It has been a choppy few years for loyal West Ham United fans as we travelled from the highs of lifting the UEFA Europa Conference League trophy back in the 2022/23 campaign, to circling the drain for a while and finally settling in to life back in the second tier Championship for the 2026/27 season.
Head coach Nuno Espirito Santo’s quietly spoken ways did begin to slowly come to fruition last season, but it was simply a case of too late, too late, as many Hammers fans had feared, and with the obvious financial issues to be dealt with over the summer and the transfer window – the West Ham squad that kicked off this year looked a fair bit different with the departures we saw.
When you think of tactics, tension and pivotal plays, you might picture two very different worlds: poker online tables and the green pitches of London Stadium. Yet, fans of both card games and West Ham United know that there’s a surprising amount of overlap between the psychological battles at the felt and those on the football field. Studying these arenas side by side reveals important lessons about strategy, handling pressure, and making moves that count.
Predictably the opening month of August was the mixed bag affair that was expected, with only two wins secured along with two draws, but the defeat to Charlton Athletic stung. From a league perspective, sadly for us the two wins had come in the League Cup, and as we entered the month of September the nervous tension was palpable.
Something seemed to click in the game against Wolverhampton Wanderers, and it was all change and we have not looked back in the last couple of weeks. Our first back to back victories of the domestic campaign quickly became a hattrick of wins on the spin with ten goals scored and only four conceded. Last weekend’s clash with the Hollywood funded and based Wrexham was the best of the lot – 6-0 on the day and I’m not sure we got out of third gear.
The Championship table now has a very different reflection to it, four wins from seven, 20 goals scored and nine conceded and we sit top of the pile in top spot joint on 14 points with fellow early pace setters Swansea City, and West Bromwich Albion. The press and the media that surrounds the London Stadium given the fact that we are one of the favourites to take the title and attain automatic promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking this season will undoubtedly continue to suggest that Wrexham was our turning point as Nuno’s plans came together.
Hindsight will tell on that one, but four wins in a row tells a slightly different story on that front, and it also represented the first five unbeaten of the year as well. What really matters is that the group seem to have found their understanding, and more importantly, their confidence and self belief. Not sitting back after seizing the advantage is huge, and we are getting the rewards of that and have now truly pivoted to attack being the best form of defence. Wrexham demonstrates that admirably – a 6-0 win, yes our foot came off the gas slightly as we conserved energy having already secured the three points – but we did not stop attacking and sit back.
We kept stretching them, but more picking and choosing our moments, and we did that right up until the 90th minute. And Nuno kept the team focused to do just that by also very sensibly using the squad rotation options that he now has so that we do not burn any of the players out, before they hit the long slog and business end of the year.
Of course, there will be a wobble and results will go against us but whilst everything came together against Wrexham, it was now only the approach that we had started in the prior games. Now it is very much a case of long may that continue.
Those early victories in the League Cup may not have meant anything for our league outlook at the point, but a potential cup run is now an added bonus.
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