Who is the best option at right back for West Ham? Time for you to have your say...

As our defensive woes continue, we at VERYWESTHAM have launched a fans poll to assist Mr Bilic in dealing with what appears to be a rare blind spot in his footie vision. With your help, SuperSlav can get his head around the options at right back and hopefully we can rediscover our defensive brilliance of last season.

Get your vote in now!

Come Back James Tomkins...

After yesterday's comical defensive implosion against Watford, Hammers fans are wondering what has gone so wrong at the back?

In contrast to last year, where Bilic's side demonstrated an impressive capacity to shut games down, so far this year the Hammers have been remarkably porous at the back.

Chief to their defensive problems has been the chaos at right back. Bilic persisted with playing Michail Antonio as a wing back despite repeated evidence that Antonio lacked the positional and tackling nous of a Premiership wuality defender.

Meanwhile, Sam Byram has returned from injury but has struggled to acclimatise to the pace of the top flight and to manage the twin demands of defence and attack. In simple terms, giving a yard of space to Premiership forwards is foolhardy and subject to repeated punishment.

All of which begs the question: what can Bilic do to restore a stable back line? Arbeloa has arrived to provide options but is still well off match fitness and at 33 years of age is only a temporary solution.

This time last year Bilic faces a similar issue as Carl Jenkinson lost form and confidence. Up stepped James Tomkins to fill in at right back. Defensively Tomkins was excellent and despite a lack of explosive pace, also linked in well with the attack.

Unfortunately, Tomkins became frustrated with the lack of starting opportunities under Bilic and in a move that shocked Hammers fans, departed for Crystal Palace during the Summer. The £10million fee was touted as a decent deal for West ham but right now we could certainly do with Tomkins experience. One suspects that he would have come on as a substitute at half time yesterday to replace either Byram or Collins who were both misfiring but alas, Tonks is warming the Palace bench at present and yet to make a Premiership start for the Eagles.

Bad business all round it seems!

What's gone wrong with our defence?

So far this season West ham have been struggling defensively, culminating a an embarrasing implosion yesterday where in truth Watford could have easily scored five or six goals.

The preseason campaign was unimpressive with a concession rate of over two games per game even though many of the games were against modest North American and Austrian opposition.

Further warning signs went out after the dusappointing defeat to Astra which, rather like yesterday, occured from a winning position after the Hammers were gifted an away goal in Romania.

So what has gone wrong - the success of last year was undoubtedly built upon our ability to suffocate opposition sides which allowed for a series of famous victories over all the traditional top six sides.

Undoubtedly the right back situation has been problematic as SuperSlav showed the less positive side to his stubborn determination by prolonging a visibly failing experiment using Michail Antonio at right back.

All the while, our defence has become unbalanced and nervous looking. Watford's openibg goal testerday was typical of the poor defensive positioning at right back as Sam Byram 'did an Antonio' by allowing himself to drift 5 yards off his man and then mysteriously allowed Odion Ighalo to turn inside with disastrous consequenxes as his shot deflected off James Collins for a mighty soft goal that allowed a Watford side who had been totally outplayed until that point back into the game.

Watford's equaliser was truly embarrassing as Adrian and Ginge messed up yheir shouts and gifted Troy Deeney the chance to equalise. Undoubtedly, the opportunity was deftly executed with a delightful lob that the retreating Masuaku couldn't quite keep out, but the ball should gave been easily dealt with without any such danger.

The response after the break was really disappointing. West ham lost yheir way and conceded another sift goal as Sam Byram failed to cut out a cross to the right side of the box leaving Capoue on his own yo rifle a shot high onyo the net. On another day Adrian would have pushed it over the bar but Watford were on a roll.

Cue another embarrassing goal as Ighalo was allowed to dance around the right side of the penalty area (again with Byran in hapless oursuit) before teeing the ball up for a low strike that again Adrain could have kept out on another day.

It's a real pity that a day that should have been remembered for Antonio's brilliant brace that emphasised his resurgenge since returning to his natural attacking position as well as the fabulous rabona cross from Payet for the second goal, in fact was more notable for a series of comically inept defensive cock ups.

Even worse, Angelo Ogbonna posted an unhelpful post match tweet that is likely to impede his return to the starting XI.

There certainly is lots of work to be done on the training ground by Mr Dicks and Co who are mighty quiet just now having been hailed as rock solid this time last year. The right side of our defence needs serious working on as Collins and Byram are not managing the space between RB and right CB properly. However, perhaps the biggest single issue is that we have lost confidence and need a few decent defensive showings to get the boys talking again. With Arbeloa still short of match fitness, Sam Byram will surely get another chance or two, but things need to improve rapidly.

Positive Feeling Descends Upon Olympic Stadium

Martinez: on fire!

West ham have endured a mixed start to life since making the move to the Olympic Stadium. An early season injury crisis has forced the club to dig deep into their resources to bolster their fragile forward line but, ultimately, the squad now looks very impressive.

