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Episode 021 - Wildcard Wednesday Hypothetical Questions!
14 Plays1 month ago
In todays Wildcard Wednesday Tom is in the hotseat as Josh becomes the question master. Asking a wide range of conundrums including Would you Rather and Start, Bench, Sell questions!
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Transcript
West Ham Victory and International Break
00:00:01
Speaker
every club every day the global sports podcast network hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the daily gspn west ham broadcast i'm joined by tom today how you doing buddy i'm doing really well mate off the back of a you know good Ipswich win i know we've already done a podcast but still trying to why ride that wave of positivity so yeah i'm good mate I think we're going to have a nice pleasant bit of time now on international break, just enjoying a nice big win and hopefully we can carry that into
Wildcard Wednesday Surprise Questions
00:00:32
Speaker
Spurs. Now, as we say, international break is always a bit of a weird time for us with an absence of football, so something a bit different today. Obviously for our wild card Wednesday, I've got a bit of a surprise for Tom today with a couple of questions, a few different sections I'm going to break down, but essentially he's going to be in the hot seat similar to me a few weeks ago with a couple of questions that we can explore both sides of. I want to hear his thoughts, I'll share what I think in some cases
00:00:54
Speaker
But ah yeah, hopefully a bit of an insight and see if ah
Premier League vs. Champions League Debate
00:00:57
Speaker
if you guys agree. But to start with, got a bit of an old-fashioned one. i have ah One of my friends gave me the idea for this, but just a bit of a, ah would you rather, with a bit of a West Ham theme to it, just because I think there's a, everyone always has different opinions on these. So I'm going to start nice and rogue. Now, my first one for you today, would you rather West Ham win the Premier League once, but never finish in a top four again? Or Consistently qualify for the Champions League, but never win it.
00:01:28
Speaker
That's a question and a half. It's tough, isn't it? I think my question for it would be, so we win the league, but we never finish, did you say top half or top four again? We never finish in the top four again. Never finish in the top four again, whatever. Yeah, again, ever.
00:01:48
Speaker
So win it once, a bit like a, you know, a Galestar back in the day or back in Forest when they were good, you know. I think I would pick always finishing in the top four, but never winning the league just because.
00:02:02
Speaker
the opportunity for playing European football is then every single year. So we win the league one year, but then we're never going to get any sort of silverware ever apart from like the FA Cup or the Garabag Cup. But if we're consistently finishing in the top four, then we're every season jumping to the league. And then, you know, at some point, surely we'd have to win it, you know, kind of.
00:02:21
Speaker
If we're in it for 30 years, you'd like to think at some point we're starting to attract players who know we're going to be playing in the league if we're you know that good. So yeah, I'd say
FA Cup vs. Finishing Above Tottenham Debate
00:02:30
Speaker
that one. I think that's kind of the highest total number of things won in that instance, I'd say.
00:02:36
Speaker
true Exactly. you know the The second half being, qualify for the Champions League but never win it. It doesn't say about all the other tournaments that we play in. But being out to be classed as a big club as well, fantastic. And it gives a bit more of a more reputation than we already need. but We already do have it anyway. You're saying that like we're not already as a big club, mate. Yeah, but no no one else thinks it apart from us. So we' we'd actually give some respect to our names.
00:02:59
Speaker
Yeah, it's going to be an interesting one, I think. But that's that's my thought, at least if we have a bit of that that status. Now, next one, a bit more close to home. Would you rather see West Ham win the FA Cup this season or see them finish above Tottenham in the league every season for the next five years? Oh.
00:03:21
Speaker
The biggest pause for five years or win the FA Cup once now with no guarantee of it again. The finishing above Spurs one is obviously enticing. It's just that doesn't mean that we're doing good. It just means that they're doing worse than us which you know is great but if if they're 11th and we're 10th It kind of takes the the enthusiasm out of my desire to pick that answer from on us. I'd probably say and FA Cup, just because like FA Cup is a huge thing. Like the sort of celebrations that we'd have, you know, you you saw the ah conference league celebrations. It was like, you know, 250,000 people out for the the bus parade and stuff. So yeah, I'd probably say FA Cup. That'd be a a huge party, wouldn't it? If if we won the f FA Cup.
