A terrible week at Upton Park was concluded by conceding three goals and having two men sent off in a defeat away at Reading on Saturday. After a home loss to Burnley a week earlier, it was easy to get carried away with poor form and performances, but it could get a lot worse for Hammers fans over the next six weeks.
A much improved Barnsley side visit a nervous Upton Park on Saturday followed by four of the next five games being away from home. Some will say that the East Enders away form has been significantly better than their home form, but that amount of travelling over the congested winter period can have a negative effect on morale.
Two extremely tough visits to the Midlands where Birmingham City and Derby County will host a herd of travelling Hammers fans followed by a Sunday trip to Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup and a familiar visit to Fratton Park for the Irons. A very winnable game at home to Coventry splits the sets of away games but with a relatively small squad and injuries inevitable over the Christmas period, it could be tougher than expected at Upton Park.
The Hammers slide in form has seen the chasing pack make up ground with Cardiff and Middlesbrough just two points adrift and West Ham only eight points clear of seventh place Brighton.
Suspensions for Joey O’Brien and Jack Collison add to injuries for key players Winston Reid, Sam Baldock and Matty Taylor that give Sam Allardyce a real selection headache over the next few weeks. Henri Lansbury has recovered from injury and Gary O’Neil could be back before Christmas after a long term knee injury.
The need for signings in January has already been highlighted but the once overconfident Hammers fans (including myself) may now be brought back down to earth over the next month.
Some very disgruntled supporters made the short journey back to London on Saturday night perhaps fearing the worst, but there is no doubt West Ham have the quality to overcome any side in the division. Yes it is a tough run of fixtures and the squad is nearly down to its bare bones but surely this team is still good enough to beat the likes of Derby, Coventry and Portsmouth?
But it all begins on Saturday at home to Barnsley who will turn up to Upton Park without fear but they do have a leaky defence. It is a chance for Allardyce to learn a thing or two about the likes of Carlton Cole and Kevin Nolan who will need to improve their game if West Ham are still going to be in the automatic promotion places come New Year’s day.
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in a couple of words ‘no’
What are you saying no to?