It did, indeed look ominous for West Ham United just four games ago. The club were in a tailspin, similar to Burnley’s recent slide which sees them now propping up the division. There were even whispers of the Hammers ‘doing a Leicester’ as Nuno scratched around and West Ham’s defence insisted on giving away points from winning positions.
Nineteenth position for the Hammers after match day three has become top spot just four games later, illustrating both the competitive nature of a league with just eleven points separating top and bottom after seven rounds but also the dramatic effect of any team going on a mini-run of points gathering. So, in truth, it’s still early days in the most competitive league around.
However, the BBC send out a warning for West Ham’s competition in the Championship, highlighting the firepower available to the Irons after their transfer window activity and the danger some of the lesser sides face: A repeat of the six goal hammering meted out on Friday night.
“West Ham ominous”:
“Ultimately when you can get Manor Solomon, Jarrod Bowen, Valentin Castellanos and Joel Piroe in the same Championship side, they’re going to cause havoc.
Solomon – amongst the ‘Fab Four’ highlighted by the BBC and already looking a steal from Spurs at under £5 million plus add ons.
“Those were the ingredients on Friday night. Wrexham were bad, but I don’t think we should get too carried away by Wrexham’s performance when you consider the embarrassment of riches that West Ham have got.
“It’s looking pretty ominous already for the rest of the Championship when you consider the amount of goals they’ve scored across the last four games.”
Providing Nuno’s fitness coaches can keep putting out the same eleven, there’s every chance that other sides will be on the receiving end of similar scoreline as West Ham start to live up to their early season billing as league favourites.
Fans won’t be getting too carried away though. As yesterday’s article showed, reliance on Jarrod Bowen for much of the offensive output means there are an awful lot of eggs in one basket. But the fact that six different players got on the scoresheet shows the depth of talent available, providing Nuno shares the workload around and avoids a David Moyes- style rinsing of the same players week in, week out.
There’s still room for the addition of another much needed winger in January to understudy Bowen. Hopefully the boardroom strife should be over and done before then (we can but hope) – which would allow for a budget for Koppen to go and complete the overhaul.
Let’s not get carried away. A great performance on Friday night leading to a new confidence in our ability to win promotion. But, we have seen this all before at West Ham – at least, I have over the last 68 years. Don’t get me wrong, there was genuine class attached to that display on Friday; but it was one game & the challenge is not to let it go to our heads & become over confident & complacent. We must not get into the mindset that every game is now just a formality. Friday offers us hope of success but to ensure that, we must remain grounded & determined. We can do it, but it is not a given. Other teams will be even more determined to try & beat us, we must ensure that they don’t. Still, very promising result. Keep it up.