00:04:12
Speaker
I think that's with with our reputation anyway. i think that and I have a feeling with a couple of these now, I think I know which way we're going to go based on your first couple of
Keeping Declan Rice vs. Winning a Cup Debate
00:04:19
Speaker
answers. A bit like ah but like a psychiatrist, this, for West Ham. But but i think that i think all of us all of us now you know I think most people will favour the trophy because of how good the conference league one was recently. the yeah Getting another taste of that again would be fantastic. Now, with with that then, we've got a bit of an interesting one because my next question is,
00:04:39
Speaker
Would you rather keep Declan Rice for another five years? you know we could get Instead of getting rid of him, we could have kept him for another five more years, but never win a trophy or sell him and win a domestic cup the next season. It's it's obviously selling. them like It's tough, isn't it? Because you know a five years Declan Rice in the future, you you see him probably, yeah I mean, he already is, but you know one of the best DMs in the world. and obviously bring quality to the squad but just because we have him doesn't mean that the rest of the club is in as good of a place as it obviously is if we're winning stuff you know so so yeah I definitely take winning stuff but you know Declan if you do fancy coming back mate I would quite like to have you back you know the door is always open I know the the red side of London is probably you know getting a bit boring at this point you know the the fans are the good and
00:05:36
Speaker
and you know, just generally being being associated with Arsenal must be, you know, kind of arduous after a while and you reminisce about the West Ham days. so So yeah, you know, if you fancy it, you know, I'm sure we could fit you in somewhere.
London Stadium vs. Upton Park Debate
00:05:49
Speaker
Exactly. I mean, the other point of that as well, do you think about how there's more of a segue to how good Alvarez has been for us that you know the grass actually has been a bit green compared to it not being so green with you know having mean no DM that was going to be consistently good as how he's been but actually you can see the other day I think I saw there was um some interest from AC Milan for ah from for the next window or next season which ah gave it a scare recently didn't didn't like the look of that one and a rumored swap deal for um
00:06:19
Speaker
I can't believe who it was now. um Typically, I should be reading these things and knowing. But ah but yeah, some swap deals they see Milan to get rid of Alvarez wasn't giving me some positive signs. But um but yeah, now, yeah, it's just so many good players that we could see, you know, depending on how well we do. I think we're on a bit of a nice edge this season with However we perform with La Pate, it depends on what really happens. But but we'll see. Now, my next would you rather, away from the trophies and winning side, ah it's going to be to do with how much you prefer the London Stadium to up Upton Park. So it's, would you rather West Ham stay at little under the London Stadium forever or move back to Upton Park with no guarantee of any better results than how we've done recently? That is so tough.
00:07:06
Speaker
um but It's so much like a double-edged sword, isn't it? Because obviously the the bowling ground, was the atmosphere was incredible. like the sort The sort of noise that that place generated was amazing and because it was so so tightly packed. and the the sort of atmosphere that was created because of that was amazing. It's just the one thing that you you struggle to accept is the kind of lack of ability to improve and increase the size. like As our aspirations get bigger and bigger, and you know we've already been playing consistently in Europe and we won a European trophy, it
00:07:48
Speaker
like we need to look to expand and grow and kind of improve the facilities generally because you see all over the country and all over the world generally clubs are investing so much money into their stadium. So us having a stadium that is very difficult to expand because of its location, that's what makes it really tough. my The perfect situation for me, if we could just make it so that there was a little bit more room around that old ground and we could just turn it into like a you know 55,000, 60,000 like similar to what the London Stadium is now and that place would absolutely rock whenever we played. If we got some European nights in that stadium that would be unreal so
00:08:31
Speaker
Wait, what were the actual questions again? Because I've taken myself down a rabbit hole and I've forgotten about this. No, no, no. This is why we do these things. No, that's completely understandable. The question will be, so would you rather stay at the London Stadium forever? So no, that's it. We're locked in there now forever. Or we can move back to Upton Park, but if we move back, there's no guarantee that we'll ever get better than what we finished recently. So, you know, looking at a conference league recently or winning is pretty much the highlighting of where we'd be up to.
