The Premier League table doesn’t make grim reading for West Ham, but it’s quite telling how far the club has fallen behind in recent times.
The Hammers currently sit 14th in the EPL, and it doesn’t seem like an unjust position. In fact, when I look at Manchester United in 13th or even Brentford in 11th, I don’t see many teams that West Ham will finish above this season.
Fulham have disappeared off into the distance, but if we’re honest, they had moved ahead last season, having beaten the Hammers 5-0 and 2-0 respectively.
Aston Villa and Brighton are so far ahead in terms of club infrastructure and leadership that it’s probably not worth even factoring them in. It’s important to remember that when David Moyes was appointed for his second stint as West Ham manager, Aston Villa had just been promoted and were below us in the Premier League.
Not really rivals anymore: Emery has revitalised Villa
Rivals impressive infrastructure
They clearly have an excellent manager in Unai Emery, but the infrastructure behind him is immense. West Ham’s head coach Lopetegui has a match analyst based in Sevilla who reviews games and upcoming opponents. Emery, by contrast, has a team of over 20 analysts at Villa Park, all hand-picked by himself.
The difference is so stark it’s barely worth the comparison. However, the fact that clubs like Fulham, Brentford, Bournemouth, and Nottingham Forest seem to have moved so far ahead is a concern.
Whilst the Irons continue to wait for Lopetegui’s tactics to click into place, other, more agile coaches are moving forward with faster teams as the Premier League appears to have gone up a gear in intensity.
West Ham may have gone backwards, but at best, we’ve stood still. Unfortunately, this has happened at a time when almost everyone else has improved. Thankfully, there are at least three worse teams than us this season, but unless the Irons hierarchy gets their house in order, traditionally second-tier teams will be out of reach this season.
We are going backwards and lucky that we are not far off being in a good position, TheCossack Imp couldn’t manage to run a bath let alone a modern business.
Can’t knock him for paying out a lot but he doesn’t get a return on it and he doesn’t learn his lessons other than if you are close to relegation Moyes and Allatdyce types can stabilise your club for a bit.
He should be breaking the bank if needed for managers like Amorim or Frank but instead it’s bargain options he goes for, will waste £25m on an unproven teenager from Brazil but not pay out for a high quality manager..
Frank Lampard is the answer to all our prayers. Get Frankie on board and revel in the improvement we will show.
Derby / Everton and West Ham fans will more than likely disagree there Taffy.
Lampard favourite for the Coventry job, and I’d bet their fans would rather have kept Mark Robins than take Frank too.
Actually the only thing I disagree with your comment is that there are three worse teams currently in the PL than us. The team’s below us are better organised and more importantly, performing better than us on a regular basis and as such, makes us the worst as moral and results plummet further.Whilst there results are and will improve I don’t see ours doing so whilst Lopetegui is on charge. I hope I’m wrong but time will tell.
Our “rivals” are now Palace, Southampton, Everton, Ipswich and Leicester 🤦♂️
Silva would be my first choice if we were to part company with Lopetegui. Obviously we would need him to lose his job first for that to even be remotely realistic.
Silva would be a great fit for us. The players look like they enjoy playing his style of football. He sets up teams on the front foot and tactically he is far superior to JLo
Should have gone for Silva in the summer IMO. Plays the right way and would enjoy our squad I think. Instead we went for another dull option with no gameplan. Classic Sullivan.
We are not looking up, we are anxiously looking over our shoulders at clubs that are more than capable of seeing us drop further!