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Hammering Away Ep #28 - The State of West Ham United
76 Plays1 year ago
On today's episode of the podcast, Jack and Joe discuss the current state of affairs at the club. From whether David Moyes should be sacked or offered a new contract, to Tim Steidten's inability to stay out of the newspapers, our hosts have their say on it all.
Music by: @ANTlll
Blog: Hammering-Away.blog
Twitter/X: @Hammering_Away
Instagram: @HammeringAway_
Tiktok: @Hammering.Away
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Transcript
State of West Ham United
00:00:23
Speaker
Welcome back to the Hammering Weight podcast. It has been a busy few weeks for myself and for Joe and it's been a busy few weeks for West Ham United. I think it would be better for us instead of to jump from game to game and talk about where each game went wrong and what happened to just talk about the general state of affairs right now. So I'm going to ask you a few questions and you tell me where you stand on this.
00:00:54
Speaker
Cause that's how we're just going to start this. Cause to be honest, I, I can barely even open Twitter these days. Right. But before we start, I want to just go through the results since the last time we recorded a podcast. Read the results. Since the last time we recorded a podcast, which was January 23rd. Jesus. We've scored one goal and conceded.
00:01:23
Speaker
12. 12. And four games. And before that, we were not doing too hot either. Now that we're finally doing this, and we should have done this a while ago, I should be piling on from last week and the week before. This week, I got a lot to say about a lot of guys. But I'm going to ask you a few questions first.
Moyes' Future as Manager
00:01:50
Speaker
Yeah, let's do it. All right.
00:01:53
Speaker
Moyes, in or out? I'm gonna go in, hard in. Hard in. Okay, Moyes in the summer, in or out? We'll see. We'll see. I'm leaning like strongly leaning in, but
00:02:13
Speaker
Like in the case of us, like bottoming out and for the rest of the season, like if we like truly like the door falls like out from under us, we finished like 10th and we don't win the Europa league. Then yeah, sorry. I think, I think that unless we are playing champions league football, and this isn't because I want more years ago, I'd be, I would happily keep him if we, um,
00:02:42
Speaker
qualify for Europe again. But I think that the club has a decision to make because I mean, I've been thinking about this a lot. When they hired side 10, it always kind of felt like preparing for life after Mois. And the better things went the more it became they had to live life together and with all these weird reports coming out between the Liverpool thing and this thing that he wants more control.
00:03:05
Speaker
I think that Sullivan is going to have to make a decision about what direction he wants to go in. And if they really want to evolve their play style and they want to become like an analytics based club, like Brighton or like any of these other guys, like Leverkusen, obviously, then, then you have to move on from ways if you want to do
Play Styles and Analytics
00:03:25
Speaker
that. And that's okay. You know, but when people have to understand.
00:03:32
Speaker
is that playing good football, A, does not guarantee results, and B, it doesn't mean that we're going to be better. Like, you have to have somebody, like, yeah, could we play better with possession? Sure, but playing well with the ball does not equate to being, like, free flowing and entertaining. That's not what that means. Like, we can still be pragmatic and have the ball. Manchester City, last year, were probably the most pragmatic I've ever seen them, and they won,
00:04:02
Speaker
Everything. Arsenal this season too. Arsenal are incredibly pragmatic and they're a much better side than they were last year. Like if you really break it down on what's going on, they over-performed everything last year. They were so exciting to watch but they fell apart at the end because they were maybe too fun and they were too open and they played too much chaos and too much rock and roll because number five, whose name I won't say, his past selection
00:04:33
Speaker
is ambitious we'll call it he just is he plays too chaotic he moves it too quick he moves it too vertical that's why they got deck i think they wanted to play them together but not here to talk about arsenal um but yeah it's but i'm sick i'm sick of this this moist out shit he's a great manager like can we be fucking for real the the moist out stuff for this season is crazy like to want him to want him sacked
00:05:01
Speaker
is like beyond me. It's, it's like self-inflicting, you know, like that would only do like terrible, irreparable, near irreparable damage to the club. If we were to sack him during the season, it's not even something that's being considered. I, I really don't think, like if they were going to do it, they would have did it last year, you know? And what is sacking him during the season going to do? What is it going to do?
00:05:27
Speaker
Seriously, right? Like, what is that going to
Impact of Sacking Moyes
00:05:30
Speaker
accomplish? Like, we're still in a race for Europe, dude. And like, Paquetta's coming back. But it's, it's, it's weird. Does that mean nothing? Like, obviously we should have performed better without him. We finished seventh with Piatt, had a pretty damn near similar record. I think we drew more games. I think we won more points in eight without Piatt or seven without Piatt or whatever it was than we did without Paquetta. Which is ridiculous, by the way. Yeah.
00:05:58
Speaker
but whatever um your thoughts on tim styton and what seems to be him rocking the boat rocking the boat in terms of of of what with everything he's done so there's a little fucking bullshit since the Liverpool thing um just generally um he
00:06:22
Speaker
I guess this isn't like a criticism or whatever, but why does he talk so much? Like, what other technical director gives this many interviews? And there's like- Somebody who's not happy, bro. No, but even like, even like, like, talking, like, giving quotes about Calvin Phillips or Edson Alvarez, like, he just talks a lot. And he's like, he's in Fabrizio's pocket, like constantly being shouted out.
00:06:52
Speaker
It's weird. He's just a weird guy. I don't think he's necessarily unhappy, but.
