I will start with a suggestion for some of the readers. I would greatly appreciate it if you actually read what I write. A lot of you presume all my articles are wholly negative and thus only read what you want to hear. I have no aspirations to become a journalist, I write on this site purely for fun, there is no benefit to me, but as a season ticket holding fan I like to get my views across. It is getting somewhat tiresome for me when some of you insult me with every comment you make, especially when you clearly haven’t read the article. I respect and enjoy hearing everyone’s views whether they agree or disagree but some of you resort to insults and its getting a bit tiresome now.
On to this week’s article; I stated last week that I believe our aim next season should be Europa League football. Some of you less intelligent folk seemed to think that means I expect that of West Ham next season, it isn’t. I am a big believer in aiming at the very top of what you can achieve. What is the point of having an aim if it is well within your grasp; surely that is merely an expectation? This season we look to be finishing in the top 10, why should our aim next season just be to come top 10 again? There is a difference between aiming for something and expecting something. I expect us to finish comfortably mid table again next season to consolidate our position in the league, our aim however should be to reach the Europa League.
Firstly, we need to make changes in personnel. Jussi has been outstanding 2nd half of the season and I see no reason why he shouldn’t be given an opportunity to compete for the starting role next year; having said that, I would like to see exactly that, competition for the goalkeeping role. Jussi won’t last many more seasons at the top and so we need someone like Henderson or Spiegel coming through the ranks and competing for the starting job. In defence we have 3 very capable centre backs. At right back Jordan Spence and Guy Demel are both good options and I would like to see Spence given the role next season with Demel there as backup. At left back Joey O’Brien is solid but not good enough if we are to move forward as a club. We need someone like Figueroa to start with Dan Potts waiting in the wings.
We might be top 10 but if you look at how poor the EPL has been this season, top 10 is a good but not great achievement for us. Mark Noble is a safe option at defensive midfield but we need Diame and Ravel Morrison to be our 2 centre mids next season in a 4-4-2 formation. Neither Matt Jarvis or Ricardo Vaz Te have been good enough. Those singing Jarvis’ praise need to have a look at how football is played and realise that Jarvis’ crosses, whilst they invariably find someone, they are very hard to score from, hence his 0 assists this season and he has not proven himself as an £11 million signing. Ricardo Vaz Te is not a right midfielder yet Sam continues to play him there. It is frustrating as a West Ham fan as Sam sold Junior Stanislas to Burnley. Stanislas is now an integral part of their team, coming off a season where he has scored 5 goals and got 8 assists. I don’t care about the fact that it is in the Championship, he was a top player for us and should never have been sold. He and Jarvis as our wingers would be fantastic. Someone like him or Nathan Redmond would be fantastic to compete with Joe Cole for the starting berth.
Up front I don’t actually believe we need to sign Carroll. If we get him for less than £10 million he will be a good signing, anything more and he will take up most of our transfer budget when we need to strengthen in a lot of areas, not just up front. We have to spend wisely not lump everything on one player, there is no way on earth that he is worth £17 million. If we play 2 up top players such as Maiga, Vaz Te and Rob Hall could finally be given a chance in the Premier League. I think it’s disgraceful that Modibo Maiga has only started 2 games this season. Unfortunately, in the system Sam plays there is only room for one big guy up front and thus that man is Andy Carroll. Even if we do sign Carroll I would like to see Maiga, Vaz Te or Rob Hall play off of him, that could be a really strong strikeforce, it won’t happen under Sam but it is what we need if this club is to move forward.
I believe Europa League football is a realistic aim. If we look at our squad now we need to make sure we keep a few players (Diame and Reid especially) and strengthen well in the correct areas but our squad as a whole is very good. We have strong youth members in Jordan Spence, Rob Hall and Ravel Morrison, the latter pair have been rated fantastically on their loan spells and you only need to look at their stats to see that they have been effective. As I have said, this should be an aim, an aspiration, not an expectation. I expect us to consolidate ourselves as a premier league football team by finishing above 12th, I would like us to achieve Europa League football and believe that to be a realistic aim.
