Dinamo Zagreb (H) - Thurs 9th Dec, 8pm

OldCastleSwift

Good run out for the kids, that. Shame that the seniors didn't really step up at all. Noble was ok, but Kral, Vlasic, Fornals, Benrahma and Yarmolenko really didn't do enough, IMO.

Longelo looks like he could be ready for the step up, but Perkins got nothing in terms of service so it's difficult to judge him too much on tonight.

thornburyiron

I think the grown ups looked to be under instructions not to do anything that could end in injury but to just baby sit the nippers. They could have at least tried to put the corners and set pieces in though.
Zagreb would have known from the moment the teams were announced that second place was theirs and once they got the goal knew that was enough.

Pengeman

Ashby and Longello looked the pick of the youngsters. Unfair to judge Perkins as he had little support. Needed more creativity in the middle and bite up front. Still experience would them all good.

EXETERHAMMER

I think all the youngsters looked good and put a shift in. The back 4 kept it together.

thornburyiron

The crowd seemed underwhelmed as the 77 Zagreb fans could be heard over ours.

yoyo

Shame they scored a screamer. Our young team could otherwise have drawn 0-0 to team that would be a mid table premier team.

Pengeman

OldCastleSwift said:

yoyo said:

Benrahma has had more touches than Yarmolenko who's been on the whole game

I don't want to see Yarmolenko in a West Ham shirt again. Time and again he demonstrates he's not up to it.

Yarmolenko is a puzzle - plays well for his country but is mostly rubbish for WHU. He had a chance to shine today but did not. His flicks rarely come off and usually result on loss of possession.

ScotHammer

“You’ll never win anything with kids”. 😜

Hamstew

Pengeman said:

OldCastleSwift said:

yoyo said:

Benrahma has had more touches than Yarmolenko who's been on the whole game

I don't want to see Yarmolenko in a West Ham shirt again. Time and again he demonstrates he's not up to it.

Yarmolenko is a puzzle - plays well for his country but is mostly rubbish for WHU. He had a chance to shine today but did not. His flicks rarely come off and usually result on loss of possession.

Just doesn't suit us I don't think. Like Anderson and Haller. Have that walking slowly around the pitch vibe.

Hamstew

An incredibly small child came on for us today.

OldCastleSwift

Hamstew said:

An incredibly small child came on for us today.

alderz logged off at 20:45 to go to 'the cinema'... 🤔

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Weren't Zagreb the biggest challenge to us in this group to start?

So a team of 5 U23 players with only 1 genuine first teamer with a couple more youngsters off the bench battled them really well and only took a wonder goal for them to lose

The future is bright

OutcastLondoner

Hamstew said:

An incredibly small child came on for us today.

Forson? I remember thinking this in one of the pre-season games

OldCastleSwift

OutcastLondoner said:

Hamstew said:

An incredibly small child came on for us today.

Forson? I remember thinking this in one of the pre-season games

Yup

OutcastLondoner

Transfermarkt has him at 174cm which is apparently 5ft 8 and I don't believe that.

alderz

Football Manager has him at 5ft 3 when you start the game, I think

MrsGrey

Still growing.

alderz

I feel bad for Kamarai Simon-Swyer. All his classmates got on and he didn't

alderz

MrsGrey said:

Still growing.

This is almost definitely the case, and if it's the case for him it is for Perkins too. He could be a right lump in a couple of years. Now we just need to convince him to grow a ponytail and score a bicycle kick against Palace...

OldCastleSwift

OutcastLondoner said:

Transfermarkt has him at 174cm which is apparently 5ft 8 and I don't believe that.

They have Alese (next to Forson in the picture) as 6'2", which I don't believe either.

OldCastleSwift

Anyway, now Jorderz's short-lived run is over because he fielded the kids, who's having the Burnley match thread?

Pengeman

alderz said:

Football Manager has him at 5ft 3 when you start the game, I think

Billy Bremner and Johnny Giles were about 5ft 5 or less and were very impressive. So height isn't a barrier in midfield though it all depends on the mix of players.

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

OldCastleSwift said:

Anyway, now Jorderz's short-lived run is over because he fielded the kids, who's having the Burnley match thread?

I've been mugged off. Burnley would have been a footballing feast under my stewardship.

IronHerb

Even with the kids we extended our record of not losing by more than one goal to 41 games.

Ashby and Longelo played well and I think Fornals was bamboozled by the total lack of movement up front. Kral and Vlasic die well enough but need game time with the better players around them. Other than that Zagreb were pretty poor but did score a cracker.

Fortuneseeker

There was Vlasic trying to shake hands with a few of the Zagreb players & they weren't entertaining it because he used to play for Split. I suppose I should have expected it as didn't Slaven Bilic once say their fans used to push opposition cars into the harbour? It's the Eternal Derby and they really do hate each other so it's little wonder he was ignored.

claretandbluesky

Fortuneseeker said:

There was Vlasic trying to shake hands with a few of the Zagreb players & they weren't entertaining it because he used to play for Split. I suppose I should have expected it as didn't Slaven Bilic once say their fans used to push opposition cars into the harbour? It's the Eternal Derby and they really do hate each other so it's little wonder he was ignored.

That is childish in the extreme, these are professional footballers.

PrestonHammer

We're talking footballers here hahaha

Dodger58

From twitter;

When you realise you might have to face Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen in the Europa League