As they prepare to receive Watford to the OS today, the good news is that Dimitri Payet is ready to start and can team up again with fit again Manny Lanzini. The mouthwatering prospect of an attacking midfield trio of Payet-Lanzini-Feghouli may have to wait another week as Feghouli played the first half of last night's Prem-2 (err reserves to us old timers!) 2-2 draw with Wolves. A late appearance from the bench may unfold today but if so, probably as a substitute for either Payet or Lanzini.

Meanwhile, up front things are ready to finally light up as Simone Zaza is set to make his debut. The Italian is a livewire and has looked impressive in training since his arrival from Juve. There can be little doubt that Hammers fans have high expectations for Zaza as he was the clear winner in a recent poll exploring who fans believe is our best striker when fit. Zaza seized 53% of the vote with Andy Carroll back in second with 12% and Ashley Fletcher third at 9%.

With Ayew and Carroll making good progress with their injuries, the other good news is that 19 year old hitman Toni Martinez is banging in goals for the Prem-2 side, with 6 already in 5 games this season for Terry Westley's side.

Despite losing 2 of their three opening games this season - defeats away to Chelsea and Man City are not too disappointing and the Hammers have a 100% win record at the OS having won 1-0 against Bournemouth a few weeks back. Today's visitors are Watford who have only managed a point so far and do not look like the side who so impressed last season. Even Mystic Mark (Lawrenson) thinks the Hammers will win (predicts 2-0) which may be a curse!

With the attacking options again available West ham will hope to finally kick start their season. Let's hope Zaza can mark his debut with a goal to lift our spirits.

COYI.

Bilic Gives Vote of Confidence

West ham boss Slaven Bilic has been speaking about new recruit Simone Zaza and his exploits in traing since arriving from Juventus.

Hammers fans who are hoping to get a look at what Zaza can offer were given a boost ahead of next week's Watford game as Bilic voiced his high expectations of Zaza and his excitement at the Italian hitman's 'wildness'!

As such, it is evident who Superslav has voted for in the VERYWESTHAM poll to name our preferred main striker, but who do you think is our main hitman? Why not cast your vote in our poll (top right)?

Is Zaza Really THAT good?

We asked the West Ham public to name their favoured striker from our current batch and they have responded in pretty unexpected ways. While Simone Zaza looks likely to be a useful addition to the squad, it's something of a surprise that the vast majority (54%) of Hammers fans rate him as our single best forward - compare that with Andy Carroll in second place at 12% of respondents. And note, this is presuming that all are fit and available to play!

Zaza's strike rate in higher level football is slightly above a goal every third game (58/156 games), which is decent but not likely to produce the 20 goals a season haul that we covet. Perhaps his recent splendid strike against the Hammers during our preseason finale versus Juve has influenced fans?

Andy Carroll is nowhere near as prolific at 68 goals in 258 appearances (which is just above a goal every fourth game), but his fans can point towards his overall contribution to the team in terms of creating chances for others and also as a huge asset at opposition set plays.

Interestingly, Hammers fans have been taken with Ashley Fletcher who, despite his inexperience with only two Premiership appearances, is ranked third with 10 percent of the vote!

Poor Andre Ayew has obviously frustrated fans as, despite his £20 million transfer fee, trails in in fifth at 6% of the vote - 1% less than the out of favour Diafra Sakho. The Ghanaian International has a strike rate that is almost identical to big Andy at 79 goals in 294 top flight appearances.

Otherwise, Jonathan Calleri has yet to grab hearts after a serious of close misses since his recent arrival and only gets 2% of the vote - half of the 4% that the evergreen Carlton Cole has received despite no longer being registered at the club, apparently!

Finally, we may indeed love Dimitri Payet but only 3% of fans think he alone can produce the goals that we need to push towards the top six places in the Premiership.

Why not have your say by voting on our poll before it closes in 3 days time? 

 

There's only one Enner Valencia...

Valencia's finest moment in Claret n Blue

Indeed, there is but only one Enner Valencia - but somebody needs to tell Swansea FC who were 'chasing' the Ecuadorian striker and announced on their official website that he had arrived as a new signing even though he had actually ultimately ended up at Everton!

Many Hammers fans will suggest that Swansea might be better off blushing now at a minor faux-pas rather than enduring a hapless season of Valencia NOT scoring - something he has excelled at during his time at West Ham. In fact, so NOT prolific was Valencia that he didn't even make the suggestion list for main striker in the on going Fans poll - if you haven't voted why not let us know your thoughts by clicking on your choice (above right).

Hammers fans might well also surmise that there are indeed two different Enners - the one who has amassed an impressive 16 goals in his 29 international performances (more than a goal every other game), and the one who has struggled with a mere 8 goals in 60 appearances at West ham (a goal ever 7.5 games).

Has he been played out of position? Those who actually watch Ecuador's international matches will say not and point to his lack of innate physicality as a major disadvantage in the rough and tumble of the Premiership.

Either way, it'll be good to not have to endure watching him repeatedly lose possession during our games!