Tag: #SOUWHU

Are Upbeat West Ham Ready To Exploit The Irregular Rhythm Of The Saints?

Despite the winning mentality building at West Ham out of recent league and European exploits it will be a tough test on the south coast against under pressure Southampton

When asked what he thought about football, a wise man once said: “It’s a funny old game.” It’s a fascinating insight and one that is particularly pertinent when it comes to football management. How else can you explain why anyone would want to give Steve Bruce a job?

Very few managers these days ever get to win a trophy – such is the financial dominance of a small group of powerful clubs. In the past ten seasons, the three major English honours have been shared by just five clubs (sorry, Tottenham) on all but four occasions – Leicester’s league title in 2016 and FA Cup win in 2020, Wigan’s FA Cup in 2013, and Swansea’s League Cup, also in the same year. In the last five seasons, Manchester City have won nine of the fifteen prizes on offer.

For anyone managing outside the richest clubs, success is purely relative. Trying to keep the owners and supporters happy (in that order) by maximising prize money and steering clear of relegation. Buried somewhere in their priority list is a precarious balance between expectations, results and entertainment.  

Just a few weeks ago, the ominous rasp of knives being sharpened might well have haunted David Moyes dreams. But a run of six wins from seven games (in all competitions) has been enough to silence his band of critics for now. A strong enough position to see off at least another two or three Prime Ministers.

Although the Hammer’s league position still leaves much to be desired, securing another feast of post-Christmas European football adds further credit to the manager’s account. In truth, a Premier League side not being able to qualify from a Europa Conference group must be regarded as a monumental failure (sorry, again Tottenham). Still, doing so with two games to spare, and using a largely second-string set of players, could not have gone any better.

This week, by complete coincidence, I came across a critique of Jose Mourinho’s management style by Spanish journalist, Diego Torres. Not a huge fan of the Special One, Torres distilled Mourinho’s footballing philosophy into the following principles:

  • The game is won by the team who commit fewer errors.
  • Football favours whoever provokes more errors in the opposition.
  • Away from home, instead of trying to be superior to the opposition, it’s better to encourage their mistakes.
  • Whoever has the ball is more likely to make a mistake
  • Whoever renounces possession reduces the possibility of making a mistake.
  • Whoever has the ball has fear.
  • Whoever does not have it is thereby stronger.

While it would be harsh to tar Moyes with precisley the same brush, there are certainly familiar themes – which become more visible as better players are brought into the club. When Moyes first arrived he did an amazing job of getting the best from the limited resources he had available. But as the value of his squad increases, he needs to demonstrate more variety in his game plan. The cycle of defend deep, break quickly, and score from set pieces cannot repeat indefinitely. The squad now has players that can add creativity to the energy and organisation, but there needs to be more freedom, less inhibition, greater adventure, improved fluidity and movement; and less respect for opponent’s reputations.

The transition is not an easy one, but there can be no linear path in football for clubs like ours. Without a preception of success, improvement, and momentum, the better players will move on, and it will be back to square one. See Leicester City for details.

Today, West Ham travel to the south coast to meet floundering Southampton. A string of four consecutive defeats, including reverses against Wolves, Villa, and Everton has seen the Saints slip alarmingly down the table and propelled Ralph Hasenhuttl to frontrunner in the managerial sack race, currently neck and neck with Steven Gerrard at Villa. A good time for West Ham to play them or will we see a survival mode response from the home side?

If there were to be an armchair poll of supporter’s preferred West Ham line-ups, my instinct is that it would show a strong desire for Alphonse Areola to replace Lucasz Fabianski, Flynn Downes to replace Tomas Soucek, and anyone (Michail Antonio, Said Benrahma or Maxwell Cornet) to replace Pablo Fornals. It is certainly what I have been longing to see, although none of that is likely to happen today.

Moyes has spoken highly of Downes in recent weeks but appears set on bringing him on minute by minute in the league. Last weekend Downes doubled his Premier League minutes from one to two; a rate that doesn’t suggest a stunningly rapid development plan. Surely, he must be given a twenty to thirty minute shift before too long.

The persistence with Fornals is the perfect example of Moyes’ aversion to risk. Preferring to employ him as an auxiliary defender rather than fielding a more attack minded player. I doubt any other side in the league plays with fewer players who are primarilyy focus on offense. The lack of options and movement that this creates contributes significantly to the below average level of ball retention.

Fans will remember that West Ham and Southampton were promoted from the Championship together in 2011/12. In the twenty league matches played since, West Ham have won ten, Southampton five, and there have been five draws – four of them goalless affairs at St Marys. The Saints did, however, run out comfortable winners when the teams last met in the fifth round of the 2021/22 FA Cup.