Finally, our tactics. To those who don’t have season tickets, please don’t respond to this part of my article as I honestly couldn’t care less what fans who have been to a handful of games this season think about our football. It has been dire. Our home record has been good, but that does not take away from how useless the football has been. There have only been a handful of games that we have played well in and surprise, surprise all those games we won comfortably. Despite playing good football and winning in those games Sam always reverts back to his familiar style and away from home it has been unacceptable. Fans and the owners alike need to remember that people come to the football for enjoyment. Last season was incredible; I loved watching us play and didn’t even mind having Sam in charge as we were giving it a real go. We didn’t achieve automatic promotion but the playoff final was an incredible day. On a side note it’s disgraceful how some of you “good fans” forget how well the likes of Vaz Te and Cole played last season and now resort to insulting them on twitter and at the games, those of you who do insult any of our players are an embarrassment to the club. We need to play football to move forward as a club with 2 up front, it is no coincidence that no successful club in Europe play football like Sam preaches so those of you who say it’s the only way for us to succeed, you are wrong.
Europa League football might enable us fans to fall back in love with West Ham. No one can tell me convincingly that they have enjoyed this season as much as last, if they tried to they would be lying. Hopefully with some backing in the transfer window Sam might let us play football but history tells me he won’t. We will see what happens next season but I do hope we aspire to something greater than this season. I am looking forward to comments, those of you who actually respond with an explanation of your opinion I respect, no doubt the usual cretins will humour us all with their uneducated insults.
You ask not to be insulted…and im not one to do so but you are actually asking for it with the manner in which you write. Your player “reviews” and suggestions are imho questionable at best as are your tactical suggestions. 4-4-2 is an antiquated system which leaves teams outnumbered in midfield more often then not which is why no top team in europe actually play it anymore. Bayern, real, barca, dortmund … Its either 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3. We dont need to change out system…we need to improve on what we have already built. We do need a proper right winger to play opposite and switch sides with Jarvis though ill give you that. Anyway i will go into more details later if you fancy a discussion since i dont really enjoy typing on the tablet.
No matter what someone writes, whether you agree or disagree should invite abuse mate. In your opinion they are questionable I respect that, but does your opinion hold any more value? No, our opinions are just that, our opinions and all are welcomed. 4-4-2 is still used by man successful teams and it would suit our play as Nolan doesn’t really do anything as an attacking mid anyway. I am happy to have a discussion if you want mate.
Well…where to begin… Well i dont agree on using a lot of youngsters in the starting 11 for one. Their lack of experience often cost team points. Take Potts for instance, good against ManU but really poor vs Sunderland where he was at fault for two of their goals. Since you mentioned Hall… I confess i dont follow the Championship that much but i was under the impression that he is being played as a winger rather then an out and out striker. Morrison…well we all know his issues…hopefully he can patch things up with Sam. The biggest problem with all of them is that they are hardly consistent. I can see them all featuring on the bench, coming on as subs, being used as back-ups and probably starting in cup games but i would see them all understudy for another 2-3 years before throwing them in the deep end.(basically i think you are overestimating the quality of our youth and imho they still have to grow before they become PL worthy starters)
As far as our starting 11 goes id like to see improvements in RB, LB and RM at the least. Depending on our budget and whether or not we sign Andy Carroll permanently there are a few options. Personally, if we can get AC for around 15mil i think its worth it. If that happens i can see us going for Figueroa(also covers CB) and possibly Simpson both free in the summer. Imho they would be an improvement on our current starters though not a huge one. Sam does have a knack of bringing the best out of these types though. On the right wing i would preffer a left footer to compliment having Jarvis on the left and having them constantly switch places throughout games. I’d look at someone like Marveaux at maybe 5mil if we can keep him fit…dunno whats wrong at Newcastle btw as they seem unable to keep a lot of their players fit. We also need competition in goal so i would see what is available at a reasonable price. Anyways these are basic guidelines to what id like…if we can get better then i suggested thats great.
Id also like to see Joe Cole played behind Carroll instead of Nolan as he has better distribution and can create more from there. Its also the position he prefers.
