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Comments
COYI
Although it’s great to be in Europe I am a little concerned that it might affect our league form next season with such a small squad and I have little faith in the Dave’s to do anything like we would need to compete in both. I truly hope I am wrong.
I’ve never seen that as a Hammer
Over the moon tonight & so proud of the lads
BTW Astra Giurgiu lost in the cup final 3-2 AET
I don't think even now that what we've achieved has sunk in. I know fans of other clubs will say it's 'only' 6th place, but we all remember where we were 12 months ago and how low everything felt. I think a vast majority of us would have accepted a 10th place finish at the start of the season, so to finish with European qualification is exceptional. There is that niggle of 'if only' when you look at the three point gap to 4th (the Arsenal collapse, the defeats to a very average Newcastle side spring to mind), but it works both ways and when you think about the late goals for the draw with Spurs and the wins over Fulham and Everton, we could quite easily have finished 8th or 9th.
Huge credit has to go to Moyes and his team; I don't think he was many people's first (or second, or third) choice, but he has done an incredible job. There are still a few gripes; the way he's managed Benrahma hasn't felt right, and he does seem to have a bit of a block when he plays the big teams, but given what he's had to work with and where we were, what he's achieved is nothing short of Manager of the Season stuff.
Moving forward, this season has to be the benchmark. I know it'll be difficult to manage the Thursday/Sunday situation and competing on two fronts, but the club needs to make sure that we're well-equipped to deal with it; that means a bigger squad and signing players that specifically don't have bad injury records. We've been linked with Ings and Oxlade-Chamberlain - good players, no doubt - but not worth the risk, IMO.
This will also be a big test of how committed our owners are to 'the next level'. Europa League is literally the next level for an established PL club as far as I'm concerned, so hopefully the board will back Moyes. There's guaranteed TV money for the next 3/4 years and with full fan capacity (hopefully) for next season, the match-day revenue will pick up again, so there should be a bit more financial security for them. I know it's not all about how much you spend (Anderson and Haller cost us £70m+ and have delivered less than Soucek and Coufal at £25m), so hopefully we'll continue to 'buy smart' too.
In what has been a very dark time for everyone, some affected more than others, to have a team to be proud of has given a lot of people some light. The players and manager have shown a real togetherness and the team has played some really good football this season; 6th is fully deserved and I hope this is the start of West Ham taking the next step towards total world domination.
Turns out I wasn’t...
Some swearing and it's a two part edition.
£7.99. Got to get one