Internal Dynamics and Leadership
00:06:57
Speaker
I, look, I don't really subscribe to this like Moyes versus Stuyton, like cold war, civil war type thing. I think it's ridiculous. I think that they work together pretty well. I think that they would both be better off if they learned to love each other and they learned how to be together. And I think that they would do great things together. Um, I, I do think that.
00:07:19
Speaker
Moyes isn't necessarily a fan of having a technical director, which isn't even, um, so what I'm looking for. It's not speculation. Like this is reported like by, it's not a fan of it. I'm just fine. He's old school and he, you know what, he's good in the market too. So I can't hate him that much for it. Um, and then Stuyten, I don't want to say he was
00:07:40
Speaker
Promised things because that speculation and it's maybe a little ridiculous to assume that Sullivan was promising him all this power but I think maybe there were implications made and I think that To a certain extent he thought he would be okay not having final say But you know a downturn in form and then everything with Osman happens which is Sullivan's fault if we have to blame anybody
00:08:10
Speaker
Um, and then, you know, maybe on deadline day, things didn't go the way he wanted with Moyes. They didn't get a player. I don't know what happened, but I think he is at least frustrated. And I think that there's truth to these reports that come out. Cause like you said, he doesn't shut up. Um, I still think he's good at his job. I just wish he would shut up. This window was really bad. Like really, really, really bad. I can't believe it went into as bad as it did.
Transfer Decisions and Consequences
00:08:40
Speaker
I mean, you're gonna get crazy, but like, the Phillips shit isn't over. I'm not gonna say he's gonna be all right, because this seems pretty doomed. But like, I'm willing to let him play, and just see what happens. He's not earning it. Not getting a winger, he's going to play. Moi is just gonna play him. Not getting a winger is just ridiculous. It's ridiculous. It is the worst transfer decision
00:09:10
Speaker
we have made during David Moyes' time as manager. It is the worst. Not that recent results have been purely down to that, but it's definitely contributed. And I think it also has a mental effect on the squad. Because not only did you sell to players that they know we probably needed for this, but squads are very close. You sell out two guys, send them out that everybody likes, no matter what you think about Ben Rama or Fornales. Everybody seems to love both of them.
00:09:39
Speaker
And then to not replace them, it's like, while Phuket is out, it's going to have an effect on the players who are playing, which isn't an excuse for them being horrendous, which isn't an excuse for Moyes really not coaching us very well after the Sheffield United game for the rest. But it's going to have an effect. Yeah, it's just an obscene decision to make when you're sixth in the league.
00:10:08
Speaker
and you can really do something. And it's, it is reminiscent of January 2022 when we didn't sign a striker. Yeah. Well, I mean, those like, those decisions were, those sales were good in a vacuum. You know, like we ended up getting pretty decent value for both those players, but you know, like this isn't just like FIFA, you know, or FM, like you need to be putting bodies out there.
00:10:36
Speaker
Yeah, I guess. This would not work in FM. But I should have said FIFA, just because I've never played FM. I'm talking about shit I don't know about. But you would pay for playing Ben Johnson on the wing in FM. Probably worse than we did, at least against United. Yeah, because Ben Johnson's been pretty good wherever we've put him so far. Yeah. Which is respect to him, because he's had the toughest job. Yeah.
00:11:04
Speaker
But yeah, like it should like, it should have just been somebody, you know, like, even if we had to panic by someone or panic loan someone, it needs to be a body, like, especially if there was no ever intention to use Maxwell Cornet, which maybe there shouldn't be because he's not that good. Yeah. But why are you leaving that?
00:11:27
Speaker
Why are you leaving him to be your only true winger or like person who can play on the wide left? You know, it's, it's totally not okay. And I completely agree with you because the thing is people are like, Oh, you shouldn't panic by, you can't panic by every once in a while. Yeah. You do need to panic by even look, a cup of our size, having made the money that we made from selling Ben Rama and for now is a new career.
00:11:55
Speaker
I know, like I am personally a fan of this guy, even if like, he hasn't been that great at Marseille, but look, if they're not going to loan you, his mail is SAR. And they're like happy to kind of get rid and the price is rumored to be like under 16 million. Like pull the trigger, man. Like it's not, he's 25. You can suddenly, it's really not going to hurt you that much. And he brings attributes that we need. Yeah, he might not be perfect. It might be a panic buy. Wait.
00:12:24
Speaker
You guys made your bed by going after two targets with situations for both of them that made deals incredibly difficult. So obviously Sullivan doesn't help with Osman and then you don't get either of them that you're stuck on deadline day and we shouldn't be playing on deadline day either. That's ridiculous. Um, for that to happen twice in a season is embarrassing, but look, you made your bed like to not
00:12:53
Speaker
I cannot even fathom not buying a winger. Like, it's insane. How do you do that? It's really terrible to tell you the truth. Like, I've been a huge fan of Sidon since he got here, but this is that this is. Ridiculous. Unacceptable.
00:13:18
Speaker
Just totally unacceptable. And you know what? Moiz might have final say, Moiz might say, oh, I don't want, you know, somebody I'm not sure about. Stuyten has, Sullivan has final say at the end of it. And like, yeah, maybe he backs out his Moiz and that's a bad thing to do. But Stuyten has to get into a room. It's his job. This is part of his job. He has to be in the room with them and he has to tell them, no, this is like, it's my job to build the squad. And I'm telling you,
00:13:46
Speaker
that you can't not replace these two.
