It has been a frustrating season for West Ham fans as they’ve gone from dreaming of a place in Europe after their strong start to the season, enjoying a stretch of six league games unbeaten including a famous win against Manchester United, to a relegation nightmare starting in October that saw them pick up just two wins in 12.

A series of goalkeeping guffaws and dodgy defending has seriously hampered The Irons’ ability to defend leads and they currently sit third in goals conceded at 50, with only fellow strugglers Aston Villa, Norwich, and Southampton conceding more.

Bright Start

After putting pen to paper to secure the signing of French striker Sebastien Haller for a club record £45m, along with highly praised Spanish midfielder Pablo Fornals, West Ham fans were excited for the season ahead under the tutelage of the newly appointed Manuel Pellegrini.

An opening day loss to reigning champions Manchester City was not enough to dampen the spirits at the London Stadium, as the East London outfit went on to pick up 12 points from their next six games. However, it was after a narrow, perhaps undeserved, home loss to Crystal Palace that the cracks started to show.

Cracks Form

Pellegrini’s men had a seismic dip in form that sent them crashing down from sixth place to 13th in a matter of weeks.

Spanish goalkeeper Roberto, a free summer signing after last season’s player of the year Lukasz Fabianski was ruled out for the first half of the season through injury, came under fire after a series of mistakes against Everton, Palace and Newcastle.

The shot stopper consistently fluffed his lines and a leaky, injury-plagued defence didn’t do a lot to relieve the pressure off of the Spaniard as West Ham continued to plummet down the league table.

Time’s Up

Performances seemingly got worse and worse each week and it wasn’t long before fans called for Pellegrini’s sacking. It was clear that the Chilean had not delivered  after great financial backing in the summer, but the board stuck by him, allowing him time to prove his worth at E20. Unfortunately, that never came.

Not-So-New Face

Hammers fans breathed a sigh of relief when Pellegrini was relieved of his managing duties in late December, hoping that a new coach could bring a new lease of life into a squad that was bereft of morale after a torrid couple of months…only for the board to bring in David Moyes, who had served as manager previously at the club in the 2017/18 season and had been either sacked or pushed out of each of his previous three clubs.

Although managing to pull the claret and blue’s out of the relegation zone with two games remaining in 2018, his first stint as boss was underwhelming and not enough to convince fans that he was worthy of a second spell in East London.

 

Moyes has done little to change their minds since then, picking up just five points from a possible 33.

Silver Linings

Whilst the doom and gloom of a relegation battle is more than enough to deflate even the most enthusiastic fan, there have been some, albeit rare, positives so far this campaign.

The performances against high flyers Chelsea and Man United were excellent, earning themselves six points and two famous wins. The valiant effort shown in the narrow loss to league leaders Liverpool also showed there was still the fight and desire in the team that could keep them up this season.

Nervous Times

However, whilst the fate of the 2019/20 season is shrouded in uncertainty, you could forgive Hammers fans for hoping that the season is voided as to escape their fears of life in the Championship come next year, as they sit in 16th place, level on points with  Bournemouth in the relegation zone.

Whether or not that will happen remains to be seen, but as the future of the current campaign stays up in the air, Irons fans everywhere will be clutching their rabbits feet and hunting for four leaf clovers in hopes of remaining in England’s most prestigious league for another season.

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