West Ham United is currently sitting second in the Championship, five points off of leaders Southampton and three points ahead of Middlesbrough. With a respectable goal difference of +16 (Southampton is currently at +23), there are still many wondering why West Ham isn’t storming the league like the league leaders. Considering the history, pedigree and talent pool of the club, should the Irons be breakaway league leaders at this point in the season?
While that would be nice, a dose of reality, humility, and optimism is in order. While Southampton’s meteoric rise has confounded some, one must consider several important factors when comparing it with West Ham’s current situation. The fact remains that West Ham is in a period of transition. Losing Upson and more importantly, Parker, has no doubt taken a toll, but the casualty list does not end there. Hitzlesperger and Ba are both quality and would add something to the current squad. The four combined equate to a total reshuffling of the squad and a period of time required for growing cohesion. With an influx of new players, both from within and outside the club, the process of “gelling” will take time.
Big Sam came to the club in a time of need and was met with a lukewarm reception by many in the fan base. He has, in turn, proved himself with a great run of results in the league. While many will cite his tactical approach, one must give credit to his eye for the players he has brought in (i.e. Baldock), and his ability to get his current squad to play together for a positive result. However, this will still take time and a little patience is required.
What is also a crucial point to remember is that the Championship, while not the Premier League, is no walk in the park. It is a far sight better than any other second tier league in Europe. While West Ham certainly has a leg up over many of their counterparts, it was never meant to be easy. Otherwise the entire system of relegation would be meaningless.
With all this in mind, Hammers fans should have some reserved optimism. Sitting second in the league, with two away wins on the trot (with an overall scoreline of 4-1, two goals scored in each), and several key players hitting top form, there is absolutely no reason to think that West Ham is sputtering. If anything, the club will continue to improve under Sam Allardyce and should be a smooth running machine after the holidays. Also, if it’s any comfort, every club in scintillating form is due for a dip. We just have to keep up our form when Southampton hits their rough patch.
IF Southampton’s form hits a rough patch
Southampton are a different class to the rest of this division at the moment.
Why should they hit a rough patch?
Scary thought, perhaps they are in their rough patch and they will improve as the season goes on….!!!!
YOU ARE HAVING A LAUGH……. REALLY?
I CAN SAY THIS WITH 100% CONFIDENCE. Although Southampton have been playing well and getting some good results, i have never seen such a bunch of school boys keep up form like they are. IT WILL END… and if you think otherwise then your in for some disappointment (thats if you support Southampton which I’m guessing you are)
West Ham have a huge number of injuries to key players and when there back and Southampton lose some key players, goodbye number 1 spot.
Here’s a thought though… what if Lambert gets injured. I rest my case!
School boys? Do you actually know anything about the Southampton team? Any idea what their ages are? … thought not.
You must mean they’re just inferior and have got lucky up top now, right?
That argument might have worked for the first 3, 4… even 6 or 7 games. It’s time to give that one up though.
Especially when WH perform the way they do…. hoofball which is drawing dire reviews from every clubs’ supporters you play. It was depressing watching them play saints. One team wanted to play football. The other went for the artillery bombardment.
I get the arrogance. I understand coming from the prem. But you know nothing about the club/team you’re trashing and that just makes you look like a bitter, myopic fool.
Lastly, if Lambert get’s injured, we have Guly, Connolly and Barnard. You probably won’t rate them because you don’t know who they are. But then, you probably think saints have less money to spend than the your porn barons too. I love how little you know about saints and how poor their fast attacking flowing football makes you look.
your the ones blowing bubbles and we all know what happens to them don’t we…………they sail so high then pop..
let me remind you of reading not to many seasons ago.just went on and on and won this league. a lot of people just don’t know how well our club is run now, well not until they step out onto the green carpet and then it’s to late.
good luck to you and me ,couldn’t give a hoot who finishes top as long as we get auto.
To be honest I think every long term Saints fan like myself are a little skeptical and just waiting for that “rough” patch to come along it’s been to good to be true so far!
I would defend the Lambert statement there’s a lot of depth in our squad and a lot of goals and in Lamberts case although he is quality it’s more to do with the service then the player.
