The wrong size of pitch?

Are we playing on the wrong size of pitch? Pep Guardiola appeared to have a point when he said that the London Stadium give players the illusion of having more time, partly because the crowd are so far from the pitch. Though actually the pitch is not that big. Looking at the stats, at 115 yards by 74 yards (or 105 by 68 metres) it's the same size as Wembley (though one yard less in width), Old Trafford and the Emirates. It's only five metres longer and four metres wider than the Boleyn Ground. Or to quote the rather unfortunate boast on the club website, it should be, "made for the exciting, passing football Hammers fans want to see."

Man United and Arsenal don't appear to suffer from a large pitch and if anything there's a case for making West Ham's pitch a yard or two wider to bring the fans closer to the action. It should surely be possible to add a few rows of temporary seats to the sections around the half-way line that are a long way from the action, though digging the pitch down further doesn't appear to be an option at present because of the toxic waste in the soil beneath the stadium. Though who knows what might happen if an eventual new owner throws some money at the LLDC.

The big problem for West Ham at the moment is not the larger pitch but the fact they've never won a league game by more than one goal at the London Stadium and have now suffered a good few tonkings there. It's worrying that Bilic doesn't appear to be able to organise the defence. For all the faults of Big Sam, his teams rarely looked as disorganised at the back as we did on Friday night. How does a club get to this stage of the season without a recognised right-back? 

There's a lack of spirit and leaders too. You can't see anyone bar Reid trying to organise the team when things go against us. Mark Noble tries his best as captain, but you really think West Ham need to sign some more characters with a strong presence in the dressing room. If results don't improve against Palace and Middlesbrough then Bilic will start to look vulnerable again.