The current Southampton side is full of busy players but they are short of true quality, aside from the dead ball expertise of Ward-Prowse. That said, I am not as confident as others that the game presents something of a ‘gimme’ for the Hammers. Much will depend on two factors: one, whether the Hammers can find enough fit central defenders to start the game following injuries sustained in midweek; and two, whether they can shake off the characteristic slow start that has tended to follow previous midweek European outings.

I would love to predict a third league win on the bounce. One day we may get to see a West Ham romp inspired by the burgeoning skills of Gianluca Scamacca and Lucas Paqueta. It could be today but equally I can easily see the spoils being shared. COYI!

West Ham at Southampton, the Anderlecht game, and thoughts on VAR, offside and handball.

Did you read Geoff’s excellent article in Under The Hammers on Thursday prior to the European game against Anderlecht? In it he described how it never ceases to amaze him how much of a pigs-ear officials have made of implementing VAR, and how the beauty of football is it’s simplicity. He went on to discuss the meal that the VAR review system made of last Sunday’s game against Fulham. For once all three West Ham goals stood following review, but they took an absolute age, didn’t they, taking the spontaneity out of celebrating a goal scored?

I’ll put my cards on the table here and say that I am a fan of the concept of VAR. But, and this is a massive but, only if it is used as it was surely intended, to highlight to the referee that he has blundered by not seeing something that has resulted in a clear and obvious error.

Goals are checked for offside, but it seems to take an age to draw the lines, and in the end it often comes down to a toe being in an offside position or not. I’d personally like to see a change to the offside law. It was originally introduced to prevent goal-hanging more than 100 years ago and this made sense at the time, and not to decide whether a player had a toe (or any other part of the body that can touch the ball legally) in an offside position anywhere in the opponent’s half. Surely it would be simple enough to change the law such that if any part of the attacker’s body is in line with any part of the defender’s body then the attacker is onside? It would take literally seconds to confirm this.

Perhaps even more controversially, how ridiculous that you can be offside anywhere in the opponent’s half? Why not extend the line of the penalty area and only give offside decisions in the final 18 yards of the pitch? This would mean that the game would be stretched over a greater area. You can’t be goal-hanging 50 yards from the goal! Perhaps this idea of mine is a step too far, but at least I understand that technology is advancing to an extent that cameras will soon be able to identify offside automatically without the need for linesmen, or assistant referees as they are now called. Perhaps that will enable them to concentrate on assisting the referee more? Is that something we would want them to do?

But even more contentious than offside in the modern game is the concept of handball. I was interested to read an article by Mike Dean in his column in the Daily Mail this week where he talks about handballs being the hardest part of being an official. “Give me a tackle, a trip, a push, some grappling in the box or an offside any day of the week” he says.

But going back to Geoff’s point about football being a simple game, why can’t we make the handball law much more straightforward? Dean goes on to discuss what the officials have to consider when assessing handball. “Did the ball strike the player on the red zone (below the shirt sleeve) or the green zone” which I assume to be above the shirt sleeve? I wonder how they assess this if players are wearing long sleeves? “What was the proximity of the player to where the ball was struck from? Did they have time to react? Was it deliberate? Was their arm in an unnatural position or was it naturally a consequence of his body shape an movement? How can you be sure what position is natural for the arm from one individual to another? Was there a clear movement of the arm to make the body bigger?”

He goes on to say that “handballs have always been a talking point and they remain so to this day regardless of the introduction of VAR.”

Dean’s comments lifted from his article are in bold italics in the paragraphs above. No wonder it takes so long to come to a conclusion! Once again I have what I think is a simple solution. Just leave it to the referee to decide if a player deliberately uses his hand / arm to gain an advantage. If so, then penalise him. So many handball decisions seem to be given where there is no intent. Of course the decision of the referee will be a subjective one – these are often not clear-cut, but even after looking at a multitude of camera angles, it seems to me that it is impossible to decide whether all of the points that Dean raises for handball decisions lead to a clear conclusion. Pundits analysing the decisions on TV have varying opinions. Yes, VAR can intervene if the referee has made a clear and obvious error, but let’s keep it simple. Only intervene if the referee has missed something clear and obvious. Just have one criteria. Was it deliberate or not? And that’s the end of it.

The result of the Anderlecht game was not really a reflection of the 90 minutes. At 2-0 the team concentrated on possession rather than adding to the lead, then towards the end Ben Johnson made a clumsy challenge in the penalty area which led to an unnecessary few uncomfortable minutes to see the victory out. Once again a good performance from a number of players that haven’t been in the starting eleven in league games. Once again, Flynn Downes demonstrated his midfield potential and must surely get more minutes in the near future.

