West Ham started the 2011/12 campaign as favourites to bounce straight back up to the Premier League. Instead they find themselves sitting in third position facing the lottery that is the Championship play-offs. So what went wrong in West Ham’s
promotion bid?
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The fans?
Expectation were sky high and an opening day loss to Cardiff set the Hammers off on the wrong foot with their home support. The tension that hounded the players throughout the previous relegation season had returned with abundance. How any footballer can perform in this kind of atmosphere is beyond me, the ball becomes a hot potato with no player wanting to feel the wrath of the home support if they give the ball away.
Lets be honest West Ham fans have their right to voice their disapproval after years of under achievement and pain but I have to put it forward as a factor in our own downfall.
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The Big Sam way?
Sam Allardyce’s tactics have proved effective at most clubs he has served and indeed the Hammers looked on course for an instant return to the Premiership with a very impressive defence record and seemed to be winning the one nil’s that come hand in hand with champions.
Then came the January Transfer window. Big Sam invested in the side bringing in Ricardo Vaz Te & Nicky Maynard to spice up West Ham’s forward line that had only really ticked along without sparking into life.
Instead of producing more goals, the effect on the side was pretty much the opposite. Vaz Te scored a glut of strikes late on in the season but the goals started to dry up for the hammers resulting in 5 straight draws.
When the chips were down the long ball game emerged, it can be effective but when it doesn’t work it really doesn’t work. Hammers fans then directed their frustrations at the tactics and their larger than life manager.
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The unstoppable Reading?
The amazing form of the soon to be champions of this division has to be a factor. They only dropped 14 points since the turn of the year compared to the Hammers 27 points dropped.
Allardyce will feel slightly aggrieved that if West Ham win the next two games they will have eclipsed the total amount of points Norwich achieved to clinch promotion only last season. Any other year and I believe that the Hammers would have been automatically promoted but Reading were far too clinical this term to slip up.
In summary, I am unable to pinpoint one factor that has led to the disappointment of missing out on automatic promotion but a powerful cocktail of tactics, tension and an unstoppable bandwagon that just would not stop rolling.
Disagree? Let me know @Dearemonster on twitter.
We are in the play offs. That is a result as far as I am concerned. Reading & Southampton have played with far more conviction that West Ham during the entire season and good luck to both of them. They have both had a settled team that plays to it’s strengths. The biggest problem West Ham have is the home fans. I have no doubt that they have caused the problem at home.
Premiership next year? Probably not – due to the home game involved.
You make some good points, but right now’s not the time for negativity. It’s been pretty clear that we’d finish 3rd for a while, and we’re going to need momentum and confidence if we’re to come out as play off winners. We can do it, and we can stuff it up. The players need to play with confidence and they can do without hearing frustration and criticism from the home support.
Away support has been much more loyal, patient and postive. We need to replicate that at Upton Park for the home tie. I’m sure we will. COYI!!
i am a Big Sam fan, i think in his first season he has done wonders, especially when you look at how we were last season and what he has had to contend with, unhappy home fans(fair enough) new team, new league, first time as a manager for us and all that talk of the “WEST HAM WAY”. we are in the playoffs only and only because of the 11 game unbeaten run with 8 draws. now factor in if and it is a big if we had Won just 4 of those 8 draws that would have given us 8 more points and would have put us top on GD, now we appear to have our home form pretty sorted much sorted out even if we stay in this league for another season and to be honest part of me hopes we do so we can get the team together as a proper unit as they are now starting to do, then we will be much better prpared for the premier league.
My honest opinion is we will go up via the playoffs.