So if (and a HUGE if) we end up signing another striker and a proper left winger, are we comfortable with a midfield 3 of Garner, Doucoure, and Iwobi? I'd love to see Iwobi back at his proper position and would imagine we won't be planning to line up starting 4 midfielders
I'm comfortable with it. The better question is whether the current manager is and I don't anticipate him playing any more than two up top. Not to mention that the ideal would be that Gray wouldn't be a starting winger which would necessitate getting 3 starting forwards and a backup winger so that we would have Gray, DCL, and a new arrival as back ups in a 4-3-3.
McNeil slipped my mind for a moment so at minimum a starting striker and right winger would be needed and DCL would be the backup striker and Gray would be a backup winger. There may or may not be the money for a second backup winger in addition to Gray.
Onana doesn't give me Anthony Gordon vibes in that way. Sell on and let another team be the judge of that anyway because aside from mentality I have my doubts about him becoming a polished player.
I don't think it is an exactly fair comparison but Gio Reyna has been producing very well in Germany and is a year younger than Onana. Haaland is about a year older than Onana and has been producing for several years already. Rooney was 16 when he started producing. Mason Greenwood started producing at 17 and Dele Alli at 19. The outlier examples aren't exactly fair but they still provide some useful context in my opinion.
If we had Dyche all season that is a 44 point pace with his 1.17 points per match. Last season when the bottom of the table was more competitive we would have been 15th and 9 points ahead of relegated Burnley who were the best team to be relegated. This season we would have been tied with Chelsea on 44 and probably below them on goal differential in 13th place.
For me the transfer strategy is more important than the name of the manager. I don't know how things would have gone with Carlo long term because we ultimately got rid of several of his signings before their contract was up (Allan and James) because their effectiveness was expiring. High salary transfers like those (Allan required a transfer fee on top) would eventually put us in financial trouble.
I'm fine if it happens or if it doesn't. I don't think we will be able to effectively utilize a back 3 without him so if we want that flexibility then he needs to be kept.
Mina is done. The announcement video wasn't just an announcement that he is a free agent after the game, it was an announcement that he would be leaving the club.
Iwobi talked about changing his mindset and depression. He changed his outlook on things and I tend to lean towards a shrink, family, and maybe his agents and others in that professional capacity rather than Lampard or anyone at the club helping him through his trouble.
This was probably decided a while ago and only now announced. Mina has been playing as of late and I wouldn't expect that to change tomorrow, at least not on his end (Dyche could always not select Mina).
It probably has an element of truth to it. But for argument's sake let's say Declan Rice doesn't want to play against Leicester because he is going to be moving this summer and he wants to halve his chances of injury before said move. His replacement would either be an able veteran who wants to play or a younger player getting their early minutes in their career and want to impress the manager. Most of the West Ham first team will probably end up playing and you can guarantee that the team out there will play with integrity.
Yeah I also think Germany is probably the biggest threat right now and they have managed to say injury free. However, if Spain’s full team goes, would be right up there too.
The players who had the conflict won't be going as far as I know. I still consider Spain to be the WWC favorites. Putellas played for Barcelona recently and while she confirmed the conflict between the coach and the players, I suspect she will play at the World Cup. She probably isn't 100% just having returned but a player who is considered by some to be the best in the world playing at 90+% capacity is still incredibly valuable.
I agree that Germany may be a boring pick since they've won so many titles, but they have a lot of really good young talent on their team now with Oberdorf (the best 6 in the world imo), Buhl, Brand, etc.
I initially felt that Sweden got unlucky against Canada in the Olympic final and there is still probably some truth in that. But more increasingly I lean towards that team more lacking goalscoring than being unlucky. For better or worse Sweden feel like Graham Potter's Brighton, a team that consistently failed to meet their xG (expected goals).
Julian Phillips is the one. He has a good free throw attempt rate and made them at over 80%. He topped both of the vert tests at the combine. His shot probably needs to be reworked. With some players you can kind of believe the high free throw percentage will translate down the line into three point percentage but I don't see it with him. Other than reworking the form on his shot he needs to jump more on his shot as well.
Mouhamed Gueye is another. He was at the combine but I have no idea what will happen with him because mock drafts haven't been rating him and I see hardly any conversation about him.
I'm not extremely worried about the team as a whole. Doucoure is the worry for me because he has poor touch and generally plays scared. He could absolutely cower under pressure.
Yerry could re-sign but even with him being our best centerback I am conflicted if it would be good to keep him or not. According to FBRef he played 846 minutes last season and has 504 this season. Yerry turns 29 in September and at some point centerbacks start getting worse and also aging increases the chance of injury. I suspect he will try to find a good team that limit his minutes in an attempt to maintain his health. With us if the manager liked him then there was always the pressure for him to be out there since he was always the best available if he was favored.
