All along, from the ‘be careful what we wished for’ brigade, to the many fans who have commented here and elsewhere, there has been a call for realism and limited ambition as far as West Ham United’s expectations are concerned. The management duo and pundits alike have suggested that it will take time to gel the new recruits and we should reserve judgement on our ‘new look’ Hammers until at least Christmas when the new signings have had an opportunity to learn the coaches new way.
I’d like to put forward a more demanding option.
The recruitment of Paquetá, Kudus, Bowen and Alvarez was a season plus earlier: These top or world class players are already well established in their national sides and in West Ham’s team. We have an international quality goal keeper plus eight new signings, six of which should be a shoe-in for the side once they are up to speed.
Why not aim high? Set expectations higher than ‘ first season mid table’.
Did Unai Emery come into Aston Villa and settle for a mid-table finish? No Chance. In his first season his Villa side finished seventh and qualified for the Europa Conference League ( Couldn’t win it though could he..haha!) – My point is that Emery didn’t settle for a mid-table finish and neither should we as fans nor the West Ham United board.
From what I have already seen of Julen Lopetegui on the sidelines during games he wears his heart on his sleeve and is hugely motivated: I hope, like me his expectations following his Chairman’s £110 million + spend are aiming high- a Europe finish this year should be the minimum he expects from his talented highly paid squad of professionals.
It is not enough to settle for mediocrity and from what I have seen of the man, our new Head Coach will not be doing so: I’d Urge all Hammers’ fans to talk up our ambition, get behind the team and urge them upward. It is not about being over ambitious – what you aim for, you achieve. Let’s not settle for ‘average’ any more.
8th in revenue , 8th is the target
Inspirational words there, Martin. Were you Winston Churchill’s speech writer by any chance? 😁
Well said Martin and absolutely spot on.
COYI’s
To achieve a European place we will need some of the Greedy Seven, plus Villa, plus maybe say Brighton to fail. Early doors, and yes it is a long season, there’s not too much evidence of that. Calling for a European place as a minimum goal (which rather prompts what a stretch goal is, a Cup?) may be difficult this year if the ‘big’ teams perform. On Cup success that is very much the luck of the draw and in the past, and so far this year, the ball pickers have generally been unkind. What might come to our aid is some of the CL teams getting bogged down in the new format. Personally I think we may have a good season, but relying on teams like ManU and Chelsea to have poor seasons (again) is rather beyond our control.
I think we need to consider- Arsenal, City, UTD, Chelsea, Spuds, Villa are likely to fight the top 6 based on size/ spend/ squad depth/ history. Then the bucket of us, Newcastle, Brightons over achievers- as an expectation . Anywhere top 9 and decent cup run/ final would be success for me
Sorry forgot the scousers as well
Everton? 🤣
I don’t expect us to be pushovers, not by a long shot, but don’t think we will hit top gear until approaching Christmas. I think that as long as we’re in the mix, we should be expecting to push those around us for a European place.
The pecking order in the EPL needs shaking up big time.
Same teams in the top 3 – 4 places season after season is really irksome.
But yes, aim high and expect to exceed those aims.
COYI 🍻⚒️⚒️⚒️
It is not true to say that what you aim for, you achieve, but it is true to say that the higher you aim the higher you are likely to finish. If the clubs’ ambition was to finish 8th or 9th, they probably wouldn’t finish any higher than that and any fan worth their salt would/should be disgusted. What the hell is the point in entering a 20 horse race with the intention of only finishing 9th? You enter to win and if you don’t, as long as we know they did their best, that is OK. If you keep entering, you must have a plan to improve, otherwise you’re just making up the numbers. I think most of us are excited now because we have had a reminder of what success looks like and the club finally seems to be moving in the right direction. The PL championship needs a lot of things to go your way, but if you are in the race, have the leadership and are motivated, why not?
Minimum we should be going for is 10th – all depends on how long the new signings take to gel with the existing players. Hopefully we have a cup run this season which will give us a few more games to rotate players through and give JL more time to find what his very best XI could be.
We’re told by many that we’re impatient beyond other clubs and mad for parting ways with David Moyes. There seems to be some agreement that we allow time which I personally would anyway so long as there’s entertainment but anyone who wants success now or sooner should be heard and not stifled.
The be careful what you wish for brigade have been very well paid for a very long time and cannot understand why regular people on regular money should think that they should be entertained.
Nothing to do with lack of ambition. It is about not unreasonably jumping on the manager and team’s back if results are a bit mixed while they are trying to integrate the new players. That would just be unhelpful
I’d love to agree with you, but Villa haven’t changed their playing style at the same time, whereas we are replacing several players and trying to integrate 6 new players and a completely new style. Really happy with the signings by the way, especially Kilman and AWB. Personally, top 10 is more realistic.