00:09:00
Speaker
I think we have to stay where we are. I genuinely think we have to. earn more yeah we We have the ability to make the London Stadium somewhere that is intimidating to go. like I know we've you know we get banter from all the other guys to be like, the stadium doesn't have atmosphere, blah, blah, blah, all this stuff. But as we've upped the capacity and as we've kind of started to settle in, and it does rock on European nights. When we have played in European football, may me and Josh know this, we've you know we've been to big European nights at the London Stadium and it's the place goes crazy. like The sort of noise that's generated in the atmosphere was amazing. So it definitely can be a place where rival fans come and they go, wow, this is somewhere to be really intimidated by and for us to be proud of. It's just
00:09:50
Speaker
We have to get the club moving in a direction where we're winning more games and the atmosphere is getting more positive. So we can then create an atmosphere in the stadium specifically because when you do move somewhere new, you have to kind of build it up. It's not something that's ever really going to happen completely straight away. And because we've not had that sort of success, it's been difficult to make the London Stadium as much of a fortress as I think most people would like it to be.
What If Dimitri Pyatt Stayed?
00:10:17
Speaker
And in this kind of hypo hypothetical scenario, if we owned the London Stadium, because I know we're currently leasing, aren't we? um If we owned it, we could do so many changes to that stadium to make it a proper football stadium. you know We could like we can bring the seats close to the pitch and we can create so much infrastructure around the stadium because there is so much space around it. Obviously, it being in the you know the old Olympic park, we could make that place an absolutely brilliant facility. So I think that's the answer I'd have to go with.
00:10:45
Speaker
No, that's I think that's the the two biggest things I think we get from the fans really is that everyone has to look miles away from the stadium with a binoculars even though it's not oh always the case. you know I don't think i don't think it fully you i ah think every stadium has that really depending on where you sit but it's definitely not as bad as they thought because they have moved it closer in the recent years so and then you look at other clubs as well though and obviously Mang United and looking at what they can do to invest obviously, Everton with their new facilities, and no they don't really need it because they're going down.
00:11:12
Speaker
you know, they just keep keep on the real full streak. It's not like it's going to be they don't need the facilities right now. But you know, everyone's investing in it. I think going back in time wouldn't really help us too much, although it'd be nostalgic more than, you know, the where we are now. So that's, that's fair enough. I don't think I don't think anyone would disagree or there'd be some maybe some people that would say you just bring back Upton Park and those nights but you are right that we look back at I think the best night we had ah from where the ones I've been on were it was that Sevilla night and and how good the stadium was at home when we played against Sevilla for that second leg.
00:11:45
Speaker
I don't think that's way off the mark from what the atmosphere was like at Upton Park. So I think that's where we are with it. Now, I hope that's giving you a nice little sort of tester and just a bit of a warm into what we've got coming up for you. But that's going to be our first segment for our would you rathers. We're going to go to a quick ad break now, and then I'm going to go into some what ifs with you, or we're going to explore what could be happening or what could have happened.
00:12:11
Speaker
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00:12:49
Speaker
Right. Now, as we go into our what if section, the way this is going to work is similar to what we've just done, except I'm going to give you a ah hypothetical statement. you know What if this has happened or what would happen, do you think, if this would happen in the future? Then we can sit and explore you know how we think the club would shift depending on how that matters. Some of them are going to be a bit you know subjective because we can't say everything and can't get our crystal balls out to say what's going to happen. But we came to hear your thoughts on how you think the club would have shifted since something happening or in the future.
00:13:18
Speaker
So I'm going to start with probably the age-old question that I think we'd all get and all would love to know. So what do you think would have happened if Demetri Pyatt had never left?
