This has been a tough weekend in terms of watching football for me personally. It was also tough to read some post match reactions some of which went well over the top in my view. Like most if not all West Ham fans I have been frustrated with that Bournemouth defeat. This game has instantly turned into a pub quiz question for all eternity as the hosts failed to convert two penalties in one half against West Ham, but still did enough to win the game. These days you merely need to hit West Ham on the counter a few times, chances are that two or three counters will be enough to get the job done.
That needs to be addressed urgently, same as the overall defensive performance as we are shipping goals at the back like there was a competition going gifting a free holiday on Bora Bora to the most casual back four in the league. That is the job of the manager, especially if he used to be a defender himself. Bilic needs to sort this out and I am confident he will do just that. But to call him incompetent now or not up to the job is ridiculous. I have mentioned before how he has his flaws and isn’t the finished article yet.
Sit down though for a minute and consider the quite unique and incredibly daunting circumstances this season, the move to the new stadium with all the surrounding headlines, violent clashes between fans and fans, fans and stewards, not to forget the shenanigans of the remountable seating, the standing up/sitting down debate plus the fact of course it’s unfamiliar surroundings and a new pitch for the players and the manager too. Then add the Payet saga, resulting in the technically most gifted star player being removed from the equation.
Mix in constant injuries to various players and you have a recipe for a disastrous season. Do we actually have a home advantage this season? In your dreams…
That we are still midtable at this stage of the season is a minor miracle in my view and to tell you the truth, I believe that we can and should thank Bilic for keeping things together behind the scenes and taking all that crap on the chin while carrying on with things. We can all discuss what WE might do differently, who WE would play, in what position, who WE would make skipper and so on.
Getting rid of Bilic though at the end of the season,especially this one, would be very much throwing the baby out with the bathwater in my view.
And who would we bring in as manager next who is better than Bilic, willing to work with a modest transfer kitty and willing to work under our current owners?
Take the RB spot. Yes, I want one too. One who can play there week in and week out. A proper RB, not a makeshift one who is actually a winger or holding midfielder.
We have Arbeloa, but he apparently fell out with Bilic over something and as for Byram maybe Bilic thought he was further along in his development as he actually is.
Let’s not forget that Byram is still pretty young at 23, so he has plenty to learn. As he is still the best we have right now, I would throw him in and start him at RB for the rest of the season.
In the summer we can bring in one or even two guys, ideally an experienced one like Zabaleta and a young prospect like Kevin Malcuit. With Byram (who might go out on loan) we’d have three RBs, but frankly after the nightmarish RB situation we’ve been enduring for so long I’d rather have another RB or two in the squad just to make sure we never fall short again at the position.
The secret of success at the back is consistency. The most successful teams play the same back four for the vast majority of games and this is what we need to try and achieve eventually, if not this season than surely after the summer.
I have to admit I was wincing in pain when I saw Snodgrass rolling over on his ankle. Thankfully he was able to carry on shortly after. When I was younger, playing baseball for a local team, I did just the same in winter training one day, twisting my ankle while stepping onto the edge of the gym mat. I clearly remember the pain, the feeling of wanting to be sick right there and then plus the fact I couldn’t put weight on the foot for two or three months. Knowing West Ham’s luck I feared the worst for Snodgrass, same as when Antonio fell awkwardly on his shoulder. Alas, in both cases we seem to have had a lucky escape there.
Coming back to Bilic I can understand that all eyes will be on him for the rest of the season now as people won’t be happy with him signing a contract extension if we see more performances like the Bournemouth one. I agree he has to deliver and get more out of these players now and if unpopular decisions have to be made, then so be it.
It’s not up to me to make those choices and I don’t envy Bilic, but I still think Slav deserves credit for the way he has handled this clusterBEEP of a season so far.
I’ve alluded to the various challenges Bilic had to deal with and I reckon most managers would have struggled mightily under the circumstances. A certain Mr.Allardyce managed to survive FIVE years at West Ham. And some fans are losing patience with Bilic after not even two ???
Do we want a new manager now everytime we hit a bit of a slump ? I seem to remember West Ham used to be a club that didn’t sack their managers, indeed we haven’t had very many over the course of our history.
I like that approach of longevity, giving a manager time to instill his philosophy, build a team around a spine of players and not having to look over his shoulder every time his team hit a bump in the road. To be fair, in this day and age managers of course need to be prepared for the sack much more readily than in the past whatwith the money now involved, the constant social media and press coverage and the expectancy of fans wanting more of everything quicker.
Things in football aren’t as easy as us fans sometimes seem to think. I for one will be patient and hope Bilic stays for a long time as I believe we will reap the benefits long term if we give the man our continued support.
At the same time Bilic needs to find several solutions for various issues on the pitch And later in the summer we need to strengthen the squad significantly and I hope and pray that the board and Bilic will work hand in hand to make the next transfer window a successful one.
As for Concordia there’s not much to cheer about anymore either. Yesterday yet another game was lost, 1:2 at home in the East Hamburg derby against Condor.
The lads scored an own goal after five minutes and missed three or four sitters at the other end.
The Cordi Boys have lost 4 out of 5 after the winter break, are six points behind the league leaders and can pretty much kiss goodbye to any realistic hopes of achieving promotion now, although chances were always slim anyway in terms of finding a sufficient number of sponsors, securing the kind of money needed to play in the Regionalliga and of course groundsharing a suitable stadium meeting the criteria of the 4th level of German football.
As with West Ham it is hard for me to put the finger on what went wrong exactly, in the first half of the season Concordia couldn’t stop scoring, now they can’t hit a barn door from five yards out. But what can a football fan do other than simply watch the next game and hope for a better result ? Which is exactly what I’m striving to do…COYI!
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