Not a lot of action on deadline day beyond Reece Oxford being loaned to Reading. Scott Hogan has ended up going to Aston Villa for £12 million. You wonder why the club made earlier offers and then pulled out of a deal at such a late stage. It seems Slaven (or David Sullivan?) decided he'd go with what he had rather than risk £12m on an unproven Championship striker.
Bilic will be praying that Andy Carroll stays fit and his new partnership with Antonio continues to prosper. Having invested £20.5 million in Andre Ayew it also seems sensible to give him a run and try to get him scoring in the second half of the season. With Calleri (who might look less awful now he's got a goal) and the promising Fletcher as back-up Bilic has decided that five strikers is enough.
No right-back has arrived, which again is a case of gambling on Sam Byram staying fit and making the position his own. The key thing is that with 28 points in the bag we've been under much less pressure to make panic buys and if West Ham do need to strengthen they should be able to buy for better prices in the summer
Payet has gone of course, which was always likely to happen when we failed to challenge for the top six, but WHU have signed two quality payers who are proven in the Premier League. Jose Fonte is a fine defender who did really well at Southampton while Robert Snodgrass adds scoring ability from the flanks and looks like he'll play with pride and hunger.
But the biggest bonus for the Hammers has been finding a bit of team spirit since Payetgate — something you can'y buy in the window. We had decent players already, but now they're starting to play like a team again.
5 comments:
We desperately need more fire power and I would have taken a gamble on hogan I think bilic has got it wrong big time on this what happens when Carroll get an injury ayew or the awfull calleri no Bilic you have had a nightmare!
Fonte and Snodgrass should be good signings though. Agree Hogan would have given us more depth up front, but presume Bilic still has a lot of faith in Ayew. He's not really had a run of games yet and did look decent last season for Swansea. Thee's the option of using Antono as a lone striker if Andy gets crocked again. We have to get around five wins to ensure mid-table but that should be doable.
"Team spirit" I couldn't agree with you more, also making the crowd feel like they belong at the London Stadium. Fonte and Snodgrass excellent additions to the squad. lets get through this season and have faith in Andy and the others, if they don't last then we have 12 million more to spend in the summer. its all a gamble which ever way you look at it, no certainties anymore. COYI
Not just saying this in the hindsight of last night's fiasco - I'd say this is the third transfer window in a row that David Sullivan has botched. Most teams around and below us strengthened, we didn't. In fact, with Fonte basically replacing the crocked Ogbonna, and Snodgrass given the unenviable task of replacing our best player in a decade (at least), as well as losing Reece Oxford, on loan, and Zaza, for what it's worth, we've ended up weaker. Sane embarrassing Byram showed what a gamble it was to fail to bring a right back in (Sullivan has failed to sign a top class RB in his seven years); and did you see evidence we'll have enough firepower to get 5 wins, even before Carroll's next injury?
Though when Ogbonna returns Fonte's signing does give us four centre backs to choose from. Agree we needed another right back, though Byram is worth persevering with in a back five despite last night. Think Snodgrass will chip in with some goals and score more than Feghouli. Yes we lost a world class player which was always going to happen once we failed to replicate last season's form but we have signed two decent PL players. Very hard to get a top striker in the window and Hogan was probably overpriced for a Championship player - likes of Ross McCormack and Jordan Rhodes score lots at that level though Hogan might turn out to be the next Jimmy Greaves of course. Having invested £20m in Ayew we have to hope he returns to something like his Swansea form. At least it's better this window compared to our summer signings
Post a Comment