I heard a West Ham United fan on Saturday stating that The Hammers didn’t need ‘tippy tappy football’ and needed to be more pragmatic and dig deep to win games.

Just last season the same set of supporters were unhappy with disciplined coach David Moyes, even though the Scotsman managed to guide the team safely away from the relegation zone with his not so easy on the eye football.

The Premier League and it’s riches shred nerves and fanbases simply don’t know what they want.

They would love to play attractive football but when that’s not bringing in the points then they want to discard that philosophy and just get enough points to climb the table. That usually means a change of manager.

West Ham have started the campaign without a win or a draw in the opening four league games. That kind of run could spell trouble for new Hammers gaffer Manuel Pellegrini.

I’d urge a bit more caution from the West Ham board.

The man that they’ve brought in has a history of getting results and getting them while his side plays nice, attacking football. He did it previous at Villarreal, Malaga and Manchester City to great effect.

In the summer of 2018, The Irons brought in nine new faces. Having so many new players as well as a new management team means that the squad will need time to gel.

The defence need to get used to playing a higher line, the midfield need to get to grips with a faster transitional style and get the ball forward quickly and efficiently and the forwards need to get used to those that are playing around them.

You’ve also got to remember that key players like Manuel Lanzini, Andy Carroll and Winston Reid are all out with long term injuries and that makes things tougher for the whole team.

The Chilean coach needs to learn from some of the mistakes and iron out some on-field issues during this international break.

Maybe Pellegrini could ask his defence to take one step back and defend that wee bit deeper. He seems to have learned that he needs more strength in midfield and can’t rely on just having Jack Wilshere and Mark Noble in the engine room.

He also needs to get the attacking players working more for the team further up the field. If things aren’t going well then you need to work harder to change your luck. That means running more and putting your foot into a challenge to raise the volume  coming from the crowd.

Things aren’t getting any easier for The Irons in September as they travel to Everton before welcoming Chelsea and Manchester United to the London Stadium.

Maybe the bigger games will give the West Ham United players a greater motivation to finally prove themselves this season. If you want the West Ham way then you’ll need to be patient as it obviously won’t come instantly.

 

Posted on September 4th, 2018 by scott
Filed under: Article