Hope you are having a good Christmas day. The first team have been training today at Rush Green in their preparation for their 230 mile journey to Wales to face Swansea on Boxing day. It is second year running that the loyal West Ham away army have had to make a long journey the day after Christmas. Last year it was Villa Park to play the doomed Aston Villa. That ended in a 1-1 draw through the help of Andre’s brother Jordon who picked up man of the match and earned Villa a point through his penalty.
Just before Christmas I spoke to Swansea fan Steven Carroll from SOS Fanzine to ask him some questions
1) What are your expectations for Swansea this season? Will you avoid relegation?
After finishing 12th last season and a very poor summer which included selling Andre Ayew and Ashley Williams and uninspiring signings I was expecting a struggle. We’ve performed worse than I thought so far and if I was a gambling man I’d say we are going down, a new manager and key signings in January are needed to save the season.
2) Which three teams do you think will suffer relegation and who will lift the title this season?
Hull are likely to drop, they also had a bad summer in terms of signings and look a poor side while Sunderland could well come unstuck this time, surely they can’t keep pulling a rabbit out of the hat in April and May. As for the other place I think it’ll be us unfortunately, we are a poor side, especially at the back
For the title I said Man City at the start but you have to say Chelsea are favourites now. They’re playing brilliantly and defensively are a class above the rest.
3) How do you rate West Ham’s manager Slaven Bilic as a manager?
I like Bilic, I remember being impressed by him when he was Croatia manager and he did an excellent job last season. This season has been tougher so I’m sure he’s made mistakes but it’ll probably make him a better manager.
4) What league position can West Ham realistically achieve this season?
It’s so tight in mid table that top half is still in reach. If your top players stay fit and on form it could be in reach but at the moment I’d probably say around 12th looks more likely.
*5) If you could have any current West Ham player in your first team who would you choose and why? Winston Reid because we are shocking at centre half and he would make the biggest difference. The other one would be Antonio as we’re poor out wide and he chips in with a few goals which is always handy.
6) Which Swans player will be key to your hopes this season?*
Gylfi Sigurdsson without a doubt. He’s our best player by a mile, the only player in the squad who can whip a good ball into the box. At Set pieces he’s second to none and chips in with goals. We’d be dead and buried without him.
7) What is Swansea’s achilles heel?
Where will they need to improve on the second half of the season? Defensively we’ve let in 37 in 17 games. Carry on like that and we’re doomed. Bob Bradley has tried numerous partnerships and none have worked. We need a commanding centre halfs and two new full backs ideally. Can’t see it happening though.
8) What is your view of Andre Ayew? Was it a good move for West Ham? Will he come good?
Ayew was great for us, scored12 in a poor side last year. Only issue is where is his best position. We played him mainly wide right but he doesn’t offer much width, up front he was decent but he wasn’t much of a presence there, he didn’t do much in behind a striker either so it’s a tricky one. I think it’s a good signing if you can find out his best position, he’s got a good left foot on him and is great in the air for someone if his height.
9) How do you expect Swansea to setup against West Ham on Monday/ Team/formation prediction?
Probably 4-2-3-1 but Bradley does tinker so can never be certain. It’ll probably be Fabianski, Rangel, Amat, mawson, Taylor, Britton, Fulton, Barrow, Sigurdsson, Routledge, Llorente.
*10) What is your score Prediction for Monday? *
I can see an away win 2-1. We never do well against Andy Carroll and with how bad we are at the back right now he will batter us if he gets decent service, hope I’m wrong as we badly need a win!
My Thanks to Steven for his answers and his prediction. You can find him on twitter at @StevenSOS1987 or his musing at Www.sosfanzine.com
I am happy to go along with his 2-1 win for the Hammers but would accept a draw. Merry Christmas and here’s to a great 2017. Come on you Irons!
Sean @WestHamFootball