FIVE things we learnt against Burnley

West Ham’s draw away to Burnley equalled the club’s record of five consecutive league statements. After being 2-0 down at half time many West Ham fans must have thought that automatic promotion is no longer a possibility. However after a brave

fight back in the second half, West Ham managed to claim a point and still have a fighting chance to finish second in the league. Here are five things we have learnt from West Ham’s draw against Burnley.

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1. West Ham missed Faye in defence

James Tomkins was moved back to defence after impressing well in the holding midfield position. However, playing him in midfield denied one of the creative players an opportunity in the first team but why did Big Sam replace Tomkins with Faye in defence? He has been arguably West Ham’s best player this season therefore,

his exclusion must have been because of an injury or Big Sam had decided to rest the veteran for their crunch match against Reading next week. Faye’s presence and his no nonsense defending was hugely missed against Burnley especially in the first half when West Ham conceded two sloppy goals.

2. Time to drop Cole

Cole was completely shocking during the first half against Burnley. He was caught offside on a number of occasions and missed two absolute sitters. He has not scored since the start of February which is quite frankly a shocking statistic for a striker

that many believe is a Premier League player. Big Sam noticed how ineffective Cole was during the game and replaced him with Nicky Maynard. Cole has been given numerous chances and he has not impressed lately. Therefore, he must be dropped and Maynard or Sam Baldock must be given a starting role.

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3. Do not write off West Ham yet

West Ham’s second half revival expresses that they are still in a fighting position to clinch automatic promotion. If West Ham had lost to Burnley then automatic promotion would have been an outside chance, especially with Reading and Southampton picking up maximum points. With Reading’s tough fixture list including

a trip to Upton Park and West Ham’s game in hand signifies that automatic promotion is still in West Ham’s hands. However, West Ham must start turning these draws to wins if they want to clinch automatic promotion.

4. Two up front is better than one up front

Big Sam lined up with his usual 4-5-1 formation with one striker up front. Once again West Ham kept playing long hoping Cole could win the aerial challenges against the Burnley defence. After 45 minutes West Ham had conceded two goals and did not look threatening up front. At half time Big Sam changed his formation to 4-4-2 playing two up front after bringing on Maynard and Baldock. This change in tactics proved vital because West Ham started to look more threatening and scored two goals to rescue a point. However, the big question is why didn’t Big Sam start with two strikers from the start? West Ham could quite possibly have won the game if he did.

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5. West Ham have fighting spirit within the team.

Last season when West Ham went down many heads dropped and there was no belief expressed by the players that they showed no fight to get anything from the game. However, after being down 2-0 down to Burnley away from home, West Ham showed fighting spirit to keep their automatic promotion hopes alive. The fight back shown in this game may change West Ham fortunes for the remainder of the season.