Why did we not play the same team that almost beat Reading Tuesday?

[Herr Tubthumper]

Says whom?

I mean, yes I know he's a Citeh player but I meant what's to say there isn't a deal to be struck if both clubs and the player are interested?

A loan deal at best. Why would Gus use up a starting place on such a loose idea though? It does make sense.

 

[The Large One]

Why experiment when there was still a chance to grab a playoff spot?

Because - and I have no direct evidence for it - I don't think Gus is that fussed on it this season.

He knows what he's got to work with, and he knows we're not ready for at least another season. At least, that's the line I'd take following Tano's comment from a couple of weeks ago.

 

[LamieRobertson]

I think Gus' selection yesterday was intended to extentuate our strengths. Obviously it didn't work but I think he knew we wouldn't be able to compete with West Ham's physicality. So instead of trying to use our bigger, quicker players he went for the more technical players, hence Vicente and Assulin starting out wide and Barnes leading the line as he's very good at dropping in and helping the team moves progress.

Personally, I don't think a different team selection would have made a huge difference, because our failings came from our defence and their inability to compete with the power of West Ham who started the game with a massive tempo and went straight for the jugular. Calderon has been consistantly poor over the last two seasons in terms of his ability to defend high balls. We tried to address that by bringing in Reyes, but Reyes hasn't really been at the races recently. Additionally, if it wasn't for Mattock's injury, we wouldn't have had Painter at left back.

I don't want to be too harsh on Calde and Painter. Calderon has been decent recently and it was Painters first game back from a long injury lay-off but it is no coincidence our change in fortune from 16th? in December into Play-Off contenders came when Gus brought in Reyes and Mattock.

Where I possibly would question Gus this time, is the midfield, and not including Sparrow (unless he was injured). We found before Christmas and into the new year how we needed a bit of bite in midfield in terms of someone who would snap at peoples heels a bit more in higher areas than Bridcutt. Sparrow did that really well, and Razak looked like his natural successor but despite having that ability, needed more time to adapt to our style to make the right decisions on and off the ball.

I don't think its worth fussing too much about yesterdays game though, because whatever side we put out, West Ham have a ****ing amazing squad of players and they really went for it and played well. When players of that quality play that well, it's always going to be a tough afternoon. Nolan's positioning, in particular, was incredible, caused our back four all sorts of problems.

Neatly summed up...especially the bit about sparrow..mind u him against Nolan might hav been tastey

 

[drew]

I wasn't at the game and left it till this afternoon before having a look at the highlights. The selection does raise questions bearing in mind the performance on Tuesday. Is Vincelot injured because he can fill in at left back as can El Abd and bringing in Dunk to the middle. Not ideal but certainly better than Reyes and probably better than a player who hasn't played a game for months. As for Buckley, we know he can blow hot or cold. Was cold on Tuesday and may well have been hot yesterday. But Assulin? He hasn't really shown anything in his time here and in I doubt we would be in for him in the summer. Lua Lua or Noone would have been a better starting option than Assulin. Bridcutt coming back for Dicker was a no brainer. Whether it was an experiment that went badly wrong or had the desired affect, we'll never know but how we can go from a performance like Tuesdays down to that of yesterdays is only down to selection in my opinion.