Impact of Keeping Conference League Winning Squad
00:13:32
Speaker
I think the important things with this question are kind of the context around it. I'm assuming he he wanted to stay. He wasn't forced to stay. He decided that he wanted to stay at West Ham for the foreseeable. To be honest, I think What would have happened is we would have kind of got to the point where are where we are now a few years earlier, kind of consistently playing in Europe. I think it's something that would have happened just a little bit sooner than it did in real life. You think about the the sort of squad we had then was good. You know, the the first year in the London Stadium, the last um years in the bowling, it was the the vibe around the club was was kind of that of moving forward and growth. And it was, I say positive, it it was kind of mixed. People had mixed feelings about
00:14:15
Speaker
leaving the old stadium, moving into the new one. And when Dimitri Pyatt was with us, he kind of set the league alight. Obviously, we all know about how amazing he was. And I think if he had stayed and we had continued playing as well as we did with him and the team, I think, yeah, it would have kind of accelerated our progression towards European football and made us able to attract higher level players because they wanted to come and play with him because, you know, he he's you know that season is one of the best individual seasons I've i've ever seen. like It was unbelievably good and I ah kind of put him up there with like individual seasons. like
00:14:54
Speaker
and I think he is one of the best and I know that probably will get a lot of heat from a lot of and fans of other teams but yeah he but he was just magical and it seemed like everything that he touched turned to gold and the free kicks and the the way that he played so silky and the goals and yeah everything it was unbelievable so But yeah, but but my answer is I think we'd probably be relatively similar to where we are now, just a few years earlier. And I think maybe now we would be consistently seen as a European team instead of now where we've maybe slightly stagnated a little bit after David Moyes has left, that if that makes sense.
00:15:35
Speaker
Yeah, no, I think that's valid. I mean, the other question I was going to ask you later on, but I think it's going to be a very similar answer, but you're going to say even earlier to me would be on a similar basis. What happened if we'd have signed Neymar when that deal was circling and rumoured? What would be happening then? And I think that I think your answer would be, I imagine the same thing. It'd be, you know, significantly earlier, you know, this is what would be happening. We'd be, you know, shooting, shooting for the skies instantly with how good we are. Maybe even had a big six. But ah I was going to say something legal in this, but Oh, all right. Okay. Should have asked you then. No. Okay. and Now this one's, I guess it's a bit more of a ah theoretical. If, if we look back to such an amazing team that we did have back in the day, our conference league winning one, what would you say nothing had changed? And we still had that team right now.
00:16:21
Speaker
I guess one, where do you think we'd finish? And two, what do you think would be happening? And that's obviously into the basis that Moyes is still gone regardless. So we'll we'll go for this season with a clean state. but you know Where do you think we'd be going if we had that
Start, Bench, Sell: Pyatt, Lanzini, Lingard
00:16:33
Speaker
team now? And if you need a refresher, I can run through the team anyway. but yeah Yeah, take us through the team and then I'll i'll give you the answer.
00:16:41
Speaker
Okay, so ah our winning team starts off with our earlier in net. Our back line is obviously so far, Zuma, Agued, and Emerson. Midfield, we've got the absolute diamond trio of Sujek, Rice, and Pakita. And then up top, we've got Bowen, Ben Rama, and Antonia.
00:17:04
Speaker
Wow, that's, it's the kit as well. That team just reminds me of that kind of ah the the forged in via flames kit that we won in it. That's amazing. I know so many people from other teams said they hated that kit, but because, you know, because what happened in it, I absolutely love it. um It's a really tough question actually. I think,
00:17:25
Speaker
Is it a cop-out to say it? I think it would be kind of similar to where we are now. I think, like, there's there's positives and there's negatives. Like, if you look at how the team has changed or compared to what it was, like, you obviously think that Declan Rice is obviously an an improvement on who we have as the two DMs. and And that's no disrespect to the guys that we have now, because I think they're amazing. Obviously, I love Ours, of whereas and when Sucek and, you know, Sucek or Guido, they kind of interchange. And, you know, we've had maybe Solaire playing there a little bit as well.
