All the hope of a top eight finish and pushing for Europe in the summer has vanished after the Hammers players and fans alike were hit with the cruel reality blow of yet another relegation battle.
22 games into the Premier League season and the Irons have only picked up a sorry eighteen points from a possible 66. Worrying times indeed if you’re a follower of West Ham United. With just nine days of the transfer window remaining the East end club are going to have to move fast to secure players to bring much needed depth to the squad.
But just who is to blame for this current predicament?
Of course the buck stops at Sam Allardyce and his coaching staff at first, he is the man to prepare his side every week. He is the man who is supposed to build the players confidence and keep the morale in the camp high. Although we have seen glimpses of the never say die West Ham attitude, it is so rare this season that the fans are becoming more and more frustrated at Sam and his men, with “F off Sam Allardyce” ringing around the Etihad and Upton Park in recent weeks.
But in truth his major error came before the season even started, yes he brought in Andy Carroll, fantastic. But even us fans could see the blindingly obvious, we needed a second striker, anyone. Link after link came but nothing come to fruition which meant an unfit Carlton Cole was embarrassingly welcomed back home.
Now, 21 days into the winter window the Hammers only have Roger Johnson to their transfer recruits, with striker after striker rejecting the east end club (I wonder why).
I think it is high time the West Ham faithful accepted that Allardyce will not be leaving West Ham mid-season, Allardyce will have to fire up his troops otherwise we could be in for a very depressing end to the season, you only have to look at our last few fixtures to know how bigger trouble we are in at the minute.
David Sullivan and David Gold are next on my hit list, I remember after the Avram Grant season when they announced they would never make the same mistake twice. Grant took West Ham to the Championship as his side performed without guts for most of the season baring one man of course, Scott Parker.
Now, 22 games into this season and it is a similar tale, the Hammers are gutless losing out to the second ball time after time; bottling tackles it is embarrassing at times. But Gold and Sullivan are reluctant to change; we have seen that during their time at Birmingham seldom often do they sack their managers.
Now I am not saying we shouldn’t sack Sam Allardyce, in my mind he should have gone before the window opened to give a new man the chance to bring in his own players but there is no point in sacking Sam now. Now Allardyce just has to maintain his record of never being relegated and prove he is the right man for the job.
Another criticism of Gold and Sullivan is the way they conduct their business in the transfer market, and yes I am aware they have smashed our transfer record fees in the last two windows. But time after time, they waste time with derisory offers for players well out of our league. Who remembers being linked with Ronaldinho and Neymar in previous windows? You can’t fault their ambition but at times they just need to be realistic.
The most frustrating thing for us Hammers is that we know, just when we need experience and class in this window we will end up with some South American we have never heard off (Wellington Paulista springs to mind).
I believe they have been so caught up with the Olympic Stadium they had lost sight with what is truly important, the performances on the pitch and the players on the pitch. Sullivan has already come out and said that should the Hammers go down there would be Armageddon at West Ham, a word that will send shivers down the spine of every West Ham fan. Yes, I appreciate G&S saving us but now is the time to really show that you mean business, bring in fighters and a finisher and the Hammers will be fine.
Now we move on to the overpaid prima donnas on the pitch, with one or two exceptions. As a team West Ham are known to be fighters, we never have had the most gifted of teams in recent times but at least they played for the shirt and put a shift in.
Under Allardyce this season I think I can count on one hand the amount of game where I could say “yeah they worked their nuts off today”. That for a West Ham side is unacceptable.
Our ‘captain’ Kevin Nolan is a leading example of the poor attitude in the camp at the minute, for a captain to receive a red card TWICE in a little under a month for off the ball incidents is disgusting and it quite frankly sums up the mood at West Ham at the moment.
The players are so bereft of confidence that as soon as they go a goal down their heads drop and you can just see what is going to happen. Norwich City away is the best example of this, after completely outplaying Norwich in the first half, the Hammers came out in the second half and looked okay, until a howler from Jussi Jaaskelainen gave Norwich a way back into the game, after that the Irons just capitulated and looked like a pub team, and we all know what happened the Canaries went on to win 3-1. It is effort like that that makes your blood boil as a supporter.
We, as fans, do not expect to win every week, but we do expect effort and heart from our players, and that is why I was so proud after Cardiff City away, every player on that pitch put a shift in and it was so refreshing to see. If they could summon that heart every week this side would not be in the position they find themselves in now. It is just so frustrating. This side needs confidence and fast.
Finally, are we to blame?
This season at Upton Park the atmosphere at times has been abysmal, well quite frankly it has the whole time I have been a season ticket holder (four years). Unless we are winning, the atmosphere is deathly silent but for one or two choruses of Bubbles, where has that famous Upton Park atmosphere gone?
We need to get behind this team, they need us more than ever and being out sung every week at home isn’t helping anyone.
Away from home we cannot be faulted, we are fantastic, one of the best in the league, if we could bring just half of that atmosphere to home games, we could at least attempt to create a half decent atmosphere at Upton Park, let’s make the Boleyn a fortress again.
One thing that really annoyed me on Saturday was after the second goal from Loic Remy went in the way the fans turned, yes I accept we’ve paid a lot of money to watch this “side” play and they are on a lot more money in a month than most of us earn in a lifetime. But booing during a game is cringe worthy and you could see by the players attitude on the pitch the negative affect it was having on the team, their heads dropped and no player wanted to grab the bull by its horns and go with the ball, instead it was hoof ball time. Even after Cole scored his goal the players were still subject to a chorus of boos as they entered the tunnel for half time. I was disgusted.
It is time to get behind the team and believe again.
Make the Boleyn a fortress again and our fortunes will change.
