I like Jamie Carragher, have no problem getting past his Scouse accent and believe he speaks as much sense as any in the game and more than most.
And for me at least he confirms most of that today when calling for Slaven to remain in his job and addressing the various issues facing us at the moment.
Here’s some key points from the piece at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3816295/It-s-bad-West-Ham-better-don-t-sack-Slaven-Bilic.html which should be read by every Iron.
Carragher declares: “The first choice XI is not better than it was last year and you can understand why there is restlessness among fans, given they were promised marquee signings to go hand-in-hand with the stadium move.
What West Ham needed to consolidate was a really good striker. They tried plenty of options but it looked to me like they panicked when spending £20million on Andre Ayew from Swansea — I couldn’t believe that fee — and taking Simone Zaza on a season-long loan.
Aside from that, they added squad players in Havard Nordtveit, Sofiane Feghouli and Jonathan Calleri, who they don’t need now they are out of Europe.
Meanwhile, Arthur Masuaku, the left back brought in to replace the injured Aaron Cresswell, has had an awful start. I’m never quite sure who is making the decisions in terms of transfers at West Ham. Is it Bilic? Is it the owners?”
He’s put his finger on every issue that I and others have mentioned throughout this awful season in a seriously good analysis of the problems.
Give it a read
I agree with a lot he says, but apart from the ” handball ” game I thought Masuaku looked a decent player. We should have bought more players with prem experience. COYI
I’ve just read Carra’s article and it’s virtually spot-on. A bigger pitch, no improvement in quality, no marquee signing, a confused purchasing policy where you don’t know who’s in charge, panic buys, etc etc
All pretty obvious stuff, add to that a bit of bad luck with injuries and poor form and you’re where we are – in deep doo-doo with Bilic’s options being very limited. He’s virtually forced to play Zaza who has been woeful – Bilic is quoted in the papers today saying that Zaza is a good player and just needs time but I don’t think anyone can see it!
A big thing I reckon is that we are playing too many ‘luxury’ players in Payet, Lanzini and Antonio who do not defend effectively and put the rest of the team under pressure. Noble and Kouyate are being overrun and overpowered giving teams too much space and putting the Defence under pressure.
Enough – I’m taliking us out of it – please God something good can come out of a bad week – it can’t get much worse – can it?
3 attacking up front. 3 sitting in midfield. 4-3-3.
Bring on the appropriate player as subs depending on game situation. Starting games with our all out attacking line up is foolish at the moment.
I can’t stand Carra, he is one of the most clueless pundits ever to grace a studio, he was not a great player either IMHO I will agree we overpaid for Ayew and for what we may pay for Zaza but it’s still early days. I think our first team will be better when the players start playing, in my opinion it’s last years players who are letting us down far more than the new recruits.