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Three things to look out for when West Ham face Newcastle
It was not the start that West Ham fans were hoping to see following last season. We now sit at 20th in the Premier League table, with no points and seven goals conceded. This weekend we face newly-promoted Newcastle who also sit on zero points. Here are three things to look out for…
Jose Fonte or James Collins?
It’s fair to say that Jose Fonte has not lived up to expectations since signing for us. We needed someone who could help strengthen our defence and help us stop conceding goals though little has changed. Our defensive tactics have played an important role in this but Fonte had a very poor game against Southampton last week.
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So will Slaven Bilic start him this weekend? James Collins has been reliable defensively when he has played and it would not be a surprise to see him start on the weekend. He put in a man of the match performance against Cheltenham on Wednesday and we cannot keep conceding. It may be time to give Fonte a break from the team given his form and bring in Collins who has not played a single minute in the Premier League this season.
A change of formation to solve defensive issues?
Bilic toyed with the idea of playing three defenders in multiple games last season though it is a 4-2-3-1 that he has played in our first two games. Could we see him change formation in an attempt to solve our defensive woes? We have seen many other teams in the Premier League adopt the 3-4-3/3-5-2 this season with varying success.
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With Cheikhou Kouyate now back from injury, we do have the option of playing him as one of the three defenders in Winston Reid’s absence. Declan Rice’s rise also means that Kouyate could slot back into midfield with Rice starting in defence. This formation would also help Aaron Cresswell / Arthur Masuaku who love to bomb forward and attack.
A chance to change our fortunes?
This weekend’s game may be our best chance so far to pick up our first three points of the season. Newcastle, like us, have not won a single game this season but they have also not scored a single goal. Let’s not forget that they played 120 minutes midweek and Jonjo Shelvey will be missing the game through suspension. We are facing a team who have performed as poorly as us this season.
The game against Southampton showed that we do have the quality to create chances and score goals but we have to stop conceding. Given Newcastle’s poor attack this season and Manuel Lanzini’s return, we could finally move up the table and change our fortunes.
