West Ham must maintain Newcastle attitude to defeat Cardiff

West Ham are looking to achieve a positive December for one of the first times in living memory. The fixtures are kind and the players are in form. Can Pellegrini keep it all together?

Against Newcastle West Ham were clinical, fast paced and resolute. Things that have been decidedly absent from the side over the past couple of seasons. Under Pellegrini, and after a summer spending spree, the side looks a lot better. But the attitude has been coming in waves rather than consistently, and tonight against Cardiff that needs to change.

We have the side to be trying to bridge the gap between mid table and European qualification. Alongside Everton we have new players and a manager capable of bringing them all together, but it seems of late that our attitude has dropped off at the wrong time. If we can bring it together then Pellegrini could lead the Hammers into one of their most promising Premier League spells.

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We need to not rest on our ability and take the game to Cardiff. Cardiff will work hard, even if they’re lacking in star quality, and Neil Warnock will want to beat us. He still harbours a grudge against the club from his time at Sheffield United and he will not let up. If we decide to be pedestrian and slow they will make life hard. And it doesn’t need to be.

We’re not world class. But in these games we need to control our destiny a bit more. We need to push our style on the game and make the game work for us. The players in the squad are looking better so our bench is hardly weak, so there’s no excuse of the first XI players being lazy. If someone is tired, take them off. We need to keep energy up.

As such I do expect some significant rotation when we have a lot of games in quick succession, but not when key players are on form. As such expect Snodgrass, Anderson and Chicharito all to start, but Arnie may get a rest to manage his injury through a busy December. Will Wilshere return to the fold? Either way him or Noble and Rice need to keep the energy going from defence to attack for the whole 90 minutes.