Six from nine? Yes please!

After a solid team win on Saturday against an albeit injury ravaged Doncaster side, it's fair to say I'm optimistic about tonight's game against Watford. A side who again in theory we should have too much for will find it difficult to penetrate our solid looking defence. It is believed that Illunga has been dropped for tonight's clash with the impressive Matt Taylor dropping back to left back with either Stanislas or Collison taking his place on the left wing. Cole looks set to make his first start of the season in favour of Piquionne who has failed to impress in the last two games. It's important we get a winning run going and to win two consecutive away games (something which we haven't done in years) would install confidence and build on the winning mentality. How do I think we'll line up tonight?

Something a little like this:

Green

O'Brien Reid Tomkins Taylor

Collison Parker Noble Stanislas

Nolan

Cole

Personally i'd be tempted to give Barerra a start on the right and move Collison over to the left but for now Big Sam seems to view Barerra as an impact sub and I safely expect to see him making an appearance at some point during the game. For the time being the formation works and I for one am certainly interested to see how we line up against Leeds at Upton Park on Saturday. Following the dissapointing defeat to Cardiff on the opening day it'll be interesting to see if Allardyce sticks with the 4-4-1-1 or switches to a slightly more attacking formation such as the 4-3-3 or possibly the 4-1-2-1-2. Although the latter has little width it'd allow us to protect the back four with a holding midfield player be it Parker or Faye, have two in the middle (Noble & Collison) and then have an attacking midfielder (Nolan) to support the front two. Another thing that the formation allows for is roaming full backs to provide width, something that would suit Taylor and McCartney to a tee on the left along with Faubert on the right it certainly makes an interesting proposition. Not to mention it would allow us to start playing "The West Ham way". A formation that in therory works like a dream however in a real game would it be as effective? I think so, it just depends if Allardyce is willing to try new things. 

In other news, Hines looks set to leave the club with Burnley thought to be after his signature. A player who impressed me a couple of seasons back when he took on Liverpool single handedly but has been injury plagued since and has failed to leave his mark. Reports a few weeks back suggested that he had signed a new contract with the club however that doesn't seem to be the case. Confident about tonight? Yes, I'm going for a 3-0 win. Come on You Irons!

Twitter: Daniel_Speller