It can't be......can it?

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West Ham United to re-sign Yossi Benayoun?

Poll ended at Thu Aug 07, 2008 12:02 pm

Yes please
2
50%
No thanks
2
50%
Not sure
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 4

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Up the Junction
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Re: It can't be......can it?

Post by Up the Junction »

Ironball wrote:I guess on the reviews, it's subjective.
A lot of similar subjective views there though, I'm sure you'd agree!
Ironball wrote:Maybe "second half the season" = I meant more from March onwards. March, April. The run-in period.
You could say the same for most of the team. Everyone's favourite fall-guy (LBM) included.
Ironball wrote: But I am sure he is the type of player who will do inordinately better with intelligent players around him.
As would most players, no?
Ironball wrote:Imagine him linking with Bellamy/ Ashton. If we could get even a fraction of the Berko-SJH combination going it would be good.
There's no doubting that on his day, Benayoun is a cracking little player. Unfortunately his 'day' came far too infrequently whilst at West Ham United and judging by Liverpool's 'selected' use of him I'd suggest they take a similar view.

Have we missed him? Yes, and he's still to be replaced.
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Re: It can't be......can it?

Post by Ironball »

I'd agree, he didn't deliver nearly regularly enough. But I'm sure it's got a lot to do with how Pardew went about things. Right midfield is the worst place beyond the defence to play him. And the style of play, it really was more brawn, less brain.

If you look at his strike rate, Hapoel Beersheva 1.67, Maccabi Tel Aviv: 2.36, Santander 4.8, West Ham 7.87, Liverpool 7.5, Israel 4.

His worst strike rate during his career: West Ham.

Ok, discount the early domestic Israeli league. Then you have two stories. The West Ham/ Liverpool story of "7 land". And the Santander/ Israel story of "4 land".

I think at Liverpool he was always going to be more marginal on the field than he would be nearly anywhere else. With the likes of Torres and Gerrard dictating and demanding. At West Ham, that wasn't the issue. The issue was general lack of quality through the team; a style of play that created only a certain type of chance, quite infrequently, which in PL season 1 our strikers converted with great efficiency.

At Santander and for the Israel national team, I am not sure, and correct me where I am wrong, but I understand he played/ plays a much more free role, from the centre, in the hole or floating in from the left. A pace of game where measured, precise play is more the way it goes. Ultimately Curbishley does need to send a team out that can play a bit more than Pardew's kick'n'rush brigade did.

If Yossi can be played in a more appropriate position in a more measured team, then I think we could see 4.5 Yossi rather than 7.7 Yossi, which would imply say 8 goals and a commensurate increase in assists, general play etc.

At any rate, given the presence now of a multitude of RM players in the squad, the last place, thank God, we would see Yossi is sitting out on the right looking unhappy at being there, and perpetually drifting inside constricting the play.
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Re: It can't be......can it?

Post by irving boleyn »

I would swap Yossi for anyone in the team.

Generally he gave 100%.

Surely you havent seen a better sliding tackler,usually in the right back position!.. where he had to go to get the ball cos of the inability of the Mullins and Rio Cokers to pass other than backwards and sidewards.

Course he lost the ball a lot starting from the defensive positions he had to go to to get the ball..no one on his wavelength to play classy one twos..had to try to go the length of the pitch on his own.

That list of bad reviews listed earlier was during our dismal 11 game losing run..who looked good there?

Sure there was a Country v Club situation, badly handled by Curbishley in my view, his sergeant major approach didnt cut his most skiullful attacker any slack. And I'll admit there was a period then when Yossi didnt appear to be risking life and limb for a lost cause. But when Curbs stumbled on the best line up including Tevez,Nobel and Yossi,then he was re invigorated.

Remember when Yossi was even more marketable after the Cup Final, a move to Liverpool was muted....he decided to stick with Pardew.A year later he decides he doesnt want to remain with Curbishley.

And how much was he valued at, £4 million,was it? What an insult! Not much of the MON about you Curbs.
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Re: It can't be......can it?

Post by Up the Junction »

irving boleyn wrote:Generally he gave 100%.
As does Luis Boa Morte.
irving boleyn wrote:Surely you havent seen a better sliding tackler,usually in the right back position!
Fair play - but hardly a priority where an attacking midfielder is concerned, is it?
irving boleyn wrote:That list of bad reviews listed earlier was during our dismal 11 game losing run..who looked good there?
Irrelevant to the point being discussed IB ie. that Benayoun had an excellent second half of the season.
irving boleyn wrote:Sure there was a Country v Club situation, badly handled by Curbishley in my view, his sergeant major approach didnt cut his most skiullful attacker any slack.
How many internationals did Curbishley prevent Benayoun from featuring in (to our detriment)? I don't recall a single one ...
irving boleyn wrote:And I'll admit there was a period then when Yossi didnt appear to be risking life and limb for a lost cause.
Well that's one way of putting it ...
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Re: It can't be......can it?

