It maybe time for us fans to start adjusting our thinking to things West Ham in as radical manner as the team has adjusted it’s tactics and style.
Truth is, this new West Ham is taking a lot of getting used to and the ancient debates on Twitter and the Claretandhugh Facebook page/web site are often as irrelevant as last season’s league position.
Thankfully – although it surfaces now and again – the pro/anti Sam Allardyce debate is all but dead in the water until the next couple of bad results no doubt. Sure there’s the odd voice raised but it’s not a serious issue right now.
However, the Andy Carroll thing is still running at full force and we too have asked the question as to how he may respond if not a regular first team choice.
Mauro Zarate is another player seemingly with the same problem and the Winston Reid “will he won’t he stay” saga is still flickering in the background.
But very often all of us show the mentality which is seemingly attached to a middle range club – we over analyse, over worry and then OVER REACT.
Take the Carroll issue…it’s not a case of what West Ham will do but how Andy will feel six or seven games down the line should he not be automatic first choice.
Personally if we are hanging around the top six I’d bet decent money he will stay as we grow into a bigger club and rotate like the other big boys. Zarate? Who knows but there’s a lot of thought going into squad building so I for one am not unduly concerned.
Winston Reid? No point in worrying about it is there? He will do what he has to do and like all other big clubs we will hopefully get a better replacement – should he leave – as we head towards Europe and the Olympic Stadium.
We need to free ourselves of this thinking too that the minute a player is in or out of form he is either a regular or a discard. We’ve said many times this is a squad game and different games need different approaches.
Sam Allardyce and the Davids have built a squad which is better than anyone could have expected. We are adequately covered everywhere and we can all look forward with great confidence.
Let’s look forward with a broader viewer view of how big we are gonna be – not how average it’s been for too long.
I believe the vast majority of us are still having great trouble processing what’s been going on at our club but it’s actually simple. We are bigger, better and going places and can’t quite get our heads around it.
Let’s all start trying a bit harder…stop the feuding that too easily rises up and go forward united as this club reaches for the stars.
If you want to see a bigger picture then start at the top and get a manager who is trusted enough to be in the buying process, one who will develop from within, one who actually coaches the players,one who reads the stats so he plays players who are fit for purpose and you know what and who I mean,one who is committed to a long term future without having to be heavily induced and lastly one who doesn’t abuse the supporters who pay his inflated wages and opinion of himself.
You all know in your WHU heart of hearts we should be playing well with the quality of the squad now thanks to the Davids taking the transfers off curtis.we should still be able to promote from within( if Saints can,,so can we,we are the Academy after all) ,you also know there are far worse squads in the premier and so we should be able to move on and up.The age of the squad,very much down to the Davids buying again, is young enough to be around for a while.Once the ageing deadwood goes we can use the money to buy better than we have and so can move up again.With an improved squad ( and possible manager) we will attract better players possibly from the countries they play for is Zarate brings Messi,Ginge brings Bale, the Senegalese lads ,and Adrian bringing more San Miguels!!
So the question asked is can you think about the bigger picture.I’d be happy with mine.
Fair enough but I also state the obvious that it’s not time to be getting too far ahead of ourselves. The last two performances have been average at best. While it’s a great step forward that we can now sometimes win games even when playing poorly, the fact is if we continue the standard of the last two games, we won’t be finishing anywhere near the top 6, probably not the top 10. Hope I’m wrong, regardless improvement clearly needed on the last two I reckon.
No Song, no Noble, No Sakho, half fit Carroll, half match fit Valencia and for one suspended Reid. Nuff said
HS .what’s your point? If you a bigger picture then you have to rely on a bigger squad.if we haven’t got one then its back to small time thinking Iike back to Nolan ,Cole,Vaz the etc.
We got the points but it was poor fair.Saturday will be a real benchmark same as Saints was.
Err sorry, just woke me up, did you say something else….?
I would have thought Liverpool & City at home were benchmarks to see where we were at as well.Believe we won both.Funny you should choose the saints game as the one that was the benchmark Rugby.Ofc,the one we lost,enough said
Rugby irons I despair with you. If we were 5th from bottom I’d have some sympathy with you but we are not. You are the worst supporter I’ve ever come across.
I’ve got to admit it that if you move on from the usual manager/agent/owner bashing rugby actually has made some decent points.
There is no doubt that we have moved on from last season and that there is still much to do. (Still to much dead wood to cut out).
There have indeed been some “benchmark” games this year and these have included Stoke and WBA just as much as Liverpool and citeh. Swans will be another chance to prove we are indeed moving on and put right the Southampton game. We just didn’t turn up that day.
I don’t think imo that there is much wrong with our academy and I have always believed that if you are good enough then you will make it and that it takes time to breakthrough.
I also have a question, much has been made of certain members of the academy being given their place In the first team. But how many of them are better than the players we have bought in this season?
And there lies the real problem with the game today. Such is the pressures of top flight football that players breaking into the first team have to be able to make an instant impact and usually you have to be the finished article to do this.
This leads to the other important question, how do we bridge the gap between academy/u21’s and first team prem football?
Having said all that we are about to move on to the most exciting times in our history and as our team improves and we move into the OS we will be able to attract better players and be a bigger club.
Doesn’t help answer the big questions though! COYI!
Sorry Hugh!
I have been very rude by ignoring your article!
You are spot on! It seems that because of the very nature of our tops turfy existence we are born worriers! And our time endlessly dissecting our every move.
Instead you are right and we should embrace our upturn in performances and fortunes and look to the new future rather than fretting over the present/past! COYI!
Haha like Phil, I also never read the main article I was too busy feuding with Rugby!! I think your point is a good one but whilst sites like this and Twitter exists then this is how we will behave. I also do not think we West Ham fans are any different to any other club, big or small.
I agree with Phil on the Acadamy if you are good enough you will succeed. It’s harder and harder to blood youngsters in the premiership because the final position is so important. Would anyone really have bought our young 17 year old centre back on with 20 mins to go vrs WBA?
Well actually WhuG, there are over 10k members here and this is how about three of you behave 😉
Come on Hugh,if you didnt have disagreements & banter on here it would make for a quiet forum.This goes on in every workplace & pub around the country.People airing their views,whether right or wrong.Im sure you would feel a lil let down if all your posts went by commentless,lol.Alas we must just accept Rugby is a cross between Basil Fawlty & Victor Meldrew & either ignore his rants or comment with a lil humour & banter which most of them justify 😉
I’m not moaning Rads and ur right. Just saying. And some admit to not reading the article! don’t bother me mate. Just an observation 😉
Great article. Positive and forward thinking.
Well said Rads! I read most sites but I only comment here these days as I like the fact the subject matter changes 5/6 times a day so you can state your view and move on. This is a great site well done Hugh, the members comments on your articles just make it more interesting. And I’ve said before I actually like Rugby Mildew commenting on here as polar views to mine make a more interesting debate.
Well i always read the article first Hugh & enjoy them alot,you do some great pieces on here,keep up the good work 😉