Former Millwall player Tony Cascarino has delivered his verdict on West Ham United’s terrible start to the season and one player in particular.
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic
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 four of their opening five Premier League matches – including back-back-back 4-2 defeats against Watford and West Bromwich Albion in their last two outings – and scraped past Bournemouth in their solitary victory.
The Hammers were also embarrassingly dumped out of the Europa League by Romanian minnows Astra Giurgiu for the second season running.
West Ham United’s Adrian, Dimitri Payet and team mates look dejected
They also only just scraped past League Two side Accrington Stanley 1-0 courtesy of a 96th minute winner from Dimitri Payet in the League Cup in midweek.
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.
Now pundit Cascarino has shared his views on the East London club’s struggles in his role as a pundit on talkSPORT, with goalkeeper Adrian singled out for criticism.
Tony Cascarino in his Millwall days
“I’ve got to say West Ham are conceding goals like you wouldn’t believe and (Angelo) Ogbonna and (James) Collins at the heart of the defence, they struggled at West Brom (like) a number of their defenders,” Cascarino told talkSPORT Drive.
“I think Adrian in goal has had a poor season, you know a really top goalkeeper last year and I think he’s hanging on to his place, I think (Darren) Randolph is keeping him right on his heels.
“Southampton have got speed in (Shane) Long, can be quite direct at times, they will cause problems.”
West Ham United’s Adrian and Winston Reid look dejected in the net
While Adrian is not the only Hammers star not hitting his usual high standards this season, Cascarino makes a salient point considering how able the club’s number two is.
Randolph, who played in the club’s slender win over Accrington on Wednesday night, is the Irish number one and enjoyed a fine Euro 2016.
Could it be that the added pressure of a first call-up to the Spain national side is affecting Adrian’s performances with the player’s in the spotlight more than ever before.
It will be interesting to see who Bilic goes with when the Hammers entertain Southampton for a crucial match at the London Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
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