GWT: PL Matchweek 2

[hatterson]

Should be a yellow for faking like his leg got hit there.

 

[al secord]

Good Grief

 

[hatterson]

What a brutally lazy play. All you have to do is turn your head.

 

[al secord]

I was hoping Benrahma would be snake bitten until November and West Ham would sell him back to us. Ah well.

 

[Havre]

Got to give Moyes some credit. Once again WH look like a proper team. Surprisingly watchable - and they are just very good.

 

[King Makar19]

WHU are great to watck. Soucek been amazing.

Antonio is an absolute TANK

 

[Power Man]

I was hoping Benrahma would be snake bitten until November and West Ham would sell him back to us. Ah well.

We have a Brentford faithful here

 

[AB13]

Declan Rice is just an absolute baller. I genuinely wouldn't take any DM in the Premier League over him.

And this West Ham team, wow. Moyes took over this team while they were 18th and in the relegation zone in December 2019, on the exact same day Arteta took over Arsenal. Most of West Hams rise is because of Moyes. Their squad is barely top 10 quality.

 

[KlausJopling]

WHU are great to watck. Soucek been amazing.

Antonio is an absolute TANK

now West Ham’s all time premier league goal scorer.

 

[Havre]

Kante is better, but I love how Rice very often plays for WH. Different kind of confidence about him for WH compared to England. Very very good player.

 

[Jersey Fresh]

Declan Rice is just an absolute baller. I genuinely wouldn't take any DM in the Premier League over him.

And this West Ham team, wow. Moyes took over this team while they were 18th and in the relegation zone in December 2019, on the exact same day Arteta took over Arsenal. Most of West Hams rise is because of Moyes. Their squad is barely top 10 quality.

 

[AB13]

As I have said in the past managers can have way more impact on a team than any player that isn't Messi/Ronaldo/Neymar caliber. Moyes is scoring goals for fun with a frontline made of players who came from Hull, Brentford, Villarreal and Nottingham Forest and a squad that would probably have been relegated in 2020 had he not taken over. Many managers would not get top 10 with this team. Liverpool, City, Arsenal, United, Tottenham, Chelsea, Everton, Aston Villa, Leicester and Wolves undoubtedly have much better teams on paper. The squad has very nice balance and profiles however. Great physical levels with outlets, creators and runners in behind in the frontline and a nice midfield balance.

However, having a squad with plenty of absolute bums doesn't matter. With Moyes brilliance and a world class player in Rice absolutely dominating the midfield regardless of opposition I expect West Ham to finish 5-8th.

 

[Live in the Now]

They need a #9 but I would say they have a pretty good squad. They have a lot to offer out wide if those players are in form, and they really have a lot to offer in CM.

 

[The Abusement Park]

When Moyes is at his level he’s a fantastic manager. He did a hell of a job at Everton and is clearly doing a good job at WHU. He just doesn’t have it to be a manager at the top clubs.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

They need a #9 but I would say they have a pretty good squad. They have a lot to offer out wide if those players are in form, and they really have a lot to offer in CM.

You don't rate Antonio?

 

[Jersey Fresh]

They need a #9 but I would say they have a pretty good squad. They have a lot to offer out wide if those players are in form, and they really have a lot to offer in CM.

They do, agreed. You know Antonio will go down. The thinking is Moyes likely intends to convert Bowen to makeshift striker at that point, but that's not a solution.

 

[Live in the Now]

You don't rate Antonio?

He plays well but he can’t score enough on his own and he gets hurt. They don’t have anyone else.

 

[The Abusement Park]

You don't rate Antonio?

He’s ok. But his injury record couldn’t be worse.

 

[Rob]

WHU are great to watck. Soucek been amazing.

Antonio is an absolute TANK

As an Arsenal fan I have to admit they are a fun team to watch.

Antonio should be called up the the England side before the World Cup. Unless he decided to play for Jamaica.

