Looking Forward To the New Season

It's been a while since I could say I have been looking forward to the start of a new season, but reading the first interview of Bilic was a breath of fresh air,it has got the juices flowing again.There are a lot of positive vibes from all different sources,and you do sense big things are on the horizon.
Just a reminder of some of the questions put to Bilic:

What are your ambitions as West Ham boss? What do you hope to achieve?

SB: “I’ve been in football a long time and wherever you go the ambition is sky high. But with West Ham, I found the ambitions to be realistic and the ambition is right.

“The ambition is to try to be top ten, definitely and then improve on that. First season, if we can finish eighth, ninth or tenth. Then, in the space of a few seasons, with the Stadium and everything, with hype, with probably a little bit more budget, with good planning and good play, nobody can stop us dreaming of European places or if we have a brilliant season to try to break into the Champions League places.

“To win a trophy, to win a cup. You have to believe in that to achieve it. If you don't believe in that then you’re definitely not going to do that. It doesn't have to be an obsession in a negative way. If you don't believe it, who will believe it?

“Where it's going to take us, I don't know, but logically if you play well and you improve your squad, if your players are playing more compact and more fluid with the ball, it should get you up the league.”

I think for all Westham fans there is a nice flavour of realism and optimism ,a guy who seems focused in what he wants to achieve.

How much do you know about the squad you’re inheriting?

SB: “I had many Croatian players who played in England. I'm a big football fan first of all and like the majority of them, I was following the Premier League as well. So I know a lot about West Ham's current squad and the team is good, it has a good balance.

“They were a little bit unlucky last year with the number of injuries in a crucial stage of the season, but the manager has done a good job and is leaving me a good team. I definitely think the team can improve, as I said, last year they had some brilliant games, especially in the first half of the season. It will be my job to improve it and make it better.

“Recently, in the last couple of weeks I took in ten West Ham games and I saw them all, when it was not obvious but likely that I might get the job, after the season finished in Turkey.

“I didn't want to speak to anyone before the season had finished in Turkey, which was 31 May, because of my respect to my club, Besiktas, and because of course the season hadn't finished.”

Impressed with the research he has already done on the squad.You do sense Bilic is a man on a mission eager to make a success .

For me this was the key question:

Tell us about your style as a manager. What sort of team can West Ham fans expect?

SB: “To be successful you have to be good enough in every aspect of the team, you have to defend with numbers, you have to be very compact, very organised but also you have to attack with numbers and be good on the ball.

“The teams that I've managed so far, whether that be Croatia, Lokomotiv Moscow, Besiktas or Hadjuk Split, they were all teams with very high aims. To qualify, to top group with Croatia, to win the league with Split and Besiktas, with Lokomotiv top three, top five, so my style had to be dominant.

“With Besiktas, in 90 per cent of our games we had more possession, you are the better side, you are the one that is attacking and the opponent is on the counter. But in the games where we had to be compact like against Arsenal, we weren't dominant. So you have to be both. But I like my team to play football, to play good football.”

Now that is the football philosophy we have all be crying out for....

It's good to hear some major transfer activity has already taken place.Looking forward to watching Obiang play ,a box to box player.Tore,Remy,Cabaye,Payet,Song (great news),and many more names rumoured the club are after.Will be a busy next few weeks,and I expect to see quite a different look to the Westham starting eleven as well as the squad in general.
Realistic goals : Premiership top 10
: Europa Cup last 16
: A good cup run with a possible trophy.

What targets do you think are realistic?