Southampton are the opponents this weekend. In my start of season predictions I forecast them to be one of the three clubs to be relegated this season, and nothing I’ve seen so far has made me change my mind on this. Three Midlands clubs (Leicester, Forest and Wolves) currently occupy the relegation places with Southampton immediately above them.

Their seven points all came in the opening month of the season, drawing at home to Leeds, winning at Leicester, and at home to Chelsea. In September they lost at Wolves and Villa, and in October so far they were soundly beaten (as so many are) by Manchester City and then last weekend lost at home to Everton.

We have yet to reach the heights of the last two campaigns this season, but our form contrasts with our south coast opponents. Where their game appears to be deteriorating with four consecutive league defeats, our form has slowly improved after not such a good start with six wins in our last seven games, two in the league and four in Europe. The European campaign has been promising without being outstanding, and we have (almost) already won the group with two games to spare.

I’d like to think that we’ll beat Southampton easily, but you never can be sure of how it will go on a Sunday following a Thursday game. 2-0 perhaps? What are the chances?

New Faces Prepare To Show Star Quality As West Ham Travel To Southampton

Top six, new signings, a better-balanced squad and European football. Can the West Ham feelgood factor maintain momentum into today’s clash at St Mary’s Stadium?

After months of phony rumours and speculation, the transfer window exploded into life at the last minute with a flurry of late deals and a hysterical media frenzy. All those who experienced it will all be able to tell their grandchildren where they when the news broke of which shirt number Cristiano Ronaldo will be wearing at Old Trafford – as Manchester United fans sent house prices rocketing in Croydon just to obtain a CR7 postcode.

After the dust on that blockbuster deal finally settled, it also emerged that West Ham had broken open the piggy bank to make three additional quality signings of their own. Kurt Zouma, Nikola Vlasic and Alex Kral all agreeing on moves to east London. A warm welcome to KZ4, NV11 and AK33. A trick missed, perhaps, with Kral not insisting on the number 47 shirt – as an inspiration to rifle in the occasional goal.

On paper, it looks a very productive window for the club. But only time will tell how well, and how quickly, those players adapt to life in the claret and blue. Zouma, with over 150 EPL appearances already to his name, should be ready and able to make an instant impression. Vlasic and Kral, on the other hand, will need time to demonstrate their transition from the Russian to English leagues.

The squad now has cover in most positions. Alphonse Areola provides competition for Lukasz Fabianski. Kouma increases the complement to four senior centre backs – how will Issa Diop reacts to becoming fourth choice – while Ben Johnson provides cover for both full-backs. Kral offers useful backup to Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek, and potentially we will see all three deployed in games against Manchester City and Chelsea. The attacking midfield options are suddenly intriguing with Vlasic adding a different dimension to the blossoming talents of Pablo Fornals, Jarrod Bowen and Said Benrahma.    

If only there was a backup striker, the squad would look comfortably at home as a top six side. Although it will be a challenge to cope with both domestic and European football, there is now a better balance in the squad and a flexibility to vary formation according to circumstances.

The striker situation is, as ever, complicated. David Moyes has stuck to his principles of focusing on quality rather than numbers but uncovering a productive striker on the cheap is a tough assignment – which a quick scan through the list of 50 or so strikers signed by West Ham in the last 10 years illustrates perfectly. It is a task that must now sit at the very top of Rob Newman’s (the club’s new head of recruitment) Todo list.  In the meantime, all hopes will be pinned to the brittle hamstrings of Michail Antonio, a well-deserved Premier League Player of The Month.

It would be no surprise to see Zouma go straight into the starting eleven for today’s trip to Southampton at the expense of Craig Dawson. That is the only probable change I see, barring any late injuries or positive Covid tests. Perhaps there will be an opportunity for a glimpse of Vlasic from the bench.

There has been debate among supporters that the time is now right for Areola to replace Fabianski between the sticks. Areola will inevitably take over the Number One spot at some point during the season, but I doubt that time has come quite yet.

Today’s opponents, Southampton, have experienced an indifferent start to the season. Defeat at Everton on the opening weekend was followed up by a creditable home draw against Manchester United, and a last gasp penalty equaliser at Newcastle.

Not sure that I am totally convinced by Ralph Hasenhüttl despite his obvious passion for the task in hand. Or more specifically at how appropriate/ resilient his narrow 4-2-2-2 formation is for the Premier League. A record to date of 16th, 11th and 15th place finishes is not particularly impressive but with the Saints rich youth production line seemingly run dry maybe it is as good as it gets.

