There is no doubt that West Ham’s pre-season has shaped up very well so far. Carlton Cole looks proficient playing in a lone striker role and has already contributed a couple of goals. In addition, he has received good quality support from Boa Morte and Freddie Sears on the left and right side of the forward line. The defence has looked tight and disciplined and the central midfield combination of Noble and Hitzlsperger has done extremely well.
Moreover, Having read accounts of the Brossia MGB and Panathinaikos matches, not only have the team played good football, but they have shown a creditable discipline and professionalism in adapting to a new formation. Grant’s management will probably see a move away from 4-4-2 and the adoption of a far more flexible 4-3-3 or even 4-2-3-1 formation. Personally, I hope that we go for the 4-2-3-1 that was prevalent tactically in the recent World Cup Finals. This would probably see Noble and Parker partnered in central midfield, with a combination of Barrera, Boa Morte, Hitzlsperger, Stanislas, Sears, Diamanti (if he stays?), Collison (when fit) or Remy (if he ever actually signs?) or Hines supporting Cole at the fulcrum of the attack.
It is the ability of this bank of three forwards to give close support to Cole and regularly hit the back of the net that will ultimately determine the success of the formation. The players referred to above are all more than capable of delivering goals. In that respect the performances of Hitzlsperger have been particularly encouraging. ‘Das Hammer’ has started to show an ability to score goals from deep positions and that is to be warmly welcomed. Last season, Diamanti weighed in with eight or nine goals, but he was the exception in a midfield that did not hit the target nearly regularly enough.
There has been a lot of press speculation about the exit of Parker and Cole to Aston Villa and Stoke City respectively. Personally, I would not welcome the departure of either player. They are part of the team’s spine and their loss will probably weaken it. However, I am also more than aware that one or more ’star’ players may need to be sacrificed to provide the funds for further new arrivals. And it does seem likely that space in the striker berths will need to be found if the rumours concerning the imminent arrival of Argentinian prospect, Caragilo, are true?
It would be a great pity though, as in Cole, Picquionne and Nouble we have three excellent options to play at the apex of our new formation. Whilst selling Cole to accommodate Caragilo, a young player untried in the PL, would represent a gamble. If it comes off then it will be hailed as a master stroke, if it does not then we could all come to regret it. Decisions such as that are the call of the management, it what they are very well paid for, and ultimately they stand or fall by them.
It is notable that the defence has been very tight so far, with players such as James Tomkins showing impressive early form. However, the principle question remains whether Upson wishes to stay with the club or seek pastures new? If he does go then we will need to recruit an experienced and high quality replacement. Also, will Clerc be signed to provide international quality cover at right-back? Will the restructure of the squad also mean that some defenders such as Gabbidon and Spector could be moved on before the start of the season?
Regardless, one of the features of the 4-2-3-1 is the way in which the system gives additional midfield cover to the defence, shielding it and giving the full-backs greater opportunity to get forward and provide vital width. These are features that will assist West Ham to overcome two of the worst faults from last season, the fragility of our defence and a lack of real width in our forward play.
It is a formation that interests me and I particularly like the tactical flexibility and movement that it tends to promote. It looks like Grant’s player recruitment is geared to providing the players to make it work. Lets hope that, unlike in the case of GF Zola’s squad last summer, the club has furnished/furnishes Grant with the players to ensure that the formation succeeds. Otherwise, there will probably be another hasty retreat back in to the comfort zone of a more rigid 4-4-2!
SJ. Chandos.
It is a very exciting formation which i would love to see us play:
Green
Clerc Upson Da Costa Ilunga
Parker Hitzlsperger
Faubert Remy Barrera
Cole
That looks like an extremely exciting team to me with the likes of Caraglio and Piquionne also available and with players like Noble also availble, our options will be much better.
Same team as me mate…..if Remy could be arsed to sign!!!
Would be a dream team for the new season.
No berahmi in your line up?
i personally think his gone, theres no way his gonna sit warming the bench when he could be playing european football.
I don't think the players you mentioned will be sacrificed. I think Behrami, Diamanti and Kovac from the midfield will go.
Behrami has an unbelievable engine but sometimes he is a headless chicken and lacks the quality in the final third when it matters. Kovac did improve but I think we all agree that he should be sold to get him off the wage bill. Diamanti definitely suffered playing in the positions he had to under Zola. I would love to have seen him given a floating role behind cole, rather than tracking back into the left back position. He is the one I would like to remain just to see how well he plays under Grant and in this new look formation.
With regards forwards, not only is there a strong link on the Argentinian, KUMB reported we look likely to sign the Ajax forward and the Remy link hasn't disappeared – can't see how they will all fit in !
