West Ham need a new ‘game plan’

The age-old question surrounding modern football needs to be addressed with West Ham United. The formation away from home isn’t working. Two wins on the road all season just isn’t good enough. As we are all aware, the home form is imperious and this will be key. Fortress Boleyn was the key aim at the start of the season, and the start of the Sam Allardyce reign, the task was an uphill one.

 

 

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It’s really quite strange, last year we couldn’t stop winning away from home, the only two woeful appearances on the road were at Ipswich Town and Derby County. The less said the better.

 

 

At home last year it was less than promising. Doncaster Rovers, Watford, Burnley, Ipswich Town, Cardiff City, Birmingham City and Leeds United were among the sides that took points away from Upton Park. However the promising aspect from 2012 was that we only lost 4 league games at Upton Park. Despite this the lack of wins was evident in the Championship. This season has been quite the contrast, West Ham United have only lost 3 games out of 11 at home. Losing to Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton. The only kick in the teeth from those games was that we led in all of those games. The shock contrast has come away from home. With another depressing loss, is it time to try two strikers on the road?

 

 

 

Logic would say, if the problem isn’t broke, don’t fix it. The key stipulation with West Ham United is that logic doesn’t apply with us. There needs to be a game plan, which is clearly lacking with just the 5 away goals.

 

 

Mistakes have been costly and are becoming far too frequent, James Collins making two poor errors. There has been shambolic defending against Wigan, Reading and Sunderland.

 

 

Playing one up front at home works, the defensive bank of two groups of four needs to be in place; at home we like to sit back, hold the ball in the defence. Look to play the second ball game. We attack the wings and try and link the full backs with the wingers. This works, the game plan is clear and evident. How can there not be one in place and we can beat or draw against teams such as Chelsea, Manchester City and United. Manchester United couldn’t break us down in the final third; the side was resolute, strong and formidable.

 

 

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Away from Upton Park, the plan needs to change, we need to find a way to take teams on, but also keep our strength. We cannot hope to attack on the break and try and play the opposition at their own game. We have tried that all season and it’s not worked. The fact that we have just 5 goals away from home clearly points to this.

 

 

From my view, having travelled around with West Ham United a few times so far, we need to be able to withstand the opposition pressure and oncoming attacks. We are going to be under pressure on the road. Every team we play away from home means that the opposition will force us back into our own half. At home we would be disappointed if we didn’t take the game to the opposition, so they are going to do this to us.

 

 

Every side in this league knows how important home form will be, and even though our away form is very poor, the home form is very good. The way I see it, you need maybe 15, possibly 18 points each year on the road and at least 25 at home. That is the very minimum, you’d expect from West Ham. At home we have already gained 18 points, half way through the season, and unsurprisingly on the road we have gained 8 points. Obviously this isn’t good enough; we want to have picked up at least 14 points on the road by now. A total that is definitely achievable. This is why two strikers must be the plan away from home; we need to give a lone striker more options away from the Boleyn. The home crowd will be right behind their defenders battling to win every aerial and ground threat. If we use a second striker we can get behind the defense and this will ultimately lead to more goals. I would like to see Andy Carroll have more support in attack. This could be gained by playing Kevin Nolan as a second striker, or by using Marouane Chamakh, Modibo Maiga or Wellington Paulista as the second man.

 

 

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The situation is hard to identify the main problem, the team needs the balance of three in midfield, the wing play, but the attackers need more support. Is there a case to have two wing backs? I’m not sure how to solve this case, but one thing is for certain. More goals are needed as we play on the road.