So after our morale and confidence boosting destruction of those pesky Seasiders; West Ham now find themselves running the Championship’s gauntlet. Our next three fixtures being Southampton (A) Leicester (H) and Brighton (A)
You can look at these fixtures in one of two ways…either you can curse the fixture computer for throwing together such a conglomeration just when we’ve scaled the league’s dizzying heights to an automatic promotion spot. Or you could look upon it as a glorious opportunity to dent all of our promotion rivals in one fell swoop, sort of like at the end of the Godfather where Michael Corleone wipes out all the other Mafia families and assumes control of New York’s criminal underworld.
We have the biggest and best squad in the division and hopefully now it will give us the edge over our rivals. When we play Southampton on Tuesday night we can afford to call upon the likes of Cole, Lansbury, Noble and Sears none of whom started the massacre of Blackpool. Admittedly I don’t have an extensive knowledge of our rival’s squads as when you’re in the Premier League you’re not particularly interested in what’s going on at St Mary’s but I can’t imagine having just been promoted from League One that Southampton will have the luxury of being able to make wholesale changes without severely weakening their side, the same goes for Brighton as well.
Leicester are a bit of a different animal though, they do have a squad with depth and quality and they should be doing a lot better than their current mid-table squalor.
These upcoming games should be seen as a great opportunity for West Ham to prove that of all the teams in this seasons promotion rat race we’re the ones who are best equipped to come out on top, this run of fixtures should excite and invigorate all involved, we now possess a truly wonderful opportunity to take on all comers like a prize fighter in his prime.
The strength and depth of the squad that Big Sam has put together should now pay dividends; the supporting cast i.e. Sears, Demel, Montenegro, and maybe even Freddie Piquionne (remember him?) will now get their chance to audition for a bigger part in Fat Sam’s gang. Competition for places and being able to replace quality with quality is an advantage we have over every other club in this season’s Championship…now’s the time for it to pay.
KB, I agree you (WHU) have probably got the squad with the greatest depth and quality in this division, but your not in the Premiership anymore and don’t be so patronising about The Saints or Seagulls (or anyone else – pride they say comes before a fall!). I expect both will give WHU good games especially on their own patches.
You may over take The Saints eventually but not this week 🙂
At no point to do I patronize Southampton or Brighton, I respect all clubs in this league, I’m just stating a fact that whilst we were in the Prem, I wasn’t interested in what was going on in League One. That’s not patronizing, that’s a fact.