I must confess that I was disappointed by aspects of West Ham’s 2-1 cup exit at Leicester City. I could not go to the cup tie yesterday evening, but I saw the highlights on SSN. It was crystal clear that our defending was just not up to standard on the evening. The first goal came from a stray/deflected pass from one of our players (I think it was Obiang) in the penalty box. That is sloppy, a real no-no at this level. As for the second, King got between Reid and Cresswell and beat both of them to the cross in to the far post. Again, it really should not have happened. On another night, the Noble and/or Moses penalty appeals would have gone our way, but we should not have to depend on those type of decisions. Zarate scored another good goal and we had one or two chances to win the tie in normal time. Unfortunately we could not find the decisive goal. In extra time we were caught out a mere three minutes before the tie went to penalties. That was tough on the team, particularly Adrian who was truly outstanding once again. Bilic picked a strong team, with only three changes from the Man City match. It certainly gave the likes of Jenkinson, Collins, Zarate and Carroll (who started and played an hour) some much needed match time. But, we did not play to the best of our capability, that conclusion is inescapable. All-in-all a disappointing cup performance and result.
However, having said that, as long as the players learn from the experience, all is not lost. In particular, they must assimilate the lesson that consistency is a key characteristic of a top side and that we must defend to the same high standard, regardless of the opposition. The management and the players will be disappointed with themselves at the loss of a really viable opportunity to end that 35 year absence of silverware at the club. I do not believe too much in hoodoos, but the club have had some really horrible bad fortune in this competition and it almost feels as if we are not destined to win it. Yet, my rational mind rejects that and realises that it is worldly factors that have ultimately determined our historical short-falls in this cup. Oh well, perhaps next year!!
I certainly hope that we mount a proper challenge for the FA this winter. But all in good time, there is plenty of football to be played in the PL, before the New Year, and that is our No.1 priority. Our next match is at Upton Park, on Saturday, Vs Norwich City and that is a potentially tricky one. Norwich City are not a bad side on their day and we need to make sure that no more ‘banana skins’ present themselves! Bilic must use Tuesday’s defeat as a way of raising the morale of the players and getting them highly motivated to take the three points. Certainly, there is a need to ensure there are no cup ‘hangovers’ and the team go out at Upton Park firing on all cylinders. It is a match, all things being equal, that we should win and failure to do so will inevitably result in commentators pointing to an alleged inconsistency. You could see the start of it in the Leicester City post-match reports, with the juxtaposition between us taking the big scalps and then losing to Leicester City. If we lose on Saturday then that line will be pushed even further by the sports media. We do not need that label. The players should do themselves, and the club, a huge favour and lay it to rest with a good home win.
The much publicised comments of Richard Keys, on TalkSport, were interesting. He seemed to suggest that West Ham’s early season successes are down to our July start in the Europa League and that we might ‘run out of steam’ before the end of the season. It is a point of view, but it ignores the fact that our youth prospects were very well represented in those games, some of the senior players involved (i.e. Amalfitano, Collins and Zarate) have not played that much since (for different reasons) and a number of our new recruits either did not play in the Europa qualifiers or arrived after our exit. When you take all of those factors in to account, it is a different picture to the one presented by Keys! Indeed, if anything, some first team squad members like Carroll, Jenkinson, Collins and Zarate probably need to up their game time/match fitness (as maybe illustrated in extra-time against Leicester City); whilst others like Antonio and Jelavic (who were both cup-tied) are fully fit and ‘chomping at the bit’ to start. The management will have detailed advice from their fitness/medical staff and know the physical preparedness of each player. The beauty of having a bigger squad is the opportunity it affords to ‘rotate’ the squad. Indeed, rotation is going to be an important factor in ensuring that a tiredness/staleness type scenario’ does not arise and the Manager deploys his resources to get the optimum performances and results out of the squad.
it is so refreshing to have a squad with greater depth and heightened competition for places. Indeed, competition for places/performance in training must be a factor. It will be very interesting to see if Bilic rests one or two players on Saturday and lets other players off the leash? For instance, Sakho seems the most likely choice, but could he start with Jelavic on Saturday? Or might Zarate start in recognition of his promising goal scoring form this season? Also, which of Moses or Antonio will start out wide? If Ogbonna is fit, it will also be interesting to see if it is he or Tomkins who partners Reid at centre-back? Do we need to protect some of our best performers like Sakho and Payet by rotating them every so often, certainly against so-called weaker opponents? That would effectively protect key players from potential injury problems and keep them fresh/hungry to start across the whole of the season. Most of us were brought up to believe that you always play your strongest line up. But things are far more complex than that these days, with the squad system allied to the different tactical systems deployed by coaches. Personally, I like the squad system and firmly believe in competition for places driving higher levels of individual and team performance. I will, however, be interested to see just how Bilic manages the squad over the remainder of the season.
Anyway, do not be too dis-spirited by the Leicester City defeat. We are on a journey and a steep learning curve. There will inevitably be some downs this season, but hopefully they will be heavily out-numbered by the ups. If I had a choice, I would much prefer the team having an ‘off day’ in the League Cup than in the PL. Regardless, it has happened now and it is all about learning from it, bouncing back and ‘taking it out’ on Norwich City. I am looking for a 3-1 victory and some of the new players (like Antonio and Jelavic) making a good impact/contribution to the result. As for Carroll, I think that it is likely the club will continue to manage his re-introduction to the first team and he will likely appear from the bench in the 2nd half. We shall see? COYI!
SJ. Chandos.