hammer1975 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:57 pm
That Sergio Guirassy that we allegedly bid for last summer hasn’t been starting lately (although got two this weekend) and rumoured to be available and on Burnley’s list. Looks very Antonio like when I’ve watched him.
Presumably he’d be affordable and allow a large chunk of the budget where we need it - on the defence.
We bid for him under Moyes in January 2020 when he was at Amiens.
They went down and he went to Rennes for quite a big fee - £20m odd, although seems to have lost his place after they bought Gaetan Laborde... incidentally another striker we were linked with.
Could be a good option if they’d take a loan deal?
We are all desperate for reinforcements and we know the players we would generally like to shift.
In an ideal world we get an upgrade on a centre back(long term replacement for Oggy) and a quality striker.But at very least we get a top draw defender and Lingard or similar on loan.
I know we would like 2/3 players in but I think most of us would settle for 1 top draw addition in this window.And for me that priority is a centre back.
WestHamLyallStyle wrote: ↑Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:37 pm
I reckon Moyes knows who he wants but they’re not available. Their clubs will hold out until the last minute for as much cash as possible.
Yes I was really hoping we could just get a result today in which case we would truly have got away with a near miracle this past month with the mediocrity in certain positions and then get in late a couple recruits as is Moyes penchant. Not to be predictably and now this set back puts so much pressure on next week which otherwise we could have welcomed anything from as a bonus. Defeat there will pretty much write off the good recovery work after the previous bad spell. We all know the problems behind weaknesses in the squad behind this but we certainly don’t help ourselves. Positivity can cover even significant weaknesses temporarily but they do eventually catch up with you if you keep ignoring their significance.
IronZ-79 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:51 pm
Some fresh faces would be nice and give us a push for the second half of the season. But I'm glad we haven't got relegation hanging over our heads and desperate to bring players in.
We are in a much stronger position now. I'm not sure how realistic finishing in the top 4 is. Europa should be within our reach but will still take some effort.
Yes without a couple players who can contribute and take weight off of others, I fear we may simply run out of steam to the point we may struggle to retain European status, it’s all potentially becoming butterflies fluttering their wings in South America syndrome with possible repercussions I don’t really want to contemplate. Always said a nice safe season away from relegation worries is all I ask for, funny how soon your hopes and expectations rise but you just feel that we have to take advantage while the opportunity is on offer, no guarantee it will last.
funky chicken wrote: ↑Sun Jan 16, 2022 7:38 am
Just watched highlights of the Luton vs Bournemouth game. I won’t judge a player purely on just 1 game. But Christ, if Lloyd Kelly defends that badly every week I wouldn’t touch him with a bargepole! And that was against a bang average Championship side.
Crossd_Hammrs wrote: ↑Sun Jan 16, 2022 10:53 am
But defending poorly every week hasn't stopped people wanting Tarkowski.
Or something similar. Would greatly improve the squad. 2-3 players of great quality gives us a real platform to perform and try to finish in the top 4 and go far in the FA Cup/Europa.
No recruitments and I could see us finishing 6th or 7th. Not bad at all, but still not close to what this squad could achieve with a small amount of ambition.
Agree to degree Houston, but I think we can do a bit better for not that much more. The big issue is that the first choice players aren’t available, or aren’t available yet.
Sometimes it’s worth looking at the best players who are available in case the players you want aren’t available. We know the following players are available as they are out of contract in June and won’t sign new deals, so their clubs are actively trying to shift them.
Boubacar Kamara,
Ousmane Dembele
Todd Cantwell,
Randal Kolo Muani,
Luiz Felipe
Lee Buchanan
Others who may be available for the same reasons (not renewing an expiring contract)
Andrea Belotti,
John Swift
Fabio Carvalho
Dennis Zakaria
Dan Axel Zagadou
Divorcing Origi
Niklas Stark
Matheus Ginter
Niklas Sule
Other players are available because there clubs only exist by selling players
Arthur Cabral
Keane Lewis-Potter
2/3 of the players in Ligue 1
I’m sure out of that lot we should be able to find players who would make a huge difference to us
Boubacar Kamara, Caleta-Car, Lee Buchanan Lewis-Potter and Arthur Cabral would cost around £50M combined and address every single one of our issues. I’m not suggesting we sign all of them, but 2orv3 like them would make a huge difference.
Every transfer period the same ****. We wait till the end before we act!
Other clubs react much quicker in that time to improve their squads. Digne and Coutinho play already for Villa, Trippier for Newcastle for example.
We have known for several weeks, that we urgently need centre backs, but nothing happens at West Ham!! Yesterday we got the penalty for it. Diop was disastrous and Dawson is not the level we need. He is awful with the ball on his feet and makes each game horrendous position errors.
