How dare I even contemplating to disagree with our skipper, Canning Town’s finest and most famous son (from a West Ham fan’s perspective anyway), Mark Noble. He said after his arguably best performance of the season how he just didn’t want this season to end. How true this is! Not only do we finally have our West Ham back (at least in terms of the football we play these days), we are constantly improving and will start to challenge the big boys now on a more regular basis.
Not necessarily for titles just yet, but certainly for the Europa League and CL places.
If you had told me at the start of the season we’d still be in the race for a Champions League place with only three games left in the season I’d have made that call to the emergency boys with the straightjacket at the ready to come over sharpish and take you away for a lock up in a soft cell. There are so many refreshingly positive things to say about our team this season that it is totally understandable to wish for a neverending season (which would bring the added bonus of getting more games at the Boleyn of course!).
The cameraderie and togetherness displayed by the team on and off the pitch is wonderful to see, watching Payet and Noble interacting with each other at the West Brom game with those proverbial Cheshire Cat grins on their boats really brings a similar facial expression to me whenever I think about it.
It’s easy to forget that with a fully fit squad we do have quality players in our squad that no longer get much of a look in these days, guys like Song, Valencia and Obiang.
Thing is, we are not really missing them. Yet we will need a big and happy squad obviously should we get Europa League or even CL football next season.
Our upwards projections allow us to attract much better players for the summer transfer window and by the looks of it Bilic and our main scout Tony Henry appear to want our main business done early, basically at the very start of the transfer window. Recent rumours seem to indicate that Lyon’s striker Alexandre Lacazette might just warm to the idea of coming to East London next season. Initially it was thought that only a club being able to offer CL football would be good enough for Lacazette.
Then again West Ham negotiators must have left quite an impression with Lacazette’s representatives, selling the West Ham idea to them:
Up and coming club, playing in one of the most attractive cities in the world, new iconic stadium, 50.000 season tickets already sold and of course the prospect of starting games, rather than warming the bench at the likes of Barcelona or Spurs.
Not to forget a certain teammate from the French national side already plying his trade at West Ham. I reckon Payet may well put a few selected enticing words into Lacazette’s ear about what to expect at West Ham if he decided to join the Bilic Boys. Lacazette at West Ham is a truly slavitating thought.
He is young, a fantastic finisher, a great dribbler and passer of the ball (West Ham fans always loved those types) and if we were to sell him on to another club eventually he’d actually have a market value.
If we somehow signed up Ibrahimovic we’d be paying massive wages for a season or two without any prospect of recouping any kind of money at the end of his tenure at the club. Lacazette would add another French element to our team which isn’t a bad thing as the French still play some nice football and I’m sure the likes of Noble and Tomkins will make sure that those guys buy into the English/East London culture thing without secluding themselves away in a French clique at West Ham.
If we do actually manage to pull off the Lacazette signing that is! But what a prospect to even think we are in with a chance in this case!
Talking about prospects young Reece Oxford got another few minutes on the pitch on Saturday. He seems to have dyed his hair claret if I saw this correctly on my internet stream. So he seems to be quite happy at West Ham for the time being. He’s also likely to feature again in the seond leg of the Development Squad’s Cup Final at Hull later this week. But obviously the vultures have already started circling: Man City apparently are interested in signing him up and their new manager Pep Guardiola has a certain reputation of helping young players make that transition from reserve teams into the first team squad.
So there is an obvious danger there. As he is only 17 West Ham haven’t had the chance yet to sign him up to a long-term deal and at this stage we can only speculate if Oxford would actually be willing to sign a long-term deal with us. He’s been mentioned in the same breath with Rio Ferdinand who of course was a world-class defender.
So in reality Reece Oxford will very much have a choice of several top clubs to join soon. The tricky task for Bilic will be to decide how to use Oxford next season.
Will he keep him regularly in and around the first team squad and give him more playing time ?
Which is difficult of course with the Reid-Ogbonna CB partnership looking very comfortable (with Tomkins, Collins and Reece Burke also waiting in the wings). Sending him out to a decent Championship club on loan next season would give him regular starts probably, but it might also frustrate Oxford who probably wants more first team football at West Ham a lot sooner, not the season after next.
As with other decisions pending at the club I put my full trust and confidence in Bilic to handle this situation in the right manner.
Oxford knows he’s likely to have a big future in football anyway, the question is how confident he is that all his dreams and ambitions can be fulfilled at West Ham or whether he reckons he’ll have better chances (and earlier too) elsewhere.
Keeping quality players happy, even if they don’t start games, is a major task for Bilic now for the rest of the season and beyond. So far guys like Pedro Obiang never managed a proper run in the team, maybe because there haven’t been a lot of injuries in their particular position or because other players ahead of them in the pecking order have performed far too consistently to warrant a change just for the sake of it. Whenever I’ve seen Obiang play he looked extremly comfortable on the ball and assured in the tackle.
It is another pleasing aspect of watching West Ham this season that I never avert my eyes in disgust when a substitute comes on for us.
That’s because of the quality players we have available on the bench these days. Whether we bring on someone like Tomkins, Obiang, Valencia or even Emenike I never think “Oh my God, this is terrible!” On the contrary I feel rather excited, looking forward to what the substitute player will actually contribute in the game.
It won’t be a 25 million marquee signing determining our fate on the pitch next season, it will be maintaining that cameraderie and team spirit that has been so apparent for us this season. It surely is an environment at and around West Ham these days that not only us fans enjoy a lot but one which is also extremly attractive for the players.
The ones already at the club (most of them anyway) and those who might ponder wearing the famous claret and blue shirt next season. COYI!