Player Performance and Investments
00:13:52
Speaker
And then this stuff with the paperwork is also embarrassing. I don't want to talk about that too much, but that's ridiculous. It's so obviously us trying to kill the deal. So embarrassing. Yeah, I think that they really did try to kill the Venerama deal.
00:14:11
Speaker
And then like, we own kind of scared the shit out of them. Or the maybe they fucking forgot, I think that they claim that there are like Wi Fi issues at the stadium, which there always are apparently for fans and shit. It's just it's, it's so then on the same Wi Fi though.
00:14:29
Speaker
They should probably not like they probably got the off if they are plug into a damn ethernet cable, bro. It's like $16. Yeah, they're just lying. Like they're just like ridiculous. All right. Another name for you. Somebody who I'm fucking done with. Do you want to try and guess? Okay. Yeah, done. I'm done.
00:14:59
Speaker
No more. No, no, no, it's no more. Like it's no more sympathy. No more handholding. No more. Oh, he played well besides each other. No more. He can go. I would sell him in the summer. He makes it hard. If there's a, if there's a, if there's a Saudi bid, then yeah. I don't care where I find the bid, find the bidder. Cause I'm fucking done. And look, there's a, there's a good defender in there somewhere. Maybe.
00:15:28
Speaker
But I'm I'm not I'm not doing it anymore Yeah, cuz even even in the forest game. He had like 30 good minutes and then All of a sudden 45 good minutes 45 good minutes really. Oh He also got like bodied in the box by my own. Yeah, I do that one that one chance so I left it at 30 but um, I
00:15:52
Speaker
Yeah, like he can have a great game and then just get bodied for a goal. Like he's just not cut out. It's just, it's too often. It's, it happens in a lot of different ways and it's just time. Look, no more excuses. I'm sick to death of them. If, if they want to keep them like a new manager.
00:16:14
Speaker
fine. I mean, but the thing is, is under any manager, ideally, it would be Staiten's decision. Because the other thing I'll say, if they let him always go, and then Staiten also goes that that's a nightmare. It's a fucking nightmare. Literally, like we date the club at that point. Like at that point, we're done. It's over. We had a good run. Um, because Staiten is the not the backup plan, but he's the
00:16:43
Speaker
the life after Moyes B is the contingency plan. Because I understand that you need center backs, but like no matter what happens, you have to buy a left sided center half this summer. You can't, you cannot do that. He just can't, he cannot be playing games at the clip that he's playing games. It's insane. And then do you promote Mavropanos to starting center back over Zuma?
00:17:13
Speaker
Probably. Especially, again, it all depends on the manager, but if you're playing with anybody who's not sitting deep, then yeah. You know what, dude? I think Lava Paunos is a good player. I think he's got similar issues to a Gared in terms of mistakes and stuff.
00:17:33
Speaker
His mistakes seem to be less like purely calamitous. And they also, I mean, I don't want to like, like, oh, his mistakes are ones that he can cut out. But he is just twice the athlete of Garrett is, which is saying something. Because a Garrett is a damn good athlete. But Matt Rapanos is bigger, faster, stronger.
00:17:53
Speaker
Um, not faster, but he's definitely bigger and stronger. He's close to us fast. He's, he moves, bro. Maybe not. But where it is just one of the fastest center backs in the league. That's all. That's really the only thing is going for him. Set high line shit. Mm-hmm. My, my, my rapados, him being an athlete and being like, you can't, you can't really easily move him off his spot, you know, as a, as a striker.
00:18:20
Speaker
Um, and that, that makes the world a difference, especially for moist league. Yeah. And I also think that. Mavropanos is the kind of guy, I think that he's settling into it now. I think he's getting used to, I mean, I know he played except games with arsenal, but you know, he's in the Bundesliga for however long. I think he's really like getting used to the league. I think we, it's time to let it rip. We need it. We need, we've gotten a taste. It's time for the whole, it's time for the whole lot. Shout out to, um,
00:18:49
Speaker
Paul Pierce. Paul Pierce said that. Yeah, about Embiid. Yeah, I thought he was talking about, I thought it was Charles Barkley said that. Paul Pierce. Sicko. Yeah, I would love if we could sign Kelman over the summer, I don't think it's gonna happen. But like, the D.A. Garrett thing, it's been a role. It's like,
00:19:19
Speaker
the mere mention of his name, not to do another reference, but he infuriates me. I can't, can't even look at him anymore. Like, I don't, I won't know what I'll do. Cause it's Zuma like, yeah, it's probably over. The athleticism is going fast. He's like the Lightning McQueen meme. He's fading fast. My goat is washed for sure. My goat is washed. But like,
00:19:48
Speaker
Like a Garrett can't be a Garrett is gifting goals both goals. We can see that we're his fault purely The first one's every fucking lazy It's every game has given bills away Just can't be doing this shit anymore with with these two and especially him you just have to spend big money on a center back and
00:20:14
Speaker
I think it's generally good practice to be buying centerbacks like every year. I like you can't have enough. And we basically have been buying new centerbacks every single year, at least one since this is another thing that people forget about noise is like how ridiculously we were run before he came here. Like we I think the only center back we ever bought
00:20:41
Speaker
for more than 15 million before Moyes was hired the second time was Diop. Somebody can correct me if I'm wrong about that. But just thinking about the center backs that we signed in the era where we would sign a center back for more than 15 million. Diop was 20, 21 million. Balbuena was 4 million. Dawson was 2 million. Ogbana was 10 million. Did we sign anybody? 16, 17. Don't think we signed the center back.