Come on you Irons!
Tweet me @Bowdenwhu
Great article..Totally agree with your sentiments re the booing. We need to acknowledge the terrible injury problems and the disruption this has had and stay positive….even with the prospect of Chelsea coming up!
I’m actually a big fan of Nolan but of course two sending offs have been devastating. Didn’t think he deserved a red at Fulham but he was obviously too wound up and it was an accident waiting to happen and reflects the way our luck has been running. Still feel his goals and partnership with AC will help turn it around for us. COYI !
Have to agree with most of your comments .- but the manager has to start doing the obvious things . Look at Matt Taylor – in the last 2 games his effort cannot be faulted – but how on earth did Sam put him at Right back – especially against Newcastle .I know he was without 3 full backs – but why not pick Diarra as an emergency Right Back – he’s taller and right footed. That might have stopped the first two Newcastle goals.Also the constant playing of right footed Jarvis on the left and Downing on the right – we saw last night when Downing came on in the second half on the left the improvement in his crosses ( shame no Carroll that half ). Lastly with all our injuries – against the better teams and for all away games the playing of Diarra and Noble in centre midfield to give more protection to the defence – leaving Morrison to play as a second half sub for Nolan of one of the wingers
I thought that Leo Chambers is a right back. He’s been on the bench for the last two games at least. Why do we have to go for giants in the forward line? The smallest bloke on the field ran rings round our defence last night. Man City have superior players but they also have fitness, speed, ambition, skill & desire to win every ball.
Anyone who is thinking of joining West Ham only have to see a video of Rat giving the ball away time after time (as well as his complete unawareness of what was happening when City scored their first), Carlton Cole fumbling around trying to control the ball as well as almost fouling Mo Diame as he was about to have a poke at goal & a left winger playing at right back then they might think to themselves, hmmm, no thanks.
I think in the summer when Sam said he was happy with the squad, and we only needed one or two in, was a massive mistake. All the teams around us strengthened considerably not concerned about financial fair play rules. We have a squad not balanced by age and positional cover. All or most of us supporters could see it, but not £4MILL SAM OR THE BOARD. Why can the likes of Hull, no disrespect to them attract Livermore Huddlestone Shane Long and Nikicia Jelevic. Sorry but Roland AND Roger Johnson on free’s and re-signing Carlton who is still not the answer is good business . The club has lost the Fans and no wonder, put it right if you love the club or sell to someone who does.
A plan is designed to give you the best chance of success – it doesn’t guarantee success. Sometimes the most poorly designed plan will be successful. Every plan has risks in it. You do the best you can to moderate risk occurrence and mitigate risk outcome if the risk occurs.
At season start, West Ham’s weakness was on the forward line as we all could see. This depended on midfield and defence holding out for 1/2 season until reinforcements arrived. Carroll’s injury & re-injury turned out to be longer than expected. I thought the team played reasonably well up to November, apart from the odd game, but the strain told on the midfield and defence with more injuries than the plan (and team) could take. Then the deadly lack of confidence started to set in.
I do not think things have gone according to plan. Some and more risks (injuries) occurred than were reasonably planned for. I was disappointed that younger players were not tried – Spence, McCallum, and Lee, in particular – but pleased with signings Roland, Carlton, and Downing. Noble has been outstanding, and should remain as captain.
Thanks for the nadir of Manchester City and Sunderland, the only place to go was up – as demonstrated at Cardiff. Then we played Toon. Hmmm: shouldn’t Plan B come above Voodoo Curse?
Having all of our eggs in one basket is not good. Sam &/or the club should have met with Lacina Taore’s agent before he could have blocked the deal. Sam likes a big striker. There was no harm or danger to Traore’s reputation in signing for a loan until the end of the season.
Having just the one striker per game is too much responsibility for just one man.
West Ham defenders need to mark their men no matter where they go, or if they get pulled too far out of position then have it arranged as to who will take over &/or shout at another team mate to take over marking so & so. Any good Spanish possession team are continually shouting at each other the whole match.
Blocking attackers is easy, just stand your ground & focus on them & who they may or may not pass to.
It is Sam’s non possession game that has caused muscle fatigue, as lack of pace was no problem earlier in the season.
The new owners should never have sacked Zola in 2010. Zola was a Chelsea great of the possession game class. He would have eventually signed more players who could have lifted West Ham. My favourite club outside of West Ham is Barcelona because they are the Kings of possession. Possession, possession, possession. I just love the short passing possession game. I love the way the Spanish play. It is really hard having to watch Sam’s tactics of instructing players to just hoof the ball up front or to the wings, with these long kicks being dealt with every time by opposing defenders. So Neanderthal. We may be lucky & get just 1 goal from 1 of these lottery balls, but with a defense that is leaking like a sieve, that’s not enough, no, get someone like Zola or a Spaniard in as manager. Fancy missing out on Pepe Mel, West Ham could’ve signed him. It’s so bad under Sam that I’ve just about tuned out of what they are doing now. I have a life to lead & I don’t need Sam’s sh*te football.
Ravel has had enough of Sam. He wants out & we may lose this bright talent to Fulham. How many more of the dressing room has Sam lost? Is it worth losing our best players because Sam won’t walk?
West Ham’s defenders should make the tackles and stop attacks dead in their tracks. Letting them in too close only encourages them to do more of the same.
I’m surprised Sam even used as many full squad members as he did for a non event tie that was dead in the water. I mean we possibly have 2 valuable team members who have picked up injuries because of them having to play in a dead tie. The tie was dead & buried , the horse had already bolted, only 40% turned up to attend your attempted save of face Sam.
I previously had thoughts of maybe some League Cup glory, but under this manager? Forget about anything like that!