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Fred In For Zabba Snoddy And Authur To Start!

nevillenixon's picture
Submitted by nevillenixon on Sat, 02/11/2019 - 11:20

Many Hammers fans will be hoping this Saturday's match at the London Stadium will not be a 'ground hog day', the home team's performance during last weekend's match against Sheffield United wasn't exactly insipid, with the exception of Robert Snodgrass and Felipe Anderson, it just lacked urgency. Fans were quick to voice their displeasure at the end of the game, citing one or two glaring issues that need attention.

Wonderful servant that he has been, Pablo Zabaleta is not the player he once was, he was woeful during the Sheffield game, and was a liability each time he went forward, his final ball missing the mark four times out of five, to use a formula 1 parlance "Zaba's tyres have gone off the cliff" and there isn't any way back. Ryan Fredericks can run down the flank, put a cross in, and still manage to make it back to do his defensive duties in the time that it takes Zaba to run one way nowadays!

Expect Fredericks to regain his place in the starting line up at Zaba's expense, his fellow wing back might well be Authur Masuaku for this Saturday's encounter against Newcastle. Manuel Pellegrini always seems to be caught between two stools when it comes to selecting either 'King Authur' or 'Cressy the Scallywag', each player has great qualities, however each player also has frailties that can get exposed in the heat of 'battle'.

In the midfield, Robert Snodgrass would have done enough last week to earn another start for most managers, but we are dealing with Manuel Pellegrini and his increasingly 'Tinker man' tendencies. 'Snoddy's' inclusion would be at the expense of losing the creative flair of Manuel Lanzini and/or Pablo Fornals, who ever is in the midfield their primary duty is to link play up in order to get more service to the incredibly isolated Sebastian Haller up front.

As we are approaching Panto season, expect to see Mr Andrew Thomas Carroll appear as the wicked witch and dispense 'worldy' goals with aplomb, we believe the bookies have already stopped taking money on the big geordie to score against his former club.

Anticipated Line Up: Roberto, Fredericks, Balbuena, Diop, Masuaku, Rice, Noble, Yarmolenko, Snodgrass, Anderson, Haller. Subs: Martin, Lanzini, Cresswell, Fornals, Ogbonna, Zabaleta, Ajeti.

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La Vida Hammer's picture

We can play football, but if we are not allowed to play we can't compete. Antonio get fit soon.

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