Calm down everybody!
With the shock waves of the Palace defeat now a memory and the international break giving us much thinking time my mind has turned to Manuel Pellegrini and what has happened to this club since he joined us.
We can all disagree with managers selections, transfer targets, tactics, character and attitude but there is one thing above all others that I personally thank him for: STABILITY!
That’s not a word we have been able to attach to West Ham United in many years but finally we are making it and after the civil unrest between fans and the club over the last three years I simply say: Thank God for that!
Beyond the calm authority there’s a determination – regardless of the obstacles – to make sure we play the game the right way and to create a united dressing room – thus the departure of Arnautovic and possibly Chicharito.
He has brought in players who – whatever some may see as shortcomings – want to play for this club and although there may be doubts about some, it’s not a great idea to argue with a guy who has managed Real Madrid and Man City.
He insisted from Day One that he would need total control and his own director of football and to clearly have gained that position – as he has often admitted – is a key factor in the stability we are currently enjoying.
To have achieve that just two years on from crowd invasions, protest marches and social network outrage is a major, major achievement, as is have finished in the top ten in Season One and looking like an upwardly mobile club this time around.
Let’s be optimistic for the future and thankful for that stability as we enter the final week of this dreadful non PL fortnight.
Once it seemed an impossible dream – no longer!
COYI
I like the enthusiasm Hugh but I wouldn’t say the palace game is a distant memory..yes we are definitely better as a club in full, but what we have been like the last few years it couldn’t really get any worse could it ..the palace game has played on my mind because there was some very worrying mistakes again that just won’t go away and an awful lot of shall we say pointless passing..anyway let’s hope it was just the palace game and we start playing with a decent tempo because that’s when we are at our best
Yes,The Palace game was a poor game for us,but both that penalty and that offside possibility could have gone in our favor on any other day.We aren’t going to play good games every time.If we had won,We would have grabbed 3rd spot,but it wasn’t meant to be.Lets smash Everton and keep on going.Its a long season.