West Ham Season Review – Hammers Fly, Then Fall Asleep

West Ham’s season can be tracked easily in one large peak, and a slow, but long, trough where Sam Allardyce’s West Ham career went from surely over, to surely staying, to indeed gone. In the summer, Allardyce was charged with changing West Ham’s philosophy from a direct approach to a more expansive, free-flowing style of play. Players like Enner Valencia went some way to delivering the owners wishes, but ultimately it wasn’t enough to keep Allardyce in a job, with his departure announced immediately after West Ham’s final game of the season ended.

West Ham fans were dreaming of the Champions League in December but slumped to 12th after a disappointing 2015, but it seems to easy to forget that five weeks into the Premier League season West Ham had battered Liverpool 3-1 are were comfortably placed 4th in the Premier League table – indeed, West Ham were sitting in 4th up until as late as Christmas Day.

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While Enner Valencia and Diafra Sakho were the stars of the first part of the season, the most consistent and exciting player to emerge for West Ham throughout the campaign has been Aaron Cresswell. The well-rounded left-back provided an assured outlet for West Ham throughout the campaign as they looked to expand upon their style of play under Allardyce.

The 2-1 win over Manchester City was the highlight of a very good start to the season for the Hammers as they managed to place fourth at Christmas. Stewart Downing was another player to show consistent promise throughout the season, often deployed in the number 10 role, at the tip of a 4-4-2 diamond formation. The England International had an impressive season with the Hammers and arguably merited an England recall. With six goals and eight assists he has proved to be a valuable asset for the East London side and will look to improve again next term.

Nevertheless such impressive form was bound to dip, but the level of malaise which set into the Hammers camp was the nail in the coffin for Allardyce’s reign as West Ham boss. It would be easy to identify the entire second half of the season as the low point, but the 4-0 FA Cup fifth-round defeat against West Brom was woeful. By Sam Allardyce’s own admission, they were safe and at liberty to ‘have a go’ at the cup. What a spineless performance from a club with so much to gain.

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There is a common theme that runs with West Ham and that is their inability to perform at their potential for a prolonged duration. An early season charge was outdone with their late season struggle and this will need addressing in the coming months. The upcoming season will be their last at Upton Park and they will want to leave on a positive note before the move to the Olympic Stadium.

Who manages West Ham will say a lot about the true ambition of David Gold. Spurious rumours of attempting to attract not only Rafa Benitez but Carlo Ancelotti seem a bit far-fetched. But it is clear the owners want more star quality at West Ham, with next season posing a truly interesting team to follow.

Season Verdict: B-

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