What Do You Think Of It So Far: A Sign Of Great Things To Come Or Just A Lucky Start To The Season?

If the Premier League season was a YouTube video then international breaks would be the annoying advertisements that pop up just as things are getting interesting to interrupt the flow, but without the ability to ‘skip’ after five seconds. And if you are hating this one, there are two more still to come before Christmas.

At least a break allows a moment to reflect on what has happened so far in West Ham’s embryonic season. I doubt even the most optimistic claret-and-blue spectacled Hammer would have forecast ten points from four games when the fixtures were first announced. But is this a springboard for a memorable campaign at home and in Europe, or is the current league position as good as it gets for the rest of the season? The upcoming matches against Manchester City and Liverpool are sure to put a more measured perspective on matters.

There are two schools of thought on the Hammer’s stellar start to the season – if internet chatter is anything to go by. And opinion is largely split depending on whether you are in the pro or anti David Moyes camp. Unfortunately, the loudest voices invariably originate from the extremes where everything is either black or white, yes or no, true or false.

The pro-Moyes camp view the start as a wholehearted endorsement of the Board’s decision to stick with the manager. The team has been strengthened by exciting new signings, is displaying a welcome return to the fast, counter-attacking style of two years ago, and have been good value for three excellent wins out of four. In the other corner, the Moyes-out camp see a typical early season distortion in the league standings. West Ham have been lucky. Chelsea should have buried us before half-time, Brighton had enough chances to have equalised, Luton are a terrible team and deserved a penalty at the end. We could just as easily be sitting bottom half with two or three points by now.

It would be wrong not to take at least a few of positives from the four games played, even if the sample size is way too small to make any bold predictions – I can still remember Carlisle United topping the old Division One at the start of the 1974/75 season and eventually getting relegated. But the team have started the campaign with confidence high, boosted by the success that comes with winning the Europa Conference. There is an excellent spirit in the squad, they are well drilled, and most importantly, they are getting more players forward (and more quickly) in support of counter attacks. Last season it took ten games to score the nine goals that have been buried so far.

The recruitment of James Ward-Prowse and Edson Alvarez are looking to be inspired, great value signings. Michail Antonio, Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta have started the season in blistering form. And there is more to come with anticipation of the delights that Mohammed Kudus and Konstantinos Mavropanos can bring to the table.

Naturally, being West Ham supporters, we are genetically programmed to expect everything to go horribly wrong at any moment. In that respect, the next three games will present fascinating insights.

Against Manchester City and Liverpool, we can expect classic Moyesball with narrow, compact defending and 20-something percent position. Success depends on whether the low-block defence is capable of snuffing out the abundant firepower both sides have available for an entire 90 minutes. And whether enough numbers are committed forward in support of counterattacks on the rare occasions the opportunity arises.

Defending narrow and getting numbers behind the ball does a fine job of closing down space between the lines, but it does allow opponents plenty of opportunity to ping in crosses and to shoot from range. They only need to get lucky once, as we saw with the Bournemouth equaliser in the season opener. While the current approach to defending persists there is little chance that Moyes will be weaned away from the ever-present Thomas Soucek. His defensive contribution – headed clearances and interceptions – should not be overlooked, but with the ball at his feet he is below top-half Premier League standard. Unless he returns to the goal scoring form of 2020/21 his net value to the team is questionable.

There is also a suspicion that the concentration levels required to defend with backs to the wall for extended periods will inevitably take its toll in terms of fatigue – especially with the manager’s tendency to delay substitutions for as long as possible. It was clear that Alvarez was tiring towards the end of the Brighton game and yet no relief was forthcoming until after the hosts scored. It may not be a coincidence that three of the four goals conceded to date have come in the last ten minutes.

The attacking strategy in these games is wholly dependent on the efforts of Antonio. At his best, it is easy to see why he unsettles defenders unaccustomed to opponents with such pace and power. But how long can he keep it up? Antonio delivered an equally impressive start to the 2021/22 season where he scored six times in the opening eight matches, but his ensuing lean spell coincided with the team’s lost momentum. It is astounding that no obvious replacement has been added to the squad.

The Sheffield United fixture will present a very different challenge. It is a game where West Ham will be expected to take the initiative. If there is a desire to play a more fluid frontline, then potentially this is the opportunity to do it. Perhaps by leaving Antonio on the bench with Bowen through the middle and Kudus coming in on the right. It was clear from the Luton game that Antonio’s style of play is far less effective when the team have more possession. I hope Moyes sees this as a chance to be less rigid in setting up for games where we should dominate the ball.

So far, West Ham have yet to suffer from any major VAR eccentricities – although the disallowed Emerson goal at Luton didn’t appear to receive the level of scrutiny often reserved for such events. In fact, many felt that VAR had done the Hammers a favour by not intervening in the Ward-Prowse ‘handball’ incident in the closing seconds at Kenilworth Road. Personally, I never regarded handball as a particularly contentious issue in the good old pre-VAR days. But in their wisdom PGMOL have made it so with a dog’s breakfast implementation – both from an attacking and defending point of view – that now nobody really understands the rules – just like in Rugby Union. COYI!