Is anyone else feeling like "Sunday can't get here soon enough" and "I'm glad its not Sunday yet" at the same time? Obviously I do really want to know our fate, but also dread my how my nerves will be on Sunday.
I'm a little annoyed that there is a league game today and a league game tomorrow. That made the league for good reason push the end of the season to Sunday instead of Saturday. I want to watch the games and I want this over with.
Jett Howard is Cam Johnson with more potential upside. 6'8" with his shooting touch and with the possibility of improving as a self-creator and facilitator. I like him as a SG defensively and hope he could stick there. It would make him slower than the player he is defending but this way he would be taller and stronger than the player he is defending and I think this would make rebounding less of a concern as well.
The argument is that height/length matters a lot; everyone wants good two-way wings, and it’s harder for shorter players to become superstars. Look at the guys leading deep playoff runs the past couple seasons: Jokic, AD, LeBron, Tatum, Jimmy, Giannis. Steph is the lone outlier and he’s only the best shooter ever.
Height and length matters but so does athleticism. Sidy Cissoko is stronger and the better functional athlete and could definitely end up being the better player.
I’d go a step further, Leeds aren’t going to beat Spurs by three goals. So it’s really just Leicester we have to worry about. If they win and we don’t we’re down. Newcastle may have fucked us
If we are being realistic, I don't think Leeds will try to win by 1 or 2 goals against Spurs because then if we got a draw we would advance. Leeds are going to play to their realistic outs which means they will try to win big against Spurs. Spurs aren't stupid. They will know this. So you are going to have Spurs defending deep and playing in transition and Spurs are a good transition team. Personally I see Leeds going for the homerun play and absolutely folding.
Of the male leagues MLS might have more. In terms of raw numbers the NBA surely has more than any women's sports leagues but percentage wise women's sports are much more lgbt friendly.
Yeah, even though I rate Gray, I don't necessarily blame or resent Dyche for not trusting him completely. Maybe a few more chances ahead of Maupay would have been nice, but I see where Dyche is coming from.
People got mad at me for writing it but I don't like Dyche's nature and I don't want this team built in his image if we stay up. We'd be better off quitting while we are ahead if he gets us through the relegation battle on Sunday. Since he has previously promoted teams, I would give him the chance to do so if it comes to that.
Kerr might mean multiple affiliates, MLB teams often have 3 teams and some have more. If I'm not mistaken there is one NBA team with no G League affiliate.
Ok, I recognized you are the dude who thought Colaprico and Weatherholt are better than Horan, and Pinoe should play in Midfield... I commend your patience and commitment in providing us with innovative perspectives.
Rapinoe keeps her head up unlike Horan. Rapinoe has especially strong legs while still being strong in the upper body, even if less so compared to her lower body strength. Rapinoe could absorb contact and go to ground a fair bit less frequently than Horan. Rapinoe would also probably get foul calls in her favor more often and it would be on merit and not status.
Leeds looked really bad from what I saw. Lets hope Richy and Eddie Howe gives us a favor tomorrow and next week. Say what you want about Dyche and his tactics but we got the most fight out of the other teams around us.
Leeds defense looked fine when the defense was able to be set. Leeds were dreadful defending in transition. Spurs should definitely have transition opportunities against Leeds and should be able to capitalize. This is especially the case since West Ham missed a goal or two and I think Spurs are a better transition team.
He'll be better than Sensabaugh
So if (and a HUGE if) we end up signing another striker and a proper left winger, are we comfortable with a midfield 3 of Garner, Doucoure, and Iwobi? I'd love to see Iwobi back at his proper position and would imagine we won't be planning to line up starting 4 midfielders
I'm comfortable with it. The better question is whether the current manager is and I don't anticipate him playing any more than two up top. Not to mention that the ideal would be that Gray wouldn't be a starting winger which would necessitate getting 3 starting forwards and a backup winger so that we would have Gray, DCL, and a new arrival as back ups in a 4-3-3.
Surely McNeil would be one of the starting forwards? Would still mean we need a striker and right forward though
McNeil slipped my mind for a moment so at minimum a starting striker and right winger would be needed and DCL would be the backup striker and Gray would be a backup winger. There may or may not be the money for a second backup winger in addition to Gray.
He did say "I'm him" after scoring against Southampton.
Onana doesn't give me Anthony Gordon vibes in that way. Sell on and let another team be the judge of that anyway because aside from mentality I have my doubts about him becoming a polished player.
I don’t think this post is him saying he’s leaving but if someone wants to buy him to where we make good profit then you sell.
