I think it is a sign of a good character if you are able to laugh at yourself. The present predicament of West Ham gives us plenty of opportunity to do just that. Michail Antonio literally summed the matter up – we have a car crash. And the argument between our captain and Ogbonna on the field is totally unacceptable. For some reason, Noble was incandescent with rage.
It is pointless to keep complaining about what is going wrong. I think there is general agreement on this. Manuel Pellegrini is the embodiment of Peter’s Principle. He has risen to the level of his incompetence. Based on his post match comments, he is completely out of his depth. He has to go, otherwise the comments I make below are just hot air.
So, when you are in the dumps, you’ve got to look at the positives. There are good players in our squad, but it is obvious that they need reorganising and remotivating. The situation is not going to be helped by buying players in January and expecting some guy from Eastern Europe or South America to save us.
The first job of a government is defence and the same applies to football. You have to have a solid defence before anything else. The West Ham way, whatever that was, is long dead. Pellegrini persists with his ‘attacking’ style and then blames the players for lack of concentration. Sending average full backs up and down the pitch is absolutely hopeless, leaving two at the back and all the gaps that creates.
We have three good defenders and making Diop sit on the bench is a crime. He has probably been out best player since he joined the club. We need to put Ogbonna, Diop and Balbuena in a line. Hopefully, Reid will soon be back as a replacement. Then we can have our two full backs and then we can use Masuaka who has shown he has outstanding ball skills.
We know upfront we need two players and Haller and Antonio can fulfil that role. That leaves three in midfield and that means Rice, Anderson and Lanzini.
We shall also have the bonus of Fabulanski returning to the side.
I also believe in keeping a side together as much as possible, especially in our case, where the depth of our squad is weak.
Onwards to Leicester. We can only hope they are suffering ‘the blues’ after their thrashing by Liverpool. If you didn’t watch that game, I suggest you do, as it was a perfect performance by the Reds