By top CandH blogger Allen Cummings
It’s open season on West Ham at the moment. We’re a sitting target for every Tom, Dick and Ollie.
Simon Jordan, the former Crystal Palace Chairman, whose club entered administration in 2010 under his stewardship, felt qualified to have a pop at the club this week.
That followed former Hammer Glen Johnson – who played just 15 league games for the club during our 2002-2003 relegation season, (before jumping ship pretty sharpish).
Inspirational
Glen’s opinion was the current squad aren’t good enough to avoid dropping out of the Premier League at the end of the season.
Seeing as we currently sit third from bottom and in the relegation zone, some people might suggest Johnson isn’t taxing his brain too much – simply stating what looks obvious.
But it’s not where we are now, it’s where we finish in May that matters, a thought process Glen chose not to explore. So let’s do it for him by taking a look at what we have at our disposal to get us out of this mess.
Lukasz Fabianski was one of the top performing goalkeepers in the Premier League last season. His injury was a huge factor in our slump in form, by opening the door to the hapless Roberto.
But Fab’s back now and that will prove vital for us. Ryan Fredericks’ signature was much sought after when he left Fulham. The fact we got him was widely welcomed at the time. But injuries have hampered his progress. On his day he’s an exciting, attacking full back.
100 per cent Snoddy
Issa Diop hit the ground running after arriving , quickly becoming a team stalwart. Even though he has struggled to reach that level this season, there was still speculation in the transfer window about possible big money moves to Tottenham and Manchester United, so clearly he hasn’t suddenly become a bad player.
Angelo Ogbonna has shown once again he’s a good, solid defender who won his place back from Fabian Balbuena and is a fans favourite for his 100 per cent endeavour. Aaron Cresswell has had his critics, and his injury problems but this season he’s been back approaching his best – scoring some vital goals, too.
Robert Snodgrass is a real pro’s pro, a terrific team player – another 100 per cent r which is exactly what’s needed right now. He can be deadly in dead ball situations. Declan Rice needs no words of mine. A player valued in the £70m – £80m bracket says everything about our young gem!
Tomas Soucek has only played one game so far, but the signs were good. A player with a pedigree in Europe who looks just what we’ve needed in midfield. Felipe Anderson, just returning to fitness, was another star performer last season – and was beginning to shine again under David Moyes, until being crudely scythed down and side lined at Sheffield United.
Bowen record looks so good
Michail Antonio is our inspiration. The crowd love him – opposition defenders hate him. He is strong and his powerful running make him a nightmare to mark. He can be virtually unplayable on his day. We are yet to see Jarrod Bowen but in the gold and black of Hull City he looked an exciting young prospect.
54 goals in all competitions for the Tigers over two and a half years shows he has just the extra fire power we have been crying out for.
If that’s our first 11, it leaves us with the likes of the experienced Pablo Zabaleta, the talented, but seemingly temperamental, Sebastien Haller, non-stop workhorse Pablo Fornals, the hugely frustrating Manuel Lanzini and of course Mr West Ham, Mark Noble.
That, in my opinion, is a far more talented and capable array of players than the likes of Norwich, Watford, Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Brighton and Crystal Palace have at their disposal.
It’s a squad I’m convinced David Moyes will utilise and motivate to take us to safety.
We look great on paper, I am going to stay optimistic 🙂 COYI
Agree with most of what you said apart from Cresswell, I live in Oz and watch all the games and for me he is a yard too slow for this level. A lot of the goals we have conceded have come from the left flank and both Cresswell and Masuaku need replacing in the summer if we are going to the “next level”, which probably means not involved in a relegation scrap.
Fair comment Peter. But I’d wager more goals have come from the left due to the ‘disaster’ that is Arthur Masuaku than Cresswell! Aaron is no Robertson, but I’d argue he is equally to many further down in the PL.
Of these 16 reasons, about 12 of them are exactly the reason why we are in the position we are in ! Who else but the players got us there ? Who else can get us out ? As for our squad being better than the squads of the teams around us ; the evidence would seem to suggest otherwise ! So, I have no faith in your “reasons”. Support the team – yes, I will always do that – but I have very little faith in those who got us in this position getting us out !
Kcockayne by your reasoning we are clearly better than Norwich and Watford because we are placed above them. And the others are well within our reach. These players, in the main, are responsible as you say, my arguement is they haveve lacked motivation and direction. They were good enough to get us up to third on the PL before Roberto arrived on the scene. Why can’t they perform at that level againn?
