Not a good recipe – Paul Merson shares major worry for West Ham

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West Ham United have performed better on the road than they have at home this season.

Speaking live on Sky Sports‘ Gillette Soccer Saturday programme at 14:44 on February 4th, Paul Merson offered his opinion on the Hammers’ struggles at their new stadium so far this season, highlighting th size of the pitch as a major concern for the club.

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Slaven Bilic’s men have struggled to acclimatise to their new surroundings this season, with the larger dimensions of the pitch at the London Stadium proving to be detrimental to their chances of winning games, especially against some of the better sides in the division.

And Merson drew attention to the size of the pitch at West Ham’s new home, when speaking on Sky Sports‘ Gillette Soccer Saturday, but also highlighted the lack of pace in the Hammers’ side as a reason why they are struggling:

Paul Merson

“They’re too open. They can’t get near anyone at the moment. I watched that game [against Manchester City], and that wouldn’t have happened at the Boleyn Ground. It’s a big football pitch [London Stadium], and they can’t get near anybody. At the Boleyn it was a tight pitch, the crowd was round you, and they used to wire into players and make it difficult. They haven’t got a lot of legs in their team, that’s the problem, they haven’t got a lot of pace either, and that’s not a very good recipe.”

West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic

Despite their inconsistent form, West Ham are pretty much safe from any kind of relegation trouble, so they should be using their home games from now until the end of the season purely as a means to become more accustomed to playing on a bigger pitch.

Bilic could also try and recruit players who are more energetic, in the mould of N’Golo Kante, and try to inject more stamina into his midfield.

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If that is not possible, West Ham should seriously consider altering the dimensions of the pitch, or the problems they are currently experiencing will surely just continue to rumble on.