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

[Gone for a Burton]

Tricky game.

Wet Spam have players who can hurt us....Antonio, Bowen,Rice.

They are v good at set pieces.

KDB is out until Madrid so Phil,Bernardo & Laporte should come back in but unless Philips metamorphosis’s into Kaka, Rodders is going to have to play on and get rested if we are comfortable.

Four days r & r....open the fridge !!

 

[Keeper!]

I can see a big shuffling of the pack against Leeds. The biggest problem for me is just how poor Kalvin Phillips has been. Even if he was at a 37-year-old Fernandinho's level then he'd be starting against his old club as Rodri gets a breather. As it stands though, he's not even good enough for that. I think the Leicester game was a real eye-opener in terms of the damage that can be done with him in the team. I accept that this is a brutal assessment. But it isn't wrong.

Nothing brutal, just an honest assessment of a poor signing who is simply not up to standard.

A lot of players looked like they were running on empty yesterday, maybe as much mentally tired as physical.

I think Pep will play his strongest 11, this is a huge must win game, if we do win we have a barrier to Arsenal.

 

[Alexia_Ko]

---------------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.

Probably Gundo, Alvarez can be swapped for Gundo

 

[Rammy Blue]

Assuming Kev is out then Bernardo will start in the middle for this one, no doubts about that.

Toss up then as to whether Phil or Mahrez starts on the right, assuming Jack starts on the left which I think he will.

I’ll go with:

Eddie

Kyle
Stonesy
Dias
Akanji

Rodders
Bernie
Gundo

Phil
Jack
Viking

 

[markblue]

Assuming the unavailable today are still unavailable.

Ederson
Walker
Stones
Dias
Laporte
Rodri
Bernardo
Mahrez
Foden
Alvarez
Haaland

Laporte has to come in, we need a left foot in the back 4, Bernardo back in after a rest, gundo's turn for a rest, grealish not been good enough last couple of games, time for foden to come back in.

As always, hope for a good start and we can use the likes of Lewis, phillips, gomez, palmer etc to rest legs once we've secured the points.

This week is just about getting the job done by any means. Madrid will rest their players ahead of our game, the league is gone for them, we don't have that luxury so all we can do is play well, win well and that will provide us with an opportunity to rest a little.

completely agree with all of this including the team. In an ideal world Rodri also gets a rest, he looked knackered at the end yesterday, but dont see how we can rest him and Ilkay with KDB out. Rodri will have to get his game out against Leeds

 

[Citizen in Pakistan]

Ederson
Walker
Stones
Dias
Laporte
Rodri
Silva
Mahrez
Grealish
Alvarez
Haaland

City 4 Wham 0

 

[youngbob]

Ederson
Stones, Dias, Akanji, Laporte
Rodri
Bernardo, Gundogan
Foden, Haaland, Grealish

 

[PabZabb]

Ederson
Walker Dias Akanji
Stones Rodri
Mahrez Alvarez Bernardo Foden
Haaland

That four behind Haaland should be pretty fresh.

Laporte, Gundogan, Grealish, Lewis to come on for 20-30 minutes each to get some more rest into the legs of key players.

 

[JamesMCFC]

Shame we can't trust Phillips for this one

 

[Withnail]

Tricky game.

Wet Spam have players who can hurt us....Antonio, Bowen,Rice.

They are v good at set pieces.

KDB is out until Madrid so Phil,Bernardo & Laporte should come back in but unless Philips metamorphosis’s into Kaka, Rodders is going to have to play on and get rested if we are comfortable.

Four days r & r....open the fridge !!

Rodri can't play in every game, he looked tired yesterday, but I think he will start against WHU. We need him fit and ready against Madrid which means either Phillips or Gundogan will have to play the DM role for the Leeds and possibly the Everton game.