Don’t tell me we’re not going to do better second half Of the season under Moyes than we did first half of the season under that old geriatric bloke Pellegrini
Well, we haven’t so far, & we have some very difficult games coming up. Pardon me from re-phrasing my original post – I thought that it hadn’t been sent.
Not sure of the logic behind your argument. Surely it’s the same players who got us into this mess that are now expected to get us out of it
Artran – yes, the same players that took us all the way up to third place earier in the season. Remember when we were all participating in polls to predict just how high we would finished. But with a genuine goalscorer and a much sought after midfielder added!
No faith in your “16 reasons”, Alan. After all, about 12 of them are exactly the reason why we are in the position that we are in; having got us into this position, what makes you think that they will get us out ? As for the squads of the teams around us being worse than ours’ – no they are not ! That is why 17 of them are above us in the league ! I will always support the team ( whoever is in it ), but the squad has an awful lot to do to get us out of this predicament. Having got us there, are they capable of getting us out ? Immediate history says “no”, The next six games will be the deciding factor ; can you see them getting more than 3 or 4 points from them ? It is extremely difficult to have faith that they will.
Glen Johnson was shipped out by West Ham because we had no money, I don’t think you can accuse him of jumping ship pretty sharpish. By all accounts he was gutted that he had to leave.
Absolutely correct Cardiff Irons. I would probably given credence to the article without the false premise re GJ jumping ship. Abromavic send faxes offering set purchade offers to all and sundry to which our Icelandic Bank owners were among thecforst to grab. Joe Cole was leaving even if we had stayed up but Johnson was disheartened by the affair and decided not to stay on loan for a season. I said a no of times he would bevome an England regular during his half season
Completely agree with the other comments. Just a stupid article. Yes, the talent is theoretically there. Yes, on paper the players should be performing better than the squads around us but the simple fact is they’re not playing well enough. There are attitude problems everywhere, they don’t work hard enough, they’ve got no desire and I can’t see someone like Moyes bringing that back. That’s the trouble in going back to an old manager, the players already know him, there’s no ‘bounce’ and it’s immediately stale. I’m not saying we’re down already but to bang on about the ‘quality’ of our players, who are the exact reason we’re where we are is farcical.
Thanks Gee Unit. I obiously thought it was an article worth writing – because I took the trouble to write it. It’s meant to provoke sensible comment. Glad you agree the players we have ARE good enough. Motivation seems to be your main point. I happen to believe Moyes and his new ‘team’ can and will provide that. We’ll see. Just keep the faith.
Never knew people could type in their dreams lol, keep hoping that we may improve, but I see no signs of it, Our Club! is in one bad state of affairs.
We’ll be fine
Better to have a dream than no dream at all! What point is there in that mate?
Alan,I think you watch the team through rose-tinted glasses…Maybe send me a pair ?..The players I see are worthy only of a bottom 3 place…how many of them can kick a ball with both feet?
I am a supporter and season ticket holder for the past 64 years, this current team are not fit, too old, and not skillful enough , and have no pattern to their play
agree raymond, to many other teams in PL know how to fight, City walked all over us at start of season and everyone said well it is city, look what palace acheived up at the Emerates. But to be truthful whatever anyone writes on any of these sites, it dont matter a jot, its all done at rush green and the london stadium, I have had a seaon ticket since 68 and started on the terraces in 54, and although the game changes, the one constant is talent and passion, we have talented players but i do not see the passion or playing as a team,. I expect zero points from City and Liverpool games. How many great entertaining games have we seen since the move , count them on one hand .
No rose tinted glasses. The players we have are worthy of at least a mid table spot. It’s Moyes’ job to get them playing that way.
An article obviously trying to motivate the supporters back into an passionate & positive state of mind.
Unfortunately just by talking the players up & saying how good they were last season, wont suddenly make them play better.
We were all desperate to get rid of Pellegrini & get back on track with a new found confidence. The board then bring back Moyes who has somehow made results worse in his first few games than they were before he came.
Imho Moyes couldn’t motivate a wet lettuce & the team don’t look like they care if they get relegated or not. Why should they? Most will leave & go on earning top dollar elsewhere.