00:21:12
Speaker
17, 18, we definitely did not sign us under back that summer. Yeah, yeah. So that's insane. Because you think about that, the Isadilla, a 20 year old, 21 year old from France, playing at the bottom of the league in France for 21 million, who was greatest first season, was the only center back that we ever bought for more than 11 million pounds before we hired David Moyes in 2020.
00:21:41
Speaker
And since Zuma for 30 million, we've bought a Garrett for 30 million. We've bought Mavropanos for 20 million. Um, then we brought Dawson in and every, every one of those center backs has worked out to an extent that Garrett is the worst signing out of the four of them. And, and career as well, even though it wasn't career. Yeah. So, and Moyes does the same thing. I mean, with the midfielders Alvarez is great signing. I mean, we're proud. And we'll get to him.
00:22:11
Speaker
Um, you know, he's given Mois with Mois wanted, uh, but it's, it's time that as a fan base, we're honest. Cause the word proust thing is very, it's a reflection of the Mois conversation where you're like, you are totally in or you are totally out. Like we need to be normal about Mois, about James about everything as like it's time as a fan base. It's February 20th.
00:22:37
Speaker
We're going to have Europa League games. We have games that we can win coming up with Peketa coming back. It's time as a fan base that we act normal. As long as I can reserve my right to not be normal about Calvin Phillips.
Refereeing and Player Discipline
00:22:53
Speaker
No, dude. No, no, you don't because I'm because I'm fucking sick of this. It's it is too fucking much. We need to be normal.
00:23:02
Speaker
We need to be able to look at what David Moyes is doing and be like, he is the best manager in West Ham's Premier League history. Period. End of story. There's no argument. There's no debate. There's no nothing. We have to be able to look at David Moyes, say he is a good manager who does good things, very good things with clubs outside the top six. He has a unique style of play in the modern game.
00:23:30
Speaker
Then you have to look at him and say, he's not done well recently. Um, he can also have blame for the left wing thing. I think that siding comes first. Like you can say he's too reliant on WordPress. He sees WordPress on the level of kudos, but when I kept that, I think he sees Alvarez on that level too.
00:23:53
Speaker
I knew that was going to happen by the way. I'm pretty sure. Everybody knew that was going to happen. Yeah. But it's like, he's not. He needs, and it sucks that Phillips got sent off because he was not having a great game, but he was doing okay. And he was trying to get involved and he was, you know, getting back into the flow of things. So it sucks he got sent off because you know what? The referee was horrible for minute one, for both sides.
00:24:19
Speaker
Not because we look like the referee for the first 25 minutes of the game, forgotten his whistle, essentially, had no control over the game. It was one of the worst referee games I've seen in the league this season. Maybe the worst. Just zero control over the game from kick one. And it leads up to the first Calvin Phillips yellow card because he has no control over the game. We got guys running in from away from the ball to knock it out of Calvin Phillips hands. Are we fucking serious? Like, okay, maybe you shouldn't react like a petulant child, but you know what?
00:24:49
Speaker
When that happened, and I stand by this, I fucking like that, dude. Like, yeah, shove him off you, like, show emotion. Like, be emotional. Like, keep it in check, but I'm okay with him getting booked there. The second one, he doesn't need to make that challenge, sure. But to give him a second yellow card for something that's debatably not even a foul, and I think maybe it is a foul thing to book him for that, is so ridiculous, especially with the way that that game was being refereed.
00:25:19
Speaker
It's insane. You can't fucking send somebody off for that. Watching it back, he does come in pretty reckless. But judging by how the game was being refereed, bringing the second yell out in that moment, it felt very out of place.
00:25:39
Speaker
But that's, that's exactly my thing is for the referee. Okay, fine. You want to let them play or whatever the fuck. That's not letting them play. It's just letting guys get away with murder on Antonio, which welcome back. Got the full fucking experience. Um, like to set a tone where it's a physical, physical game to book somebody for that. When that challenge is being made the way it's being made because
00:26:08
Speaker
of the way that the referee set the game up and like essentially the referee has caused those two yellow cards to happen and then is sending a player off I keep losing my train of thought because it's infuriating right now everything but what I was getting at was that it sucks because if Phillips just has like this average game where he's not that great but you know he's like putting himself around
00:26:39
Speaker
Like maybe, just fucking maybe, you can go next game with Phillips and Alvarez in the pivot. And you can put Kudus in the 10, and you can put Bowen back out on the right, because I think getting Bowen back out on the right would be good for him. You can put Antoni off top, and you can have Peketa off the left. But now you can't even try that. Mm-hmm. Listen, about Calvin Phillips, I mean,
00:27:08
Speaker
He bothers me. I don't like looking at him. I don't like talking about him. Seeing him the way he's played, it's almost been like an insult, really. It doesn't look like he cares out there. It's sad to reduce it to that, but you're just not seeing even a sliver of what got him the move to City. And I don't know if spending years on the bench,
00:27:38
Speaker
made him fall out of love with the game or whatever. But like, I like, I would say that he spent all of his minutes against Bournemouth United and Arsenal building fitness. I would say that he came into that forest game with a point to prove and he was trying to use like
00:27:57
Speaker
He was running around. He needs to play with more personality and confidence. He has to get himself on that ball and take responsibility, which is at this point, probably foreign to him. He hasn't taken responsibility with the ball in about three years. Um, but yeah, the first three performances, especially arsenal or pretty respectful. Um, but that, that, that is what pisses me off about this red card is that like,
00:28:22
Speaker
And I've been lenient with him because like, if it works, it's great. And it gives you, you can change things
Tactical Formations and Strategies
00:28:29
Speaker
that we haven't been able to change. Cause we spend so much or like so much of what we do tactically is built around. Oh, like getting the best out of these midfielders. And it's about hiding the lack of athleticism in our midfield, which we've done a great job at. Um, and word prowess.
