It's been a good transfer window for West ham with the arrival of a number of quality signings. David Moyes vowed to only bring in players who would push for starting places in the side and with Vlasic, Kral and Zouma has delivered.
And now he has 12 days to ponder on his starting eleven as the International break means that the Hammers next outing is on September 11th at Southampton.
The game against Palace ended with a sense of two points lost and in retrospect both of Conor Gallagher's goals were poorly defended against with our defensive midfielders nowhere in sight when you couls argue that they should have been tracking Gallagher.
In addition, Craig Dawson was too easily turned for both games, while Angelo Ogbonna is still getting up to speed. As such, it won't be any surprise if Zouma is thrown straight into the mix, with Dawson the likely loser.
In midfield the situation is much more complex as Moyes now has the option of playing a more cagey midfield with Kral and Rice in holding roles with Soucek being loosened up to play in a more forward role.
The Hammers also need to look at set pieces as we have gone from a fearsome unit where opponents were terrified about conceding corners, to a much less threatening side. The delivery is one factor, but also the Rice, Antonio, Soucek, Dawson threat seems to be less well co-ordinated. We can expect Zouma to bolster this with his aerial prowess.
As for Nikola Vlasic, we can expect that Moyes will initially stay loyal to the effective unit of Bowen, Fornals and Benrahma, but Vlasic will be looking to get some game time in the final 15-20 minutes to show what he can do and to that end we might see a more timely and assertive use of substitutions by Moyes in coming games.
Either way, our options have greatly increased!
COYI!!!
