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Tony Hanna's Musings

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly and the Bookies

With just about a third of the season gone a change of manager, a place in the bottom three and the travelling fans singing “sack the Board” (amongst some other more colourful stuff aimed at Brady and G&S) illustrates that all is not well with West Ham at present. However the team plays we seem to shoot ourselves in the foot nearly every game. Giving the ball away in dangerous places, players being sent off, unnecessary fouls in our own box leading to penalties, conceding late goals and a plethora of missed opportunities are typical traits of a struggling team. You see it season in, season out. Teams down the bottom don’t get the rub of the green but arguably they don’t deserve it either? Good work ethics together with first class effort and commitment, whilst working for a good company will nine times out of ten lead to a good outcome. Take out of that what you like!

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The Good

  • We still have 26 games to rectify our position
  • We have played two more games away than at home. We have won two of our five at home and two of our losses have been to top 6 teams.
  • We have not had any significant long term injuries so far this season.

The Bad

  • We have conceded more goals than any other team in the Premier League
  • We haven’t won away from home in seven attempts this season
  • Our disciplinary record has cost us dearly. Red cards have almost certainly deprived us of valuable points this season.

The Ugly

  • The Table. It speaks for itself
  • Take a look at our December fixture list!
  • Once you have the fan base offside, it is an uphill battle.

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Regular readers of the site know by now I like to get a guide from the bookies. I wrote a column a few years ago when relegation loomed under Sam, which delivered a different view to most who thought the Championship beckoned. It was all doom and gloom amongst most West Ham fans at the time but the bookies had us at very reasonable odds for relegation – suggesting they didn’t share our pessimism. Our loyalties, rose tinted glasses or indeed that pessimism us older fans are renown for do not come into the calculations of the unbiased calculating statisticians that work for the bookmakers that have no heart strings being tugged. So what do they think now? It is not that promising but they certainly haven’t written us off either! However, we are much shorter odds for relegation than during our troubled time under Big Sam. Currently we are 4th favourites to go down at 7/4 which represents a 36% chance. That is probably less of a chance than most people on here think judging by the majority of comments on the blog. Swansea are favourites to go down but there are still nine teams under double figure odds which suggests another clogged bottom half of the ladder come May. What this basically means is that it is still just too early to start to panic. There will be many twists and turns, especially when injuries and suspensions start to take their toll amongst the clubs with thinner squads. In many ways I think we the fans have developed the symptoms of the Board – the two game syndrome that rightly or wrongly saw the demise of Bilic.

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Personally, I haven’t watched as much Premier League this season as I normally would but I still think I have a good feel for what is going on around us. I do think Swansea and West Brom are currently inferior to us and I also think that teams like Huddersfield and even Newcastle will get drawn into the relegation battle as the season progresses. One factor that will continue to work against us though is our physical approach to the games. I certainly don’t think we are a dirty team, in fact we probably don’t commit enough of the professional or “take one for the team” fouls, especially with teams on the counter against us – when I say “enough” I mean compared to others. But the long ball approach is naturally a more physical approach to the game and it is noticeable that teams playing against us are making the most of nearly every challenge. Whilst it may be argued that the game is trying to rid itself of any type of aggression in the tackle and challenges it is amazing how well some players recover with the sight of a yellow or red card waved at an opponent. In no way am I admonishing Andy Carroll’s sequences of arm flailing, but when you set yourself up for a physical battle you can end up playing right into the hands of the divers all over the pitch. The crowd at Watford certainly magnified any disputed challenge and together with Carroll’s own recent brain snaps these factors would have gone a long way into Moye’s judgement of replacing him early in the second half. Anyone watching the Brighton v Stoke game would have noticed that the home crowd were vocally counting down the six second rule for the away keeper (Grant) to clear the ball. It is a rule that referees have ignored for some time now but the crowd did influence Grant to stop wasting time and obey the rule – in fear that the ref would be similarly influenced. These are the sorts of things that make playing at home an advantage, if anyone can remember those times?

Post-match comments from David Moyes suggest that the underlying problems within the team squad will take some fixing. Moyes stated he was disappointed at a few of the regular starters suggesting that they have been playing on the back of their reputations but certainly didn’t show him why they deserved their places on the weekend. We have a quick back up with our next match on Friday night against Leicester. It will be interesting to see if we can match their work ethic and what changes Mr Moyes will make, if any? A first goal in that game could be crucial.

An addition since writing my original article

Our fans who attend matches, and especially our fans who travel to away games on a regular basis are the salt of the earth of our club. I have followed West Ham for over 50 years but from afar for too many of those years. When fans who have followed our great club home and away for 40 plus years speak from the heart I listen. The feedback I am getting from these fans that travelled to Watford is that the away fans have turned on the Board and on a smaller scale the players. When toxicity has even crept into the normally very forgiving away fans, things are bad. Here is an edited message to me from one such guy who follows the club home and away. I thank him for giving me the permission to post it here. There is also a Guest Post from another away fan in the next day or two that will go further into the toxic nature developing.

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“back to yesterday Tone, not a good feel at all. Football wise we’ve played a lot worse this season but I’m afraid the toxicity has set in amongst the away mob, they were baying for the boards blood and even turned on the players singing " you’re not fit to wear the shirt “. Personally I think that was wrong and I’d stop going before I’d sing that as it would mean I’d believed they ain’t trying and I don’t think that’s the case ,
Andy Carroll got dogs abuse Tone, nothing to do with his performance but solely down to his Liverpool post-match comments about fans leaving. I’ve no sympathy mate as he should’ve kept his gob shut, better and more admired players than him have found out it’s not a good idea to criticise the fan base. It needs to be made clear though Tone, the songs aimed at him only started once he was off the pitch and not before !!!! We could well go down, I genuinely believe it. As for the bigger picture, I believe the board now feel the full force of feeling over the move. The first football crisis was always going to unleash the deep rooted resentments many fans feel and the disconnect between them and the fan base wont easily be mended, if ever. (Name withheld) has also been going home and away for years, he said he’s never felt so low about the club, says it all really”.

It certainly does.

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