On the striker front, i think we should keep CC as back-up and maybe even Maiga. The thing about Maiga is that he seems lazy and weak on the ball (loses the ball easily)…imho he should be sold. Chamakh didnt prove himself so he will likely leave and Paulista (if the rumors are true that he was a DS signing) was never gonna feature much… Owners should not bring in players that the manager didnt ask for.
…anyways…its past 2AM atm and ive gone on long enough…maybe we’ll continue tommorow.
man was i tired when i wrote that…. just re-read and noticed i kinda contradicted myself on the Maiga front… just goes to show you i really dont know what to make of him. I’ll trust the coaching staff with this one lol.
I would love to see redmond come in and is the only rumour this season that has actually excited me sod bony remy and carroll with redmond on right hall on left ( he go 7 assists there for brum this year ) and morrison replacing nolan we will have a very good young foundation we can build a team around . I know the article said only talk about games if ur a season ticket holder but ive been to 14 game this season so i think ive seen enough to say at times we have played good attacking football like against fullam at home where we controlled and played down the middle we have also just shut up shop a defended the entire game ie man city at home ,i think sam is the man to take us forward but only if he can let go of the allout defence and play the attacking footy we know the team can play as highlighted by the west brom home game ! Good article by the way
Completely agree with you mate even on theast point. My only issue with same is that history tells me he won’t change. If he does I will support him as manager but we only had a handful of games that were worth paying to watch imo this season. You’ve seen 14 games, you can have a grasp of it, it was more aimed at those who have been to one game and that was the Chelsea game and thus it means we always play like that sort of thing.
Thanks for reading mate, glad you enjoyed it!
Fair article some good points eg hall morrison, redmond and sam giving them a chance.imo andy carrol should be our no1 transfer signing he never stops working for the team in all areas of the pitch but i do agree we cannot play just him as a lone striker next season i would love to see a second striker but not maiga or vaz te both seem so disinterested.i watched maiga at the acon he looked so lazy didnt seem to care when he got the chance to show how good he is.i like nolan as a captain but i really think he hinders the team with him constantly picked to play in the hole we look so one paced as a team with him there.so if sam continues with his tactics he must find a number ten type of player for this role.
Agree with you on most mate. I do think Maiga has been unlucky, his laziness might be because he is dissollusioned with life here but if he was like that at the AFCON then questions have to be asked. With Vaz I believe he needs to be given a chance up top. He has been lazy and disinterested this season but he he is being played out of position and as we saw against Newcastle is clearly very frustrated with Sam for playing him out of position and then subbing him every game. With Carroll, I think he is good, just not 75pc of our budget good. Would love to see Collison, Spence, Hall, Morrison and Redmond in the lineup bext year. Think they have huge potential.
Been a season ticket holder for two years – this year and last. Not sure I understand the logic of this idea not being as fun. Granted last years play off final was special, but every home game I was bored. We lacked ambition and a desire to get three points, and seemed perfectly happy with the one. This year we have had a go at teams, and caused every team that has come to the Boleyn this year problems. Granted our away form in the main has been shocking, but this has gradually improved as the season has gone on. If you look at the away results in the prem, we are nowhere near the bottom of the list, despite being in theory the weakest team in the league.
I would much rather watch us beat Chelsea, push Spurs all the way, give Utd a good game twice and coming away with 2-2 exciting draws, narrowly losing to Liverpool in a 5 goal thriller than losing to Burnley, drawing 0-0 with Bristol City and failing to beats the like of Doncaster.
The problem is Matt if we played like we did in those games you mentioned all season then I would agree with you. The fact is that the majority of games were sluggish, boring and really poor tactically. Last season it was the other way round, some games we struggled, especially at home because there was so much pressure to perform, but away we were fantastic. You have picked out specific games to prove your point but if I said I would prefer to see us play like we did when we smashed Brighton 6-0 it would be an unfair representation of last season as that is not how every game went. On balance we played better football last season, especially when Vaz Te joined us as he played very attacking and almost disregarded his defensive duties, that is why he should be given the chance up front this year. Whereas this season we go out not to lose, we don’t have a go at teams as you suggest we do aside from a handful of games.
