football.london’s West Ham United writer Jonty Colman has been answering your questions on all things in the world of the Hammers.
Before the World Cup break, West Ham prepare to take on Blackburn Rovers in the Carabao Cup before hosting Leicester City in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
Here is the full Q&A from Tuesday lunchtime, with topics including the Hammers' form, the future of David Moyes, the tie against Blackburn, Jarrod Bowen’s hopes of going to the World Cup with England, Said Benrahma and more.
READ MORE: ‘Defied expectations’ – The inside track on Blackburn Rovers ahead of West Ham’s Carabao Cup tie
It's clearly been a season of inconsistency but what is also clear is that the level of expectancy is now greater and we are massively underperforming. With that in mind, are the club thinking like some fans are in that maybe David Moyes has taken us as far as he can and with the likes of Thomas Tuchel out of work, the World Cup would be an ideal to go to the next level? Or is Moyes here to stay?
It's been such a weird season but let's try and break this question down. First, I really cannot see David Moyes being let go at this stage, not unless the first month or two after the World Cup is disastrous form. In the Premier League, it's not been great but if you look at the table, just nine points separate seventh and 18th, with a win or two really changing league positions. Expectation is obviously greater after two seasons of European football and the money spent in the summer. A big chunk of that was on Nayef Aguerd, who has only just returned from injury and should be a different player by the time the World Cup is over. I think Moyes has earned time considering how much he overachieved in the last two seasons. In Europe, it's eight wins from eight and already deep into the knockout rounds, but yes form needs to be better in the Premier League. October was largely good with ten points out of 18, only losing at Liverpool and Manchester United. A win against Leicester City on Saturday is really important, get that and things look rosier going into the break, not doing so and yes, that six weeks off suddenly becomes much more important.
Given our current form, how do you feel we will perform tomorrow against Blackburn in the Carabao Cup?
To be honest, watching the rotated side in the Europa Conference League has been at times more enjoyable this season and I suspect the side that has featured in those games will be similar to who starts tomorrow night. The word from the Blackburn end is that they will also be making a few changes for the game and while I think Moyes will make close to 11, it will still be a very strong side and I like to think it will be a pretty straight forward one.
Do you think Jarrod Bowen will be taking part in the World Cup?
In all honesty, I don't think he will be on the plane, with his form dipping and the form of others tough to ignore. When he first came back from not playing for England after September's camp, it seemed to get the best out of him, scoring three in four games on his return. Since coming back from an ankle issue though, he has looked off his best and certainly at risk of not making the 26-man squad. There are injuries of course, but at the moment, they seem to be in other positions. My guess now is that he just misses out.
Given our previous result at Crystal Palace, what do you think needs to change for us to be successful going forward?
I think the main issue was creativity, well, a lack of it, and individual errors. All three goals in the game kind of came out of nothing, Said Benrahma's was all from a Craig Dawson tackle and quick passing, followed by a good shot. Dawson and Michail Antonio errors both led to Palace's strikes. On average, West Ham have created 9.6 chances per league game, against Palace it was only five. Lucas Paqueta has been missed and it showed with his assist, but more players need to be creative. Aaron Cresswell's crosses to Gianluca Scamacca were poor and it led to the Italian being taken off at the break, although I'm not sure it was his fault. I do think that 11, with maybe Aguerd added, is the best 11 available at present and it looked set for a draw had it not been from wasting a chance late on. Going forward, creativity has to be improved, as well as decision making and being more clinical.
Who are you hoping we will face next in the Europa Conference League?
Some interesting ones in there. Lazio and Fiorentina are the two that jump out as big names, maybe avoiding them would be a good thing. Basel and Anderlecht are both big sides too, as are Braga, although we know Anderlecht are beatable. From a low travel perspective, maybe one of the Belgian clubs would be better, or Braga. A trip to Lazio or Florence though would be a great couple of days.
Where was Said Benrahma’s heavy knee strapping against Crystal Palace? One of earlier responses from Moyes was that his knee was heavily strapped.
To be fair, David Moyes said that we would not have seen the strapping, so I'm guessing it was under his socks or something along those lines. Pictures from the warm-up have emerged with the strapping visible.
We seem to struggle against a midfield overload. Brighton, Everton, and more recently Palace. This also been an issue last season, with Frankfurt, Leeds, Wolves. Why haven't we figured out a solution for this issue yet?
I guess the common denominator there is teams with three in midfield, or systems that have a lot of players in a small space of areas. I think Paqueta over time will solve that, against Brighton he hadn't been signed, Everton he'd only just joined and he's only just come back from injury. The issue is, with the sounding board of Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek, you really do need some creativity, which Paqueta has. I think the wide players need to better at creating chances, when they do West Ham often get their best results. Each team has different strengths and weaknesses but yes, I think when Paqueta is more used to the Premier League, it will be easier to control games in midfield, with the Fulham game being a prime example of that.
In order to get the best out of our new signings, ie Paqueta and Scamacca, do you accept we have to change the way we play? In possession, we're far too slow with the ball and are always playing on the back foot.
Potentially yes, West Ham are certainly set up to not have the ball for very long and when they do, move it quickly and try and create chances. They rank 17th in the league for possession, but tenth for key passes (chances that don't result in goals) and 18th for assists per game. So chances created is not too bad, it's taking them that is the issue. If you are seeing the ball 44.4% of the time on average, you either have to take those chances better or get more of the ball. Paqueta is top for league assists and Scamacca is top for league goals, the annoyance is that two is the number they lead with. So yes, I guess either focus on getting more possession or become more ruthless on the break is required.
Why do we always substitute Benrahma when clearly there are players like Bowen who are performing worse?
Moyes said that Benrahma was struggling with a knee injury before the game and felt he wasn't offering enough after an hour, a decision which didn't go down well. Against Bournemouth in the previous home league game, it was Benrahma who played the duration and was on to score the late penalty, not Bowen. Bowen was last season's top scorer and is second this season, despite his slow start, so I guess when already taking Scamacca off in trying to get goals, it would have been a risk to also lose Bowen. However, Benrahma was having a better game than Bowen at the weekend.
What sort of impact do you think Mark Warburton is having on the squad? Is it coincidence that as soon as Stuart Pearce leaves that form and morale seems to drop considerably? Interested to know your thoughts.
Tough to say, but one thing I have spotted is that he and Billy McKinlay are normally watching games from higher up in the stadium, I'm guessing that is to getter a better vantage point and feed thoughts back down to Moyes, Paul Nevin and Kevin Nolan on the touchline. One I need to ask Moyes about. He seems like he's settled in and well liked when I've been able to watch training or seen clips of him with the players, he's very experienced for his role and is definitely a handy person to have at the club.
So do you think that both the Hammers and Rovers will be resting players/sitting many regular starters tomorrow night ahead of their key weekend league affairs with Leicester and Burnley, respectively?
Yes, I do. I think while we will see two competitive sides, both teams have got bigger fish to fry in their respective leagues. West Ham will be looking for a bit of confidence, a better league position and more reason for optimism, while Blackburn have a big clash against Lancashire rivals Burnley, with the duo currently the top two in the Championship. Both teams have good squads though, so it should be interesting nonetheless.
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