Perfect Start to New Life at OS for Hammers but how did they rate individually?

Life at the Olympic Stadium began with an emphatic win as West Ham dominated Slovenian rivals NK Domzale, overturning the 2-1 deficit from the first leg to run out 3-0 victors. The reward will be a tie versus Romanian side Astra Giurgiu who defeated the Hammers in last year's Europa exit. One senses that Slaven Bilic will be looking to avenge that defeat with a strong side when the tems meet on the 18th (a) and 25th (h) of August.

But how did our heroes perform individually?

Darren Randolph: Dazza is a top quality keeper and we are lucky to have him as back up to Adrian. A quiet night but he was called into action in the second half as Domzale tried to get back into the tie. His concentration was good and he made the one excellent save that was needed. Good distribution from the back as well. 8/10.

Sam Byram: Sam played really well despite being on his less favoured flank. He also contributed to the attacking efforts of the team with plenty of overlapping runs. One foolish mistimed challenge in the second half reminded us that he isn't the finished product just yet but is certainly progressing well. 8/10.

Michail Antonio: A better organised defence last night meant that his lack of defensive positional sense was not exposed as in the first leg. One mistimed tackle reminded us that he is naturally an attacker. Michail was unphased by the difficulties of the previous match and just got on with it, pushing forward regularly without any fear. He seemed to connect well with Reece Oxford as the right-sided CB as well. Still wasted though at RB! 8/10.

Winston Reid: Cool and committed, Winston is our best defender by an amount. He linked in brilliantly with young Oxford while also supporting Byram out wide. Top class player. 9/10.

Reece Oxford: He really does look like the new Rio! Calm, intelligent and fearless - should he start against Chelsea? We think yes!!! Made some excellent tackles when needed and looked entirely unphased by events. 10/10.

Havard Nordtveit: Looked much more comfortable as the defensive midfielder than he did at CB last week. A decent physical presence he looks well suited for the Premiership. No nonsense tackling and unfussy but distribution. he'll be pleased with his contribution. 8/10.

Mark Noble: Captain Claret fluffed his first few touches at his new home but naturally kicked into gear and kept the intensity of our game at a high level throughout with his high octane contributions. 8/10.

Cheik Kouyate: Looked a bit off form last week but was back to his best with his energetic running and, of course, two decent goals. Kouyate likes playing anywhere in midfield and last night emphasized his ability to be the more forward element of the midfield. All smiles, as always! 10/10.

Enner Valencia: Made the first goal and looked lively throughout. However, he missed a few decent opportunities and in fairness it seems that things have just never quite kicked on for him at West Ham. Maybe its time for a switch? 7/10.

Sofiane Feghouli: You sense that we have picked up another diamond here. Lively, nice touch and an eye for goal as emphasised by his finish for the third goal. We simply cannot wait to see him alongside Payet and Lanzini. 9/10.

Andy Carroll: No goals but he put in a very decent shift. Andy looks like he has gained a yard or two in pace as well! We were once again reminded just how big his contribution to the team effort is with his targeted physicality. Ten goals a season along with the chaos (and space) he creates is enough. 8/10.





 

SuperSlav's Options for Starting XI for Europa League Clash

Slaven Bilic made his intentions clear today that West Ham would wholeheartedly compete for a place in the next round of the Europa League. As such NK Domzale can expect an offensive Hammers starting XI with Bilic taking full advantage of his returning Euro 2016 heroes to bolster the side.

We predict that he will finally abandon the nonsense of playing Michail Antonio out of position at right back and instead use his talents on the right wing, with Sofiane Feghouli switching flanks and Enner Valencia moving to the bench.


This will be enabled by bringing both James Collins (CB) and Angelo Ogbonna (Left back) into the side, with Sam Byram moving to his preferred (right) flank. Havard Nordtveit can thus move in front of the back four as the defensive midfielder in a Christmas tree formation (4-3-2-1).

If Collins is not well enough recovered he may go for one of the Reece's alongside Reid. Having let James Tomkins leave the squad we must assume that SuperSlav has huge faith in these two developing talents.

Expect this to become a 4-2-2-2 if things don't go well with Valencia replacing Nordtveit but moving to the left wing to allow Feghouli to go to the right side and Antonio to provide a second striker.

One other option would be to play Ashley Fletcher up front with Andy Carroll from the start but given the Slovenians pace on the counter Bilic will be fearful of conceding away goals, and will likely play it conservatively to see how things go for the first 45 mins.

Either way, it'll be an exciting evening. Let's hope the extra week of preparation will stand to our lads.







 

Five Positives to take from Domzale Defeat

Cheer up lads!