00:28:52
Speaker
is a better athlete than I probably gave him credit for over the summer, just because of the motor and how much running he can do. And he's a good presser when he gets to it, but he's still a very limited athlete. And then without Paquetta, you see the limitations in his passing game, especially if he's playing in that 10 role, if you want to call it that. He already was on the wing and that was terrible. That was crazy.
00:29:16
Speaker
And then every once in a while have a good cross or something because he's not a bad player. He's just not He's not something somebody that you build around which is okay That's okay to say and that is okay to acknowledge that and then if somebody wants to come oh He has 15 goals and says He has one assist Since then nodding him forest at home game and
00:29:43
Speaker
That's crazy. He has one assist and one goal that wasn't a penalty. And that's? He scored against Spurs and he assisted against Arsenal. Damn. Our two best wins of that entire fucking period. And this is exactly what I said over the summer when we signed him, is that he's going to have to contribute a comical amount of goals and assists for this to work. And he was doing that for a long time.
00:30:12
Speaker
And it was working. And then he was still putting in good performances throughout December, you know, without the goals and assists, which was fun, but it was because, you know, the, the three players you have up front, the talent there is also comical, especially when they were all cooking that way. Now one or two go out. You start looking back to work. How's like, you have to produce the goods. And when he's not doing it, we struggle mightily.
00:30:41
Speaker
And he's never gonna score a free kick. Just, that's my last thing. He will never score another free kick in his life. And if he does, it'll be in a cup. Yeah, I actually don't even get excited when he steps up to the spot anymore. I do. I'm like, this is the one, this is the one. Like sometimes he'll like get like a different angle than he usually takes the mat. And I'm like, maybe, maybe this is the one. And then he just hits the wall again. And it's like, okay, man, like,
00:31:11
Speaker
I've decided that there's only a certain angle he's going to score it at. He's got to be like two to five yards back from the D probably like three or four. And he's got to be like pretty dead center or like a little bit to the left or the right. I was thinking like right at the top of the day. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like it's got to be like a gimme, you know, like the top of the deal to the left. It's got to be a gimme.
00:31:40
Speaker
But that's my thing. And you know what, dude, maybe against Brentford, maybe you try him and Alvarez in the pivot again. Maybe you try it. And you go with Picato left, Bowen right, and Kudu's middle. I really don't see it. Because people will freak out, right? But he's supposed to be able to do that role.
00:32:07
Speaker
People are like, oh, he's not a pivot player. Well, he is. We bought him with the hopes of doing that. And I think that this system that Moyes is playing is also a part of his plan in hindsight. And I think he probably saw it. And we never saw this coming, the 4-3-3 thing. But the reality is, is like,
00:32:32
Speaker
He's played in a pivot for a majority of his career and he was bought with the assumption that he can do this because we've gone to it before. We did it with him against Chelsea. We won that game. We did it with him against Lewton. We won that game. We've done it. We've done it in other games. I believe we've done it in Europe a bunch. Like look, he has to be able to perform that role.
00:32:57
Speaker
like and Brentford are a very good team and that those midfielders are pretty damn good. They'll give him problems. But he just if he can't play in a pivot next Alvarez with like Paquetta and kudos in front of them, like helping with all retention and like passing like being available for the ball. Then what the fuck are we doing buying him for 30 million? There's not going to be a position for him eventually. There's going to come to a point where all these guys are back.
00:33:26
Speaker
And you say, well, where do we put the games? We're proud. So we can't put them at the 10 because kudos needs to play there. Um, I'm okay with sticking with the four three three and dropping Antonio for him. I'm totally okay with that. But I think that the way things are going, especially with Bowen's form, um, and kudos, not really having that much fun out there on the right and with the cat, the coming back and like just generally us missing a target upfront and somebody running the channels. I think that you have to try this four, two, three, one again.
00:33:56
Speaker
I think we have to mix it up. And I think Ward Prowse should play in the pivot. And then if he can't do it well, then you bring Phillips in for him. You're paying Phillips 140,000 pounds a week. And he's one of the manager's favorite players just in the world, generally. We'll see, man. We'll see with that Phillips guy.
00:34:19
Speaker
I'm running out of faith. He just doesn't deserve to play. Well, yeah, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying from a tactical point of view. If you don't trust where Krause is playing the pivot, he is the guy. Or Sucek. I would be down with Sucek. Worked pretty well against Arsenal. I just don't like how slow Sucek and Alvarez is and how slow they turn. Because at least where Krause is like a little nimble, you know?
00:34:46
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not saying it's like the the you know my preferred option. I would prefer Phillips just snapped out of the whatever like. Bullshit, he's on right now, but like if he's not going to do that then. You can't play him as it's it's it's regardless of how much he's making. It's are you arguing the minutes you get on the pitch and as of right now he can't stop getting red cards and putting the gold ball into our own net so.
00:35:16
Speaker
No, yeah, I mean, I totally agree with you. I think another thing to keep our eyes on is that there are going to be chances for him, especially if we can get through the Round of 16 in the Europa League. There's a lot of games coming up, and he's going to have to play in some of them. So look, there's reports he's going to get left there at the England squad now.
