The Opposition View with West Ham Till I Die
“A nightmare” is how West Ham Till I Die described the Hammers’ season so far when we spoke to them ahead of Brighton’s trip to the London Stadium. And it isn’t hard to see why fans of the Irons feel that way.
After a relatively solid 2018-19, this was a year that promised much. Manuel Pellegrini was in his second season as manager, the club spent heavily in the summer and cracking the top 10 looked like it could genuinely be on the cards.
Six months into the campaign and only goal difference is keeping West Ham out of the relegation zone. Pellegrini is gone and David Moyes is back in the hot seat, charged with saving the Irons from the Championship for the second time in three years.
Protests against the owners David Gold, David Sullivan and Karen Brady have also kicked up a notch with a mixture of anger and apathy lingering around the former Olympic Stadium.
Against such a backdrop, can West Ham survive this season? And with a ridiculously tough run of games to come after Brighton’s visit, just how important is Saturday to their hopes of doing so? Jeff Gayle from Hammers’ fan site West Ham Till I Die gave us the inside view from East London.
It’s turning into a bit of a nightmare season on the pitch so far for West Ham. Manuel Pellegrini is gone and David Moyes is back at the helm for a second time. Was that the right decision and can Moyes help turn the season around?
It is a nightmare. There were signs towards the end of last season that we had the makings of a good team, and the first couple of games of this season helped cement that idea, but it has been all downhill since.
Pellegrini didn’t seem to want to or couldn’t tackle tackle the problem that is our defence – as seems to be the wont these days, if you slip into the relegation zone you get sacked!
Whether David Moyes is the right man for us remains to be seen. He certainly thinks he is! We do have enough decent players around to ensure we stay up but we have a tricky run of fixtures coming up – and how we negotiate these will give us a better indication of where we will finish.
Off the pitch, protests against David Gold, David Sullivan and Karen Brady appear to have kicked up a notch too. What’s the general feeling towards those three?
Mixed to say the least. I can only talk for myself: I am not a big fan of Karen Brady, and both Gold and Sullivan manage to keep putting their collective size nines in their mouths.
Having said that, they do seem to have been pretty supportive of the managers we have employed. I must say that I prefer to do as little about the board as I can. It’s the team I care about!
We were astonished to see Gold come up a couple of weeks ago and say the best thing that’s happened to West Ham was moving to the London Stadium. How did that go down?
I refer the honourable gentleman to my previous reply!
Who have been West Ham’s start performers this season? And the most disappointing players?
I can count the this season’s star performers on the fingers of one finger: and even then I wouldn’t have to use it! At a push, I could nominate Lukasz Fabianski, oh and Robert Snodgrass has had a decent spell seeing he was seemingly on his way out of the club a few months ago.
What did you make of our 1-1 draw at the Amex back in August?
Classic West Ham v Brighton. We take the lead, and you eventually equalise. The only surprise was that our nemesis Glenn Murray didn’t score – he probably wasn’t playing!
We’re not in great form ourselves and I wouldn’t be surprised to see West Ham win. Looking at your fixtures with away games at Manchester City and Liverpool to come, just how important is Saturday to your hopes of staying up?
It’s important in that a win would boost the confidence of the players and help repair the damage of the last couple of games, when seemingly all our rivals gained three points on us. Also as you say games against Liverpool and Man City don’t promise much.
The title looks done and dusted, but any one in the bottom half of the table may yet get pulled into the relegation battle. Who do you think is going down?
Bournemouth, Norwich, and A.N Other. Anyone really excepting West Ham – and Brighton of course!
Finally, a prediction please?
For no other reason than I don’t want to contemplate a disaster until it actually happens, a 1-0 win to West Ham.
Thanks to Jeff from West Ham Till I die for answering our questions – and hoping that Brighton stay up. Given that we’ve enjoyed two quality evenings out at the London Stadium so far in the Premier League, we hope that West Ham survive too. Don’t forget to give West Ham Till I Die a follow on Twitter.