Post by westlondonhammer »

Ironball, where you think Yossi would fit into our team?

I believe he couldnt play anywhere but in a wide position (albeit narrow) in the prem, unless you build a team around him and he plays the free role behind 1 striker in a 5 man midfield... and we have seen in the prem, that he is not consistent enough to build a team around (too much of a luxury for a midtable team looking to go forward)... so RM or LM are/were the best position for him.

You would want him to act in a similar way that Arteta does for Everton, he did for liverpool and Hleb did for Arsenal... and i have no doubt deco will for chelsea, wide yet drifting in!

I dont like Yossi, I think there are major questionmarks over his character is his performances when we needed him, his conduct last summer and whether some of the rumours that came out of the club 2 seasons ago have any element of truth or not, they left a bad taste in the mouth for me. This of course may bias my opinion

I wouldnt mind seeing a yossi type player at the club, but to make it feasible, the club would have to get rid of a couple of players (1 who they probably wouldnt have looked to/cant get rid of (FL) and 1 or 2 who they are probably looking to get rid of anyway but are finding hard to shift (LBM, Bowyer)) just to accomodate him which just doesnt sound realistic.
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Re: It can't be......can it?

Post by jacko »

westlondonhammer wrote: I dont like Yossi, I think there are major questionmarks over his character is his performances when we needed him, his conduct last summer and whether some of the rumours that came out of the club 2 seasons ago have any element of truth or not, they left a bad taste in the mouth for me. This of course may bias my opinion
It all comes down to this, doesn't it?

You flagrantly admit that the rumours left a bad taste in your mouth whether they're true or not!!! talk about a kangaroo court.
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Re: It can't be......can it?

Post by westlondonhammer »

jacko wrote: It all comes down to this, doesn't it?

You flagrantly admit that the rumours left a bad taste in your mouth whether they're true or not!!! talk about a kangaroo court.
No its not what it all comes down to... but that has some influence on my opinion! I am not trying to pretend otherwise or pull the wool over anyones eyes... in fact, i have been quite honest with my assessment of the situation! I am not trying to pretend i dont think he will be a bad signing purely because of his ability because that would be lying... I dont like him, but i also believe there are a number of other reasons that his signing would be unpractical (as i have mentioned)

Rumours left a bad taste, along with a number of things... A combination of factors led up to why I dont like him, not just 1 unsubstantiated rumour (which i wont go into now)
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Re: It can't be......can it?

Post by Metal Hammer »

Apparently he doesn't rate you either :P
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Re: It can't be......can it?

Post by Ironball »

I know exactly where you're coming from with the concerns about being lightweight and/or inconsistent.

But the fact is, we never did ****ing play him in the area where he is not inconsistent. He will get you say eight+ goals a season and a whole load of creation if he is played in the central/floating area - maybe. That's why it was so annoying that he was never once played in the hole or through the middle. FFS, it wouldn't have killed us. We wouldn't have been guaranteed to have lost 16-0 in that game. It should have been tried. The evidence suggests, from his role at Santander and for Israel, that he would be more likely to be effective playing there. You don't have to be nineteen stone to make it in midfield.

So..where would I play him? Well, the only time he kind of played through the centre for us was in the cup final, and he ran the show. I'd try him out in that area, with a Parker and another either defensive or pushing in from the wing, to cover. Behrami is an adaptable player who covers ground; it could work really well to rotate him into the middle during the course of a game.

It may work, it may not; but we can't say it wouldn't, and there are plenty of games (for other teams) where it HAS worked and where he has played his best football.

We are crying out for creativity. We have a great goalkeeper, we have decent defenders, when fit we have good strikers. But our midfield is just shocking. They don't have the key to unlock people or to connect the play. Maybe if Faubert can get it together. Maybe if Dyer can open people up. Maybe maybe. Pace but not brain. Where's the passer, the turner, the slotter. The dribbler, the dinker? The guy who puts his foot on the ball?

Yossi is not the greatest exponent out there at that art, but he's not bad, and pretty good at it when the team is set up properly. And being realistic, he's probably around the best level we would get in that type of player. And more than anything, last season was just so boring, so stale, so sterile, uncreative and moribund to watch, that right now I'd be prepared to entertain the thought of buying anyone who has half an ounce of creativity or originality in his play. If we can't get the guy who runs with the ball on his head, let's buy Yossi. Or Mister Woo.
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Re: It can't be......can it?

Post by backhouse21 »

Yossi, Yossi, Benayoun, Benayoun,
Yossi, Yossi, Benayoun, Yossi Benayoun...
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Re: It can't be......can it?

Post by sicknote »

backhouse21 wrote:Yossi, Yossi, Benayoun, Benayoun,
Yossi, Yossi, Benayoun, Yossi Benayoun...


One too many sherberts at the Christmas lunch i fear :scarfer:
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