With the Wembley countdown clock ticking down, I will be looking at which style we should play, speed over strength, skill over guile just how should we set up to secure victory to take us to the top league in England.
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I look back at the two previous fixtures the 4-0 home win, where we had Sam Baldock and John Carew Carew up front Papa Bouba Diop, Kevin Nolan, Jack Collison and Matty Taylor in midfield with Mark Noble on the bench. That team to me suggests
power with a little bit of flair and skill thrown in to enable to play on the counter. The pacy Baldock bagged a brace and John Carew and Jack Collison bagged a goal apiece.
To the away fixture in which the Hammers won 4-1, the Hammers lined up with Nicky Maynard up top on his own, Ricardo Vaz Te on the wing with Noble and Collison in the middle with Julien Faubert on the other wing. This performance with my personal and was voted as the performance of the season as the Hammers smashed the Tangerines with just 10 men for most of the second half with Henri Lansbury in goal, the away side still managed to score two after the sending off. Now this time there is a slight
change in tactics, we have Maynard, Faubert and Vaz Te all speedy, skilful players in advanced positions. These three players enabled us to break at pace, and it showed as Maynard bagged his
first for the club on his full debut, Vaz Te bagged a goal and James Tomkins and Gary O’Neil got the other two.
So onto Wembley, and for me a game which forces the manager to consider both previous fixtures whilst firmly focusing on the fact this is a one off game and that both previous fixtures are thrown
out the window, it is now about who can handle themselves on the big day. So that is for me that is why we must stick to the winning team of late, a perfect blend of the strength of Carlton Cole and
the skill and speed of Vaz Te. In recent weeks that has meant the Hammers have gone on a superb run and have won 6 of their last 8 games including a huge 5-0 aggregate win over Cardiff in the semi-finals of the Play-offs.
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The midfield picks itself for me, if Collison can shrug off (excuse my awful pun) his pesky shoulder injury he would return. Collison who has been superb recently and is one of the main reasons why we were so calm in the second leg at Upton Park would walk straight back into my team if fit on the right hand side, although I suspect Allardyce will play 4-3-3/4-5-1 in the game itself which means Collison will be pushed in the middle with Nolan and Noble. Gary O’Neil now he is a player who I have moaned
about in many of my match reports, but as he slowly gets back to full fitness, you can see just how hard he works, the boy is tireless and has a good eye for a pass, he often gets unnoticed but his hard
work and hassling the opponent’s have meant the Hammers have started to dictate the midfield more of late, so for me he plays on the right wing at Wembley and he and my left winger Vaz Te will
have to make the Wembley pitch as wide as possible to help the Hammers get around the back of the Blackpool defence.
Defensively, I would again stick with the winning formula, Taylor at left back although he will have to be on his toes to keep both Matt Phillips and Tom Ince quiet, Guy Demel on the right, who will again has to use his strength and pace to help out the centre half partnership of Tomkins and Reid deal with the speedy wingers.
So for me, stick with what’s working and there is no need to panic and look at the teams that have done so well against Blackpool in previous games, by all means bring on Maynard with 20 to go, to
run at tiring Blackpool legs. But this is a one off game and it should be a cracker that’s for sure.
Come on You Irons!
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