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Should West Ham spend big in January?

By Louis Pye

IPSWICH, ENGLAND - JULY 28: West Ham United Joint Chairmen David Gould, David Sullivan and his son Jack Sullivan look on during the pre-season friendly match between Ipswich Town and West Ham United at Portman Road on July 28, 2018 in Ipswich, England. (Photo by Stephen Pond/Getty Images)
IPSWICH, ENGLAND - JULY 28: West Ham United Joint Chairmen David Gould, David Sullivan and his son Jack Sullivan look on during the pre-season friendly match between Ipswich Town and West Ham United at Portman Road on July 28, 2018 in Ipswich, England. (Photo by Stephen Pond/Getty Images) /
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Despite West Ham’s marvelous Premier League form – most recently beating the once-great Manchester United – Wednesday’s embarrassing Carabao Cup exit away at Oxford United didn’t really come as a shock to most long-term hammers fans.

That’s because they’ve seen it all before. Just last season Manuel Pellegrini’s men were dumped out of the FA Cup by AFC Wimbledon – a night that also saw them concede four goals.

A number of theories can be drawn as to why this keeps happening. Motivation (or lack of). Fitness levels of the deeper squad who haven’t been playing. But one question should arise: Is West Ham’s squad good enough, and therefore – as per the headline – should West Ham spend big in January?

And I don’t mean should they spend huge sums of money on more players, just so that they can avoid getting heavily defeated by a League One team in the early stages of the FA Cup. This is a wider issue than that.

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The Oxford horror show highlighted frailties in the squad that perhaps weren’t so apparent beforehand. Critics have been vocal about Carlos Sanchez – a pedestrian 33-year-old who relegated Aston Villa couldn’t wait to get rid of three years ago. If he wasn’t up to their shambolic standards back then – what makes him up to West Ham’s in the present day?

The Colombian was one of the worst performers on Wednesday night – and the Hammers are only one Declan Rice injury away from Sanchez starting in the Premier League.

Now by no means was Sanchez the only poor performer during the cup exit, but it is a position that West Ham fans have been crying out for to bring squad depth in. Several players of that ilk were linked with the club during the summer transfer window, but none of them materialized – resulting in this situation that the club now finds itself in.

Another area of the pitch that seems to be a problem is the striker roles. Sebastien Haller has eased into life comfortably – netting three goals in five Premier League games – and generally performing well as he contributes a great deal to West Ham’s overall play. But with the club letting Javier Hernandez leave for Sevilla just days before the summer transfer window ended, they’re now just left with an unproven back-up in Albian Ajeti.

Whilst it would certainly be wrong to write the Swiss international off after just two cup games, it is fair to argue that if Haller was to be sidelined for a significant amount of time, the pressure would be all on Ajeti to deliver, which – while an opportunity – could impact West Ham’s season negatively.

Next. West Ham battle back in seesaw draw at Bournemouth. dark

With the hammers chasing the top six this season, January may be the team for David Sullivan and co. to dip their hands in their pockets once more to avoid similar fates to the past.

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