So the new season is upon us and the summer break has gone as quickly as it came really. What with all the preseason games I watched so far thanks to West Ham coming to my neck of the woods and thanks to Concordia having kicked off their season too I am already in full match going football mode again. Not long to go now until we kick off the new Premier League season with the easiest fixture we could have picked, obviously: Manchester United away!
The weird thing is, whenever a new season comes around I usually have an instinct, a gut feeling, a vague idea where we may finish. This year though there is nothing of the sort. If I had to predict anything I would say we are highly unlikely to get relegated. Other than that I haven’t got a Scooby (what’s new I hear you asking!).
On paper we have made some shrewd signings indeed. Zabaleta should add experience and swagger to our defense, Joe Hart could prove to be pleasant surprise between the sticks, depending which version we’re actually getting, Arnautovic is a jamboree bag altogether who can be a game changer or an invisible moody primadonna, sometimes over the course of the same game while Javier “Little Pea” Hernandez should continue to score goals because that’s what he’s done at every single club he joined in his career.
Over all our net spending so far has been extremly modest though and I am confident there will be more new faces at the club soon, especially when Feghouli and Snodgrass do finally leave the club and we may also still need to find a replacement for Adrian should he decide to leave for the opportunity to be a regular starter again elsewhere.
I am feeling neither particularly optimistic about this season nor pessimistic, no emotions of expectant hope or joy, no buzz or excitement, but also no doom and gloom. This time for me it’s the uncharted territory of the “wait and see” approach.
Of course I am hoping our injury issues have been addressed sufficiently, that we will suffer less knocks, strains, pulls and fractures. And I do hope our players manage to recover from any potential injuries they may suffer much better and quicker than in previous seasons. I also hope our new signings will help us to both concede less goals at the back and convert more goalscoring opportunities upfront.
If things fall into place for us this season then getting a European spot isn’t impossible actually. It’s also entirely possible though that it’ll be a similar damp squib style season just like the last one, underperforming for long stretches, the new signings not living up to expectations, players forming an orderly queue in the treatment room all season plus various other off-field issues, resulting in a lower midtable position in the table. I just don’t know what it’s gonna be this time.
Preseason results are never a good indication in terms of what to expect in the league proper. If anything, our preseason performances confused the hell out of me.
I was impressed with every single youth player I saw, yet Cullen and Burke have joined Bolton on loan and I am sure the likes of Martinez, Holland, Makasi and even Rice too may find themselves at various loan clubs in the coming days as well.
What I saw from the youngsters gives me a good long-term gut feeling about West Ham as I do get the impression we may have a good bunch there, a decent number of prospects with a good chance to make it into our first team squad eventually.
Not to forget Reece Oxford who will be responsible for the fact that I will be watching a lot more Bundesliga football this season. As watching Hamburg SV games does nothing to improve my blood pressure levels in general these days I rarely follow the Bundesliga as much as I used to in the past (as I am occupied enough with following West Ham and Concordia to be fair), but I will make an exception with Moenchengladbach now and will let you know how Reece is getting on playing for The Foals as they are commonly known in Germany.
As a little bit of fun, despite my gut feeling having gone numb, I will make a few predictions for the new season to get the ball rolling for some predictions of your own, so here it goes:
1) Top goalscorer: Javier Hernandez, 14 goals (league and cups).
2) Final league position: 10th.
3) Hammer of the Year: Pedro Obiang.
4) Young Hammer of the Year: Nathan Holland.
5) Most improved player: Edimilson Fernandes.
6) Premier League Champions: Manchester City.
7) Relegated Teams: Huddersfield, Swansea, Burnley.
8) Number of games played by Andy Carroll this season: 15 (incl. sub appearances)
To close this out, as usual the quick Concordia update. Sunday afternoon’s game away to Wedel was abysmal for a number of reasons, the Cordi boys lost 1:4 after taking the lead early in the first half. They then missed a few sitters and gifted midfield and momentum to the opposition which allowed Wedel back into the game. They took the lead after converting two penalties in a row, at least one of which was a dubious one. The referee never really had a clearly defined line of refereeing the game all afternoon and sent off two Cordi players in the second half, apparently in both cases for verbal abuse/dissent, yet the Wedel players were allowed to constantly address the referee as “dude” or “man” without getting booked. Weird!
Cordi also unfortunately lost a player to injury after a nasty clash of heads, leading to a ten minute stoppage in the game until an ambulance arrived to take the lad to the local hospital for further treatment, his head heavily bandaged. Let’s hope it’s not too serious…
So, the new season in the Premier League awaits. Hopefully it’ll be a joyous one for all Hammers fans, wherever they may be! COYI!