Green Street Hammers
Fansided

Tactics and Manager aside, the issue at West Ham is who’s on the pitch

By Jeremiah Carson

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 23: Andriy Yarmolenko of West Ham United battles for possession with Ben Davies of Tottenham Hotspur during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur at London Stadium on November 23, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 23: Andriy Yarmolenko of West Ham United battles for possession with Ben Davies of Tottenham Hotspur during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur at London Stadium on November 23, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The tactics at West Ham might be bad and the manager is seemingly lost but the real issue surrounding the Hammers are the 11 men on the pitch or at least the ones who don’t care.

It seems that every week West Ham fans, including myself, wake up optimistic that the manager will change the formations or that the team will show up ready to play and for the past 7 matches or so, the optimism has run out.

Yes, the tactics aren’t right or aren’t suited for the players that the Hammers currently have and yes, there really seems no way that Manuel Pellegrini will be able to turn this squad around. However, even if those things changed there would still be the issue of the heart and the fact that no one is acting like they want to be there.

Now that’s not true, the likes of Robert Snodgrass, Mark Noble, Declan Rice, and possibly both Cressy and Fredericks want to play, but that’s it. Week in and week out these 4 to 5 players have given there all, but 4 men won’t win you a football match. No, to do that you need all 11 and even with the return of Michail Antonio who will die for this team, he can do it all.

LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 23: Michail Antonio of West Ham United battles for possession with Davinson Sanchez of Tottenham Hotspur during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur at London Stadium on November 23, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Stephen Pond/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 23: Michail Antonio of West Ham United battles for possession with Davinson Sanchez of Tottenham Hotspur during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur at London Stadium on November 23, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Stephen Pond/Getty Images) /

More from Green Street Hammers - West Ham

It honestly feels like the psyche and composure of each player goes out as soon as the other side scores. Case in point the Spurs match. The match started out fast and strong and the Hammers were doing their part up until Son put an easy one past Roberto. As soon as the ball went in, the heads went down.

It would be easy to put this all on Roberto, but that would be too easy. The poor Hammers keeper is making headlines for his awful form but you shouldn’t let the play of one man put you down like that. The once confident Hammers that could bounce back as they did against Brighton and Manchester United, have lost their bounce-back ability.

There are a lot of issues right now at West Ham and if some of them got fixed, the problem would fix itself. However, everything else could be healed and this one could still rear its ugly head back up. There used to be an old adage at West Ham that if you played hard for the club you would be in and if not, here’s the bench.

Next. Fabianski returning is good news, but it shouldn't save Pellegrini's job. dark

Maybe instead of Pellegrini trying to please everyone, maybe he should play the ones that want to be there regardless of how much they make a week or how others may rate them because until the players can get their heads out of somewhere below, this is going to keep happening regardless of who is in charge or what formation is run.

Home/West Ham News