After 5 losses in six matches, Slaven Bilic has problems in all areas and needs to address them quickly.
Resolve defense
After an unfortunate draw against Crystal Palace in April, when the match ended 2:2, Bilic said it was impossible to conceive 3 goals in every match. The message was, the defence needs to be more solid. Since then, however, little has changed and the Hammers are still weak in defense. Over the last 15 of 23 matches team conceded two or more goals, making them now almost on the tail of the table.
Last season West Ham conceded in the first 10 games of the season 20 goals, thanks to which the club eventually lost a spot in the Champions League. It was strange that Bilic waited until the last day of the transfer window when he brought the player to the position, where they need to fill in like a salt – right back Alvaro Arbeloa. James Tomkins had some good matches, but he was allowed to join in Crystal Palace the summer.
Bilic openly spoke about individual errors, but there are also problems with the organization when the backup has committed gross errors, which are usually punished by opponents. The manager needs to work on tactics.
Better balance in the midfield
Last year, the club was more about one individuality – Dimitri Payet, who played perfectly together with Manuel Lanzini. Neither one player does not fit in the momentary 4-2-3-1 formation and loss 1-4 to Swansea in May was a sign that luck will not last forever.
It’s a dilemma for Bilic, which should be facilitated if the other players like Mark Noble and Cheikhou Kouyate played better. There is a huge gap between the players, the game is slow, cumbersome and lacks elegance.
More coherent plan of attack
West Ham relies too much on Payet and what he comes up with. The team as a whole compact does not know what to play. Last season they played well against big clubs with effective counterattacks but often struggled against weaker clubs. One solution would be to transfer Payet to the central role so the attacker can gain more support.
Get Sakho back into the game
Diafra Sakho has been an important player under Sam Allardyce, later, with his performance against Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester City also won Bilic. But their relationship eventually cooled and the player in the summer made a request for transfer, which has failed for medical reasons at West Bromwich Albion.
He has not since returned to the first team, he is not ready physically or mentally, but the Hammers are exceedingly lacking his game.
Help new players settle
West Ham is bigger since the summer, but not better. Some purchases were a bit odd. Take, for example, Sofian Feghouli and Gokhan Tore. The team has now 3 right-wingers, but no left midfielder. It is possible that this position will be played by André Ayew, who is however currently injured.
Havard Nordtveit and even Edimilson Fernande did not convince. This is not only Bilic’s mistake.
West Ham tried to bring top striker this summer, but no one from a trio of Carlos Bacca, Alexandre Lacazette or Michy Batshuayi came. Christian Benteke, a proven player from Aston Villa left without a fight to Crystal Palace and West Ham had to bet on Simone Zazu and Jonathan Calleri, who, however, also proved disappointing.
As mentioned in the first sentence, West Ham has problems everywhere and the London club should recover as soon as possible, otherwise, they are threatened with relegation to the championship, just as they did in 2011.
source: theguardian.com, foto: wikimedia.org