I am a bad fan! For some weird reason I couldn’t bear to watch our game against Everton live as it happened. I was just too nervous. Too much was riding on this one.
I have long given up the foolish concept that I necessarily have to watch the game live or need to wear a certain West Ham themed shirt in order for our lads to get a much needed win on the day.
So I changed the routine for this one around completely, driving out to the riverbank on the southeasterly outskirts of town, an area nestled between dykes, sheep and orchards, to watch Women’s football, Concordia style.
Neither the first team, nor the U23s (the male versions) had won their respective games in previous days (both losing by identical 1:3 scorelines) – and I wanted to see at least one Concordia side leave the pitch victorious over the weekend. Which the Cordi girls did, only just, winning 3:1 against a shockingly bad team but it wasn’t much to write home about. So I drove back to my flat, with the West Ham game waiting for me to be enjoyed in all its glory.
And what an entertaining game it turned out to be – and with the right team winning as well! It wouldn’t have been a West Ham performance though without your typical head in your hands, hiding behind the sofa, heart in your boots moments. In short: It wasn’t all plain sailing, it’s clear we are (still) a team in transition – and we will continue to be just that for some weeks and months to come – but at least you could see our lads developing some gradual understanding on the pitch against Everton, playing some neat combinations on the floor, some beautiful passing moves and also a very decent conversion rate on the day.
It was also very obvious that the players had done some soul-searching in the last week, playing with a lot more endeavour, desire and effort.
Which of course is just what the doctor ordered!
Congrats to Andriy Yarmolenko for getting off the mark with a brace, both of his goals were fantastic efforts. Our third was the pick of the bunch though and I simply loved the way Obiang put Arnautovic clear through. Also our back four looked a lot more solid and composed overall, the odd glitch permitting though. On the other hand I wasn’t too impressed with the way we picked up numerous bookings, although it has to be said that the referee seemed fairly lenient in that respect towards the Everton players, but we got the three points anyway which is the main thing.
I am getting more impressed by the day by the performances of our new goalkeeper. Fabianski could turn out to be our signing of the summer eventually and hopefully we should see him spending the peak years of his career at West Ham. Very solid effort from Lukasz again. In fact I thought it was a very decent team effort all around with no West Ham player coming out of this game with egg on his face.
One win – and we’re already out of the relegation places, just like that! But of course our next games are still very much a tall order. But this rare win at Goodison has given us the most precious commodity in football – and that is confidence and swagger. Which should come in handy when we play flavour of the month, table-topping Chelsea next.
I have no doubt that Pellegrini has a very clear idea of what he wants to do with this West Ham team and we are just at the very beginning of the journey. The glimpses I saw against Everton were quite promising. Watching that game was highly entertaining, far away from the painful chore-like dross we’ve had to endure so many times in the last two years. It’s also great of course that the mood on this blog should be a lot more upbeat now for the rest of the week. It was about time!
Final little bit of Concordia aside: Prior to the home game last Friday the club president introduced me to a new signing, a young Yank midfielder from Atlanta who is keen to make it as a professional footballer in Germany, even if a gig at a Bundesliga 3 club (equivalent of League One) could turn out to be very much his ceiling. But you gotta start somewhere and he will make his first steps in that direction at Concordia.
As his German is close to non-existent the president has asked me to translate for the guy, talk to him and help out with bits and bobs to help make him settle in his new surroundings. Which I will be happy to oblige, maybe I can convince him to watch a West Ham game on the telly as well. Or if he’s feeling homesick, some NFL football or NASCAR.
And if it helps the Concordia cause I may even put his hometeam Atlanta United on. COYI!!!