football.london’s West Ham United writer Jonty Colman has been answering your questions on all things West Ham.
The Hammers have just entered a mid-season break due to the World Cup, sitting 16th in the Premier League table and only a point clear of the relegation zone.
Here is the Q&A transcript in full, with topics including the future of manager David Moyes, Mark Noble’s role at the club, what formation the Hammers should play, transfers, the World Cup, and more.
READ MORE: Former West Ham midfielder gives verdict on 'detached' David Moyes and frustrating Hammers spell
Will David Moyes be sacked and are Lucas Paqueta and Gianluca Scamacca enjoying being at the club and playing under Moyes?
Firstly, I think Moyes is very likely to stay put for now. If you think about what kind of manager is needed to turn the current form around, Moyes fits the bill. West Ham learned that with the Manuel Pelligrini saga. I think they (Paqueta and Scamacca) are yes, I think it helps that both have groups of players to help them settle. Angelo Ogbonna has taken Scamacca under his wing and Scamacca also knows Emerson from the Italian national side.
Paqueta also played with Emerson at Lyon last season and already speaks a few different languages. Scamacca speaks good English and Paqueta is apparently very good at understanding it, which is a great start. I am sure both are enjoying it when it's gone well, the signs the two have shown when linking up seems to bring out the best in both players. However, I'm sure both will hope the season would be going better than it has done. Scamacca is currently top for goals in all competitions (six) and Paqueta (three) is joint-top for assists. I do think them, and plenty others, will be better for having this World Cup break.
Why not bring in Mark Noble as an interim coach if it happens that Moyes gets sacked?
That would seem to be more harm than good. Mark Noble was announced to be the club's new sporting director in September to start in January, giving him the best part of four months to prepare for the role. Taking him out of that mid-prep to take a manager role in the Premier League, even short-term, would only detriment the work he is putting in for his new role. I don't think Moyes will be getting sacked, so it's not something to worry about for now.
What has gone so wrong this season? I feel it's poor recruitment planning. Too many players signed late. And Moyes is unable to have a plan on how to bed these players in. Defending has also been questionable.
There's a lot of contributing factors I think. I don't think the recruitment was necessarily poor, it was more that some of it came too late. The signings, on paper at least, are all quite smart bits of business. The issue is, a number of those players were signed needing time to either get fit, adjust to English football or both. Scamacca hadn't had a pre-season, nor had Maxwel Cornet. Nayef Aguerd got a bad injury in his second friendly.
I think other players were wanted but either wage demands or hopes to go elsewhere meant West Ham looked elsewhere. Players sometimes do not come available until later in the window. Defending-wise, West Ham have conceded the joint-fourth lowest number of goals (17), only Arsenal, Newcastle United, and Manchester City have conceded less. Some of the goals conceded though have been off errors. I think a combination of the schedule, players taking time to settle in, injuries coming at the same time (especially at the back), and a lack of cutting-edge all attribute to the issues so far.
What formation/changes do you think we need to make after the world cup to get the best out of the squad? I personally think we need to go to three centre-backs in Thilo Kehrer, Kurt Zouma, and Nayef Aguerd, and the two in front of them Lucas Paqueta and Declan Rice. Be interested to see what you think and what others think.
Really good question. I do think that we will see a lot more of three at the back in the New Year now that Aguerd is back available. Right at the start of the season, Moyes mentioned a few times that he has options to move to three at the back and I think the trio you mentioned is the best of ideas. Craig Dawson, Aaron Cresswell, Angelo Ogbonna, and Ben Johnson could all play there too if needed.
I think Vladimir Coufal and Cresswell would start as the wing-backs, or Emerson, who is better suited there than he is in a back four. In midfield, Declan Rice and Lucas Paqueta could be a good combination, with Jarrod Bowen and Said Benrahma/Maxwel Cornet off Gianluca Scamacca up front. We may have seen it sooner if Aguerd was fit sooner and more players had been available, but I think that shape could suit the squad really well, a 3-4-2-1 if you will. At least, it should be a good plan b to look at.
I'm a West Ham season ticket holder and I've supported West Ham since 1973. Moyes keeps setting his team up too defensively for every match. Always plays the same out-of-form players, Coufal, Soucek, Cresswell etc and only ever plays one forward up front, therefore, Scammaca gets isolated. We have been in decline since the end of last season and it's got worse. All the new signings seem rudderless they don't play as a team. I can't see Moyes changing his game plan or formation he sent out the same team v Leicester that played v Crystal Palace and were awful. So why did we get the same result and performance again?
I can tell you wanted to get a lot off your chest there. Coufal has only played 92 minutes in the last eight league games, 90 at Southampton where the side were injury-ridden, and two off the bench against Bournemouth, where he came on and won a penalty. I won't lie, I was a bit baffled to see an unchanged side from Crystal Palace to Leicester, especially when Pablo Fornals has been in good form in front of goals in his last two starts and Jarrod Bowen has been off form.
I guess it shows a trust in certain players and a lot of the defeats this season have been fine margins, not that it makes much of a difference. I think the World Cup comes at a good time, get rest, work on more tactical things which haven't been possible due to the schedule, some players will benefit from going away. A good chance to reset but yes, I do agree a couple of changes between the last two league games would not have gone amiss. To defend Moyes slightly, West Ham's rotated side were largely awful against Blackburn in between those games. Had a few more of them impressed, maybe there was an opportunity to go into the first team.
Do you think it's coming home?
I won't lie, the last couple of days I have really started to get into the World Cup spirit. I think England will go quite far in the competition, based on Gareth Southgate's record at major tournaments and the quality of players in his squad, with Declan Rice being right towards the top of that list. The climate there may be an interesting factor, some are suggesting teams from South America and Africa may quite an advantage in that respect. Do I think England will go all the way? No, but I do think they will go quite far. Semi-finals I reckon.
West Ham have spent £170m on revamping the squad and hardly any of the players play regularly. These are mostly established international players who need to be integrated into the team urgently. And Moyes sets up West Ham too defensively we don't have our wing-backs overlapping and putting crosses in like other teams do! And in midfield, Moyes keeps playing Soucek who has been poor all season instead of Downes who's far better. Also, why doesn't Moyes play Bowen next to or behind Scammaca to help form a partnership? We should be playing 4-4-2.
A few points there. Aguerd has been injured all season, Cornet has been out for the best part of six weeks just as he got his chance, so that's two of the eight signings. Alphonse Areola has done well but not quite enough to dislodge Lukasz Fabianski, who has been pretty reliable. Aaron Cresswell has created more chances than any other West Ham player and is fourth out of players outside of the 'big six' so that's probably not a fair argument.
Crosses are there, they are either not being met or lacking quality. Scamacca, Kehrer and Paqueta are playing most games. The other two are Emerson and Downes, I would be interested to see Downes and Rice given a go together. Injuries have not helped in bedding signings, but there should be much fewer of those issues after the World Cup. Also, not many teams nowadays play with two up front and there is quite the risk of leaving yourself short in midfield by playing an extra striker.
READ NEXT:
How much West Ham could pocket from FIFA due to six players’ involvement in the World Cup
The reason why West Ham’s friendly against Cambridge United may get postponed
Rice, Paqueta, Aguerd – How to watch every World Cup match involving West Ham’s players
West Ham handed fresh injury worry ahead of Arsenal as striker pulls out of international squad
The five former West Ham players who will be competing in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar
