Right, this will be another mixed bag column, written over separate sessions. I am typing parts of the article way before the weekend’s game to cover certain topics while awaiting our late kick-off on Sunday evening against Manchester United. It’s also likely to be my final column ever…on this particular version of WHTID.
That means I only had to add some thoughts on our latest performance when sitting down with my laptop around midnight local time after the game with the bulk of the article already done and dusted.
So, let’s start with our game against the red Mancunians.
We really didn’t have to lose this. We have shown this season we are capable of playing better football than this, even against teams which are better than us on paper. First half we seemed a bit starstruck, very defensive and negative in our approach and so Man United had free reign to attack. Then attack some more. We tried to soak up their pressure which is a bad idea though if you’re inviting more pressure by sitting back all the time. If I was managing Manchester United, this is exactly how I would have hoped West Ham to set up tactically.
To a large degree we gift-wrapped that home win for them. And that’s down to Moyes.
Second half at least we tried to score. Especially after Man United had taken the lead, but the mighty Red Devils even needed one of OUR players to do the honours for them. Unlucky, Dawson!
We had our chances on the break, however, the Mancunians were very clever/cynical on the night, collecting several bookings for tactical fouls.
They were very physical throughout, that’s for sure.
This was a missed opportunity, no doubt about it. Had we been more positive in the first half, I’m certain we could have won a point at least. Hopefully one day Moyes will realise that our team is pretty good right now. We should be a bit more confident of what we can do to the opposition on the pitch, even when facing one of the big clubs. It’s about time we let them worry about us, not vice versa.
I’m now expecting a reaction next weekend against Arsenal.
Moving on from the Man United game, a big bit of news last week was about Mr.West Ham himself, Canning Town’s own Mark Noble. The guy has been beating records for longevity and loyalty at our club, a rare feat in these days when players tend to collect clubs they play for like other people collect stamps or parking tickets. You can look up and down the leagues, far and wide, UK and Europe, but you won’t find many players this loyal. One-club players like Mike Noble are like snow leopards – a dying breed.
Noble has announced in an open letter that he will play one more season for us and that will be his final bow as a West Ham player. Bittersweet news indeed. I love Noble to bits. He is a link to everything that used to be good about this club. He is not a spectacular player, never has been, but an honest grafter and tackler, with an eye for a pass and nerves of steel from the penalty spot – the kind of player you only truly begin to miss once he’s gone. We shall find out what that is going be like soon enough.
I said before that I am still at ease whenever Mark Noble plays for us, be that as a starter or a sub. He is a fan on the pitch which is always a good thing, but he is also experienced and committed enough to put in a no-nonsense tackle and keep opponents from walking all over us. I reckon he still has plenty to offer, especially in a team that’s filled with competent and confident players for a change.
Noble has been unlucky insofar that throughout his career he always had to do too much on the pitch instead of being able to focus on his own game.
All too often he had to clean up after the mess created by teammates not doing their bit for the cause. No more though.
Now we have a well drilled team, thanks to Moyes, Noble is still very much an asset, probably even more so than before.
He never used to be pacy, so his legs going a bit more recently due to him getting a bit wiser and greyer around the temples isn’t that big a factor in my opinion. It’s good to have him for another season at least.
It’s also refreshing to see a player leaving the stage at just the right moment. Noble will have realised his active career is nearing its conclusion and you don’t want to see a player struggling to perform to the required standard anymore. I don’t see this happening here.
It’ll be nice to see Noble playing out his farewell season with fans in the stadium. I have a gut feeling it’s going to be a special one not just for Mark Noble himself but the entire team as well.
It’s highly likely we will continue to see Noble at West Ham in some capacity in the future anyway, be that as a youth coach, part of the first team coaching staff or ambassador for the club. And maybe a few years down the road, another Noble could be be gracing our team on the pitch, wearing the claret and blue shirt with pride, in the shape of his son Lenny who is an Academy player at West Ham.
Oh, the thought of having a player with the guts and application of his dad to look forward to, but with some faster legs underneath…;-))
We also had some encouraging news last week that Lukasz Fabianski had signed an extension to his contract which will keep him at West Ham for another season too.
An absolutely crucial decision that will help us spending our money on more pressing positions in the squad next summer.
(Although at some point we probably still need to spend some dosh on a young GK capable of starting games for us.)
All our current goalkeepers are on the wrong side of 30, not getting any younger. ALL of them need replacing in the not too distant future. Randolph is contracted for another two seasons after this one, but he is not exactly pushing Fabianski for the shirt, is injured quite a bit these days and a good back up, but not one for the future.
Trott is one for the future and next season should give us a hint if Moyes would agree with that view. Will Trott be part of our first team matchday squads next season, be that as Number Two or replacing David Martin as Number 3 with Martin likely to not get another contract at West Ham ?
You keep hearing a lot how Trott needs a full season under his belt starting for a Championship club which may be the regular route to follow for a lot of keepers prior to starting their PL careers.
