West Ham United (H) - Wed 3rd May, 20:00 | Pre-Match Thread

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Play Ortega ,Ederson needs benching for his slapdash showing at Fulham.

Haha! You are funny.

 

[wattle]

Some crazy suggestions imo regarding team selection for this game. Rest/drop Haaland, Ederson etc!!! We’ve done brilliantly to get to this point and folk want to risk giving arsenal back the initiative by changing things? Full strength all the way on this one. We can use 5 subs. There’s no need to rotate. We hardly exerted ourselves second half v Fulham. Yes rotate if it doesn’t weaken us but the next two league games are vital.
Eddy
Walker stones dias akanji
Rodri
Gunda bernie
Alverez Haaland grealish

 

[PragueBlue]

Some crazy suggestions imo regarding team selection for this game. Rest/drop Haaland, Ederson etc!!! We’ve done brilliantly to get to this point and folk want to risk giving arsenal back the initiative by changing things? Full strength all the way on this one. We can use 5 subs. There’s no need to rotate. We hardly exerted ourselves second half v Fulham. Yes rotate if it doesn’t weaken us but the next two league games are vital.
Eddy
Walker stones dias akanji
Rodri
Gunda bernie
Alverez Haaland grealish

Seriously? Looked to me that some of our players (Rodri and Gundogan in particular) were out on their feet by the end of the game and cold hardly run.

 

[Keeper!]

Rodri needs a break but the thought of starting Phillips makes me cringe

And Pep clearly feels the same.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

The answer is simple. Play Johnny Stones and give Rodri a well earned rest.

Nathan looks to be completely back in training, which is a huge relief. A back line of Nate, Akanji, Rúben, Walker would allow Johnny to move forward and replace either Rodri or Gundogan.
Phillips can surely be trusted against the likes of Leeds, if not also West Ham? It's against the speedy teams that I wouldn't trust him, at present. If not, we should simply get him off our books.
We've got solutions up front as well. Phil must surely be raring to go. Julián, far from looking tired, looks to me as though he's pleased to be finally showing the full array of what he can do. I'd put Jack on the bench, he's given his all these last two games. I would not drop Erling. The guy's a monster, he just wants to play. Furthermore, even if he just jogs around up front he gives us space by virtue of the sheer terror factor he represents.
West Ham will not be easy, but if we play with the rigour of the last two months, we win.
Finally got round to seeing the full Fulham match, yesterday. From the in-match commentary, I was getting the impression we were more or less getting battered in the second half. Frankly, that's not the match I saw. There was a bad ten-minute period that included the completely unnecessary mix-up between Ed and Rúben, when they were really threatening. Frankly, that was it. Furthermore, their keeper stopped two certain goals (first Grealish, then Haaland) and made several other good saves. Ed had almost no really difficult save to make (except on the goal, where I think he was unsighted). It was more comfortable than it looked at first sight.

 

[wattle]

Seriously? Looked to me that some of our players (Rodri and Gundogan in particular) were out on their feet by the end of the game and cold hardly run.

But if the replacements eg Phillips, are no where near as good as a knackered Rodri then you’ve got to play Rodri.

 

[Mad_fer_it]

Hot out of the gates for WHU, if we get quick goals, early subs like Leicester. If we're 3 up at 60mins. No way in hell they're coming back from that. Don't care if the performance post subs is boring, as long as we're tighter at the back than the Leicester game, that's all we need. This is of course the dream and things rarely pan out like this. Just keep winning!!

 

[mancityisluv]

---------------Ederson
Walker---Stones---Dias---Laporte
----------------Rodri
-----De Bruyne----Gundogan
Bernardo-----Haaland-----Foden

Love Jack, but we need him 100% fresh for Madrid. I would love to see Julian in the 1st eleven again, but I don't know who for. I hope Pep puts him in there somehow.

KDB hasnt trained so expect him to miss out. JG needs a rest too, looked tired af vs Fulham. Expect the same line up to start vs West ham except JG

 

[GazM]

I think I’d start Phillips and if he’s a disaster you hook him at halftime. KDB out, Rodri and Gundo desperate for a break. He may be a dud but the games are coming too thick and fast.

If Phillips doesn't start this game I genuinely don't see a future for him here. Appreciate he's had injuries but Pep has shown zero faith in him so far. There is no evidence that he'll come good in the 2nd season.

 

[ManCityGR!]

The championship is far from over and in fact it will be very very hard for us to win it, unless we are focused 100 % in all of the games.
So we should play our almost(because of Real M.) best lineup possible!

We SHOULD win this game by all means if we want to stay in the hunt for the tittle.
So we should go with something like:

.................Ederson.................
....Walker........Dias.......Laporte...
..Silva....Stones...Rodri...Gundogun...
...Foden......Haaland......Grealish....

If things go well in the 1st half then put Alvarez for Silva or Gundogun.
And if things go really well get Rodri out for Phillips.

