Slaven Bilic named as West Ham Manager (09.06.15)

TwistandShout

Eski ;ok i was thinking that too. The problem is who comes in for him? Obiang? Not sure what he adds? That's why i would have kept Cullen. Similar style to Noble

MIAHammer

Exactly one year ago today

brookingsirons

my own view is we had silly trips to America and Austria against sub standard opposition Bilic didn't learn anything by those trips and then had to get ready for Europa games , we lost our best left back and striker in those games we then had no choice to chuck Ayew straight in against Chelsea after a few days at the club we then sign a striker in Zaza another panic signing who needs time at this level with the pace of the premier league not yet suiting him .

My view is if we had had a normal preseason and actually played some decent opposition we would have seen the weak area's and below par players then and had a chance to do something about it , this said I don't see this continuing much longer we will turn a corner soon .

;scarf

sweepy23

My view is that we are playing on a larger pitch and it is harder to defend when there is more space.

Midfielders who don't like defending have more ground to make up.

Collins who was a great blocker isn't as close to the players he's marking.

You don't need as much skill on a larger pitch to find space.

Or perhaps all of the above is baloney.

Who knows.

IronHerb

I thought West Brom was away ;wink

thornburyiron

If we'd played on a 5 a side pitch we'd have left huge holes.

Trondheimrob

Anything other that the Boleyn Ground is away for me.

sweepy23

IronHerb said:

I thought West Brom was away ;wink

It was sir.

However I believe that when we used to play at home and do well it gave us confidence. Playing badly at home, knocks our confidence. In turn home or away our results will suffer.

TwistandShout

sweepy23 said:

My view is that we are playing on a larger pitch and it is harder to defend when there is more space.

Midfielders who don't like defending have more ground to make up.

Collins who was a great blocker isn't as close to the players he's marking.

You don't need as much skill on a larger pitch to find space.

Or perhaps all of the above is baloney.

Who knows.

I definitely think this could be a factor ;ok

grey_til_I_dye

sweepy

To an extent, although we lost our opening two home games last year, but managed to beat Arsenal and Liverpool away.

I think pressure is a factor; last year we could play with freedom - no one expected much out of us. This year, having played as we did last season, and with the OS move, pressure is on.

Fortuneseeker

One of our first home games was against the eventual champions.

grey_til_I_dye

Fortune

But no one could have expected that at the time, and the argument was that playing well at home gives us confidence.

I was just offering a counter to that.

Of course, it must be better to win than lose, but losing per se doesn't, imo, mean that your confidence has to be shot.

Fortuneseeker

grey ;ok

Some say "Winning breeds confidence whilst Losing can become a habit" We are doing to much of the latter lately so are lacking in confidence. Obvious I know.

Slaven_Cups_His_Beard

I think many are panicking way too early........

5 league games in SMH.

We will get the defence sorted, he did it before when we had all those injuries and we ground out 5 draws on the bounce.

He can do it again.

MrsGrey

We are going to lose plenty of games in a season.

I don't worry too much about the pattern (ie whether the losses come in little groups or are more spread out), and don't panic or anticipate #relegation as a result.

I also don't believe the fact of a loss makes a loss in the next match more likely.

These players and coaching staff have lost plenty of games in their professional careers. I also don't, therefore, believe a few losses on the bounce really damages their self-belief too much.

EXETERHAMMER

I have concerns, but am optimistic as we seem to be able to score goals despite not having a striker that can hit a barn door at the moment.

I will get worried however if we lose our next couple of games.

thornburyiron

Mrs G I agree these players and coaches lost a lot of games in their careers but maybe that's because they played for us

sweepy23

Izzy yes we are just seven games in but that's the league remember.

We played 4 competitive games prior to that and we played pretty poorly in all of them.

Have we played well yet in the first 9 games? Maybe for spurts but not the whole 90. If all those games were in the league we'd have played a quarter of the season and IMO we wouldn't have picked up any more points. Concerning.

I for one trust Slav and think he will sort it out. I think when trying to become a great entertaining teams you will have some blips. But please sort it asap.

MrsGrey

thornburyiron said:

Mrs G I agree these players and coaches lost a lot of games in their careers but maybe that's because they played for us

Not really.

Lukerz

We were better at the back with Antonio at RB lol.

Lukerz

Time to pick an XI that HE feels can do the business. Not picking a team because one player doesn't want to play a position or the chairman feels a player should play further forward, which has pretty much undermined Bilic. If he wants Antonio to do a job at RB, he needs to do a job at RB, not whinge and get his own way, which seems to sum up our start to the season, players thinking as individuals.

Adrian
Antonio - Reid - Ogbonna - Masuaku
Noble - Nordtveit - Kouyate
Feghouli - Zaza - Payet

I don't think we can afford Lanzini AND Payet at the moment. Fine when things are going well. Not when things are going badly.

Then stick with the XI for 3/4 games.

KingHammerAbroad

So you want Bilic to play Antonio at RB and take away our most potent goal threat we have at the moment? ;hmm

I'm sure Antonio will play at RB if asked by Bilic but I think he has shown his true value in his favored position, don't you?

grey_til_I_dye

Lulerz

I don't believe for a second that Slav is allowing himself to be told what to do either by the owners or by players.

OldCastleSwift

Perhaps not directly Grey, but the Sullivan clan have been very vocal about their views of where Antonio should be playing. I'm sure SB is very aware of that.

Whether that influences his decisions or not, we'll never know.

TwistandShout

Grey, David Sullivan put on the OS that 'this is the last we will see of Antonio at right back' or something along those lines. So wouldn't surprise me if he's had a word in Slavs ear

Tomw85

Or Slav has said to DS that Antonio at RB is not working so can you please go and get my another RB.

Welcome on board Arbeloa.

Vorselaarhammer

Well one thing is clear we know what end of the pitch needs sorting....

League's top scorer: Michail Antonio

League's top assists: Dimitri Payet

West Ham currently sit 18th in the Premier League.

Slaven_Cups_His_Beard

TwistAndShout said:

Grey, David Sullivan put on the OS that 'this is the last we will see of Antonio at right back' or something along those lines. So wouldn't surprise me if he's had a word in Slavs ear

I wouldn't be surprised at anything with Sully and the boys.

But, my money was on a conversation happening and as Tom says, Slav admitting it wasn't working like he hoped. Then Sully reveals what's going on, probably innocent enough, but also makes it look like Sully is calling the shots on player selection etc

When he's not.

IronHerb

Is it me or has it all gone very quiet? Nothing on the OS on 'From the Boardroom' since the 12th September. Is it a case of 'You only sing when your winning?' ;biggrin

Slaven_Cups_His_Beard

Everyone is deep in thought, how we can get out of quite possibly the worst situation the club has seen in living memory

;wink