Striking A Fair Balance

With the limited funds available West Ham managed to acquire almost all of their transfer targets before the window closed, strengthening in all areas bar one. The conundrum facing David Moyes was how to plug all the gaps, to this purpose the Irons manager was pragmatic and realised he would have to use almost all of his budget and risk having to pay 'destabilising wages' in order to bring a bona fide top striker to the club. He therefore decided to use the money elsewhere by fortifying the defence while adding to squad's firepower with an attacking midfielder.

The other main issue that Moyes had with bringing in a top class' striker was that whoever was going to come in would have to play 2nd fiddle to Michail Antonio, good strikers generally have massive egos, so finding one happy to sit on the bench was a tall order.

Ah but big Mich always gets injured so surely the player coming in would know that he would become the main man sooner rather than later, especially given Hammers extra commitments, particularly during MAD September during which month many Hammers players will have played an astonishing NINE games!

However that requires a certain amount of blind faith and patience, what if Antonio doesn't pick up his usual amount of injuries? Top drawer strikers don't like sitting on the bench, their disenfranchisement can be infectious, Moyes has put together a band of brothers with a team spirit second to none, why risk unsettling that harmony?

Of course it would have been good to get another striker in, but finding one willing to accept the kind of terms that would have been on offer, both financial and from an appearance point of view, proved to be impossible while operating within a constrained budget.

The team HAS goals in it, that is clear to see even early on in the season, the problem has been the defence which has been porous to say the least, neither Lukasz Fabianski nor Craig Dawson have covered themselves in glory thus far. It would be surprising to see Dawson start the next game, which is away to Southampton, Kurt Zouma is definitely an upgrade from Dawson, his agility, power and speed make him an ideal signing and his presence should bring a new found resilience to the defence.

Fabianski is a different situation, there are those who feel his frailties have been exposed due to the poor defending in front of him, they have a point, but 'Fab's' kicking has never been the same since his serious thigh injury which he doesn't look as if he has made a full recovery from.

It may not have been a 'perfect' transfer window, but it was as good as it could have been, it should also be remembered that the club retained it's best players, unlike some other clubs! LN