We should return back to urgency play. No complacency at all, no slow pace, no 100 % safety passes, just play fast like we have to win 3-0.

 

[ManCityGR!]

If Phillips doesn't start this game I genuinely don't see a future for him here. Appreciate he's had injuries but Pep has shown zero faith in him so far. There is no evidence that he'll come good in the 2nd season.

Well this is obviously because when he got in, he was not just mediocre which could be forgiven(as he played little minutes etc) but he seemed like an ex footballer to be frank. Incredibly slow, lacked of good first control for this pro level or even some miscontrols and his passing was bad also, in many situations he passed by leaning his body forward and this is a typical sign that you can recognize that the player does not feel comfortable at all with the ball.
Crazy stuff from Phillips, he is unrecognizable! Because we know he is a good player.

 

[MCFC1993]

Leeds on Saturday is a better game to start Phillips if we're going to give him a game.

That's the one we could do with giving Rodri a rest before Madrid.

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

Next three games are where the season hinges, and like everyone I think we need to rotate a bit between them. This is where "one game at a time" is basically meaningless. Be interesting to see if Laporte gets game time, but the defence seems to be rotating reasonably comfortably. No reason to risk Kev till Madrid, with possibly a few minutes at Leeds to get him up to pace for Tuesday, and Alvarez looks good in that spot. Foden needs some game time so let's give Grealish some rest, Bernie can start and have Saturday off for Mahrez. Big question is Rodri, who granted doesn't get up and down the pitch, but surely he can't play every game between now and the end of the season? Maybe a rest at Leeds?

But pray for no injuries and a little bit of luck either in our matches or that Chelsea do us a favour.

 

[BringBackSwales]

Next three games are where the season hinges, and like everyone I think we need to rotate a bit between them. This is where "one game at a time" is basically meaningless. Be interesting to see if Laporte gets game time, but the defence seems to be rotating reasonably comfortably. No reason to risk Kev till Madrid, with possibly a few minutes at Leeds to get him up to pace for Tuesday, and Alvarez looks good in that spot. Foden needs some game time so let's give Grealish some rest, Bernie can start and have Saturday off for Mahrez. Big question is Rodri, who granted doesn't get up and down the pitch, but surely he can't play every game between now and the end of the season? Maybe a rest at Leeds?

But pray for no injuries and a little bit of luck either in our matches or that Chelsea do us a favour.

Rodri doesn’t get up and down the pitch? Really?

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

Nathan looks to be completely back in training, which is a huge relief. A back line of Nate, Akanji, Rúben, Walker would allow Johnny to move forward and replace either Rodri or Gundogan.
Phillips can surely be trusted against the likes of Leeds, if not also West Ham? It's against the speedy teams that I wouldn't trust him, at present. If not, we should simply get him off our books.
We've got solutions up front as well. Phil must surely be raring to go. Julián, far from looking tired, looks to me as though he's pleased to be finally showing the full array of what he can do. I'd put Jack on the bench, he's given his all these last two games. I would not drop Erling. The guy's a monster, he just wants to play. Furthermore, even if he just jogs around up front he gives us space by virtue of the sheer terror factor he represents.
West Ham will not be easy, but if we play with the rigour of the last two months, we win.
Finally got round to seeing the full Fulham match, yesterday. From the in-match commentary, I was getting the impression we were more or less getting battered in the second half. Frankly, that's not the match I saw. There was a bad ten-minute period that included the completely unnecessary mix-up between Ed and Rúben, when they were really threatening. Frankly, that was it. Furthermore, their keeper stopped two certain goals (first Grealish, then Haaland) and made several other good saves. Ed had almost no really difficult save to make (except on the goal, where I think he was unsighted). It was more comfortable than it looked at first sight.

I pretty much agree with that but the thought of Philips playing against Leeds is a concern.

Imagine him jumping up from a corner and heading it past Ederson ? : /

 

[Keeper!]

If Phillips doesn't start this game I genuinely don't see a future for him here. Appreciate he's had injuries but Pep has shown zero faith in him so far. There is no evidence that he'll come good in the 2nd season.

We have been saying that for months, the Sheffield cup game non start was his ticket out of the club.

He is finished with us 100%

 

[lionheart]

The championship is far from over ...

I think Vincent Kompany might disagree.

 

[SWP's back]

free yourself from the tyranny of fantasy league. its rubbish

I have to have at least one season where I beat my wife.


(It’s not going to be this one)

 

[blueparrot]

We have been saying that for months, the Sheffield cup game non start was his ticket out of the club.

He is finished with us 100%

Doubt he'll start any games this season, maybe if we get the league won. I also doubt he'll be going anywhere and he will be with us next season.

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

Rodri doesn’t get up and down the pitch? Really?

I always assumed he was quite mid-table in the team for distance covered and sprints, and his game isn't based on being a pacy box to box. But I'm not basing that on stats so if I'm wrong I'm wrong.