Written by: @Samizgould

At the start of the season fans half expected to see a West Ham team that was full of goals and attacking threat, but defensively a little lost and capable of finding a way to concede goals. The wins over Watford and Norwich highlighted just how strong that attacking threat is, to comfortably take three points against both sides at a time of year we’ve almost become unfamiliar with winning.

The combination of Sebastien Haller, Felipe Anderson and Manuel Lanzini linking to great effect is truly beautiful to watch. When in full swing, there is a rhythm and beat to the interplay of passes that you can literally dance to. Lanzini, in particular, returning to full fitness is proving his quality again and there is excitement a plenty to be had with the best yet to be seen from Yarmolenko, Fornals and Wilshere as they all settle into the team. Even with the loss of Antonio through injury there is no doubt that we have a wealth of attacking options and more in the mould of the style of player that Manuel Pellegrini has been after. But can you play the beautiful game without the hard-work defensively to keep you in the game and win the ball back?

Initially the loss to Man City seemed to confirm fears for heart attacks at the back as we leaked five goals from giving a quality team far too much space off the ball with poor reads, mistakes and of course the crisp, cutting play of City to decimate our defensive lines. However, the two clean sheets against both Norwich and Aston Villa, although very different in nature, has given us hope that perhaps there is more steel there than originally thought.

The Norwich win was based on a dominating attacking threat with a clinical edge, with stunning link play through Haller but supported by a hard-working midfield trap. Declan Rice and Mark Noble worked to get in front of Norwich’s midfield and slow them down while our attacking midfielders would come through on the blind side of the Norwich player to tackle the ball and move it on for another attacking wave. This worked time and time again as the instincts of Norwich to always look forward was used against them and provided the momentum to our attack.

The Villa clean sheet was very different and much more reliant on sheer grit and determination to get something from the game and deny Villa after another infamous decision from Mike Dean. On the ball we simply didn’t offer enough. Our touch was off and the passes never reached their intended targets with any consistency. This in part can perhaps be explained by the pleasing work rate off the ball. All 11 players, when we had them, worked hard consistently to get behind the ball and cover runs to make life tough for Villa. When we were reduced to 10 players that work rate went up significantly as we hassled Aston Villa into mistakes as they pushed forward. While we increased our attacking efforts, we also sadly rarely looked likely to alter the scoreless tie. But the work rate reminded me of our best game last season against Tottenham away and offers us real hope in achieving our aims of challenging further up the table.

There were so many things to admire in the first win ever at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Our defence was truly amazing with our best central pairing in Balbuena and Diop unrelenting, our calm touch on the ball, and a beautiful pass for Michail Antonio’s thumping finish. People have highlighted the great pictures of Tottenham’s scoreboard with us one goal up to win, the smile on Mark Noble’s face at the end of the game, let alone the ecstatic faces on the traveling fans. But the most beautiful sight was at the final whistle when multiple Hammers fell to the ground exhausted! Having given absolutely everything they had for more than 90 minutes they had nothing left.

It’s this incredible work rate that defines that win and offers this squad a formula to work towards with our attacking threat enhanced by the work rate of the collective team. Out working your opposition has to be the number one expectation of any team even for an attacking minded manager like Pellegrini, but too often last season that wasn’t the case. If we can marry that attacking flair and technique from the earlier wins with the high work rate we saw at Villa Park then we really will have something to salivate over, starting against Manchester United. But like the manager said recently he wants to see this mentality in action not just words. COYI