Brit F Word Spirit Sought By Pelle

If all goes according to plan, West Ham United will be able to call on the services of the irrepressible Michail Antonio following the international break, Antonio's energy and presence have been sorely missed. Along with Lukasz Fabianski's, the injury sustained by Antonio required surgery, however the 'beast' as he is referred to in the dressing room, is fighting fit again and ready to take his place in a team that has become devoid of raw energy in his absence.

Fighting fit and fighting spirit both have 'F' word prefixes, and fighting is the pre-requisite of what Hammers boss Manuel Pellegrini is beginning to understand. Why it has taken a such a dire run of results before he contemplates 'going british' is beyond many fans, incidentally those are the same fans crying out for the investment in top players that culminated in the purchases of Felipe Anderson, Sebastian Haller and Pablo Fornals.

The above mentioned are all top players, but none of them are British, they have no inner allegiance or empathy with a club that is, in many cases, based thousands of miles from their homeland. When the crap his the fan clubs usually soldier on before sacking their manager at great expense before installing a 'safe pair of hands', that safe pair is usually David Moyes or Sam Allardyce, both managers have a similar modus operandi which essentially involves getting the team's home based players to roll up their sleeves and show the 'Carlos Kick Abouts' or 'Johnny Foreigners' what getting stuck in on a cold winter's night is all about!

West Ham United, like many in the Barclays Premier League, do have a lot of foreign players, however the ration of home grown players is similar to clubs in the top six. Real survivors and thrivers from six down cut their cloth according to their income and use a higher percentage of home grown players. The result being, teams like Burnley, Bournemouth, Brighton and Sheffield United are all able to select teams from a squad that has a 'healthy' British back bone, players who have grown up playing in the rain and cold!

All is not lost though, Hammers do have a British contingent, it is just a case of the manager taking the risk of playing them. One of the first changes that fans have implored Pellegrini to make is to replace the hapless Jimenez in goal with David Martin, son of Hammers legend Alvin Martin. Martin may not have played any first team fixtures with the club, but the ex-Millwall stopper cannot be any worse than Roberto Jiminez!

A team featuring Michail Antonio, Aaron Cresswell, Mark Noble, Declan Rice, Ryan Fredericks , Robert Snodgrass and David Martin would at least have enough players who speak the same language and understand the need to 'stand tall', in recent games there has been a distinct lack of urgency and energy that is palpable from the stands, so heaven knows what it must feel like on the pitch!

Despite his wealth of experience, even Manuel Pellegrini must recognise the need for change, something to freshen up a very stale and lethargic squad. He could even throw Nathan Holland in to the mix, as you will have noticed we didn't include Jack Wilshere in the British contingent as he is perpetually injured, but Holland is a different kettle of fish. Having overcome his own injury issues Holland is ready and able to step up to the next level.

It might do a couple of West Ham's 'luxury' players a power of good to be benched and watch players, who might lack their technical talent, putting in a proper shift. Fans at the London Stadium can be extremely fickle, but they recognise when a player puts in a shift, and essentially that is all they ask for. Results are important at the end of the day, but if fans see some real effort from players they can be really forgiving.

Time to 'Brit Up' Pelle. - Ed