Ok, it’s time to start looking for the upside and simply accept the man will be missing for a while.
Slav is about to start earning his money as Dimi Payet heads for a hospital ward reminding us all again what a cruel master this game we love can be.
It has also shown how it can provide incredible opportunities to players who at one stage may have felt their Hammers dreams had faded and died – step forward Mauro Zarate – a player who this time last year was heading for the big freeze!
And another who has been placed in the ‘fridge so far this season – Michail Antonio – could find himself right in the first team frame. In fact, it’s fair to say something will be seriously up if he’s not!
‘Manu’ Lanzini has been operating down the right side and has look a quite superb player all season.
He is capable of holding down Dimi’s midfield job for a few weeks with Zarate and Moses doing the wide boy jobs.
With Alex Song back and producing bite and creation I am flying on the face of those prophets of doom who are claiming our season is all but over.
I’m not trying to diminish the loss of Payet – we are all going to miss watching the classiest player to arrive for years but everything is far from lost and I am going to be very interested indeed to see how Zarate and Antonio respond .
Interesting times ahead and wasn’t it great to get such a positive message from Payet earlier on Instagram.
He represents the best £10 million we’ve spent in many years!
Samuelson ?
Yeah, it’s easy to be doom & gloom about this because Payet has become such an influential player in our success this year. It says something about his ability that he can step into the Premier League at this level & for a certain amount of panic to set in when he is not there. Looking at the article though that is correct, we have collected some good players this season & this will give those players a chance to show what they can do when the spotlight is on them. We may very well be surprised at what depth we actually have. Given the spirit we have in the squad now under Bilic one would think that the likes of Sakho, Zarate, Valencia, Lanzini & Carrol are quite capable. A lot of talent there. Lets hope too that the refs have noted what happened here. FIFA like to term it the beautiful game & if we allow creative players to get mangled it ain’t gonna’ be beautiful for very long. A set back for sure, to be without Payet, but a long way to go yet & time to sort it out. In Bilic we trust.
Totally agree about roles for Lanzini, Zarate, Moses, Antonio, and Alex Song.
Upon hearing the bad news in relation to Payet (& likely outcome for Enner), felt sad and somewhat depressed. However, took a big breath, sat down with paper & pen and quickly restored my optimism:
Fortunately, Slaven Bilic has has had enough managerial experience to encourage Mssrs Gold & Sullivan to allow him to put together a squad of some depth. My feeling is that with the return of Alex Song & Diafra Sakho, he may experiment with young Manuel Lanzini (only 22) as the obvious ‘stand-in Payet’. In addition, the injury to Valencia, may, at last, give the promising Michail Antonio a chance to show the same skills he showed at Nottingham Forest. Ironically, the captain, Mark Noble, may be looking over his shoulder with the return of Alex Song. Song and Cheik Kouyate are the obvious ‘2’ in Bilic’s favoured 4-2-3-1 formation, with Pedro Obiang another player who can fit in to replace Noble. However, Noble, has played with a lot of ‘heart and enthusiasm’ of late, so he will remain a ‘sentimenta’l with the West Ham supporters.
Another option for Bilic, is that he reverts to a 4-4-2 diamond structure. Should that be the case, while Valencia is side-lined, guys like Lannzini & Zarate (both good strikers of a soccer ball!), could join up with Sakho as the ‘2 out & out” strikers; this would mean that Cheik Kouyate, Alex Song, & Moses would have to perform the lead up work to keep the ball in the opposition’s 1/3 of the pitch. Add to that, the incredible overlapping play of both Creswell and Jenkinson, and I’m starting to feel better already. Add to the list are the likes of Carroll & Jelavic as good ‘impact’ players.
Just one last West Ham comment; it relates to the potential of Enner Valencia. Not only is he very fast, but according to GK, Adrian, has the most ferocious shot of anyone in the team!. A week after this comment was made, there appeared a very short West Ham-produced ‘You Tube’ showing something totally enthralliing from Chadwell Heath. The boys were practising their shooting skills by hitting a ‘dead’ ball about 5 yards out from the penalty box (approximately on a 30 degree path off center). Valencia came in off about a 5 step run-up, and hit this ripping curling ‘cannon-ball’ into the top right hand corner of the goal. After a few claps plus some quite sarcastic comments from his pals, led to a ‘dare to do it again’! ‘Cool as a cucumber’, Valencia moves the ball back a couple of yards, and hits the ball in an identical manner, with the same degree of power. Poor old goalie couldn’t get a finger on it. In addition, Zarate & Lanzini also possess fairly lethal shots!
COYI,
Maxie
Tell you what Max, that is about the best thing I’ve ever read on this site, well written mate
Dear Whambam,
Thanks for your encouraging words (my first contribution to C & H)
Plenty more to come!
Cheers,
Maxie
I don’t think we should even consider using Antonio until Lanzini gets injured for about 8 years, he’s one for the future
We could certainly have done without losing Payet to injury .. But that’s life . What we must not do is lose our belief and start bellyaching when the results start going a bit astray . But having Song back is a blessing in disguise . Bilic will most definitely change our shape and with Song in midfield we should be able to play some decent stuff . I feel reasonably sure that we won’t spiral out of control through the loss of one player .,, but it is going to be tougher to maintain a top six position , and that is a bit worrying . Maybe playing a more direct game is the way to go . We have the squad to do it this season and it’s basically up to them . Bilic has to be at his tactical best . Being over reliant on one player is not too healthy
In my view . This is a great opportunity for other players to prove thier value .