The home side will still be a threat, however. The spearhead of Che Adams and Adam Armstrong may not offer much in the way of aerial threat, but they are both lively, work very hard and come with decent goal-scoring records. Add to that the dead-ball prowess of James Ward-Prowse and the Hammers defence must remain alert. Elsewhere, ex-Stamford Bridge academy player, Tino Livramento, looks exactly the type of exciting prospect that Chelsea will be wanting to buy back some time in the future.

Despite the transfer window being firmly closed, the media have yet to tire of speculation about Declan Rice joining Manchester United. If reports are to be believed, the hierarchy at Old Trafford are continuing to work on a bid that will take Rice up north in the summer – is that the best destination for a player wanting to win things? The bid should be a thing of beauty if they have ten months to work on it.

In the same vein, the talk of a Jesse Lingard move in the opposite direction persists. Strange that Lingard didn’t push for a summer move, but I wonder if his services will still be of interest following the capture of Vlasic.

After today’s game the Hammers set off to Zagreb on their first real European adventure for many years. There then follows a busy run of games interrupted only by more international breaks. It will be great to set that run off with a positive result against a weakened Southampton at St Mary’s. No doubt we will cause them enough problems in attack to win the game provided the players are alert defensively and maintain their compact shape in midfield.  Hasenhüttl has yet to taste victory over West Ham and that run should continue today. West Ham to win 2-0; or 9-0 if the Saints have a player sent off early on.

A nice Selection Headache for David Moyes as the Hammers head to the South Coast

That’s the first international break over. Personally I’m not a fan of how the domestic season gets interrupted by three international breaks before a dozen Premier League games have been completed. I think we get four more league games before the next interruption and then four more before the November internationals. Of course at West Ham we have the Europa League getting underway very soon too, and I’m looking forward to that.

And thinking of our foray into Europe the transfer window has now slammed shut, and I believe we appear to have done very well this time around. David Moyes stated publicly that he didn’t just want players to make up the numbers in the squad, he wanted footballers that could enhance the first team, whilst allowing for the additional fixtures that we would be playing on Thursday nights in Europe. Four established international footballers would appear to be a much better result than seemed likely with just a few days of the window to go, although of course as always we have to wait and see how well they make the transition into our squad, and how the manager integrates them into the team. It will be interesting to see how quickly they get their chance to show what they can do, but with the opening Europa League fixtures less than a week away it shouldn’t be long.

All four of our new recruits will ensure that there will be strong competition for places in the starting eleven in most parts of the team, especially in goal, at centre back, and in an attacking sense. There is no direct alternative for Antonio though, and we wait to see how this one plays out when he is either injured or needs a rest. Zouma, especially, will put pressure on the centre backs for a starting place, as will Vlasic on Bowen, Fornals and Benrahma, who have all started the season in excellent form.

As this season was getting underway it appeared that Lanzini was looking at a new role playing deeper than in the past, but it will now be even more difficult for him to get into the team, with Kral in a similar position too. You’d want both Rice and Soucek to be starting as many games as possible, but from what I’ve seen I’d imagine Kral playing in their role when one or the other is not available. But perhaps our manager has other ideas? And Mark Noble will surely find opportunities even more limited for him to play a part in his last season. One thing is for sure though, we now have so much more quality cover for injuries than has been the case in the past. At this moment David Moyes is perhaps more spoiled for choice than at any time at the West Ham helm.

With the season barely underway it’s hard to predict what to expect at Southampton. We have won six out of the seven most recent Premier League encounters, including the final game of last season when 10,000 of us were lucky enough in the ballot to be able to attend the game. The Saints have yet to win a league game this season, drawing with Newcastle and Manchester United and going down at Everton. They sit thirteenth in the (very) early season table. On the other hand we are second following our two excellent wins and the slightly disappointing draw at home to Palace. Tottenham are the only team with 100% record after just three games and they visit Selhurst Park this weekend.

The newcomers have barely had the chance to meet their new team mates yet, so perhaps it is a little early for any of them to be pushing for a place in the starting eleven. For me, if any do get the nod I reckon it will be Zouma, but the others will surely be warming the bench waiting for their chance.

Despite being away from home we are slight favourites with the bookmakers to win this game at 6/4, with Southampton at 15/8 and the draw at 23/10. There were 6 goals in our opening game this season, 5 in the next, and 4 in the Palace match. I reckon 3 this time, with us winning 3-0. We’ve put 3 past Southampton in 5 of our last 9 games against them, so why not 6 out of 10? What are the chances?

