Watched it back. Feels like an end of cycle game. Repeated shape changes that dramatically alter team-level OOP mentality, with resultant impacts on natural counterbalancing IP tempo, leading to a level of competitiveness almost good enough to match a subpar Palace performance. It just isn't enough.

Tactically, I'm not sure that West Ham are building layers this season. Short term solutions are prioritised for momentary upside that is quickly wiped out by teams that have developed together towards a clear idea. In short, Palace know what they are about. I don't think we do.

Team that know what they're doing vs West Ham again is it?

Looked at 55 Ligue 1 players in depth. Standouts were: Telli Siwe (CB, 20, Auxerre) Quick sweeper. Lacroix prototype. Junior Mwanga (DM, 22, Nantes) Strong in duels. Moves it forwards. Good in the boxes. Shades of Amadou Onana. Aladji Bamba (DM, 19, Monaco) Wow. That's why they let Magassa go...

Jayden Oosterwolde - Fenerbahce

Limited options for max minutes at LCB this late in the window. Diogo Leite linked with Girona/Bologna to replace Krejci/Lucumi who have gone/will be going to Wolves/Sunderland. Worth exploring. In last year of contract and not included so far for Union Berlin with a sale expected.

Four months on from this post and can't get away from this stuff anywhere. Online/offline - it's everywhere. Not doing so hot as a result. Not even platforming myself to avoid ag and still experiencing maximum ag. It's great!

I could actually rant all day about how shit it all is right now. It's so shit. I wake up every day and read more horrible shite entirely designed to make the environment more hostile and to squash us into easily digestible boxes for the intolerant or remove us from view by whatever means necessary.

Latest pod is out looking at the growing gap between West Ham and competition across the PL. We ask some of the big questions about how style and linked development can work in conjunction with the state of the current squad to sustainably create growth. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXP4...

Can anyone tell me what I'm missing re Toti Gomes? Data is excellent, very impressed every time I watch. Looks a top player.

Latest video looking at why West Ham sat deeper on Monday and how Maresca was able to change it using the depth of talent on the Chelsea bench. Interested to see future progression in responses to 3-diamond-3 when someone like Palmer is present at #10. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfy-...

The transfer window might be over and we finished this bonkers time of year by covering six wing-backs we think could make a positive difference at West Ham next season. Points for anyone who can guess who came first in the extended top ten on Patreon! www.youtube.com/watch?v=pACw...

Every now and then, I have a night where I can't get to sleep because I'm stuck thinking about Lee Chang Dong's Burning or Denis Villeneuve's Incendies. Maybe the trick is giving the film a fire-related name but then Tony Scott's Man on Fire would've stuck with me in the same way and... it didn't.

Seeing Everton & Forest put 11 past Leicester & Brighton really hammers home the fact that we stopped investing in the thing we did best just before it was about to properly go bang in the wider tactical environment of the PL. Underlines the lack of understanding, forethought & strategy at WHU.

Latest pod rattling through loads of positives with specific focus on greater adaptability enabling better usage of players thus extracting better levels from the squad. Potter's flexibility is arguably perfect for overseeing stylistic transition at WHU. www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUNU...

Lots to share on here today but will start with the second episode of our "Transfer Factory" series where we looked at six midfielders that could improve us in midfield. Points for anyone who can guess which 19 year-old only just missed out in seventh... youtu.be/nrFae_bP1Sw

Discovering that people think Kilman is bad has been a wild experience. Straight shootout between him and Bowen for HOTY right now and don't think it's even that close.

What a pathetic load of nonsense at the end of this first half from all involved. Book the captains and get on with it.

Should've played the kids. Would've learned more. We already know some of these older players aren't good enough.

Just broke 3k subs (160k views) in the almost six months since we launched the channel. Decent start!

Eintracht Frankfurt have really cracked this -sign a striker who has struggled to nail the lone #9 job, play them in a front two, sell for loads- lark haven't they

So proud of AU team making this series a reality. I've worked on the tools that powered this video for six years and I'm beyond excited to finally start sharing the results. Please do shout w feedback because we're now entering the major learning curve with translating all that bts work to video.

With Niclas Fullkrug and Michail Antonio out for a while, we looked at some strikers West Ham could sign to improve Potter's side with particular attention paid to the long-term demands of the role as he transitions the side stylistically. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q7D...

