Claret & Hugh Watch

[Whiskyman]

Personally ,I don't think they want to.If we can survive with this squad in the PL,then the owners are happy and I think thy have been quite happy with that since they came to the club.It's was always about what they could take from this Football Club and not what they could bring to it.If they wanted success,they'd have brought in better than we had in the last few windows.They brought ONE player and loaned another.That's not good enough considering what Moyes has done imo.

But this is old hat surely. Football is a business and wealthy people buy football clubs to become more wealthy. So why should anyone be surprised by this particular business model ? It is achieving it's purpose of making money for the investors, including people like Tripp Smith who wouldn't put money into the business for fun, would he ?

Additional expenditure on new assets (players) carries a risk and West Ham is being run as a "risk averse" business. More adventurous ownership could well adopt a "speculate to accumulate" policy , as Towie has alluded to elsewhere. That could significantly improve the return on investment for the shareholders, but it could also go the other way as it did under Pellegrini.

[h69]

I keep hearing we have one of the smallest squads in the Prem, yet out of our allowed 25 we have 23 registered (Reid was but has now left) plus the U21 players of which Johnson is one.

Man City have 19, Spurs have 22, Watford 23, Norwich 18, Liverpool 24, Arsenal 23, Brighton 22......

We are no worse off than anyone else in terms of numbers. In terms of quality well that's a different matter

Yes mate it’s all about squad depth rather than numbers .
What Moyes means when he says he likes to work with a small squad is that he MAKES it a small squad by choosing to pick from only 12 players , the other 12 , or 11 or whatever are not trusted . By him or the fan base .

He’ll run these 12 players into the ground so hard they’ll be trying to get injured

A bit dramatic

17 games left in the league plus any cup games we get through. Could be 3 games or could be more. Its a myth that we are killing these players

Players want to play in the main. I dont think anyone is being run into the ground plus they have had a nice 2 week break which is more than I have managed in the last year or so. The PL Schedule was brutal previously but the run in is nowhere near as bad since we have played more than most by not complaining we have no players available like the other thing cunts !

Ogbonna, Antonio, Soucek, Fornals, Cresswell, Kral, Coufal, Fabianski, Johnson, Zouma have all missed games because of Covid or because they have been injured so have not played all the games. Benrahma and Lanzini have shared duties in midfield. In fact the three major injuries happened to Zouma, Ogbonna and Johnson all of whom had played less than most.

Of course it is true we need to give Antonio help plus I know you particular want another LB (I have no issue with Johnson there as backup myself until the summer when we can get a LWB)

The other myth I keep hearing is that the clubs around us are strengthening. Arsenal have significantly weakened to an extent they could not even field a midfield because of one Covid case and a dumb red card, Spurs have shipped 4 out and gained 2, Man Utd have shipped two out and forced another one to play no football.

The only one of those teams with more than one PL ready striker is Arsenal with two but they were ready to let Nketiah go to Palace and had to bail out when Aubameyang fucked off. So Lacazette is still there (a player they were hawking around last summer that I actually think is decent), Man Utd have Cavani who is about 95 (as Ronaldo is hardly a prolific striker these days) and Spurs have the chin.

All of us are going to be competing for the same types of strikers though Man Utd need so much more around their squad and will only buy marquee players that will sell T Shirts. Arsenal and Spurs were both trying to get Vlahovic I believe but he wanted Turin rather than Seven Sisters Road

Will be interesting come the summer though I think the chin is stuck at Spurs now as Man City will likely buy Haaland.

[Whiskyman]

They've excelled themselves again. Here are a couple
Fornals: Went virtually unnoticed 2 Clearly Hughie had nodded off when he slipped the ball through to Rice for the equakliser.
Johnson: One of the better players but not great – subbed second half 3

Apart from Rice (8) and Dawson (5) the highest mark awarded was 3. And Kral was one who was awarded that accolade.

Edit to say sorry Cresswell was given a 6.

[Dwayne Pipes]

They've excelled themselves again. Here are a couple
Fornals: Went virtually unnoticed 2 Clearly Hughie had nodded off when he slipped the ball through to Rice for the equakliser.
Johnson: One of the better players but not great – subbed second half 3

Apart from Rice (8) and Dawson (5) the highest mark awarded was 3. And Kral was one who was awarded that accolade.

Edit to say sorry Cresswell was given a 6.

Probably hard to watch the game when their tongues are stuck up Sullivan’s arse.

[andyginbrasil]

What game was he watching.....this is his summary of the first goal.....

"three minutes were added on, and Rice somehow found space to score an equaliser.

The skipper burst forward and finished into the roof of the net after a sensational turn of pace, sparing more than a few blushes in that Hammers squad."

[eskimo joe]

What game was he watching.....this is his summary of the first goal.....

"three minutes were added on, and Rice somehow found space to score an equaliser.

The skipper burst forward and finished into the roof of the net after a sensational turn of pace, sparing more than a few blushes in that Hammers squad."

They couldn't acknowledge Fornals role as it would spoil their narrative of being able to say he was hardly noticed. I suppose to an extent though it was true, unless you were looking to the bench.

[eskimo joe]

I wonder just how up to date these Muppets are. Just read from 1 football app time 13.15 today, that We will all be pleased that Zouma has decided not to have a scan and declared himself available for tonight's game.

Is that even up to him considering he is West Hams investment. Maybe it's a ploy to circumnavigate not being picked and not being able to play. Will look better if he did that and didn't get picked.

I'm a cynic

[palerider]

I wonder just how up to date these Muppets are. Just read from 1 football app time 13.15 today, that We will all be pleased that Zouma has decided not to have a scan and declared himself available for tonight's game.

Is that even up to him considering he is West Hams investment. Maybe it's a ploy to circumnavigate not being picked and not being able to play. Will look better if he did that and didn't get picked.

I'm a cynic

I had a look on KUMB.

The amount of tossers making light of it is worrying.

'Oh well, it's in his culture'.

[eskimo joe]

I wonder just how up to date these Muppets are. Just read from 1 football app time 13.15 today, that We will all be pleased that Zouma has decided not to have a scan and declared himself available for tonight's game.

Is that even up to him considering he is West Hams investment. Maybe it's a ploy to circumnavigate not being picked and not being able to play. Will look better if he did that and didn't get picked.

I'm a cynic

I had a look on KUMB.

The amount of tossers making light of it is worrying.

'Oh well, it's in his culture'.

Sad when a game of football is more important than a life. They are only bothered if he plays or not and sod the morality

[palerider]

I had a look on KUMB.

The amount of tossers making light of it is worrying.

'Oh well, it's in his culture'.

Sad when a game of football is more important than a life. They are only bothered if he plays or not and sod the morality

Indeed.

Marley and Jasmine have had extra cuddles today.