In response to your query about 4-4-2, it is a case of specific examples again plus we are not good enough to play 4-3-3. Many teams still successfully play 4-4-2 and do well with it. I would be open to playing 5-3-2 as we did against Utd, very successfully (we didn’t deserve to lose) as that allows for more expansive football. Anything that makes us less rigid. 4-4-2 is an example but we could even play the same system as we do now but stick Vaz Te or Morrison in attacking mid and we would probably be far better and play far better football because of it. Whilst I mention 4-4-2 it is not something to get hung up on, I just think that is the best way for us to perform well, but anything that opens up our game is an improvement.
Unfortunately, we completely disagree on the tactical side of things. Starting lineup, substitutions and the system are all things I hate about Big Sam haha but I am of the opinion that football is supposed to be entertaining. “The customer is always right” you might say and as a customer of the club I want to see us play good football. Some believe results are the only thing that matters and think Sam’s age old tactics are the only way to get results. I would disagree with that but we are all entitled to our opinions, unfortunately ours seem to be at loggerheads haha.
Lol yeah I do understand your viewpoints totally, but I admit I do not like getting beat. I am a relatively young football fan – I have only supported us since Pardew’s championship years and in the main I have only see us lack fight and be a soft touch. I guess I am happy with watching a team put in the effort and give teams an awkward game. I do appreciate that it’s not the most aesthetically pleasing football, but I find creating chances exciting no matter how we forge them, and I genuinely have enjoyed our home games this season. I think the problem is a lot of fans find the style of play as the basis for entertainment, I find frustrating the opposition and giving them an awkward game entertaining. Us being awkward to play against is still a novelty that I’m not used to as a young fan!
However, I do agree that we need a plan B and a bit more variety, but I so genuinely believe that with some backing and stability in the premier league, this side of things will gradually improve every season. I may be deluded but I feel if we show some loyalty and stick with him, we can become like Everton with Big Sam and begin to push on even further once we settle into our new home. (However I do appreciate as a Big Sam fan I am I’m the minority!)
It’s exactly that isn’t it mate, just what you want to see and that’s what makes football so good. Everyone differs, there’s no right or wrong to be honest. I hope we do improve as time progresses but we will see. I’m a young fan too and I actually agree with you, nice to see us playing with a bit of fight. I think it’s a case for me where I just have to accept I can’t have everything as a fan haha and should be grateful of what Sam has done, which I am, but perhaps not as much as I should be.
I would also like to comment on the formation. The few times both this and last season we have gone 4-4-2, it hasn’t worked. We tried it at home to Ipswich last year, and got completely overrun, arguably the worst home performance all year. The one occasion I remember this year was at Craven Cottage when we were 2-1 down, we had Carlton and Carroll up top and lost all of our momentum as we lost control of the midfield and barely touched the ball.
I think it says a lot that no top team plays 4-4-2, even the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal who are lauded for their attractive football.
We sometimes just need to commit more people from midfield to support the lone striker away from home, but other than that I don’t think we can complain about the tactics too much.
I strongly disagree with you saying that Jarvis had not been good enough, and ravel Morrison should go out on loan again due to the fact he is 19 years old, but saying that if west ham signed Nathan Redmond who is only 19 so if west ham got him they probably should send him on loan. I don’t really mind if west ham signed any Carroll but I would prefer west ham signing Wilfred bony or even use our players that don’t get a chance like Maiga and rob hall like you said.
As I say in the article, the stats say a lot about his performances but he does have a legion of fans, personally I can’t see why.
Age is nothing but a number, players should play when they have proved they are ready to and if Ravel and Hall haven’t proved that this season then when will they ever prove it. Both have performed very well and received glowing reports so I believe they are ready to play. I don’t believe it fair to say “he’s 19 so send him on loan” myself.
Completely agree about the striker situation.
First & foremost, I think our priority should be to get Carroll on a permanent deal for a number of reasons:
He’s only 23, & at such a young age he’ll only get better & better. Ok he doesn’t score 20+ goals a season, but will someone please tell me where we are going to find £30m to buy one?! He absolutely terrorises defences & I haven’t seen anyone do that at west ham since Di Canio (different player all together I know, but both intimidate defences).
