Archive for February 21, 2023
Too good to go down?
The question is written on the wall. And the writing gets more and more terrifying for West Ham United, the longer the Hammers are not winning enough to climb up the table.
West Ham had not lost for one month, but had only picked up one win and two draws from their three Premier League matches since their defeat against Wolves in mid-January. And with their 0-2 against Tottenham on Sunday they are third from bottom now.
“Under Avram Grant we were on 20 points from 23 games,” Denis of the Austrian supporters club hinted at the coincidences with the season of 2010/11. “We got relegated [with Grant as manager], this season exactly the same.”
And Clemens of Austrian Irons said: Moyes “definitely has to go after yesterday. Spurs were not great but we were abysmal. Just sat back, non existent at the front. Moyes has no idea or game plan. Sets up the same everytime. All the opponents have worked it out already. Too easy for them.”
The statistics show how everything which was good the last two seasons at West Ham has changed:
In an interview following the 2-0 defeat at Tottenham, captain Declan Rice hinted that all is not well in the West Ham camp. The 23-year-old delivered a thinly-veiled critique of manager David Moyes’ game plan when speaking to Sky Sports after the game suggesting that Moyes’ safety-first tactical approach was hindering the team’s ability to score goals – an issue that has been present all season.
With regards to the manner in which West Ham approached the game, he added: “When you play with five at the back and the three, like we set up today, maybe our strikers felt a bit isolated when we got the ball up to them — they didn’t really have enough around them, not enough support.”
Looking ahead to next weekend’s relegation clash with Nottingham Forest, Rice admitted the team need to step up – but insisted that surviving the dreaded drop was still in the team’s own hands.
David Moyes said: “Look, we all, with me at the front of it, have got to put our chests out and get on with it.”
With the success of the last two seasons in mind, it’s hard to believe that this team could go down. It’s better than the squad which Avram Grant had on his hand 2010/11 when West Ham was relegated for the last time so far, but in 2002/03 when the Hammers were relegated previously, no one really thought that a team with Di Canio, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Jermain Defoe, Trevor Sinclair and other very good players would go down.
This season has some coincidences to then, let’s hope they won’t go so far. But the question is if David Moyes still is the man to motivate the Hammers squad to pull up their sleeves and avoid the drop this term!
EXTRA TIME 
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