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An early morning hello from a Chelsea fan |
The fall out from last night's disappointing result against Astra Googly carried forward into this morning as many Hammers fans woke to the ecstatic banter of rical fans.
For sure the defeat left us with a bloodied lip, but the hysterical reactions of some fans are like the sort of embarrassing hissyfits we usually associate with Johnny-come-lately followers of Man U or Chelski!
Let rival fans enjoy their moment as West Ham's Ropey League exit makes us considerably more likely to beat other Premiership teams this season.
It's time for calm appraisal of our strengths - we haven't become useless over night and Bilic hasn't suddenly become a poor tactition.
In goals, Adrian is a top keeper and Dazza Randolph would be in the starting line ups for most Premiership sides.
At the back we have three top quality experienced centre backs along with the two most exciting young defensive talents in England in the Reeces. In particular, Winston Reid is amongst the top four CBs in the league. At full back we are adjusting to the (temporary) loss of Aaron Cresswell and have captured a player who might well make Cressy have to sweat for his starting place in 10 weeks time. On the right, Sam Byram is developing at a rapid pace and starting to look much more comfortable both in defence and offensively. And mercy of mercies, Slaven looks like he has finally realised yhat the Antonio-RB experiment doesn't work.
In midfield the Noble-Kouyate-Nordtveit combination looks like a match for most. Our attacking midfielders are more than exciting. Payrt is possibly the best player in the league while Lanzini is an able understudy. Feghouli looked very snappy until he was forced out by injury. Tore looks to be starting to adjust to the Premiership, while Antonio is an unusual talent who also scores goals.
Up front we suddenly have Zaza, Carroll, Ayew, Calleri and the promising Fletcher. Salho may yet return to add his abrasive style to the mix.
All in all, its our best squad ever and best manager since John Lyall. Laugh now boys, we are looking forward to taking more than a few scalps on our Premiership travels this year. "Smile-wipe-face-from" come to mind. Hammers fans need to take a leaf from Michail Antonio's book of loyalty right now and show a bit of belief.
COYI!