That is a question that is undoubtedly exercising the minds of a lot of West Ham fans at present. We have had a good summer transfer window, even to this point, but it is just not translating on the pitch. West Ham’s performance at St James Park was an embarrassment. There is no two ways about it, they were right royalty outplayed and outfought by a team that had hitherto been struggling even more than us. Even without Arnautovic we should have had more than enough to get a result, but this is a team lacking cohesion, conviction and, perhaps worst of all, belief. Yes, the early season absences of Lanzini, Kouyate and Reid have not helped, but we should have the basic strength in depth now to cope without them.
If there was not a crisis before, there certainly is one now and predictably the knives are out for Bilic. I cannot blame the fans for seeing Bilic’s management as the essential root cause of our poor results. It seems that the struggles of last season have just tipped over in to this current season. Yet, Bilic has been backed by the board in the transfer market, but he cannot seem to gel the players in to an effective unit. Why do Bilic and his staff seem to be unable to motivate the players and get half-way-decent performances? Something is clearly and fundamentally wrong at the club and it must be put right as soon as possible. At this point, I am not clear if Bilic will do that or a new manager will replace him (whoever that might be?) and be given that responsibility? What I do know is that although Bilic takes the flack, there are also questions to be asked about the basic professional pride and application of the playing staff. What I have seen from our players this season is just not good enough.
We probably have not reached the point at which there will be a change of manager. The impression I get is that Bilic is genuinely popular with the club’s owners. And it is almost certain they will give him the rest of the transfer window to bring in one or two extra additions. The clock is likely to start ticking once the window closes and we face Huddersfield Town at home, which is now a massive game for Bilic and the club. Lose and the board could conceivably bring forward their plans to replace him. Win and he will buy himself some much needed extra time. More than anything, Bilic needs his senior players to rally around and give him a timely and inspired performance on 11 September 2017. I do not think the board want to sack Bilic, but they will if the situation does not change markedly. In the highly charged world of the PL there is no room for sentiment. West Ham need to be in the top tier. Beyond that ‘bottom line,’ they need to be seen to be moving forward as a club.
Bilic is in a very uncomfortable place right now and one feels for him. He is due to discuss the situation with the co-owners this week. No doubt his position will be made clear to him at that meeting. The trigger fingers at a lot of PL clubs would be getting very itchy right about now, but I believe that Sullivan and Gold will hold fire for a further period of time to see if Bilic can turn it around.
Personally, if I was in Bilic’s shoes I would start working on a 3-5-2 system for the Huddersfield Town match, giving Zabaletta and Cresswell the latitude to push forward down the flanks. I might also be very tempted to recall Adrian to the team. We shall see on 11 September 2017 whether Bilic agrees?
SJ. Chandos.