3 things West Ham United must change to return to winning ways

29th September 2016

These were meant to be exciting times to be a Hammers fan and player. A shiny new stadium, thirteen new summer signings, a European campaign and 20,000+ extra fans cheering on the boys every week, the future was bright; the future was Claret and Blue.

Significant issues with the new stadium, an early and abject exit from the Europa League, coupled with a dreadful start to the Premier League campaign has turned things rather sour.

Six games in the dreaded ‘R’ word is being uttered in parts of the London Stadium, and the feared ‘S’ word is being mentioned surrounding the gaffer Slaven Bilic, five defeats have left the Croatian as second favourite for the chop with the bookies.

After the last international break, the feeling around Stratford was that our season started against Watford. For half an hour all was well, confident flowing football and our main man Dimitri Payet producing an audacious Rabonna cross for hotshot Michail Antonio to nod home to put the Irons 2-0 up in the first-half.

The new ground was buzzing, but suddenly moments before half-time, the cracks began to show their ugly face again.

Our defence parted like the Red Sea to allow Odion Ighalo to slot past a limp wristed Adrian to pull a goal back for the Hornets, before James Collins and the Spaniard gifted Troy Deeney an opening to dink a delightful finish past the stranded West Ham number one.

Two more goals followed and suddenly people began to realise that all was not well at West Ham, ugly scenes in the crowd mirrored that of the rapidly disintegrating performance on it. Still, it happens, it surely could not happen again a week later at West Brom could it?

So, off we all trotted to Birmingham expecting the Hammers to bounce back. More laughable defending gifted a struggling Baggies side four goals. The Midlands club had not scored four goals in a game for about nine years! It was utterly shambolic.

So, on we went to our next ‘must win game’, Southampton at home, a chance for redemption. Arguably the hardest game of the lot, but the West Ham way dictates that if we were to win one of those three it would be the hardest one, but alas no, the same cracks and the same errors continued as the Hammers limped to another heavy defeat.

And suddenly, the Hammers find themselves languishing in the relegation zone with just three points from a possible 18 to their name, and the pressure is all on Bilic to turn around a team so bereft of any confidence that it took a moment of Payet brilliance for the Irons to edge past League Two side Accrington Stanley.

It is time for the Croat to show a little bit of bravery and show that he is willing to take some risks and push egos to one side.

I have pinpointed three areas in which he must change in order to return to winning ways…

Firstly, he has to change the system, for three games in a row he has played the same formation, which is so clearly holding the team back. In my eyes it’s a system where the opposition are allowed to have the ball in their own half and up to the last third in ours.

It then requires good defending to win the ball and attack on the counter. The problem is at the moment we are not defending as a unit and our forward play is fragmented and pedestrian. Mark Noble and Cheik Kouyate as a central defensive midfield duo doesn’t work, both are too attack minded and it leaves the Hammers back four far too exposed and it is costing us time-after-time.

Neither are our wide players doing their defensive duties, leaving the full backs exposed and Noble and Kouyate too much to do defensively.

Which is where the first big call needs to be made, and that would be drop his club captain Noble. It’s a risk, but Noble hasn’t looked like the player he was last year. He slows the tempo of the Irons play with his sideways and backwards passing, and when he does lose the ball he is too slow to track back and make amends.

When you have a duo like Kouyate and Noble one must sit, and one must go forward in attack, and for me, Kouyate is a more dynamic player. Therefore, whilst it may look like a risk to drop your captain it will benefit the team in the short term at least. I would bring in either Pedro Obiang or more preferably Reece Oxford with the strict instructions to just sit in front of the back four picking up the pieces before playing the ball forward to our attacking players.

Secondly, I would look at the full-back positions, and whilst it is unfortunate for Slaven, that he has lost his best defender in Aaron Cresswell to injury the idea of forcing new boy Alvaro Arbeloa out of position to push Havard Nordtveit into the right-back slot was doomed from the start.

The Norwegian is a midfielder, and when we lose the ball in midfield, both the full-backs are too easily exposed, it’s been the same since Slaven joined the club.

The opposition always target the wing and double up on the defender to create time and space for others, so to put a midfielder there was asking for trouble, and it comes as no surprise that the Hammers have conceded so many goals of late.

Personally, I would push the Spaniard Arbeloa back into his natural position of right-back and recall Sam Byram into the starting XI and put him at left-back, where he has played for the Irons in pre-season against Juventus, grabbing an assist against the Old Lady.

Lastly and perhaps the most obvious is to sort out the striker position. Not a single West Ham forward has netted for the Irons yet this term, and it is time to address that situation as soon as possible.

It’s plain to see that we need to play with a front two, Simone Zaza can’t play up top on his own, he cuts an isolated figure and it seems that the Italian thrives with a partner alongside him. I would not drop Zaza just yet; I believe he deserves a chance to impress with someone up top with him.

And for me his partner has to be either Ashley Fletcher or Toni Martinez, we need a forward who is fearless, a forward who has confidence, and there is no-one more confident in the club right now than Martinez. The kid is scoring for fun at youth level and surely deserves his chance at least off the bench.

Playing two up top would of course mean the Hammers lose a midfielder as Slaven would have to play 4-4-2, 4-2-2-2 or 4-1-2-1-2 (which would be the most extreme change in system, as it would see both Noble and Kouyate left out with just one holding midfielder in front of the back four sweeping things up and moving the ball on quickly, and it would see a start for Fletcher or Martinez with Antonio and Manuel Lanzini playing out wide with Payet in the hole behind the forwards).

Personally, I would play 4-2-2-2 with Obiang or Oxford alongside Kouyate, with Lanzini and Payet interchanging out wide with Antonio and Zaza as the striking duo. But importantly I would have both Fletcher and Martinez on the bench as options.

I am not claiming to be a footballing genius, but something has to give at the moment for the Irons as they are in desperate need for three points and for Bilic, who if rumours are to be believed, may only have three games to save his job, now is time he bit the bullet and attempt something new.

Come on you Irons!