This is West Ham’s 2016/17 Christmas review

CON – Defensively poor

This improvement isn’t really saying much given how hopeless the Hammers were at the start of the campaign, especially at the back.

They lost five of their first six league games, conceding 16 goals in the process, with the likes of Watford, West Brom, and Southampton all recording convincing victories over Bilic’s men and waltzing through the back four with ease on several occasions.

It could have been much worse for the Hammers as well if Dimitri Payet hadn’t produced a moment of brilliance to equalise against Middlesbrough, otherwise it would have been six defeats in seven, and the Hammers would have been rooted to the bottom three.

And West Ham haven’t looked entirely convincing at the back since then either, although their last ten games have yielded just 15 goals, so they are beginning to improve defensively.

Nonetheless, their tally of 31 goals conceded is the third worse in the top-flight behind Swansea and Hull, so Bilic has to improve that tally in the second half of the season.