This article is written by @mywhufc
Leading unto the palace game it’s not been the start to the season anyone probably would have imagined, well almost anyone, I admit that I wasn’t so confident with the changes the club were going through, but even I didn’t think it would be anything like this. When a point at home against Middlesbrough is seen as good then we must all admit that what went before that game wasn’t what is expected, yet the time is not to panic, the season is still young and just another 3 points against Sunderland to follow up from the 3 gained last Saturday will put a different reflection on our predicament.
Quite how it came to this is open for discussion in that many people have eluded to many different reasons, The move, The pitch, the fans off field disagreements so many reasons its literally take your pick time but for me one that hasn’t been picked up on is the signings made in the summer and I’m not talking about the quality.
I have long subscribed to the thinking that foreign players new to the Premier league should be allowed 6 months settling in period before really being judged, problem is that with today’s social media fan base they’re lucky to get 6 games let alone 6 months.
The Premier League has a reputation for fast paced football played at twice the pace of the continental style preferred by the French and Spanish leagues and when you watch the Italian league on a Sunday after watching a Premier league game you’ll struggle to stay awake with their slow paced defensive orientated style of play. Yet nearly all our signings in the summer have come from the continent and have been thrown in at the deep end going straight into first team action due to injuries and to loss of form of others so they haven’t been afforded a bedding in process and most have looked at times like rabbits startled in the headlights of an oncoming lorry about to squash them without noticing.
Nortveidt bought from Germany, looks slow and sluggish, but then most football I have watched played in the German top division is slow in its build up, possession football, if you have the ball then the opposition cant score against you style. His introduction to the Premier league has been sometimes in midfield sometimes in defence, problem is the outcome looked the same, it’s as if he is watching the game go past him.
Feghouli at least has pace so he has not looked too much out of place when he has been fit enough to play, but there’s something about him I just cant put my finger on, he reminds me of Julien Faubert, a player who often flattered to deceive in his time at the club. I think its the end product that he suffers from, yes he has the pace but if you cant then convert that into goalscoring opportunities its really not worth having. David Beckham was a winger with no pace, but he proved if your delivery is perfect you don’t need to beat the defender in front of you.
Gohkan Tore is much like Feghouli just without the pace, Slav obviously enjoyed having him as a player at Besiktas and he also had his apprenticeship in part at Chelsea, but he has not enjoyed at all the best of starts and to top it off it turns out he is now injured, out for 5/6 weeks. What was disappointing was the reaction I saw to that news, many fans were disappointed it was only 5/6 weeks, witty it may be to laugh at him but is that what we have sunk to now actually being pleased a West Ham player is injured, not for me no matter how bad a player is should we ever take joy from an injury, hardly likely to inspire him when he is fit.
Jonathan Calleri was feted across the web when it was revealed we were after him, endless replays of his Rabona chip goal scored in the colours of Boca juniors were posted across Twitter and Facebook, yet in his first appearance against Bournemouth he had the chance to put the game out of sight late on, he blasted wide when in on goal. The chance reminded me of Carlton Coles debut for us at The Boleyn, he fired home after literally just coming onto the pitch, like Calleri he ran onto the ball through on goal except Carlton slotted it home.
Simone Zaza, a player that was chased by the club but it seemed only joined us when there was only us to join, with Andy Carroll’s injury and Sakho’s bad back? he has been left to it, problem was in the early games with Payet missing so was the service to him but he did himself no favours that when he did get the ball, his first touch was generally poor which meant his second touch was sometimes non existent has he’d lost it after the first. After the Southampton game I wondered that if he was a mafia hit man he’d struggle to shoot himself. Poor taste maybe but it just seemed he has not got the tactical awareness to get into the positions in the box to receive the ball, he is very stationary for me at times making it easy for the defender to mark him out the game.
>Whether that though warrants the missing posters on social media asking has anyone seen Zaza I’m not sure, but as my comment above shows, its very easy to mock when they are so poor. Granted, he had his best game for us at Palace, but with still no sign of that killer instinct in front of goal and his appearances climbing near to the 20 million buy clause good performances are no longer making him look worth it. If he wants to stay goals are the only thing that will make that happen, and quickly.
Very true Nige!
Anther perceptive and intelligent article. I absolutely agree that buying foreign players is a gamble unless they happen to be of the highest quality and perhaps not even then. I remember Teves took a long time to settle and Mascherano who joined with him never settled at all ,not at West Ham any way, He went on to be come one the best defensive midfield players in the World. The real problem is the perceived cost of British players. I really would have liked to have signed Robbie Brady who would have solved our left back cover and given us good left sided balance in midfield as well .But,Norwich wanted a reported £15 million for him and Hammers wouldn’t pay that. Instead we preferred a loan on the misfiring Tore and spent over £6 million on Masuako. Of course most Premier clubs have purchased from abroad and many have had their share of abject failures which underlines your point.IN our case ,we have brought in many during the close season only to discover that the players we all ready had were better, at least at present. WE can only hope that a percentage of the newcomers improve sufficiently to prove our Management and owners right..
Good post, I definitely agree on that there’s a learning curve to playing in the premier league. But if we’re highlighting transfer activity you can’t overlook the poor job prioritizing targets. It’s concerning that we didn’t pursue more fullbacks before tragedy struck and even more concerning we thought Antonio would suitable at right back.
It’s a well written article but I disagree with it, my reasoning based on the principle that it’s much too early to write off our new signings or that they are solely responsible for our poor form, it is actually for the most part last seasons players that have been poorest, Noble, Reid, Ogbonna, Collins, Kouyate and to a lesser degree Lanzini, Payet and Antonio. I base that all prior to the Palace game which hopefully is the first of many improved performances, Zaza may only just be starting to hit his stride, Masuaku other than one game looked good, Fletcher and Fernandes have looked good, Feghouli before being injured also looked high quality, Nordveidt has been given a hard time but he has been overwhelmed in midfield because none of his team mates were making tackles or pressing, Tore is the only one that has looked poor in my opinion but we need to see all these players when they are in the team when they play as a team. Give them time and support and hopefully they will show us why they have been bought COYI!!!