Your team for West Ham

[warksclaret]

Good old fashioned 442
Heaton
Bards Tarks Gibson Taylor
JBG Hendrick Cork Westwood
Barnes Vydra

Must give Vydra a run-please, please, not Vokes or Wood in starting line up. We need to keep the ball on the deck and get it into the penalty area by going down the flanks. Sam cannot even get in the Wales team-that's how one dimensional he has become. Would rather have Agyei on bench

[claretspice]

To be fair I'm mainly going off what I saw from Gibson at Boro, where he always impressed me. For me he is more mobile, uses the ball far better and I think a spell out of the team might do Ben Mee good.

Fair enough. Whether or not he's better or worse than Mee, I do think Gibson is a good player and I thought he was a decent signing in the summer, and it's certainly possible that Dyche will give him the nod ahead of Mee at some point - I just think that might be more because he rates Gibson than anything else.

My personal view is that which two from the three available options fill the left centre back and left full back slots in a back four probably isn't the key issue for us right now. The bigger calls for me are whether we persist with the back 3 or revert to a back 4, and how we make the midfield more solid whilst also giving us more options at the top of the field. Time and again against Everton, we were forced to hit it long, Everton dealt with it and with two passes had got beyond our central midfield 3 an were running straight at our centre backs, in a way Liverpool didn't manage once in the game a fortnight ago.

[bodge]

It will be a really difficult game against the Ammers, they are a massive side for starters with Ogbonna and Diop at centre back, Obiang and Rice in midfield and potentially Carroll up top.

Hitting it long to Barnes, Wood, Vokes et al won't work, so we will need to try and get down the side which is where JBG will be key for us if we're going to get anything.

I'd play 442, with Hendrick tucking in on the left hand side, somehow we will need to secure possession in midfield and get JBG in behind Cresswell/Masuaku as which ever one plays likes to bomb on.

I'd take a point now and stabilise things after the Boxing Day mauling and move forward from that.

[NL Claret]

As Bodge points out it will be very difficult against WHU. They are in form and away from home too. They are physical, quick and have players that can produce moments of PL quality.

It will take something special to beat them. The bookies have them as favourites however the locals / UTS posters will be expecting an easy Burnley win. Then like after defeats against SPURS, ARSENAL and EVERTON (all well established PL clubs with deep pockets) there will be message board rage and sack the board / manager posts.

What happened to reality? 2 seasons in the PL and Burnley have become a powerhouse in some eyes. The level of expertise on here has risen. That be on how to run a football club, football club finance, goalkeeping, player recruitment and tactics. The level of conjecture has gone through the roof too, players shagging other wife's, jealousy over a Merc and Joe Hart earning 3 times more than other players.

Those who struggle to form opinions take it as read what is on UTC and start spouting it on match day. It's all becoming a bit of a turn off personally. I don't think we have the quality to beat WHU, I can take that but what irritates is derision and abuse aimed at the manager and players from 18 stone experts around me. I'm sitting this one out.

[claretspice]

It will be a really difficult game against the Ammers, they are a massive side for starters with Ogbonna and Diop at centre back, Obiang and Rice in midfield and potentially Carroll up top.

Hitting it long to Barnes, Wood, Vokes et al won't work, so we will need to try and get down the side which is where JBG will be key for us if we're going to get anything.

I'd play 442, with Hendrick tucking in on the left hand side, somehow we will need to secure possession in midfield and get JBG in behind Cresswell/Masuaku as which ever one plays likes to bomb on.

I'd take a point now and stabilise things after the Boxing Day mauling and move forward from that.

Agree with that Bodge. I'd add that that space behin Masuaku/Creswell is also the reason why you'd want Vydra or possibly Wood on the pitch, because they can run that channel and give us an option in there, especially when JBG gets dragged back to track the full back.

One of our great strengths under Dyche has - until this season - been the way in which we work the channels behind attacking full backs to give us an attacking platform. This would seem like a good time to get back to this.

[bodge]

Yes exactly like what happened at the London Stadium last season for Barnes' goal spice.

[HiroshimaClaret]

I'm sitting this one out.

A fair weather fan! Hypocrite!!!