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A worrying turn of events

Two things struck me when I heard about the Diafra Sakho FA Cup expulsion story. Firstly, it brought back memories of all the legal wrangling surrounding Tevez and Mascherano in 2006 and 2007. Secondly, did it not expose the lack of depth in our squad, namely, an over-reliance on Sakho?

Yes, Sakho only came on towards the end of the game against Bristol City but it was a crucial appearance, scoring the match-winning goal. Before his substitution, the squad did seem remarkably out of sorts and incredibly lacklustre. We were also weak against Liverpool. Sakho has played 14 games, scored 8 and had 2 assists. Valencia has grown, but Sakho is still the man. The fact that we have to rely on Carlton, as much as I love him, when Sakho is away, still leaves me with thoughts of last year, when our strike force was laughable. Of course, we won against Hull without him – but that game was easy compared to the Bristol and Liverpool games – and the matches we have ahead.

It is therefore worrying where this could all go. FIFA have fast-tracked the investigation, so hopefully we will know the result by Wednesday. So Sakho will hopefully play against Manchester United on Sunday. Yet that does not take us away from the fact he is a clear game-changer, and that we would fail without him in the upcoming games if his back injury were to reoccur.

Furthermore, it is ridiculous that this is something West Ham could be at fault for. If we are found guilty, it is embarrassing. How can we field someone we most probably know we should not have? It either highlights our reliance on him or showcases the stupidity of those higher up at the club.

Yet on top of all that, it makes a mockery of the club’s belief that this could be the year for a cup run. All put to waste – potentially – by a basic mistake, even a sneaky mistake. If we are not found guilty, it still raises the question of could we have won without Sakho at Bristol? That leads down a familiar line of questions: Could we have stayed up without Tevez?

No doubt we need a striker better than Cole and one that can score fill in when Sakho is out, hence our attempt to poach Adebayor. It is depressing to see how difficult we found this transfer window, with the Darren Fletcher deal another failed attempt. After the success of the last window, and the better placing of the team, one would have hoped we would have been more active, more decisive. One would hope that if we do want to finish in high position, if we do want to have a good Cup run, we would have strengthened the squad. Once again, as I and many others have written, February and March are difficult months fixture-wise.

Overall, with the window closed, with the investigation either raising questions about our management or our over-reliance on Sakho, and with a long list of difficult games, these are testing times for Big Sam. The glow of being fourth at Christmas has truly gone. In our last five league games, it’s been 3 losses, 1 win and 1 draw. Only a win will do on Sunday.

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