By Pete Ellis
I know all about knee jerk ‘Jerks’ because I have been one in past years.
Yep, I have put my size 12s on and firmly laid the boot into West Ham in the past after another underwhelming performance.
But honestly, really, what can you say when some of my fellow Hammers were doing the same at around 3:20 on Saturday. Twitter really can make fools of people if they feel so inclined.
Now, don’t get me wrong, the reports from the Hawthorns at the time were at best, grim. The slow start which has become a bit of an Achilles heel this season, seemed to have returned against a Baggies side that flew out of the blocks.
And whilst I too was frustrated, it didn’t cross my mind for a millisecond to have a pop at the lads. Have this group of players not earned our respect and our faith over the games already this year?
Sunderland away, Norwich away, we came back, and my personal favourite, our nemesis, Everton. 2-0 down and Lukaku stepping up to make it 3-0, and Bosch! The comeback of the season was born!!
Like I have said on Twitter, criticism is fine. You are no less a fan for questioning things, as you are for blindly agreeing with every decision that is made.
Some would argue you’re more of a fan if you question things that you believe are not right, rather blindly accepting what is going on at the club like an obedient pup.
In this season though, the players and the management have proved time and time again that the more you write them off, the more likely they will spring a surprise and perform a very “un-west ham” like miracle.
My advice would be to keep your powder dry until that final whistle, because the game’s never over until that man in the middle blows up (the one task that referees can manage this season)!
COYI
Lol,20 minute critics on Twitter.Try the Wetpants match thread it starts before the games kicked off 😉
Every team have these similar types.The ones I can’t stomach are the fans who think they can do a better job than the manager & shout the odds about what he is doing wrong.Our record this season of just 6 defeats in 35 pretty much makes Bilic untouchable when it comes to questioning his decision making.
Personally I quite like it when we start slow or even go a goal down. It seems thats what gets us fired up and going and scoring goals to win. Im always confident this season that we can turn any game around no matter how slow we start. COYI
Some judgments are result-oriented and thats ok. But still we cant ignore the fact we didnt look well defensively. Im not convinced by Oggys display recently tbh. I can forgive Antonios mistakes cuz he offers a lot more in attack. But i think we need to sort defense out. Tomkins and Reid looked immense under Allardyce. And its totally unfair for JT to put him on the bench after not so good performances after injury and in unnatural position. Same bout Ginge. Im glad we are winning and scoring goals. But we are out of FA cup for a reason( and not only because of poor refs). I really want Slaven to find that perfect balance in the squad and qualify for CL!
We have only lost six times this season & you are saying we need to sort out the defence? We are unbeaten in ten PL games ffs. Remember only one team can win the FA Cup & if it wasn’t for a crap decision at OT we would have won up there.
some people will always look for a negative in anything positive. We won 0-3 at a place where we would normally roll over & get sweet fa. Three games left & still within a chance of CL place.
I agree with IronHammer. We do need to sort out the defence. I know that we have only lost 6 games but there is more to it than that. We have scored 60 goals, Spurs have only scored 5 more than us yet the goal differences are very telling; +17 for us and +39 for them.
+17 is a nightmare isn’t it.**** me some people are never satisfied.
I agree with you Iron that defensively we have not been as resilient, apart from Reid not being ideal I would say it is also the fact that none of the DM’s that have played other than Song have been willing to sit deep and defend, they bomb forward which has its advantages as seen by Kouyates goal at the weekend but it has a big downside against teams that have playmakers like a Hazard, Silva etc etc in that there is no support for the defence and we are left open to their clever short passing, reverse balls, 1 2’s etc
I don’t buy into this belief that Tomkins & Reid were immense under Allardyce.Good but not immense.For me Ogbonna & Collins have been our standout partnership this season.All about differing opinions though I guess.
Can’t remember when Oggy had a bad game,he is without doubt a great transfer buy and now we need another giant that can play the ball out from the back,
Today was a great day for a change both Liverpoor and City getting stuffed and Leicester batting 1 point,that make the home game against Manure a 6 pointer if we can win he other 2 games,and with City and the Gooners playing each other we could still creep into that 4th place,
Entertainment at its best so proud to be a hammer,
But we need to sort out our defence,don’t forget that bubs lol.We need fatty back to talk about clean sheets,that should please some of our fans 😉
Yes his clean sheet on Saturday was good,
But I agree the top teams in the last 2 season in the Premier had the best defence and most competitive midfield,
The trouble is finding the defenders for sale,
I would not touch a lot of the so called elite,s defenders,Lascalles of Newcastle looked good on MOTD but he is still young,
Still think we have good young defenders they just need playing time,
Burke would cost £10 million if you were trying to buy him,
Henry could cut it and Oxford has the ability to be another Rio,
But we seem to think they need to be 21 before we give them a real chance,
Just think Reid and Tomkins can bring in good money
Pardew would wet himself if he could sign Tomo,
Liverpoor or the Gooners would coff up for Reid
That would give us £10 million to buy another Oggy to add to him and Ginge with the 3 boys as back up or to play,
We now have right and left back covered by 2 players with Dobson and Page as a third
Kouyate can cover as well and Nordvelt is a cover CH
We need another ball player and a rethink who will join AC
We could bring in enough money to cover most
What a difference a year make Slav has added £100 million to our squad if we sell
I will leave you lot to worry about the defense,I couldn’t care less,I have been to all the matches apart from 3 this season & it has been brilliant to be following the boys again.This season has been the best for decades & I am loving it.I never want us to be a George Graham ‘1-0 to The Arsenal’,give me our matches this season anyday.You lot wanted entertainment you have had it,just go with the flow & enjoy it lads 🙂
I’m with Radai on this. Become more defensive = less attacking with our current squad. our biggest asset this season has been our ability to bounce back.We could, perhaps become more defensibly stable but at what cost attacking wise?