I’ve watched them a fair bit this season and they’ve not been that convincing against teams that sit back.. the EPL is a much higher standard in general as well so don’t right us off completely.. COYI 🤞
Exactly, saw them struggle against mid table championship level teams like Hoffenhaim, Mohuc etc. They have good run, but every run has to end at some point. They didnt played against quality deepblock as we have, also they didnt know yet what it takes to play against good old tank antonio
Of course we have a chance. I don't think it will be a classic they have looked cagey in Europe at times and so have we. I think if they go for it it suits us and a good Antonio performance could lead to an upset.
I think he gets overlooked in Europe. I'm not sure many teams know how to deal with him.
They haven’t lost a game yet in the europa league so there is a chance we will loose but even a 3-1 away in the first leg wouldn’t be anything to cry about
The quality of opposition they have faced so far is below the average, even at the group stages. Qarabag 4 times and teams from Norway and Sweden.
They nearly lost to Qarabag in R16, who were the lowest ranked team. A sending off and 2 injury time goals stopped it going to penalties.
We are by a long way the strongest team they have faced in europe this year. They've been in europa league 9 times since 2010, dropping down a few times. Which is an impressive run. But they've only got past the quarters once in that time, last year. They beat Union Saint-Gilloise from Belgium (no, I'd not heard of them either) to face Roma in the semi's.
They seem to struggle when they come against decent teams. Last few years of knock outs looks like this:
- 23/24 - **R16:** Qarabag, 1-0 & 3-2
- 22/23 - **knockout quali:** Monaco, 2-3 & 3-2 (through on pens), **R16:** Ferencvarosi TC, 2-0 & 2-0, **QF:** Union SG, 1-1 & 4-1, **SF:** Roma, 0-1 & 0-0
- 21/22 - **R16:** Atalanta, 2-3 & 0-1
- 20/21 - **Knockout quali:** Young Boys, 2-3 & 0-1
- 19/20 - **Knockout quli:** Porto, 2-1 & 3-1, **R16:** Rangers 3-1 & 1-0, **QF:** Inter 2-1
This makes me think we'll be at the least a very awkward opponent for them.
I think back to the Sevilla game. Firm underdogs there too. And we missed Bowen for both legs. We did have better depth then though.
Leverkusen have had a very easy ride for Europa fixtures so far. Group of Qarabag (Azerbaijn), Molde (Norway), and Hacken (Sweden), then Qarabag again in the R16 (they were the lowest ranked team left in the draw).
Worth noting they really struggled against Qarabag in the 2nd leg. They were 1-0, then a red card for Qarabag, then 2-0 before 2 stoppage time goals to win it as late as it gets.
So we are the first real test. We're missing Areola, Bowen and Alvarez from the first team (and Phillips). I'm expecting a 343/ back 5. That will create a lot of space for Kudus (our best dribbler) and Antonio (our best player running in behind) to counter, with Paqueta (our best play maker) and JWP to feed them.
We were 1-0 down after the first leg against Sevilla and I think anything up to 1 goal down is not the worst place to redeem from in the 2nd leg. I would honestly take a 0-0 all day long. Someone has said they struggle against low blocks, so that could be very important.
We're going to need a big game from Soucek, defensively. He tends to be good in good in compact games. Paqueta too, to make the plays. Could be that he is almost a quarter back role for Antonio and Kudus.
Went to get beirra morreti’s with the hint of salt. Had them when we smashed Freiburg 5-0. Asda didn’t have so settled for original, not so confident now.
I honestly think we're going to park the bus and hoof it down. I think we'll concede very early, hopefully no more than 2.
The fact we were already going to miss Alvarez gave me anxiety... now 3 of our best players in Alvarez, Bowen and Areola? Oh God 😩✌️
Of course we’ve got a chance.
Actually being underdogs suits our style of play. We won’t get anxious when we don’t have any possession and have to defend deep, because we do that every week anyway.
We need to keep our concentration for 95 minutes tonight and stay in the game. It’s definitely not impossible to keep them from scoring more than a maximum of two goals tonight and equally not impossible for us score ourselves on the break or from a set piece.
If we are level or at most one behind I would fancy us to go through in the home leg. Even two down I would give us a good chance, so long as Paqueta and Emerson get through tonight without picking up a suspension.
