West Ham have strung together nine points in three matches, going unbeaten and scoring nine goals in the process. The job now becomes staying motivated and continuing to improve to sustain that level of success.
Demanding more and striving for constant improvement is probably one of Manuel Pellegrini’s ten commandments of footballing perfection and it must be echoed by his players mentally and on the pitch to continue their impressive run.
The leaders are fairly apparent in this category. Mark Noble, Mr. West Ham always wears his heart on his sleeve for his club and runs his legs off for the team. He sets the example for other on-pitch performances to follow and is grooming Declan Rice in having that same mindset in the heart of the midfield.
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The wide wingers are also constantly searching to better their performances. Felipe Anderson unjustly was criticized for his early play mostly due to his high price tag. His play in recent weeks has hushed his critics and shifted the conversation from bust to bargain.
Robert Snodgrass is another obvious candidate as a disciple of Pellegrini and is now showing why he was so electric for Norwich, Hull, and Aston Villa. At West Ham, McMessi had been (inappropriately) the target of criticism but has used it as motivation. He’s gone from a scoreless six-month initial stint to a stacked scoreline of three goals and seven assists in just four months of play.
Newcomer and 2018/19 star, Lukasz Fabianski has now been outed as a fellow perfectionist striving for that continued level of improving success. In a post-match article following the Crystal Palace win Noble was talking about Fabianski and how terrific he’s been for the team.
Noble then shed some light on how Fabianski reacted to the late consolation goal Cardiff City scored on him midweek:
"“I hope he won’t mind me saying this but he was absolutely raging after the game on Tuesday night because we conceded that last-minute goal and the following day he still had the hump. I love seeing that reaction from players.”"
Me too, Nobes.
It’s that little bit of almost annoyingness we all hated in that kid in school that was pissed when they got a 94% because it wasn’t a perfect score. In Fabianski’s case, we all love to see him getting mad at losing a clean sheet, knowing full-well that West Ham were capable of getting that 100% perfect scoreline.
In reality, the desire to get better by nit-picking is something West Ham need to do to continue their unbeaten run. Fulham, Watford, Southampton, Burnley, and Brighton are all up next and are all beatable teams for the Hammers. Staying motivated and not getting complacent is the task now. It seems Fabianski has gotten the message but it will fall on Pellegrini to light the fire to be better under the rest of the team.