West Ham United Season Preview (2012-2013)
First of all a recap, last season the Hammers had an exceptional season in my opinion, the squad that we began the season with was weakened significantly from the side that were relegated with somewhat of a whimper the season prior to last. I had my doubts, as a realist, that this side could regain promotion straight away (we couldn’t do it in 2003-2004 after our previous relegation and arguably we were much better equipped to do so then) and I was certainly settling for a place in the play offs. Never in my mind did I expect the season to conclude as it did. We were up there, all season, top 2, battling with Southampton, but when it came down to it we buckled under pressure from the ever rising force that is Reading FC. For me personally this was horrific, going to school which was dominated by Reading supporters, who had let’s be honest, comfortably done the double over us and risen through the places to take the title out of both ours and Southampton’s hands. We were left with a slim hope of automatic promotion on the final day, but were denied by the saints smashing an already relegated Coventry. As the anthem states: “And like my dreams they fade and die…” And so to the Play Offs, Cardiff away for the first leg, and to put it simply we turned up for those 2 games and arguably played the best we had all season to pummel the bluebirds 5-0 on aggregate (including a 2-0 away win in a foreign country) the Irons were marching to Wembley. So the day came, we travelled early, we sold out (and more!), it is rumoured that there was almost 50,000 hammers in attendance in what could be described as one of our worst performances of the season, but somehow with the help of Carlton Cole’s long leg to flick the ball to Ricky Vaz Te, we sealed our place back in the Premier League to do battle once again with some of our greatest rivals!
Anyway, on to this season and the mountainous task of staying in the Premier League. I can’t say I’m too confident for the coming season, considering we are the worst side in the division prior to the transfer window due to last season’s league finishing. Although we may have bought in some fantastic players such as: James Collins and Mohamed Diame I do not think we have strengthened to the extent of our rivals such as Southampton’s Jay Rodriguez and Reading’s Guthrie, Shorey and Pogrebnyak. It is certainly going to be a difficult season!
Strengths: There is no question that our strengths are typically of a big Sam side, strong physical and attempting to be the dominant force at all times. Players like: Demel, Collins, Tomkins, Nolan and Cole will be a threat both to the physical condition of opponents and in general, I personally think Big Sam will try to gain any leverage he can in what is going to be a difficult season, Matty Taylor will be used frequently, he might not be the most pacey or skilful wide man, but that ‘left peg’ is something which we are going to have to manipulate from dead ball situations to try and gain an attackive advantage.
Weakenesses: The weakeness of West Ham United is the same as it has been ever since Matty Etherington left 5 or so years ago, a lack of creativity, the lack of someone who can pick up the ball and change the game in the wide areas. Some suggest that Vaz Te is capable of doing that, but I can’t see how Vaz Te, on a big stage, is not going to try and be greedy, and even if he does put in a few good performances he’ll be off and on to better things come the January window. Additionally, a lot of people suggest that our weakeness lies upfront, I cannot see how that is the case with the likes of: Cole, Maynard, Baldock, Carew, Piquonne, Vaz Te and Maiga all being a part of our front line (with more expected to come in) that scoring goals is the problem, the finishing is fine, the key problem is generating enough chances to score goals, something which: Taylor, Noble, Nolan, Collison and O’Neill cannot do, largely because none of the players aforementioned are technically wingers.
Attendances: The expectation is that West Ham will sell out virtually all of their away games this season, with exceptions possibly being Sunderland and fixtures with ridiculous times and obscene prices. The home attendances is a different matter, 35,000 is the capacity of the Boleyn Ground, and dependant on the size of following from the away side, I’d expect us to be at around 32-33,000 for the majority of our games this season (With the exceptions of game such as: Chelsea, Tottenham, Man Utd, Man City and Reading)
Prediction: It’s very difficult at this time for anyone to predict where any side will finish in the division due to the frantic transfer activity that can still occur. However I think West Ham will stay up, it won’t be pretty, it won’t be exciting, but I think we’ll do it. This will be down to one man, and one man only, Big Fat Sam. I don’t particularly like the man, his tactics or his choice in signings (lack of youth or creativity) but the underlying fact is that Sam is extremely experienced at doing exactly what is needed, his arguably organised and ‘bully-ish’ attitude will be difficult to overcome for any side this season, and for that reason I think we will just be okay, providing we don’t take on board too many injuries.
Thanks for reading and good luck to all of you for the coming season, cannot wait!!! #COYI
By Jake Knight (@Knighter10)
Anyway, on to this season and the mountainous task of staying in the Premier League. I can’t say I’m too confident for the coming season, considering we are the worst side in the division prior to the transfer window due to last season’s league finishing. Although we may have bought in some fantastic players such as: James Collins and Mohamed Diame I do not think we have strengthened to the extent of our rivals such as Southampton’s Jay Rodriguez and Reading’s Guthrie, Shorey and Pogrebnyak. It is certainly going to be a difficult season!
Strengths: There is no question that our strengths are typically of a big Sam side, strong physical and attempting to be the dominant force at all times. Players like: Demel, Collins, Tomkins, Nolan and Cole will be a threat both to the physical condition of opponents and in general, I personally think Big Sam will try to gain any leverage he can in what is going to be a difficult season, Matty Taylor will be used frequently, he might not be the most pacey or skilful wide man, but that ‘left peg’ is something which we are going to have to manipulate from dead ball situations to try and gain an attackive advantage.
Weakenesses: The weakeness of West Ham United is the same as it has been ever since Matty Etherington left 5 or so years ago, a lack of creativity, the lack of someone who can pick up the ball and change the game in the wide areas. Some suggest that Vaz Te is capable of doing that, but I can’t see how Vaz Te, on a big stage, is not going to try and be greedy, and even if he does put in a few good performances he’ll be off and on to better things come the January window. Additionally, a lot of people suggest that our weakeness lies upfront, I cannot see how that is the case with the likes of: Cole, Maynard, Baldock, Carew, Piquonne, Vaz Te and Maiga all being a part of our front line (with more expected to come in) that scoring goals is the problem, the finishing is fine, the key problem is generating enough chances to score goals, something which: Taylor, Noble, Nolan, Collison and O’Neill cannot do, largely because none of the players aforementioned are technically wingers.
Attendances: The expectation is that West Ham will sell out virtually all of their away games this season, with exceptions possibly being Sunderland and fixtures with ridiculous times and obscene prices. The home attendances is a different matter, 35,000 is the capacity of the Boleyn Ground, and dependant on the size of following from the away side, I’d expect us to be at around 32-33,000 for the majority of our games this season (With the exceptions of game such as: Chelsea, Tottenham, Man Utd, Man City and Reading)
Prediction: It’s very difficult at this time for anyone to predict where any side will finish in the division due to the frantic transfer activity that can still occur. However I think West Ham will stay up, it won’t be pretty, it won’t be exciting, but I think we’ll do it. This will be down to one man, and one man only, Big Fat Sam. I don’t particularly like the man, his tactics or his choice in signings (lack of youth or creativity) but the underlying fact is that Sam is extremely experienced at doing exactly what is needed, his arguably organised and ‘bully-ish’ attitude will be difficult to overcome for any side this season, and for that reason I think we will just be okay, providing we don’t take on board too many injuries.
Thanks for reading and good luck to all of you for the coming season, cannot wait!!! #COYI
By Jake Knight (@Knighter10)