It didn’t take long for West Ham supporters’ metaphorical bubble to burst.
There wasn’t much pre-season optimism to go around the East End to begin with, but what little there was faded fast in 90 demoralising minutes against newly-promoted Sunderland on the Premier League’s opening weekend.
It is safe to assume that the Hammers who made the 600-mile round trip to the Stadium of Light have had better Saturdays.
“No spark, no energy, no reaction [to going behind],” was Alan Shearer’s Match of the Day summary of their 3-0 defeat, while former captain and CBS pundit Nigel Reo-Coker has already sounded the “relegation fight” klaxon.
The loss validated West Ham fans’ fears about the upcoming season, a smorgasbord of angst revolving around club structure and strategy, muddled recruitment, contentious player sales, and Graham Potter’s tactics.
Feeding into it all – the apathy, the anger, the disillusionment – is a feeling that the club are almost entirely directionless, drifting along aimlessly and getting left behind by historically smaller clubs.
“There is no plan or clear strategy,” says Dan Lawless, a presenter on West Ham Fan TV and a recent guest on The Overlap.
“We had Tim Steidten as a technical director who was supposed to be overseeing signings and negotiating for players, but he was let go after the January transfer window after some of the summer signings didn’t work out, and he hasn’t been replaced.”
“Frankly, I look at someone like [Evangelos] Marinakis at Nottingham Forest with a bit of jealousy,” adds Benji Lanyado, founder of photography platform Picfair and a contributor to the Totally Football Show.
“I think it was really impressive how they put their foot down and said [Morgan] Gibbs-White is going nowhere, and then on top of that, replacing [Anthony] Elanga with [Dan] Ndoye, who I’ve been really impressed by.
“It was an absolute clarity and ambition in the strategy there that I’m not sure we’ve got.”
A necessary rebuild of Potter’s squad hasn’t yet materialised, with £71m spent on three players (Mads Hermansen, El Hadji Malick Diouf and Jean-Clair Todibo, who was on loan last season) and Callum Wilson and Kyle Walker-Peters joining as free agents.
Mohammed Kudus’ move to Tottenham Hotspur was predictably unpopular among fans and while he was inconsistent in his second and final season, his creativity and direct dribbling were missed on the opening weekend. He supplied two assists on his Premier League debut for Tottenham.
“We’ve had some marquee signings to hang our hats on over the past few summers, and this time around, we don’t really have that,” Lanyado says.
“It’s not looking great at the moment, especially because we cashed in on Kudus, and I don’t think the fans were particularly devastated by that, but we sold him to Spurs.
“And of course, in his first couple of games he’s looked fantastic for them, which suggests maybe the problem wasn’t Kudus, maybe the problem was West Ham…”
Central midfield has been a problem position practically since Declan Rice’s £105m move to Arsenal two years ago, but hasn’t been sufficiently addressed.
James Ward-Prowse, who spent the first half of last season on loan at Nottingham Forest, and Guido Rodriguez, who has been tipped to leave, were Potter’s central midfield partnership at Sunderland. They were overrun and neither finished the match.
“The midfield issues have been there for everyone to see for the best part of nine months,” Lawless says.
“We need energy, pace, legs in that midfield. Someone to be the engine in there and drive us forward. We saw it against Sunderland, and we’ve seen it for the last two years; it’s just sideways and backwards passing, no movement, no mobility.”
Pressure is also mounting on Potter after an underwhelming start to his West Ham tenure. He has lost 10 of his opening 20 matches in all competitions and taken 20 points from his first 19 Premier League games, a tally bettered by 14 clubs over that period.
West Ham’s decision to part with David Moyes for a second time in 2024 was borne out of a desire for the team to play more expansively.
The club highlighted Potter’s “progressive style and flexible tactical approach” in their statement confirming him as Julen Lopetegui’s replacement in January. Those traits haven’t been easily discernible so far.
“It’s hard to see that there has been any particular transformation in strategy or playing style, and actually, we still look like a bit of a counterattacking team,” Lanyado says.
“I’m yet to see any of this fluid passing possession ball that we wanted to see if we were going to take a risk and get rid of Moyes.”
“The only evidence I saw of that [a change in style] was his first game in charge against Aston Villa,” Lawless adds.
“That first half, I was so excited on the edge of my seat with how we were playing. There was a lot more energy, a lot more intensity, pressing, winning the ball back early. Since then, we’ve just gone back to slow build-up play.”
There is some sympathy for Potter that the squad has not been sufficiently revamped this summer.
“If Potter could choose his ideal centre forward, would he choose [Niklas] Fullkrug with Callum Wilson in reserve? I’m not so sure,” Lanyado questions.
But with limited evidence of any improvement being made, patience is becoming stretched.
For many, though, the malaise extends well beyond the team and manager. Frustration is being directed at the board, especially joint-chair David Sullivan and vice-chair Karen Brady, over the club’s trajectory. There is a clear strategy in place at some Premier League clubs; West Ham are not one of them.
Some have never forgiven them for moving the club from Upton Park and relocating to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford.
Lawless gave up his season ticket this season and claims numerous others have done the same.
Your next read
“There’s been a handful of nights [at the London Stadium] over the years where I can say, ‘wow that was great, what a great atmosphere and experience’,” he says.
“But the stadium itself doesn’t feel like home for me. It feels like a neutral ground. It’s a rented stadium, so all the West Ham branding is temporary. It can get pulled down and put back up when there’s athletics on.
“The match day experience just doesn’t feel like West Ham.”
The atmosphere could turn frosty if the team struggle against Potter’s former club, Chelsea, in the first home game of the campaign on Friday.
Conversely a win or, at the very least, an improved performance, would provide a timely boost, as would a couple of new recruits.
from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/VHTW8kD
Post a Comment