RA MEDIA

The Chinese massage parlour and the after dinner glow! Published 02/05/18 on Irons United

Well, did you ever get the impression that you’ve been taken for a ride and were left flat out and devoid of hope? Well, that is how many within the West Ham universe felt after the abject display on Sunday against the Champions; Man City and any false horizons were soon materialising into a clear and present danger!

The defensive posture has been wrong this whole time that Moyes has been in charge because it fails to defend properly and efficiently. The players have been split…with some rising to the occasion and trying their level best to bring the club fame and fortunes…but there are others that would be stuck in a loop, a groundhog day of sorts, where they are perpetually held in the stocks and given 1000 lashes for their failures to achieve a footballing beings status. 

Yes, the miscreants within the squad have made the job so much harder for those who would try that much more or for those who would have the qualities to take advantage upon seldom opportunities. There have been too many players who have not put in enough effort or whom have been dizzy with the overwhelming task at hand and have underperformed for too long.

The owners must be charged with footballing criminality for failing to bolster the squad in the right positions, however they have had to deal with the consequences of their failed appointments and their pathetic business decisions that would bring the club to the brink if rectifications are not in place soon.

Nothing is assured right now and there continues to be a very real risk of being relegated, however even if not and the team do manage to pull something out of the bag in the remaining games, then a root dissection is required and all the rotten apples must be shredded and shed from the ranks…starting with the manager and the coaching staff.

This is less to do with their failings but rather to do with their appointment in the first instance as they were regarded as the solution to the malignancy that had gripped the club under Bilic. Of course the players needed to be fitter and to improve defensively, but they also needed a dynamic coaching staff and manager who would urge them on to attack and entertain also…however the reverse has occurred and the failing players have made up the bulk of the retarding issues at the club.

Regardless of results, performances and endeavour should be the gauge of any player and manager…and in too many games the performances of individual players have let down the team and the fans as a whole…and not forgetting the manager too. However the manager has made some catastrophic decisions along the way and his one dimensional and archaic vision of football has contributed to the predicament the club now faces.

Can the club realistically view Moyes as the answer to bring the next level football that they so desperately want to prove is possible without mass investment? I think not especially given the performances and results over the last few weeks. His tactics have been negative and the players have not been able to seize upon opportunity or fashion any kind of fluidity to their game. It is undoubtedly frustrating for the players and manager alike, however the fans have been dealt a foul blow to the solar plexus with the move to the London Stadium and the dire shows and results have not helped to ease the pain and allow the support to catch their breaths.

The question now remains whether indeed the players can take this upon themselves and come together to save the club from the misery of relegation? Not that anyone at the club really deserves to be saved but both fans and players are the only ones who can come together to bring about a fighting chance…otherwise all is doomed for this Premiership cycle.

However regardless of the final standing…whether solid in 17th position or climbing to the dizzy heights of 11th, as soon as the final ball is kicked then a mass clear out is a must and the players must take it on the chin…who must stay and who must go! Any fan and any player must look around the squad and ask themselves who deserves to stay and who shows conviction in every outing? There are but a handful of players who could sit on mighty thrones; Zabaleta, Ogbonna, Rice, Arnautovic, Noble and Collins…but every other should not be so confident.

It has been a wasteful two seasons at the London Stadium, where the fans have been sold short, the club have not delivered and the players have failed to impress either as individuals or as a collective. Fans wanted the performances to ease away the aches and pains of the move…like a trip to the Chinese massage parlour or sitting content with the after dinner glow, but that has not materialised, in fact the fans have had gut wrenching cramps, the club have got crabs and the food is about to repeat over everyone!