I’m sorry but West Ham’s performance against Hull was a total embarrassment – honestly as bad as it gets.
And the first question David Sullivan needs to ask Slaven Bilic during that regular Monday morning phone call is: “What can we do to help you” because quite honestly this simply cannot be allowed to go on.
As an analyst at the Premier League, I see all the games as they are happening every week and let me tell you Hull City today created more chances in 90 minutes against us than they have done all season.
Look, I’d sooner be talking to you after picking up six points from two games than the one or zero it might well have been but that doesn’t alter the fact that something is seriously wrong with West Ham United.
The players don’t look fit, one or two look overweight but also the structure of the team is all wrong. Andy Carroll is nodding on balls and nobody is picking them up.
I thought that would be Ayew’s job when he came on but he was all over the place not finding a proper position.
There are two serious problems – we are okay when we can play on the break but when it comes to pressing teams, any team, we can’t do it and Slaven has to sort that.
But the biggest problem is that the ten or eleven players who came in during the summer in the main are worse than not good enough. Most of them shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a West Ham shirt.
Whoever was responsible for the recruitment policy has been taking money under false pretences because we are seeing something which is entirely unacceptable.
Players like Kouyate and others are being rushed back into action after injury because nobody was brought in who is good enough to replace them while they recover properly. It’s a mess!
Everybody has a different idea on who was responsible but the simple fact is that in the end the manager has to take responsibility and the answer to the question “How can I help you” which I hope David Sullivan puts to him is: “Get rid of these players please.”
They will probably be souring the atmosphere and need to go – we need a smaller, more quality squad. Slav needs to sort it and let the board get on with it.
The manager has been widely criticised and today there was justification but let’s remember Old Trafford in the League and Anfield. There was nothing wrong there.
He has to sort out how we play a pressing game. He hasn’t shown any signs of doing so yet and he must.
Here’s my assessment of where we are. Last season West Ham United took 10 steps forward. This year the club has taken six back and essentially that’s down to the recruitment policy.
Somebody needs to put their hand up and take responsibility for the mess in the summer and David Sullivan and Slaven Bilic need to start sorting it out first thing on Monday.
If when Slaven is asked: “How can we help you” he comes up with the right answers, FINE… if he doesn’t then things will come to a head.
West Ham got away with it this week and of course I’m relieved but something has to change very fast because what we are seeing won’t do at all.
These were supposed to be the easy games…..REMEMBER!
COYI
my assessment on what i’ve seen,
1. Noble is not good enough – too slow and runs around with no end product – not a captain either give it to reid !
2. Carroll has come back and looks like our fittest player, which is saying something, but needs someone up there to look for his flick on’s, obviously not Payet’s or Lanzini’s game.
3. Formation at home is not creating any chances, we need a quality RB and go back to a back 4, the diamond formation with 2 strikers up top worked wonders at home under fat sam.
4.This squad is lop sided, ger rid of the summer signings and start again.
5. Buy players Bilic wants rather than the bargain basement bin
Just finished watching Bournmouth Southampton. Throughout the game they were zipping their passes without the one, two and three touches we always make. They showed fitness and pace throughout. Compared to what I endured yesterday, they were on a different planet. Carroll up front on his own does not work and it has never worked. We need to find a formation that allows Kayoute to return to midfield. We need to get Byram in at RB. We paid £20 mil for Ayew and we have to give him a chance playing just behind and off Carroll. But my preference would be Sacho as soon as he is fit. I agree with most that we suddenly haven’t got a bad squad. What we do have is:
1. Players that are very clearly not fit enough
2. Square pegs playing in round holes
3. A Nolan type issue with Noble
Finally, as soon as he is fit, we need to give Oxford game time.
I had not thought of it like that GW ….. we are doomed !!
Captain Slow and the China doll! No skill and no pace but are going to be our saviours? If I didn’t laugh I’d probably cry 🙂
They highlighted it on MOTD yeah.We need the Sakho type player to make runs to free up space & give the attacking mid options.Hull back 3 marshalled AC comfortably & he was coming back to get the ball….no good to man nor beast..
Unlike some however i am not downbeat..we will turn things round & i predict a comfortable top 10 finish..glass half full 😉😁
That was not entirely AC’s fault, was it? Can’t expect the big man to knock down the ball and then chase it himself every time. Someone needs to stick close to AC to benefit from that – one would have thought Lanzini should do that as he wears number 10.