And why does everyone slag off Allardyce so much? He was left with Avram Grant’s shit, & built a team from free transfers & loanee’s! We are a tough team to beat with absolute beasts in the side. We aren’t easy to beat like we were under Zola & Grant. Teams used to roll over us!
I agree with you regarding Jarvis and Vaz Te, Jarvis has no genuine pace and l find him very frustrating as he does get a lot of the ball and rarely produces the type of cross that a player like Carroll thrives on which a ball with pace not a floaty high ball. Vaz Te has been really disappointing this season and l believe is a very good Championship player as he showed last season. As for your forwards I disagree with you about Carrol let’s spend the money on him but buy someone small and quick to play along side him maybe someone like Mcmanaman from Wigan. We need a new keeper as although Jussi has played really well recently he worries the life out of me at times. Offload O’Neil , Demmel, McCartney,Maiga,all the on loan players apart from Carrol and start trusting more of the young players who have not been given much of a chance under big Sam. All in all its been a great season after our promotion last season and lam sure it will keep on improving.
That’s the main thing for me, is giving our youth a chance. With Vaz I just feel sorry for him. Did so well last season in a much more attacking role and then gets forced to play in midfield. We saw how frustrated he is against Newcastle and I don’t blame him, every game out of position and then gets subbed off. We definitely need to strengthen at left/right mid and I think Redmond would be perfect.
With Carroll well you know my view from the article but I can understand your view point. If Sam gives our youth a chance we actually wouldn’t have many areas we need to strengthen and so could spend the money on Carroll to be fair.
didnt vazte play the same role last season?wide left or wide right?pretty sure he did,so the only difference this season would be he is up against better opponents which is why he hasnt been anywhere near as succesful.
On to many occasions he tries something that doesnt come off,give him his dues for trying but sometimes the simple ball will suffice,plus he had a ht streak last year where everything he hit flew in,this year it just hasnt worked out that way
He did on paper but in the games he was far more attacking, well at least I thought so and he was on the left. This season he is just on the right. He was effective on the left because he could cut in and shoot etc, I don’t know why Sam switched him, clear favouritism as Jarvis obviously said he preferred being on the left so Sam gave it to him when really he should have kept Vaz on the left and Jarvis on the right. He was almost playing up front last year whereas this year he is far more defensive. He has struggled though I agree. I am a massive fan of Vaz so no doubt I see things differently to everyone else haha as I always want to defend him lol
I disagree with your statements about our left back and right back.I actually think job has been a better player for us this season than demel has,and job has been doing it on the left side when he is naturally a rb.
The rumours abou rat being signed dont inspire me either.
Personally id like us to make a run at danny simpson who will be available on a free,or nedum onahua from qpr who following there relegation might be available for around 2-3mill.On the left id prefer to see pottsy get a run with job backing him up.Given a run of games i think he could excel like luke shaw did this season for southampton.
In mid field id like to continue with the 3 man mid but much like yourself would like to see what ravel can do.With a cheap addition in the shape of wilson palcios (remember him?)
Redmond at 10mill?thats a bit pricey for me,i like the player but think thats to much for him,especially when you can grab tom ince for around 7mill.
Personally id look at scott sinclair from city for around 5mill.
Up top id love carrol to stay but for no more than 10mill,if he is more than that id rather see us target an old rumour-jordan rhodes who has had a brilliant season for blackburn,whilst also taking a long hard look at charlie austin and ricky van wolfswinkle from sporting.
I think maiga is gone and if we can recouple the 5mill we paid for him then with the 10mill budget for carrol itd give us 15mill to invest in strikers-so id like to think 15 million would buy you any 2 out of rhodes,austin and wolfswinkle.
Betwen the sticks is a hard position to evaluate,which is why we have had a few back ups come and go in recent years,personally a guy i like is ben amos from man united,although i heard we might be showing interest in another of de gea’s understudies-anders lindegard.
