After a brilliant performance last season which saw the footballing birth of Dmitri Payet, West Ham United finished in the 7th position in the league after Southampton. Everything seemed to be going their way with the club moving to the new stadium and the Hammers playing in the qualification stage of the Europa League this season.
The indication that this season would be horrendous was given way before the season started in the transfer period. After a host of big names linked with West Ham United’s strikeforce, West Ham managed to land only Simone Zaza from Juventus, and that too on loan. Bilic has also brought in the likes of Andre Ayew, Manuel Lanzini, Gokhan Tore and Alvaro Arbeloa but none have been successful in making an impact yet except Lanzini.
West Ham have largely had an erratic season so far with fewer wins, more losses and occasional draws and were ousted from the Europa League relatively early. They started with a loss against Chelsea and then 1 win which was followed by 4 losses on the trot.
It seems Slaven Bilic is himself confused as to what is wrong with the team. Surely, Zaza has been a big failure, who yet to open his score sheet after 11 matches and the defence. Apart from that West Ham’s defensive contribution has been very poor.
Weakness
Bilic is playing a 3 man defence with Angelo Ogbonna, James Collins, Chiekhou Kouyate, Winston Reid, Sam Byram and Arthur Musauku playing in the rotation. While the names look decent who could have pushed the limit further for West Ham this year, the plan has clearly not been rightly executed.
The faltering defence has also influenced the central defensive midfield duo of Pedro Obiang and Mark Noble, who are forced to try out different things leading to conceding goals.
Apart from defence, Bilic is having a serious problem up front. With Zaza misfiring, Bilic has turned to wingers Andre Ayew and Michail Antonio.
Strength
Whether he is scoring or not, Dmitri Payet can always be a threat. The fact that such a player is not injury prone is a huge boost for West Ham. Manuel Lanzini is looking like the best buy for Bilic at the moment as him pairing with Payet is the only strength of West ham United.
West Ham are currently in the 17th position in the league table just above the relegation zone. Their draw against Stoke City just before breaking for the interlull was a positive sign and we hope Bilic to get back his squad to winning ways.
Opportunity
If Bilic can manage to make Payet the focus and make sure that Zaza (or anyone else) can find his scoring boots, the season is far from over for the London club.
