West Ham v Aston Villa Pre-Match Thread

[levico]

I'm convinced we'll score in this match but I think our defensive weaknesses will see us go down 2-1.

[PaulTheVillan]

Given
Lowton Vlaar Clark Lichaj
El Ahmadi
Bannan Ireland
Holman
Bent NZogbia

Ireland and Bannan will really need to put a shift in if we are going to play narrow, unless Herd/Delph come in for one of them.

I can see him playing NZogbia as a striker.

[pedro25]

Same 11 as above, but i think the midfield will be more like

      El Ahmadi
Holman Bannan
       Ireland

Or will it be a 2 and a 2?

El Ahmadi Bannan
 Holman Ireland

I just wonder if he may go a bit left field at full back and play Stephens or Delph there or even Baker.

[UK Redsox]

Is Agent Collins out for this game ?

I see that he's pulled out of the Wales v B-H match

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19250863

[Chipsticks]

Same 11 as above, but i think the midfield will be more like

      El Ahmadi
Holman Bannan
       Ireland

Or will it be a 2 and a 2?

El Ahmadi Bannan
 Holman Ireland

I just wonder if he may go a bit left field at full back and play Stephens or Delph there or even Baker.

What about Zog?

[Le Lapin]

I think that we will play well, but Fat Sams negative tactics will get them the home win. The new lads are going to take time to bed in and get used to each other. After a nervy start to the season we will find our feet and go on to do well.

[The Laughing Policeman]

2-2. As others have said this project is going to take time to settle down. I think a lot of patience will be needed from us.

[PaulTheVillan]

Same 11 as above, but i think the midfield will be more like

      El Ahmadi
Holman Bannan
       Ireland

Or will it be a 2 and a 2?

El Ahmadi Bannan
 Holman Ireland

I just wonder if he may go a bit left field at full back and play Stephens or Delph there or even Baker.

Delph did OK for a couple of games under Houllier at left back, but he's very reckless in the tackle. I think the less defensive responsibility he has, the better. Unfortunatly there are better attacking midfielders than him (Ireland, Bannan, Holman).

[supertom]

I'd take a draw to be honest. I think as is, we'll struggle away from home but be quite good at home. Benty nets most of his goals at Villa Park too. We're very light too because of injuries. We'll miss Gabby a lot. We might even miss Dunney. His experience might actually be valuable at this stage of the season as Vlaar beds in. Hopefully Clark ups his game, because he wasn't all that convincing pre-season.

We definitely need 2-3 more decent signings in this window. We're short on quantity and quality.

[fredm]

We looked very disjointed on Saturday, good in parts but awful in others. The defence looked disorganised and susceptible to crosses, not what you want against an Allardyce team.

I think it's going to take a few weeks perhaps months for this side to gel and so expect us to lose this one.

This.  Hopefully we have spent all week at BH sorting out how to stop crosses coming in and if they do, how to deal with them.  Unfortunately I think we will get undone by one as Sam's team thrive on that type of football.

[N'ZMAV]

Where's Herd?

[PaulTheVillan]

I'd take a draw to be honest. I think as is, we'll struggle away from home but be quite good at home. Benty nets most of his goals at Villa Park too. We're very light too because of injuries. We'll miss Gabby a lot. We might even miss Dunney. His experience might actually be valuable at this stage of the season as Vlaar beds in. Hopefully Clark ups his game, because he wasn't all that convincing pre-season.

We definitely need 2-3 more decent signings in this window. We're short on quantity and quality.

Really?

[PeterWithesShin]

Where's Herd?

Injured. Ruled out of the Aus v Scotland friendly tomorrow.

[oldtimernow]

Delph did OK for a couple of games under Houllier at left back, but he's very reckless in the tackle. I think the less defensive responsibility he has, the better. Unfortunatly there are better attacking midfielders than him (Ireland, Bannan, Holman).
[/quote]

I feel that if Delph had more 'defensive responsibility'as a left back not unnecessarily diving in  rather than the requirement to win the ball in midfield then we might have a real gem there

[Risso]

Think it'll be a tepid start and a draw while we find our feet. 1-1.