The 3 big positives from West Ham’s defeat to Aston Villa and yes there were some as the Hammers face a busy schedule.
There’s no hiding the fact Sunday’s 4-1 humbling at Aston Villa felt like a return to the dark days of last season for West Ham.
We can dress it up all we want but West Ham are in direct competition with the likes of Villa this season, so a defeat like that is chastening.
But you only need to look at Villa’s own heavy defeats to Newcastle and Liverpool – and heavy defeats for the likes of Brighton – to realise this can happen to good teams.
For West Ham the important thing is to ensure that this is a one-off. Or at least a rarity.
The 3 big positives from West Ham’s defeat to Aston Villa and yes there were some as the Hammers face busy schedule
The Hammers do not have much to shout about after the loss. And David Moyes has made it clear to his players they must up their levels to compete for the European spots.
But in the words of Bing Crosby – we’ve got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative and latch on to the affirmative, don’t mess with Mr Inbetween.
While a midtable finish would be far from a disaster for West Ham, we don’t want to become an Inbetween team.
So let’s get the rose-tinted specs out.
Because here’s the 3 big positives from West Ham’s defeat to Aston Villa – and yes there were some.
No hiding place and the perfect excuse for Moyes over big changes
1) No hiding place for Moyes regarding Michail Antonio and Nayef Aguerd. Both players have seen their places as starters in this new-look West Ham team questioned. And neither came up with any answers in the Villa defeat. Antonio was awful throughout and Aguerd once again proved he’s quite simply not as good as some seem to believe he is. This defeat leaves the manager nowhere to hide when it comes to making big changes. Mohammed Kudus, young Divin Mubama and giant defender Konstantinos Mavropanos are waiting in the wings. At a club like West Ham you must play well to keep the shirt and the displays from Antonio and Aguerd were notably poor. Blind faith in players can be just as damaging for a team and morale as no faith. Moyes now has the perfect excuse to drop both for the next Premier League game knowing they can play in Europe in midweek instead.
Striker light and a timely wake-up call ahead of important run of winnable matches
2) The match provides clear proof, if it were needed, to the West Ham board that Moyes simply must be backed – or forced depending on where the reluctance lay – to sign a striker. West Ham’s fine start to the season glossed over the fact the Hammers did not sign a replacement for Gianluca Scamacca. That was a huge risk given West Ham’s struggles last season. And while there is enough quality in the ranks to get through the campaign, if the club wants to compete for the European spots then a proper, bona fide replacement for Antonio is needed, probably in Jauary.
3) The last big positive is the fact the demoralising defeat comes as a timely reality check ahead of a winnable run of games for West Ham. Victory at Olympiacos on Thursday would give West Ham one foot in the last 16 of European competition for a third consecutive season – which would be another historic first for Moyes and his boys. West Ham then have home games against Everton in the league and an understrength Arsenal in the cup before Olympiacos visit the London Stadium for the reverse Europa League group stage fixture ahead of league matches against Brentford and Forest. It’s feasible that West Ham could confirm their place in the last 16 of the Europa League, be in the Carabao Cup quater-finals and sitting on around 21 points from that set of fixtures. And at least now there will be no complacency thanks to Villa giving everyone a wake-up call.
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