January was a frustrating time at Upton Park for the fans, board, management and players alike, with stuttering form on the pitch and failure to land our preferred targets in the transfer market off the pitch.
It was well documented that Sam Allardyce was desperate to land some more fire power to assist the out of form Carlton Cole up front for the Hammers as that was really the only area of the pitch that needed major help. Solid at the back and with Mark Noble enjoying the form of his life in midfield assisted by the likes of Julian Faubert and Kevin Nolan, it was clear to everyone where the problems were.
One major link that lasted for the majority of the month was with Rangers striker Nikica Jelavic. The Croatian hitman was available to sign due to the financial state of his club and it was no secret that we were interested. A bid of around £5million was made and quickly rejected as the Scottish club wanted nearer £7million for their prized asset ahead of a tough few months in Glasgow. Stubbornly, David Gold and David Sullivan decided to look elsewhere, deeming the striker not worthy of the asking price and so Sam Allardyce elected to bring in Nicky Maynard, Ricardo Vaz Te and the missing man Ravel Morrison.
Vaz Te has been excellent after arriving on the cheap from Barnsley and mainly playing from the left or the right wing has chipped in with some fantastic displays and crucial goals that will hopefully continue for another three games. I have no doubts at all about Nicky Maynard’s ability. His goalscoring record at both Crewe Alexandra and Bristol City is exactly what we were looking for; however, he just doesn’t suit our formation. The one man up front, call him a target man, is not what Maynard is about. He likes to feed off of others such as Kevin Nolan and Ricardo Vaz Te as he done so well away at Barnsley in possibly his and the clubs best performance of the season.
So, along with Sam Baldock, Maynard is not going to suit our style of play, so was there much point in spending the money on them and then not adapting the tactics? Maynard and Vaz Te up front in a 4-4-2 (similar to the formation that Southampton and Reading play) could be unreal, but obviously is not really an option in Big Sam’s head – which brings me back around to Jelavic.
The now Everton player revels in playing the lone striker role and will run his heart out for 90 minutes, putting the ball in the back of the net regularly in the process. Ten goals in 13 appearances for the Toffees after his £5million + add on’s move in January is a superb return for a player who is becoming one of the signings of the season in the top flight.
With the Hammers so close to agreeing a deal for the Croat, it is easy for me to say in hindsight, but it would have been worth the extra £2million that I feel would have left us with sore heads this week after celebrating promotion on Saturday.
Like I say it is easy for me to sit here and say we should have signed this player or we should have signed him, but the return speaks for itself and I feel that is the main reason behind our nerves heading to Cardiff on Thursday. COYI!!! Follow me on Twitter: @Brad_Pinard for West Ham news and views.
In my opinion he was a non starter and possibly instead of spending time trying to get him in, we should have been more realistic as forking out on Maynard which is a bizarre choice, although I like him and is much better than Baldock he is definitely suited to a 4-4-2 formation, we possibly should have been looking at the likes of Jason Roberts who is quality and would have been a better bet, especially in Sam’s style of play
Roberts is a good call. With either of those guys we’d probably have gone up automatically, especially as Reading wouldn’t have has him but why would jelavic have come to a championship side ahead of Everton? Hope Sam has a few lined up for the summer though.
Irrelevant post (not unusual for this site). Since the end of January we have not had any trouble scoring goals. There was only 1 match where we failed to find the net, and in 13 of 19 matches since then we have scored 2 or more. Although I agree that Jelaviv looks like a decent player, I don’t believe he would have offered any more to our cause than Vaz Te has.