Make Do And Mend: West Ham’s Lack Of 2020 Vision Casts A Shadow On South Coast Visit

The final game of 2020 is time once again reflect on the many failings of the West Ham board as the team continue to struggle in the absence of their only striker.

Baffled, bemused, bewildered, mystified, confused, confounded, perplexed, flummoxed – just a few of the words listed in Moyset’s Thesaurus to describe reaction to his team selection on Sunday to face Brighton.

Faced with a run of three games in five days, the manager apparently chose to approach the most winnable of them, by fielding a flair-free side at home to relegation threatened Brighton. What was he thinking?

Granted his is not a squad overflowing with an abundant depth of talent, but that was a side even Stockport would fancy their chances against in the upcoming FA Cup tie.

I did see the rationale of bringing in Ben Johnson as left wing back. After all, Brighton are decent enough going forward and Aaron Cresswell is a much safer bet as part of a back three. But Johnson is an out and out defender (a right footed one at that) and was never going to be marauding down the flank, providing width with menacing crosses. If Johnson was going to be play, then creativity was required elsewhere, in the form of either Manual Lanzini or Said Benrahma. Not the one paced Mark Noble.

The supposed intention was to have Jarrod Bowen playing close to Sebastien Haller with Noble in the creator role, but it didn’t even get close to working out in that way. Hadn’t they given this setup a try on the training ground during the week, to spot its obvious flaws?

What we got was Noble dropping too deep, disrupting the normally effective Declan Rice/ Tomas Soucek partnership, and Bowen playing too far forward, removing his pace from midfield and eliminating the only option of an out-ball.

As for Haller, even the most mild-mannered and patient of supporters will have lost all hope by now. A more impotent performance would be impossible to imagine. If ever a centre back wanted a worry free ninety minutes, even with a Christmas hangover, then coming up against Haller would be perfect.

At least Moyes has admitted his mistake and the occasional blooper can be acceptable in a mostly over-achieving season. The long term mismanagement of the club is down to the dreadful owners, not the manager. I’m confident Moyes would have got far better value from the £80 million odd that has been wasted on the vanity signings of Haller and Felipe Anderson.

Still onwards and upwards. Today is another day and there’s another game in a festive programme dominated, so far, by drawn games.

How the Hammers will line-up at Southampton will be governed by the usual dilemma. Who will play upfront in the likely continued absence of Michail Antonio? As poor as Haller has been (and it is like playing with ten men for much of the time) who is available to do a better job? Can Andriy Yarmolenko play through the middle? He looked bright enough against Brighton, but he is not known either for his pace, physicality or hard work. Equally, I don’t see Bowen as an effective alternative for the striker role. Do you think Ian Pearce still available? What a way to run a football club!

In midfield, Lanzini, Benrahma or Pablo Fornals should always start in preference to Noble. It is painful to watch the club captain trying to keep up with play nowadays. It’s no way for the sun to go down on such a distinguished career.

The Benrahma situation is beyond reason. Did Moyes want him in the first place? Is he another Sullivan special? Are there some other hidden agendas at work? We’ve not yet seen what he can bring to the team, but it can’t be worse than some of the other options. He deserves an opportunity to prove his worth, or otherwise.

Southampton’s storming start to the season has stalled a little in recent weeks, as they have struggled to cope with the absence of Danny Ings. The ability to call on a competent and reliable goal scorer sets the Saints apart from the Hammers. It looks like he will again be missing today and, although that is a bonus, the Hammers must be keep alert to the threat of the lively Che Adams and the set pieces of James Ward-Prowse. Jannik Vestergaard will also be an absentee from the Saint’s defence.

Seven of the twelve holiday matches played to date have ended in draws. Adding one more to that list might be the best we can hope for if the Hammers cannot find new reserves of energy and enterprise on their trip to the south coast. The optimism and swagger of a few weeks back has gone as flat as last years champagne. A fresh injection of bubbles is badly needed. I will take a 1-1. COYI!

Haller-lujah, Antonio In Excelsis! Takeaways As West Ham Snatch Survival Lifeline

Now, I’ve heard about when West Ham scored. That Sebastien played, and it pleased the Lord. What, if anything, did we learn from West Ham’s surprise change of formation and victory at St Marys?