00:35:43
Speaker
It's just what we do. But he's going to have to earn it, man. Me personally, the more I think about it, I really hope that we try a 4-2-3-1 with kudos behind Antonio and Bowen back out right. I think that Bowen has to be back out in the right way. That was the vision from the start, you know? That was what it was supposed to be. We never even saw that though, did we? We've never seen it once.
00:36:13
Speaker
because Antonio was hurt. And then, when Paquetta and Alvarez were suspended against Brentford last time, and we played 4-2-2, or 4-4-2-2, with Ben Rama and Kudus on the wings, and then Bowen and Antonio up front. I wonder if that's the way he would go.
00:36:42
Speaker
Was that Chris's first start? That was his second Premier League start. He started against Everton. We lost. I remember he got like... We just weren't winning. His first Premier League starts. It was pretty funny, actually. Because I think we lost Everton, we drew with Palace, we lost to Brentford, and then we had that week around the Everton game too.
00:37:12
Speaker
Mm hmm. Was Brentford before after Everton? Can't even remember anymore. I think it was before. Maybe. No, no, no. I think it was after. I think it was after. It was Everton was right before Brentford. Yeah, it sounds right. And then Palace was after Brentford. Palace was
00:37:42
Speaker
We played Crystal Palace. We played Everton, Brentford, Forest, Burnley Palace. We played Palace after Burnley? Yeah. Oh, you know what? That's right. That's not the way I remembered it. Ugh. I don't want to play against Ivan Tony.
00:38:10
Speaker
especially with the Garrett in the lineup that sounds sounds pretty disgusting. But at this point, I think I think this is the this has got to be the one where a change is made one of them. Yeah, no, I think it will be and I think that with the coming back, I honestly I have a pretty decent amount of faith that he is going to go with the four, two, three, one and try it.
00:38:36
Speaker
You're speaking very boldly as if Paquetta is guaranteed to be back for this game. I think he is. He was on the grass, bro. He was on the grass a few days before whatever this game was.
Injuries and Team Dynamics
00:38:50
Speaker
Forest. And then we don't play until Monday. I can see him being on the bench. I think he's gonna start. Listen, man. And you can shoot me in the face.
00:39:04
Speaker
if he doesn't start because i'll tell you what i don't want to be there for it seriously i can't i can't do it again if the team needs him ever gonna they're gonna rush him back even if he's not ready he's gonna play that game good if we're if we're rushing him back for for bristol city then we should definitely be rushing him back we didn't rush him back for bristol city stop that it's not what i say so it's not what happened i was there
00:39:33
Speaker
You were in the room. That is not what happened. Doc gave him the OK. Doc gave him the OK. He was all cleared. Man, it's so fucked that everything went sideways off that game. Because we played so well the first 10 minutes of that game, too. Emily's messing around with the Peketa and the false nine with Kudu's gone. My goodness, my goodness, my goodness, my goodness. And then what? And then we haven't scored since.
00:40:04
Speaker
Hey, hey, hey, respect Maxwell Corne's open play goal. He was, you know what, he was fucking terrible against Jeff Field United. And I look, I don't even like hate Corne or like want to slander him or I, I feel terrible for him more than anything else. Cause he is a good player or was a good, was a good player ever. So he, he is a guy.
00:40:31
Speaker
who seems to be a very genuinely nice guy. He has never really complained. Maybe he's posted a few weird Instagram stories, but it's probably just sad. To have the injury that he had and to go through all the shit he did, I'm just happy he scored a goal for us, because he had enough disallowed goals for us. But boys, he is a shell.
00:41:02
Speaker
of a player. He can't, he can't pass the ball to where he wants to play it to, which to some extent might be sharpness or like he can't like consistently make a pass. He looks super weak whenever he plays, which he was not super weak at Burnley. No, it's probably has to do with this calf thing. He wasn't, I don't remember him being weak when he first got here either. No. And it's like,
00:41:33
Speaker
It sucks. And he always seemed like one of the signs that wouldn't be like all that great. But like, you know, he thought he'd bring something. It's just, he started off, he was lively at the very least, you know? Yeah, no, he was trying to, he was like, he was something different to the two clowns that usually play on the left. Yeah, I was excited for him. Like everybody was excited for him.
00:42:00
Speaker
It sucks. I really do. I feel horrible for him. Like, nobody should have to have an injury like that. Really sucks. But yeah, I mean, he's an atrocious, atrocious, atrocious footballer. He's really the worst in our squad. Hey, don't disrespect Nia Figuere. I'm so fucking sick, dude. So sick. Yeah. It's sad.
00:42:30
Speaker
Dude, people are calling for Abana, man. You know how bad you got to play? Yeah, right. Because Abana literally can't move at all. Can't move. People complain about Zuma. Abana is literally a statue. We keep playing like this where we're going to end up back in...
00:42:49
Speaker
of Bonazuma deep block. Don't leave your own box defending, which I do. I get some fucking results like that. Full on my way ball. Moises the Moises the Moises out banner. He's like, all right, dude, our our our two biggest league results in the last. 12 months I've come. Oh, you know what? No, no, no, no, no, because my Rapano started against Arsenal, not Zuma.
00:43:18
Speaker
Yeah, that game was Akbana and Mavropanos, right? Yeah, and then the other one I was talking about was Foam Away last year. Those who make for a good partnership, Akbana and Mavropanos, they're like a buddy cop movie.
