I’ll readily admit that I have been guilty of false optimism on behalf of my football club in the past but we are finally seeing real hope for the future.
I not only want to believe – but really do – that we will win our next three games and be almost halfway towards the immediate priority – avoiding and forgetting about relegation pretty early in the season.
It would be great to believe that by the end of February – such are the fixtures – we will be free of such concerns and can head to a blockbuster end of season.
However, beating and drawing against top clubs whilst suffering a defeat at Liverpool from which we deserved far more is one thing our problems are usually presented by what we consider lesser teams.
Our biggest challenge now is in doing the business against them and there’s plenty of those on the way between now and February – Fulham, Sheffield United and Villa are joined by the likes of Leeds, Palace, Burnley and Southampton.
Let’s not underestimate them or indeed our ability to get beaten by them. We have come a long long way since football restarted last season now we are heading for another acid test.
David Moyes has shown us he has got something pretty good bubbling away at our club and there could be very exciting times ahead.
November is a month when the Hammers will find out a great deal about themselves.
I think that game shows why we are not yet a top team, we should have scored two or three but for Fornals being greedy, twice he snatched at opportunities that had he either left or passed to Bowen we would almost definitely have scored. this is not the first time bad (greedy) decision making in and around the six yard box has cost us, it’s always a delicate balance but against defences with many bodies in the box if you take the first shot available when the ball arrives in the box more often than not it is either blocked or defended in another way. sometimes of course these deflect in but the percentages are that the teams that pass to another body in the box usually have the better opportunity to score because the majority of bodies are moving towards the first player. We now have the bodies in the box to score goals so it is a minor adjustment to take one more pass or a different better option. I really like Fornals as a player but yesterday despite scoring he cost us at least one point. So yes agree with you Hugh it is the time we will find out about ourselves are we going to a top 10 team or better COYI !!!
I don’t think you’ll find Villa, Southampton or Leeds are lesser teams judging by the way they’ve started. No games will be easy. I admit I’m expecting us to turn it on against Fulham next week though.