Newmarket wrote: ↑Mon Jan 01, 2024 10:50 am
At the end of the day we all want what is best for West Ham United .
As much as I detest Moyes for his (usually) inept or lack of in-game management, his often seemingly non-existent squad management, his snide remarks directed at the greatest fanbase in the world and his refusal to integrate our marvellous set of kids into the first team set up in any shape or form , there is no denying what he has achieved in the last 4 years .
Watching defensive football CAN be entertaining when it’s carried out efficiently and effectively but it’ll take more than 3 clean sheets to convince me I’m afraid though I allow myself to be hopeful.
It’s our mo though that it won’t last . That doesn’t mean it can’t though .
The opportunity for us (the club) to build on what , to us , is success has been there a few times over the last few years .
Our inability to win the game that would put us top 4 has been evident since the Payet season .
Our refusal to invest in January windows when the opportunity to kick on and build has hampered us ( Payet season , last Europa run 2 years ago) and Moyes’ 12/13 man favourites squad system has always been a problem but just because we are just ‘little ole West Ham’ and we should know our place doesn’t mean things could not have been even better . It doesn’t mean we have a sense of entitlement it just means we have a little ambition.
Let’s hope a couple more classy additions to the squad this month show that Sullivan’s hopes and wishes for the club match ours .
I mean , Werner or Emineke ? Go figure …
I’m not holding my breath.
The youth are nowhere near ready to be blooded in the first team. They have only just jumped up to u21 level as last year they were playing at u18 level and it showed in that game they played against Wycombe plus the way Mubama gets bullied and barged off the ball by championship defenders that they need to play men's football for a bit first.
I am glad to see Kodua go out on loan as he seems the most developed physically. I think the kids have the technical skill but need to be far stronger physically and that will come as they play more. I think some need to start with a stint at a L1 side. I believe physicality is why Evan Ferguson has found himself benched in recent weeks at Brighton.
Physicality is a huge part of our league in particular. It is why Kane is revelling in playing in Germany where it is not needed as much and why Kudus is so effective. Forward players in England need to be very strong.
As far as Moyes is concerned, I just look at his win rate at West Ham which is ahead of any other manager that has managed West Ham for a season or more. Yes, we have played some smaller European teams but some of our favourite managers have also managed in the second division so that all evens out given the gap between us and the very elite teams is miles wider than it was when countries didn't own clubs.
We have to accept that we cant compete on all levels. We are not at that level yet and dont have enough top class players for this but we are on an upwards trajectory so I am happy with that and It takes a few years to get to a higher level. This season we have performed well in Europe and especially in the League so the Carabao cup was going to be a big ask though I really dont think the players are blameless there but it was made a little better by the results against Man Utd and Arsenal. We wont win the league but we could qualify for Europe again for the fourth time on the spin. Something no-one has ever managed with West Ham before.
I do think some of our fans still would rather we played pretty football even if we lose more games. I hate that glorious loser attitude as we have had that as a club for far too long. We all want to play expansive football AND win a lot but that needs a much bigger investment than we will likely get for the time being so something has to give and I would rather we had seasons like this where we grind out results against teams like Arsenal which was a superb night out. We have to cut our cloth accordingly until a huge investment comes our way though even then it takes a lot of time as Newcastle are starting to experience due to FFP.
This level of improvement year on year is as good as we are likely to see unless we are bought by someone mega rich and in which case my expectation will change accordingly.