In the 121st minute, I had concluded two things: that this had been one of the most thrilling matches I had seen at the Boleyn in twenty years of attending E13, and that if it went to penalties, we’d lose. That last point may seem negative, but I had images of a failed Arsenal FA Cup shootout and the infamous end to Cardiff in 2006. I also vaguely remember seeing a table of successes at penalty shootouts and seeing Liverpool up top and us down bottom. It was the ideal Mark Lawrenson table.
Yet football – and the beloved Boleyn – does not allow you to conclude matters before the final whistle is blown, and West Ham does not allow scripts to be written or stats to be confirmed until their eleven man have had the last word.
If there is one thing to be said about our side, it is that many commentators underrate or fail to mention many of those who make up our eleven men. Dimitri Payet is the centre of attention on the back pages and his hefty salary demands and our adoring chants have clearly gone to all of our heads. I would never question Payet’s ability, but it is evident that things have just not gone right for him in the last few games. The Liverpool game showed that even though his thinking is right and he knows the right pass, it does not always come off. Of course, the reason why you spend £10 million and allow a reported £125,000 a week salary is that he is a game changer and forget about the previous 120 minutes, his ball into the box in the 121st is all that matters now.
But it is the unsong heroes of our team: Kouyate, who even wanted to come on after his head injury, Ogbonna and Obiang, two players who constantly commit, and even Valencia and Antonio, who have stepped up without Sakho and Lanzini to be powerful dribblers and a threatening force.
Essentially, I am not sure what to make of Payet’s contract negotiations and talk of possible moves away. All that I think is: you’re an adored player in East London, but if we look to the changing face of football and the current debate about ticket prices, it depresses me that players demand so much. Because that demand puts pressure on clubs, and clubs in turn use it as – unreasonable in my opinion – justification for increasing ticket prices. We all know that ticket price revenue is nothing compared to the revenue from TV money, but player demands add pressure, but even more importantly, they further this disconnect between fan and player.
Payet deserves to be better paid than Andy Carroll, but his performance against Liverpool and recent fixtures have not been as impressive as those before. Is it because he’s thinking about his contract? Regardless, if Payet demands more money, he deserves it. But he adds even more expectation and demand from us, the fans, who know what he can do and what he is now being paid. His form has to be as good as it has been, and consistently until the end of the season, to earn his higher pay grade.
Now, onto the next two games, briefly. Firstly, fast forwarding to the Blackburn away game, I worry that we repeat what happened last year: two wins against Everton and Bristol, with one replay, and then a capitulation to West Brom. The expectation is even greater given the euphoria of the Liverpool win and Slaven Bilic’s outspoken desire the win the Cup. Yet remember, last year, Man City, Chelsea and Spurs had been knocked out by this stage and the path to Wembley looked a lot more pleasant. Furthermore, in the fifth round last year Blackburn beat Stoke at home 4-1 while we getting thrashed by Pulis’ men. We need to go into this game with the mentality that assumes we are not favourites given this is a side that in recent years beat Stoke and Swansea last year in the competition and a few years ago beat Arsenal at the Emirates. They will want another Premier League scalp.
And with this weekend’s game, well, we know from the Southampton game that we lack an attacking threat in certain games where we should have the upper hand: even when the Saints went down to ten men we didn’t step it up. 10 men of Villa is obviously a lot harder than the ten men of Southampton. Furthermore, we cannot let games like Norwich away slip us up. I was thinking the other day: how can Southampton be that high up the table? The general vibe is they are doing badly. Well compared to last season, they are, down several points from this stage last year. On the other hand, we are two points better off than we were one year ago. We need to make sure we do not slip like last year and games against Norwich – who I believe will go down – must be won and won comfortably. That should be our goal this Saturday.