Guest Post by Andy
When the dust settled on yesterday’s performance and the roller coaster of emotions subsided, I found myself pondering whether we, as football fans, sometimes lose perspective in our desire for wholehearted, exciting, and tactically astute displays every week.
Of course, we all want to see solid performances, especially given the squad’s investment this season. But does the Premier League today even allow for dominant displays with all those qualities over 90 minutes? It’s fair to say that in arguably the best league in the world, most matchups are likely to ebb and flow. Teams must “dig in” and “suffer” to get results, especially away from home. The true mark of a strong side is perhaps its ability to consistently come out on the right side of those fine margins.
Yesterday’s results illustrated the competitive nature of English football. Man City had to come from behind to edge past Brentford, Aston Villa overturned a two-goal deficit against Everton, Liverpool lost at home to Nottingham Forest, Chelsea escaped with a last-minute winner against Bournemouth, Southampton squandered a first-half penalty before Man Utd claimed the points, and surprise-package Brighton couldn’t break down a stubborn Ipswich. Despite many of these games being “bankers,” all were decided by small margins and could have easily gone either way. The days of comprehensive wins and dominant performances by the supposedly better team on paper are perhaps fewer than before.
Naturally, there will be questions about our starting line-up and why it was difficult to exert our supposed superiority over Fulham for much of the game. However, the old adage, “No games in the Premier League are easy,” applies here. Two tricky away fixtures have yielded four points. We’ve had to ride our luck in both games and haven’t been as dominant as we might have hoped. But last-minute goals are always something to celebrate, and perhaps for now, we should simply enjoy being on the right side of those fine margins.
In the excitement of having such a strong group of players available to play for West Ham this season, it is easy to overlook that in each of the games the opposition has very good players of their own, which make good results difficult to achieve. Most games will probably prove to be an uphill battle for West Ham, and will consistently require the maximum efforts from all of our team players most of the times to secure the 3 points.
It wasn’t that bad, the result was flattering though. Have to say picking the right starting XI is not a fine line. I still have the faith, I am sure JL will introduce the right changes and and we will kick on.
Wow! Keep drinking the Kool Aid guys. As for the team, your fans are incredibly understanding (apparently top 15 is fine with some) so keep banking the millions. Just remember, your best players won’t be waiting around for the rest to play catch up, they will move on first chance they get, and the cycle will start again.
Gonzo, after all your indignant posturing about “careful what you wish for”, did you keep a straight face while writing this?
think it was a guest writer matey. Have a good week.
Yep, correct, Todd, thanks for pointing out that this was written by a guest and posted by Gonzo.
If I was in any doubt about our performances thus far being somewhat below par all I need to do is check the stats. Not good at all. We see improvements in each game when the cavalry come on but even then those improvements are down to individuals moments more than training ground work.
Blinking well written article! 100% Agree.
For me the fine margin here could easily be seen as Micky versus Adama. Both strong fast “bustling” forward players one of which struggled to get into the game at all, the other was a constant threat.
Positives were there, Killman, Bowen, Kudus and most importantly for me Sommerville getting some good minutes under his belt. I have to feel Bowen up top with Sommerville and Kudus supporting is the way forward after the first half showing (and so far this season). A switcheroo front three for me 😉
It took Andoni Iraola until his tenth match with Bournemouth to get a win.
Everyone was saying great football but was it a mistake to get rid of O’Neil?
Let’s just hope that it’ll all click eventually.
Clearly the old guard don’t entirely trust the new signings and it’s going to take longer than most armchair coaches will have time for, no doubt stirred up by you lot on here.
The tactics of playing Antonio and Soucek as he did were disturbing, but what do I know? Not a lot as I don’t watch training and haven’t coached myself out of a paper bag, let alone a football team.
Hoping upon hope this works out, but if not we have already started looking for a replacement as Brighton do, not left in the lurch as in the past.
This is the price the club are paying for going for an out of work coach and not a suitable coach doing well in their current employment.
Biggest barrier to changing the ethos of our club? Sullivan and Brady. More interested in money and control freakery than success.
Yes it was
The moment the team was announced
Souchek can’t be dropped as he is a part owners favourite
Antonio was seen as the only forward option or he has been promised guaranteed game time
Conspiracy maybe but I bet I am not far from the truth otherwise the manager would have started the team that finished what was the obvious line up from the beginning
Yes it was a complete shambles.Thought the new manager would build a TEAM.I think he throws all the names in a hat and pulls out eleven to play.I expect to see Soucek playing centre forward next week.
I believe one key point overlooked is the top clubs have at least two first teams at their disposal, so set backs are easier to cover. the gulf of margins widen as the season progresses , unfortunately W.H. was the perfect example last season especially when inflicted by the last coach insisting on a REDUCED squad to then drive them into the ground!!
Ignoring the repeated aberrations of Soucek and Antonio, have we done all that bad? Beaten by 2 high-powered Champions League teams at the dog bowl, by fine margins; and 4 points away against middle league teams who are good on home soil. On my calculation, we are 4 points up against the same teams last season and we were thumped by all of them under Wee Davy Boy. Conclusion – we are defensively far stronger (because we have a better coach) and we will gradually move up the table. But goals are going to have be squeezed and our wins won’t be pretty! We are not managed by Kevin Keegan!