Competitive football in July is a strange delight. It takes our attentions away from the tiresome transfer merry-go-round while providing an opportunity to run the eye over new signings and younger talent coming through. However, as last night's disappointing performance against Slovenian 'giants' NK Domzale demonstrated, it can also expose our lack of game sharpness and sap confidence.

Despite the obvious negatives from a game where we never got out of second gear, there were some definite positives to take from what was a revealing encounter:

1. Sofiane Feghouli will be a huge addition. Although he drifted out of things as we lost our way in the second half, before that he looked very lively and assured on the ball. He is clearly blessed with a tasty first touch that makes space for everyone around him and preseason has shown that he knows what to do with the ball when given the chance. No doubt every Hammers fan is looking forward to seeing him link up with Mr Payet as one senses they are very likely to 'click'.

2. The Michail Antonio 'experiment' MUST now be abandoned. Aside from it's stunning failure, it's only a matter of time until another club senses that he is being misused at West Ham and swoops with an offer to play him in his proper position. He simply doesn't think like a defender, both positionally and in terms of his tackling as he innately tries to win the ball rather than block progress. After Domzale's second goal he looked lost - neither fish nor fowl he looked fearful of attacking but still out of position in defence. Byram looked better at RB when he moved there but we are very thin on full backs for a side with major aspirations. Mr Bilic's case for funds to sort out the full back positions was certainly strengthened by last night's proceedings.

3. Enner Valencia needs a fresh start at a new club. He may well still be banging them in for Ecuador but he has failed to deliver during his time at West Ham. Last night he again looked out of sorts and after his first few efforts floundered you could sense his head dropped. It's Matt Jarvis syndrome all over again - nice guy but it's time to move on and make space in the squad for a more consistently incisive talent.

4. Given that the game was only aired on BT Sport it seems unlikely that top striking talent from across Europe and beyond will have observed the shambolic performance. We lost and deservedly so as we failed to create a single decent scoring opportunity and we gifted a soft penalty as compensation for an even softer one given earlier to Domzale. Strikers need service to shine and there was scant evidence that any new recruit could have done better than Andy Carroll last night. On a positive note, once again we were reminded how useful the big man is in defending set pieces as he cleared more than half of Domzale's sixteen corner kicks! Yes, sixteen!!!

5. Adrian is a truly top keeper. His double save at the end of last night's game kept West Ham firmly in the tie. A 3-1 lead would have put Domzale in a envious position, especially as we seem to concede goals for fun right now. At 2-1 we won't have to chase the game too much and are surely still favourites to progress. Last night's result will make next week's Olympic Stadium debut all the more exciting and meaningful. Rather than some tame affair with a foregone conclusion, we will surely see a strong side get stuck in to Domzale. It'll be a chance to test our ability to recreate the Boleyn atmosphere - a challenge we are all looking forward to.

That's more like it!

 

Hammers find Full back solution for Europa League Clash

Time to put the toys away lads!

West Ham's preseason has been far from impressive with a series of embarrassing results out stateside followed by a thumping from Rubin Kazan. Things got even worse during a disastrous win over German second tier side Karlsruher CS in which defensive star Aaron Cresswell sustained a serious knee injury. As it stands, West Ham keep thumping on about a 50M striker, have bought two wide attacking players (Tore, Feghouli) but have no experienced full backs. Having conceded a whopping ten goals in five preseason fixtures, the Hammers need to tighten up their defence!

It will be fascinating to see how Bilic handles the full back crisis against Slovenian side NK Domzale tomorrow night. Despite Cressy's injury, Stephen Hendrie remains on loan at Blackburn which reflects poorly upon his progress to date, while Lewis Page, who has just turned 20, will be hoping to build on his experiences in last season's Europa League. Meanwhile, Sam Byram has been looking excellent in preseason and will hopefully prevent a return to the folly of playing Michail Antonio out of position at right back.

In midfield, it looks like it's game over for Diego Poyet who is not in the Europa League squad for the trip to Slovenia. With Obiang, Nordtveit, Cullen, etc all queuing up for berths it may be time for Diego to move elsewhere. Its a pity as its hard to see what he has done wrong when he's had the (rare) opportunity to shine. As for Josh Cullen, many are predicting that this season will see him push further up the ranks and into the first team proper. Tomorrow night should provide a platform for him to shine.

On the up side of things, Andy Carroll's latest injury scare seems behind him and he looks ready to get stuck into early season action alongside the impressive young Ashley Fletcher. words is that the pair took time out to share some quality time fishing whilst in Austria on preseason. I guess you could say that they are well perched to take their plaice at the top table.

Kick off is at 19:45 and its live on BT Sports....Here we go again!!!