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crystal falace 4:37 Wed Oct 30
Issues and points to note after the first 10 games

https://www.football.london/west-ham-united-fc/news/midfielders-squad-depth-smashing-norwich-17170063

Decent article from Inkersole summing up what have been mostly the questions asked on here over the last few weeks.

Texas Iron 5:26 Fri Nov 1
Re: Issues and points to note after the first 10 games

Razzle got it right on...!!!

Side of Ham 4:32 Fri Nov 1
Re: Issues and points to note after the first 10 games

Our spending is very low considering we have moved stadiums to apparently compete with the big boys. The big clubs are generally topping up their squads from spending heavily but sporadically since the formation of the PL. West Ham have never done this and under these owners never will.

Razzle 4:31 Fri Nov 1
Re: Issues and points to note after the first 10 games

observations first 10 games.
We are a bit shit, got a bit lucky, got into a reasonable position in the table, played shit and got knocked out the cup by a league 1 team, played shit ever since, slid down to more of our natural position and will finish in the bottom 9.

There is no pace, especially upfront (record is broken on this - the modern game demands it). Our set up which is 1-4-1-4-1 doesnt work.
The team lacks bite, hunger and desire.

They are fucking boring.

Alex V 4:21 Fri Nov 1
Re: Issues and points to note after the first 10 games

claret on my shirt 3:51 Fri Nov 1

Agreed. Generating funds from sales is a clear and obvious weakness under Sullivan. Less sales, less funds, less new players, less progress.

SUM A DING WONG 4:16 Fri Nov 1
Re: Issues and points to note after the first 10 games

Also by them spending more on better players, they have a better team, which will then raise the price of their cheaper and/or homegrown players.

Im thinking out loud here, so I'm just trying to put another perspective on what you're saying.

SUM A DING WONG 4:07 Fri Nov 1
Re: Issues and points to note after the first 10 games

Alex V,

Those clubs (with the exception of maybe Leicester) still spent more money on better players, thus being able to command more when selling.

Would you not agree?

claret on my shirt 3:51 Fri Nov 1
Re: Issues and points to note after the first 10 games

Alex V 2:57 Fri Nov 1

Another major issue is we don't find players or bring player through the youth system and sell them on for big money, Bale, Coutinho, Suarez, Maguire, Hazard all spring to mind in the teams you mentioned.

Alex V 2:57 Fri Nov 1
Re: Issues and points to note after the first 10 games

Big Dawg 11:15 Fri Nov 1

As usual, I feel the facts on this topic are being twisted. Many clubs you somehow fail to mention have also spent less than us in the market in the past 5 years - Spurs, Liverpool, Chelsea and Leicester among them. If our spending is 'very low' how do you classify theirs? Where is your scathing criticism of Liverpool's 'very very low' spending?

The truth is that there is no magic figure which denotes failure or success/ambition in this regard. If you succeed on a lower spend it could be said to be a more ambitious and successful approach. Spending what we have and achieving pretty much nothing is incredibly bad value for money - that's the criticism imo.

There has been a bunch of clubs who got promoted with low wage costs, and were able to funnel a lot of high-risk spending quickly into their squads - Brighton, Wolves, Bournemouth etc. We were never in that position, so those comparisons come with a huge caveat. Clubs who know they will be relegated will likely deduce that spending more is a risk worth taking. Perhaps the biggest curse with West Ham is we know we could spend a lot less and probably still remain a mid-table side.

Westside 2:17 Fri Nov 1
Re: Issues and points to note after the first 10 games

Think the points needed to avoid relegation will be a little higher this year. Last year after 10 games the 3rd (and 4th) bottom team had 5 points. This year 8 points.

34 points and better goal difference for safety last year. 36 this year I reckon.

Pessimistic considering that? Possibly, but we've hardly been setting the world on fire recently, against not very good opposition.

claret on my shirt 1:02 Fri Nov 1
Re: Issues and points to note after the first 10 games

It''s a decent piece but we don't get crosses into the big lump haller, we have zero pace and the biggest issue is the same one as always, lack of investment. We were promised money and next level if we moved to the running track stadium, neither has happened!

