H: Pacos de Ferreira

Sounds like a tortilla.

West Ham United welcome top European opposition to the Boleyn Ground on Saturday 10 August when they face Portuguese UEFA Champions League qualifiers Pacos de Ferreira.Sam Allardyce's men have enjoyed a productive pre-season to date and recently returned from Germany having defeated two sides from their top-flight.

Now the Londoners are set to receive another European test and tickets for the match, which is being played in aid of the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research UK, are on sale now.


I shall be at the game, bit of a looky-loo at how pre-season training has gone and to be honest I just couldn't stay away any longer.

Though it`s nice to win I for one do not care if we lose this game as I believe all that matters is not getting any injuries this close to the start of the season !

One player who will play tomorrow I'm sure will be Morrison who I hope will be given a chance in the team this year as he has shown some promise in games he has played so far in pre-season .

I always took the last pre-season game as a gauge as to how we will line up when the season starts.

Should we be worried that there are no new signings in the starting 11 today ?

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Kray JR wrote:I always took the last pre-season game as a gauge as to how we will line up when the season starts.

Should we be worried that there are no new signings in the starting 11 today ?

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No not really as Rat came on in the 2nd half and we all know that Adrian was only going ever be 2nd choice behind Jussi any way and we know as soon as Carroll is fit he will go straight into the starting 11

Good to see young Ravel Morrison get another goal today , He seems to be a different player to the player we signed , seems whatever they did at Birmingham worked as seems more willing to work hard etc for place in the team and it seems Nolan is determined to make sure Morrison stays out of trouble off the field as well .

Good solid performance today.

A lot to be pleased about including Morrison who I think should start next week.

 

The back four worried me at times last season and we have only bought Rat in.

Im wondering if Sam may start Cole Nolan Noble Morrison Jarvis in midfield at home but when the battle is on away from home

Diarra and Diame may come in for two of those.

Upfront im hoping we have someone lined up and arent going to rely on Maiga as Carrols back up.

We looked ok at the back yesterday, Rat is a good signing.

In my opinion though we have not as it stands brought in that many players I still think we are in a way stronger then what we were last season at this stage of pre-season ,
Rat is a quality player with lots of experience
Carroll is another quality player who we all know without him last season we may not of got a top 10 finish and will score a lot more goals this season I personally think !

I believe that BFS will start with this team next week against Cardiff City : 4-5-1
Jaaskelainen,Demel,Reid,Collins,Rat,J.Cole,Noble,Diame,Nolan,Jarvis,Maiga
SUBS : Adrian,Taylor,Tomkins,Diarra,Morrison,Collison,Vaz Te

Jussi
Demel Reid Tomkins Rat
A MF 3 of Noble Nolan Morrison (or Diame), with JC and Jarvis either side of AC (Maiga)

It is still our lack of steel in central midfield that worries me. We have no player who can sit in front of the back four, break up play and keep it simple. Diarra is the one player we have that can to that but BFS thinks that Noble is better in that position. I don't ! Teams with pace simply waltz through our midfield as we have no pace in there

Morrison has pace.

Suzanne Claret wrote:Morrison has pace.

 Going forward, yes. Tracking back the other way? I am not sure that is his game are you?

No.

Suzanne Claret wrote:No.

The problem is that Jarvis and Joe Cole don't track back well enough either which exposes our full backs. With Nolan caught upfield it leaves Noble to cover across the width of the pitch in front of our back four. He hasn't got the pace or discipline to do it for 90 mins. IMO of course!