FIVE Things We Could Live To Regret This Season

From ill-judged signings to dropped points just what could cost West Ham come the end of April?

1. Matt Taylor’s red card v Southampton: With West Ham in the ascendancy as they took on promotion rivals Southampton at Upton Park, with the scores locked at 0-0, to the relief of 30k West Ham fans the referee pointed to the spot to give the Irons a chance to grab a deserved lead their dominance deserved. When Matthew Taylor needlessly got involved in a scrap with Southampton’s Billy Sharp who was adjudged to have taken out Noble for the award of the penalty, to his displeasure as he charged after Noble. Taylor stepped in and shoved Sharp over and the referee immediately went to his pocket to send Taylor off. The Hammers dominance was immediately taken away and it allowed Saints onto the front foot. Southampton grabbed a deserved equaliser as a tired looking West Ham side struggled to deal with the onslaught of pressure. Who know what would have happened had Taylor stayed on the pitch, I am sure the Hammers would have picked up three vital points and would be sitting top of the league right now such was the control the Irons had with 10 men.

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2. Not signing a backup goalkeeper: Robert Green, West Hams number one, but let’s face it there isn’t much competition for him, every time he comes out of his box there is panic and the dreaded moment happened. He mistimed his lunge on Roman Bedner and without a substitute midfielder Henri Lansbury was forced to enter the fray between the sticks. Mercifully he kept a clean sheet, but should this happen again who is to say he will produce these heroics again. The Hammers owners refuse to pay the 750k for young prospect Marek Stech meaning we have to hope and pray Green never gets Injured or sees red. The failure to sign a backup keeper is the first ill-judged piece of transfer dealing by the Hammers.

3. Dropping points: Points dropped at home to Burnley, Bristol city, Ipswich, Crystal Palace could all have a bearing on the position the Hammers find themselves come April 30^th. Let alone the 5-1 defeat to Ipswich away from home. Who knows how far top of the league we would be had we won these games as we were expected. The Irons must respect all opposition they face whether there bottom of the league or top, they must play the game at the highest tempo and secure the points. The Bristol city game and Ipswich home games were examples of when they played at a slow tempo, had the Irons flew out of the blocks and played the football they played against Portsmouth and Leicester, teams where they had to raise their game. The Hammers could well have been 6 points clear at the summit by now.

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4. The signing of Carew: John Carew a signing that would have had been excited had we signed him 5 years prior to when we did, it had a touch of the Benni McCarthy’s about it. Carew when he joined may have burst onto the scene with goals against Blackpool and Crystal Palace, but has since failed to feature. Whether it be an injury or just Big Sam has realised that he is not the force he had hoped. These wages that Big John is on could have been spent on a defender or that back up keeper I was talking about. I hope to be proved wrong and that John bangs on some vital goals between now and May but I remain unconvinced.

5. The failure to sign proper full backs: George McCartney and Joey O’Brien are not the answer to our left and right back problems we have had for years now. Don’t get me wrong I love “Linda” when we played under Pardew with him and Matty Etherington bombing down the left flank. But his lack of football has shown with some of his positioning this season. As he played more regularly this season he has grown but earlier on in the season when he was signed he struggled. Joey is in a similar boat, he has played a severe lack of football in the past few season having suffered from various injuries in his career. A typical West Ham signing if you like. Early season I raved about how he has settled into the team under Big Sam but more recently he has look off the pace and as if the season has caught up on him a bit. I don’t mean to be harsh and I hope he gets back to his early season form and who can forget him assist for the Reid’s goal against Millwall.

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So those are my Top 5 things we could regret, Tweet me @Bowdenwhu