North Bank 11:35 Fri Nov 1
Re: Issues and points to note after the first 10 games

Falace regarding Fornals like you I watched him a couple of times and he looked decent scorin a couple of goals along the way, one a stunner

However Ceballos at Real who also has a big reputation went on loan to Arsenal and he's struggling to make an impact and get much game time so I suppose they were hyped up a tad and the reality is they're average Prem standard at best

Takashi Miike 11:33 Fri Nov 1
Re: Issues and points to note after the first 10 games

they've never spent 'a lot of money '

crystal falace 11:31 Fri Nov 1
Re: Issues and points to note after the first 10 games

I was optimistic about our chances going into the season but i think that had as much to do with expecting potentially 4 of the "big 6" to be taking varying levels of steps backwards.

I was really excited about the fornals signing having watched him in the U21s for spain in the summer, i still think he'll come good, needs to be given the chance to play more centrally

Big Dawg 11:15 Fri Nov 1
Re: Issues and points to note after the first 10 games

I been trying to get point across, our net spend is very low! Its a misconception that we have spent a lot of money. Our net spend over the past 5 years is £150 m, clubs like Brighton, Bournemouth, Wolves and Villa have splashed out more!

We spent £23m this summer.

£23m!!

Surely our owners could have spent another 30-35m on a decent CM!

J.Riddle 12:41 Thu Oct 31
Re: Issues and points to note after the first 10 games

Pellegrini factor seriously inhibited by the owners budgets IMO but as 3rd highest paid manager he came anyway.

Got to be a much cheaper way for the two bobs to raise supporters expectations and talk of the top six by paying a more high profile manager to come in on £9m per year than signing even one high profile player.

There's the rub.

Sir Alf 12:26 Thu Oct 31
Re: Issues and points to note after the first 10 games

Brutal truth there Mr Flash

Squad weakened.

The fees for Haller and Fornals offset by weakening the squad overall by selling . Net spend of 30 mill after the large spend previous window. Brings us back in line with the average of 40 - 50 million

It’s a budget that is for treading water. No problem other than the club and owners lying every season about top 6 and Europe and moving us on that promise

Pellegrini factor seriously inhibited by the owners budgets IMO but as 3rd highest paid manager he came anyway

jack flash 8:51 Wed Oct 30
Re: Issues and points to note after the first 10 games

I've been supporting West Ham for far too long to be optimistic at the start of every season

This season many thought we'd be pushing for a top 6 place for some reason!

Looking at our signings this summer, despite all the hype, I honestly think we've moved backwards

Arnautovic for Haller was like for like, but also several of our other strikers left and simply weren't replaced. Ajeti is hardly a replacement for Hernandez

Fornals came as a highly regarded midfield magician. Given time, he might be, but he's been underwhelming so far to say the least.

But the real point here is that we really didn't need another lightweight fancy dan to play alongside Lanzini & Anderson but we desperately needed & still need a combatative ball winning box to box midfielder

Our full backs, particularly LB are nowhere near good enough, yet bizarrely, the slow ageing Cresswell gets signed on a long contract!

As for goalkeepers, nothing more needs to be said

Still having Lanzini & Yarmelenko back from injury is like having two new signings!

The summer signings have not strengthened our squad from last season

LeroysBoots 8:16 Wed Oct 30
Re: Issues and points to note after the first 10 games

Didnt take much to work out that our squad has been very poor for years.

The problem is every season we get wrapped up with the shite the club tells us

"Record breaking striker signed"

"Spanish superstar"

They dress it all up as how great they are for doing these deals...whilst chipping away and draining the squad even further and bagging the wages"

Countless windows of underinvestment brings us to where we stand today

A bang average side
A crap squad
A fairly decent manager asked to perform miracles on a budget

factory seconds 6:18 Wed Oct 30
Re: Issues and points to note after the first 10 games

a goal a piece for anderson, lanzini and fornals and we'd look a different team. we'd still have our arris in the breeze waiting for a abuse, but we'd score a few going the other way too.

couldn't stand the way we played versus the whippet diddlers. cheering for all 20 corners like they were a goal knowing full well fuck all was going to come from them.

Mex Martillo 5:33 Wed Oct 30
Re: Issues and points to note after the first 10 games

Not a bad read, thanks Falace.
I dare say we could have written that and perhaps better! But we didn’t

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