Down in ninth place, outside even the play-off places, is hardly where West Ham, the pre-season favourites and the ‘big hitters descended into the Championship’ expected to find themselves after fifteen games. This, the most competitive of leagues, throws up unexpected results each and every week and West Ham have, simply, not been up to speed.
The week after week excuses of Nuno Espírito Santo have been replaced by the emotional, heart-on-his-sleeve reassurances of an albeit shell- shocked Scott Parker, but it is clear there’s a huge challenge ahead.
Scott Parker may have a more engaging style than Nuno but excuses only count for so long
Talk is cheap, there are only so many times we as fans we can be told that the team should have tried harder, prepared better, worked more, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera..before our eyes glaze over and disappointment gives way to anger – as was displayed at full time yesterday.
Defender Dinos Mavropanos, to his credit, takes his fair share of the blame himself for the defensive lapse that led to Blackburn’s second goal when he and his team mates switched off, anticipating a stoppage for Max Kilman’s head injury instead of playing to the whistle:
“I mean, yes, it’s tough, this league with no VAR coming around, it’s difficult to speak about these situations,” he explained
“I’m not going to blame the referee because at the end it’s a decision I can’t change. But again, I think we should have reacted better and not concede this kind of goal.” (whufc.com)
Exactly so, Dinos. However frank acceptances like this don’t bring the points back. Forget automatic promotion. Eleven points dropped in the last four games is relegation form, whichever way you look at it.
West Ham pay for the lack of competition for centre back places, as we’ve already pointed out repeatedly. Taking the blame for mistakes is one thing. Not repeating them is a whole other set of problems.