Hammers Finally Kick into Gear

After all the celebrations have finally died down following our European adventures of last season, it's back to business as usual for David Moyes' men - business as usual but sadly without the rock that our success of recent seasons has been founded. 

Declan Rice is already singing his praises about working under Mikel Arteta, while back at the village it's a late and ponderous squad preparation for the new season. Just one arrival so far as Lanzini, Scamacca, Rice and a few others have departed.

At least the inward transfers have finally started to move with Edson Alvarez arriving to try to fill Rice's shoes. A decent defensive midfielder, but the seasoned observer will know that the Mexican will need time to settle in to the workmanlike tactics of headmaster Moyes, and the unforgiving physicality of the Premiership.

The same concerns do not apply for Messrs Maguire and Ward-Prowse who are apparently on their way and are both seasoned Premiership veterans. Many fans have reacted unkindly to the Maguire but although he can be error-prone, he is a decent centre back on the ground who is dominant at set pieces - both defensively and offensively. Have we just signed a new Craig Dawson? Hopefully!

Ward-Prowse is superb at set pieces but critics would say he doesn't do enough in open play.  We will have to wait and see, but he will undoubtedly improve the quality of our corner kick taking which was awful last year.

Up front, we look pedestrian - an ageing Antonio and Ings with the still developing Mubama will hardly terrify opposition defences. In simple terms, we need to find the player Scamacca did not deliver upon - a physically robust, lone wolf who is precise in front of goal - no small task in this world of specialist forwards. 

The Paqueta rumours are worrying as he is ready to really deliver this coming season and has looked livey in pre-season. We have nothing remotely similar in terms of creativity amongst our other midfielders. Young Potts looks like a real prospect but this will likely be a developing season or him - he needs to share space with the likes of Paqueta to realise his potential. Similarly, Flynn Downes has looked decent whenever he has been selected and surely must not be let depart?

Our recent pre-season thumping against Rennes and Leverkusen were awful as we looked asleep and disorganised defensively.  Let's hope today is different. Bournemouth have invested in adding pace to their flanks, while we have done nothing to address an obvious weakness in our squad. Today's game may swing on that difference.

It's hard to see a repeat of the 4-0 schooling we dished out to the Cherries towards the end of last season but lest we forget that in Bowen, Benrahma and Paqueta we have real attacking quality.

Rory Nostradamus says his crystal ball has gone all cloudy, so we have no great sense of what lies ahead today. 

COYI!!!