View from the opposition – West Ham
Name: Paul Marshall
Current home town: Bournemouth
Birthplace: Brighton
How long have you supported your team? 35 years
Overview of your club:
A working man's club, that needs to revive its mission to be the Academy of football after four years of moving away from that, by playing too much direct football & not giving our kids a chance. We hopefully, now have the right manager and board to take us to the next level in the new stadium.
Favourite thing about your home ground: The closeness to the pitch. The intense atmosphere when the team are playing well.
Favourite match played by your team & why: Wolves 3-1 in 1993. The first home match after Bobby Moore died. The emotions in & around the ground that day were very special. Wolves fans & staff played their part too in what was a day that will always live with me.
Favourite player of all time who played for your club: Julian Dicks
About our forthcoming match against you:
Your favourite current player in your squad and why? Antonio. A '100% er'. Strong as an ox, direct & makes things happen offensively. I hope he can continue this next season.
Player in your squad we should most fear and why? Probably Payet. I am in the minority, when I say he hasn’t really done the business since he came back from injury in Jan. His free kicks have kept him in the spotlight. He still has the ability to change a game in a second.
Player in our squad you most fear and why? Mahrez. If Reid doesn’t play again for us, then Vardy should tear our centre halves apart.
Up and coming prospect in your squad? No surprises. Reece Oxford. Could be anything.
How do you think you'll do against us? I think King Slav will not let us peter out after Wednesday’s disappointment, so I expect us to put up a good show. Probably the most predictable score, but I actually think it'll be 1-0 to Leicester.
Do you think you'll field a full strength team? I expect king Slav will play the following fringe players; Collins, Hendrie, zarate, Carroll, jelavic and Oxford. I suspect they'll be at least 7 changes.
Where do you think you will bow out of the competition? As we are out of Europe, if we do win tomorrow, I'll go for a quarter final knock out.
General Questions:
What do you think of the summer transfer activity so far both in and out of your club? Sufficient. Payet will be immense. We wait to see what impact Ogbonna & Obiang will have. I think we need one more striker & that's it. We do not need to the quantity of players now in view of the Europa exit. I hope Nolan can be moved on to allow us to get another squad player in. I have no qualms about releasing Downing for the money we got
Where do you think you'll finish this season? 7th
Which three teams do you think will go down? Villa, Sunderland, Norwich
(I still have a hunch that either Sunderland or Newcastle will stay up)
Who do you think will win the league? I couldn't bear it if Spurs won it. Hoping you get over the line as quickly as possible. I know it's been said several times, but your season has restored lots of peeps faith in football.
Any other comments? Fond memories of Filbert Street. Remember a match at the start of the season in 1990. We won 2-1. I think Steve Walsh scored a OG. Julian was in his pomp then. Great atmosphere. Good luck for the season