West Ham Utd 1-2 Manchester Utd (19/09/21)

[Shabu]

After a great performance in Croatia we return home to face Man Utd in the league and the league cup in the space of a few days.

We've only won 3 of the last 25 league games against them so we're due.

We'll be without Antonio for this so it'll be interesting to see what Moyes's plan is as that might also be the blueprint for several other games in the near future.

I'm also wondering when Areola gets a look in.

They've recently signed some bloke named Ron who they seem to be fond of.

Should be a cracking atmosphere at the stadium & I'm hoping we can remain undefeated.

2-2 with Zouma getting off the mark.

[Ironing Board]

Bugger it - 4-0 Hammers!

[HoustonHammer24]

With Michail out for this one, and a couple of players probably leggy after Zagreb, would go 3-4-3 for this one.

———————Fabianski/Areola————————
———Zouma——Ogbonna——Cresswell———
Coufal———Rice————Soucek———Masuaku
Fornals——————Bowen——————Benrahma

Soucek and Rice might be tired, so extra defensive cover to help out when needed. If one of Rice/Soucek isn’t ready for this one, Kral or Noble to come in. If Fornals isn’t fit, then Vlasic/Lanzini to step in.

Masuaku and Coufal going to take on the majority of the work supporting both defense and attack. I went for Masuaku b/c he’s better in attack, but if he’s not fit enough for this, then Johnson or Fredericks can take his place. Keep it tight and try to nick a goal or two. Set pieces will be key in this one.

[JLCABA]

Please win this WHU .. I don’t ask do much just beat these
Detest ( very strong word ) these
As for how we will actually do I am with Paddy Hammer and he hasn’t even posted on this thread yet

[prophet:marginal]

Tricky one, this game, because I think another game for the Rice-Soucek pairing, so hard on the heels of the last, might be a bridge too far. However this would be a baptism of fire debut for Kral, too.

Fornals has also played a lot of football over the last month or so.

Man United are coming of the back of a disappointing CL performance and will also want to remain unbeaten/up in the leading pack.

All adds up to a bit of a test for the true fullness of the squad options, but I trust Moyes to have worked out his best approach for both assignments this week.

[sutts07]

Need Rice and Soucek to be absolutely on it to limit the amount of ball Pogba and Fernandes get.

Coufal and Cresswell are more than capable of keeping them quiet out wide, just need to concentrate.

It’s an obvious worry that we don’t have a replacement for Antonio but Fornals, Bowen, Benrahma and Soucek have all been racking up the shots in target and we look even more of a threat from corners now Zouma is in the mix.

Head says a draw. Heart says one goal win.
2-1 West Ham??

[Georgee Paris]

I’ll probably be away with the fairies like loads of others that'll have been to Clockstock so won’t really know what’s going on but we will lose 5-4 and I’ll still be dancing.

[Puff Daddy]

Bugger it, Antonio or no Antonio. Why not ?

[r99c]

Will be tough with Antonio out. He makes so much difference to our game it's ridiculous. Occupying defenders, posing a threat, making runs to open up space, holds up the ball etc. Think we will struggle going forward, let's hope our defence is rock solid though.

[ironilunga]

Tricky one, this game, because I think another game for the Rice-Soucek pairing, so hard on the heels of the last, might be a bridge too far. However this would be a baptism of fire debut for Kral, too.

I share your concern re Rice and Soucek. My guess is that they will go again on Sunday and then obviously get the League Cup fixture off.

I get the feeling that Kral is not ready. The fact he got no minutes last night suggests he is not yet up to speed yet.

My 11

…………………………….Fab………………………………

Coufal……..Zouma…..Ogbonna……Cresswell

………………….Soucek……...Rice…………………..

Lanzini…………….…Fornals………….Benrahma

……………………….… Bowen………………………….

[larryberyl]

two games against them in 4 days. a draw and a cup win will do nicely ! one can be greedy ! sod it two wins please.

realistically this is a very tough game. they played tuesday and lost and we played thursday, so its in their favour.
home advantage for us
bigger and better squad for them
however we have great team spirit.

need to start well and get the first goal.
antonio missing on sunday is huge but he can play on weds .

fabianski
coufal zouma ogbonna cresswell
fredericks rice soucek fornals
bowen benrahma

subs areola johnson masuaka diop kral noble lanzini vlasic yarmolenko

1-1 ogbonna

subs on around 60 mins vlasic for benrahma
75 mins kral for rice or soucek

COYI

[kitthehammer]

well, we did seem to cope ok without Antonio a few times last season but yes its a shame he's not there.
I'm wondering if a back three of Diop, Zouma and Ogbonna might be an idea, but i'm really not sure about up front, we'll effectively be playing with no striker, but i remember other clubs doing that ok.

