PSF: Racing Club de Lens 0-0 West Ham Utd (30/7/22)

[Burnley Hammer]

Biggest worry for me after the Luton game was how uncomfortable Zouma was looking. After today... nothings changed.

[Morocco Mole]

If you want to make 3 at the back work then just copy Conte. Centre halves that are good on the ball (think he’s moved Davies there and given him a new contract?) and a playmaker (Betancur) alongside a holder (Hojberg) in the middle. Soucek and Rice? Nope.

Zouma and Fornals were the hospital ball brothers today.

[WCpete]

And if Kostic was watching a flat 5 in the back, against Lens mind you, I'm sure any doubt he had previously would have been assuaged.

"Did I say 120K per week? I meant 180k."

[Burnley Hammer]

I think we should go for Kamada. He's a lively player and think he'd add a bit of a spark to our attacking play. Admittedly my scouting of him basically consists of our games against them.

[Burnley Hammer]

And I still like Pellegrini. He looks very adept already and still has loads of potential

[Burnley Hammer]

And I've just realised I'm in the wrong thread!

[HammerAl]

Biggest worry for me after the Luton game was how uncomfortable Zouma was looking. After today... nothings changed.

I do wonder if Zouma has real problems with his knee/s. It looks like it’s a real struggle for him to move, almost like he’s running on a bouncy castle or something. And he looked very shaky on the ball, too.

Hopefully it’s just a case of getting his fitness and confidence up, but it does seem a bit worrying.

[Benaloon]

nothing like watching a **** friendly to knock any excitement for a new season out of you.

Knew it was going to be ****, don't know why I put myself through it.

[Bubbles Fortuna]

And if Kostic was watching a flat 5 in the back, against Lens mind you, I'm sure any doubt he had previously would have been assuaged.

"Did I say 120K per week? I meant 180k."

I really doubt players watch Pre Season games as a part of contract negotiations.

[WCpete]

I really doubt players watch Pre Season games as a part of contract negotiations.

Either my bad joke has flown over your head, or your bad joke has flown over mine.

[Misko]

I started watching the game, as I was expecting a lively one. Lens were playing with high intensity and fast transitions last couple of years which was quite enjoyable to watch. And I also was curious about Downes and Scamacca. I gave up after 20 minutes, tried again in the middle of the second half before definitely stopping.

Was it the heat, the fear of injuries or simply that both team were not fully ready yet? I don't know. At least, I think we can be sure of the game plans Moyes have for next week.

[funky chicken]

Strangely, as cr*p as our defending has been for quite some time, we’ve been better the last 2 games, other than Luton’s late goal, which to be fair probably would’ve been ruled out if VAR was involved. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t against 2 teams of the highest quality and it still 100% needs strengthening. But it wasn’t our problem yesterday.

Our attack, on the other hand was abysmal on almost every level. It was like going back to the days of Big Sam when we were settling for a 0-0 on the road.

[PlaistowIron]

Strangely, as cr*p as our defending has been for quite some time, we’ve been better the last 2 games, other than Luton’s late goal, which to be fair probably would’ve been ruled out if VAR was involved. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t against 2 teams of the highest quality and it still 100% needs strengthening. But it wasn’t our problem yesterday.

Our attack, on the other hand was abysmal on almost every level. It was like going back to the days of Big Sam when we were settling for a 0-0 on the road.

Agreed. Though with a focal point of either Scamacca or Antonio, we’d surely be a lot better.

[honkytonk]

Ive said this on another thread, so apologies for repeating, but I get the impression Moyes has found these games more of a hassle than anything. Great for working on fitness etc but it like he just wants them out of the way. It like players have been told not to go too hard, staying out of the odd tackle etc.

[Whufc06]

Ive said this on another thread, so apologies for repeating, but I get the impression Moyes has found these games more of a hassle than anything. Great for working on fitness etc but it like he just wants them out of the way. It like players have been told not to go too hard, staying out of the odd tackle etc.

It’s easy to say that as we’ve been largely diabolical in them this year but last season we really blended well pre season and we’re scoring goals for fun. He was very happy and said winning, even in friendlies, breeds confidence. I am really concerned about the season ahead tbh. We are 4 players away from having a squad strong enough from competing where we would like imo.

[Puff Daddy]

It’s easy to say that as we’ve been largely diabolical in them this year but last season we really blended well pre season and we’re scoring goals for fun. He was very happy and said winning, even in friendlies, breeds confidence. I am really concerned about the season ahead tbh. We are 4 players away from having a squad strong enough from competing where we would like imo.

I agree about the pre season matches and it's
not like we played anybody any good either

[Hamburger]

Once again no positives at all from this. It was damning that the most creative player imo was Coventry when he came on for 15 mins, who Moyes ignores and likely to farm out or sell. Whilst it is only pre-season, it gives no confidence to the players. Couple that with a possible drubbing against Citeh and it's going to be an uphill struggle start to the season.

[Burnley Hammer]

Zouma aside, I'm still not particularly worried. I've seen this before. When the season starts proper we'll see a far different performance and intensity levels will be ramped up. Two seasons ago we finished pre-season by letting in 5 goals against Bournemouth before playing rubbish on the opening day against Newcastle. We ended up doing OK. Nobody thought we'd be top 6 at Christmas in 2014 whilst we were losing against 2 Australian pub teams. I really wouldn't lose sleep over it at the moment.

[Crouchend_Hammer]

The worrying thing for me is that it looks like we have gone backwards in the style of play and the desire for any creativity and risk taking in our attacking.
I was hoping we would evolve into a more possession orientated team that likes to play on play on front foot centrally but it seems we have become even more pragmatic with an even greater reliance on safety first football.
Of course, this is only pre season and we might be pleasantly surprised over the next couple of weeks but my fear is Moyes is doubling down on what worked well for us 12-18 months ago but was not very effective in 2022.

[Burnley Hammer]

The worrying thing for me is that it looks like we have gone backwards in the style of play and the desire for any creativity and risk taking in our attacking.
I was hoping we would evolve into a more possession orientated team that likes to play on play on front foot centrally but it seems we have become even more pragmatic with an even greater reliance on safety first football.
Of course, this is only pre season and we might be pleasantly surprised over the next couple of weeks but my fear is Moyes is doubling down on what worked well for us 12-18 months ago but was not very effective in 2022.

We just haven't got the players in yet to do that. We tried with Aguerd but sadly he didn't even make it to end of his first game. We also bought a defensive possession based midfielder in Downes but he's one to develop. The likes of Soucek, Coufal, Johnson, Zouma, and Dawson aren't good enough on the ball for a possession based game. If we stopped giving the ball away cheaply every 10 seconds then we wouldn't have such a reliance on defensive players. We need to tone down the high risk passes in an attempt to carve open a defence on the counter. 95% of the time it just results in cheaply conceding possession again. We need to learn to be patient sometimes and pick our moments a little better. Our best chance yesterday came at a time when we were doing just that. Our best chance in the first half against Rangers came from when we were playing with patience, keeping possession, and waiting for the right moment. Our style is much too rushed and sloppy most of the time.