IN something of a reassuring (or contrived- depending upon your view point) article, it is evident that West Ham United are not merely seeking to play ‘survival football’ this season to retain their Premier League Status.
After last week’s Tomas Soucek release, today Skipper Jarrod Bowen is interviewed setting out his ambition for the club and ‘that’ elusive Wembley final. Choreographed by the club media machine it maybe, but there’s a lot of trouble going into setting the Hammers up for a decent cup run:
“Speaking to the lads at the start of the season, I said I’d love to win an FA Cup here in my time, which people always say is a bit random.
“But I think when you have grown up watching the FA Cup and seeing teams win it, and I know we’ve won it here before.
“Crystal Palace won it last year, and you saw their fans and the way they reacted to it. Not many people probably thought Crystal Palace would win the FA Cup, so it’s a credit to them that they went on and won it.”
Which at the very least would suggest the Hammers are going to give their January FA Cup ties serious priority.
Over recent years the Hammers have fared badly in the competition with several 3rd round exits. To hear the skipper wax lyrical about his own ambition should at least mean Nuno gets the message – and has a serious stab at winning the cup games instead of focusing solely on Premier League survival.
Much depends on avoiding a top six club – usually away – in the opening couple of rounds – but a cup run would help restore supporter engagement and certainly get the soul-less bowl bouncing. Which could only be a good thing.