I think most of the players that didn't come on last night probably wont play this one apart from maybe coufal, but instead play the cup game v man u mid week. We do need to start playing Areola though, so if not sunday then wednesday. But i don't see us taking the Carabao cup seriously but then neither will man u. We may have Antonio to bring on but may not risk him.
Sunday
Fabianski
Diop, Zouma, Ogbonna
Coufal, rice, Soucek, Cresswell
Bowen, Benrahma, Fornals

Wednesday
Areola
Dawson, Diop, Ogbonna
Fredericks, Noble, Kral, Masuaku
Vlasic, Yarmolenko, Lanzini

[funky chicken]

I don’t think Moyes will do it, but I’d go 5 at the back to try and combat Man Utd pace and trickery with the likes of Ronaldo and Fernandes in their team. We certainly need to have pace in midfield and especially in defence. If it wasn’t for the fact Fredericks was injury prone and only played last night I’d actually be tempted to keep him in the starting 11. Moyes I reckon will go with the same defence as Southampton as he’d argue we kept a clean sheet and didn’t technically lose. But if he does that’ll be a big mistake in my eyes.

I wonder if Areola will start? Otherwise that was a very strange decision not to play him against Dinamo Zagreb. At his age can Fabianski also play 2 games in 4 days? As long as he can I would go with Fabianski as he has kept 2 clean sheets in his last 2 games.

My team would be:

———————————-Areola/Fabianski———————————-

-Coufal————-Zouma—-Ogbonna——Cresswell——Masuaku-

—————————————Rice———Soucek———————————-

———————————————Fornals———————————————

———————————-Bowen—————Vlasic——————————


Subs: Fabianski/Areola, Fredericks, Johnson, Diop, Dawson, Kral, Benrahma, Lanzini, Yarmolenko.


It’s going to be tough. They’ve been on a really long unbeaten run away from home in the Premier League. But as the saying goes - records are there to be broken.

[sendô]

Apparently they've not lost in something like 28 straight league games.

We've got to be doing these mugs over.

4-0 West Ham, Benrahma hat trick.

[wivenhoetim]

Wonder if OGS will unleash agent Lingard at any point ??

[-DL-]

We're going to lose this, as the flipping thread starter has decided to not follow the thread title formatting that we've used for years, so he's jinxed it.

[wildkard]

Wiht Antonio out, there's one other person who we might be able to count on to win us this: Solskjaer.

[-DL-]

I've had a couple of people say on FB and WhatsApp that this is our biggest test this season.

How about turn it on its head. Without a shadow of a doubt, it's Man Utd's biggest test this season, and I suspect they're not looking forward to it.

[Aceface]

Wiht Antonio out, there's one other person who we might be able to count on to win us this: Solskjaer.

I'd pack the midfield and try and gain a foothold there as they've been going in very light in that area to accommodate their attackers. Cavani's a chance for this too so that balance of selection seems likely to continue.

An easy choice on who to replace in the XI to accommodate that extra midfielder given Antonio's suspension. Kral from the start to play alongside Soucek and Rice and then assess whether we need to add more attacking edge after halftime, but those three in the middle will drive a hell of a lot of traffic wide so Cresswell and Coufal will need to be on their game.

Moyes' historical approach against these opponents combined with his hand being forced somewhat with Antonio being out makes me pessimistic here. If we record more than 3 shots on target I think I'll be a little surprised.

[prophet:marginal]

Their line up from last league match


David de Gea
Aaron Wan Bissaka
Raphael Varane
Harry Maguire
Luke Shaw
Paul Pogba
Nemanja Matic
Mason Greenwood
Miguel Bruno Fernandes
Jadon Sancho
Cristiano Ronaldo

Substitutes

Anthony Martial
(s 85')
Jesse Lingard
(s 66')
Donny van de Beek
(s 85')

I think I remember reading that McTominay & Rashford are unavailable, after surgery, which has meant that Sancho has played down the left in place of MR.

The two late subs were made after they had gone 4-1 ahead against a very unadventurous visiting Newcastle.

Personally expect OGS to look at Pogba and Matic as being just a little too loose as a pairing, against our lot, such that he might use Fred in their instead of Matic.

Will be an interesting challenge for both coaches. Doubt that either of them would be that bothered about a point apiece.