At the end of this season three teams will be relegated. It has been that way for a few years now and no matter how high or low the clubs supporters expectations were at the start of the season, it will always be excruciatingly painful. We should know, we have “been there done it” together a few times now. It is far too early to be getting paranoid after only six games, but what we have seen so far has not been encouraging at all and tensions are rising.
I still look back and see the Europa League as one of the factors why we assembled a mishmash of new signings that didn’t necessarily strengthen the first team. The brains trust at West Ham were envisioning a long campaign full of Thursday night and Sunday games, travelling all around Europe. So instead of buying three or four quality players to strengthen our Premier League squad we brought in eleven average to mediocre players that would fill the gaps for the fixture onslaught. No Premier League team brought in more players than West Ham in the last transfer window. Then when an early exit from Europe happened we now (possibly) have a lot of unhappy players who were expecting a constant round of games and are now fumbling around on the fringes. Even the likes of Obiang probably stayed on the back of game time promises? For me Zaza was a knee jerk signing after the injuries to Ayew and Carroll. I doubt we would have signed another forward if those two had been fit. Based on what I have seen of him at least it was a shrewd bit of business having the 16 game clause in his contract. It is a pity that Ayew got injured in our first game as I really think he will make a big impact for us – similar to Antonio.
Bilic has really made a lot of tactical errors since he has been at West Ham but has got away with it because he has also made some wonderful ones. The pleasure and excitement of some of our big scalps last season will live long in the memory and some of the football was sublime. However, the only time we looked secure defensively last season was in the spell when Payet and Lanzini were injured. The plethora of draws fought out in almost Sam like fashion was an example of a squad of players that was tightly bonded and were playing for each other and the manager. The little fist pumps and the cuddles and kisses have now long gone and most substitutions are orchestrated almost under duress. Bilic gave us one of our best seasons ever last season and we owe him time to get it right this season. However, Sunderland are a very, very poor team at the moment and if we have not collected at least one more win by the time they vacate East London I think it will signal the end. I really hope that is not the case.
One of the things that has become apparent in Bilic’s reign is that he is still unsure of his best line up in defence. He has never really found the best centre half pairing. I think he always thought it was Reid and Ogbonna but when Collins got his chance last season he grabbed it with both hands and made it impossible to drop him. That was probably the best option as myself, like some others, think that both Reid and Ogbonna are best suited to playing left side of the centre back pairing. For me, Ginge is best on the right side. But to this season now and Collins has been very poor so we may revert to the other two, which means Reid will play in what seems an uncomfortable position for him. Then we have the left back position and I think Bilic must have felt that Cresswell would never get injured? We have never had any decent cover for him and only bought an acceptable cover for him when he did get injured. The right back position has never been settled since Jenkinson decided to go awol. His remarkable dip in form has left us grasping at straws ever since. Most thought Tomkins did a good job there last season but either Bilic did not see that or Tomkins decided that it was not what he wanted going forward. Or perhaps he thought he would be playing second fiddle to Antonio in another one of Bilic’s tactical errors?
The whole move away from Upton Park to the new stadium has also been a distraction which surely must impact on the club as a whole? I won’t go into all the problems here as they have been well documented. However, it appears a lot of fans are unhappy and that is not helping the on field situation. Each game now seems to bring the cry of “our season starts this week”. We can only hope something does trigger a reversal of form this weekend before things get any nastier. COYI.