I don't think it is an exactly fair comparison but Gio Reyna has been producing very well in Germany and is a year younger than Onana. Haaland is about a year older than Onana and has been producing for several years already. Rooney was 16 when he started producing. Mason Greenwood started producing at 17 and Dele Alli at 19. The outlier examples aren't exactly fair but they still provide some useful context in my opinion.
So same time next year?
If we had Dyche all season that is a 44 point pace with his 1.17 points per match. Last season when the bottom of the table was more competitive we would have been 15th and 9 points ahead of relegated Burnley who were the best team to be relegated. This season we would have been tied with Chelsea on 44 and probably below them on goal differential in 13th place.
Dyche is more than capable of getting us into mid table safety next season.
For me the transfer strategy is more important than the name of the manager. I don't know how things would have gone with Carlo long term because we ultimately got rid of several of his signings before their contract was up (Allan and James) because their effectiveness was expiring. High salary transfers like those (Allan required a transfer fee on top) would eventually put us in financial trouble.
Anybody else think we should exercise the £4 million option on Coady?
I'm fine if it happens or if it doesn't. I don't think we will be able to effectively utilize a back 3 without him so if we want that flexibility then he needs to be kept.
Any chance Mina comes back for less? His presence makes a difference. I’d take him for less.
Mina is done. The announcement video wasn't just an announcement that he is a free agent after the game, it was an announcement that he would be leaving the club.
Lampard also changed his entire position, so to say he had nothing to do with it doesn't seem entirely fair
Iwobi talked about changing his mindset and depression. He changed his outlook on things and I tend to lean towards a shrink, family, and maybe his agents and others in that professional capacity rather than Lampard or anyone at the club helping him through his trouble.
Maybe not fully credited but managers are usually pretty influential figures in their players lives.
Perhaps partial credit but not the driving force.
Why the fuck is Bournemouth getting so chippy? This doesn't matter at all for them.
Many really underestimate desperate teams having their energy reciprocated.
Doucoure can't just go down like that. That's an Anthony Gordon move.
Just under 12 hours...
The English will wake up in a few hours and I am yet to go to sleep.
I so hope I can get some sleep before the game. What time will it be for you?
11:30 am
I feel this is a distraction we could do without.
The players are professionals and I doubt this will be much of a distraction at all.
Jett Howard or Sidy Cissoko at 15 assuming things were to have gone as that mock went and Leonard Miller were not available.
Wish this announcement came Monday not today. Hopefully he wants to play tomorrow and isn’t on the beach.
This was probably decided a while ago and only now announced. Mina has been playing as of late and I wouldn't expect that to change tomorrow, at least not on his end (Dyche could always not select Mina).
I never understood the 'nothing to play for' concept.
It probably has an element of truth to it. But for argument's sake let's say Declan Rice doesn't want to play against Leicester because he is going to be moving this summer and he wants to halve his chances of injury before said move. His replacement would either be an able veteran who wants to play or a younger player getting their early minutes in their career and want to impress the manager. Most of the West Ham first team will probably end up playing and you can guarantee that the team out there will play with integrity.
Yeah I also think Germany is probably the biggest threat right now and they have managed to say injury free. However, if Spain’s full team goes, would be right up there too.
The players who had the conflict won't be going as far as I know. I still consider Spain to be the WWC favorites. Putellas played for Barcelona recently and while she confirmed the conflict between the coach and the players, I suspect she will play at the World Cup. She probably isn't 100% just having returned but a player who is considered by some to be the best in the world playing at 90+% capacity is still incredibly valuable.
I agree that Germany may be a boring pick since they've won so many titles, but they have a lot of really good young talent on their team now with Oberdorf (the best 6 in the world imo), Buhl, Brand, etc.
I initially felt that Sweden got unlucky against Canada in the Olympic final and there is still probably some truth in that. But more increasingly I lean towards that team more lacking goalscoring than being unlucky. For better or worse Sweden feel like Graham Potter's Brighton, a team that consistently failed to meet their xG (expected goals).
Julian Phillips is the one. He has a good free throw attempt rate and made them at over 80%. He topped both of the vert tests at the combine. His shot probably needs to be reworked. With some players you can kind of believe the high free throw percentage will translate down the line into three point percentage but I don't see it with him. Other than reworking the form on his shot he needs to jump more on his shot as well.
Mouhamed Gueye is another. He was at the combine but I have no idea what will happen with him because mock drafts haven't been rating him and I see hardly any conversation about him.
I'm not extremely worried about the team as a whole. Doucoure is the worry for me because he has poor touch and generally plays scared. He could absolutely cower under pressure.
I am more worried in a way about this season than what happens Sunday in some aspects.
