O
ne thing all West Ham fans can say is that the defensive part of our play has significantly improved this season but our attacking option needs to be worked on to help improve our lack of goals. During this season we have tried Andy Carroll who in fairness isn’t renowned for his goals scoring and we have also tried with Carlton Cole who blows hot and cold so consistency is his problem. We also have Modibo Maiga who we brought in this summer for £4.7 million and he hasn’t had a real opportunity for a decent run in the first team in his actual position as a striker. Maybe now is the time to give him a run due to Carroll being injured and with Cole still lacking the goals we need to find?
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So what do we know about Maiga? Well in total honesty not much! West Ham bought him for £4.7 million and it has shocked me that he has failed to push Carroll and Cole more than he has. Is this down to himself or is this down to Sam Allardyce? All I know is that we need to find goals, so give Maiga a chance because the goals aren’t coming from Carroll and Cole and from what I have seen of Maiga’s few starts, he is no winger, he was bought as a striker so I think now is the time to give him his chance to shine and prove he was worth the money.
Many people think Maiga could be one of our biggest threats; he possesses great speed, a good touch, a keen eye for goal and he likes to run at defenders with the ball, which is why Newcastle United also tried to buy Maiga last season. He came to West Ham from Sochaux where he made 59 appearances and scored 24 goals in two seasons which shows he has a eye for a goal or two.
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I really hope Maiga gets his chances and shows us all what he can do. I just feel if we are going to pay that kind of money for him we at least should see what he can offer us as another attacking option instead of playing him out of position.
Carl Bateson
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He’s been shocking. He cost us the game. Not tracking back, silly fouls. Too many touches on the ball.
Saturday it was his lack of tracking back but his goals per minute on the pitch are probably better than anyone else at the club. He needs to be starting and in his rightful position then judge
Stu u can’t blame one man for our defeat. What about the ref… don’t u think taking off Cole was the reason we lost…. he was unplayable and What a goal.
We are also being punished for our lack of wingbacks Joey o Brian….George mc artney… do me a favour…. and poor Joey being asked to play left back when he’s a right back. I’ve had enough if the gold n Sullivan stick with BFS then we are going to b bottom half… 🙁
Another one thats not good enough ! He lost the ball on Saturday then tried to make up for it gave a silly foul away and they scored from it ! If we had a consistent goal scorer we would have won a lot more games as we should have done against Everton !!!
How can we have a consistent goal scorer if we play one up front game after game. Boring boring westham give the initiative to opposition every game. We have gotten this far because we have a decent squad who r being asked to play in this boring defensive system…. I’m sure Nolan missed about 2/3 sitters and people are blaming miaga do me a favour.
He is a top striker who has not been given a proper chance.
Blame him all u want but BFS must take some blame not just for yesterday but our recent slump. Playing one striker is no good especially @home as the back 4 of the opposing team have nothing to do but help their own team attack… why is our back for always busy. Because are usually playing against 2 strikers and 2 wingers… let’s face it our great club plays defensive football hence our recent slump. Look at swansea the play proper attacking football and take it to the oppositins.
Play Cole and miaga upfront for goodness sake Sam or clear the way for Dicanio
Rant over.
I completely agree that it is a joke we have not played with 4-4-2 at any point this season. We saw maybe 5 minutes of maiga and cole together and they created 2 clearcut chances, maiga was a bit ponderous and his decision making was a bit iffy but hes not had anywhere near as much central playing time as carrol and cole yet has scores twice as many goals as cole and carrol. The most depressing thing for me about the negative tactics are the way we went about our last first season after promotion when we played great football, finished 9th and came within 30 seconds of winning the fa cup. Can’t wait for paulo!!
Well said Essex iron lol
Merry Xmas one n all
I think BFS has done a great job of getting defense playing better cause we were always known to be useless from corners etc. Its the same old story in defence at full back with no pace and no creativity. Look at CHelsea, United, City, Spurs etc and they all have full backs that bomb forward but ours don;t and never had since Julian Dicks. As for the forwards. How can you call yourself a forward when you can’t hold the ball up, can’t pass, can’t take people on, can’t out jump or out pace defenders and can’t shoot. Its about time we had lightning pace out wide and up front so no matter who we come up against they are worried about the pace and have to leave defenders deep. Carroll has to go he is a luxury we don;t need and Carlton Cole is not premier league quality. Maiga has a knack for being ni the right place at the right time so play him but give him support. Andrej Kramaric and Martin Harnik look good, with pace power, great touch and killer instinct. Get them in ASAP and dump the rubbish COYI
There is no problem with Maiga. BFS has a great talent for playing people out of position. Defensively we are solid and we don’t need 5 midfielders. Stick Maiga up front with Cole and get rid of Carroll because he is useless and sign a young pacy forward who can make a burst from the bench.
We should be playing 4-1-3-2, Jussi – Demel, Reid, Tomkins, Taylor – Noble – Spence Diame Collison – Maiga and Cole. (When Vaz Te is fit he should be up front)
Jarvis is useless and a complete waste of money when younger, better players were available. Nolan gets goals here and there but overall he doesn’t offer much apart from being a good captain. If we play with 2 up front we will score more and Spence and Collison will be better than the 2 numpties attempting to play on the wing at the moment. Matty Taylor is a good left back but a useless winger.
We need Paulo Di Canio as manager or someone who knows how to be confident as a manager next season. BFS hasn’t actually been that amazing considering we only came third when our squad was by far the best in the Championship and even then we still played the majority of the time with just 1 striker. BFS will keep us up but I don’t want him to be the long term solution. We should be playing with 2 up front against bottom half teams, especially when we are at home. I am happy as long as we stay up this season, that is all I was expecting but next season we need to be playing more attacking football. If BFS hadn’t wasted 10 million on a past it winger and signed Carroll on loan for ridiculous money then we could have bought some useful players. BFS has not been terrible but he has not been as good as he should have been. When your manager constantly players you in midfield when you are a striker, how can you be expected to perform. Maiga has great potential but he is not a lone striker, he needs to be up top with someone else. Anyway, rant over, I am just fed up of people on twitter ranting about how good BFS has been when really he has been just ok.