Match Day Thread West Ham (H)

West Ham have been decent of late, will need to be a good performance

 

#mustwin

 

That's the spirit

 

I worry the defence gets bullied here

 

Think that'll be the main worry for the rest of the season so best get used to it.

 

True.

Up to Klopp to work it out so they are helped out, I can't take another Villa-esque result

 

West Ham top scorer , Antonio is likely to miss this game.

 

Let's hope so. He's a big lad and would bully whatever defence we pull together

 

I'm scared

 

This is the biggest concern. A big reason for why we have been so good over the past two years is because we can defend against all types of teams - we used to struggle against the physical teams until VVD, whereas now we are the strongest. Without VVD (and now Matip and Fabinho), we really won't be able to compete in the air. To counter this, we need to do the following:

- Keep the ball better. This is where Thiago can be crucial. Keep the ball, and suffocate the opposition
- Prevent the crosses at source. Robbo and Trent are decent at stopping crosses but there was no real pressure to stop them completely because we were so good at defending them
- Win the second balls. Chances are, we won't win the first ball so we have to do everything we can to react quickly and win the second ball

The last option is to just go all out attack and score 5 -6 goals every game....

 

^^^^ this

 

Keeping the ball is our biggest defensive asset. tbh the transformation under Klopp in that respect has been fantastic. Mind you, the level of the PL in keeping the ball has really improved across the whole league in even just the last 6 years

We don't see hoofball even when the bottom team plays the top these days, can't say I'm unhappy about that

 

I really wouldn't be surprised if we do see it more, especially against us. That is our biggest weakness without VVD. If I was the opposition manager, I would be launching it long against our lot.

 

Seems to me, any 3 strong athletic forwards of slightly above average skill can cause us problems as things stand now, so it's up to the Kloppmeister to figure it out per opponent

 

David Moyes will like to put one over Jurgen Klopp , he never won against Klopp as Everton manager.

 

I do hope that the boo boys lay off the kid who gets selected to play alongside Gomez at the weekend. He will be thrown in at the deep end and will undoubtably be targeted and make mistakes....

 

I've never understood fans who get on the backs of their own players.
By all means make a critique of a player's skills or suitability, but lack of effort is the only reason to give someone a hard time.