West Ham United are in crisis and the fans are fed up with a group of players who many feel should never play for them again.
The Hammers sit 17th in the Premier League table, one point and one place above the relegation zone as Slaven Bilic’s second season gets worse with each passing week.
An eighth defeat in 14 games in the 5-1 humbling to Arsenal also leaves the East Londoners with the unenviable record of having the second worst defence in the top flight.
Exasperated: Bilic
Things don’t get any easier either with a trip to title hopefuls Liverpool next up.
While injuries have taken their toll on Bilic’s side – as was evident in the thrashing by the Gunners – the club’s summer transfer business has been ruthlessly exposed for being cheap and woefully lacking in the required quality.
The loyal Hammers faithful are growing increasingly fed up and there is a group of at least five players who should never wear the famous claret and blue shirt again.
Doh! Havard Nordtveit has been woeful
1) Havard Nordtveit
Widely considered one of the worst players to play for West Ham in many years, the Norweigan utility man is actually anything but.
Lacking in any discernable quality, Nordtveit has been woeful in the handful of games he has played this season.
While there is a case to say he may need a run of games to get used to the Premier League, the former Borussia Monchengladbach man has looked like a fish out of water in centre midfield, at right-back and centre back.
Arsene Wenger is no fool and West Ham are seeing why he was happy to release the player without a single appearance for Arsenal before he went to Germany.
Nordtveit was a direct replacement for Alex Song, who had gone off the boil during his loan spell at West Ham. But Song was an infinitely better player and even on a free transfer Nordtveit looks overpriced.
Gokhan Tore looks dejected
2) Gokhan Tore
Running Nordtveit very close as the biggest flop since Savio Nsereko is former Chelsea youth player Gokhan Tore.
The Turkish international looks weak, lacks pace and is another who has proved his old club were right to release him.
The scary thing about Tore is that Slaven Bilic reportedly wanted to sign him permanently from his old club Besiktas for around £10 million.
The board would only sanction a loan deal with the option to buy, though – paying a cool £2.5 million for the privilege – and the club is actively seeking to cancel it.
Simone Zaza has probably played his last game for the Hammers
3) Simone Zaza
Why West Ham thought it would be a good idea to sign the laughing stock of Euro 2016 is anyone’s guess.
But to sign him on loan with a bizarre ‘obligation’ to buy after just 14 games for a whopping £25 million from Juventus was lunacy.
It put the club, the manager and the player under intense pressure from game one and it has been a countdown clock ever since with Zaza barely registering a shot on target let alone a goal in his nine appearances so far.
The only redeeming feature of his game was initially his workrate but even that has gone in recent cameos.
His most notable act so far being to inexcusably swap shirts with Zlatan Ibrahimovic after a 4-1 defeat to Manchester United in the EFL League Cup quarter-final at Old Trafford which enraged supporters.
West Ham are also actively trying to have his loan deal cancelled.
Sofiane Feghouli looks another woefully short of the required quality
4) Sofiane Feghouli
The Algerian winger Sofiane Feghouli was another example of West Ham opting for cheap instead of proven quality in the summer.
Signed on a free transfer from struggling Valencia, Feghouli has been another who has looked way off the required quality for the Premier League.
Lacking in pace and impact, Feghouli has been compared to former winger Julien Faubert by some, but that is to do Faubert a disservice.
Fans have seen enough already from the Algerian but they are stuck with him after signing him on a permanent contract.
West Ham United’s Arthur Masuaku
5) Arthur Masuaku
It was the 20 year anniversary of fake footballer Ali Dia tricking Southampton into signing him last week.
And West Ham fans must be asking themselves if Arthur Masuaku is the tribute act.
The French left back actually looked promising on his debut but has been woeful ever since, his latest showings against Manchester United and Arsenal seeing the side ship eight goals in 90 minutes of football with him at left back.
Weak, uninterested and lacking in any positional sense or game intelligence Masuaku has been pillared by Hammers fans who can’t believe the club spent nearly £7million on the flop.
Bilic and the supporters will just have to pray Aaron Cresswell can stay fit for the rest of the season when he returns from his groin injury.
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