West Ham (a) 18/19 ratings

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MOTM

  • Trippier

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Sanchez

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • TA

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Davies

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Dier

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Kane

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Moura

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    79
Quick question, have we ever fielded a team consisting of what I believe our strongest XI to be?

Lloris
Trippier
Vertonghen
Alderweireld
Rose
Dier
Dembele
Eriksen
Dele
Lucas
Kane

Bench would be Vorm, Aurier, Sanchez, Wanyama, Winks, Lamela, Son

It would be fascinating to know if this starting XI has ever actually started a game together. Crazy to judge our fluidity if we've been having to chop and change so frequently to accommodate unavailability etc
So your strongest 11 includes the like of Dier and exclude the likes of Lamela,....okay..
 
So your strongest 11 includes the like of Dier and exclude the likes of Lamela,....okay..

It's the best XI based on position, not based on talent. The teams got to have balance and can only choose from what's in the squad at present.

Who would you go for, out of curiosity seeing as my XI was clearly something that ruffled your feathers even though Dier has played in most starting XIs over the past 2-3 seasons?
 
So your strongest 11 includes the like of Dier and exclude the likes of Lamela,....okay..

Your comment got me curious so I've just had a little check. Across 161 Premier League games whereby we've finished 5th, 3rd, 2nd & 3rd Dier has played in 142 of them. Based on this surely his value in the team is more than warranted based on the squad we have at our disposal.

Also your comments regarding Lamela, I think most tussle between if Lucas, Son or Erik warrant that starting place so I don't see why excluding him from a strongest XI starting position is seen as a bit of a shock. For me Erik is behind Lucas and Son for that starting position, based on what I've seen from each of them across the last season or two
 
Your comment got me curious so I've just had a little check. Across 161 Premier League games whereby we've finished 5th, 3rd, 2nd & 3rd Dier has played in 142 of them. Based on this surely his value in the team is more than warranted based on the squad we have at our disposal.

Also your comments regarding Lamela, I think most tussle between if Lucas, Son or Erik warrant that starting place so I don't see why excluding him from a strongest XI starting position is seen as a bit of a shock. For me Erik is behind Lucas and Son for that starting position, based on what I've seen from each of them across the last season or two


The best of those seasons had Wanyama in midfield and Dier playing more as a CB.
 
The best of those seasons had Wanyama in midfield and Dier playing more as a CB.

Agreed but that was over a year and a half ago really when you look at it. Hence why I don’t have Wanyama ahead of Dier these days I see very little when Victor is on the pitch that suggests his injuries are behind him and that he’ll easily return to being the same kind of player. After a year and a half of not being a first team starter I find it ludicrous that people still have him ahead of Dier. It’s absolutely mental
 
The best of those seasons had Wanyama in midfield and Dier playing more as a CB.

You also need to take into account the quality of our fullbacks during that season as for me, I think the width they offered compared to what we use them for now made a huge difference to our set up and how we applied ourselves.

The Dier/ Wanyama debate is a curious one and if both are fit and completely on song I’d go for big Vic but I don’t where that player is these days, I can’t remember the last game he played where I genuinely believed he was on on form and doing what he was signed for. A big shame really but once again Diers versatility has proven its worth, especially for the money we laid out for him which baffles me even further. He cost £4m not £40m and covers 3 potential positions in areas where we seem to get knocks and nicks fairly regularly (CB & DM)
 
You also need to take into account the quality of our fullbacks during that season as for me, I think the width they offered compared to what we use them for now made a huge difference to our set up and how we applied ourselves.

The Dier/ Wanyama debate is a curious one and if both are fit and completely on song I’d go for big Vic but I don’t where that player is these days, I can’t remember the last game he played where I genuinely believed he was on on form and doing what he was signed for. A big shame really but once again Diers versatility has proven its worth, especially for the money we laid out for him which baffles me even further. He cost £4m not £40m and covers 3 potential positions in areas where we seem to get knocks and nicks fairly regularly (CB & DM)


With regards to Wanyama's injury, none of us know what the future holds, but he's only 27, at a similar age we were all writing Dembele off (he'd played about 40% of available minutes in 13/14 and 14/15) and talk was of a chronic hip injury that needed to be managed. He then came back and had 2 really good seasons. Personally, I think the Wanyama performance thing is being a bit exaggerated. The problem is, partly because of his recent injuries and partly because of selection choices, he's been used in fits and starts in between injury lay offs, which never sees a player at his best, they can't get into a rhythm, which most players need to hit peak form. Since injuries he was often plopped into awkward cup games with a mish mash side, inevitably resulting in incoherent performances from everyone. I get why, Poch was just using those low priority games to give people run outs (reserves, recovering players etc). You don’t expect players to come back from long term injuries and just hit normal peak.

And I would flip the FB thing on you slightly. Look back to that season - our best season - that was the season that Poch introduced Trippier in the latter third of the season and he absolutely annihilated Walker's productivity - and I mean annihilated - and at no defensive loss (we still beat teams like ManU, Woolwich as well as crushing other teams and racking up huge wins - compared to our run in the season before) our worst two performances in that run in came with Walker back in the side - away to Palace and then the defeat that cost us a chance f the title at West Ham where Walker got skanked for the goal).

I would argue that it was partly the other way round, having Wanyama there that helped the FB's, and the way we use them, because he's far more dynamic than Dier and was not only getting up and down the pitch better, but also covering laterally much better.

And lets be honest, at the same time, throughout much of last year and this, some of Dier's performances have been atrocious. no better than "non peak" Wanyama. IMO.

Personally, I just do not want to see Dier in CM at all. He's dynamically challenged, can't press with vigour, because he's too easily turned and can't recover quickly, he doesn't want the ball under pressure, making us laborious when trying to play our of a press, he can't move with the ball, and his passing is incredibly basic.
 
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