Stuart Pearce claimed West Ham should be aiming to finish in the top half of the Premer League and targetting a good cup run in order to have a successful season.
The former Hammers defender shared that finishing between seventh and tenth would mark a successful season for Manuel Pellegrini’s side as long as it went with a good cup run.
Pearce revealed that he thought West Ham fans would happily take finishing outside the top-six, avoiding the relegation battle, if the club went on a long way in either the League Cup or FA Cup.
“I think somewhere between seventh and tenth would be doing quite well and a good cup run,” said Pearce on talkSPORT (07:23 am, Thursday, July 18th).
“West Ham fans now, if you said to them you’re gonna finish somewhere between seventh and tenth, be nowhere near the relegation situation and have a really good cup run, I think they’ll take that.”
OPINION
While top-six is an ambitious aim for West Ham, why shouldn’t they dream big? The Hammers finished 10th, 14 points behind sixth-placed Manchester United in their latest season, and could easily be a dark-horse when it comes to finishing sixth in the Premier League. Pearce seems all but ready to throw in the towel in the race for sixth and just settle for a top-half finish. Granted the former Hammer is right to suggest a cup run would make finishing outside the top-six very understandable, but can’t fans have their cake and eat it too? At least until their dreams become mathematically impossible. The Hammers crashed out of both domestic cups dramatically earlier than expected in their 18/19 campaign as they were eliminated in the fourth round of the League Cup by Tottenham and AFC Wimbledon beat them 4-2 to send them packing in the fourth round of the FA Cup. However, while silverware is nice, surely there are some West Ham fans who’d rather finish sixth and see their side competing in Europe in the near future.