The majority of our investment into the squad for this window and the summer needs to go on the defensive side of the team if we seriously want to challenge for a top 7 team every season. We need quality, not quantity.
From next season I don’t want to be saying the following on a regular basis:
- “The goalkeeper should’ve done better.”
- “Centre halves are all over the place.”
- “Another goal conceded from our left hand side.”
- “There’s no support or protection from our midfield.”
I think the owners have accepted top 10 finish and good cup runs. They know they will fill the place whilst there is hope.
I suspect nothing will happen until the summer.
Al Fisti wrote: ↑Mon Jan 17, 2022 5:11 am
Every transfer period the same ****. We wait till the end before we act!
Other clubs react much quicker in that time to improve their squads. Digne and Coutinho play already for Villa, Trippier for Newcastle for example.
We have known for several weeks, that we urgently need centre backs, but nothing happens at West Ham!! Yesterday we got the penalty for it. Diop was disastrous and Dawson is not the level we need. He is awful with the ball on his feet and makes each game horrendous position errors.
Desperate clubs act quicker because they overspend.
Trippier's wages are eye-watering.
Digne's fee was a bit steep and his wages are ridiculous too, and Coutinho is a complete punt.
It's easy to make signings when you're happy to over pay on fees and wages.
Hugh Jargon wrote: ↑Mon Jan 17, 2022 8:27 am
I think the owners have accepted top 10 finish and good cup runs. They know they will fill the place whilst there is hope.
I suspect nothing will happen until the summer.
And then it’ll be the same in the summer “can’t get the players we want” “we’re trying”. Had 4 windows to sort a forward and the unbalance of the squad out. He has obviously made good signings but he hasn’t sorted the unbalancing of the squad out. If anything he added to its unbalancing by signing Vlasic when it was pretty obvious other positions was needed.
Antonio looked much better after he'd had a bit of a rest in December. Now he looks back to being worn out. If we don't have options to rest key players across the remainder of this season we can't compete on 3 fronts and performances like yesterday will become more and more common.
Man city might have a smaller squad than most but guardiola rotates it heavily and I don't think it's a coincidence that they've run away with the league.
It's quite rare for both first choice centre-backs to be out at the same time but I do think a long term replacement for Ogbonna is now more important than bringing in a striker. I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon digging out Dawson and Diop, who I feel are adequate as occasional back up when playing with a first choicer, but Zouma does play his best on the right side rather than the left. Scoring goals isn't our problem, it's keeping them out that is.
Penfold711 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 17, 2022 8:51 am
It's quite rare for both first choice centre-backs to be out at the same time but I do think a long term replacement for Ogbonna is now more important than bringing in a striker. I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon digging out Dawson and Diop, who I feel are adequate as occasional back up when playing with a first choicer, but Zouma does play his best on the right side rather than the left. Scoring goals isn't our problem, it's keeping them out that is.
And has been for a number of years now, is it just our defence though? Or does our style of play also make us susceptible to conceding goals?
Southminster Hammer wrote: ↑Mon Jan 17, 2022 9:01 am
is it just our defence though? Or does our style of play also make us susceptible to conceding goals?
Both. I think a lot of us are really underestimating the damage Rice’s surge forwards are doing to the team from a defensive perspective.
If we are going to allow Rice to keep doing that then for me we need a disciplined partner to play alongside him. Otherwise Moyes needs to ask him to stop doing that on a regular basis. It killed us yesterday with poor Lanzini having to sit back.
As a bit of perspective, apart from Newcastle and Aston Villa (none of whom they have bought I would want here), has any other club strengthened significantly so far this window or bought a player we should have attempted to purchase?
Hugh Jargon wrote: ↑Mon Jan 17, 2022 8:27 am
I think the owners have accepted top 10 finish and good cup runs. They know they will fill the place whilst there is hope.
I suspect nothing will happen until the summer.
I think we will get a loan in, but doubt anything else.
As you say, the longer we can continue, in two cups, the more tickets we sell, irrespective of the actual line up for any given match.
funky chicken wrote: ↑Mon Jan 17, 2022 9:07 am
Both. I think a lot of us are really underestimating the damage Rice’s surge forwards are doing to the team from a defensive perspective.
If we are going to allow Rice to keep doing that then for me we need a disciplined partner to play alongside him. Otherwise Moyes needs to ask him to stop doing that on a regular basis. It killed us yesterday with poor Lanzini having to sit back.
Agree mate, our defence has been lambasted for their performance yesterday, but most games are either won or lost in midfield they say. We were completely overrun, and we had no answer to it, Moyes obviously doesn't rate Kral or doesn't think he's good enough for this type of game, so maybe he should sign someone who is?