Finally-i think we have been pretty much assured survival for 3 or 4 games now,and ive been dissapointed that we havent used the run in to blood some youngsters,i dont if it would of been possible to recall hall and ravel,but at the very least e could have given spence,potts,moncur etc some game time and given them some experience and also a chance to evaluate them.
apologies if you think me disagreeing with 1 or 2 of ur points as insulting,its nt ment to be,its just my opinion
Don’t worry Ian, it’s not disagreeing with me that has bothered me, it’s actual insults like calling me a dickhead etc. I like hearing others’ views. I can’t really argue with most of your points, I think you are correct in much of them. I agree, Rat would be a pointless signing in my book. Regarding the youth, completely agree. These latter stages of the PL we should be givin them a chance in no pressure games. The issue is, the Davids want as high league position as they can get so they get more money. Disappointing as if they said to Sam don’t worry about it, try some of the young lads it would save them money as they wouldn’t need to strengthen as much.
I agree fully regarding your comment on the use of Maiga and Hall, both of which whenever I have seen play give exciting performances. Sadly Big Sam continues to overlook them and I worry we’ll see these players leave in the summer transfer window. As much I think Carroll has contributed to our cause this season and we look more comfortable when he is on the ball, he is certainly not worth the 17M price tag which will eat dramatically in to our limited budget. Players such as Vaz Te, Nolan and O’brien have contributed well to the side but I just feel they are our weak points when I watch West Ham week in, week out and the positions could be strengthened without spending dramatic amounts of money. Only point i’ve got to disagree on is the role of Jarvis who has been vital out wide with his pace and ability on the ball as well as getting the ball into the danger zone, still not worth the 11m we paid for him though!
Agree with you on everything apart from Jarvis haha Perhaps if we had only paid 5 mil I would feel differently but the 0 assists stat really does stick out for me. He does have a lot of support though so obviously he is doing something right, I just don’t really see it personally.
Love paragraph 2!
Agree with almost every word in paragraphs 3-7!
Great article, and very comforting to read.
Just 2 comments, I’m not sure Figueroa is the solution at lb.
And 2ndly, I think that in the modern game the formation should change depending who you are playing against, is it home or away, and within the 90 minutes itself. And even, depending on whether you want to win in style or just snatch a win. … I totally agree 4-4-2 is a highly effective in many situations. Suggestions that it’s outdated/ineffective are blx. And I’m surprised (and disappointed) that Sam has only thrown on Cole and Carroll together on only 2 occasions for about 10 minutes each time (from my poor memory). With Maiga, Vaz Te, Wellingtons etc.. you’d think we had enough options for mixing it and going with 2 up front.
I actually agree with you about Figeueroa to be honest. I would prefer someone like Martin Olsson but the rumours of Figueroa have been going around and he was just in my head but I don’t think he’s the option either. Last point, couldn’t agree more. Big Sam’s style can work sometimes against certain sides but we need to change it up depending on who we are playing. At the moment it is the same for every team we play. I was disappointed too as the first time CC and Carroll were on the pitch together CC set up Carroll’s first goal for us, I was hoping to see them play together more often after that but never happened. And as you say, the number of strikers we have, it’s embarrassing that Chamakh, Cole, Vaz Te, Paulista and Maiga haven’t been given chances!
Thanks for reading mate, always nice to be given praise on an article!
Jarvis is a good acquisition to the team he works hard and gives The defence a rest Vaz Te is getting better his defensive duties often leave him exposed with no back up we need a spine in the team a forward who can score 20 goals a season creative playmaker and back up central defender and keeper.
Would love a leftsided winger.
And please Sam no more negative substitutions lets go for the win and let’s try to win away!
Please stop this europa league nonsense immediately……19 extra games will kill us. Thats why they are re-vamping it in 2 years. EVERYONE knows its a poison chalice!
Very interesting article, don’t agree with everything but who does? I’ve certainly got some opinions that I think will be met with great disapproval.
