“Blind Hammer Looks at some of the debates over criticism of Slaven Bilic.
After the disappointment of the Bournemouth defeat there were some heated debates on West Ham till I Die and other West Ham sites. We were all disappointed but there was some real discontent as to Bilic’s team selection and tactics. There was also some discontent from those who were unhappy with those criticising Bilic. Subsequent to the main draft of this post being written after the Bournemouth defeat Mark Noble added weight to this view by claiming that football supporters do not really know about football.
The criticism of Bilic has mainly focussed on his unbalancing of the team by taking some of our most effective players and consistently playing them out of position. Bilic seems to have a stubborn streak and seemed, for example, for an extraordinary extended time determined to persevere with Antonio at right back. This stubborn belief persisted all summer to such a degree that we did not recruit a class right back. The appalling Antonio defensive performances at the start of the season forced a panic last minute recruitment of Álvaro Arbeloa, a player already ,reported on Real Madrid blog posts as having “lost his legs” before he came to us.
Despite this Bilic continued to play Antonio at the back until, if we ,are to believe reports, Sullivan met with and read the riot act. Unfortunately Byram faced early injury, as did Arbeloa, though the latter has never seemed capable of playing at Premiership level on the few occasions we have observed him anyway.
Regrettably despite another transfer window passing the experiment of playing players out of position to try and fudge the issues at the right side of our defence continued. Now Cheikhou Kouyaté is the latest important performer who has been transformed into an ordinary if not mediocre right back. Håvard Nordtveit is another stand in make shift right back who also does not meet Premiership standards. All this is understandable in an injury crisis but for this situation to be allowed to persist over two transfer windows is little short of baffling.
I wrote last year how we could not seriously compete in the long term with a defence that concedes on average 2 goals a game. This season we have continued the malaise, conceding 58 goals in 30 league, league cup and FA Cup games. Such consistent defensive
weakness gives the rest of the team a mountain to climb most games. The priority for recruitment this summer is defence rather than attack.
I was amongst those who wrote an article last week fearing for the defensive fragility of our team because of this and other issues. The reluctance to make selection decisions based on merit also seems very strange. Nearly everybody who has seen Antonio agrees his most powerful performances have occurred been on the right side of an attack. He has rarely played there, being deployed either as a right back/wing back, on the left or as a first or second forward as in the game against Bournemouth. Lanzini seems most effective and able to dominate a game when he is played through the middle but is only sporadically played there, being shifted out wide to accommodate other midfield presences.
I received criticism for suggesting in my post last week that Bilic needed to grasp some selection nettles and in particular that Noble needs now to be dropped to the bench. According to the radio commentary of the Bournemouth game Noble, a fantastic servant at the club, was nevertheless lucky to stay on the pitch.
After the Bournemouth defeat those who have criticised team strategy have been ridiculed by some. The argument is that Bilic has more football knowledge, insight and skill in his little finger than in the whole bodies of any of the blogging “experts” who dare to criticise him. On one level this is incontestably true but in another way is completely wrong. The point is that none of us are claiming to be experts, certainly not me. The idea that a blind man has greater insight than Bilic into tactics is clearly laughable.
However this is very different from saying Bilic is therefore infallible and should be immune from the questioning and if necessary criticism of his decisions. Is there anybody who could seriously maintain that Bilic was correct all along with his Antonio experiments? Was Bilic correct all along about his assessment of Zazar? Can setting up a team which concedes 2 gtoals a game acceptable?
There are thousands of eyes and ears watching and listening to West Ham every week. Collectively we have a validity to query recruitment, selection and tactical decisions. The late Graham Taylor, who received his share of criticism in managerial roles, nevertheless never necessarily dismissed the validity of supporter analysis just because they were supporters and not football professionals. He would actively congratulate some supporters for their insights, memorably applauding a Noel Gallagher analysis of a Manchester City performance. Taylor would disagree with the ignorant view but recognise genuine insight.
Managers have to struggle against some limitations on their analysis. They can be too close to the action, sometimes literally so on the side-lines and struggle to see a broader picture. Emotion plays a part in all sport and dropping players who have served you loyally may be a real tricky issue to manage in the dressing room.
Collectively as supporters it is actually, in my opinion, our duty to provide the more distant judgemental assessment, more free from the emotional consequences of personal player relationships and loyalties. This can actually help Bilic in some of his more difficult decisions.
So yes I will continue to criticise and question Bilic’s decisions. Do I believe I know more than Bilic?-Absolutely not. Do I believe he should stay West Ham manager? Absolutely. Do I admire him for his conduct and apparent character? – Without doubt,
Yet it is a hard sport and I want him to account for his decisions. Why does he fail to play his 2 strongest midfield players in the centre? Why does he not play our best and strongest right sided forward on the right? Why is our most imaginative central midfield player able to create and influence games often stranded wide? Why does our left back not come under pressure for his place despite poor performances? Why do we not play our only fit right back at right back? Why do we have insufficient pace in the team, especially defensively? Why do we consistently get caught on the break? Why did a simple straight ball over the top of our central defenders by Bournemouth cause repeated and frantic defensive chaos?
Of course Bilic knows more than any one of us individually but it is essential for loyal supporters to highlight and pressurise on areas of weaknesses obvious even to a blind supporter rather than hide our heads under a pillow and pretend these issues do not exist.
COYI
David Griffith