Nicsy, I think Berahmi will stay as he is the perfect replacement for Parker, Parkers stock is at an all time high and berahmi would only fetch 6 – 8 million … I think Parker will go for between 12 – 15 million …
4-2-3-1 all the way !!! . more importantly masherano leaving liverpool ? does this mean the scouse F#####RS will now bid for parker if so then he can not go for less than 14 mill . and even then i would want liverpool to pay most of that upfront if not all ! . still dont want cole to go or parker i think under grant we will see evn better performances from them.
It's looking good so far I agree with the signings and pre season results, I'm looking forward to seeing the improvement and the new players myself at MK tomorrow night.
With all these new players still being linked there will certainly be departures though and with Green and Upson having had a 'mare in SA then Cole and Parker seem our only saleable assets at the moment. I often read comments about us offloading spector and gabbidon, in this case, or dyer/kovac in other posts but who would buy them? Right now who would buy Upson or Green for the right price?
Sure we haven't spent big bucks so far but I'm guessing the plan for the Davids involves strenghtening the team whilst reducing the wage bill and debt. We can only do that by selling desirable players and hoping to unearth the next batch of "star" players amongst our new signings.
That says to me at least Cole or Parker out unfortunately.
If we are likely to play 4-2-3-1 then we may cope without our two prize assets. Swapping Parker and Cole out of Brazerz formation with Noble and Piquionne?
I think the real formation will flow between 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 depending on whether we're under the cosh or bossing the game but it gives us some freedom.
Personally I think we need to keep our heartbeat, in Parker and build everything around him but we may not have a choice with the lack of interest in our peripheral players. Fingers crossed Green and Upson can play a blinder until January and the Davids can hold out until then and get the money that way, otherwise Green is walking for free in any case.
The formations used in the world cup by the top teams I feel will be the formations that will be used for the foreseeable future. We have the players to play both suggested formations well. At the moment in my opinion we have done very well in the transfer market. Spending only five million on two players and signing a decent, experienced international on a free is great business. I can see Barrera being a hit this season as well as Hitz and Piquionne. Barrera is the kind of player that reminds me of Benayoun and Joey Cole. I have a feeling he will cut inside a lot though so this will mean the full-backs will play more of a sweeper role. this i why in my opinion we should go for belhadj (depending on whether or not he has found a new club).
Still, the season looks good with a more than desirable pre-season well under way. lets hope we prove too much for MK and Ipswich and smash Deportivo before the season starts!
COME ON YOU IRONS!!!
im really looking forward to going to the MK Dons match tomorrow.
how can we talk about formation when we dont evcen know who will be playing for us next season?
The main reason West Ham can go and spend in the transfer market could be due to the fact they are recieving an insurance settlement for Dean Ashton.
i thought his insurance was void due to it be a reocurring injury which retired him and there was no payout
Im thinking of heading to MK tomorrow for the match. Anyone know if I can just turn up? For some reason their site won't load for me…
im going and my mates checked today and u can buy tikets on the door at £10 each
think at last might be in for a good season with the recent showngs of the youngsters sears noble tonks ect i was just remebering John Bonds i was a kid early 50s he would come up and always joke wth us crushed in the the north bank off topic but just a senior moment
If we could just unload Upson i would be a happy man. Brutally exposed in SA, surely people on here don't still rate him?
Unlike Zola (or Capello for that matter), Grant is selecting the formation to suit his personnel and targetting the same.
Devo I have a sneak suspicion that he'll end up staying, for one no one will pay his wages and two he is worth nowt …
SJ, I like you're thoughts … in Hitzleburger and Boa Morte we have left sided midfielders that at last adds some of the balance we have been missing. I would be happy for the squad we have to start the new season tomorrow. The big question for me tho is about Scotty Parker … I think his stock value is at an all time peak and if the right offer came in then let him go as I think Berahmi is a more energetic equal.
I see the side in two weeks time lining up as follows
Green
Clerc – Ben Haim – Upson – Illunga
Berahmi – Hitzleburger
Barrera – Diamante – Boa Morte
Remy
Ben Haim and Upson centre halfs… lord Mido would beat both of these for pace……
Yea I was just going to say Da Costa is better than either!
In response to Soldier_Tom I read a good piece on another site suggesting if we could sell Scotty for £12m we have ready made replacement in Behrami. Scotty is 30 very soon and at his peak value whilst Behrami's value has fallen but he is younger and could step into CM role
peter it wasn't on 'The games gone crazy' by any chance …
Yes it was – the best piece I have ever seen there
We will get killed with Ben Haim and Upson at the back, no leaders.
