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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?
I hate making predictions, so
I hate making predictions, so I'll just say all of the above! :-) What I most liked about his speech was what he said about belief, no belief=no chance. I hope he can get the whole side thinking that way.
Im not going to go over old ground.
Just want to see a westham team entertain us fans,have an attacking philosophy.Hope so!!
Wishfull thinking. This
Wishfull thinking. This season I can pretty much guarantee that Bilic will have been told two things. 1) Get rid of the old crap and start to build a new squad ready for the OS and 2) Stay up. Whilst I think we are very much capable of much more, a run in the Europa with the current squad is a touch too far. Mid table and a decent cup run and bringing through some youth with some decent football will be all I will ask for.
I agree Essex. There's plenty
I agree Essex. There's plenty writing him off before the season's started. For me a good middle table finish, the prospect of looking forward to watching us play again and maybe taking the cups seriously will do. Allardyce has co e out again and slagged us the fans off, showing a lack of class IMO. Some others bang on about how Bilic left us to go to Everton, etc... Well in that case we should hate Bobby Moore who wanted to go to Spurs, TC who also went to Everton, Dicks who wanted to go to Liverpool, Tevez who wanted to go to Man U, Billy Bonds for managing Millwall, joe Cole to Chelsea the list is endless. He's seems to have got what we want so fair play to him I say.
Sounds to me like sour grapes
Sounds to me like sour grapes,should have just wished Bilic well and left it like that.
I think we'll be spread a bit
I think we'll be spread a bit thin next season and keeping the best 11 fit might prove difficult, 3 cups and a league campaign along with rebuilding a clubs footballing philosophy is a big ask, I would like to see improvement in the league position so 8th or 9th would be decent and a run in one of the cups. I like Bilic, I like his passion and he's saying all of the right things, let's see what happens!
Yeah I agree. Think he'll
Yeah I agree. Think he'll have to make more use of young players, and just maybe he can get more out of the players that Sam basically discarded. Surely players like Maiga and Zarate are good enough for the qualifying rounds of Europa for instance?
I agree wrighty ,current
I agree wrighty ,current squad would definitely be stretched,but I am banking on a good shake up in the squad.Here is the latest squad listing:
http://www.worldfootball.net/teams/west-ham-united/2016/2/
Looking at it, it doesn't include the new goalie Darren Randolph,defenders Stephen Hendrie,Reece Burke,Reece Oxford, and midfielder Morgan Amalfitano for some reason.I make that 25 in total which is the limit.Hasn't Moncur moved to Colchester? This is where things become awkward for Bilic ,if he is looking to improve the squad there are going to be a number of players moving on.David Gold spoke about bringing in a minimum of 5 ,Obiang being the first.Who is going to be moved on or just dropped from the squad? Bilic is not going to have time to gauge the strength of all his squad before the Europa league games start,I guess he will use these games to assess.Makes it very difficult for him,time is not on his side,plus the fact there have been a few new additions Sullivan has brought in that were not Bilic's choices.Not knocking Sullivan ,he has a good eye for talent ,and I can understand the situation that developed with Allardyce regarding transfers so we will have to see how well these players fit in.The biggest problem I think the club will have is getting any takers and getting decent money for those they want to move on
It all sounds good essex
In between 8th and 10th with a new manager,new to the Premier league and the stress of Europe due to the extra games it will have been a success,I'd be happy with that,if he wins us a cup i'll be inconsolable LOL Saying that we must obviously strengthen the squad in all the right departments and the injury curse that's the big one, to be kind to us after all we are giving back her land :))
I liked this comment
"I think for all West Ham fans there is a nice flavour of realism and optimism". He must have been on this forum already :)
With our season starting a long time before anyone else's, I think reaching the last 16 of the Europa is way too much of a stretch Essex and you must look back at the above point :)
Realistic aims for me this season after having witnessed what we have under 'he I will no longer name', will be top 10, a more solid looking set up with our backs not constantly against the wall and me feeling like we're gonna lose before setting a foot on the pitch. 100% effort in all our games from start to finish of the season. If that results in a good cup run, great. If we draw Arsenal, Chelski or another top team in round 3 of both cups though, I won't hold that against him should we lose. If we get through qualifying into the Europa proper I'll take that too.
Our squad is still pretty threadbare and we still need to out some deadwood. I assume we've had no bids for 'he I will no longer name's son as yet. Might be we have to sell him for a quid to get rid. Full back cover is essential, as is another forward and two more midfielders. We get that, I'll be a happy Hammer again I promise