00:17:53
Speaker
I don't think it's any disrespect to say that not they're not as good as Declan Rice is because Declan Rice, you know, like I said earlier, is one of the best defensive midfielders in the world. um But yeah, and then you see other places where I think we've improved now. You think kind of going forwards, I think we're a lot stronger now. If you look at, I've always thought Ben Rammel was quite good for us, but Kudus isn't an obvious upgrade. You look at how consistently kind of creative and the sort of dribble numbers that Kudus gets. it They've always been really high. and Ben Raman never really did it as consistently for us as I think we wanted him to. so yeah And then you look at the back line, the back line I think is probably maybe slightly better for that conference winning team. like I quite liked the Zuma-Aguer partnership, but then the I think the the potential for the partnership that we have now in Kilman and Tadebo, I think is the ceiling is a lot higher. and
00:18:44
Speaker
And then obviously, you know, Fallback's basically the same. Maybe you swap one Pasaka for Kufo now, it depends who's going to play more this season. Yeah, I think probably relatively similar. I think if I'm honest, we are better now than we were then, maybe slightly. And I think the the potential and like the age profile of this team is a lot more forgiving when we look forward to the next couple of years. Like you can see,
00:19:10
Speaker
a decent amount of the players that we have now staying with us for quite a while. So yeah, I think probably finishing slightly similar. I think maybe I'd edge it towards this season's team finishing slightly above where that team did. And then I think it's kind of looking forward that this squad looks so much more promising.
00:19:31
Speaker
Yeah, ah it's completely fair to be honest. I think you look at it and think how well we performed in that that season. And I think there was probably a few players that weren't hitting the mark, similar to how we say now. I mean, obviously Antonio wasn't, you know, he's always our key sort of figure in performance at the moment anyway. But I think even then, obviously he was better than how I think he's been now, but even compared to those back even a few more seasons back where you could have him in fantasy, for example, and you know, he'd be a solid striker up top for you.
00:19:59
Speaker
um But equally as well, yeah, I think when we think of Zuma and Aguard now, it almost falls into this kind of, they were actually really solid back then. Zuma fell off last season a little bit, but actually that season before he was relatively solid and didn't really look too uncomfortable. Whereas, you know, I think we've seen that sudden drop in performance. So i I do agree with you. I think with the conference league team now, I think that we'd, we'd probably finish below mid table.
00:20:29
Speaker
in my opinion, that's my road shout purely on the fact that what made that team so good was if that was that no one really got injured. If there was a single injury, we had no squad depth that we could you know at least of equal caliber. I think we all sit there for the whole last season thinking that if Rice gets injured, what are we going to do? And that that was always the biggest scare, wasn't it? So that's Probably, that's why I think we finished low, because we're a bit almost like, I use the word glass cannon, where the team was solid. But if there's an injury, we we felt it for a very short period of time from how many injuries before. So thats that's where I probably think it would change now. Yeah, I think that's probably very accurate. I think the team now we've got, you're right, the the ceiling for potential is so much higher. And I think that's probably what we're going to be most excited to see as we just continually grow and get the players more settled and used to each other. so
00:21:16
Speaker
good, good call. And I think that was a good, a very good answer to what I
Start, Bench, Sell: Soucek, Soler, Rodriguez
00:21:20
Speaker
had in mind. So perfect. Now I'm going to be onto the final section and it's going to be a good old fashioned start bench sell just to, uh, just to bring back a classic. So we'll, uh, we'll go to a short advert break and then we'll go through some of those.
00:21:36
Speaker
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00:22:02
Speaker
Right. Now, as we enter the start bank sale section, I've got a couple lined up for you. And then I've got one key question. I had, ah I described it as almost like a quick last minute thought. I want to ask you at the end and, uh, and I want to see your thoughts on it, but we'll start with a classic one. And I think the first question I seem to ask is always the worst and hardest one. So start bench and sell. And the three players that you've got are Demetri Pyatt, Jesse Lingard during his loan spell. So similar, you know, not too long. And then Manuel Lanzini in his prime.