I hope Upson can prove to us why he is/was an England international next year
Bray Hammer i would have loved to have seen Tomkins and Cambell start but you have to go with what we have … I just thought that with Peperahmi and Hitz in front og them oponenetsa would be closed down quicker and the threat of pace annulled …
I have to say that this transfer window is a breath of fresh air … for the last couple of seasons we have had huge expectations followed by poor buys and naff answers from the club … let alone half of us having a snipe at each other …
There seems to be an honest air of optomism amongst all with a level perspective of what can be achieved .. fingers crossed ehh
Sporting index have West Ham to finish on 42 points and mid-table,boring,I reckon we will do better?
I'll take that right now provided there is some entertaining football along the way
SP after last seasons debacle I would take it no matter how we get there – But I agree lets hope there is a lot of stlye about each performance.
Hi, I'm a long term reader of this blog and have finally had the bottle to post something, apologies if my post is a bit disjointed!
really happy with grants dealings so far, but we do need a well established right back brought into the squad! for the Panathinaikos game grant played faubert further up field with tomkins, da costa, gabbidon and illunga at the back, in the second half he played dyer at right back. I'm guessing his just mixing things up a bit as a new manager, looking at all the options available to him.
Clerc would be an excellent choice, however breaking the wage bracket for such a player would not be worth it.
Plus with this new home grown system being put in place how many home grown players do we have in our squad? we need 8 and we have….tomkins, noble, stanislas, nouble, hines, collison, spector…..that makes 7 established first team members of the squad with collison and hines who possibly won't feature till january. that gives us one space left for a home grown player. it may be worth a punt putting spence in the squad if no right back has been purchased, young, promising and fearless I feel he could have a lot to offer this season.
Just seen that we put a new contract worth 20m to Scotty Parker, I can't see Clerc getting more than 40k a week and that's not bad for a free contract. I think the owners are giving the impression that our debt is a challenge but it's important also to have the quality to meet that challenge. We have some great youngsters and I don't think we'll give up on them, maybe Zola spoiled their progress by playing them too much last season. One thing that needs to be addressed is an extensions to Tony Carr's contract, as it is starting to wind down and he has spoken of retiring. Great post though mate, keep em coming.
Heres a link to the squad on skysports. Not quite sure what Davonport is doing on there though.
http://www.skysports.com/football/teams/westhamun…
I had a quick count and i think we have 16 home grown players in the squad.
I think the rules are that the squad sizes are 25 but you can have an unlimited number of under 21 home grown players. So at the moment i dont think we need to sell anyone.
Just read that too VanHammer, Parker offered £75k a week. I could go with that.
A lot of people are forgetting just how important he was for us last season. He kept the fans believing we could stay up with his passion for the team, in particular, I remember the match at Everton where he tried to make a tackle with his head at the boot of another player. That sort of passion and commitment cannot be found in many teams anymore.
As for the formation, I think 4-2-3-1 gives us flexibility to play 4-5-1, 4-3-3 and even 4-4-2 without having to bring different subs on. Home games should be all out attack, away games should be a more reserved formation.
For those of you unsure about the new 25 man squad / home grown players rule the link below should clear things up for you:
http://www.premierleague.com/page/Headlines/0,,12…
Cheers Chris. The article gives some good info but I'm wondering about the Squad Cap of 25. I'm presuming players can be nominated in to the squad to replace injured and suspended players and that if a "Home Grown" player needs replacing then the player coming in must also be "Home Grown."
We've just rejected a bid from Spurs for Parker (SSN).
With the likes of Liverpool, Spurs and Villa sniffing 'round I'd be chuffed as cherries if we can keep hold of him. The new contract offer should help.
Sky Sports have just said this morning we have rejected a bid from tottenham for scott parker… What is it with redknapp
grubby little yids can keep their hands of !!!! come on west ham offer him the 75k a week and stuff em !!!
We are going to give a trial to Hamburgs Anis-Ben-Atira and the official website has confirmed we have in fact turned down Daniel Levys initial offer!be nice hairy offer us 3 good players Pav,Ohara and Bentley throw in Hutton and you may get a deal!
SSN quoting David Sullivan
"I made a promise that I would not sell Scott Parker and I will not, for any amount of money, break that promise to the West Ham supporters," & goes on to say "Scott is not for sale at any price to anyone, West Ham supporters for far too long have had owners that sell their best players and say one thing and do another."
Finally he's quoted "This is a new Era and we're building a bigger, better West Ham and when we make a promise we honour it."
Good on him!
Any spurs bid i shrug off with a pinch of salt. remember that duxbury promise about not selling our best players to spurs? the two daves would know full well selling to these scumbags would be social suicide!