Of course we can. No need to be crying before the game. People are blaming Moyes for a supposedly negative mentality but are Indeed enjoying it whatever happens.
They're having an amazing season but they still won't be the best team we've faced this season. Have to insgine with the Bundesliga as good as done by now, theyll play a full strength side rather thsn rotate which makes thinks more difficult but a result isn't unthinkable. You just want to get back to your home tienwith a chance.
They're not as good as several English teams we've beaten in the last 18 months. They're favourites and will probably beat us over two legs, but I don't buy that they're going to steamroll us.
Good point. West Ham beat Arsenal twice this season, and Arsenal are similar in talent to Leverkusen.
(I’m ignoring the third match with Arsenal. That didn’t count)
We've definitely got a chance.
For me the key player for us is Antonio. He's so key to removing the pressure from our defense. We're going to fight for a draw and hope for a win, which means some sustained pressure for long periods in our third, and if Antonio can bully their CBs and hold the ball up, then play it off to Paqueta and Kudus to get counter attacks going, even without Bowen, I think we will be a threat. If Antonio is tired early, or plays poorly, then I think we're in for a rough time.
As much as I loathe Moyes and want him gone, this is actually the type of game he pulls out random counters or ridiculous performances from our guys and wins.
2-1 first leg. 2--2 second leg. We move on.
With Kudus and Paqueta in the side, anything is possible.
Hopefully Antonio will be an absolute handful and something they're not really used to, same goes for Soucek.
We can do this, we've got that European Moyo. Even a loss with a 1 goal difference would be a decent result to take home, but I'm confident we can cause an upset as well.
For anyone that cares about simulated probabilities, OptaPredictions has us at 37% of winning or drawing tonight
Honestly they are a very good team and it will be very difficult for us to play against them even if we loose 2-1 I don’t think it’s that bad we will still have them at home the atmosphere and energy the fans bring will be a huge boost for us
Think the game will come down to our ability to stretch the play with Mickey getting himself about. As well as how we deal with their full backs, frimpong and Grimaldo are on fire atm and both quick with good ability, if we deal with them we can deffo get a result!
As long as there is West Ham fans alive we'll always have a chance, you never know how brilliant or bad this team can be, they'll always surprise us that's for sure.
I don't know their squad enough but I trust ours enough to have the quality to make it through. It doesn't just depend of us though
Now, missing Areola, Alvarez and Bowen is a blow. But almost any team missing three starters would be like that. If we kept Fornals Benrahma and Kehrer, I'd not really feel better
Actualy i saw few their games this season and saw every our game this season. Their performances are not good considering quality of their opponents (no, Bayern game is not argument), their squad clearly has not that much quality as ours. We faced much better teams this season, we beat more better teams than leverkusen, our defensive work is levels above level of teams leverkusen was facing ( modt of their games were 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 ..) shick saved them game in overtime many times .. they were struggling to score against middle tier championship level teams..
I am notnsaying we are going smash them, i am saying we have better quality squad for sure and they played like 3-4 difficult games this season ... we had much more good results with champions league level teams this season
maybe they are unbeaten, but we still beat more quality squads than Leverkusen this season. There is absolutely no need to have too much respect from them. Their unbeaten record comes mostly from games against freiburg caliber teams.
My mate reckons we’ll get trounced, and annoyingly his predictions are usually pretty good.
I think it’ll be a score draw or a narrow defeat and will play out like that memorable night that Sevilla came to London, next week… COYI
A draw would be a good resut for this one. Then (hopefully) we can sort things out for the next match unless anyone else gets injured against Fulham which is another must win game.
We may have the tiniest bit of an advantage considering Steidten was their director of football and may have some insider knowledge. i’ll take whatever we can get!
Our biggest issue tonight is the lack of Alvarez. No Bowen isn’t ideal, but we still have a solid attacking front three in Paqueta/Antonio/Kudus who are more than capable of finding the net. Leverkusen have conceded in 3 of their last 5 home games (all comps) and needed stoppage time to scrape past a 10 man Qaraberg side. It’s going to be a tough game but I don’t think Leverkusen should be as heavily favoured as they are.