00:43:41
Speaker
Just like a comedic duo. It's just 21 Jump Street. Oh my God. I really don't know where we go. If Paquetta is back and we don't win a home game against like 14th in the league or whatever, it's going to get weird.
00:44:08
Speaker
I'm all smiles right now. I'll pivot. I'll pivot. Yeah. We lose the first game in Paqueta's back. He puts in a 6 out of 10 for his standards, and the alarm bells go off. Dude, I panic. Everyone is in conversation to be sold. Moi is like, we're talking about, is it really the end of the world if we get Steve Cooper in?
00:44:34
Speaker
Nah, it'll never get that bad. I'll ride out with Moisley any season, even if we have the hour dice, three wins in the new year. But yeah, no, if Paquetta comes out and he like is a little slow at first, if his passes aren't crisp, because you remember he had that stretch in November, the game that sticks out to me, it was before the Forest game.
00:44:59
Speaker
where he fucking he was fucking terrible. Like people forget like he obviously started out the season great. And then after the villa game through the Burnley game, the Burnley game especially couldn't fucking string a pass together. It was so weird. It was like super weird. He had like
00:45:22
Speaker
Cause he was like, she was doing a ton of work like without the ball, which was awesome. And it was what made it bearable. Um, and I remember going to post a tweet on the hammering away account, um, after the Burnley game to be like, Oh, look how many times he won the ball back. And his passing percentage was like 57%.
Future Transfers and Market Strategies
00:45:40
Speaker
And I was like, Oh, I want to post this. Like, like, like, what if a rival fantasy is it dude? Like what the fuck? But yeah, if, if he comes back, moving the ball like that, I'm going to,
00:45:52
Speaker
gonna really panic he was just joking around there's no time for jokes at this point he knows that he knows he knows he knows he knows he knows we need him i don't know what we're gonna do with that guy or what we're gonna do without that guy there's nothing to do like do we can tell we can sit here and talk as long as we want about like what's gonna happen next summer but if we basically if we don't get as a we're kind of screwed
00:46:20
Speaker
no we can evolve and do something different but if he goes if he goes right you have to buy two players you have to buy a striker and you have to buy a left winger we're gonna spend a lot of money on the striker anyway i feel like yeah but if he stays i don't know you still gotta buy a winger it's a
00:46:51
Speaker
It's, this is what, again, it started in his job. Who's the kid? I think he was a winger that he liked, playing in like Chile or something. Oh, Osorio. Yeah. Is he gonna? He still exists. Nah, he's a figment of our imaginations. Where did he play Chile? Yeah, we, we like are gonna need some side 10 specials in the summer. Oh, you just sold.
00:47:19
Speaker
Oh yeah, that's right. He did move. Where did he go? Fucking, how do you spell? How do you say that? The Mid Sea land? Oh, he's in, uh, in the Netherlands. Oh, right. No, I thought that they played in Denmark. No. Yeah. They're Denmark. My fault. Yeah. I always think that them and, uh, Osman's old club were rivals, but it's only because they both played Denmark and I can't spell their names.
00:47:48
Speaker
Are they not rivals? I have no idea. They might be. But yeah. This kid's got four goals in four starts. 11 appearances. Spitter stats than Osman.
00:48:17
Speaker
Yeah. Brighton boys. He scored against Oz. He put a goal on Osman's head in 13 minutes in a sub appearance. Do you know what's going to break me is like if Osman like scores this weekend, like scores in the conference league, like posting it. Let it go, man. Like we're going to need
00:48:46
Speaker
Some satin specials in the summer just like from a price point of view Because you know, we probably have to spend big on a center back Probably gonna spend on the center backs Probably gonna spend big on a striker I'd be cool with one big center back a side and special center back a new center mid. It's like mid-level price a right back He's gonna you know, he's gonna have to sign them
00:49:16
Speaker
So... Young who? What was his name? The right back. The right back. He was watching at the Asia Cup instead of signing a winger. This guy just goes on free vacations. Freaking Brazil. He's not looking at any of these guys. Let's be real here. You better sign somebody. You better... Dude, you know what?
00:49:35
Speaker
I've decided. I want that Korean right back. And you know what I've also decided? I think he's gonna be really good. And you know what else I decided? He's better than Kufo. Dude, he is a disgrace. Sick of watching him play, bro. And then he started playing with kudos this year. He's doing chops inside. He thinks he's Ronaldo now. I'm an idiot. And you know, he's a fucking idiot for Sheffield United too. He's a clown. Dude, I can't look at him.
00:50:04
Speaker
No, she can't look at that guy I'm sick of it Like he's he's dodging a lot of slander right now cuz I look like we're truly no one else is really playing that well He's just like normal bad. He's playing. Yeah, but he's been normal bad for a while and It's just I mean and Ben Johnson. I like how they get past Ben Johnson Might have the worst end product out of any fullback in the Premier League
00:50:30
Speaker
It's so sad because he's actually so good besides that. He can even play, bro. He just like, what's his deal? He can't cross the, why can't he cross the ball? Why is he better crosser with his left foot than his right foot? Right? Like, how are you learning this? Like, why are you spending so much time crossing with your left? You are right back, sir. He, he's, I don't know what he is. He's just, he just needs to learn how to cross the ball. He just needs to pick somebody out.
