West Ham fans were promised so much in the summer and have instead been treated to pure disappointment
Irons now sit precariously above Premier League drop zone in season of turmoil with new stadium issues, Dimitri Payet affair and poor signings
WE are now knee deep in a relegation battle – there is absolutely no denying it.
Lose to Swansea this Saturday, who are just two points behind us in the drop zone, and we are in big trouble.
I don’t think we will go down but it cannot be ruled out, and the key question here just how and why has this happened after such a successful season last year?
In short, we were promised so much in the summer and have just been treated to disappointment after disappointment this campaign.
But you cannot blame one particular person and as a club we have to look at it as a collective responsibility.
The obvious one to start with is the players, with too many under-performers without the passion or desire that West Ham fans demand from them.
It doesn’t matter what the manger does on the training ground, you cannot plan or legislate for players doing individually stupid things, which is a hallmark of the season.
The signings we have made have been poor and they have not improved the team at all:
Simone Zaza – disaster
Gokhan Tore - even more of a disaster
Sofiane Feghouli - high wages, little impact
Andre Ayew - record signing, has not played much
Havard Nordtveit - not performed or played much
Robert Snodgrass - poor so far
Jose Fonte - 33 and hasn’t had a good game
Alvaro Arbeloa - never played again after a full out with the manager
Jonathan Calleri - just one goal
Ashley Fletcher - young but no goals
Edmilson Fernandes and Arthur Masuaku - both have potential but haven’t played much
There is a clear pattern emerging with the above - none of them have contributed.
We have one of the worst injury records in the league and that has been a big factor this year too but none of these signings have been able to come in and successfully replace the first XI from last year.
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With signings, the board and Bilic need to take blame for this. The board promised a 20-goal a season forward, and while £30m players were linked, we were lumbered with the above motley crew.
I am not saying it wasn’t for not trying - as we launched bids for Alexandre Lacazette, Michy Bathsuayi and Carlos Bacca.
But the board shouldn’t have made those promises because the expectation levels were raised too high and then other signings looked inferior - automatically having a more sceptical crowd on their back.
While the board interfere too much with transfers, Slaven Bilic has the final say on transfers and we have bought badly on his watch.
But he and head of recruitment Tony Henry have to insure that this doesn’t happen again - they have made good signings in previous windows so let’s hope it was a blip.
Slaven Bilic has had a difficult time, be it the Payet situation, the injuries and the negativity around the new stadium.
That counted against him however there has been some poor decisions on his part, such as regularly playing players out of position especially at right back.
His substitutions have also been uninspired and not changed many games and defensively we have been a shambles.
I find it hard to understand why we haven’t addressed the defensive problems yet and we have to very quickly if we are to stay up.
All of this aside we need to unite as a club and a fanbase and support the players and manager and make sure we pull out of this and address the wrongs of this season in the summer.
The fans are still as passionate as ever at the games and I hope we will now see an equalled amount of passion and performance on the pitch from during our future matches.
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