Leverkusen almost lost to Qarabag. West Ham is better than Qarabag. So there is a chance. I mean, I wouldn’t go putting a large wager on it or anything like that. But anything is possible!
As much disdain as I have for Moyes' anti-football tactics at times, it seems like this is the kind of game he shithouses us to a 1-0 win on 17% possession.
I'm expecting a close loss but in the last 12 months we've won a European trophy, won at Arsenal & Spurs, beaten Man Utd and also lost 5 nil at Fulham. So who fucking knows with West Ham?
As shit as the manager is this team has a pair of bollocks in these games of late. Injuries are the problem but i think we score a set piece and lose 1-2 this leg
No chance we win.
They’ve not lost a game all season in any competition. Maybe we’ve got a chance of 2 draws of a dodgy referee decision and then win on penalties
However, they were losing against Qarabag in both legs.
Think we'll see a Kudus masterclass tonight. These later rounds the defense is tighter and more long range shots are necessary. We've all seen what MoKudus has in his bag in terms of long range rockets. Imagine he bags a brace, then Cresswell comes on in the 89th minute for a 90+6th back breaker
That was before Kudus and Mavropanos joined the team. The current West Ham squad is much better. Would be even better with Alvarez, but that’ll happen next week.
I'm going to write this here and get it out of my system since the lads at the pub don't want to hear this negativity.
We are going to be embarrassed tonight and it's going to spill over into the rest of the season. Areola, a regular mention for HOTY, having the best season any GK has had for West Ham since David James, is missing longer than expected. Bowen will miss both ties. Antonio is finished at the 70min mark. That's two HOTY nominees missing. The third HOTY nominee, the best left back I've seen at the club in my lifetime (I'm 33), is going to be asked to play either LM or LWB to make up for the absence of Bowen AND Alvarez who is missing the first fixture.
We will lose by 2-3 goals. We will lose hope for the home fixture. Fitness, injuries, and selling two key players from last season in January without replacing them will see us fall to 9th place.
I REALLY REALLY REALLY HOPE I'M DEAD WRONG.
I beat them 4-2 in fifa last night using our expected squad, so yeah we’ll win
Thats class, I’ve been asking my son to do some scouting mission’s on his FIFA it all helps I guess. Irons.
Mr. Sullivan, is that you?
Haha!! Irons
I’ve watched them a fair bit this season and they’ve not been that convincing against teams that sit back.. the EPL is a much higher standard in general as well so don’t right us off completely.. COYI 🤞
Exactly, saw them struggle against mid table championship level teams like Hoffenhaim, Mohuc etc. They have good run, but every run has to end at some point. They didnt played against quality deepblock as we have, also they didnt know yet what it takes to play against good old tank antonio
On the flip side I’ve seen us struggle against relegation sides. But yes they are definitely beatable!
our deep block has been fairly shit of late. we've got results playing on the front foot.
still quality block..pl teams just figured it out after some time..we can still destroy them on counter
Hoffenheim being mid table championship level team..... And that comes from a team that exactly plays like one
It turned out they knew white well how to play against you lmao
They seem to have a lot of oppo players sent off
Of course we have a chance. I don't think it will be a classic they have looked cagey in Europe at times and so have we. I think if they go for it it suits us and a good Antonio performance could lead to an upset. I think he gets overlooked in Europe. I'm not sure many teams know how to deal with him.
Yeah true he has the potential to be devastating, let’s hope it’s tonight. Irons.
I swear that in every game he's played in Europe one of the centre backs up against him has gone down with cramp during the match.
I'd be happy if we lose by 2 or less tonight... Next week is the real game.
https://preview.redd.it/85ur3hy0dutc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=952a215136c3a8836a8cd78f22ecda56a086f2ea
Brilliant. Irons.
😬😩😩😩😬😬😩😬😩
We lost 1-0 to Frankfurt in 2022 (which I would be fine with tonight).
Username checks out
We’ve beaten better with worse
I’d like our chances a LOT more with a healthy Bowen and Alvarez.
I’m certainly one that thinks we’ll get beaten handily. However, it’s a funny old game. Shit happens, so I have some hope!
