Every season it is the same, a building excitement, and a sense of anticipation. Fans of every club are the same – be it hoping for a title, Europe, promotion, a decent cup run, avoiding relegation – whatever the target is.
Before the season commences, everything is on the table, no matter how many years you have supported a club, you dream of a good season. This season, for us Hammers, the anticipation was raised a notch or two, with a new manager and a swathe of new signings.
We knew Aston Villa would be a tricky game – they have an impressive squad, and in Emery, a talented manager. It took just four minutes for our dreams to fade and die, as previous transfer target Andre Onana bundled the ball home. Here we go again.
We got back into it with a Paqueta penalty, but then Duran, a player we had been trying to sign all summer, came off the bench to score the winner. It’s coincidence, but these things all seem so very West Ham when they happen – ex players, bogey players, players we’ve tried to sign, players on a goal drought – enter West Ham and they will score.
My memory isn’t the best, but I seem to remember more opening day defeats than victories. After losing to Villa, it sparked a few memories about opening games, and I had a dig into how we have fared on those opening weekends.
Including the Aston Villa defeat, we have lost our opening Premier League fixture 16 times, more than any other team. ‘Opening day losers, you’ll never sing that’. What is it about that early season game, which we struggle so much with?
Are we stitched up with high-quality opposition, not fit enough, what is it? Looking at the previous four seasons, we have seen a draw away at Bournemouth, a defeat at home to Man City, a win at Newcastle and a home defeat by the Geordies back in 2020.
One win in five, not the best. You’d expect the Man City defeat, and possibly Villa, but we seem to struggle no matter who the opposition. Perhaps it’s the West Ham way to dampen expectations as soon as possible.
The first games of the season can stick in your mind, often for the wrong reasons. I remember travelling to Stamford Bridge in the 200/01 season, for what turned into a goalfest, with some superb goals.
Stellar names Hasselbiank, Di Canio and Zola all scored that day, and we ended up on the wrong end of a 4-2 defeat. There were flashes of hope at 3-2, but Chelsea made it safe with a second Stanic goal. Even back then I can recall thinking ‘we never win the opening game.’
Newcastle crops up when looking at the opening games, and our games against them often produce plenty of goals and a fair whack of controversy. In 20/21 bogeyman Callum Wilson scored his eighth goal in nine league appearances against us, with Jeff Hendrick getting the other.
This was a Newcastle team including Andy Carroll and Jonjo Shelvey – managed by none other than Steve Bruce. The season after the fixtures algorithm gave us Newcastle again, and this time the result was far more pleasing, a 2-4 away win, in front of the Sky cameras.
It looked like we were heading to another Callum Wilson-inspired defeat, and we went into the break 1-2 down, but no, we beat the opening day jinx with goals from Soucek, Benrahma and Antonio. Going further back in the annals of time, another opening day defeat against the Barcodes comes to mind in the 2002/3 season.
It was a Monday night, and on Sky. Back then live Monday night football was still relatively novel, and not everyone had Sky. Hopes were high, and for an hour it remained nil-nil, and then Newcastle blazed in four goals – Lu Lua – twice – Shearer and Solano with the goals.
Our team that night included David James, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Trevor Sinclair and Jermain Defoe. That horrible defeat was a red flag to what would happen that season, with a catastrophic relegation.
In recent years we have also been tonked by both Manchester clubs and Liverpool. We conceded five at home against City in August 2019, four away at Liverpool in August 2018 and at Old Trafford in August 2017, we conceded four.
The more you look at the opening day results, the more depressing they are. We do seem to play the so-called big six quite often on the first day of the season, but we also seem to play teams, like Newcastle and Aston Villa who are in a ‘good patch’.
Oh well, at least the opening game is gone, and we can wait another eleven months until we lose the next one.
Be the first to comment