West Ham’s Best Starting XI

Today I was asked by a foreign journalist what West Ham’s likely formation would be and what I would consider our best line-up.

This got me thinking as we have made numerous signings already and are hoping to add a few more quality additions.

Having gone over all the players we have signed and players we have already I came up with the following synopsis.

West Ham will be playing 4-3-3, however this can turn into 4-5-1 if we are defending a lead with the two wide players coming back into midfield, but the majority of the time it will be 4-3-3.

GK Jussi Jaaskelainen – We signed Jussi from Bolton on a free transfer to replace England keeper Rob Green who has moved to Fulham.

LB Matt Taylor or George McCartney – Taylor is a better player who is a set piece specialist but prefers to play midfield, McCartney has signed for West Ham for the second time from Sunderland and is a solid player.

CB James Tomkins – England U21 defender who is also playing for GB in the Olympic Games, fans favourite and best defender we have produced since Rio Ferdinand.

CB James Collins – Welsh international signed from Aston Villa this week for his second spell with West Ham, good solid defender.

RB Guy Demel – Ivorian player who struggled last season after moving to England from Germany, big strong and quick but I think West Ham will look for another RB.

DM Mohamed Diame – Signed from Wigan on a free transfer, good things are expected as a lot of teams were trying to sign him with rumours of Manchester Utd being interested at one point.

CM Kevin Nolan – Captain and one of Sam Allardyces favourite players, scores a lot of crucial goals and is a fantastic influence on the players off the pitch, is known to be used by Allardyce as his eyes and ears when with the players away from the club, players seem to love him.

CM Mark Noble – Noble is a local lad, had his best season last year for West Ham and was the player of the season just ahead of Tomkins, loves West Ham and the fans love him, works hard and is always looking for the ball.

Left Wing Ricardo Vaz Te – Signed from Barnsley in January after scoring a lot of goals in the first half of the season, Vaz Te was amazing for West Ham scoring lots of goals including a hat trick as well as the winning goal in the play-off final at Wembley, is very skilful and has one of the hardest shots I have seen, expecting him to be the surprise package of the PL.

Right Wing Modibo Maiga – Signed this transfer window, has a great record of scoring goals in the last few seasons in France, can play up front or on the wing, Newcastle were looking to sign him before they purchased Papis Cisse but he failed a medical.

Striker Carlton Cole – West Ham need a new striker as Cole does not score enough goals, has the ability and attributes to be a much better player but has never quite done it for West Ham with goals, good link player but I can see a new striker being signed before the league starts.

So what do you guys think? What would your best team be? Do we need another striker or are you a Carlton Cole lover?