SHEP’S BLOG Big Sam camp waits to wield knife
Getting knocked out of Europe in Romania on Thursday by Astra Giurgiu was no surprise in the circumstances and deep down a blessed relief for Slaven Bilic.
The new West Ham boss goes into the Premier League season under immediate pressure and scrutiny and the last thing he needed was the complication of Europa League involvement.
Far better for West Ham have a real go at the FA or League Cup this season for a shot at silverware and glory than the go through the grind of UEFA’s hybrid competition that simply doesn’t have the allure that the old knockout Cup winners and UEFA Cups had.
But the absolute priority at the club this season is ,of course ,staying in the Premier League and to that end I think that the fixture list has actually been kind to the Hammers. Yes three of the first seven games up to the end of the September are away to heavyweights Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City.
But after Sunday’s opener at Arsenal, come two on the spin at home against Leicester and Bournemouth followed by further home matches versus Newcastle then Norwich up to the end of September when the league will start to take shape.
Those home games come into the “winnable” category and the Hammers have to take advantage of the “gentle” opening phase on home soil given those first three away games where really any points at all are bonus balls.
Failure to get eight or nine points from those four home games would pile immediate pressure on the players and especially the manager not least because there are some fans and plenty of pundits out there who are from the “Should have stuck by Big Sam” camp and will only too glad and quick plunge a knife into Slaven’s back.
Already this week Martin Keown is one pundit who has been particularly vocal on that front even suggesting West Ham might have to beg back Allardyce to save them from going down.
Fat chance of that.
It also fails to recognise that under the so called safe hands of Big Sam the Hammers won only three of the last 21 games. That’s relegation form.
For all that, season’s are usually shaped how a team starts and to be fair to Allardyce he had the Hammers pumped up from off the last term but then became a bit too smug about everything and that was one of the main reasons for the dismal slump.
Any new manager deserves time to bed in, but time is an ever shorter commodity in this hot house era where instant results and judgements are made. So Bilic has to fire the team to get out of the blocks and into a stride.
On the face of it playing Arsenal away in the first game doesn’t help then again if the Hammers pulled off a draw or even snatched a win then suddenly Bilic has a bit more breathing space. And one hopes the new manager will show a bit more tactical ambition that Allardyce when it came to away games especially against the big clubs.
I have a feeling he might.
But the key to the whole season is those first four home games. To that end with Enner Valencia out for at least three months there is urgent need to sign a proven goal scorer, and that Andy Carroll might actually get fit.