Rick Rant : West Ham

It was another glorious sunny day at The Atlantic Bar with a surprisingly large crowd for a midweek afternoon game.

I was not in a good mood from the moment I walked in the door because of our previous performance against Forest. My mood never improved as the game wore on and if anything it got worse.

I’ll start with some positives. We have played 5 games so far, three away, two of which were against bitter London rivals. Despite this we have 11 points and remain unbeaten.

Here’s the bad news, buckle up.

Apart from the first game against Southampton we have been bloody awful all season. Today’s game was the worst performance by far. We actually started pretty well and were pushing West Ham back but after the disputed penalty decision everything changed.

I’m not going to discuss the non penalty award. I will say, however, if the ref gives it and VAR can’t make up its mind after 5 minutes, it should be awarded.

We can all moan about the lack of subs and lack of energy but there are deeper issues. As I mentioned in my last rant this team is crying out for a midfield general. A midfielder who can hold the ball, relieve pressure and start attacks. It’s criminal that we do not have such a player in the whole squad.

The lack of play through midfield got so bad we at the bar started ironically cheering every time Dier received the ball from a back pass.

I haven’t looked at the individual player stats to see who had most touches. I can easily estimate that Dier and Sanchez had the most touches and Son the least touches of all our players.

Conte May be happy with the results and in terms of numbers so am I. I am not happy at all about our style of play, if you can even call it a style. It is an incoherent mess that seems to be designed to bore the opposition and anyone watching to death.

We seem to lack energy, urgency and movement. Players are simple folk and will only run when there’s a chance they might receive the ball. Because we lack good passers in midfield, the forwards become static, unwilling to waste their time running knowing they won’t get the ball anyway.

The only exception to this is Deki. He runs himself into the ground trying to help the team and is often double teamed because there’s no threat from anyone else.

I will lose my mind if Son is not dropped and replaced by Richarlison in the next game.

The transfer window closes tomorrow, Thursday. I’m dreaming of a new world class midfielder to be added at the last minute because we desperately need one.

The games for the next few weeks come thick and fast. The next game is against Fulham at home on Saturday the 3rd at 9am.

COYS

Rick