West Ham have the best squad in the league which makes other teams up their game maybe, that’s what we didn’t have to deal with for the first 10 games but I have no doubt that you’ll get promoted this season you’ve got the right man in charge and great support. I look forward to a great season ahead and hopefully watching our highlights on MOTD next season!
Well just dont get used to your time at the top, enjoy it… i would. It kind of like the Newcastle situation, but the difference is they know there not going to be there for much longer.
Believe me i understand all the Southampton fans getting a bit excited, Brighton fans had the same a few weeks ago, and now look where they are.
Southampton havnt even had the chance to settle down after promotion last year, and there team is playing so well together they deserve to be where they are.
West Ham have had a team chucked together losing some big names, we even had 10 injuries at one point… and STILL second in the league. I agree we arent playing the best type of football at the moment, but its working and as soon as our team starts clicking (which will happen SOON) i cant exactly see us sitting in 2nd for that much longer.
I stand by my Lambert statement, the second he is injured you will struggle.
Fair play to Southampton though i really didnt expect it… but then again i still cant see straight promotion for them.
GOOD LUCK IN THE PLAY OFFS THOUGH 😉
we are on target for 92 points…ffs….what do we want from Sam ? IT just so happens that Saints are doing well too. We have become the most negative fans going, we’re all acting like spuds fans with all this negativity !
Agree
and we will win the league anyway… but who cares…just want to go back up so we can stop watching the football league show!
And AGREE lol
I’d be very happy to get promoted, in 1st, 2nd, or via the play-offs. If you’d have asked me at the beginning of the season, I’d have settled for a play off place i.e. still a way to go to promotion.
We’re doing much better than I expected, and I guess not many Saints fans did more than hope for this run of success they’ve had. It’s worth remembering, that if we could come close to matching their home form, we’d be top now. That’s the key to this season for us, and positive home support is the key to success at Upton Park. We need to get right behind the team, even when things don’t go so well, as they’re bound not too from time to time.
Even if we are lucky enough to get promoted first time of asking, survival would be a whole different problem, but one thing at a time, eh?
Had this arguement on anoter forum!
We should be happy we are playing badly and winning wait until we gel properly and have a fit squad. I dont care how we go up as long as we do.
I believe currently we are on target for conceding under 40 goals! Norwich went up conceding 70 or more! Be positive!
I was at the Southampton game and thought they played very well, we kept Lambert at bay and could have drawn except for a defensive lapse. Their crowd were right behind them from start to finish. Carew got no help from the ref but was still a constant threat. I’m sure we’ll go up & so will Southampton. Next month is critical for WH with our home results needing to improve if we are not to lose our way in this very difficult league.
Stopped reading after you said we’d miss Upson and Hitz. What rubbish!
Truth is no team will ever run away with a league when they play negative football.
Fair play to Southampton they are winning the league in style, but I dont think it will last
because someone says something positive about the opposition ( Southampton ) you assume they support that team..yeah?
The arrogance of some of our fans is astonishing.
Southampton are not my team, but I wish we could play like them.
Open your eyes, their young manager has put together a side that plays the game on the deck…no hoof stuff played in the sky, like our old fashioned Sam..
We should aspiring to match their level not dismissing them in fit of envy and arrogance
Well said, it has taken two years to build the team we have today and it is much the same players.We only hope our manager is with us for a very long time. To keep changing managers is a waste of time and money. When you played us at Southampton i was disappointed with your tactics, hoof it up to the big man and hope. I wouldn’t like to watch that week in week out. Your quite right when you say we play it on the ground and it gets the crowd right behind them. It is still a very long way to go but i must say i think it will take a major upset to knock the wheels off of our bus.
Good luck to you for the rest of the season for it is still a very very long way to go. there will be ups and downs along the way, but i expect to still be there abouts come next MAY.
In all fairness i think the writer of this articles needs a reality check, out of all the teams i have seen this season at St Marys, West Ham are the 2nd worse. Carew looked dangerous, the only other player that actually tried to do something was Lansbury, unfortunately your hoof ball from the back missed him out for large parts of the game. I cannot stress how poor and dissappointed i was with the rest of your overpaid apparent superstars. The only team i have seen worse than you was Brighton this weekend. Maybe you should have a long look and think how lucky we are to be in 2nd. I have heard it mentioned by other fans as well, it isnt just southampton fans.
