FIVE things we learnt in 2012

The calendar year is almost finished and it has been a very good year for West Ham United, with us getting promoted from the Championship to the Premiership through the Play-Offs and holding a good spot in the Premier League once we got there. I feel that it has been a year in which we have learned a lot about our beloved club, but what exactly have we learned?

 

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1)   Sam Allardyce – The West Ham boss has a proven record over the years with teams like Bolton Wanderers and Newcastle United but as a West Ham supporter I had only thought of a long ball style and boring football when I heard the name Sam Allardyce; however since he joined the Irons and especially in 2012 I realised that his teams can actually play with a lot of flair and boast an attractive style of football. Since Sam has come in we have had an improved defence and have been a lot better away from home and I think that this could be down to the way that he prepares his team and the solidity which he instils throughout the team.

 

2)  Winston Reid- Before 2012 when I was asked about the stand out performers Winston Reid would definitely not be at the forefront of my mind however this year has seen him come out as a solid defender and one of the best players in our team. Winston has been a true fighter for West Ham in the centre of the defence and in both the Championship and Premiership has been the very definition of controlling and calm for the Irons. Along with his defensive qualities he has put his name in West Ham folklore with an explosive volley at Upton Park to secure a 2-1 win against our arch rivals Millwall.

 

 

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3)  Hold On To Players- Every club needs to be able to keep their players to excel but I wasn’t aware of how important it is to keep our best players before our transition from the Championship to the Premiership. After we had got promoted we had Arsenal after Mark Noble, Tottenham Hotspur after James Tomkins and a number of other clubs after our players, yet we still managed to hold onto pretty much all of them and I feel that the players we have kept hold of have been vital to our Premier League successes. Players like Noble, Nolan, and Reid have played instrumental roles in the way that we play with Tomkins doing a solid job in a number of different positions and without these players I think that we would be a lot worse off than we are at the moment.

 

4)  Strength In Numbers- This is more specifically in recent times and towards the end of 2012 when we have suffered from injuries to key players like Ricardo Vaz Te and Andy Carroll and it has been very evident that we have been put down to our bare bones with only six substitutes named against West Brom and often a long list of youth players being put on our bench. Yes it is good that young players are getting experienced but being a newly promoted team we need to have players with Premiership experience who we can bring on during a game while we are re-establishing ourselves as a Premier League side.

 

5)  Goal scorers Are Needed- West Ham have had a very good year defensively and have played some very good football but there have been a number of times where we have lacked a real goal scorer and throughout 2012 we have been shown that no matter how good a team is they will need a goal scorer to truly fulfil their potential. There have been times when we have completely dominated teams like Bristol City and only come away with a draw and with us now being in the Premier League and having our top scoring strikers on a tally of 2 it is not good enough, we do have Nolan who is currently on 5 goals but we need a striker who will be able to score on a regular basis in order to reach the heights that we are capable of.

 

 

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