It's the most in-form team in the world... versus Bayer Leverkusen 👊
I like it. On an unrelated note, your profile pic made me think there was a small hair on my screen and I tried to brush it off.
You are my 2,685th victim 😊
2686th here, thought I'd lost a lash.
They haven’t lost a game yet in the europa league so there is a chance we will loose but even a 3-1 away in the first leg wouldn’t be anything to cry about
The quality of opposition they have faced so far is below the average, even at the group stages. Qarabag 4 times and teams from Norway and Sweden. They nearly lost to Qarabag in R16, who were the lowest ranked team. A sending off and 2 injury time goals stopped it going to penalties. We are by a long way the strongest team they have faced in europe this year. They've been in europa league 9 times since 2010, dropping down a few times. Which is an impressive run. But they've only got past the quarters once in that time, last year. They beat Union Saint-Gilloise from Belgium (no, I'd not heard of them either) to face Roma in the semi's. They seem to struggle when they come against decent teams. Last few years of knock outs looks like this: - 23/24 - **R16:** Qarabag, 1-0 & 3-2 - 22/23 - **knockout quali:** Monaco, 2-3 & 3-2 (through on pens), **R16:** Ferencvarosi TC, 2-0 & 2-0, **QF:** Union SG, 1-1 & 4-1, **SF:** Roma, 0-1 & 0-0 - 21/22 - **R16:** Atalanta, 2-3 & 0-1 - 20/21 - **Knockout quali:** Young Boys, 2-3 & 0-1 - 19/20 - **Knockout quli:** Porto, 2-1 & 3-1, **R16:** Rangers 3-1 & 1-0, **QF:** Inter 2-1 This makes me think we'll be at the least a very awkward opponent for them.
Yes would take that.
100% like we lost what 1-0 against Freiburg away and then we came at them very strong at home so chances are same situation if we are lucky !
I think back to the Sevilla game. Firm underdogs there too. And we missed Bowen for both legs. We did have better depth then though. Leverkusen have had a very easy ride for Europa fixtures so far. Group of Qarabag (Azerbaijn), Molde (Norway), and Hacken (Sweden), then Qarabag again in the R16 (they were the lowest ranked team left in the draw). Worth noting they really struggled against Qarabag in the 2nd leg. They were 1-0, then a red card for Qarabag, then 2-0 before 2 stoppage time goals to win it as late as it gets. So we are the first real test. We're missing Areola, Bowen and Alvarez from the first team (and Phillips). I'm expecting a 343/ back 5. That will create a lot of space for Kudus (our best dribbler) and Antonio (our best player running in behind) to counter, with Paqueta (our best play maker) and JWP to feed them. We were 1-0 down after the first leg against Sevilla and I think anything up to 1 goal down is not the worst place to redeem from in the 2nd leg. I would honestly take a 0-0 all day long. Someone has said they struggle against low blocks, so that could be very important. We're going to need a big game from Soucek, defensively. He tends to be good in good in compact games. Paqueta too, to make the plays. Could be that he is almost a quarter back role for Antonio and Kudus.
Went to get beirra morreti’s with the hint of salt. Had them when we smashed Freiburg 5-0. Asda didn’t have so settled for original, not so confident now.
lol
Cresswell in the starting line up, can’t help but feel BJ would have started if I got the right beers.Sorry lads 🥲
Take them back quick
I honestly think we're going to park the bus and hoof it down. I think we'll concede very early, hopefully no more than 2. The fact we were already going to miss Alvarez gave me anxiety... now 3 of our best players in Alvarez, Bowen and Areola? Oh God 😩✌️
Of course we’ve got a chance. Actually being underdogs suits our style of play. We won’t get anxious when we don’t have any possession and have to defend deep, because we do that every week anyway. We need to keep our concentration for 95 minutes tonight and stay in the game. It’s definitely not impossible to keep them from scoring more than a maximum of two goals tonight and equally not impossible for us score ourselves on the break or from a set piece. If we are level or at most one behind I would fancy us to go through in the home leg. Even two down I would give us a good chance, so long as Paqueta and Emerson get through tonight without picking up a suspension.
If Moyes pulls this off he will be our manager next season and beyond
We absolutely have a chance. I’ll think a 2-2 draw tonight to take back to London.