But I’m not sure it always has to work this way. Maybe Moyes has already made up his mind one way or another. Trott is only contracted to us for next season, so if we are unsure about him, maybe it’s better to cash in.
If, however, Moyes is happy with what he has seen from the young Bermudan in training so far, then a new contract could be in store and a decision to add him to the first team trio of goalkeepers immediately.
There’s also been rumours/news about Angelo Ogbonna’s road back to recovery from the high ankle sprain suffered in our exit in the FA Cup game against Man United – and it’s looking worse than initially thought apparently.
Initially they were hoping for a short-ish absence, four weeks, no more. Now we are hearing that his protective boot has come off and Angelo is going to require quite a bit more of strengthening and fitness work before he can return to the pitch to help our team. Could be another 4-6 weeks before he is back.
Ogbonna is a true professional athlete though, he will do everything in his power to speed up the process, but there’s only so much he can do.
No doubt it would be better to have Ogbonna playing than not, but so far Diop and Dawson have done a stellar job in his absence and long may that continue. I’m sure Ogbonna will be back as soon as he’s ready for it.
With still a number of games to go, it’s hard to predict HOW successful our season will turn out. But there can be no doubt it will have been a great success compared to last season either way. That’s progress. We need more of it, due to financial hardship maybe at a slow, but steady pace, but more steps in the right direction are what’s required. And that means more good, sensible decisions than rash, incompetent ones.
I think you all know where this is heading: The ratio of good and bad decisions taken by our owners over their decade-long reign has been fairly uninspiring, I would call it pretty abysmal. Nevermind Covid, that’s something affecting all clubs and if anything our board have been acting quite admirably in terms of keeping staff on to be fair.
But for all the pomp and hurrah about our glorious stadium deal (low rent and all that), the other side of the coin are serious and permanent limits as to how the club can generate extra income from matchdays which clubs who own their stadiums can count on. West Ham don’t have that.
Our matchday income is ludicrous, even with a full stadium, as a lot of money generated through our games taking place there doesn’t end up in West Ham’s coffers. We traded that away for cheaper rent.
That’s part of the problem. Another thing, in my view the key point, is Sullivan’s conviction he is a brilliant expert on football and players, that he can do a better job than any professional DoF or manager who has been in the job for 30 years could ever do.
I see this club as a sleeping giant. Still do. Massive fanbase, actual and potential. Great history despite few trophies won.
The entire culture around our history and community is something I would dive into for inspiration for the future. We can see bits of that East End spirit by the most recent initiative of the Czech lads and the ambassador to raise money for the treatment of little Isla Caton. That’s the kind of club West Ham used to be, maybe still is a bit today and should continue to be for the next few decades.
As I mentioned before, GSB got far more decisions in their reign (horribly) wrong than right. We have gone through so many players for big money who ended up contributing very little that only now we are beginning to realise what could be possible at our club if we left our football business to people who actually know football, like Moyes and his coaching staff. Or like a competent Head of Recruitment (or Director of Football) we will hopefully be adding to our portfolio in the summer.
Hiring Moyes again was definitely one of the best decisions GSB have made at West Ham.
Even that happened more by accident or out of necessity rather than being a strategic move. Be that as it may, Moyes has changed the mentality and intensity in training. He’s making changes to the squad looking at players who can play, but who also bring the right attitude, application and character to this club.
Guys like Soucek and Coufal are blueprints of what West Ham need more of, no more South American punts or players that used to be good elsewhere once, but now are 33 years old, looking for a final big contract.
Once again we are at a crossroads this coming summer (preparations though are hopefully already in the pipeline) – once more we are sitting at home wondering: Will it happen this time ? Will there be further progress at this club or just another damp squib waiting to happen ? We have a good thing going, surely giving Moyes and his team all the support that’s financially possible under the circumstances will be good for the club AND the owners. It will raise the club’s profile and would give the board the opportunity to eventually leave with not only a massive profit, but some credit in the bank, pardon the pun, with regard to the fanbase.
Wouldn’t it be great if the owners would leave this club in a better position as a football club than when they took over ? I reckon even considering the stadium move, that is still possible. But it’ll depend on what they do in the summer and if they give Moyes the support he deserves and undoubtedly will demand with some justification. COYI!!!
Hamburg football update: The biggest game of Bundesliga 2 last weekend took place on Friday evening, with Hamburger SV beating table toppers Bochum away, winning 2:0. The scoreline only tells half the story though as Bochum had a man sent off in the first half, but Hamburg never really looked like a side enjoying the man advantage as most of the attacking effort in the second half came from Bochum. HSV scored the second goal only just before the final whistle and that was that. Bochum still top, HSV in second place – promotion race wide open once again.
If you want to see how St.Pauli are getting on in the league: You can follow their exploits against Paderborn later tonight, the game is live on BT Sport 1, kick-off is at 7.30pm GMT.