Yerry could re-sign but even with him being our best centerback I am conflicted if it would be good to keep him or not. According to FBRef he played 846 minutes last season and has 504 this season. Yerry turns 29 in September and at some point centerbacks start getting worse and also aging increases the chance of injury. I suspect he will try to find a good team that limit his minutes in an attempt to maintain his health. With us if the manager liked him then there was always the pressure for him to be out there since he was always the best available if he was favored.
Is anyone else feeling like "Sunday can't get here soon enough" and "I'm glad its not Sunday yet" at the same time? Obviously I do really want to know our fate, but also dread my how my nerves will be on Sunday.
I'm a little annoyed that there is a league game today and a league game tomorrow. That made the league for good reason push the end of the season to Sunday instead of Saturday. I want to watch the games and I want this over with.
I was thinking CJ McCollum. Poor defender, ground bound athlete, not positionally flexible.
Jett Howard is Cam Johnson with more potential upside. 6'8" with his shooting touch and with the possibility of improving as a self-creator and facilitator. I like him as a SG defensively and hope he could stick there. It would make him slower than the player he is defending but this way he would be taller and stronger than the player he is defending and I think this would make rebounding less of a concern as well.
Hawkins, but 6’8
I like Jett more than Hawkins.
The argument is that height/length matters a lot; everyone wants good two-way wings, and it’s harder for shorter players to become superstars. Look at the guys leading deep playoff runs the past couple seasons: Jokic, AD, LeBron, Tatum, Jimmy, Giannis. Steph is the lone outlier and he’s only the best shooter ever.
Height and length matters but so does athleticism. Sidy Cissoko is stronger and the better functional athlete and could definitely end up being the better player.
I’d go a step further, Leeds aren’t going to beat Spurs by three goals. So it’s really just Leicester we have to worry about. If they win and we don’t we’re down. Newcastle may have fucked us
If we are being realistic, I don't think Leeds will try to win by 1 or 2 goals against Spurs because then if we got a draw we would advance. Leeds are going to play to their realistic outs which means they will try to win big against Spurs. Spurs aren't stupid. They will know this. So you are going to have Spurs defending deep and playing in transition and Spurs are a good transition team. Personally I see Leeds going for the homerun play and absolutely folding.
Let these boys try to be cute it’s fun :,)
Of the male leagues MLS might have more. In terms of raw numbers the NBA surely has more than any women's sports leagues but percentage wise women's sports are much more lgbt friendly.
Talking about Gray has got me thinking.
I think Gray's pretty ineffective defending is what puts Dyche off him, he presses relentlessly tbf to him but the actual tackling is lacking
Yeah, even though I rate Gray, I don't necessarily blame or resent Dyche for not trusting him completely. Maybe a few more chances ahead of Maupay would have been nice, but I see where Dyche is coming from.
People got mad at me for writing it but I don't like Dyche's nature and I don't want this team built in his image if we stay up. We'd be better off quitting while we are ahead if he gets us through the relegation battle on Sunday. Since he has previously promoted teams, I would give him the chance to do so if it comes to that.
This might be best for her long term health and Chelsea are surely happy about this decision (and probably pushed for it privately).
Isn't the G-league just the unofficial minor league? If you don't put the resources in to develop them, then isn't that on the Major league team?
Kerr might mean multiple affiliates, MLB teams often have 3 teams and some have more. If I'm not mistaken there is one NBA team with no G League affiliate.
Horan has the dazzling stats for a midfielder, really don't understand why so many people could not see her contribution.
Horan is slow footed and too often overly deliberate in her decision making.
Ok, I recognized you are the dude who thought Colaprico and Weatherholt are better than Horan, and Pinoe should play in Midfield... I commend your patience and commitment in providing us with innovative perspectives.
Rapinoe keeps her head up unlike Horan. Rapinoe has especially strong legs while still being strong in the upper body, even if less so compared to her lower body strength. Rapinoe could absorb contact and go to ground a fair bit less frequently than Horan. Rapinoe would also probably get foul calls in her favor more often and it would be on merit and not status.
I can’t believe people said it doesn’t matter. We can afford to draw now as long as Leeds don’t win by 3 goals and Leicester don’t win both games
A win and a draw from Leicester would relegate us assuming we only got a draw. Leicester needing two wins is untrue.
Leeds looked really bad from what I saw. Lets hope Richy and Eddie Howe gives us a favor tomorrow and next week. Say what you want about Dyche and his tactics but we got the most fight out of the other teams around us.
Leeds defense looked fine when the defense was able to be set. Leeds were dreadful defending in transition. Spurs should definitely have transition opportunities against Leeds and should be able to capitalize. This is especially the case since West Ham missed a goal or two and I think Spurs are a better transition team.