Most of us know the old football cliché and retort “On paper we should beat them.” but “football isn’t played on paper it’s played on grass.”
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The question: Is this the best squad West Ham have ever had in the Premier League?
My answer: No, but although inferior the current squad will be more successful than our best Premier League era squad.
My favourite West Ham squad from any era would be the boys of 86. For the Premier League era I would suggest that for the 2002/03 season is when West Ham assembled its finest squad of players.
The 2002/03 squad included a number of seasoned pro’s and exciting youngsters many of whom formed decent international careers – David James, Trevor Sinclair, Joe Cole, Jermaine Defoe, Glen Johnson, Michael Carrick, Steve Lomas, Christian Dailly, Don Hutchinson, John Moncur, Paolo Di Canio, and Frédéric Kanouté.
Player for player the 2002/03 squad compared with today’s squad were more technically gifted, more coveted by top teams and definitely more valuable in terms of transfer fee’s (accounting for inflation).
Would any of the current squad get into a West Ham all time XI? James Tomkins and Andy Carroll perhaps have the potential to do so but any of the current squad has a long way to go before they begin to make anyone’s West Ham All Time XI.
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You rarely see a West Ham All Time Xl without Paolo Di Canio. Unfortunately Joe Cole, Defoe and Carrick desecrated their memory by leaving West Ham for a rival club or under a cloud but it’s still widely acknowledged they were some of the best players to wear the claret & blue shirt in recent times.
The 2002/03 season was the season that the West Ham squad was too good to go down… but shockingly we did. Despite a late end of season resurgence under Sir Trevor Brooking’s temporary charge, it was Glenn Roeder who lead a gifted West Ham squad to relegation.
When you dissect the answers to the original question the importance of a good football manager is underlined. Better managers than Glenn Roeder may have lead the 02/03 squad into Europe. At the very least a half decent manager would not have got relegated with that squad.
The current team might not be as good as the 02/03 squad but this season West Ham are playing with purpose and direction, West Ham can score many different kinds of goals, we are organised and defend well.
Player for player the 2002/03 squad is clearly superior to today’s squad however I do think today’s group of players work more effectively as a team than the 02/03 boys.
To summarise, on paper the 02/03 squad was West Hams best Premier League era squad but football isn’t played on paper, it’s played on grass and I anticipate the current squad will go on to achieve much more than the 02/03 squad.
Thanks for reading, follow me on Twitter @JayHannen
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