00:51:02
Speaker
You just need to pick his head up. You can't, it's like, it's like those kids and you play basketball, they're looking at the ball while they dribble. It's insane. Sick of that. I'm sick of Kufo, like having a little bit of improv. He's like picking people out this year now. Can't do anything else.
00:51:22
Speaker
He like he honestly doesn't even do that that well like he did a few times this year but like Every time I see him in the lineup. I'm like, oh at least we'll get a few good crosses today. Like we usually don't No, I don't think that we're gonna get a good cross. I just think that hey If he's given acres of space, he might cut it back instead of just fucking smashing it high Or he might like float it, you know Mm-hmm
00:51:49
Speaker
And then he got thrown off the Czech national team this year. Remember that? What the hell was that? Oh my god, yeah. What the hell? He's like 30 with kids. Is that going out to the clubs and stuff? Call your daughter or something, man. He's a family man. He is a family man. What is he doing? He's got to be there for them. Oh my god, bro. And then Suchak, everything's been said about him. There's nothing left to say about him. Yeah.
00:52:21
Speaker
I'm very defeated by this team, by this club right
Consistency and Fan Expectations
00:52:24
Speaker
now. I am beat into the ground. And you know what? It's not even about as much the results. The results have been fucking terrible, especially this last one. It's the discourse around it and the lack of just normalness. Just can't be normal.
00:52:41
Speaker
I've just been just waiting for the day Paquetta comes back and saves them. It just saves us all. Everyone's going to go back to good form. We're going to start winning games. Claret and Booze and fucking whoever the opposite of him is. West Ham Online and Claret and Boozer. You know who's the opposite of him. It's the guy with the upside down Craig Dawson profile picture. Who?
00:53:11
Speaker
I think his name is Paul. He's always tweeting pro-moist stuff, which is respect. But like, it's super funny. You know who he is, man. If you look up his at, he's like the most pro-moist person on the website. Isn't that Jamie? Who's Jamie? Am I making up guys now? Is this true him we're talking about?
00:53:38
Speaker
No, club shop hammer at not Paul 1985 X. There's no way you don't see this person's tweets, dude. Seeing Mark or not of it, you both score on a Champions League knockout round. Just makes you wonder what could have been if we kept Moyes the first time around. Like, no, thanks, bro. Like we would have been fine on their Moyes if we kept them the first time around.
00:54:06
Speaker
But, like, we would not have been going in the era and shit. Like, he genuinely evolved when he was gone. That's such, like, revisionist history. I'm just, like, glossing over a lot. It's funny. Did he resign or not? Like, he fixed him. He made him. But, like, it's be for real. Like, Ranautovitch just, like, played well under Pellegrini, too, you know?
00:54:34
Speaker
He was great on the program. He probably yeah, like it's not like it's like he wouldn't have went to China if it wasn't He might want to China with the black eye Man he should have stayed fucking clown You know, we should have brought him back in January 2022 I still think it's ridiculous because he wanted because he was on 70k a week really I
00:55:03
Speaker
Right, and we're paying Calvin Phillips 140K. That was insane. That was so insane that we went through that. We could have won the Europa League with him. Uh-huh. And then he's scoring for enter. I'm super happy for him, though. Absolutely. Super happy to see him enter scoring in the Champions League. He missed a huge chance, but he, like, did good. He made sure to put away the next one.
Leadership Decisions and Team Dynamics
00:55:33
Speaker
Was the goal good? It was a rebound. You just smashed it and somebody tried to block it on the line and kicked it into the roof. Good for him. Yeah. Anyways, though, I think that that's the episode. We'll be back after the Brentford game. We will be consistent again. But this club is beating me to a pulp right now. Any final words? Anyone that we didn't talk about anything
00:56:03
Speaker
bothering you. Alvarez is good. Alvarez is a good footballer. Thank God for Edson Alvarez. He's legitimately the only person in good form at the club right now. And thank God for Mark Noble. Mark Knobes for interim manager. Give it Knobes end of the season.
00:56:26
Speaker
Caretaker. We'll have Mark Noble on next week after we lose to Renford. And we will, we'll talk to him about his, uh, how he's going to prepare for Everton is who we play after Brentford, I think. Can you imagine we play Everton after they get like a few points back? If they get any from this, uh, appeal, I will blow my
Episode Conclusion
00:56:45
Speaker
brains out. That'd be good. That means they could chill. No, I, you know, I'm going to be mad if they get anything back from that. I don't think that they should. Honestly, they won't, they won't be real.
00:56:57
Speaker
You got any final thoughts on anybody? Zuma sucks. That's another one. Zuma sucks. We didn't do enough of that. Fabianci sucks, by the way. Just another... That was awful. That was really funny. No, he's fucking terrible. I don't even remember which of the games he came in now. Whether it was... That was United. He was horrendous. He's pathetic.
00:57:23
Speaker
That was the funniest shit I've ever seen. I would play Areola in the Europa League matches, honestly. Like, it's enough. It's enough. Those games mean too much to be fucking around with Fabianzky. It's enough. Anyway, if you want anything, I'll stop stealing stuff. Calvin Phillips, I'm never going to forgive you for getting my account suspended. Fuck you. Fuck you, Calvin Phillips. You're ridiculous, bro. Anyways.
00:57:53
Speaker
Thank you everybody for listening. This club will be the death of all of us. We'll talk to you next week. Find us on Twitter at hammering underscore away. The website is hammering-away.blog. Instagram is hammering away underscore and TikTok is hammering away. Peace.
00:59:57
Speaker
So,
01:01:06
Speaker
Bye!