I wasnt saying it was his fault..but Carroll dropping deep to try to get the ball is not what we need him for.It serves little purpose & leaves a 3 at the back lighting the cigars 😉
After the defeat by West Brom Billic said he didn’t know how to arrest the situation. He criticised what’s happening on the training ground. For Billic to continually pick Noble and say we need his leadership on the field, says many things about his managerial know how and assessment of players. Billic’s problems started last season with Antonio and his stance on right back and right wing back is doing West Ham a disservice. His opinion that Andy Carroll is our main striker when fit is very very worrying. When he plays alone up front we are not effective. Last season we started very well at Arsenal and the momentum was there, Billic was riding high on that, the fans were onside, belief in the squad was there. This season we started poorly in the Europa cup and Billic was unsettled by this and didn’t know how to arrest poor performances every time we took to the field. Billic got complacent and took his eye off the ball, went to the Euros commentating on matches and thought it would be easy to replicate last season. Many fans started to show concern that we got dumped out of Europa cup by the same opponents and Billic started to worry fans would start turning against his management decisions. Basically Billic is an average manager at best, just like Roeder was or he would of been the owners first choice, not last throw of the dice.
Leroy, unlike quite a few contributors on this site, you talk a lot of sense and are refreshingly objective in your views. You don’t cosy up to certain players and make excuses for them whilst routinely condemning others.
I wasn’t a fan of Fat Sam and I’m not a fan of Bilic but if I had to choose one – I would choose Fat Sam over Bilic. Yesterday was terrible – amongst the worst I’ve seen. You can’t say its the manager’s fault during Sams reign and the players fault just because you happen to like Bilic. He appears to be too weak and he is letting the players off lightly. We had a counter attack towards the end of the game yesterday which resulted in just two of our players in the Hull half and six of our players strolling forwards in our own goal area. We are not working and we are not playing as a team and you can tell the Payet has the hump for that very reason. Bilic has to go.
They looked all at sea to me . Bilic needs to sort it out . All the right players were on the pitch but , they just didn’t play . 4 4 2 for me .
Will probably play well against Swansea though . Makes no sense . Not unless you factor in the LS and Bilic .
Lots of long posts most of which are spot on … Simple … signings are terrible , Stadium pitch far bigger and players not fit enough. and Captain Terrible … Game after game he is abysmal . Too slow and cumbersome to link defence and attack …too slow to get back to defend and too slow to go forward to help attack . Now close to being the worse player I have ever seen regularly hold on to a first team starting slot .
BILIC>>>>> get rid of him now or you will be out of work in New Year .
If one of the issues is that the pitch is too big we have enough time between now and our next home game to do something about it. Another meter away from the pitch won’t make a difference! Get the groundsmen out and alter the size (Im not even sure if you can do it half way through a season???) but worth looking into!
The vital question Bilic must ask Sullivan is. “What was Sullivan doing all that time they were telling the media how they were working 24 hrs a day to bring in great new signings including the fabled 20 goals plus a season striker etc” because we know what Bilic was doing. He was sat in a tv studio as a pundit commentating at the euros.
It’s plain to see our major problem is lack of pace. Apart from Antonio no one else is going to get behind any defence.
We play it seems on the largest playing surface in the league with arguably the slowest group of players I can remember.
There fitness seems to be well below opposition teams too. There is no zip or urgency in any of our play.
The width of the pitch is crying out for fast wingers who can cross a ball. Realistic signings for me would be
Arron Lennon can’t imagine him costing a great deal. Also someone like fabian Delph who has pace and energy in centre of park.
Fabian Delph is a fantastic shout 72. My only concern is whether he would be match fit as he hasn’t played at all. Maybe a loan with option to buy would be best for all parties.
Fabian Delph? Oh my goodness gracious. If there are fans who think we should buy Delph, we’ve really got problems.
I agree with many of the points made. Watching today you could see once again no press no movement, poor tactics, defensive mistakes absolutely zero pace, how we won that game I don’t know but boy was I happy about it. How Noble was kept on the pitch I have no idea other than the penalty he was AWOL every time we attacked the ball was multiple touch and Hull were allowed again and again to get bodies behind the ball. For me the formation is the problem, Kouyate was our best defender today but his pace is missed in midfield, what I liked from Carroll is he showed real leadership as a midfielder defensively as a forward he was a complete waste of space. Noble is not a captain for me on present form he doesn’t even warrant a place on the bench let alone the first team. Other than Carroll none of our players wanted to make challenges and that’s a worry, we need leaders real men to step up and get our players playing. I don’t buy into the recruitment was terrible Zaza, Tore and Callieri haven’t worked out like Richy I would like to see Nordveidt and Obiang together in midfield, Lanzini is offering nothing and is not a player that needs to be in the first team in s relegation fight he should be an option from the bench when you need to go all out attack. The players aren’t fit enough that is obvious and that is Bilic fault. If he won’t work the team hard enough and we struggle the next two games he has to go because despite two wins we have won despite him not because of him. I am rambling on overall I am happy we have been lucky but want to see more character from the team and players like Payet and Ayew to step up COYI !!!