00:22:33
Speaker
ah Oh, that stuff. Okay. Actually, it's not tough. I think that's easy. Oh, and go start pyre benchlands in the selling God. Simple. All right. but Okay. I feel like it's quite self-explanatory. Really? and Well, yeah, to me, to me, to fight season, I think he starts for most teams, you know,
00:22:58
Speaker
I don't think there's many teams where he doesn't get a shout as a starter, really, to be honest. I think he was that good. The other thing, I'm gonna go on a bit of a tangent here. People always say, oh, you know, he doesn't get into these great, amazing teams that want all this stuff. It's like, well,
00:23:12
Speaker
what if a player is putting up the numbers of the players that are playing in teams that are winning everything but they're playing with players that aren't anywhere near as good as that and they're finishing in league places where you know they're finishing mid table and they've they've not got the resources or the players around them to show that their talents are actually just as good as other people. That's that's the argument I always made with Declan Rice. When he was playing for us, I always said that I thought he was up there with Roger as the best DMs in the league. I thought they were very similar. But because he played for West Ham, everyone went, oh, well, obviously he's not. Look at the team he's playing in. What has he won? All this stuff. And then he goes to Arsenal. And the next season, everyone goes, oh, he's he've raised his game. He's so much better now. It's like, no, he's always been this good.
00:23:55
Speaker
And he's just not had the respect on his name because he wasn't playing for one of the top teams. And I think Dimitri Pyre in that season falls under that category massively. he was He was absolutely electric that season. And I don't know how many other players have had seasons that are that good. like Obviously, you know, there are brilliant players and players that are playing in teams that are really good and they're part of the system and they're really solid players. but that season of Dimitri Pyatt, that version of Dimitri Pyatt has a shower getting in most teams because he was absolutely amazing. and
00:24:27
Speaker
and i oh on Yeah, i've I've gone on such a long tangent. Okay, I'll get back to the question. Yeah, okay, so we start with everything I've just said. um And then I think bench Lanzini just because I love Lanzini man, he was so good. that Some of the moments and the goals that he scored for us were amazing like that. I know we've referenced it before, but that ah last minute screamer against Spurs to bring it to 3-3.
00:24:53
Speaker
amazing, absolutely rocket of a goal. And he always felt like someone who I think in the same mold as Pablo for now is it felt like he really loved being at the club and it felt like he was invested in it. He wasn't just one of those players that comes to your club and stays for a bit and leaves and you don't really feel like they make an impression. It feels like he always tried so hard to make a a positive impact on the team. So yeah, definitely bench him and then then selling on his stuff because he was really good. I just because it was ah over such a short space of time. I never never really got as attached as I did it for the other two because, you know, Piotr is an absolute legend and Flandzini is, you know, ah kind of my childhood watching West Ham. He was always in and around the team and just yeah just seemed like a nice bloke as well. So so yeah, that's probably my choices.
00:25:47
Speaker
No, that's fair. During my preparation of this, I sat and thought, is there a way I could get four and hours until one of them to make it a bit difficult? But I think in every scenario I could think of, I'd end up picking four and hours anyway to stay, just because I don't want to get rid of him as it is. So that's fair. I think your reasoning is fairly justified with that one. And I think what you spoke about with Declan Rice and obviously the way that that's all been about upping their games and levels and stuff that everyone keeps saying on the outside, I think is fairly on the mark. I mean, the carbon copy of that, I'd say at the moment is Jared Bowen, because if in the in the off chance, which I would pray never happens in our club.
00:26:21
Speaker
and Yeah, i I think so. Maybe that should have been my would-you-rather. um But no, I think i think if i if I was praying that he never left, but say that Bowen did go somewhere like Liverpool or you know we see him go to a Big Six club, everyone would say that he's upped his game and done this and that. But at the moment, the numbers show, you know from the start of the 23 season till now, Bowen's got more goals and assists and contributions than Son and Salah.
00:26:47
Speaker
so it's if If I you pull those kind of stats out to someone else, you you're you're talking complete nonsense. But actually, the numbers don't lie. And I think that we're in that verge of more plays. It's just another another story of West Ham not getting recognised, isn't it? So it's a just another another day at the office. But you're right. I don't i don't think that's too far off with your start bank sale there.
00:27:08
Speaker
Now, I'm going to go on to another one, and then I've got a very rude question before we finish up for the day. I'm going to ask you about our current midfielders, because one of them is going to be with your best mate in there. Now, we've got Guido Rodriguez, food check, and Solaire as your you're three to start a bench sale. OK.
00:27:30
Speaker
This is tough, isn't it? I think when you're when you're talking about actual players in the squad, you have to look more broadly at what they bring as a player and their age profile and quite a few other factors. So I think I would probably right now I would start to check. Bench Solaire and sell Guido Rodriguez only because the age profile of Guido Rodriguez is significantly older than the other two. And you think about.
