Guest Post by Jeff
I apologise if I’m stating the obvious here, but it seems like our owners have completely forgotten one fundamental truth: goals win games.
Let’s consider the recent changes to the team. Is Aaron Wan-Bissaka a better choice than Vladimir Coufal? Absolutely, yes. But how many goals will he contribute? Maybe 2 or 3 over the course of the season.
What about Guilherme, Kilman, Rodriguez, Todibo, and Kanté? At best, we might get 6 to 10 goals combined from them if we’re very lucky.
Then there’s Summerville. He’s completely out of his depth in the Premier League. He’s lightweight and too predictable. Premier League managers are paid the big bucks because they put in the work studying players, and it won’t take them long to figure out how to neutralise Summerville. He’ll be a squad player, coming off the bench with 20 minutes to go, but expecting 15-25 goals from him is unrealistic.
So what are we left with? Three aging strikers. Antonio? He’s never been a natural striker. The number of golden chances he’s missed over the years is shocking. He’s a hard worker, and I appreciate his effort, but against younger defenders, his best days are clearly behind him.
Then there’s Ings. He’s been ineffective at this level. He’s slow, and his age is showing. He’s no Jamie Vardy, who at least still has pace. There’s no chance Ings is getting us 20 goals this season.
As for Fullkrug, mark my words: he’ll turn out to be a terrible signing. Unless he can play with the intelligence, movement, and precision of Harry Kane—dropping deep, holding up the ball, and threading passes behind the defence—his contribution will be minimal, assuming he even stays fit.
Who needs another Andy Carroll type just to hold the ball while the opposition regroups? Football is all about speed now.
If we aren’t scoring goals and just scrape the odd win but mostly lose or draw, we’re looking at around 40-45 points and maybe finishing 14th.
This brings me back to the one thing our owners repeatedly fail to understand:
Goals win games!
It’s baffling how short-sighted the board are for not pulling the trigger and spending £40 million on Durán. The kid has everything, and he’s already shown it this season. His goals could’ve been West Ham goals—he was eager to sign for us!
But no, the owners wouldn’t spend a few million extra to bring him in.
Without a striker capable of scoring 20-25 goals, there’s no chance we’ll secure a European spot this season. And next season, it’ll be the same story. By 2026, I’m sure we’ll have a new manager.
Not signing Durán is going to end up costing us way more than £40 million. Without goals, you’re in a relegation battle. How much will that cost?
And by the way GOALS ALSO LOSE GAMES.!!
It’s noble of you Martin to defend a debut contributor . but 1 or 100 they should show some respect, l’ m always banging on about this , as I’m sure you are aware. so arguing that everybody is entitled to their opinion is just not good enough in these circumstances, apart from this I could not understand his adding up . does he credit BOWEN or KUDUS scoring.
Let’s not forget one very important thing, Duran would be playing for West Ham and not Villa.
Huge difference and the outcome is very probably predictable.
Our German striker has been excellent for club and country in the past and maybe the problem is a very deep rooted one within the club.
We have had this scenario so many times.
Sullivan out!!!!!
So Alan, a German international is not good enough for you! I am no supporter of the board but they have certainly delivered the funds lately. Give the guy a chance and get behind the team.
Bang on. No idea why people think Fullkrug is going to be anything but crap. Laughable signing. 4 year contract for a player than turns 32 this season. Who actually signed off on that? Everyone will want him gone by the end of the season. Even his most staunch defenders on here who will bleat about it being early days and the like.
Such a West Ham move to pivot from an exciting young talent to some old injury prone journeyman that’s never played in the PL before. Still at least Sullivan saved a fiver or whatever it was.
Bet we end up paying him off before the end of his contract. Absolute waste of money.
Thanks for the positive spin on things !!! Wow we are four games in and our own supporters are on the managers and boards back already! Come on give the guys your support and look on the bright side Moyes has left the building! COYI
Very extreme thinking. I can understand concerns ATM but if we as a fan base turn on and give up on players so quick how can we expect better from our team ? The young players especially need time and support. Somerville has made impacts already in multiple games despite limited time and stepping up from the championship, let’s acknowledge that and support the guys confidence rather than kick off because he hasn’t scored match winning goals or dribbled past several players like ronaldinho in his first few games. Stay positive ⚒️
Which Kante is the writer talking about in the article? Don’t remember signing anyone called Kante. Am I mistaken?
Kinda surprised by this post to be honest. Fair enough if it’s an opinion piece but surely stated facts should indeed be facts, no?
‘Facts are facts’, Saul. https://www.whufc.com/news/west-ham-united-sign-mohamadou-kante
Fair do’s, I stand corrected and offer the writer an apology. Was he signed as a first teamer? Just don’t remember it at all.
here we go again !!! RESPECT. RESPECT .if you can’t then why not avoid slipping into constant personalising as your only means of explaining .
This is crazily harsh on Summerville, to the point of ludicrous. There is absolutely zero evidence that Summeville is ‘out of his depth in the Premier League’ – he’s played about 60 minutes for us in total.
He was the best player in the Championship last season and will take time to adapt his game – exactly the way Bowen has to become one of the Premier League’s best and most consistent forward players. You’d have probably written an article slating Bowen after 3 games when he joined us?!
To say Summerville is ‘lightweight’ and ‘too predictable’ is also absolute rubbish. The entire Championship league couldn’t stop him and the defenders in that league aren’t exactly small, 5 foot 6 lads are they.
Then there’s the slating of Fullkrug… disrespectful and again, a joke. Starts as Germany’s number 9 and integral to Dortmund last season, yet not good enough for old West Ham. Get real. We’re a mid-table club and the fact we’ve got someone like him is great, so long as we play to his strengths.
I’m usually a fan of this site but articles like this are genuinely nonsense
Mid table club really 2nd highest average attendance. Usually 7th in turnover. Mid table is 10th to 13th ..or has it somehow changed recently. Even in spending terms were well up the charts .. it never ceases to amaze me the amount of fans we have who go out there way to belittle the club.
You utter moron. You know as much about football as a turd.
What is wrong with you? All you ever do is write off players who you know ZERO about and slag off the board, Steidten, JLo, then the next minute praise them.
Did you ever watch how Füllkrug plays and how to get the best out of him? JLo has got the way he plays him all wrong, and the fact he played an old, lazy unfit Antonio with Soucek on Saturday shows he’s got so much to improve on if he wants to keep the fans behind him. So far he’s messed about with every player and none have shown what they can really do. Also harking back to very old injuries with Füllkrug also shows you know nothing about the game. I bet you were one of those eviscerating Kane during the Euros. You fool.
You should be assigned to the bin with the rest of the twaddle that’s spewed out on here.
Well, that’s a nice way to treat a first post by a guest. ‘All he ever does’ is write an article and submit it. He is entitled to his opinion. As you are to yours. Maybe try and lay off the personal insults. Can you do better? Easy to slag off someone’s writing.
You’re the moron. Start your own website. Stop being a cowardly keyboard warrior.
Duran has scored a couple but his chances are being made for him. With our starting lineups so far he’d not have had the chances so probably wouldn’t have scored for us yet. Let’s see how Fullkrug goes with some time in the starting lineup with a team built to create chances.