Going in to a 'compressed fixtures' season with a light weight squad was always going to be a tall ask for David Moyes, and so it came to pass with long term injuries to two of his most trusted first teamers, Michail Antonio and Authur Masuaku, each one a linch pin in the team he had forged using the Moyes template.
There can be no criticism for any lack of planning, the unfortunate fact is that previous manager Manuel Pellegrini's profligate player acquisitions left absolutely nothing in the kitty, moreover it also left the unpleasant obligation to pay off for his mistakes for a considerable period of time to come, in what is already the most fiscally challenging period in the club's history!
Something had to give, but no one had anticipated losing both Antonio and Masuaku at the same time for lengthy periods during the season as it now looks will happen. The injuries mean that Moyes has been forced to change from his preferred three at the back to a more conventional set up, and since then results have not been so good.
Normally the transfer window opening as it will on January the 1st would be accompanied by all sorts of speculation, West Ham usually feature prominently in the Gossip columns, however this window, without a shadow of a doubt will be a 'very, very quiet' window. The simple fact is there is no money to spend, any significant acquisitions would have to be funded by player sales in an already incredibly stifled market, values have dropped by at least 40%, in some cases closer to home, a whole lot more!
Younger fans will have been distressed to see the club tumble down the Barclays Premier League to end up in 10th place for Christmas, instead of possibly 5th, but it should be remembered that most Hammers fans would have snapped your arm off to be in mid table at this time of the season instead of being embroiled in a relegation scrap, be careful what you wish for, but be grateful for what you have! - Ed
Comments
Agreed
Nev 21 points at this time of the season is great and halfway to safety this early
Yep Agree NHI
21 points is great,next week 3 games in a week will define our season I'm quietly optimistic
could not been foreseen?
I beg to differ Nev...since when have we had a long term injury to fringe players? its always key first team players we get injured.....we do not have any forward planning as the younger players who always get mentioned never seem to get a chance or themselves(apart from johnson) get injured so how is our academy helping?we have just Acquired a young lad Alves who i no nothing about but already being mentioned he is more for the u23 side and one for the future and admirable as that is i rmbr a Doneil Henry who was rated highly and yet he disappeared.....and coffers are bare i for one simply do not believe it the years we have had in the prem and not invested and then the board buckle because of the protests gathering momentum and give £100million out to spend on players and yes we as fans could not believe that but it was a one off and now with the added problem of covid the board now has the excuses it needs to tighten the purse strings further...it had been noticed by how it did not seem to put off other clubs spending and i am not talking about the obvious spenders i am talking about those clubs at our supposed level.
i think
21 points and hopefully more bye january is much better than a relegation battle any day
With you on that one Elt!!!
With you on that one Elt!!!
With the greatest respect to
With the greatest respect to all i dont get this" middle of the table is fine "talk ,just a few short weeks ago we were on the brink of great things ,a new beginning,3rd or 4th place was a possibility, most of us were getting nose bleeds ,now back to mid table and a bleak outlook ,same old same old west ham .
How long are we going to keep blaming past managers when the problem seems to be the sanctioning of funds,masive funds for dubious players 2 in particular,sure everyone of us were delighted with the news that Anderson and Haller were joining us ,what we didnt know was that we were buying a couple of duds ,someone ,somewhere along the line has to be answerable we are talking 70 million bucks here ,is it as simple as Pele goes up to the dildos and say allo mates ,how you doin ,oh and by the way i want 70 million for a couple of daygos they should nt want more than 70 -80 grand a week .
And they just hand it over ,their two crafty buisness men ,im sure they can see when their being played ,
Maybe to some clubs its chicken feed but i remember the time when 70 million was considered quite a lot of money .
Im still of the opinion that something iffy went on here with these two tranferes ,back handers and bungs and im officially calling for an internal inquiry into the matter ,i would like you Nev ,or the chairman of the supporters club ,or anyone that can get some answers on behalf of all west ham supporters, in case you think this is in jest Nev may i reiterate that i think theres a major scandal brewing on this matter and i will be wtiting to the board ,the joint owners and possibly Mr Moyes himself wanting to know why he insits on playing Haller every week when the world and his mother knows he is not worth 4,000 let alone 44 million
Some very good points Burkie
Some very good points Burkie and feel your frustration. Lets be clear, those porn twins are up to their necks in all manner of underhand dealings and it will just be a question of time before they are caught.
The constant picking of Haller is questionable but the fact remains we are down to our last bones for not invested in a true striker. The Beast for me was always a stop gap, hes never been a natural in that position but did / does a great job. The question is what is the alternative to Haller? Yarmmolenko? Not fit. Benrahma? A kid from the reserves?