West Ham verdict in the Guardian

My verdict on West Ham's season can be found in today's Guardian, though obviously the big prize of 14th place is still up for grabs on Sunday. Gave the season four out of ten on the grounds that we've stayed up and been unlucky with injuries, though also thought about awarding it 3.5 out of ten. Potter has to improve the side next season.

Meanwhile Jarrod Bowen's not in Thomas Tuchel's England squad which is bizarre. He's scored 13 goals in a struggling team this season and at times carried the side. His brilliant volley against Forest alone should have got him in the squad. A shame as Jarrod had apparently moved his Las Vegas stag do to allow for time with the England squad. What could possibly go wrong with a West Ham stag do in Las Vegas particularly with top geezer Danny Dyer there to ensure order? Rumour has it Julian Dicks, Razor Ruddock, Frank McAvennie, Hayden Foxe and John Moncur will also be there to help ensure nothing gets out of hand.

New director of football at WHU?

Interesting piece in the Guardian by Jacob Steinberg - who seems to have good sources - claiming that West Ham are going to appoint a new Director of Football even if David Moyes stays. The Director of Football will be briefed with improving the transfer strategy, though whether Moyes or a new gaffer would accept that is another matter. 

Moyes initially had great success in the market signing such bargains as Bowen, Soucek, Coufal, Dawson and Lingard. Zouma has proved a good value big signing too, but since the disastrous £28m signing of Nicola Vlasic and the poor loan signing of Alex Kral, Moyes appears to have lost his touch.

Of this season's £170m worth of signings only Aguerd and Paqueta have impressed, and they have both taken time to settle. Scamacca has shown glimpses of potential but has been injured for most of the season, Downes has looked game but limited, Emerson has failed to nail down the left back slot, Thilo Kehrer has made a lot of mistakes despite some recent improvement, while the £17m Maxwel Cornet has completely underwhelmed despite looking like a decent player at Burnley last season. Alphonse Areola is also still the reserve keeper, though he will probably replace Fabianski next season. Something needs to improve, as our recruitment is no match for the excellent signings made by smaller clubs like Brighton and Brentford.

"An old, slow team..."

Another good piece on West Ham's plight from Jacob Steinberg in today's Guardian. He lists a pretty accurate summary of what's gone wrong, including Fabianksi covering up for a poor defence, a lack of expenditure on full-backs and defensive midfielders, the signing of Jack Wilshere on £100,000 a week, Mark Noble being bypassed, the poor signings of Mario Husillos and the fact that West Ham are, "an old, slow team and rarely press as a collective unit". Apart from that we're fine... Click on the link to read the whole piece. 

Husillos under pressure

Interesting piece in the Guardian by Jacob Steinberg — who knows his West Ham stuff — saying that the board are taking a critical look at the summer dealings of director of football Mario Husillas. Most pointedly signing Fornals, another number ten, when the money could have been better spent on a box-to-box midfielder and also signing the underwhelming Roberto. Steinberg points out that Roberto had been in the reserves all season at Espanyol and had played in a relegated Malaga team before that, so it's not surprising if he looks rusty.

Presumably Husillos also recommended Haller, who may well come good, but losing Obiang, Adrian and Hernandez without adequate replacements  seems poor, particularly as Ajeti has done little to impress so far. Although if Husillos is identifying all the targets then he deserves some credit for last season signing Fabianski, Diop, Balbuena, Fredericks and Anderson and possibly Yarmolenko even if Jack Wilshere was a very poor call.

Pellegrini surely deserves criticism too, as it's hard to believe he doesn't have the final say on signings and he has picked some strange teams recently. How will Manuel react if his man Husillos is ditched? I expect we'll be hearing more about this. Click on the link to read the whole piece.

Diangana: playing without fear

Good interview with Grady Diangana in today's Guardian. Having left the Republic of Congo at four he grew up playing football in the parks of Woolwich and still seems to have an instinctive joy in the game. The lad also seems to play without fear and has a remarkably mature approach, telling Paul McInnes: "I haven't felt any pressure. I feel like I can go out there and express myself. Even if I make a mistake I don't beat myself up… I've only realised lately how much of the game is in the mind. " Click on the link to read the whole interview.

Living in a large empty hollow bowl?

The London Stadium has had plenty of problems and it's going to take a long time for it to feel like home. But you do wish some journalists would write more about the match and less about the stadium. The Guardian's Barney Ronay is normally a fine and funny writer, but goes over-the-top in his fixation with the London Stadium. In his review of the Leicester match he calls the stadium a, "vast, chilly, cantilevered bowl", a "huge, awkwardly geared stadium", an "oddly troubling stadium" and "this vast open space" with "distant green acres". 

Ronay even managed to channel Talking Heads with, "And you may find yourself living in a large, empty, hollow bowl." He went on: "There is simply an emptiness, a sense of disjunct in a place that really should be a source of strength" and that "Moyes looks minuscule out there, alone in all that empty space." 

Ironically it was a cracking atmosphere in the second half and Ronay does note in his opening paragraph that after 55 minutes, "the home crowd could be seen up on its feet, waving its arms and sending a sustained chorus of 'David Moyes’ claret and blue army' [it was actually 'West Ham's claret and blue army'] rolling around this vast, chilly, cantilevered bowl." 

It probably doesn't help that the hacks are up near the top of the Betway Stand. The press are still obsessed with the stadium and with so much negative coverage it's become a self-fulfilling prophecy that it's a corporate bowl. So please give it a rest for a while. As fans we're stuck with the stadium and on Friday night made a very decent attempt to make it sound like Upton Park.

Picking up the West Ham pieces

Interesting article in Saturday’s Guardian by Jamie Jackson, headlined “Grant forced to lower ambitions as he picks up West Ham pieces”.

Reads like he has a few inside sources and it claims that Grant was shocked to discover a lopsided squad with no right back, one forward and no holding midfielder apart from the unconvincing Kovac. Grant sees Parker and Noble as basically attacking players.

It also claims that even Championship clubs passed on Spector and Da Costa and that Behrami’s summer move to Roma failed because the Italians refused to pay a fee for him.

Jackson’s article says of the Gullivan Brothers, “privately they would now happily accept a 17th place finish”.

And there's also Grant saying he wishes he had as much money as Stoke…