West Ham’s dream season failed to take off and all the high hopes the board had, came to nought as confused decisions coupled with unlucky injuries have made sure the Hammers spend a season trying to salvage their pride.
Moving into a new stadium with the Europa League to generate more revenue and bring forward West Ham’s name in Europe. A season where a top 7 finish would be the minimum. These were the basic targets the Hammers were looking at before the beginning of the season. And their willingness to pay around £40m for Alexandre Lacazette showed the extent to which they were willing to go to fulfil those targets. But things did not fall into place and after the Lyon striker’s rejection, they finally signed ex-Swansea attacker Andre Ayew who, keeping with the unfortunate tradition got injured at the very beginning and missed the Hammers’ slide. With various other first team players queueing outside the treatment room, the team was depleted and out of the Europa league before they could realise what hit them.
The Hammers are currently in the 17th position and need to have a quick turnaround if they are to harbour any hopes of a season devoid of a relegation dogfight. While their striker issues have been well and often documented, there are issues all over the pitch, especially in defence. The likes of Collins, Ogbonna, Oxford and Reid have potential but they have been error-prone this season. Reid has had to take the majority of the responsibility upon himself and hasn’t yet justified the dependence on him.
West Ham have conceded a whopping 20 goals this season which is better than only the bottom 3. This stat shows a reshuffle is required in defence and it is a matter of personnel rather than formation, a host of which has already been tried by Slaven Bilic.
And it is no surprise that they have been linked with a number of defenders and the latest player said to be on the radar of West Ham for a move in January is Lamine Kone. The Ivorian burst onto the scene when he swooped in late and with the help of Jermaine Defoe kept Sunderland to fight another day in the Premier League. Both the players were credited with having saved the Black Cats from relegation.
There were various reports of Kone joining Everton and after his tremendous performances, it was not a surprise. But Sunderland managed to hold on to him as the transfer window shut. But this season it has been a different tale altogether. Kone has looked a shadow of the player he was last campaign. His attitude has been called into question and in a drastic turn of events, he is seen as a liability to a set of people at the club.
His potential is undoubted and West Ham will have surely based their interest on the player they feel he has the potential to be and not the one we are currently witnessing, The Hammers need reinforcements at the back and maybe it is time to go after someone who adheres to the age old proverb- ‘Cut your coat according to your cloth.’
