Article: West Ham v Saints match thread Football Southampton

The point you are missing trixter is that we didn't buy Ramirez INSTEAD of defenders. We have the financial backing to have spent more in the summer than even the £30 million we did spend, but the defenders weren't available/cost too much/didn't want to come. Would you rather we had bought the same players we did but not Ramirez? Wait and see him when he comes back from injury before you answer that!

 

That simply does not wash with me , we had 2/3 months to scout and buy players we needed , why did we not sign earlier on as opposed to the last minute ? That reeks of lack of preparation and amatuerism , you want your squad bedded in as soon as possible and certainly more so when you are going up a division .

 

Where were these defenders available then? Defenders R Us?

 

Time for a tea break.

Come on. You can't seriously be saying there were no defenders available?

QPR loaned Bosingwa, and Fabio (or was it the other one). Villa got Vlaar. We got Collins. Wigan got Ramis. Norwich got bassong.

Others off the top of my head. Ryan Nelson? Marriappa?

There were plenty of defenders about and any of the above would have been good for you.

If you spent the summer chasing marquee signings and left it too late to make signings where it really matters then that's your own fault.

 

What were Yoshida and Fonte doing exactly ? Just seen it again , from a throw in in their half , come on thats was awful , there were 3 yellow shirts around him where were the blocks ?

 

Our manager wasn't savvy enough to get loaned THE MOST EXPENSIVE ENGLISH FOOTBALLER IN HISTORY. I'm not saying Carroll was the only difference on Saturday (far from it), but getting big Andy C was one hell of a deal for you. Of course it does dictate what kind of football you play (you were already there with the long ball stuff anyway), but you've got yourselves one hell of a striker.

 

Hooiveld failed to close down for the second goal, that was pretty unforgivable as well.

 

Believe me I am not claiming to know more about your club than you do. That would be ridiculous.

I like it when opposing fans come onto the West Ham forum I use. It's good to get an outsiders view and I am simply giving an opinion.

I agree phrases like "flair player" and "luxury player" are just a lazy as labelling Allardyce a "hoofball manager" so sorry about that.

What I am saying is that surely you had more pressing needs?

Your attack looks strong to me. You were causing us problems on Saturday before we got the penalty and that was without Ramirez. All I am saying is that perhaps rather than going for Rodriguez and Ramirez first, you should have focused on the weakest part of your team and if there was money/time left later on in the window then go and add to your attack.

But you are right, I do not know as much about your club as you lot do and this is merely an outsiders view.

 

He has a point. We spent 30mil and failed to bring in any old heads with Prem experiance, and just two defenders, when prehaps we needed AT LEAST three.

 

I think "more pressing needs" is a moot point. While the statement on the surface of "a defender was more important than an attacking midfielder" certainly holds truth, it relies on an assumption that we signed him instead of defenders. While you may perceive the option to be "Ramirez or a stud CB", as we were certainly trying to sign CBs (Gomarchingin: yes we failed, don't make your same tired point) the reality was not "Ramirez or a CB", but "Ramirez or nothing". We hoped for both and I highly doubt signing Ramirez disallowed us from signing a defender. Of course, there's a very small chance it may have - in which case it was a terrible decision. But I fully believed we wanted, and expected both.

 

Think this is right Dan. We no doubt tried but yes failed to get in other defenders. We were heavily linked with several.

 

Everyone else found time to get defenders in. I can't believe all of the defenders I mentioned earlier would have turned you down in favour of the clubs they ended up at.

 

Well, we did sign two defenders in Clyne and Yoshida. Why we didn't sign a left back, I don't know, but I'd have thought we'd look for a bigger name (obviously relative to where we are, I'm not talking ****ing Puyol), established CB to go with Yoshida, rather than an either unproven (Ramis) or not that good (Collins) defender to go with him.

 

Good players I'm sure but not what you needed I don't think.

If you had added 2 thirty year old established premier league defenders you would have been better for it surely?

Collins may not be great. But he has been a premier league defender for the last 7 years and he has been a big plus for us this season.

 

Was a rumour going around we had bid 12.5mil for a defender which was accepted and the player wanted to join. Only for his club to change their mind last min, hence why we brought Yoshida as 2nd choice. Think the defender was Ogbonna if I remember rightly.

 

Nelson? No thanks.
Bosingwa? No, we signed Clyne at RB.
Vlaar? Thought he was awful at St Mary's. Lambert beat him to everything.
Mariaapa? Reading got there very early, pretty much before anyone even had a chance.

Wouldn't have minded Collins or Bassong to be fair. But in a straight fight between you and us for Collins, I suspect he'd still have chosen you. And I suspect Hughton being Norwich's manager helped them get Bassong - firstly through his Spurs connections, and secondly through their time together at Newcastle.

 

That's that sorted then! My next worry is who can we get in January!

 

Dawson and Ogbonna is what I heard.

 

If we couldn't get Ogboona in the summer why would he come now?

 

Maybe his club have had more time to look for a replacement?, if what I heard was true he was very keen on joining us.