Mark Lawrenson reckons the Hammers must see December as a damage limitation period and push on from January.
Writing on the BBC website he said: West Ham collapsed against Everton in midweek and they are another team that needs to see December as a kind of damage-limitation period, and then try to solve their problems in the January transfer window.
Their forthcoming fixtures are not exactly helpful from that point of view, though, starting at Etihad Stadium and then with home games against Chelsea and Arsenal.
Like most he can see only defeat this weekend and says: “Southampton and Huddersfield have shown in the past week how teams can make it difficult for Manchester City, even if Pep Guardiola’s side still beat them both in the end.
I don’t think the Hammers have got the personnel to do that, though.”
He believes the Irons will get done 3-0 by the unbeaten Premier League leaders.
for once I actually agree with him. As it stands we are as good as down, but a lot can happen in January ( or not ), which can turn the whole thing around.
I do believe that this management team are capable of taking us forward, but they have now seen just how bad it is. They must be shocked.
They know that they need to get in at least one solid and capable central midfield player, a dependable ( not just cultured ) CB, and a striker to replace Sahko ( if he still insists on leaving ) despite the fact he had a decent game on Wednesday.
Nearly 40 years ago John Lyall called our second rate players ‘ Freeman Hardy and Willis ‘ and vowed to clear them out. He then got rid of, Tommy Taylor, Alan Taylor, John Macdowell, Mervyn Day and several others. Some people thought he was being a bit harsh on some of those players, but what a breath of fresh air came through our club, from then on.
by the way, ‘ Freeman Hardy and Willis ‘, were the seller of cheap shoes to us poor downtrodden working class people after the war…… yawn!! lol
Do they still exist?
I think 3-0 is generous. The one redeeming thing is that 42 points may not be necessary as the vast majority of the bottom of the table are so bad that they will most, if not all be dragged into it. We are 6 points form 11th, although where we get 6 points form at this stage is open to debate! The atmosphere for Chelsea and Arsenal at home should be good though and they should help the team.
I agree with all that, but the added problem for us is entering a new low level of depression at a time when we should have been turning a corner. That does tend to make our job much harder.
I feel sorry for Moyes; he’s inherited an underperforming team which is seriously lacking in the key midfield and defensive areas, not to mention our injury situation, and now has an unenviable number of top-class teams to face in December. Man City definitely a damage-limitation exercise, with hopefully the crowd geeing us on to something against Chelski & the Gooners???
I would take 3 0 now which is possibly the only time you will hear me say that about our team. I just shivered when I thought about our defence against those attackers… Adrian is going to be very busy lets hope they all forget their shooting boots 😀
The only light on the horizon that I can see is that there are several other Teams in the same boat – Crystal Palace, Swansea, West Brom, Stoke, Bournemoth, Huddersfield and us – perm any three from that lot!
You’d expect Swansea to be the next one to press the panic button and then go for Tony Pulis to do his magic. It’s going to be a real dogfight!