Sack Race Goes Into Added Time

There was plenty of pre-match speculation as to the potential scenarios that each of the possible outcomes might have on the future employment prospects of Manuel Pellegrini. Many believed that he would be gone no matter what the result. But now, according to the latest reports being leaked from the club, the manager will be hanging around for as long as the Christmas decorations are – ‘tis the season to be jolly! Although rather than being given another two game window to save his job, he is now apparently in sudden death territory – just one more shameful, insipid performance away from the job centre. None of this should really be any surprise since it became obvious that the decision hinged on compensation payments and not for football reasons. Are the team, under Pellegrini, able to scramble high enough up the rock-face to avoid drowning in the rising tide of relegation? It is not a matter of trust in the manager- it is a case of trusting that there are three worse teams in the league come the end of the season.

First Among Failures

West Ham were deserved winners in the game that, although relatively exciting, was generally poor in terms of quality. Not exactly a ‘game of two halves’ but certainly one of ‘two portions.’ The Hammers were dominant for the first 60 or 70 minutes until they tired badly just after the hour – perhaps a few more minutes than they managed on Monday. After that, all ambition disappeared and were left hanging on and thanking the woodwork by the final whistle. Fitness levels are one of the major concerns under the current management regime – as they were during his time at Manchester City. Better sides than Southampton (that is, most of the Premier League on this showing) will be quick to exploit that weakness. Hasenhüttl had adjusted his formation at half time and there was debate in the commentary box as to whether Pellegrini would make changes to compensate – based on previous experience he will be ready to do so sometime in early March. Although Romeu was one of the hosts better performers it was fatigue in the Hammer’s ranks (notably Mark Noble and Robert Snodgrass) that changed the dynamic of the game.  The defence (particularly Angelo Ogbonna and Fabian Balbuena) was resolute but luck also played a huge part.

Pellegrini Sees The Light

Just as the manager had been slow to recognise the glaring limitations of Roberto, he was also the last person alive to twig that Sebastien Haller might be far more effective if he wasn’t left so isolated on the pitch. Begrudgingly and with the catalyst of a convenient Felipe Anderson illness, Pellegrini finally accepted that more than one team formation is possible. It was a transformation. Michail Antonio was outstanding, causing havoc in the Saints defence with his aggressive running, pace and power. Haller responded magnificently, not only with a goal, but also with a genuine striker’s performance that was a constant threat of danger. One could argue that Haller should have been putting in the required effort previously, but it is easy to understand his frustration – who would pay top dollar for a striker and then refuse to give him any service? More is still needed, however, to compete against better sides than Southampton. Midfield runners need to get into more advanced positions, beyond the strikers, on occasion – only Pablo Fornals (who is showing definite signs of improvement) did so to any effect.  The changed formation meant Declan Rice playing a more subdued role than usual – good for defensive stability but a problem while he remains the only pace in midfield. Long balls for Antonio and Haller to chase are a useful option, but cannot become the only tactic.

Little In Reserve

You only need to take a look at Saturday’s bench to recognise how thin the squad depth is, and how no confidence is being shown in academy players – Roberto, Zabaleta, Masuaku, Diop, Sanchez, Yarmolenko, Ajeti – hardly the magnificent 7! Accepted that there have been injuries, but probably no worse this season than the average Premier League club. Allowing Obiang, Fernandes and Hernandez to leave without bring in replacements and failing to address the full-back issues were completely irresponsible by all concerned. A good match-day bench should be a mix of essential cover and players who are capable of changing the game. Even Southampton had better alternatives to call on from the dugout. Pellegrini’s use of substitutes was again eccentric. Andriy Yarmolenko’s defensive contribution has suicidal tendencies – even if replacing Snodgrass (knackered and in danger of a second yellow card) made sense. The introduction of Carlos Sanchez (for Haller) effectively handed all remaining initiative to Southampton. Still, all’s well that ends well, I suppose.

Schrödinger’s Penalty

We saw the worst of VAR in Saturday’s game. Not the technology, but the way the buffoons (lunatics and assylum spring to mind) have implemented it. Ostensibly introduced to eliminate refereeing mistakes, it’s primary use is to either apply rules (or interpretation of rules) that previously didn’t exist or to enforce offside to a spurious degree of accuracy . The handball rule used to disallow the Antonio goal is bizarre. How does an offence (unintentional handball) only apply when it occurs during an attack and where a goal is scored? When in all other circumstances it is waved on? What is the current rule on penalties? What happened to the crackdown on grappling at corners? When does contact become too much contact – went down too easy versus entitled to go down? It’s a mess. In Saturday’s penalty incident there were two blatant fouls for the price of one but both ignored by the referee – perhaps he was overwhelmed. If it happened too quickly for the referee to see, then it should have been apparent to the VAR. The ‘clear and obvious error’ defence is clear and obvious nonsense – it should be about consistency and accuracy, not about a referee losing face. It has been said that had Atkinson awarded the penalty then Moss would not have reversed that decision either -for the same clear and obvious reason. It was both a penalty and not a penalty at the same time.

