West Ham Utd 1 Southampton 1 (14/02/12)

[Puff Daddy]

Will they have an answer to Carllon Cole playing up front on his own ? I doubt it, myself

[Lincolnhammer92]

Will they have an answer to Carllon Cole playing up front on his own ? I doubt it, myself

On his day, no defence in the league could handle him.

[WoodgateHammer]

Never have I been this confident about West Ham.

I really think we will give em a battering.

-
Well that's fkd it now eh......

[thejackhammer]

Sam will put us out as defensive as we've been all season, we'll play out a gritty boring 0-0 draw, we'll remain top. In his press conference Sam will bemoan wasted chances, but say a point is better than none. Half the site will slate Nolan for being a passenger, not doing anything, being useless all game, some will say that we should respect the point be happy that we're clear, and some will say it's Nolan's fault for getting sent off when we need our captain in this game. Can't wait.

[mjustincredible]

anyone know how many away fans the saints are bringing for this? top of the table clash, it would be good if they brought a few, will improve the atmosphere for sure.

on a side note, the one thing i have disliked about the championship most has been the lack of away numbers who come to upton park. as a season ticket holder in the trev brooking lower, iv missed the banter between the home and away fans that we get when teams bring big allocations to the boleyn (which in the premier league we get a lot more) a lot of teams in the prem take the full allocation and the away fans are right next to us, yet only a couple of teams (leeds was 1 i think) have done so in the championship

[West Ham Dave]

On his day, no defence in the league could handle him.

365 to 1 this will be it then

[Denbighammer]

Big game as most of our rivals play teams from the bottom half. We win and all other results go our way (I'll call Hull v Brum a draw).
West Ham -59
Southampton -55
Birmingham -51
Cardiff -50
Hull -50
Blackpool -49
Reading -48
Brighton -48
Boro -47
Leeds -45
Burnley -44
leicester -42

If we lose and Birmingham and all our other rivals win...
Southampton -58
West Ham -56
Birmingham -53
Cardiff -53
Blackpool -52
Reading -51
Brighton -51
Boro -50
Hull -49
Leeds -48
Burnley -47
leicester -45

[brucies here]

Saints sold all the tickets, 3000 I think.
They haven't been great on their travels so I'd like to see us go for it for the first ten/twenty minutes, don't give them time to settle.

[DCHammer]

Any chance the match is on the telly? Would love to have more than a dodgy audio feed for this one.

[Status Kev]

Massive game. Let's get at them from the off. Bring on the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. COYI.

[Biglee92]

Any chance the match is on the telly? Would love to have more than a dodgy audio feed for this one.

Not on tv na.

[the_real_devonshire]

I'm worried. Worried about the pair that play up front for them. Lambert is on fire this season and Sharp got his first at the weekend. Both will definately cause us some trouble coupled with Lallana down the flanks. Also like the look Guly in the midfield. This will most definately be our biggest test so far.

Saying that, our first choice 11 should have enough about them to get a result. Blessing in disguise that the 'scouse is suspended. Finally we might have someone in centre mid who influences a game. PBD for me if he is fit.

Green
O'Brien, Tomkins, Reid, McCartney
Faubert, Noble, Diop, Taylor
Cole, Maynard

Assuming a 4-4-2

If he goes 4-5-1 then Collison instead of Maynard.

COYI

[Kitt the car]

With Southampton having the opportunity to go back to the top, they will go all out for it. I just hope to god we don't revert to the hoofball tactics of the last time we played them. Working with Southampton ST holders, I got a **** load of stick for it.

So Big Sam please get them playing it on the green stuff, creating opportunities and taking them, as football should be played.

[Bill]

About time we played 4-4-2 at home. What's the point of having 9 strikers available and playing one?

Never mind about worrying how good their strikers are. We signed 2 players who we said would improve our team, so play them.

Apart from Saturday they have been on the slide since Christmas and we should go for the jugular. After all we claim to have the best squad in the Championship don't we? So let's go and prove it.

We can win this by 2 clear goals if we play positively.

[JLCABA]

Is there an argument for Baldock starting given that many on here want us to play 4-4-2

Hope Collison plays a lot better than he did against Milwall if he plays

[richneal]

Not looking forward to this.

Am going to be rather embarrassed that we're probably gonna play yet another 4-5-1 at home and seem like we're playing for the draw from the off.

I don't buy into the philosophy that our Mr Entertainment chooses to play ultra-cautions percentage football 'cos of his brief and the situation we're in this season. I don't think he can play any other way. It's not a choice - it's all he knows.

I wish that northern monkey would sod off back to northernmonkeyland.





(with apologies to Pop Robson, David Cross, Alvin Martin and any of our other northern monkey superstars thru' they years . . . and any other northern monkeys scanning this thread)

[jaybs]

Is there an argument for Baldock starting given that many on here want us to play 4-4-2

I think about everyone would say Yes! but we are not Sam and I don't think the man is for changing!

[DerHammerReturns]

I'm feeling very excited although quite apprehensive. Obviously there is a lot of debate over the formation/style we should play in. Although, looking at it I can see no way we will go 4-4-2 here as he wasn't even willing to do this against Millwall at home. However, with Diop a longer-term injury I feel he will probably play Tomkins there again. It may possibly be an unchanged team bar Taylor for Collison. I would look at something like this:

Green
O'Brien Faye Reid G-Mac
Tomkins
Faubert Noble Taylor
Vaz Te
Cole

Subs: Demel, Collison, O'Neill, Baldock, Maynard

This for me would allow for a good defence and a good attack. Give Vaz Te a free role behind Cole and watch him scare the holy bejeebies out of Southampton. After watching the Barnsley game this guy is a dangerous player and has scored some cracking goals this year. Playing him in this position will allow him to really threaten them. You can also change this into a more conventional 4-1-4-1 formation by moving Vaz Te wide and replacing either Faubert or Taylor with Collison. I'm predicting a 2-2 draw as I see Southampton as a team coming into form at exactly the wrong time. COYI!!!

[Saint Radders]

Hi, we too are looking forward to this game, full squad back to fitness and a good win and performance on Sat against the best form away team at the Moment. we have nearly sold our allocation and have a very good away following for every game. You mention players who you think we should be weary of, and so we should be, but, in the League's top scorer and another in the top five, you should also be weary. I think our dip in form (as yours was) was due to injuries and suspensions due to influential players, if that is our "Blip" in the season, I will be very happy with that!! This is a massive game for both teams, I hope its a good game, and the Ref does not ruin it!! Good luck this season and If West Ham finish as Champions, and Southampton finish second, I would take that any day of the year!!

[yonni]

As Southampton are highest league scorers and have 3 more prolific strikers than Cole we need to play Vaz Te to add a bit of bite. If we stand off and let them play their attacking game and just try to defend we'll be in trouble. "They don't like it up 'em" as Jonesy used to say.



Edit - just read the above post Diop out long term. Tomkins in the Diop role and reinstate Reid then (I'd rather not though). I've got Potts in because I'd read somewhere that McCartney had a knock in training.