SuperSlav left his
staff in no doubt how he feels about our recent form despite capturing an
impressive 7 points in the past week by postponing the staff Christmas
party until the New Year. Bilic will be well aware that Saturday's victory was
one of major good fortune as we could so easily have been given a thumping by
the Premiership's bottom club!
With nine days
until our visit to Swansea, Bilic will be using the time to try to work on our
formation which again misfired at the weekend as Hull flooded through midfield
creating a host of decent opportunities and rattling the woodwork on three
occasions without actually scoring. Quite simply, Slav will feel that there's
no need for a Christmas Party cos Santa came on Saturday!
In addition,
SuperSlav will undoubtedly be looking a potential captures in the January
transfer window as we lack a reliable right back or striker. With loanees such
as Calleri, Tore and Zaza all likely to be returned to sender, we will have
plenty of room in the squad for new recruits. The problem is, of course, that
midseason acquisitions raely work out in the longer term.
Never the less,
Hammers fans will remember Ricardo Vaz Te with fondness as the Portuguese
hitman arrived in January 2012 and proceeded to bang in ten crucial goals that
sealed our return to the Premiership. Thereafter, Vaz Te managed only the
occasional strike as he proved to be one of those players who is better suited
to the Championship than the first tier.
As we pin our ears
to the ground it's hard to know who we might capture as most of the names
touted to date are unlikely to actually materialise - Batsuayi, Sturridge,
Bacca etc. Moreover, given the chaos at the club right now one wonders who
would actually be likely to join us?
Let's hope that
Bilic has some special knowledge of international football and can identify a
suitable striker. To date, his record in signing forwards is pretty
underwhelming - Jelavic, Zaza, Emenike, Calleri.....hmmm.
All the talk about the proposed signing from Al Ain of Emmanuel Emenike has distracted from the fact that with the departures of Zarate and Jenkinson, along with the likely move of Nikica Jelavic to China, West Ham have cleared out a number of berths for potential incoming squad additions.
Although Carroll and Sakho are set to return over the next few weeks, the fact is that even if Emenike joins the Hammers are still short on forwards and with Champions League football a real possibility the chairmen will need to think carefully about the old adage of speculating to accumulate.
Southampton's capture of Charlie Austin for a paltry £4 million was a cracking bit of business and one wonders if a switch to Upton Park might have been possible only for David Sullivan's provocative comments about Austin's ability and injury-proneness during the Summer transfer campaign.
But unfortunately for West Ham, the Austin bird has flown and they have been forced to look elsewhere for the poacher that could fire them into Europe. for now, the rumour mill has gone quiet but with space in the squad and cash freed up by the recent departures, there is every likelihood that the Hammers will make a late move before the transfer window closes tomorrow.
Burak Yilmaz, Michy Batshuayi, Stephen Fletcher, Demba Ba, Andre Pierre Gignac, Saido Berahinho and Ishak Belfodil have all been linked with a high profile move to the Boleyn with Ba, Belfodil and Gignac meeting Sullivan's description of the mystery player who is currently in a strange league but has previously played in one of the major European leagues.
With Sullivan and Gold, we will never get bored or complacent!
