It seems West Ham’s January arrivals are finally finding their feet. Some, like Axel Disasi, have hit the ground running, even though he hadn’t played first team football in a year before arriving on deadline day in January.
Other recruits are finding their way a little more slowly. Taty Castellanos now has five goals to his name after the brace against Wolves, whilst fellow striker Pablo Felipe, featured in an interview today with Whufc.com, appears to have taken a little longer to settle in and feel fully at home in east London.
The Portuguese-speaking forward has made it clear what the London Stadium feels like from a player’s point of view, in a surprising contrast to the ‘soulless bowl’ claims from spectators:
“The fans are always very important,” he confirmed. “I always say this and emphasise it, whether we’re playing at home or away. But at home, the noise is deafening. They’re like a 12th player for us on the field. And we always need their support, because they’re very important. And it will definitely help us achieve our goal for the season.”
Whether it be the increased jeopardy of a relegation battle or simply the unity which the crisis has brought to supporters, the players sense the terraces are behind them all the way in these crucial last seven games.
Pablo – ‘deafening’ support at home makes a world of difference
And that, in turn reflects the message Nuno is clearly instilling on this group of players. As Pablo reflects:
The group is united, in defeat and in victory, we’re always united. And we came together, trained intensely to prepare for this match and give a strong performance because we all deserved this victory and we knew how important this match was. We came out with everything we had and we’re incredibly happy to leave here with the win.”
Keeping that ‘deafening’ support going for the remainder of the season could most definitely be the key. Probably a signal that it might be time, perhaps, to park the ‘red card’ protests and the ‘sack the board’ songs for now? (Just my humble opinion! By all means disagree with me and we can post a selection of comments..)
55,000 + West Ham supporters, loud and fully behind the players on the pitch can indeed become that X factor that can help tip the scales in this season’s survival bid.
Sorry Martin having a senior moment 🤣🤣🤣
Parking the protest is not a good thing. The protest is to show the board for one minute on 15 minutes and a few songs at the time to say we are heard we don’t like what you have and are doing. Then the rest of the time the crowd is fully behind the team and backing them vocally. If we stop then the media will pick up that it only happens when we are not performing. The issues that Whu face are not because of poor performances. It’s about the day to day running of our club. The protest should continue as the issues that we face are not being heard by the board at all.
Great piece Gonzo let’s park the negatives and stick together till the end.
It doesn’t mean that the club are out of the woods just a pause in hostilities
Yeah, great piece ‘Gonzo”.. [smile]