A difficult tour of the Championship last time out for West Ham; of course ending with a glorious last gasp Play-Off victory over Blackpool at Wembley; forced contrasting emotions but that’s nothing compared to what is to come. This time last season year I said that relegation could be a blessing in disguise and I stand by that.
Looking at the squad that was relegated, losing the likes of Scott Parker and Demba Ba was a blow, but numerous experienced replacements and more importantly a new manager that knows what he is doing arrived. Sam Allardyce has had his critics from the media and inside Upton Park over the past 12 months but I wouldn’t want anyone else in charge in East London going into this tough Premier League season.
Big Sam’s nous in the transfer market has been evident this summer with free signings Mohamed Diame and Jussi Jaaskelainen joining, as well as adding Alou Diarra, 31 and James Collins, 28 to his ranks.
One key aspect that runs through the entire West Ham squad for the forthcoming season is experience, and more importantly Premier League experience. It’s very rare, in fact I would say I’ve never seen a newly promoted squad that is littered with experience as much as West Ham’s is.
Jussi Jaaskelainen, James Collins, George McCartney, Kevin Nolan, Matty Taylor and Carlton Cole have spent the majority of their careers in the English top flight as well as the likes of Mark Noble, Mo Diame, Ricardo Vaz Te, Jack Collison and James Tomkins spending at least two years in the best league in the world.
New additions Modibo Maiga and Alou Diarra are yet to taste Premier League action, but have plenty of experience elsewhere and last season’s impressive defenders Winston Reid and Guy Demel seem more than capable of roughing it with the big boys.
It’s is in no way the be-all-and-end-all of Premier League football, but I can’t help but feel this wealth of experience could come to Allardyce’s aid during the long season and could earn the Hammers vital points along the way.
Whether it is being able to handle the pace of the league or simply not being overwhelmed by certain situations, using the word experienced rather than ageing about the West Ham squad would be the way to go for this season at least.
The likes of Swansea and Norwich showed last season that despite a lack of Premier League experience, if you get the right system and team bond you can succeed. However, both of those sides may now have been ‘found out’ to some extent and you wouldn’t expect either club to improve on last season’s performance, so their lack of experienced individual could be key this season.
Reading and Southampton both deservingly finished above the Hammers last season, but the step up can’t be underestimated and their summer recruitment so far hasn’t been particularly eye opening. Looking through both clubs’ starting XI it is hard to find many players that have more than 50 Premier League appearances and so it will be interesting to see how the naivety of their squads match up to the vastly experienced West Ham side as they all inevitably fight relegation.
Sam Allardyce himself is also a hugely experienced manager at this level having spent well over a decade at the helm of Premier League clubs. Vitally, Allardyce will know how to set his team up as massive underdogs. Last season the responsibility was with West Ham to push forward and go for the win week-in-week-out with most teams sitting ten men behind the ball, this season however most teams will go into the game favourites to beat the Hammers and so Allardyce can use all of his experience, mainly gained from success at Bolton, to overcome the underdog tag and cause shock results that was a trend in his time at the Reebok.
That may be something the likes of Reading and Southampton will fall down on. How to set up against the top six clubs. Admirable as it is, insisting on attacking from the off is a dangerous tactic in the Premier League that you may be able to get away with in the Championship.
Like I said you need a lot more than just experience in your squad going into the Premier League season, but the fact that West Ham are smothered in it can only be positive. It is going to be a long hard season at Upton Park but looking at the current squads I feel confident that the Hammers can avoid relegation and build on their talented squad.
Will experience be that important for West Ham? Can they avoid the drop?
Let me know below or on Twitter: @Brad_Pinard
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