West Ham (A) | Sun 7 Aug 16:30 | Pre-Match Thread

[r.soleofsalford]

???

I presume by that that he doesn`t was Bernardo in a double pivot but further up in a more advanced role. Just a guess.

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

Saturday he was playing about 3 yards in front of the central defenders with Rodri ahead of him!! Not sure if it was lack of tactical awareness from one/both or some kind of tactic but it wasn’t pleasing on the eye.

Positionally! Got you! Yeah, I don't know if the double pivot was a deliberate tactic to beat the press.

I thought you meant ahead of him in the sense of playing Bernie as a DM and I thought you'd gone mad.

 

[Jesus H Gabz]

Positionally! Got you! Yeah, I don't know if the double pivot was a deliberate tactic to beat the press.

I thought you meant ahead of him in the sense of playing Bernie as a DM and I thought you'd gone mad.

It did seem that way, Bernie was picking the ball up very deep (in the box sometimes) & Rodri was more advanced, Rueben in particular was lofting 30yd balls into midfield to beat the press, and Rodri was in and around those areas, the idea was good but the execution was poor, with many passes going straight out of play when looking for a FB

 

[trevorriley]

nothing on saturday made me feel we are about to hit the ground running for the start of the prem.
I wish i felt as confident as the posts on here, id take a draw. west ham will be out the running blocks, pressing and pushing like never before, then next home game they will get beat 3-1 at home !
very tough one sunday.

 

[kaiserchief]

It did seem that way, Bernie was picking the ball up very deep (in the box sometimes) & Rodri was more advanced, Rueben in particular was lofting 30yd balls into midfield to beat the press, and Rodri was in and around those areas, the idea was good but the execution was poor, with many passes going straight out of play when looking for a FB

I haven't watched the full match tbh but Bernie picking the ball up deep doesn't sound that unusual to me. Particularly, when Liverpool press high with a front three and you'd ideally want to create numerical superiority..

 

[Sibierskii]

I wondered if it might be the third kit?

Think it might be, the other two clash

 

[MarsLlama]

No one picking Gundogan to start ? Is he not part of our first choice XI any longer ?
Haven't followed West Ham's pre season at all but I'd be concerned about Bowen targeting our left side if Cancelo and Grealish start. Should be an attacking game with plenty of chances.

He hasn't been for a long long time?

 

[WickyWain]

I'm buzzing my tits off for this, can't wait!

 

[MarsLlama]

Yup, same old stupid Pep, no wonder we lost out on 4 titles in the past 5 seasons :( I hope he learns from his mistakes this time around.

I see what you're saying but logically if we keep getting into tight title races with Liverpool, and we keep starting seasons badly because of a lack of preseason, eventually those two things are going to combine and cost us a title.

 

[lazerblue]

Secondly that Bernie plays ahead of Rodri

in the words of John McEnroe, you cannot be serious!