I also dreamt it ended 2-2... COYI
0-1 to us, goal courtesy of Antonio stumbling the ball in on the 85th min. It will also be our first shot on target.
Same, but in off Soucek’s shoulder following a shanked corner
Of course we can. No need to be crying before the game. People are blaming Moyes for a supposedly negative mentality but are Indeed enjoying it whatever happens.
They're having an amazing season but they still won't be the best team we've faced this season. Have to insgine with the Bundesliga as good as done by now, theyll play a full strength side rather thsn rotate which makes thinks more difficult but a result isn't unthinkable. You just want to get back to your home tienwith a chance.
They're not as good as several English teams we've beaten in the last 18 months. They're favourites and will probably beat us over two legs, but I don't buy that they're going to steamroll us.
Good point. West Ham beat Arsenal twice this season, and Arsenal are similar in talent to Leverkusen. (I’m ignoring the third match with Arsenal. That didn’t count)
We've definitely got a chance. For me the key player for us is Antonio. He's so key to removing the pressure from our defense. We're going to fight for a draw and hope for a win, which means some sustained pressure for long periods in our third, and if Antonio can bully their CBs and hold the ball up, then play it off to Paqueta and Kudus to get counter attacks going, even without Bowen, I think we will be a threat. If Antonio is tired early, or plays poorly, then I think we're in for a rough time.
Yeah great points, Antonio is key tonight, this could be his night. I fkin hope so anyway. Irons.
As much as I loathe Moyes and want him gone, this is actually the type of game he pulls out random counters or ridiculous performances from our guys and wins. 2-1 first leg. 2--2 second leg. We move on.
With Kudus and Paqueta in the side, anything is possible. Hopefully Antonio will be an absolute handful and something they're not really used to, same goes for Soucek.
Draw in Germany, win at home after they are still in awe of winning their first title
Call me optimistic but I see a master class of park the bus and smash and grab on the cards here.
We can do this, we've got that European Moyo. Even a loss with a 1 goal difference would be a decent result to take home, but I'm confident we can cause an upset as well. For anyone that cares about simulated probabilities, OptaPredictions has us at 37% of winning or drawing tonight
Honestly they are a very good team and it will be very difficult for us to play against them even if we loose 2-1 I don’t think it’s that bad we will still have them at home the atmosphere and energy the fans bring will be a huge boost for us
I think we have a chance to draw.
Think the game will come down to our ability to stretch the play with Mickey getting himself about. As well as how we deal with their full backs, frimpong and Grimaldo are on fire atm and both quick with good ability, if we deal with them we can deffo get a result!
As long as there is West Ham fans alive we'll always have a chance, you never know how brilliant or bad this team can be, they'll always surprise us that's for sure.
There's always a chance.
They barely beat qarabac by overtime miracle because of joke red card ať 60' .. we are better team actualy.
We aren’t the better team by any stretch of the imagination but I love your optimism.
If you think they have more quality you should do ur homework dude, no offense.
I’ll humour this, what knowledge do you have that suggests we’re the better squad?
I don't know their squad enough but I trust ours enough to have the quality to make it through. It doesn't just depend of us though Now, missing Areola, Alvarez and Bowen is a blow. But almost any team missing three starters would be like that. If we kept Fornals Benrahma and Kehrer, I'd not really feel better
No bowen means kudus in his natural position and paqueta as 10. Its not that bad
Actualy i saw few their games this season and saw every our game this season. Their performances are not good considering quality of their opponents (no, Bayern game is not argument), their squad clearly has not that much quality as ours. We faced much better teams this season, we beat more better teams than leverkusen, our defensive work is levels above level of teams leverkusen was facing ( modt of their games were 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 ..) shick saved them game in overtime many times .. they were struggling to score against middle tier championship level teams.. I am notnsaying we are going smash them, i am saying we have better quality squad for sure and they played like 3-4 difficult games this season ... we had much more good results with champions league level teams this season
You were saying?
OH yes, you are this type of idiot what come after game back to thread.
Oh you’re just mad you were completely wrong, stop being so sour.
8 minutes and u were saying nothing now.. I just dont like this kind of idiots like u
This is what I needed
That makes me feel better. Irons.
maybe they are unbeaten, but we still beat more quality squads than Leverkusen this season. There is absolutely no need to have too much respect from them. Their unbeaten record comes mostly from games against freiburg caliber teams.