Love getting accused of having biases when I don't stick the boot in after less than two weeks... Take four forwards (including all genuine #9 options) and a starting CB away from any previous West Ham manager and I'm fairly confident we'd have been shite.

Reaction on the other place has been pathetic. We're tired and we've barely had a training session under the new manager. Today wasn't good but 0.3-0.42 npxG at home to a resurgent Palace isn't the end of the world!

Looked at one of the major positive changes from Potter's first PL match where previous compromises that harmed our press, making us easy to play through, were replaced with decisive collective commitment bringing genuine pressing success. www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5xc...

Latest pod is out! Cal and I got quite excited about the possibilities under Potter after such a good start with so many players out against tough opposition. It wasn't perfect but there were so many areas of major improvement that there's room for real positivity. www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwBy...

Opened Twitter Read more nonsense about Luis Guilherme Closed Twitter

Mohamed Amoura’s loan move to Wolfsburg has been made permanent - or will become so in the summer. Not sure he’ll be there for that much longer if he carries on as he is. Super season.

Just watched the first half from last night back and blown away all over again. An incredible performance for a team missing pretty much all of the forwards against opposition unbeaten in nine. Silva was sour afterwards about the mistake for our first but that doesn't happen without our pressing.

Amad ⭐

Would let Alvarez go to Monaco for a decent fee at the end of the loan. Replace with Matusiwa.

Read a lot of rubbish about Mavropanos. Too many mistakes but handles the physical side of the game well and can be a real + in build-up if a bit of risk-taking is required. No doubt not performing at his best level right now but a valuable CB in 3-box-3 world and low-block-and-counter land.

Big spell of dominance for Villa last night between the 60th and 80th minute with 13/16 shots coming in that time. Nice fix from Emery to push Cash on with Tielemans dropping and Onana/Kamara covering. Difficult for us to solve w/ players available. Just 0.15 xG for AVFC in the rest of the match.

Nothing makes the shift in football clearer than multiple teams without a manager in place continuing to sign players. Head Coaches who coach who they are given is probably the way most clubs would like to be structured.

Osame Sahraoui is very good at football.

Odds on David Moyes and Aaron Cresswell to Everton? #RequestABet 😂

🚨 Emergency pod alert. Graham #Potter is the new #WestHam manager, and we've got 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠. What does it mean for the team? The tactics? The transfers? Listen now as myself and @jackelderton.bsky.social unpack what "Potterball" could look like at #WHUFC. #ttx www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAdC...

miss u

Good to see Spurs getting absolutely plastered whilst playing the football the right way. Forest and Bournemouth sit in the top six with their direct styles but it feels like we're not allowed to acknowledge these things at West Ham because David Moyes is the antichrist.

I could actually rant all day about how shit it all is right now. It's so shit. I wake up every day and read more horrible shite entirely designed to make the environment more hostile and to squash us into easily digestible boxes for the intolerant or remove us from view by whatever means necessary.

Shot: Crap rainbow laces 2024. Chaser: Saudi World Cup. Sickener: UK puberty blockers ban.

New pod where the boundary between me and the urge to gently bump my head against the desk for an hour of audio to sum up my feelings on West Ham thins yet more. Back on the rest defence stuff and the miserable form of Edson Álvarez after another undeserved win. open.spotify.com/episode/201g...

One thing I do enjoy about the first freezing matches of the winter is putting my dad's scarf on and getting assaulted by the smell of the man I travelled around the country with to sit on cold plastic seats and watch terrible football instead of talking.

Chucking post-match takes up on the other place but jumping over to say that my enthusiasm for the football is so low right now. I've enjoyed the process this season but it's exhausting doing it all on one team where the contextual issues are so overwhelming that it becomes somewhat irrelevant.

Two properly idiotic penalties given away by Spurs. Big fan of what Ange did when he first came in but that combination of foolishness and naivety seems to be hard-coded into the group and it reflects their manager's, arguably equally foolish and naive, obstinance. Time for change?

Looked into West Ham's collapse at Leicester very closely this week and perhaps I'm a bit lost in the sauce having spent so much time focusing on one match but I'm not sure I can think of too many examples of PL teams that have ever allowed easy progression from GK to 10 in space like this? ttx

Julen Lopetegui: Buonanotte #respecter

Aftersun clip came up on my Twitter feed and now I'm going to spend the rest of the day thinking about that film. It's so good. Hit me like a bomb going off before feeling the shrapnel in the last 10 mins as someone with recent experience, at a young age, of losing parents.