Everyone feeling a lot better? Isn’t it amazing how the mood can change on the back of an effort like what we saw on Saturday. Yes, Southampton were poor, and whether that was down to us or them is debatable, but to be honest I don’t care. Three points doesn’t make us safe by any means, but this was a game we desperately needed to win and we did. The players played their part as did our fans in the ground, but make no mistake, I played my role in this result too. It is not often I delve deep into my underwear draw for my lucky red underpants but three hours before the game that was what I was doing. They were way past their best quite a few years ago and I haven’t worn them in ages, so when my wife caught me changing she just shook her head and I could tell she thought I was losing the plot. Not so! I am convinced they played a huge part in the Hammers win as they have got us over the line so many times before when we have desperately needed a win. Seriously though, there were some other factors that probably influenced our result to a greater degree than my superstitions on the weekend.
You could tell the crowd were behind the team right from the start and I do believe if we had gone a goal down the noise might have even increased in defiance of the odds. I think everyone involved with the club knew this was to be a day where it was critical we were resolute. We saw pressing, we saw first to the ball and we saw a togetherness. Those three ingredients will always lead to crowd support at West Ham. This was a real team effort but as always there were a few players that deserve special mention. If Marko Arnautovic does not win HOTY I will eat those lucky red pants but should the Austrian fall foul in the last seven games of the season it would surely go to Angelo Ogbonna. For me, this was one of his his best games in a West Ham shirt. It was not as if we had to wear any barrage of attacks from Southampton, far from it, but the Italian never put a foot wrong all day and he totally commanded the defence. Young Declan Rice arguably had his best game in his young career and in the first half Charlie Austin and Gabbiadini hardly had a touch.
The return of Arthur Masuaku was also another factor that just gave the crowd and the team an extra lift. He is a handful for any opposing wing-back and his cross for Arnie’s third goal was simply World class. You could see his eyes look to exactly where he needed to play the ball and he expertly pinpointed the pass after a thirty yard run that started in our own half. It was pure class. And while I could mention every player, they were all so good, I will just finish with Fernandes who really stepped up after coming on early for the very unlucky Antonio. It looks like we might have another player out for the rest of the season and you could see the raw emotion pour out when he had to leave the field. But Fernandes was to be another young player, along with Rice, who look like they may have played themselves into the first eleven for the immediate future. There is no doubt we need to see more of this type of effort – more of this pressing and desire, and we need to see it more consistently. Someone on the blog before the game wrote “our season starts today”. I am sure it was meant to be a humorous post as it had a smiley face at the end and the quote has been used so many times this season you have to laugh – but there is many a true word spoken in jest. Our season has just seven games to go and we need Saturdays result to be a new platform to work from.
The next three fixtures are away at Chelsea, the ever important home clash with Stoke which is followed by another London derby at Arsenal. By my reckoning four points from those three games should see us safe. Later in the month we play Manchester City at the OS. Their first half display at Everton was one of the finest forty five minutes I have ever seen from an English Premier League club. Simply awesome. I will be cheering them on against Liverpool in the Champions League if only for one reason. Should City make the semi-finals our match with them is sandwiched between the scheduled two legs and with the title all bagged up by then there is every possibility they may rest some of their best players against us. At the very least it may take their main focus away from our game. After the weekends win there seems to be a lot of confidence that we will now be safe, but for me we still have a bit to do. I just hope I don’t need to be putting any more wear and tear on those lucky red underpants this season!
At the end of the season we will be looking forward to the World Cup in Russia. When I first started watching football in the ‘60’s England were one of the best teams in the World. But there were two areas where we were head and shoulders above everyone else in the game. Firstly it was our goalkeepers. Not only did we have the World’s best in Gordon Banks, we followed that up with Clemence and Shilton a decade later. Poor Phil Parkes could only manage one cap in this era – if he were playing in today’s game he would be an automatic choice between the sticks for England. The depth of English and British talent was immense back in the 60’s and 70’s and many first division clubs had British keepers that were top drawer. Fast forward to now and the landscape is very different and for me this is one area where England are quite a way behind the competition. Trying to choose between Pickford, Butland, Hart and Pope is a long way from where we used to be.
The other area where we have fallen behind is referees. Again this was an area where we excelled in the past and many very good British referees never made a World Cup due to the Nations quota for the tournament. However, for this World Cup the country that invented the game will not have a single official involved in the competition. There have been 36 referees and 63 assistant referees appointed and not one is British which is very disappointing considering they are working every week in the most watched domestic league in the World. Europe were allocated ten referees, together with compatriot assistants, which is roughly a third of those selected, but not a Brit in sight and that is a damning stat on the standard of officiating in the Premier League at present.
On a side note – happy birthday to fellow writer Hamburg Hammer today