Where do we even begin to start to unpack everything that’s happened over the last month? Honestly, how long have you got?
The Reality Check: Wolves and Forest
Looking back at the fixtures against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest, the hope for any West Ham fan was a minimum of four points.
If you were being realistic, you were looking for three points against Wolves and then at least a point at home against Forest. That was the baseline thought before a ball was kicked.
The reality, however, has been a bitter pill to swallow. The most discouraging aspect for me was that first-half performance against Wolves. When you are playing against teams that are around you in a relegation scrap, you need to show a lot more than what we produced that day. That forty-five minutes did the damage, and in this league, if you don’t show up for half the game, you’re asking for trouble.
The Need for Calm in the Chaos
I’ve been there. I’ve been in that situation and played in teams that have been down at the bottom. When you’re in that position, the message from the senior figures and the coaching staff has to be: “Have a little bit of calm.”
You cannot afford to run around like a loose cannon just because the stakes are high. It is a big game, of course, but you have to play with a level of composure. That first half in the West Midlands was desperate.
Opposition fans – whether they support Brighton, Fulham, or Forest – might point out that we’ve put in some “okay” performances lately. But let’s be honest: “okay” performances aren’t going to get you points when you’re fighting for your life. Currently, we lack the essential ingredients to push ourselves up the table. We look like we’re never going to keep a clean sheet for love or money, and it doesn’t look like we’re going to score many at the other end. That is a recipe for disaster.
The Seven-Point Gap
There’s a massive psychological difference between a three-point gap and a seven-point gap. When you are one win away from safety, you feel like it’s still in your hands. But seven points?
That is essentially three wins. If Forest are the closest team to us, the concern is that we’ve played them twice. We can’t pull back points directly from them anymore. We are at the stage where we are scratching around, but at some point, you have to do it on the pitch on a regular basis.
Ending the Selection Lottery
People ask me if I’m still positive. You have to be. But for the next few games, there has to be a shift in approach. We need to try and play the same team. I know injuries happen, but as a rule, we need to field the side the manager perceives is his best XI and let them find a rhythm.
One of the most frustrating things for me lately is that whenever we turn up for a match, you’re never quite sure who is going to play. That uncertainty has persisted over a long period, and it has to change.
The Last Throw of the Dice
As for the new signings, only time will tell. It looks like the last throw of the dice. We need to see if they are out-and-out centre forwards, or if one can play behind the other or out on the wing. Those are the questions the management needs to answer quickly to feel out the personnel around them.
Football is a game of opinions, and the manager will ultimately live and die by his decisions. There’s been movement in the squad, and if there are players that the manager simply isn’t going to use, then we need to get them off the books and move forward. The decision to let players like Callum Wilson go might be surprising to some given our lack of goals, but if Nuno feels they don’t fit, he has to make that call.
Derby Days and the Fight Ahead
I suspect Nuno will be around for the near future, especially having just brought in two new strikers. However, we need to see people who are up for the fight. It has been sad to see how divided everyone is at a time when we need to be pulling together.
We have a tough run to the end of the month with games against the likes of Spurs and Chelsea. But you have to look for the positive spin: we’ve had games where we performed “okay” and got nothing; perhaps it’ll work the other way.
Having played in those big London derbies myself, I know exactly what’s at stake. That feeling needs to be transferred to the players so they understand the gravity of the situation. Spurs aren’t exactly pulling up any trees at the minute, and it would be classic West Ham to lose to Wolves and Forest but then go and beat Tottenham or Chelsea.
A Call for Consistency
For me, the biggest issue is the personnel lottery. You have to have a steady core – at least seven players who will play regardless, with the other three or four spots determined by injuries or tactical tweaks for a specific opponent.
At the moment, you go to a game and you just don’t know who is starting at centre-half or in midfield. Something has to happen sooner rather than later. We need a settled side, a bit of composure, and a lot more fight. We can’t keep scratching around; we need to start doing it on the pitch.
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