It’s the problem occupying every fans’ mind this morning as West Ham prepare to do battle with West Bromwich Albion.
Despite dropping points thanks to their seasons’ worst first half last weekend, the Irons can still go top if results go their way but they must fix their now-customary lethargic slow start.
The media has been hyper critical of it. Nuno based his press conference around it.
Espirito Santo and the West Ham team have been specifically working on those slow starts – and they’ll be judged again this afternoon
And now West Ham’s skipper has revealed that as part of their preparation this week there have been specific discussions about exactly what West Ham’s team needs to do to put an end to the lethargic starts which have seen them go behind nine times this season: (whufc.com)
“We know we can’t afford to start games slowly and the Head Coach sat us down and talked about that this week”
…We know we have to be better at both ends of the pitch – to defend better, to attack better, to control the game better….We’ve got three games to play before the final international break of the year, and we want to get on a fresh unbeaten run going into it, starting with a win on Saturday.”
With Middlesborough taking on Charlton Athletic this afternoon, West Ham will be hoping their south London neighbours can steal some points off the league leaders as the Irons attempt to close the three point gap.
Fans will judge for themselves how effective Nuno’s discussion with his players has been by reflecting on the half time score: West Ham would be running away with the league based on second half performances alone, so it is surely time to start on the front foot instead of continuing with their infuriating nasty little habit of ceding the advantage to the visitors.
Try playing in their half…… it usually works