Pundit Jamie Carragher has delivered an in-depth verdict on West Ham United’s woes at the start of the new season.
West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic with empty seats behind him
A terrible start to the season, infighting amongst fans, resentment towards owners and concerns over safety at the club’s new 60,000 seater Olympic Stadium home have soured the Hammers’ campaign so far.
Slaven Bilic‘s side have lost five of their opening six Premier League matches conceding 11 goals in their last three following a 3-0 defeat to Southampton at home on Sunday.
The Hammers were also embarrassingly dumped out of the Europa League by Romanian minnows Astra Giurgiu for the second season running.
Under pressure: Bilic
Bilic’s side scraped past Bournemouth in their solitary win and toiled for 96 minutes against League Two side Accrington Stanley before Dimitri Payet’s last gasp winner in the League Cup.
Pundits, fans, West Ham’s players and Bilic himself have struggled to put their finger on how things have contrasted so sharply to the Hammers‘ fantastic farewell season at Upton Park.
Many supporters and pundits have trotted out the old adage that West Ham are too good to go down with their current squad.
But pundit Carragher disagreed when assessing the East London club’s struggles in his role as a pundit on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.
Jamie Carragher
“I think there should be big worry with West Ham, I really do,” Carragher old MNF.
“Early on in the season every team that’s down near the bottom you ask someone ‘Do you think they’ll go down’ and they go ‘No I think they’ll get out of it’ and they say that about every team so I don’t know who everyone thinks is going to go down…
“But I think with West Ham, can you make excuses because of the stadium? I think there’s a little something in that.
“I think when you’re playing a home game, you think psychologically you’re going to win the game normally, because you’re at home.
No place like home? West Ham’s new Olympic Stadium
“West Ham won’t feel like they’re playing at home, it won’t feel like home yet because it’s not, you know they’ve only played three or four games there.
“But some of the defensive mistakes that you see… that will have a massive psychological effect, to lose, no disrespect, to a team like Watford – it wasn’t a Man United or Man City coming back at them – to be 2-0 up and then to lose it… and the goals that they lose now and considering the manager is a defender, a centre back, you’d expect him to be a lot tighter defensively.
“Something has got to change there massively, because every game you play away from home is tough, and if they games tough at home because they still don’t feel like it’s their home game… it could be a long season for West Ham.”
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