Forum | Non-Football Related

Saturday afternoon's match against Southampton has little relevance on paper, Saints secured their premiership status last week and Hammers, already way safe from relegation, cannot reach a Europa league seventh spot following Everton's victory against Burnley yesterday evening.

So there seems little to play for except pride and league position, the latter being worth around £1.5 Million per place above the drop zone, so if Hammers finish 9th they will receive £12 Million in 'bonus' payments. However the match is really significant to several fringe players who will be under scrutiny, Manuel Pellegrini has not made his mind up fully regarding one or two of them, so the Saints match and the last fixture away to Watford will be the last chance for them to show that their services should be retained.

Samir Nasri, Pedro Obiang and Lucas Perez are the players on the cusp, if they are included in the match day squad then they may have the chance to prove themselves, if they are not it would appear their fate is already sealed. - Ed

With The Hammers sitting mid table and this being the likely resting place for the 2018/2019 season, has progress been made, or should we be expecting more? We take a look over the high’s and lows and consider what we should expect in 2019/2020.

The season started pretty abysmally, seeing us lose our first four games. We were firmly rooted to the foot of the table and plenty of bookies were tipping us for the drop. But if we look at who we played and how the season has panned out, losses against Liverpool, Arsenal and even Wolves shouldn’t be seen in such a terrible light, given those respective team’s performances over the season. These were also Pellegrini’s first games in charge and it can take time for a team to gel and play to the style that any new manager requires.

Things picked up from there and slowly we began to climb the table. Victories against Everton and Man Utd, as well as a draw against Chelsea saw us climb to 14th and from there it was a gradual progression with consistent results helping The Hammers drive Northwards in the table.

Since the turn of the year, results have been steady. Some would argue that we should be aiming for top 6 and victories against the Likes of Tottenham and Arsenal show that the potential is definitely there. If we can prevent the malaise of end of season syndrome, which resulted in 3 losses on the bounce, this is certainly possible.

The emergence of some young players, Declan Rice in particular have been a particular highlight and suggest that there is a reason to be optimistic next season. It will also be Pellegrini’s 2nd season in charge and provides another foray into the transfer market. If the board back him, there is no reason why we can’t see an improvement in the next campaign.

Livid Tottenham supporters have taken to social media (visit other sites to see their comments copied and pasted, we don't regurgitate such dross!) to express how sad they think Hammers fans are for celebrating their victory over Tottenham at the Daniel Levy 'It's Happened Again' Stadium. In addition to the vast majority of their supporters being in total denial over Tottenham's defeat, the usual excuses of a cluttered playing schedule were rolling out even before the final whistle of West Ham's 1-0 victory, excuses not made by Mauricio Pochettino who is a class act.

Even those caring sharing people, the bookies, had their reservations as to whether Tottenham could maintain their 'virginal' goal's conceded tally, worth odds of only 3-1 for an away victory! Even the extremely biased UK commentary, which many TV fans now put in to silent mode while using local radio for their actual live commentary, couldn't detract from what was a 'proper' roll your sleeves up performance, crikey even Alan Shearer was eulogising about the Beast that is Issa Diop

It will come as no surprise to many that the Hammers defence looked rock solid, the reason being that this was the first time in ages when the General, Fabian Balbuena, and the Beast Issa Diop had been in partnership at the back since Balbuena had been sidelined through injury four months ago. During his time out time Angelo Ogbonna deputised well, but not to the high level that the General and the Beast were used to operating at.

The whole team put a shift in on what was a memorable day, but it does beggar the question as to why Hammers cannot perform to the same level on a frequent basis? This season has seen some wonderful performances, unfortunately usually followed by some woeful ones, and it is this level of consistency that must drive Manuel Pellegrini crazy, it does to the fans! Next season the squad will be more refined and hopefully more able to play like the 'big club' that Pellegrini wants it to, for too long the Jekyll and Hyde nature of the club's results have ensured a lack of forward momentum, this needs to change.

Finally, the Levy friendly press have rallied around the man who gives them a lift in his private aero plane at every opportunity, by rolling out the injuries and suspensions that Tottenham are having to cope with. Conveniently they omit to mention the fact that West Ham have had the worst injury list of any club in the Barclays Premier League, Saturday lunch time's victory over Tottenham was a glimpse of how good West Ham could have been all season but for the catastrophic injuries accumulated.

Manuel Pellegrini had a warm glow around him during his post match 'Presser', "Our fans are double happy", nuff said Boss! - Ed