West Ham (H) - League Cup 3rd Rnd, Wed 25th Sep 2024 (8:00pm)

[Trumo]

I'll start off by saying that, regardless of the outcome of this game, I'm not expecting an awful lot from our defence of the League Cup. Firstly, the last time we defended a trophy, Uncle Joe was in charge! Since then, winning a domestic cup has led to an early round exit the following season. Secondly, Slot is working with a very trimmed-down squad as a lot of the young players who stepped up so well last season have either been sold or are out on loan somewhere. I think Danns is still injured, but only Nallo and Nyoni seem to be at the level of last year's group. That's not to say the others are not good players. They may well be, and they may well be better than the ones last year. They lack experience outside of youth football though, and it's a huge difference. Having the youngsters out on loan should really benefit them, as we've seen with Conor and Jarell in particular.

 

West Ham have had a middling start to the season under new coach Lopetegui. They don't have Europe this season so no real need to rest players for this game I reckon. On the face of it, they've recruited pretty well this summer, bringing in Kilman, Summerville and Fullkrug. They've brought in Wan-Bissaka, who has almost no positional sense but loves the sort of blocks and slide tackles so beloved of the average British pundit. They've also added the sought-after Todibo in defence and a little bit of midfield finesse with Soler in midfield, both on loan. I've never seen Todibo play but he's always linked with the likes of us, the red Mancs and Arsenal, and no doubt Chelsea have tried doing a deal at some point.

 

I'd expect Slot to ring the changes for this one. Harvey is still out. Depending on whether Ali is going to be available for upcoming games, we might see Jaros get a debut as Queef is saved for bigger games. Conor, Jarell and Joe I'd expect to see from the start, along with Curtis, Endo and Fede. Cody might start this one too. Not sure if Morton will be utilised, but I imagine our regular starters will be on the bench. If it's level after 90 minutes, the game goes straight to penalties so there's no reason to worry about flogging players for a gruelling 120 minutes. I'm hoping for but not expecting a similar performance and result to last season, which was very fluid and dominant.

 

How have our previous managers got on in their first League Cup tie against the Hammers?

 

Shankly...27/10/1971...2nd Round, 1st leg...West Ham 2-1 Liverpool (Graham)

Paisley...14/03/1981...Final...Liverpool 1-1 West Ham (A Kennedy)

Fagan...N/A

Dalglish...30/11/1988...4th Round...West Ham 4-1 Liverpool (Aldridge pen)

Souness...N/A

Evans...N/A

Houllier...N/A

Benitez...N/A

Hodgson...N/A

Dalglish...N/A

Rodgers...N/A

Klopp...20/12/2023... 5th Round...Liverpool 5-1 West Ham (Szoboszlai, Jones 2, Gakpo, Salah)

 

I don't ask for much. Maximum motivation, control, application, attitude and concentration from minute one. Make the next round please. Get it done!

 

 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

This is personal.

 

I expect Slot will rotate a bit, but so will Lopetegui.  The difference is, we have better players ready to come on: senior players (Quansah, Bradley, Gomez, Tsimikas, Jones, Endo, Chiesa, etc.) who we probably would have expected to see more of in the league before now.

 

Just get these beat, Reds.

[Scott_M]

Kweev shootout masterclass incoming…

[Megadrive Man]

Kelleher

Bradley

Gomez

Quansah

Tsimikas

Endo

Morton

Jones

Chiesa

Jota

Gakpo

[Scott_M]

Just now, Megadrive Man said:

Kelleher

Bradley

Gomez

Quansah

Tsimikas

Endo

Morton

Jones

Chiesa

Jota

Gakpo

I’d more or less play the same. Maybe Nunez for Jota and, hopefully, keep Nunez scoring. 

[Kevin D]

Surely Chiesa starts and I’m not going to get a better chance to step to his missus.

 

Believe.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

3 hours ago, Scott_M said:

Kweev shootout masterclass incoming…

Kweev greeting Kepa in the tunnel yesterday.

 

[Anubis]

Just win.

[Welsh]

Only a small amount of rotation please. Let's take every competition serious.

[Bobby Hundreds]

Rotate everything for me put the fucking Kop end at the Annie Rd end swap the main stand with the Dalglish. All change. Keep Nunez give the periphery players game time. You could literally swap every position and have a team more than capable of walloping West Ham. Full swap and still a front line of Gakpo, Nunez and Chiesa that's nice. Tsimikas Gomes Quansah and Bradley. Midfield a bit tougher Morton Endo and Jones.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

5 minutes ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

Rotate everything for me put the fucking Kop end at the Annie Rd end swap the main stand with the Dalglish. All change. Keep Nunez give the periphery players game time. You could literally swap every position and have a team more than capable of walloping West Ham. Full swap and still a front line of Gakpo, Nunez and Chiesa that's nice. Tsimikas Gomes Quansah and Bradley. Midfield a bit tougher Morton Endo and Jones.

Why not?  A few years ago we started a Quarter Final with Neco Williams up front; we still went on to win the trophy.

[Binomial]

10 changes from the weekend please Arne. 

 

Jaros

Bradley Gomez Quansah Kostas

Endo Jones 

Nyoni

Chiesa Nunez Gakpo

 

Be nice come after the game we're talking about a special young talent we have emerging in Nyoni.

[Barnesey]

After the weekend WHU may resist the temptation to rotate. 

[Bruce Spanner]

Twat 'em, move on.

[El Rojo]

2 hours ago, Barnesey said:

After the weekend WHU may resist the temptation to rotate. 

Their manager’s already under serious pressure. They’ll need to show something in this one.

 

Even if West Ham go strong though, our second strings have often excelled in this competition against the odds in recent years. 

[diamondjoe]

On 22/09/2024 at 16:09, Kevin D said:

Surely Chiesa starts and I’m not going to get a better chance to step to his missus.

 

Believe.

Hold your horses there sunshine. I called dibs on her weeks ago. She'll get the full on diamond service. 

All 4 seconds of it. 

[JohnnyH]

Nyoni not in the u21s squad tonight. Bench at the very minimum for him tomorrow so. 

[LFC 6 Times]

Kelleher, Bradley, Quansah, Gomez, Kostas, Endo, Jones, Morton, Chiesa, Nunez, Gakpo.

[VladimirIlyich]

Hugh Pugh Barney McGrew Cuthbert Dibble Grubb, plus Academy players. 

[Pidge]

Grubb can go in the summer

[Elite]

Nyoni to start for me, perfect game for his development.

[manwiththestick]

Get the team leaked!

[viskop]

Liverpool: Kelleher, Gomez, Endo, Nunez, Chiesa, Jones, Gakpo, Jota, Tsimikas, Quansah, Bradley.

Subs: Jaros, Van Dijk, Diaz, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Salah, Robertson, Alexander-Arnold, Morton.

[Code]

[Carvalho Diablo]