Ratings: Martin (6), Fredericks (5), Balbuena (7), Ogbonna (7), Cresswell (6), Rice (6), Noble (6), Snodgrass (6), Fornals (7), ANTONIO (12), Haller (8) Subs: Yarmolenko (5), Sanchez (5), Diop (5)  

A relegation six-pointer is the Saturday 5.30pm game – Southampton v West Ham – “All of us know we need a result.”

I really cannot believe that I will be writing about Manuel Pellegrini any more after this weekend. There cannot possibly be any way that he can survive as the manager of West Ham, whatever the result this evening. In view of the postponement of the Liverpool game (and perhaps even if it hadn’t been postponed) there is a very big chance that we will be in one of the relegation positions at Christmas. Very few managers survive after a run of results that we have had in the past few weeks, plummeting down the table from the heady heights of fifth place. Enough is enough. A change is necessary. There is no need to feel sorry for him – just take a look at the pay-off he will get, despite the poor performance. The exit poll taken as the fans left the ground after the Arsenal debacle predicts that he will be gone well before Christmas.

I’ve collected some of the comments attributed to him this week.

“All of us know we need a result.”

“I always think as a manager that the results of the team depends on the individual performance of a player. After that you can work a lot on tactical, physical and technical work but the players decide the games.”

“Of course, when you have your important players not in their best moment, the results of the team will not be good.”

“You must find why they are not in that moment and try to work with them and give them confidence and I hope that most of them will return as soon as possible to their normal performance.”

‘Well of course all of us know we need the results. We have just five points from the last nine games.”

“We need to return to being a consistent and solid team in the way we did against Chelsea and for 60-65 minutes against Arsenal. The points that we have are not enough for this team.”

“We dominated for 60 minutes. Maybe scoring the second goal would have been so important.

“It (booing at the end) was understandable because the last five games that we play here, we didn’t win.

“If you don’t win at home, your fans are not going to be happy.

“You cannot concede three goals in every game. Unfortunately for us, we are doing wrong things, but we need to continue fighting.”

The following is not a comment made by MP but it could have been – “And now the end is near and so I face the final curtain.”

Asked if he thought he could fix it, Pellegrini added: “Of course.”

A lot of things have been written about a rift between Pellegrini and Felipe Anderson. Here are some of the comments attributed to our Brazilian playmaker this week.

“When I arrived it was hard but we started winning and I started to show my potential by helping the team with goals, assists and dribbles, and right now things are not working out as we want.”

“Things have to improve and I have to improve to be able to help the team.”

“As I always say, this is a collective game. If I don’t score and the team wins, I’m happy, but if I don’t score and the team loses and I couldn’t help the team as I want to, it’s difficult.”

“But we need to keep on working hard and think positively.”

“Monday’s match was a very negative result and one that we didn’t expect because we were at home and because we had played well in the previous two matches.”

“But we know that we need to keep working hard to get out of this situation.”

“This is the worst phase I have been going through with the team.”

West Ham go into this “must win” game against Southampton, a team that has improved in recent weeks, certainly since being thrashed 9-0 at home by Leicester, knowing (well if they don’t know I’ve just told them!) that they have beaten Southampton in Premier League games more than they have beaten any other team. Our results against them in recent times have been positive with four wins in the last five Premier League meetings.

Knowing how our heads seem to go down when we concede a goal, one statistic that I read this week is troubling. In our last 15 visits to Southampton (a period of time that stretches back almost 25 years) we have failed to score the first goal in the game! I’m not sure what the odds will be, but based on that, you can almost guarantee that Southampton will take the lead by scoring the first goal. Despite their poor season they have managed to score in every league game they’ve played apart from two. Only Liverpool, Manchester City and Wolves have scored in more games than that.

As West Ham fans we’ve had little to cheer in recent games, and don’t need reminding of some of the statistics being banded about. Seven defeats in our last nine league games, five points fewer than at this stage last season, and twelve points dropped from winning positions (which equals our total for the whole of last season!) make depressing reading. It is hard to ignore the goalkeeping situation – we have lost 14% of games when Fabianski was in goal, and 78% of games since he has been injured and out of the team. We need him back sooner rather than later!

On a positive note (bearing in mind we are playing away), 56% of our total points this season have been collected on our travels, a percentage unmatched by any other team in Premier League. (It starts from a low base though). Our manager should be confident of victory too based on his past record, having won six and drawn one of the eight games he has been in charge of teams playing Southampton.

