“Fixated” | Sutton Takes ANOTHER Swipe at West Ham

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting tired of the so-called mainstream ‘Pundits’ and their continual, lazy, backward looking criticism of Steidten, Lopetegui and West Ham’s brave new world. When it comes from ‘Talk Sport’ I understand it, colleagues from David Moyes’ broadcasting side hustle queue up to criticise.

Chris Sutton for the BBC does the same thing. I wonder, do any of these people actually watch West Ham?

I’m pretty sure they don’t. If they did, they’d more than likely sense that most Hammers’ Fans are reasonably content with our new era set up, our coaching staff, brilliant new players – we just kick-off a bit when a ‘backward looking’ selection fails to achieve anything and our head coach has to change it up at half time.

But that’s all. There’s still over 60,000 Hammers at London Stadium each week, mostly looking ‘up’ the fledgling table, not down. We are a bit frustrated because we all think we know the best team and want to see our creative fast paced attack with the three speedsters -Bowen, Kudus and Summerville – in the same front line  with Paq-man behind orchestrating the ‘transition’ from defence to attack.

When Sutton on the BBC writes his one article a week about our game, i.e.His ‘prediction’, he falls in-line with the other hackneyed pundits and chimes in with the old nonsense: Maybe it’s time to stop having every sentence about ‘Moyes’?

See what I mean:

“West Ham supposedly replaced David Moyes because they wanted to play ‘the West Ham way’, and the Hammers’ technical director Tim Steidten was reportedly flying managers in for talks when Moyes was still in charge.

In his wisdom, Steidten decided to go for Julen Lopetegui, a manager with similar traits to Moyes in terms of how he is a pragmatist.

They spent a lot of money in the summer, about £130m on new players, but are they going to do better than last season under Moyes, when they finished ninth? I am not sure they will.”

The ‘M’ word 4 times in three sentences. We’ve moved on, Chris, maybe it’s time you do the same. (Even Gonzo doesn’t use the ‘M’ word this much these days!).

Steidten and Lopetegui -remember them? .. Are doing a great job, recruitment was definitive and decisive, substitutions are made quickly and strategy varies mid-game. Finally.

It’s not perfect yet, but please, look forwards, not backwards.  If you’re writing a match preview – then more about the match, less about the M-word?  Even I can manage that. The little bit dedicated to the game includes Sutton writing:

“I really do not have a clue how this one will go so I suppose the sensible thing for me to go for is a draw”. Insightful!

Go read the full article, you’ll see another critic more focused on ‘what was’ and not ‘what is’. And every day, Hammers fans tell me they’re bored with hearing that. So-I’ve moved on. Hammers fans have moved on, too, Chris.