 

[HoseEmDown]

As I have said in the past managers can have way more impact on a team than any player that isn't Messi/Ronaldo/Neymar caliber. Moyes is scoring goals for fun with a frontline made of players who came from Hull, Brentford, Villarreal and Nottingham Forest and a squad that would probably have been relegated in 2020 had he not taken over. Many managers would not get top 10 with this team. Liverpool, City, Arsenal, United, Tottenham, Chelsea, Everton, Aston Villa, Leicester and Wolves undoubtedly have much better teams on paper. The squad has very nice balance and profiles however. Great physical levels with outlets, creators and runners in behind in the frontline and a nice midfield balance.

However, having a squad with plenty of absolute bums doesn't matter. With Moyes brilliance and a world class player in Rice absolutely dominating the midfield regardless of opposition I expect West Ham to finish 5-8th.

How the hell are Arsenal, Everton, Villa and Wolves undoubtedly better on paper?

West Ham has one of the most well balanced starting 11's in the league, they're depth isn't good but starting 11 wise I see a top 6 club. The knocks on the starting 11 are the older CB's and keeper but they are all proven players in this league and that experience is big. Full backs are really good at both ends, wingers are a threat, AM can pull strings and is a goal threat, forward is a bull who holds up play well and can score. I also think they may have a top 3 CM duo in the league. Not many if any team can compete with both Rice and Soucek. Again the starting 11 is good and they all work well together so if they stay healthy top 6 again. If they can get Lingard back would be huge and another attacking threat would help, the depth is the only issue but a lot of teams they're competing with have quality depth issues too.

 

[S E P H]

West Ham is most definitely better than Arsenal and LC are as well. Only clubs I would rate Arsenal around would be Wolves and Everton with Artera (title contenders with Blanc/Conte). Arsenal is better than Wolves on paper, but no way we're winning at Molineux. Everton will always be bottlers, that's their DNA and why Arsenal is better.

If FIFA 21 was real life, Soucek would have 99 overall in heading. I can't think of a player off the top of my head with better heading ability than he does.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

When Moyes is at his level he’s a fantastic manager. He did a hell of a job at Everton and is clearly doing a good job at WHU. He just doesn’t have it to be a manager at the top clubs.

To be fair, the one piece of evidence we got for that is Man United post-Fergie i.e. a situation in which two of the game's greatest ever managers also failed. His failure in that scenario seemed nailed on before the ink on his contract had even dried.

 

[Live in the Now]

If FIFA 21 was real life, Soucek would have 99 overall in heading. I can't think of a player off the top of my head with better heading ability than he does.

Nobody else is even in his universe. Benteke is behind him but look at the stats from last season. The next closest guy to those two is Tarkowski. Soucek won 69 more aerial duels than him.

 

[The Abusement Park]

To be fair, the one piece of evidence we got for that is Man United post-Fergie i.e. a situation in which two of the game's greatest ever managers also failed. His failure in that scenario seemed nailed on before the ink on his contract had even dried.

I know LvG gets crapped on for his time and United and some of it is warranted but I think he did a better job than he’s given credit for. The football was horrible to watch but he did a good job of getting rid of deadweight and set up the next manager with a fantastic base to work with.

The issue is that manager is Mou and he pretty clearly isn’t the same level manager as he used to be. But even then it was pretty typical Mou. He came in had a pretty dang good first season and then destroyed everything over the next couple seasons.

I think Moyes had earned a shot with a big club. But his entire tenure at United he looked so far out of his depth the entire time.

 

[Live in the Now]

Sometimes a manager needs to hit a low point to figure out their shit. Moyes was shit. This is just undeniable. His Everton tenure was also nowhere near as good as people make it sound sometimes, but they didn't have much to work with in terms of players and he wasn't great in the market either. In this case he got players suited to him and some decent backing and it worked out well. They also have two units at CM. If you can't have a decent team with those guys, I dunno what you're doing. Soucek is a lot better than Fellaini was too.