubbles]

Fab
Coufal Zouma Aguerd Emerson
Rice Paq
Bowen Lanzini Fornals
Antonio

This is how id start. Paq, Lanzini and Fornals to open them up