West Ham United 25/26 relegation thread

[muskie]

Odds slashed from 5/1 to 7/2.

Watch this space.

I think we're fucked.

[El Scorchio]

Do we know if Todibo is in danger of more than a three match ban? You obviously can't do what he did, but we would have heard something by now if that was the case, right? Maybe because it was in the middle of a fight and not just out of the blue.

[zico]

The one thing Harry had which Nuno doesn't was man mnanagement and an ability to make players believe they are better than they are.  He probably got them to believe the bollocks he was telling them and he has made a career out of it to be fair to him.  He might have even given some confidence to Kilman! 

[El Scorchio]

What I liked was when asked which one player he managed would he put in the team right now to help us, with virtually no hesitation he said Paolo Di Canio. Completely agree.

Rio second choice- that's obvious too.

I enjoy his take on things. He will always be a dodgy backstabbing rat for what he did to Bonds, yet he's one voice in the game who makes the most sense. 

Agree- he's always good to listen to and will say what he thinks, despite being utterly unscrupulous. 

[El Scorchio]

In three of the four we probably deserved more than we got. That's what irks me. Had we got 'wolvsed' four times then you'd say we were well done and deserved it, but the two key decisions in the Forest game were pretty disgraceful and very cruel and decided the result (add Brighton away to that, although not part of the four) The Fulham game was just cruel on Scarles and all three were late late goals that you really can't recover from or answer to. Brighton at home was just stupid individual mistakes from a pair of idiot players and if not for either of those, (I am aware only one of the pens was converted) that could have been different,

But yes not picking up more points from those was very damaging although fortunes were incredibly cruel to us.

[Massive Attack]

What I liked was when asked which one player he managed would he put in the team right now to help us, with virtually no hesitation he said Paolo Di Canio. Completely agree.

Rio second choice- that's obvious too.

I enjoy his take on things. He will always be a dodgy backstabbing rat for what he did to Bonds, yet he's one voice in the game who makes the most sense. 

[DukeofDevo]

Bless you lads. While its mathematically possible to survive, fans can still hope I guess but for me its been over since xmas. Too weak in key areas of the squad before the season began and not addressed this window.  Burnley will see us as a chance for 3 points and beat us I think especially since Kilman and Mavropanos will start. 

Sullivan is only interested in managing the cash flow now to keep the listless ship, that is West Ham, afloat for the immediate term before we go down. 

Sullivan, when we go down, will officially become the worst owner in our 126 year history.  Screwed the club over financially and as a footballing force and we will be back to where we were in the 1950s, a second tier club.

 

 

I agree the 1 point from those possible 12 over the Christmas period will send us down! Played well in the games and deserved more, but we couldn’t defend as lead!  Losing to Villa as well after leading twice is not good enough. Even if we reach 40-45 points it’s really up to what the couple of teams do above us that counts just as much! If it does go to the last game of the season, and we’ve been there before, it’ll be our own fault!

[El Scorchio]

What I liked was when asked which one player he managed would he put in the team right now to help us, with virtually no hesitation he said Paolo Di Canio. Completely agree.

Rio second choice- that's obvious too.

[Massive Attack]

A good point he did make was the fact that we could and probably should have scored three or four when we were on top, as well as mentioning the miss late on.  Missing guilt edged chances is as bad as letting a few in.

If only we had a fox in the box who would bury such chances if on the pitch long enough getting in the right positions. Redknapp is many things but he does know what he's talking about in the game. He does that polite backhanded compliment but if you pay attention to his subtle opinions, he would often make the point that's needed like you say about not inviting unnecessary pressure.

[theaxeman]

It's all about opinion. I was listening to Pardew on Sunday and he felt Nuno made a couple of tactical errors.

[zico]

Saw the interview and felt Harry was playing devil's advocate a bit here.  Didn't seem to want to criticise Nuno or Kilman but he did subtly say that bringing another defender on naturally invites pressure.  A good point he did make was the fact that we could and probably should have scored three or four when we were on top, as well as mentioning the miss late on.  Missing guilt edged chances is as bad as letting a few in.

[Manuel]

Yep, agree with 'Arry on that.

Can't really blame Nuno. He set us up brilliantly in that first half, and even at the start of the 2nd, we were going for a 3rd.

And should've gone 3-2 up at the end before they went and won it.

How come you never get bored? Weird.

[Rossal]

To be fair, I was listening to Arry talking to Geo about the match and he said that from his experience as a manager, it didn't really matter what Nuno did or didn't do and it was Chelsea putting the pressure on us and driving us back regardless. Geo definitely tried to lead him into saying bringing Kilman on was a mistake, but he said it wouldn't have mattered whether he bought on a defender or an attacker. The tide had turned.

The issue with Nuno is he invites pressure to the shittest part of our team. The defence......especially one with Kilman in it.  The way to relieve pressure was to stop them coming at us, by getting stuck in again in the midfield with fresh legs and continuing to press high with fresh legs up top.  Now the fresh legs up top bit is a no go due to the shit squad planning but he could have put some legs in midfield to get us 10-15 yards higher. 

Maybe maybe not. Like I said in that particular match, Redknapp's opinion which despite his age I do consider more valid than ours, was that it wouldn't have mattered when he was asked what he would have done. And that's from a manager who was pretty attack minded. 

The real issue is having a squad so shit that it's Kilman who has to come on. 

