What do we need to achieve? West Ham fans are passionate albeit unrealistic when it comes to what West Ham actually need compared to what they want. Of course, West Ham fans would love a cup run, or a European place but in reality, Premier League football for another season would be suffice. Improving on last season, may be quite hard to achieve, but not impossible as last year's away form cannot get any worse can it? Tenth place and 46 points, is what the Hammers achieved last year, personally they are on the up and not looking back. What the Hammers need to achieve is about the same as last season, maybe a few more points on the table to be more secure of not being sucked into a relegation battle. With the addition of Carroll long term and hopefully with fewer injuries, this looks achievable.
This moves on to the second question is it realistically possible? For West Ham to gain around the same number of points is rather realistic. The Hammers are in a process of going forward, not chasing European football, so fans need to stay realistic unlike last season because of the great start the side had. This lifted many people's expectations, and many fans were unhappy whenever West Ham lost, which is very unrealistic. Achievable ambitions are tenth or ninth place, which would be another solid season. One way to improve on last year was the poor away form, which saw Allardyce's men pick up only three wins on their travels against QPR. Newcastle and Stoke. It was dreadful last season, but playing counter attacking football with only two players with pace is always going to be hard, as Jarvis and Diame are the only outlets away from home. Also last season West Ham had sixteen losses and only ten draws, which means that some of the losses need to turn into draws. Games where West Ham lost from a winning position such as Everton and games where golden opportunities were missed such as Reading both need to eradicated. The Hammers need to keep hold of leads and learn how to score more. The same position is achievable this season, as arguably the teams coming up are weaker the ones going down. As if West Ham were to play last season in the Championship with their tally from the promotion year in 2012, the Hammers would have promoted automatically in second place behind Cardiff. West Ham are looking forward, and achieving a bit better than last season is attainable.
How much will it cost the Hammers? Well it has already cost Sullivan and Gold about £15.5 million already with the signing of Andy Carroll. Technically this is not an improvement as he was playing for the club last season. The Hammers need to strengthen some key areas, such as centre-back as they are light with only Tomkins, Reid and Collins, with all of them suffering injuries last year. Two strikers are needed to make sure their enough competition and cover for Carroll. Also creativity is lacking in the side, as sometimes if Carroll was not getting the ball, we looked hopeless. We need an attacking midfielder with flair, and good perception to pick a pass. With already spending just over £15 million, there probably is not going to much more spent but whatever is brought in has to be an improvement to the squad now rather than thinking for the future as West ham are not stable enough yet for that sort of planning.
Come On You Irons!
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