Of course I want us to win and I hope we can win. I don’t honestly believe that when we play our next match at Selhurst Park on Boxing Day that MP will be in charge whatever the result today. There is every chance that we will have a new man at the helm. Surely, despite some deficiencies in the squad, there is enough talent to work with to ensure a mid-table finish at least with these players. I just hope that we can attract a younger manager with fresh ideas, and don’t resort to one of the usual managerial names being banded about in the media.

Pellegrini Farewell Tour Goes South: Our Exit Poll Predicts No New Dates Planned

In the longest farewell tour since Elton John, Pellegrini takes his beleaguered Hammers to a seasonal six-pointer showdown at St Mary’s. Are we coming to the end of the line?

The Manuel Pellegrini Golden Bullet Farewell Tour heads to the south coast late on Saturday afternoon for the last of its currently schedule dates. We shouldn’t expect anything more than the same old tired performance; going through the motions with the usual absence of energy and lack of co-ordination. The tours co-promoters, G&S Self Promotions Inc, will reportedly decide, after the show, whether to add any further venues to the tour or finally call it a day.

Pellegrini is supposedly once more down to his final life – like some cornered avatar in a fantasy computer game. A West Ham win might earn him two more lives; a draw would mean not losing a life; while defeat and it is game over. As the sacking decision is now clearly only about money, any pretence of keeping faith with the manager to ‘turn things around’ has completely evaporated. West Ham occupying one of the relegation places at Christmas has now become almost guaranteed.

From the demeanour of manager and players, it has been obvious for at least a month that Pellegrini was a dead man walking. The problems run so deep that there was never any likelihood of a way back – the plug should have been pulled after the Burnley game.  To blunder along in the dark, week by week, hoping for a miracle has been beyond negligent.  Only time will tell whether the penny pinching, dithering Daves have allowed history to repeat itself and acted too late.

There continues to be much speculation in the media as to who the next manager might be. Despite everything, managing in the Premier League at West Ham will still be seen as an attractive job – with an attractive benefits package to go with it. Let’s face it, nearly all top flight manager appointments end up in ‘failure’ to some extent or the other – so who wouldn’t be prepared to give it a try.  It would be nice to think that our search would extended beyond the usual list of unimaginative hopefuls that always crops up when such a vacancy occurs. I cling to the hope that a younger manager with ideas that have been not been obsolete for the last decade could be in the frame. As it will be Sullivan who will be making the decision, though, I will not be holding my breath.

So, what about this weekend’s six pointer between a resurgent, high energy, cohesive Southampton side and a dispirited, bewildered, lethargic West Ham one? Which way could it possibly go? OK, so I was equally pessimistic before the Chelsea game and look what happened there. Maybe, the same lightning will strike again this time. We must pin our hopes on the possibility that Pellegrini has again left preparation for the match to one his coaches, rather than taking any part himself.

The main topic of team related discussion this week has been whether the Hammers will throw caution to the wind with a two man front-line. Such a change would entail Michail Antonio partnering Sebastien Haller with Felipe Anderson relegated to the bench. Sounds fine in theory, but difficult to see who would be loading the bullets if we have to rely on the combined sluggishness of Mark Noble, Robert Snodgrass and Pablo Fornals. I do understand the frustration that many supporters have with Anderson, but he remains the best (only) source of the unexpected. As with the Arsenal game, the fear is that once Antonio has run himself into the ground after an hour, there will be no meaningful threat left.

The best strategy may be one of containment with the hope of snatching a goal from a set piece or defensive mistake – in true Fat Sam style. Whether, it will work against Southampton, as it did against Chelsea, is the gamble. I sense that Danny Ings and Shane Long will create panic in the visitor’s defence while Nathan Redmond (who is usually mostly harmless) often looks a world beater against the Hammers.

The refereeing combo at St Mary’s consists of Martin Atkinson (whistle) and Jonathan Moss (remote control). Atkinson from West Yorkshire will be making his first appearance at either a West Ham or Southampton game this season.

As well as predicting a 2-1 Southampton victory, Lawro made an interesting comment about Pellegrini comparing him to an empty tube of toothpaste, from which the last squirt was being extracted.  At the time of writing, Charlie Nicholas has yet to reveal his selections – possibly out celebrating the expectation of a future independent Scotland. I will predict his prediction as a 3-1 home win.  Personally, I can see nothing other than more dark clouds for the Hammers this weekend; but with the silver lining of a change of manager on the horizon. At least that will offer a little hope until the name of his replacement is made known.