West Ham Daily

We should be trying to get something at Liverpool next week and not writing it off. Difficult because it’s at Anfield but every time I’ve watched them this season they’ve been really poor. Salah looks finished and they’re squad depth is poor at the moment because of injuries.

Mateus Fernandes is sooooo good. He’s everywhere. His all round game is superb. I fear he won’t be with us for long.

Forgetting style of play and tactics etc, Nuno feels like much better fit for us from a human and personality standpoint compared to Lopetegui/Potter. A guy with a bit of passion and charisma. Feel like the fans and players might respond to him better than the last 2 managers.

Under Moyes he was more of a crashing the box late from deep type but he’s often been played higher up the pitch this season as more of an attacking midfielder as a way to get him into good goal scoring positions but not be too much involved in deeper build up possession.

The one thing that both Lopetegui and Potter have both done well this season to be fair to them is getting a lot out of Soucek. 9 league goals this season (5 under Potter) from midfield is absurd in a team which has been so poor. Be foolish to sell him this summer.

AWB is genuinely just one of those players who is so good to watch purely from an entertainment perspective. Makes some great slide tackles defensively but also carries the ball well and loves a mazy dribble down the wing. Just a fun player.

Overall early thoughts of Potter are good. He does seem to have that nice balance of someone who has the capability to elevate the team tactically but also have the man management skills to create a nice environment for the players.

I’m hoping in the short term he’s going to be more focused on maximising the strengths and hiding the weaknesses of the current squad rather than trying to quickly impose a style of play onto the team that’s going be difficult to execute with our midfield.

I do think we will be a functioning team under Potter which is something we haven’t been for the whole of 2024. I think the players will at least have a clear idea and understanding of what he wants them to do in and out of possession as a team and in their individual roles.

It only took 1 game to show what we’re missing with Bowen out. Dreadful decision making in the final 3rd especially Kudus. He’s still a good player in getting us to the final third but he’s dropped off in terms of his decision making and goals and assists output.

AWB has to be played at LB today. One of the reasons you buy a player like him is for games like this against a world class winger like Salah. Also Andy Robertson is Liverpools biggest weakness whom we should target.

We are lucky having 2 players like Bowen and Soucek. Both always deliver when needed. Always give 110%. Love the club and actually want to be here. If you could get a team of players like them 2 you’d be laughing.

We were there for the taking for the large majority of the game but Everton didn’t have the quality to take advantage of how poor we are. It’s lucky they didn’t have McNeil. We finished the game better with 3 decent chances after a triple sub, barely anything of note before that

Literally seeing the same problems every week. We’re getting killed on the counter again. Full backs high up the pitch. Balls over the top of a high line. Wan Bissaka out of position every time. This is purely down to the managers set up as these are not bad defenders.

It was right that Moyes left imo but the trouble was trusting the club to make a good appointment. There was no enthusiasm for Lop when he was appointed whatsoever. Never felt like he was an upgrade on Moyes nor did he seem like the guy who’d change the style to something better.

@AlexvFootball Will be interesting to see if he does get dropped because he’s doing more harm than good at the moment. Not so sure he will be though especially now kudus is out.

@WestHamDaily I don't even remember an unplayable period - he looked tricky playing with Emerson on the left, but the output still wasn't there then. However I do still understand the need to get what we can out of him, and Soler/Summerville haven't convinced me that much yet either.

Paqueta has always had a tendency to give the ball away in bad areas by doing something elaborate when it’s not needed. It’s more of issue now though than it used to be with how we’re set up and how poor and exposed we’ve looked defending transitions when the ball is turned over

The biggest red flag at the moment is how we’ve already completely collapsed twice this season today and against Chelsea in only 8 games under Lop. It’s something we saw last season 2 or 3 times (Fulham, Brentford) games in which probably had an impact in Moyes not staying.

@AlexvFootball Yeah he’s a high risk player mostly without any reward. I think there’s a good chance he’s been overrated though and therefore we expect too much from him. Bar a brief period last season where he was unplayable he’s mostly been pretty disappointing imo

@WestHamDaily Agreed - it's nothing new. If his output was better you'd accept you have to cover for it. Imo the issue is magnified when he's being played LCM in a midfield three. He will sometimes be there to defend that space and sometimes not. MOTM for Spurs was his direct opponent.

He just needs to be dropped at this point with his poor form that stretches back a while and his off field issues that are clearly having an impact on his performances too. Always looks 5 mins away from being sent off at the moment also.