By Dave Langton
We may all be anxiously awaiting the latest instalment of the Nations League but you’d be forgiven for worrying about West Ham’s current predicament instead!
The Hammers go into their next game against Wolves well aware that it could be termed a relegation six-pointer.
Wolves are 17th and the Hammers are 18th ahead of the vital fixture.
But the two league games after that also take on an extra importance at this stage of the season, when the table remains embryonic but teams are getting into their grooves.
The next game after Wolves is a London derby against Fulham, who are riding high in sixth currently, but who one would expect to eventually drop into the conversation around relegation.
And then it’s Southampton, who are 14th and have lost both of their last two.
The old adage goes that if teams want to stay up, they MUST beat the sides around them. That we’re already saying this about the Hammers is a head-scratcher but it’s also true.
If the Irons fail to win any of these next three, we’ve got to say that very salient questions will be asked.
It’s crunch time.
Not sure why this is a head scratcher. The second half of last season saw our performance slip markedly – we would have been 13th! It doesn’t take much from there to become a relegation battle. The transfer window was a debacle – you persue Lingard for 12 months and then Forest get him in two days for less pay! A sensible transfer policy has you new signings ready for pre-season training. You then land up panic buying towards the end of the window, throw some players straight into games with no time to train or bed in and play them in systems they are unsuited for. Scamacca just like Haller is not a like for like replacement for Antonio and needs to play in a completely different system. Moyes clearly hasn’t learned his lesson.
I think it’s easier for Champions League clubs to line up players before or at the start of the transfer window. Other clubs like ours are more likely to suffer from being messed around by agents for weeks and weeks as they look to maximise their rewards … sorry, their players’ rewards, of course …
Moyes needs to play Paqueta as an 8 or 10 , drop Soucek . Dare I say Bowen needs to be dropped he can’t think he’s untouchable . Moyes needs to play Scamacca and Antonio . The players also need to work harder , run more desire the win more then the opponent . The team can do much better let’s see or lads gel together team bonding all of it ! ⚒