It's been thrown around left right and centre that our squad is of Premier League standard and "too good" for the Championship. Are you having a bubble? It's a matter of time before Parker leaves to join Spurs and then our squad will be down to 17 players - one above the bare minimum. With fans calling for Illunga's head he looks like he might well be out of the door before the window closes leaving us with - the bare minimum. Doesn't sound like a Premier League squad does it? Allardyce insisted that we are looking at bringing in more players before Wednesdays deadline with Glenn Whelan thought to be Parker's replacement. With Barerra having gone out on loan midweek to Zaragoza for a season. Our midfield despite all of the current signings, is looking thin. An injury to one of our key men: Nolan, Collison, Green, Tomkins lets face it, is inevitable given our track record and what will we do then? Play an unproven teenager? Supposed interest in Joe Lewis has dissapeared into thin dust so it would seem and Max Gradel sees himself playing at a higher level than the Championship before the end of the season and so doesn't want to make the move to Upton Park.
Anyway, back to the pitch: 3 away wins on the bounce is unheard of nowadays and in my opinion is quite impressive. Allardyce seems to appear to have the away set-up spot on and with the next game not this weekend but the week after against Pompey at home - he's got time to set himself up and get the home record looking positive. The midfield for the first time this season didn't look too 'crowded' and despite Parker not playing still had the creative and defensive edge that he brings to the side. However Papa Diop formerly of Fulham and Portsmouth is reported to be close to signing a deal at Upton Park and in my opinion he is exactly the player we need - strong, athletic and not frightened to get involved in the tackle not to mention he fits exactly into Big Sam's mould. Our youngest chairman tweeted this morning that we are close to signing Brian Montenegro - I for one know sweet nothing about the player as does Youtube as I couldn't even find a highlights video on the chap. Have we taken a gamble on this lad? I think so. Still with two days left, plenty more business to be done. I've said it before and I'll say it again with limited opportunities for him at Old Trafford we should make a loan move for Federico Macheda. Yes we've got lots of options up-front with Carew, Cole, Baldock & Piquionne but Macheda would offer something else and the thought of he and Baldock together is ... interesting. Having said all of that, looking back at the teams we've struggled against Cardiff and Leeds had we managed to keep a hold of Ba and Hitz we would of won those games comfortably. Whereas last season we couldn't even string a couple of passes together away we've looked impressive and like we know what we're doing unlike when we're playing at home. You'll notice that up until now I've not mention the mid-week humiliation at the hands of Aldershot and that's because I'm quite frankly embarrassed to do so. With an important game coming up at the weekend (Forest) it's easy to see why he didn't put a full strength side out but the performance was appalling. Even if we'd of won the team performance still would of been shocking and quite frankly we didn't deserve to win. Still, let's not judge the rest of the squad on a Wednesday night at Upton Park, they like the fans watching were probably nervous and McNaughton's red highlighted that. Still I, like many others would rather we focused on "Project Promotion" rather than a day out at Wembley heck, we might even have one if we don't win the league!
Anyway, I'll leave you be to enjoy the bank holiday and the transfer speculation until 5pm Wednesday afternoon when the window shuts. Until then fellow Hammers.
You can find me on Twitter here.
No comments:
Post a Comment