First off, well done to the Saints for their football, the goals they can’t stop scoring and a great positive home support. We on the other hand havent played that well yet and are riding our luck (viz the 2 goals at Coventry)- away we are functional and highly successful and I bet every one going to those games is enjoying it a lot more than all those years of shameful showings at Anfield, Bolton etc – and personally I’m delighted we lost Upson, the worst captain I’ve seen whilst Ba and Hitz are only there for the money and had no feel for our club at all – anyone would miss Parker and I hope he gets to keep his England shirt and even gets Spurs back in the Champions League.
Our bigger problem is at home where expectations are too high – a win seems to be a default setting and it has to be Barca style to please some. Well its not that easy – every team that comes, its their big away game of the year, at the neo-Premier League side and they are up for it – That and the run of injuries to Lansbury and Taylor in partic have derailed us a bit but hold on, we are still second, we havent started playing well yet and all of a sudden we have got back Noble and Faubert as seriously good players, Baldock is a find and lets hope Carlton Cole can actually stay fit and we really can do this – also Tomkins and Green have been brilliant, Faye is the rael centre we have needed for years,Collison is i trust getting back to his best – it’s looking good and to be honest i really did fear this season and that we would struggle as have many relegated sides – let’s be proud, we are at last getting written about only for football and much credit to Sam,G+S for righting the ship – now we just need Nolan to turn up.
The difference is that Southampton have come up with momentum and a settled team and have carried on where they left off. West Ham have a new manager, a new team the memories of a dreadful season behind them.
Given all of that most West Ham fans are pretty happy to be where we are and there feels like there is more to come from this team. Having said that, I’m not sure any Allardyce team is ever going to be cutting a swathe through the league- it’s not in his nature.
The key for Southampton will be the Christmas/New Year period – lots of games close together and a likely strain on the squad’s resources, which is where West Ham are strong. If Southampton are still top in mid January no one will catch them.
Disagree Devo, our squad is paper thin in some areas particularly defense and Sam doesn’t seem to have had much luck securing any reinforcements lately. We have quality but no depth. Bentley won’t be back this season and Lansbury probably not until the new year so we desperately need to avoid injuries to our other key midfielders. Only strikers i rate are Cole, Carew and Baldock. Piq is lazy and was v lucky to score on Saturday. Can’t wait for January and the transfer window as we definitely need some new faces.
I agree with much of what you say, there are certainly areas that could be strengthened but I still think we are better off than most. Even in defence we’ve got Demel to come in, Reid to come back and Diop could play at centre half at a pinch. We have done alright without Lansbury and Taylor who were arguably our best players until they got injured and if Piq ever wakes up we will have four decent strikers.
If you look at midfield, whatever their individual failings, Nolan, Noble, Collison, Taylor, Faubert, Sears, Diop and Lansbury would probably get in most teams at this level and I doubt any other Championship team has eight midfielders of anything like that quality.
It cracks me up when fans from other teams make comments about clubs they know nothing about. We’re over a third of the way through the season now and there are no cracks in Southamptons form as yet. I could understand if we were 5 games into the season but we’re not. we’re 17 gams in, we’re on a 21 game winning streak at home and we’ve scored 40 goals (only 11 of which have come from Lambert by the way). As I’m sure there were no West Ham fans at St Marys on Saturday they will not have seen the way we mercilessly tore Brighton to shreds. It was like watching Premiership versus Blue Square. As for the depth of our squad I’m pretty confident our ‘B team’ would be in the top 6 or 7 at the moment. We have quality cover at every position and with plans to strengthen the squad in January it can only get better. Don’t get me wrong, I think West Ham will win the Championship this year but for the first time this season, I walked out of St Marys on Saturday confident that we can take second place.
Hammers were poor first half at Southampton but pushed 2nd half.The team that played the better football won – Fact.
However West Ham will be in prem next year with or without Saints. But if you think it hinges on Lambert staying fit then No. Theres goals coming from all over the park. Also our owner makes most others look potless, so bring on january!
Champs/runner up i dont care.