Lord Kitchener’s iconic image has loomed at the back of the mind of late. Whatever you feel about the owners of the club at the moment I think we all, or at least the vast majority of us, are behind the manager and what he’s trying to do at the club. Personally I am as frustrated as the next West Ham fan when it comes to the signings, or lack of, and all the other missing aspects of the 10 point pledge.
I’m trying to avoid writing about what the owners of the club are up to, or more like are not up to, at the moment. It’s proving to be quite difficult. As I write we’ve just signed Patrice Evra . Correct me if I’m wrong but did the manager state that an area we need to strengthen, with new players, was Full Back? Did David Moyes say he needs fresh, or perhaps not so fresh, blood in wide areas? Slipped me by if he did. From memory midfield was the key position to improve. Has to make you question who is making the signings.
After a terrible couple of weeks, which I won’t go over again as it’s been extensively discussed already, it does look like there’s some light at the end of the ‘injury tunnel’. Joao Mario has done well, in my view, since joining however our slump since the injuries to Arnie and Manu is dramatic. Physioroom.co.uk are currently quoting dates of 10th Feb and 3rd March for those two respectively. I’m hopeful and optimistic (default when it comes to West Ham for me) that we’ll soon see the team actually have some attacking ideas before too long. Fingers crossed – eh?
On the subject of injuries this weekend’s opponents currently top the injury table with 11 players out of action. Could have been 12 unable to take the field if the F.A. had taken action against Troy Deeney for his single finger gesture towards fans during the Chelsea game. The lack of action against the Watford livewire did, admittedly, take me by surprise. It would take a four goal winning margin for us to leapfrog them in the league but the 3 points are more important in the great scheme of this season. I guess league positions are important as the club gain further income the higher we finish. Not that it really matters to us fans – is that likely to lead to better quality signings at the end of the day anyway?
The squad is thin. The spine is short on numbers for backup. We have cover out wide. Why pay high wages to an ageing player we don’t really need? Cresswell and Masuaku (when the silly boy returns) are both good players on the left. Byram has put in some excellent game-time there too. As good as he his, sorry – I just don’t get it. At best it’s excessive – at worst profligate. If David Moyes initiated this move I’ll be gobsmacked. What’s worse he’s going to wear the 27 shirt.
As a fan who attends between 5 and 7 games a season I’m not going to pass judgement on those who part with their hard earned on a more regular basis. That being the case I won’t suggest that fans don’t vent their spleens at the club’s owners on matchdays. After all you can probably gather from the tone of this piece my opinion on the level of backing I believe recent managers have enjoyed, or put up with, from the board. What I would like to see is that, at the same time as a vocal protest, those same fans show their support for David Moyes, his coaching staff and the players. He needs us all to get behind the team. None of us want to end up going down – at least I hope that we don’t. Even if you would cut your nose off to spite your face by wishing it on our owners for their failure to deliver the signings we all deserve I would still hope fans would never wish to be relegated. There’s certainly a better chance of that happening if we don’t get behind the boys.
COYI! West Ham 4 The 2019 Cup!