I am unaware if someone well known came out with this quote, but it’s appropriate in all aspects of life; but specifically with the sheer amount of football fans in the world. The quote is ’That’s the problem with opinions, everyone has one’.
Fans of any club, especially at the elite level of the game will always disagree on the ability of players, transfer targets etc. and those disagreements are often amplified because of social media. In the words of one hit wonder and Canadian musician, Daniel Powter, ’You’ve had a bad day’ and you vent on Twitter or a forum about West Ham’s recent inactivity in the transfer window. It’s understandable but relative to where the club has been and the players in recent windows that have arrived, there’s certainly reason to be positive.
My six a side team played in a top of the table clash on Monday, we came out with a good 3-1 win which for the first time means we are top of the league. As is the way with six a side, some of the teams we face sometimes are lacking numbers and we win fairly comfortably. However we do also encounter difficult opponents regularly. We all want to win or be successful in whatever we do, but sometimes, in the case of football beating a weaker side is not all that enjoyable or beneficial. As a team we always learn more and improve when we play better opposition and have to be more organised. My rather long winded point in relation to West Ham and the transfer window relates to six a side and facing different qualities of opposition. West Ham could probably acquire a striker for example with relative ease and not have to blow the budget but chances are fans would complain that the club haven’t been more ambitious and spent more money! Similarly, when the club pursues the likes of Maxi Gomez for a substantial fee and the saga drags on for a while, people complain that the club are punching above their weight/it is unrealistic.
Pellegrini has been vocal about his desire to push the club into the European positions. The question is, do we need a £40 million pound striker to elevate us to Europa League status? Do we actually need to be in the Europa League to attract the calibre of striker that Pellegrini wants? I would hope that the prospect of living in London, playing in the most competitive league in the world and a handsome wage would attract a striker that could realistically play for a team already competing in Europe. Alas, I hope the club is learning from these transfer negotiations much like we learn when we play football against better footballers.
Without knowing the very specific intricacies of transfer negotiations, and having no sources close to the club, it can be frustrating deciphering what might be true and what is wildly inaccurate! The fact of the matter is regardless of which players the club sign before the window closes, negotiations will not be completed overnight given there are always various dominos which have to fall into place.
One case you could make for acquiring a slightly cheaper forward is that then the club may still have some funds to search for another holding midfielder and perhaps a left back. It will be interesting to see what happens, with the arrival of Pablo Fornals combined with the return from injury for Yarmolenko plus a more experienced Anderson, and then the likes of Lanzini and Antonio you would hope for decent goal production from them. If they can all pull their weight with regards to goals and assists and stay healthy (a lot of luck required) that certainly should reduce the pressure of Hernandez and whomever else arrives.
You often have to encounter negativity when it comes to matters of football on social media, and in the case of West Ham fans I think some panic is starting to set in. Realistically, there is definitely still time to sign some good players who are attracted by Pellegrini’s project, and Husillos appears to move quickly with negotiations when a primary target is identified. There are areas of the team that could still be improved and I’m sure Pellegrini knows that, but we will be heading into this season with some exciting attacking talent and we must hope we can stay balanced while playing some positive football.
Hope everyone is well, and has a good week.