I dont mind ol Arry but i disagree with that 

[El Scorchio]

To be fair, I was listening to Arry talking to Geo about the match and he said that from his experience as a manager, it didn't really matter what Nuno did or didn't do and it was Chelsea putting the pressure on us and driving us back regardless. Geo definitely tried to lead him into saying bringing Kilman on was a mistake, but he said it wouldn't have mattered whether he bought on a defender or an attacker. The tide had turned.

The issue with Nuno is he invites pressure to the shittest part of our team. The defence......especially one with Kilman in it.  The way to relieve pressure was to stop them coming at us, by getting stuck in again in the midfield with fresh legs and continuing to press high with fresh legs up top.  Now the fresh legs up top bit is a no go due to the shit squad planning but he could have put some legs in midfield to get us 10-15 yards higher. 

Maybe maybe not. Like I said in that particular match, Redknapp's opinion which despite his age I do consider more valid than ours, was that it wouldn't have mattered when he was asked what he would have done. And that's from a manager who was pretty attack minded. 

The real issue is having a squad so shit that it's Kilman who has to come on. 

[Rossal]

To be fair, I was listening to Arry talking to Geo about the match and he said that from his experience as a manager, it didn't really matter what Nuno did or didn't do and it was Chelsea putting the pressure on us and driving us back regardless. Geo definitely tried to lead him into saying bringing Kilman on was a mistake, but he said it wouldn't have mattered whether he bought on a defender or an attacker. The tide had turned.

The issue with Nuno is he invites pressure to the shittest part of our team. The defence......especially one with Kilman in it.  The way to relieve pressure was to stop them coming at us, by getting stuck in again in the midfield with fresh legs and continuing to press high with fresh legs up top.  Now the fresh legs up top bit is a no go due to the shit squad planning but he could have put some legs in midfield to get us 10-15 yards higher. 

[Mad Ferret]

Yep, agree with 'Arry on that.

Can't really blame Nuno. He set us up brilliantly in that first half, and even at the start of the 2nd, we were going for a 3rd.

And should've gone 3-2 up at the end before they went and won it.

[El Scorchio]

To be fair, I was listening to Arry talking to Geo about the match and he said that from his experience as a manager, it didn't really matter what Nuno did or didn't do and it was Chelsea putting the pressure on us and driving us back regardless. Geo definitely tried to lead him into saying bringing Kilman on was a mistake, but he said it wouldn't have mattered whether he bought on a defender or an attacker. The tide had turned.

[Grumpster]

Issue is always gonna be nuno's negative tactics.

Unlucky not being 3 or 4 up on saturday, but to go so fucking defensive so early was ridiculous.

99% of us knew the game was lost as soon as he bought that useless cսnt kilman on.

Play to our strengths and we have a chance and our strengths are certainly not defending, even Burnley have better centre backs.

[El Scorchio]

We should beat Burnley and indeed we must. However our already weak defence is now an enormous question mark. Kilman and Mav together puts the shits right up me. Do we start Disasi, if he's even ready to start? Do we plug in Magassa or Soucek there? You'd have to be tempted.

[Westham67]

3 against Sunderland in the first half and 2 against Chelsea in the second half, so I think we will have too much for Burnley

[Rossal]

We have failed every “biggest game of the season” so far and the run of them around xmas.

On what planet does anyone think we will be mentally or physically strong enough to overcome Burnley with their crowd feeling its genuinely a chance for a rare win. 

If its purely a law if probability thing fine but can anyone explain how we use our painfully thin squad to not materially weaken when we have to sub our front 2 and others which we gave to do most games.  Not using Potts and Magassa and the legs of someone like Mayers  or KWP seems to be the only option not tried by Nuno. But even if we do that, not having Todibo and having to play Kilman feels like a death sentence?

Come on Alf, its a Burnley team who havent won their last 7 at home.  Our last two away performances have been decent, especially the first half on sat.  Play like that it should be good enough for 3 points.  Long as Nuno doesnt sit back.  

[Sir Alf]

We have failed every “biggest game of the season” so far and the run of them around xmas.

On what planet does anyone think we will be mentally or physically strong enough to overcome Burnley with their crowd feeling its genuinely a chance for a rare win. 

If its purely a law if probability thing fine but can anyone explain how we use our painfully thin squad to not materially weaken when we have to sub our front 2 and others which we gave to do most games.  Not using Potts and Magassa and the legs of someone like Mayers  or KWP seems to be the only option not tried by Nuno. But even if we do that, not having Todibo and having to play Kilman feels like a death sentence?

[stubbo-admin]

A win against Burnley and we will be on the coattails of either Leeds or Forest or both if they draw on Friday evening.    

We've got to outperform Leeds by 4 points between now and the last day of the season to have it in our hands to stay up.

Obviously we'd then lose that last game...but to at least be in the running on the last day feels acheivable.

[Russ of the BML]

Burnley is now possibly our biggest game of the season. Just to set up the next game which will then be the biggest game of the season and so on and so forth. 

[Mad Ferret]

I didn’t realise that we have gone 21 league games without a clean sheet plus the 5th worse defensive record in Europe.

Phenomenal. 

That's why we snapped up Disasi mate.

[twoleftfeet]

I didn’t realise that we have gone 21 league games without a clean sheet plus the 5th worse defensive record in Europe.

Phenomenal.