Mohamadou Kanté’s red card in the last minutes of the Millwall derby – whilst it went applauded by many as it was seen as a professional foul to correct his own mistake and salvage a point – capped off a difficult first tranche of games in the second tier for the Hammers which saw them pick up sixteen yellow cards in just eight games.
It was at times painful watching from the first game back in August as West Ham struggled with the intensity and the physicality of the league in which they found themselves, after failing to overtake Spurs on the last day of the 25/6 season.
Many Championship sides saw the ‘West Ham’ fixture as a chance to up their game and get one over the biggest side to appear in the Championship in many a year.
However it has been West Ham’s own disciplinary record this season that has been highlighted by Pompey site Portsmouth.co.uk in their ‘alternative league table’, based on disciplinary performance: Out of 24 teams, the Irons’ disciplinary record looks pretty poor:
“19th. West Ham Yellow cards: 16; Red cards: 1; Disciplinary points: 19.”
Near the bottom of the table then, for Nuno’s men who have clearly struggled to adjust.
Kanté sees red against Millwall
“So what?” I hear you say. Why it matters:
Continued poor discipline and attracting ever increasing numbers of petty, silly cards needs to stop.
Winning the league is as much about keeping your players available for as many games as possible by avoiding both injury and suspension as it is about having the best players: If they’re not allowed onto the pitch then the best squad in the division can’t influence outcomes.
The Hammers have to improve their record or risk having key players missing at a crucial time as the season develops.
For some perspective, between ‘top’ side Portsmouth (Yellow cards 5; Red cards: 0; Disciplinary points: 5) – and ‘bottom’ side Blackburn Rovers ( Yellow cards: 21; Red cards: 1; Disciplinary points: 24. ) There was a massive sixteen yellow cards and one red separating the two- in just eight games.
Another area in which West Ham’s senior leadership on the pitch need to step up, step in and cool the hotheads.
I would happily finish bottom of that table and top of the league. At least it shows some fight and let’s be honest we are everyone’s cup final and they are trying to get into us which probably explains a few of them.