Mattoon

Now that was a first choice keeper performance. His insistence on sweeping will be invaluable against a Liverpool side that love a long ball over the back for Salah to run onto

I think that call and the penalty at the other end could have gone either way and VAR wouldn't have turned over either, another day we just lost that to a soft foul and a soft penalty.

Such a great defender 1v1 his timing is immaculate, his positioning is stilla bit iffy but the main issue has to be the overlap, why is he so scared to dink one into the box? Always looking to cut back and play it back infield and has slowed down a few counters that should have amounted to more. Really needs to work on his attacking game but he's still learning, I have every confidence in Howe to bring him on again. Just a little disappointed after last season he seems to have regressed slightly.

That wasn't a game for the ages, disjointed, too slow in the main, poor ball control and build up play. But we were good enough for the win, the better side, we barely got out of 2nd gear, no injuries or suspensions and it never felt like we were truly in danger of conceding. Now let's hope PSG take Liverpool to ET, a really long, gruelling night and a deflating penalty shootout loss please.

Bruuuuunnnnooooooo

Honestly reading the forum during a game you'd think we were Derby 07/08 we've been a little disjointed but it's not horrific, I'd still say we're favourites here.

Think we've been the better side tbf, not moving the ball quick enough though and trying to get the ball in the perfect position for a shot. Pick up the tempo and take the early shot and we'll win this. West Ham have defended well when they've needed to but they've been poor overall, this game is there to be won.

Great tenacity by big Joe there to win that back that high

I'm still swaying towards a 2-2 but could see it landing either way 3-2 or 4-2

You mean WHEN Murphy lays 2 goals on for Isak?

No true but it would have ended one way or another

It was inevitable when me and @wiseman agreed a contingency plan for the next round to choose different sides of the same game so there would be a Victor

I genuinely think we will when the cup final is in our rear view, still think we have a great chance of CL places.

They say your memory is the first thing to go

Last 10 H2H: 4 wins, 4 draws, 2 losses you have to go back to 2019 under Bruce for our last loss away. But with the distraction of the cup on the horizon anything can happen against a resurgent West Ham. I think this will be a score draw 2-2

Just come on to say I noticed @wisemangot the same pick as me

Quickest and easiest rating of them all, by far our best player in any position and its not even close, he is elite and would walk into any team. Isak has everything, positional awareness, quick feet and brain, dribbling, passing, speed, acceleration, change of direction and pace, left foot, right foot, head, he is just immense. Easiest A ever.

This, their bench will be 100x more effective than ours, either our starting line up does the job in 90 or their fresh legs finish the game off as a contest.

We win the midfield battle, hands down, but Liverpool have a knack for such a fast kick and rush game that we will be bypassed when we lose possession. We need to control their supply lines and deal with the ball over the top, do that with aggression and we stand a chance.

Honestly, after watching our left side get decimated in the last week for this game, followed by that unbelievably raggy, undeserved win against PSG, I'm finding it hard to muster any kind of excitement for this. I know I'll be all in on the day and emotionally dead inside by the end of it, all their luck and our distinct lack of it, especially when it comes to finals, blergh.

As much a must win game as you get, like previously stated it does feel like a much better chance at silverware than the Carabao, strangely as we're already in thr final for that. We can beat anyone on our day as we have done in plenty of cup games with Howe, the only team we cannot seem to beat, even when we're better than them is Liverpool. Hopefully we'll have 1 or 2 back for this and they can either play a part from the start or as an impact sub, Big Joe, Botman and Isak hopefully all play some part. Let's have these!

I try not to overthink it Just go with my gut early and leave it alone

Just win, I don't care how, just win, such a great chance of another final and a better chance at silverware than trying to beat a rampant Liverpool team.

I think the last line there hits the nail on the head, full squad, fully fit and we look incredibly good since Tonali found his place in the team but you take one piece of the puzzle away and it's a discombobulated mess. A PSR nightmare and an 18 month dry spell of first team additions will do that to a team though, a paper thin functional squad and complacency are symptoms of our current financial limits. If we can get a full team out for this then I would, we could do without rushing back our injured players but we have a very real chance of silverware here and will kick ourselves if we go out without a wimper now. Plus, as previously stated, although we need all our players fit for the final, we also need them match fit and sharp.

West Ham allowing Leicester the key to the city but they can't do anything with it, thus has turned into a properly boring game.