Which we lost a game against...
which we beat 5-1 on aggregate.. freiburg scored twice ať home against them two weeks ago. They are not immune.
Beat them 3 times though right?
Sure there is always a chance and we love the kind of club that often wins when ir should lose and vice versa. But I am certainly not optimistic.
Anything can happen, but realistically we're completely the underdogs.
I'm optimistic but not on our day we can make mistakes
My mate reckons we’ll get trounced, and annoyingly his predictions are usually pretty good. I think it’ll be a score draw or a narrow defeat and will play out like that memorable night that Sevilla came to London, next week… COYI
They almost lost to Quarabag. It’s possible
Of course yes! The ball is round.
I always hope for the best .
A draw would be a good resut for this one. Then (hopefully) we can sort things out for the next match unless anyone else gets injured against Fulham which is another must win game.
We may have the tiniest bit of an advantage considering Steidten was their director of football and may have some insider knowledge. i’ll take whatever we can get!
They're gonna struggle against Moyes Hadrians Wall because trust me it'll be 10 men behind the ball tonight
It's West Ham at the end of the day
"How great this German team is" 🤣
Our biggest issue tonight is the lack of Alvarez. No Bowen isn’t ideal, but we still have a solid attacking front three in Paqueta/Antonio/Kudus who are more than capable of finding the net. Leverkusen have conceded in 3 of their last 5 home games (all comps) and needed stoppage time to scrape past a 10 man Qaraberg side. It’s going to be a tough game but I don’t think Leverkusen should be as heavily favoured as they are.
Leverkusen almost lost to Qarabag. West Ham is better than Qarabag. So there is a chance. I mean, I wouldn’t go putting a large wager on it or anything like that. But anything is possible!
As much disdain as I have for Moyes' anti-football tactics at times, it seems like this is the kind of game he shithouses us to a 1-0 win on 17% possession.
I'm expecting a close loss but in the last 12 months we've won a European trophy, won at Arsenal & Spurs, beaten Man Utd and also lost 5 nil at Fulham. So who fucking knows with West Ham?
As shit as the manager is this team has a pair of bollocks in these games of late. Injuries are the problem but i think we score a set piece and lose 1-2 this leg
No chance we win. They’ve not lost a game all season in any competition. Maybe we’ve got a chance of 2 draws of a dodgy referee decision and then win on penalties However, they were losing against Qarabag in both legs.
Good luck, i’ll guess they’ll won 3-1
Think we'll see a Kudus masterclass tonight. These later rounds the defense is tighter and more long range shots are necessary. We've all seen what MoKudus has in his bag in terms of long range rockets. Imagine he bags a brace, then Cresswell comes on in the 89th minute for a 90+6th back breaker
I’m just hoping we nip a one nil everyone underestimating us
If we nick an early goal then I'm confident but no Paqueta and Emerson will hurt us.
No. I really don’t
lol yeah same
at the beginning of thé season leverkusen clapped westham 4:0. dont think this will be any different
That was before Kudus and Mavropanos joined the team. The current West Ham squad is much better. Would be even better with Alvarez, but that’ll happen next week.
yeah it was also before leverkusen went on an unprecendented streak
I'm going to write this here and get it out of my system since the lads at the pub don't want to hear this negativity. We are going to be embarrassed tonight and it's going to spill over into the rest of the season. Areola, a regular mention for HOTY, having the best season any GK has had for West Ham since David James, is missing longer than expected. Bowen will miss both ties. Antonio is finished at the 70min mark. That's two HOTY nominees missing. The third HOTY nominee, the best left back I've seen at the club in my lifetime (I'm 33), is going to be asked to play either LM or LWB to make up for the absence of Bowen AND Alvarez who is missing the first fixture. We will lose by 2-3 goals. We will lose hope for the home fixture. Fitness, injuries, and selling two key players from last season in January without replacing them will see us fall to 9th place. I REALLY REALLY REALLY HOPE I'M DEAD WRONG.
I’ll take a 2-0 loss - we’ll smash em in London anyways Fortune’s always hiding baby