What do we do then GavinandStacey – keep talking ourselves down. Let’s not talk about realism either – that happens in May
Personally I don’t think Moyes was the correct choice to bring in. Yes he kept us up last time but he was then considered not good enough to take us forward. We find ourselves in the same mess again 18 months later so we go back to the guy deemed not good enough & has been out of work since he was here last time.
I’ll be happy to eat my words if we do stay up but I can’t see it happening. Confidence is on the floor & we now face the two worst away games you could possibly imagine. I can’t see us scoring let alone get any points.
GavinandStacey I think it was an awful lot of supporters who thought Moyes wasn’t good enough. Certainly not David Gold. So we brought in a ‘big name’ and gave him money to spend!! That went well
I admire your optimism but I don’t share it. I’ve seen us enough times this season and nothing suggests to me that we have the team to get out of the situation. We lack pace, energy and importantly not a lot of fight in the team. We always look like we will concede and never look like scoring. If you can tell me where 5 wins are coming from in our last 13 games to stay up, I’d love to hear it!
with all that optimisim , can you do my tax returns, NOT A PRAYER
Wont ask you to do the next team talk then Jim.
I agree 100! Well thought out and written. I have a lot of belief and faith in Moyes.
Gonna go against the grain here and say that I DID like the article, and a lot of the previous ones from you Alan. I like that you’re still trying to maintain some positivity in a time where everyone else has completely written us off and given the footballing world the OK to kick us when we’re down for easy articles and click bait. Moyes got our record win in his first game, saved us before and has just got a coaching team and two players he wanted and we were screaming out for. But, before we’ve had a chance to see any difference or impact the fans are, once again, dismissing any chance we have of turning things around. This team was desolated because of MP and Roberto as well as other factors and it’s not gonna turn around overnight but I do agree with Alan in that, IF we can hit a bit of form and the 2 new players hit the ground running we’re better than the other teams in the mix and we’ll be alright. I’ll certainly be giving them my full support until it’s mathematically impossible to stay up. I always thought the West Ham fans had a bit of a sense of humour and a positive attitude in general and that was one of the reasons I was proud to be a Hammer but I find it really sad that everyone has just given up and is attacking everything to do with the club at the moment. Agree the board are a disgrace and something needs to be done there but give Moyes and his team a chance before dismissing him like you have the board. He did it before with a lesser team and less time. He can certainly do it again. Keep the faith. COYI!
Thanks for the complimeny Country Cockney. I hate those all too eager to wave the white flag – especially with so many games to go. Just wonder if the Norwich, Watford, Bournemouth, Villa, Palace and Brighton fans are just as negative as some of ours.
Do me a favour . There’s no fight there . Doomed
spot on mate
The lack of pace has been due to so many injuries. West Ham biggest problem is signing old injury prone has-beens on long contracts. How many times this season have we actually put out our strongest 11?
I think we finally have a top 10 starting 11 but perhaps it is already too late. 5 wins from 11 games is a hell of an ask considering we have won 6 all season.
We actually have a decent amount of pace in the team when they’re all fit. Anderson, Antonio, Frederick’s are all fast sprinters. Bowen, Rice, Soucek, Fornals can all get about the pitch.
I think it will come down to the last game of the season. Villa at home. Winner stays up.
Positivity. I like that Tommy Hammer. Doesn’t cost a penny either. My old mum used to say about people who continually moaned: “It’s being so miserable that keeps then going.” Think she was right!!
What a miserable bunch you all are, I’m glad I don’t need to rely on support from people like you. I feel the position we’re in is mostly due to a lack of confidence stemming from Roberto’s antics and nothing to do with lack of effort and therefore as long as the players are given the support and trust they need we will be ok, but all this *****ing and bickering will do more harm and in the end could be the main reason if we don’t succeed.
VAR will relegate us now, nothing else !
Allowed Ayew goal and cost us a point. Disallowed Rice’s goal cost us a point!
Allowed Murray’s goal cost us two points.
(Or failed to spot Murray’s first goal foul).
4 lost points – where would that put us now?
Ever heard the saying ‘lightning never strikes in the same place twice ‘ and with that saying getting Moyes’s to do the same job of getting us out of the sh#t twice is a massive ask ?the jury is out I.M.H.O on this his second time ? But I wish him well and unlike some others he and the squad will have my support so keeping the faith C.O.Y.I