What a season it has been for West Ham fans, eh? We’ve had our highs and we’ve had our lows, but one thing is for sure we will be in the Premier League next season. It feels great to say that! It’s that time of the season again where those players that have worked hard all season get their accolades. So here it goes.
As we all know the players for these awards have all been selected, in my eyes some of these are right and some of these are wrong. My player of the season would be Winston Reid, which was rightfully chosen. He has worked his socks off all season, providing some match winning performances. A good recent example of this would be the game against Newcastle where Reid was a reason the game remained goalless with a clearance off the line. These are the reasons that West Ham fans have grown to love our number 2 and has also blossomed into a first team regular. If he keeps up his impressing performances then who knows he may be the club’s captain one day.
Now for my young player of the year. This is a hard one for me as we have not had many youngsters feature within our squad, definitely not on a permanent basis. For me it would have to be Danny Potts. Potts has impressed since making his debut last season in the Championship. After a disappointing loan spell at Colchester he was recalled by Big Sam for a cup game against Manchester United. He played a very good game, holding off the Premier League’s elite players. Although I still think Moncur deserved his award, Potts has just edged it for me.
Goal are something that West Ham have been missing this season. Now we have some good contenders for the goal of the season, O’Neil’s against West Brom, Diame’s against Arsenal and Carroll’s against West Brom. Diame won the award with his superb strike against Manchester United, a curling shot into the bottom corner. This is a difficult one for me as I feel it has to be out of Carroll’s goal against West Brom, where a James Collins free kick was floated over the West Brom’s defence and Carroll struck it first time. The other option would be Diame’s goal against Arsenal, where he scored the impossible with a curling shot at a near impossible angle. I think it has to be Diame’s, simply because of the difficulty of it.
For me the best team performance would have to be against Tottenham, where we lost 3-2. It was a game we were expected to lose with Gareth Bale enjoying a fine season. Both times we took the lead but both times we lost it. What a shame it was that we lost. However we fought until the very end and at one point during the match it looked like we would have won. This is the best team performance for me, just because of the intensity of which we played.
Best individual performance this season would have to go to the big man Andy Carroll against Manchester United. This performance as a whole team is another one that could have been a nominee for best team performance, however I think Carroll’s contribution earned us a 2-2 draw. Although he didn’t score he was an engine, often getting back and defending. He was working all the time up front trying to help the team as much he could, sadly it wasn’t enough to get the win. He did however help to earn the draw against the Premier League champions. When Chicarito was through on goal, but who was there but our big number 8 with a superbly timed challenge. I think we should definitely try to sign Andy during the summer but would not pay the full 17 million, I would look to pay 10 million, 12 million maximum. It is performances like these that save you during matches.