Forum | General Discussion

It was inevitable that Alan Pardew was going to get the sack, nice man but not always such a good manager! Big Sam will step into his shoes as easy as an italian loather. and why not? He will save their season, hopefully not at the expense of West Ham's own survival!

I've noticed over the past few weeks that we're back to grasping at straws as to why we aren't playing well? Is it the formation? The manager? The stadium? The owners? The players? The fans? Well I think it's all of it. But mainly it;s the players. Firstly we've never been a side that smashes the minnows, why do we now think we are? I think we've forgotten how we capitulated a top four finish from January onwards last season. Yes we left the Boleyn on a massive high, but as always we didn't win anything for it. I think as fans we are the most nostalgic, sentimental and over emotional fans out there. What we are and have always been, apart from a couple of years in our history, are also rans. We see "86 as our greatest season, when really it was our biggest failure. We've always tried to be everyone else's other team. The reason we were because we're never threatened anything. Now we're expected to win every game. Why? Because of Payet? He's maybe not even the best player at West Ham let alone in the league. Yes he's a world class International, but only if he fancies it. In the last 30 years we've had three stand out players, Di Canio, Tevez and now Payet. Arsenal have three now in Sanchez, Ozil and Cech, Man City have them in Aguero, De Bryne, Silva and Sterling. Liverpool, Chelsea, Man U, Tottenham all have more than one player and have had every season. This is why they should, and do beat the crap teams and why they challenge. We are in a different league to them, we are in with the likes of Everton, Southampton, Stoke and Leicester. Leicester won the Premiership because three of their players were better than everyone else last season. This season they're not and they're struggling by comparison. If we are to get players of the ilk of Sturridge, Fabregas and Joe Hart I think we could push up to where Tottenham are. In my eyes it's as simple as that. Better players equals better results and performances. The manager, fans, stadium are all secondary in my book. As great a career as Pep Guardiola has had, he's always managed the best players in the League he's been in. Bilic wants to play like Conte does, but Conte has better players, that's why it works. No round pegs in square holes, two quality players for every position. Bilic has a thankless task of trying to find a way of getting Payet, Noble, Lanzini, Kouyate, Carroll, Cresswell and Reid all on a pitch that suits them all. If he had better players he would start with his formation and style of play then fill in the names. I think he's got a difficult job, and by the sounds of some of you on here, very little time, which surprises and doesn't surprise me at the same time. Whoever comes in 442,433, 541,352, 532 whatever I just don't think we have the personnel to commute any higher than a top 10 team.

what is clear is that the team does not seem to have a clear shape or style and strategy. i am not sure what Bilic is trying to achieve this season. last year he set the team up in a 4-2-3-1 counter attack. it worked really well for the most part. this year he's chopped and changed between a back 3 and back 4. he's muddled with 3-4-3 and 5-4-1. now I'm all for a manager that is prepared to tinker and change to suit certain matches but the problem here is we look like a team that has absolutely no game plan or fixed shape. i can't tell if the plan is to get players wide to service carroll or to push payet and lanzini as attacking midfielders or what. if the plan is total football then I'm afraid its totally dire. Bilic really needs to decide on a formation and game plan. for me it has to be a back four. the excuses are that he hasn't got a right back well two things here…one he has arbeloa while byram is out. two why didnt he buy someone good then? the last two games have been almost embarrassing to call wins. I'm delighted with the points and am the first to say the result is what matters but lets be honest if we keep needing the ref to give us a penalty and hold our breath at the other end we are not going to do much this season. if payet is the main playmaker then the formation should dictate play through him. there should be a solid foundation and then give payet a free role to create. at the moment its almost like theres 3 players lanzini, payet and antonio who are all told to roam around aimlessly. they need clear and guided instruction. carroll is useful. he holds it up and brings the team up the field. surely Bilic can come up with a clear defined method of play? our passing is abysmal as no one seems to really know who's running where. if antonio is playing wide right, then let him run the channel like a train up and down…but half the time he's at right back trying to stop the wide players. then when he gets forward no one seems to know where he is.