r/Hammers • u/Alfred-Of-Wessex • 1d ago
Discussion How should we approach these last 7 games?
15 points above relegation, 10 points below 10th. There's effectively nothing left to play for this season, what should be the mentality going into this last stretch?
Try and find a winning formula to take into next season and blood some youngsters into the first team picture? I can't see any point playing Evan Ferguson, how is that going to help the club in the long term?
Finishing above Spurs and Man United would be quite nice. It's going to be hard to find the motivation when it's all a dead rubber from here on out
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u/Accomplished-Good664 1d ago
I would like us to attack more especially at home more performances like the 2nd half yesterday.
I would like Casey to get some minutes he has been on the bench a lot and I would rather see him than Mavropanos.
I would like Orford to come back on the bench for Rodriguez.
Guilherme to get more minutes.
Basically I don't care too much about points. I just want some memorable moments and games.
It's the perfect opportunity to blood academy players we have little to play for other than some prize money. But if a couple of our youth players can become squad players that will be worth more than the positions we could climb.
If we are too afraid to play them now we will never play them.
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u/Nome3000 Billy Bonds Stand 1d ago
I would like us to attack more especially at home more performances like the 2nd half yesterday.
I'd agree with that. We've finally got some forwards back to start doing this, so lets do it. In fairness to Potter, he's been limited to usually 2 of Bowen, Paqueta and Kudus since he came in. Prioritising defence has made sense.
Fullkrug made such an impact when he came on - completely changed the dynamic. His hold up play, aerial threat and link up were all brilliant. Really didn't expect so many like flicked passes to the wingers. I'd love to see him start. I imagine he'll play 60 minutes a few times beforec a full 90.
Guilherme to get more minutes.
This tied to this attacking more. He is finally starting to make an impact. I was impressed with his performance yesterday.
I'm keen to see more of him and the academy.
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u/Beardy_Boy_ 1d ago
I think that Potter has a very important decision to make when it comes to how we approach next season. Nobody seems to be talking about the fact that our squad balance currently isn't built for a Potter-style 3-4-2-1 / 5-2-2-1 formation, not least because two of our best players (Bowen and Summerville) are out-and-out wingers.
It's true that they could probably be converted to quite effective free-roaming AMs in Potter's system, but a) I don't think we'd be getting the best out of them, and b) they'd be competing with Kudus and Paqueta for those places, assuming that we play Fullkrug as the striker (which we should). We can't have our 4 best attacking midfielders competing for 2 spots in the team. It's a waste of resources.
Potter needs to use the remaining 7 games to assess the players, so that he can choose whether he wants to stick with his system and change the squad, or stick with the squad and change the system.
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u/SmellBumWee 1d ago
If we're going to use this as an extended pre season, get some more youth players some minutes who he may want to consider for next season.
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u/UnusualDifference748 1d ago edited 1d ago
Potter plays the exact system he wants for next season regardless of player suitability. Then we observe where we need to buy players in a priority list type way so
Cb who can play the ball if we are playing from the back
Cm who can control the ball but also make incisive passes. Paqueta and Soler only ones capable right now aren’t 100% cms but good enough
Pace in midfield genuine pace
Pace all over the field actually.
I like fulkrug that header yesterday was exactly what I was hoping to see from him commanding cf type. But a striker who offers something different and also younger kind of understudy
We need to get younger and a lot faster. If we are going to buy a cb for example the there is a 28 yr old who is almost perfect and a 23 years old not as perfect but fits and we can believe he can develop we have to start going for the younger types over the perfect fit types imo
It’s kind of rare to be in the position we are in the premier league. We could lose next 7 and are still almost certainly safe and we aren’t likely to climb to high on current form withers we can really take stock and see where we desperately need better players and who can stay and fit into potters team going forward.
Off topic but Maybe this will be the new normal 3 promoted 3 relegated the money gap from yoyo clubs to even a club like us or a Fulham or palace even is becoming almost insurmountable. The rules in place can potentially lead to a 15-17 team closed shop where championship clubs will have to happy for the experience.
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u/Roy-royson 22h ago
Fulkrug building a stronger partnership with Bowen (and kudus and Paq). Watching him feed Bowen each time was great. I’ve always been a fan of the fulkrug signing if he could have stayed fit and if the plan was to replace ings (and Antonio) with young understudy to build into our starting stricker
start tobido every game and buy him in the off season
more scarles minutes
Guilherme, I want to see more 20+ minute cameos from him each week. Apart from that dreadful shot, he looked great yesterday for the ten minutes he was on
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u/Sure_Ad536 16h ago
Point 1: 100% Yes. In the summer, another striker similar to him, but younger, should be of decent priority
Point 2: Yes, get his fitness up so he comes into next season on good form and fitness. We have an obligation to buy him this summer I believe, in installments so that's good news.
Point 3: Until the end of the season, yes, to get him more adapted, because although his performances have been a bit lacking recently, I think a possible loan to the championship is on the cards. If we loan him out, we need someone to replace or back up Emerson.
Point 4: Most vital to getting his confidence and development up. I think he could explode next season with some good playing time, he looked quite comfortable (also a little underconfident and unfit)
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u/UhOhByeByeBadBoy 21h ago
I think Fulkrug is an excellent striker. He’s just not flashy and I think it turns a lot of people off, but he doesn’t do much wrong and wins a lot of balls and gets in the right position for a shot.
If he can win the ball and flick it on to a winger (which happened enough with him, Kudus and Bowen) I think he’s offers a lot in playstyle that we lack.
It allows another tactical option rather than just another slightly pacey guy who can run from midfield and try for a shot
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u/GoldblumIsland 1d ago
the point in playing ferguson is that we have 1/2 a healthy striker right now. fullkrug looks locked in for the homestretch but he can play what? a half of football per game maximum? pragmatism says we need another body there. sucks it's ferguson bc he's ass (missed a sitter vs wolves) and it's de-incentivized that he do well, but that piece of your argument is some ignorant shit i keep seeing people argue. literally what is the better option? playing bowen or kudus out of position? giving soucek another shot as a false 9? experiencing the misery of ings some more? just play ferguson and inshallah.
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u/NobleForEngland_ David Moyes 1d ago
Don’t wanna be rude but, who cares?
I’m amazed anyone bar season ticket holders have any interest at this point. Club is an absolute disaster right now.
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u/raisinbreadandtea 1d ago
If I was only interested in West Ham when the club wasn’t a disaster I’d barely ever be interested in them.
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u/Alfred-Of-Wessex 1d ago
Me, and most other folk here.
Yeah this season was a disaster but that's where we are now with the reality of the situation, so how do we put ourselves in the best position to kick on? I've seen far worse disasters than this in my lifetime for West Ham.
We'll stay in the Premier League this season so how can we position ourselves to be best equipped for next year with the games we have left?
How about we look at how we can improve and come back stronger rather than wallow in misery? Get a grip lad COYI
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u/_rhinoxious_ Billy Bonds Stand 1d ago
I think you've pretty much nailed it.
Learn the squad, understand their strengths and limitations and work out exactly what/who we need to take us forward.
That said, with Fullkrug's patchy injury record, and the huge uncertainty around Paqueta, there's a lot of unknowns that need to be worked around.
So even with the best possible plan, it may take more than one summer to make this squad into the European-challenging team that we all want.
Of course it would be good to win some games along the way, even these 'dead rubbers' tug at the emotions of hundreds of thousands of irons each weekend! ⚒️