00:27:59
Speaker
the way that we're trying to go. We're bringing down the the age profile of the team and we're trying to favour people that have been you know playing well and proving that they deserve to start. And I think Sujek has been one of the only people that's kind of consistently scored goals this season. I think he's ah he's only on two or three, but you know as a ah defensive midfielder, as someone who has been known in in the past to get some decent goal numbers, it's getting rid of someone like him right now seems kind of like of a mistake because of what he's bringing to the team. And then Solaire I think has been really positive in this in the starts that he has made and I think he's pushing to give himself a a starting spot. so So yeah, unfortunately my best mate Guido Rodriguez is going to have to go. I don't want him to go. I don't want anyone to think that I want Guido to go at all. And I think he brings so much to the squad and I think in time he will improve. It's just
FIFA Career Mode Transfers
00:28:50
Speaker
right now you have to make a decision and and that's what I'm going for.
00:28:56
Speaker
no that's that's fine i think i think that's i'm just shocked that you've you've just threw your best mate to the side of the road um i'm just absolutely i'm baffled that you've you've you've decided to tear that friendship away he's gone now that's it he's he's gonna hear this he's gonna his heart's gonna be broken poor rodriguez you've uh if he wants to if he wants to ring me up no that's i i think that's fair yeah with a with a senior
00:29:23
Speaker
I'd happily, you know. Yeah, you can sort it out with you. I'll explain my decision. also
00:29:33
Speaker
No, that's that's all right. That's fine. We'll have a little bit of a Christmas time, see if we'll get you a shirt. But ah but no, okay. And ah my my final question for you then, I had a bit of a thought about this one. um I'm going to have to paint a picture with it to get you to get you the answer.
00:29:49
Speaker
If right now with FIFA 25 or FC 25 coming out and it's being released, if you were starting a West Ham career mode today with the team we've got, what one realistic transfer would do you make to bring in to to help you in your first season?
00:30:08
Speaker
so So I actually have done this recently. I recently bought the new FC25 and I started a career with West Ham because I thought like that that's always something I do basically every year. um My transfers weren't necessarily as realistic because I think I signed Hendrik, the young guy from Real Madrid, and I signed Lamina Mal as well. So I think the chances of us getting them in real life are probably quite slim. I never rule it out because if if you're listening to this either of you two, you know, we'd would love to have you. and
00:30:40
Speaker
But one realistic transfer, OK, it difficult, isn't it? Because I think it has to be striker. And because of all of the stuff that's happened with um full crickets, it's difficult. And if ah if I was if it was just, oh, we can go and get anyone in the world, I think.
00:31:01
Speaker
So we were linked to Tammy Abraham, which I was really excited about, actually. I thought that was going to be a really good move because I think he he did really well in the in the league when he was there. and then he didn't really seem to get the opportunities at Chelsea that he probably deserved. And he's, you know, I think he's fallen ill of the the same thing that's happened to a lot of players in the past couple of years is because of the FFP regulations, clubs have had to sell players that have come from their academy. So I think he was maybe someone that that fell ill to that. um So Tammy Abraham is is one i I've always thought would be interesting. And because he's physically, he's he's built in a way where he's
00:31:41
Speaker
he's tall and he's relatively quick and he's he's not just a big lump, he's technically really good. so So that's someone I really like. Another one that I also thought would be really interesting is, ah was it ah what's his name? um The guy who plays for Juve, the striker. Is it Vlasic, is his name Vlasic? Is that the guy that I'm thinking of? Josh, I don't know if if you if you know him. um and
00:32:12
Speaker
Or is it Vlahovitch? What, the goalkeeper? No. Oh, Vlahovitch. Yeah, Vlahovitch. Yeah, sorry, I was being an idiot. Yeah, him. Yeah, so he's playing for you there, isn't he, now? Striker. He's someone that was linked to Arsenal a lot too long ago. And I thought he'd play really well for us because it's kind of similar to what I was saying about Tommy Abraham. And physically, I think to be a good striker in the Premier League, you need those physical attributes. And you see that the best strikers now, you know, Erling Haaland is the best example of this physically. He's so dominant and he's big and he's strong. And you look at the center backs in the league now and they all seem to have this kind of presence about them where if you're not going to try and match them for the physicality, it's going to be really difficult to beat them. So yeah, that's another one. I think he'd do really well up front for us. And everywhere else right now, I'm relatively happy, you know, like we've got a decent amount of
00:33:08
Speaker
decent amount of cover in a lot of positions and I'll also give a shout out. i I wish we had gone in for Ian Mattson because he is now Aston Villa and he doesn't even play every game and I think that's such a waste because the sort of talent that he showed when he was on loan at Dortmund i think I think he did really well and then he's gone there just to kind of get you know half of the game time.
