The West Ham fans in the Football Transfer Tavern have fallen very silent in recent weeks…
The Hammers have fallen from the dizzy heights of 7th in the Premier League last year to now 18th following 4 straight defeats this season.
Their misery continued on Sunday at the London Stadium as they slumped to yet another heavy defeat at the hands of in-form Southampton, who produced a fine away day display to condemn West Ham to a miserable 3-0 defeat.
While some in the Football Transfer Tavern are already talking about the sacking of manager Slaven Bilic, it is still early days and the man who drew so much admiration after last season should be given time to turn things around.
Our West Ham fans in the Tavern think the problems at the club are obvious, and they’ve given us their 3 things that manager Bilic needs to sort to get the clubs fortunes back on the up again…
Sure Up the Defence
Premier League teams are free-scoring this season as demonstrated by this weekend’s 31 goals, and even the Hammers themselves have managed to notch a few.
However, with an inability to stop conceding goals, it doesn’t matter how many they score – they will continue to lose and fall even further down the table.
Bilic needs to find himself the right centre-back partnership, and should consider giving youngster Reece Oxford a run in the team alongside Winston Reid.
The return of Aaron Cresswell will also be a major boost.
Diafra Sakho
Despite their attacking flair and ruthless ability in the air, the Hammers still lack and out-and-out goalscorer as Andy Carroll is better utilised as an impact player and Simeone Zaza looks as if he couldn’t hit a barn door.
One man they have at their dispense with a proven goalscoring record is the out-of-favour Senegal striker Diafra Sakho.
Not always given the opportunity, he has scored a goal every other game in two seasons at the Hammers – he could prove deadly.
Reinstall the Confidence
The only confident players in the whole West Ham squad at the minute look like Michail Antonio and Dimitri Payet, and funnily enough they have been the only two performers so far this season.
If Bilic can re-install the confidence in his side that saw them do so well last season, it will only be a matter of time before results improve, especially considering he is playing much of the same XI of the previous campaign.
Not quite sure how he will do it, but with their next 3 fixtures being Middlesbrough, Crystal Palace and Sunderland, it could be the perfect opportunity to string a run of results together.
