With a dramatically devastating loss to Bournemouth in the Betway Cup and the departure of Grady Diangana, West Ham need a strong XI to right the ship against Newcastle.
Throw out last season, throw out the preseason, and throw out preconceived notions about West Ham players. Better yet, combine all three to evenly weigh-out what players should be selected for the Hammers’ season opener against Newcastle and the team really does pick itself.
Newcastle are adding players rapidly now and with a stronger team than last season, an already difficult fixture gets complicated further. Will Jamal Lewis start? Will Andy Carroll be starting alongside newcomer Callum Wilson? And most importantly, how can West Ham deal with both of these situations?
Well, the easy answer to this question is for David Moyes to select his strongest team and play these players in their actual positions. If that is done, Newcastle will have their hands full with the following team:
Fabianski
Fredericks – Diop – Ogbonna – Johnson
Cullen – Rice
Bowen – Fornals – Anderson
Antonio
Bench: Randolph, Cresswell, Masuaku, Balbuena, Noble, Yarmolenko, Haller
Will this team actually get picked? Highly doubtful for a number of reasons. If Soucek has to miss this match due to COVID-19 quarantining, Noble will draw into the starting XI over Josh Cullen, despite his terrific play against Bournemouth.
Secondly, Ben Johnson had a mare against the Cherries, but on his off-side, he is our best left-back by a mile. Regardless of opinions on Fredericks, he is better than Cresswell and Masuaku as well, so the shifting of the youngster to the left fullback position strengthens this team with speed and delivery.
Lastly, Sebastien Haller will likely be playing in this game because West Ham cannot allow their record signing to be benched to start the season. His speed is concerning, his solo play is abysmal, and he looks disinterested in general on the pitch. The brain says to sit him and play with three attacking midfielders, but Anderson will probably be sacrificed to switch this team to a 4-4-2.
Should any recruits come in the door they may change this team, but as it stands, West Ham are a club slipping deeper into crisis. The defensive depth and overall depth proves this and is a massive concern for this season. That being said, is this starting XI relegation worthy? Only time will tell.