00:33:31
Speaker
So I think if we had signed him, that then kind of takes less pressure off of Emerson because Emerson is so... Emerson is good, but if he isn't having the best of games or he's going through a patching form that isn't as good, we have to rely on Cresswell. And Cresswell's getting on now. ah he's He's an older guy and he's he's coming recently and done well, but... towards the end of the season, I worry about our potential reliance on him if Emerson's form isn't as good. So yeah, I'd also give it a shout out to Ian Mattson because I think he's someone that would have fit really nicely on our team. So yeah, they're
Episode Wrap-Up
00:34:06
Speaker
my answer for that Josh. I know maybe a little bit long-winded and I didn't know one of the plays that I said, but but we got there in the end.
00:34:12
Speaker
Yeah, I think I think all those three players are all I think they're relatively good shouts for people that you think would be good. I always I always think is a good question to ask us why I came around. You know, it was one I thought would be a really good question. I have to ask all the other the other clubs to see what everyone else thinks at GSPN, because it's one I think if you had that key power, who would you be wanting to come in and be that key difference? So the reason I thought about it was I was looking at Brighton deals recently, and obviously I realized that Antifatia had his loan spell there. And I realized that, you know, at the time it was a shock as to how they managed that. But actually, I like to think we're bigger slash maybe irrelevant size to Brighton. We should be able to get those kind of deals done. So I thought, well, who will I be bringing in that's fairly realistic? Maybe we need to get a little GSP and career mode going or a football manager. Maybe that's the next big production.
00:34:59
Speaker
but ah But no, well, well, thank you. I know that's been out put you in the hot seat a little bit there, Tom. I hope you've ah hope you've enjoyed. And ah maybe we need to get Jacob and see what his thoughts are. but well ah We can go through a few with him as well. But um but no, that's ah i think everything you said, I think most West Ham fans would tend to agree with, especially with your thoughts. So we'll ah we'll see how future decisions go. And hopefully, we can continue to celebrate the success we've had recently and continue going on for Spurs. But ah but thank you for answering my questions. so ah Have you got anything that you need to ah need to add?
00:35:30
Speaker
No, mate, ah thank you for the questions. I hope that I answered them in ah in a way that was informative and understanding. it It's always under a bit of pressure when you're in the hot seat, but it's a good laugh. and it's being able to ask these kind of hypothetical questions that are good because it kind of allows you to think more freely about things that I think, especially when you're going for a poor run of form, it is difficult to have a laugh of what you're talking about when West End aren't doing very well. And I i know ah over the years we've had our ups and downs and probably a lot more downs than we have ups, maybe not so much recently, but you know, it's been tough. So yeah, it's it's just good to have a bit of a waffle about so some interesting topics, mate. No, I agree. That was perfect.
00:36:08
Speaker
Yeah, well, thank you very much for these questions. Thank you very much for joining me on this podcast today. Say goodbye, mate. Take care, everyone. Thank you so much for listening. If you've enjoyed this episode of the daily GSPM West End podcast, please check out all of our socials that are linked in the description. Also rate this podcast five stars, that'd be massively helpful. There are also many other podcasts under the GSPM banner. We've got the um the fantasy football podcast, the women's football podcast. We have the wrap ups in so many different leagues and we have many different podcasts for obviously every single other Premier League team. Thank you very much for listening guys and we will see you soon. Goodbye. Every club.
00:36:47
Speaker
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