By Conor Hogan
West Ham United are in serious trouble following yet another awful performance in their 2-1 defeat to Leeds United at Elland Road last night.
The result was West Ham’s seventh loss in nine league games. With only four points on the board, this is their worst ever Premier League start after so many games.
As remarked by The Guardian’s Jacob Steinberg on X, the Hammers had more points at this stage of the season the last two times they were relegated (11 in 2002/03 and 6 in 2010/11). It begs the question: Is this currently the worst West Ham side in Premier League history?
On paper, this team looks solid: it blends proven top-level players like Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Lucas Paquetá, and Niclas Füllkrug with emerging talents such as El Hadji Malick Diouf, Crysencio Summerville, and Mateus Fernandes, while retaining key figures from the 2023 Conference League triumph like Jarrod Bowen, Tomáš Souček, and Alphonse Areola.
And yet, this team currently have no right to be in the top-flight next season. What really struck me about the performance last night was how little the players seemed to care. There were, admittedly, one or two encouraging passages of play by the Hammers at Elland Road, but that was only when the players on the pitch looked bothered.
As poor as that Avram Grant 2010/11 side was (and believe me, it was dire), it at least had players like Scott Parker, Carlton Cole & Mark Noble, who seemed to understand what playing for the badge meant. Parker was even named Football Writers’ Player of the Season that campaign.
The other worst Premier League Hammers side I remember watching is the 2019/20 side, AKA The Roberto team, who were plagued with liabilities like Carlos Sanchez, Jack Wilshere and the incompetent Spanish goalkeeper. But at least that team had players like Declan Rice, Pablo Fornals and Angelo Ogbonna, who had quality, but also put in 100% every game.
Playing under four different managers in 17 months obviously doesn’t help the players, neither do the baffling line-ups or the constant player turnover – but the West Ham mantra of ‘giving your all for the badge’ seems to be losing relevance with each passing game and season.
On paper, this is not the worst West Ham side I’ve seen – but the game is not played on paper, it is played on the pitch … and these players don’t look like they want to be on the pitch.
