The Great Escape, is it going to happen? That seems to be the question on every West Ham fan’s lips. The thing is the reference doesn’t hold sway. The real Great Escape happened in World War II and yes more than 70 escaped at the time but all but three were caught and many were executed.
It seems that their plans clearly didn’t work. West Ham are of course planning for another Great Escape. We have done it all before. I’ve seen the ecstasy and the disappointment throughout my history of supporting West Ham. I was there on that last day at Old Trafford when a Tevez goal kept us in the Premier League. I was also there at St Andrews and despite the heroics of Paul DiCanio we were still relegated because other results went against us. So what of this year?
The Rollercoaster of Hope and Optimism
We have given ourselves a fighting chance, that’s a fact and recent results have been pretty good. However, it’s the West Ham way to give us this sort of optimism. The team gives us hope and then it all comes crashing back down. Take a recent game against Manchester City, that was a game most of us had written off and then lo and behold we get a point, a precious point out of nowhere.
Then just a few days later we travel to Aston Villa where many of us believed we were going to get points from. I believed we would sneak a draw. Instead our performance was less than satisfactory and Villa came away with a comfortable win. It almost felt as if we were back to square one.
However the decline of Tottenham Hotspur has been a joy to behold and to see them lose at home 3-0 to Nottingham Forest was at least some small comfort. But can we rely on the results of other teams? At the moment, the worst thing going for us is our goal difference; it’s vastly inferior to those above us and it brings into question, do we need to not only pick up points in tight games but also cast caution to the wind and push for goals.
Tactical Dilemmas and the Defined Path
That will of course leave us potentially vulnerable at the back. Nuno is clearly being paid big bucks to decide on the right path going forward. But it’s clear that April is going to be the month that defines our season. April is the first full month in spring. The question remains will we spring out of the relegation zone?
We have three clear games in which we have the opportunity to rack up points. Let’s not forget that we are not playing any of the teams from the top six. Yes, Everton may have an outside chance of Europe but our games against Wolverhampton and Palace are ones we should be targeting for points and also for goals.
The Midlands Challenge and South London Blues
First step is a Friday night clash against Wolverhampton Wanderers on a Friday night, not a great time of the week for any of us, and of course it will be on TV. Looking at the fixture list Burnley have a tougher run in than Wolves and no doubt Wolves will be playing for pride and determined not to finish bottom of the league, so they will be pushing us all the way.
This is a game we have to win but it won’t be easy. The last time we played Wolves up in the Midlands, we were embarrassed. They were bottom of the league and then beat us 3-0. It was a shocking performance. We have to bounce back from that one and we have to get all three points this time out. If we don’t, heads may go down and the team will put added pressure on them for the next two fixtures.
The next one is away to Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. There seems to be a psychological barrier in that we struggle when we’re in South London. If we grab all three points against Wolves, we should be up for this one. Regardless we have to push for an away win against Palace.
The Everton Factor and the Mental Game
If we can get six points from those two games, then that will put us in a good state for the visit of Everton. The Toffees believe that they have an outside chance of getting into Europe and David Moyes will be pushing for that. If we’ve already picked up six points from the previous two games, a draw wouldn’t be a bad result, but of course we need to push for all three and that could be difficult but not impossible.
It’s clearly a mind game; Win the two earlier games and the players and the team will be on a high, not get the results that we want and we will go into that game with their heads down and the pressure all on us to get the three points, and not only that to sort out our goal difference which could be even worse than it is now.
Television Schedules and Supporter Influence
There is an added variable in that two of the three games are on television. One is now scheduled for a Friday night and one for a Monday night. This is going to affect people attending. Everyday life gets in the way and it could mean that the ground will not be filled to capacity or not with the die hard West Ham supporters.
If any of these games see us begin to falter during the 90 minutes, it may be a worry that the supporters will not get behind the team. But then again the team has to show willingness to ensure the supporters do get behind them so it’s a double edged sword.
Destiny in Our Own Hands
It would be easy to start looking at the fixture list for Tottenham, Nottingham Forest and Leeds. But our destiny is still in our own hands. At the moment it is almost regardless of what those other teams do in their fixtures. We cannot rely on other teams failing, we must fight to the better end.
The bookies are convinced that we will be relegated even AI is convinced that we will be relegated. However, we are seen as the swing team in that we are the one that holds the balance. Burnley and Wolves are gone but everything points to us still having a chance to survive.
The clear worry is not only points differential but also goal difference. At the moment that looks like an extra point for the teams above us and so we have to work harder to win games. Do we push and throw caution to the wind to reduce that goal difference or do we just go for points?
These three games will define our season. Our last game at home against Leeds will be one I feel that we will still need to get some form of result. I don’t want to look over my shoulder at other teams on that day. I want our destiny to be in our own hands.
The Great Escape happened all those years ago at Old Trafford and didn’t happen at St Andrew’s, can we achieve it this season? The team has the ability to do it, the question is will they rise to the occasion like they did against Manchester City or will they sit back and disappear like they did at Villa Park? By the end of the month, I guess we’ll know the answer to that question and a better understanding of just where we will be next season.
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