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Pressure is mounting on West Ham boss Sam Allardyce and the season hasn’t even started yet. It’s never boring at Upton Park, is it?
What happened last season
The Hammers came a semi-respectable 13th and while fans were largely happy with that finish and their run to the semi-final of the League Cup, it got pretty tense.
Battling relegation and a stack of injuries for much of the season, West Ham was bottom of the table at the start of the new year but clawed back with a fabulous February, which saw Allardyce crowned Manager of the Month, and secured their safety.
Their 51 goals conceded was one of the best tallies in the bottom half of the league but for all their defensive resilience, the football produced by West Ham was stodgy and uninspiring and stirred up a bit of unrest in the stands. Big Sam once argued that if his surname was ‘Allardici’ he’d be a top four boss, but it is what it is and he needs to oversee improvement this term to keep his job.
What happened in the off-season
Plenty. Young gun Ravel Morrison is off his rocker – last week he was granted bail after an alleged assault on his ex-girlfriend and her mother, threatening to throw acid in her face and blow up her house. Then he put up a photo on Instagram of him in a Ferrari wearing the new Arsenal home shirt. So that’s grand.
Meanwhile, Andy Carroll has an ankle injury that will keep him sidelined for up to four whole months. The Hammers are sniffing around for a replacement and have apparently set their sights on Stoke City’s Peter Crouch, which I guess makes perfect sense.
In terms of transfer activity, there was plenty of it early in the break. Joe Cole and Alou Diarra head the list of 11 players who have been released from last season’s squad while six have come in – young defender Carl Jenkinson (on loan from Arsenal), left-back Aaron Cresswell, the promising Diego Poyet, Senegal international Cheikhou Kouyate, and two South American forwards, Mauro Zarate and Enner Valencia. More on the latter, later. Additional fresh faces are said to be on the way.
The less said of West Ham’s pre-season campaign, however, perhaps the better. A-League fans got an up-close glimpse of exactly where West Ham is at when they headed to New Zealand for the Football United tour. Safe to say that losing to both Wellington Phoenix (2-1) and Sydney FC (3-1) wasn’t part of the plan.
Why West Ham fans should be excited about the 2014/15 season
Cheer up! This is a good squad at Big Sam’s disposal and he is a specialist at keeping teams away from relegation danger and in the Premier League. In Valencia and Zarate he has brought in two quality attackers to help solve the club’s biggest problem, their inability to score goals.
The great Teddy Sheringham has been brought in as an attacking coach and if anyone can make the pieces fit together, it’s him.
Meanwhile, the Hammers already have a solid defensive platform from which to build on. Kiwi stopper Winston Reid is quality, as is their goalkeeper Adrian. There are some doomsayers who are tipping West Ham for the drop, but let’s be honest – the situation could be a lot worse.
The main man that can carry West Ham’s 2014/15 hopes
With Carroll out of action until probably around Christmas time, there will be plenty expected of Ecuador international Enner Valencia, who made a name for himself at the World Cup, scoring three goals and emerging as one of the tournament’s breakout stars.
The £12m signing from Pachuca in Mexico will be key to Allardcye’s mission to bring more exciting football to Upton Park. He’s big, he’s strong, he’s quick, he can play centrally or on the right, and – for now at least – he has a good injury record. In many ways he is a complete striker.
Valencia scored 18 goals in Mexico’s top flight and, yes, that’s a long way off the quality of the competition he is about to make his debut in, his style feels like a perfect fit for both West Ham and the Premier League. Allardyce will he hoping he can make an immediate impact.
Verdict – Mid-table battlers
Aspirations of European qualification are probably a bit much, but by the same token, so is predicting West Ham to fall into a relegation tangle. They’ve made some serious investments in players and dramatically improved last year’s squad, which – don’t forget – was decimated by injuries. It’s all on Big Sam now to produce the goods. The first month or two of the season will tell the tale.
West Ham side to compete in 2014/15
Goalkeeper: (13) Adrian, (22) Jussi Jaaskelainen.Defender: (19) James Collins, (na) Aaron Cresswell, (20) Guy Demel, (39) Callum Driver, (na) Carl Jenkinson, (2) Winston Reid, (5) James Tomkins.
Midfield: (na) Jack Collison, (21) Momo Diame, (18) Alou Diarra, (23) Stewart Downing, (7) Matthew Jarvis, (na) Cheikhou Kouyate, (17) George Moncur, (15) Ravel Morrison, (16) Mark Noble, (4) Kevin Nolan, (17) Joey O’Brien, (na) Diego Poyet, (na) Pele Ruddock.
Forwards: (9) Andy Carrol, (24) Carlton Cole, (43) Jaanai Gordon-Hutton, (11) Modibo Maiga, (12) Richardo Vaz Te, (na) Enner Valencia, (na) Mauro Zarate.
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