Richie, typing this whilst watching the horror show again on MOTD.
I agree entirely about Sakho. I also like Carroll because he offers a different dimension to the team. His injury record is simply unfortunate.
I also prefer having 2 strikers up front but, somehow, the numbers don’t add up, once you’ve the must-haves on the team sheet – Payet, Lanzini, Antonio, Cresswell, Obiang and Kouyate, who then do you leave out to accommodate a 2nd striker (such as Ayew), if you don’t sacrifice one of the defensive mid-fielder?
Doc for Swansea I would like to see Slaven appreciate the formation and personnel just hasn’t worked in these last two games. Yes we have got two results but learn from yesterdays game and if we can get at Swansea on Boxing Day and make the stadium quiet we have a great opportunity.
I’d love to see us set up as a 4-4-2. Cresswell, Ogbonna, Reid, Bryam; Payet, Kouyate, Nordveilt, Antonio; Fletcher, Ayew.
I am sick of square pegs in round holes and Bryam has been pencilled in for this game for weeks – straight in for me. Obiang I believe is suspended so would move Kouyate into midfield for his energy and play Nordveilt in Obiang’s role.Fletcher and Ayew have over a week to work on a partnership.
This gives us Carroll as an option off the bench. He has only just come back from injury and we have him playing 90 mins every week. It didn’t work with Sakho and it won’t work for AC. if things are tight or we need a goal Carroll is much more influential off the bench.
Richie, I don’t think you can play two upfront and have two holding midfielders.
I think the only striker we have who can really play up front by himself of Sakho. He has pace and runs all day. I would argue that all our other strikers need a partner. This is the guy we wanted to get shot of in the summer. I tell you, if we looked after him (both in his pay packet and by not rushing him back too quickly) he could be our 20 goal a season striker.
Away from home I think we could play 4-2-3-1 with two defensive midfielders. If Matic and Kante is good enough for Chelsea and Conte it is good enough for me. I also think you could get away with playing two defensively minded CMs in a 3-5-2 formation at home.
I think the most frustrating thing in all this is that our problems are somewhat self created (by bilic’s tactics and lineups and the summer transfer policy). However, it can all be put right. I truly believe we do have a half decent squad of players (certainly one that shouldn’t be in a relegation fight) and 2/3 quality additions in January would see us pull away into mid table mediocrity (which would be blissful right now!).
1. Payet and Lanzini need pace in front of them to be effective. They are best when space is created and they have players running away from them. Carroll does not do this and thus I don’t think you can play Payet and Lanzini as your two ‘supporters’ to Carroll – they will never run beyond him.
2. At home to a relegation side we should be playing two up front. Whether that be in a 3-5-2 formation or 4-4-2.
3. We should sign a RB, CM and CF in January.
Another comment i would like to add is that if you are going to play AC you need players in the team who can cross the ball from wide. Antonio is not very skilful and can’t deliver a ball. If anything he would be more effective through the middle or up top.
I would like to see Nordvelt giving a chance in the centre of the park alongside Obiang. Maybe away from home. He can’t be any worse than Noble and this is the position in which he was brought in to play. He did excellent in the German league last year and we haven’t really seen him in this role.
Am I wrong in saying that none of the starting 11 today was recruited this term?
I do, however, agree with you that Ayew seems to have no defined role and I can’t help thinking that if he had (and been given a longer run in games), we might have had a better return for £20 million.
The team looking unfit? Absolutely, but they have played 3 games in a week. But then, so has practically every other team. That’s a hard one to explain.
Today’s starting XI showed two things for me Doc. 1) the transfer window was a disgrace (as no new players made the team 2) Bilic’s tactics are a concern. After playing Liverpool away and battling against Burnley we should have made 2/3 changes to freshen things up today. The players on the bench aren’t getting match fit because they aren’t playing in any games. I would have liked to see Fletcher, Ayew and Fernandes start today.