Well, I don’t really know where to start. I surround myself with words on a daily basis, whether I’m reading or writing, even when I want to, I can’t quite escape them. Very rarely do I find myself in a position where I cannot find the words to articulate how I feel or ‘put things into perspective’. Unfortunately, I now find myself in such a position and it is West Ham United that has put me there. When I left for my holiday a couple of week ago, I was looking forward to a break but what I was most looking forward to was coming back to a rejuvenated West Ham side and the opportunity to wax lyrical about how we’d put the Europa League demons to bed and got on with our season. Alas, it wasn’t to be.
I didn’t want that opening paragraph to be so negative but I just wrote down whatever came into my mind. The truth is, things aren’t actually that bad. Okay, we’ve had an absolute stinker of a first five games and the three points we’ve mustered thus far came in a match we probably didn’t do enough to earn them. It’s important to analyse and acknowledge problems as a means to progress and improve but I believe the players, and us fans, are in danger of being consumed by this poor start.
There’s no getting away from the fact that we’ve had an abysmal start to the season but confidence can be key to a successful campaign. Yes the players need to perform to help breed confidence but to a certain extent, the fans can play their part. I’m not naive and I know that sometimes, the most passionate fans singing the loudest of songs can still watch their team put in a dire display, but we can try.
This is by no means an attack on those that feel like they’ve seen enough already. We have every right to be frustrated and disappointed by what we’ve seen, but trying to find that ounce of optimism, even if it is the proverbial needle in a haystack, can go along way. We know we’re better than the performances against Astra Giurgiu, Manchester City, Watford and West Brom, we just have to hope the team we saw last season turns up sooner rather than later.
Five games into a season does represent some sort of milestone. But I’ve always held the belief that ten games in is when you can really grasp a team’s prospects and what they can expect from the remainder of the season. Before we get to that ten game mark, we face Southampton, Middlesbrough, Crystal Palace, Sunderland and Everton. Teams that before this season begun, we would have been confident in taken three points from. So what makes it any different now?
I’m sure many of you have already pointed out that the defensive frailties we’ve seen so far stem from much further back than the start of the season. Throughout last year it felt like some games were used to get all of our errors out of the way before putting a run together of solid performances. Unfortunately, almost every game this season has felt like the home game against Bournemouth, the trip to Tottenham and the match against Swansea from last year. There’s no reason why we can’t reproduce the positives (the wins against Liverpool, Chelsea, City and United) if we can quite obviously reproduce the negatives.
When watching games, listening to the radio and sitting through the dreadful punditry on Match of the Day, one question has continuously popped into my head: Has everyone drastically improved in the summer and we’ve gone backwards? Honestly, I really don’t think so. I’m not a analyst, a psychologist or anyone that can give a logical explanation for what we’ve seen. I’m just a fan who likes to put down how I feel into words. We’re in a slump, it doesn’t take a genius to work that one out but I am more than hopeful that Slaven Bilic and the team that won so many admirers last season can drag us out of it.
I’m quite happy to take the flack from my mates, I can read about how Bilic’s job is under threat and Payet will want out in January, it really doesn’t phase me. This is what being a football fan is being all about. I don’t mean watching a team incapable of defending, I mean watching the team you love fight back and prove the doubters wrong. The players know themselves they are capable of better and I’m sure it won’t be long until we see evidence of it.
COYI!