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SHEP’S BLOG Big Sam camp waits to wield knife

SHEP graphicTo coin the old chestnut West Ham can now concentrate on the league.
Getting knocked out of Europe in Romania on Thursday by Astra Giurgiu was no surprise in the circumstances and deep down a blessed relief for Slaven Bilic.
The new West Ham boss  goes into the Premier League season  under immediate pressure and scrutiny and the last thing he needed was the complication of Europa League involvement.
Far better for West Ham have a real go at the FA or League Cup this season for a shot at silverware and glory than the go through the  grind of UEFA’s hybrid competition that simply doesn’t have the allure that the old knockout Cup winners and UEFA Cups had.
But the absolute priority at the club this season is ,of course ,staying in the Premier League and to that end I think that the fixture list has actually been kind to the Hammers. Yes three of the first seven games up to the end of the September are away to heavyweights Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City.
But after Sunday’s opener at Arsenal, come two on the spin at home against Leicester and Bournemouth followed by further home matches versus Newcastle then Norwich up to the end of September when the league will start to take shape.
Those home games come into the “winnable” category and the Hammers have to take advantage of the “gentle” opening phase on home soil given those first three away games where really any points at all are bonus balls.
Failure to get eight or nine points from those four home games would pile immediate pressure on the players and especially the manager not least because there are some fans and plenty of pundits out there who are from the “Should have stuck by Big Sam”  camp and will only too glad and  quick plunge a knife into Slaven’s back.
Already this week Martin Keown is one pundit who has been particularly  vocal on that front even suggesting West Ham might have to beg back Allardyce to save them from going down.
Fat chance of that.
It also fails to recognise that under the so called safe hands of Big Sam the Hammers won only three of the last 21 games. That’s relegation form. 
For all that, season’s are usually shaped how a team starts and to be fair to Allardyce he had the Hammers pumped up from off the last term but then became a bit too smug about everything and that was one of the main reasons for the dismal slump.
Any new manager deserves time to bed in, but time is an ever shorter commodity in this hot house era where instant results and judgements are made. So Bilic  has to fire the team to get out of the blocks and into a stride.
On the face of it playing Arsenal away in the first game doesn’t help then again if the Hammers pulled off a draw or even snatched a win then suddenly Bilic has a bit more breathing space. And one hopes the new manager will show a bit more tactical ambition that Allardyce when it came to away games especially against the big clubs.
I have a feeling he might.
But the key to the whole season is those first four home games. To that end with Enner Valencia out for at least three months there is urgent need to sign a proven goal scorer, and that Andy Carroll might actually get fit.
 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

18 comments on “SHEP’S BLOG Big Sam camp waits to wield knife

  1. Bloody Sammerettes are already back.Bunch of idiots.Who the hell wants their team to lose just to say i told you so.Oh yeah of course.Kevin will.Our resident sammerette on here 😉

  2. Don’t be so insulting , TysonM . I want West Ham to win every game .. And I am not waiting to say : I told you so . If I am not over joyed at not giving the Europa League the respect it deserves it is my True Feeling . Don’t forget which Manager got us back up into the Premiership and kept us there despite the Moaners . No doubt you were one of them .
    I am not saying we didn’t need a change . A change was inevitable . I would rather see us relegated than go cap in hand to Sam Allardyce . I do have my pride , as I am sure you have your’s . Bilic has a huge task ahead of him and I wonder how many of you will still be supportive of him if things start to go wrong ,,,the Moaners will be out in force once again
    just as they were for the previous manager .

    • You are a Sammerette Kevin,always will be.As soon as anything goes wrong you bring out Allardyces name.That will never change.

  3. When this “rumour” or farcical fairy story broke yesterday I said IF Mr Sullivan & Mr Gold ever dare even consider this stupid action than Thousands will turn away from Our Club which we love, I was 6 when I saw my first game, and now 50 years later I have Never turned my back through thick and thin, but no way would I be willing to accept the return of the dinosaur of who destroyed the youth system as West Ham and many young players careers! ones like Jack Collison who still Love the Club.

    I have faith in Slav it will not happen overnight but he will change overnight, but I do have some concerns over all the Promises made by Sullivan & Gold, are they more Huff & Puff, yes I realise they saved out club but the promises made of signings seems more loans rather than spend money and get a top strikers that can put the ball in the back of the net regularly.

  4. I went to the Norwich friendly last week. It was an absolute to see a team in claret and blue stroking the ball around, being positive, looking up for the pass, running into space, etc. They looked like an entirely different side (which to be fair, they were in the second half!) but for the first time for several years I actually enjoyed watching my team and didn’t feel short-changed. Sure the few fluky wins early last season felt good, but the last six months were just dire.

    We’ve moved on from the Allardyce era into what I hope is a brave and bright new world based on what we all know as ‘The West Ham Way’. Entertaining and frustrating in equal measure, but with a smile on our faces and pride and hope in our hearts. Let’s make ourselves everyone else’s second team again.

    Let’s stop even thinking about Sam and look forwards. COYI, etc., etc.

  5. Some people dont want to ‘enjoy’ supporting West Ham.They need problems to give them something to moan about on forums.Even if there aint problems they invent them so they can still moan.

    • Hear!hear! Truest words I,ve heard,mind you all clubs have got them, I once worked with a kid “” (Chelsea supporter)””and he admitted that he only went up there to cause trouble.

  6. After every game the same old ****, we need hippo, we wouldn’t have lost blah blah blah.. Held up like some kind of untouchable genius by a group of fans who believe he was a tactical maestro… Simple fact is the squad as it is bar the new signings was built by him we could have qualified for Europe on league placing but won 4 games in 18 so got lumbered with a qualifying campaign from July, but let’s bring him back what absolute ********

  7. Lol,i dont even take it seriously anymore GW.Same people moaning today about everything under the sun will be telling everyone how good we are in a few weeks if beat Leicester & Bournemouth at home,ahaha,football fans at their finest.We are doomed,bring back Hippo,we are going down.The Davids have let us down.Not bad considering the premier season hasnt even started.At least the Europa gave them some bonus moan up time,lol 😀

  8. Hippo would have trouble organising a gunfight in a bakery.stay where you are hippsy, we don’t want you!! In fact who does???may by Mrs. Hippypotty??.

  9. Correction BUNFIGHT

  10. Surely these sammerites are sammerwrongs and are idiots

  11. Lol,thats funny Tony,like it.Sammerwrongs,lol 😀

  12. Unfortunately the so called big Sam camp of the media now have the ammunition they needed. Because Europe can no longer be an excuse for poor premier league form. Everything will now be scrutinised and compared directly with what came before. For better or worse.

  13. Maybe they should put the fat tub of lards managerial career under scrutiny, get the Mr Sheen out and help him polish those winners medals he acquired in 35 years of playing and managing… They must have 5 mins spare between playing FM2015, looking at OPTA stats and discussing the virtues of a Walnut cake

  14. Its funny this season,evryones eyes seem to be on us,waiting for any chance to pounce.Im sure much of it is to do with us getting the OS & bugger all to do with Slav replacing hippo.They are showing a sad form of jealousy & want to use any stick they can find to whip us with.Though Keowns remark was probably one of the most ridiculous i have ever read from one of these ex-player pundits.Stupid beyond belief & really did highlight what a true wally he is 😉

  15. Don’t like the word winnable all games should be treated as a chance to win,
    Away to Arsenal is worth 3 points the same as at home to Leicester,and at the moment are going to be just as hard to win,
    As of today I and not going to mention Hippo or Nolan again and hope they are the past,
    We need to go out on Sunday like we did at Norwich and give it a real go,not respect the point,

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