I’m with the minority on Jarvis, he works hard but his crosses are absolute rubbish. I’ve seen an Opta stat stating that Jarvis has created the most goal scoring chances without assisting any goals, but when you look at his balls in, the QPR game as a prime example, they are more hopeful than a Collins long ball! Just a chip which constantly ends in the the Goalkeeper’s hands because it is easy to claim and difficult to attack. You just have to look at Joe Cole’s second debut with his only real opportunities to whip the ball in, assisting with both, he played a cross in with power which made it so much easier for Ginge to nod in and for the keeper to claim. Andy Carroll has scored what, 3 headers? 2 from corners and 1 from a JOB cross away at Spuds and 0 from a Jarvis cross.
I’d say it’s no surprise that Vaz Te has the joint highest number of assists, he looks to play low balls across the box with pace, even though at times he tries to do too much (like him and Nolan against Wigan) it is so much easier to get a decent contact on a low ball like that than a Jarvis floater.
On the subject of Vaz Te, I’d like to see him in Nolan’s role, although this is only really based on the Stoke game so maybe it wouldn’t work and we all know it is unlikely Sam will drop Nolan. I’d also say that this isn’t an option because we have so few recognised wingers this season only really Jarvis and Vaz Te, but then if I were in charge I’d give Demel a go on the wing as he is so attacking when playing at full back and his link up is generally good. One thing I can’t stand is the call for a J.Cole/Benayoun type player on the wing, because despite being technically better than Vaz Te or Jarvis they do not stick to their position and as useful as that would be in Nolan’s role, it is dangerous on the wing as they are never in the right place to receive the ball or defend, which Vaz Te actually does! Also I believe it was no coincidence that Nolan stopped scoring while Vaz Te was injured followed by a lengthy period out of form, as all of his supply was from Jarvis because we had no other wingers and he was relied upon heavily during that period and his floated crosses yielded no results and all of Nolan’s goals this season have been sublime finishes or acrobatic volleys of some kind, none of which Jarvis is willing/ordered to supply and players like Nolan and Vaz Te get all of the abuse from fans when they are given the ball less than Jarvis yet have far more goals/assists per minute than he does.
One thing that intrigues me is that Collins and Carroll aside, any player that has had a significant injury lay off has returned in far worse form than in the early stages of the season. In my opinion Diame, Vaz Te and Nolan are only just returning to some of their good form from August/September and Noble and J.Cole are still some way off their previous levels after their injuries. Maybe this means that the pre-season work is really intense or the work during the season is not hard enough, maybe even both.
I think Big Sam deserves a lot of credit for this season. He has achieved what was wanted from him. If we finish top ten then it has been a fantastic season for us. I agree that the football has not been scintillating, but it has been effective at home. Next season I think Sam needs to adapt the way we play, still keep the resolute nature of his usual tactics, but inject some creativity into the strike force.
As for players, I agree with your opinions on Jussi. His second half of the season has been very good, however I still feel nervous with him between the posts. He deserves a chance next season but we also need someone to challenge him strongly. Possible options could be: McCarthy (Reading), Al-Habsi (Wigan) or as unlikely as it sounds, Julio Cesar (QPR). I honestly think the Cesar transfer could have legs if he wants to stay in London.
Vaz Te is a very good squad player but I don’t think he has the quality to help take West Ham forward. Jarvis has improved as the season goes on, however I have my reservations. The prospect of the Olympic Stadium will help us attract some very promising young players on long-term contracts. Possible options: Redmond (Birmingham), Ince (Blackpool), these two would be my top choices.
But we also need more experience to consolidate the side. I would really like to sign someone like Jordi Gomez (Wigan), he has always looked assured and creative when I watch him play.
As for the Carroll saga that will obviously happen this summer, £17m is too much. If we can negotiate a deal for much lower then I am all for it. However, the wages and transfer fee needed for Carroll would be sufficient for someone like Wilfried Bony (Vitesse). I am undecided who would be best.
I agree with most of the comments made and the most of the article wrote, I for one think we need to strengthen these areas GK LB RB RW and a CF and play 4-4-2, GK for what I have seen of Henderson I don’t think he is the answer to replace jussi and spiegl is too young at the moment ideal replacement would be begovich but think hell be too expensive, LB I like Olsson RB apparently is going to be Rat ????? RW I know im probably going to get abuse but I think tom ince would be a great signing in that position, CF remy or Boney don’t see anyway we would be able to keep carrol