da betsul： Despite facing a somewhat disappointing early exit from the Capital One Cup this week, West Ham have nonetheless begun the 2015/16 campaign in tremendous style. The Hammers may have fallen short against the likes of Leicester City and AFC Bournemouth at home – but in triumphantly beating each of Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City on the road – the Upton Park faithful certainly have reason to be excited this term.
da bwin： The club’s newly appointed boss in the managerial dug-out, former Croatian national team coach Slaven Bilic, therefore deserves huge praise for the way he’s gone about his business in 2015/16. Yes, a great deal of the new campaign obviously remains to be played at this early stage, yet the 47-year-old manager has so far appealed to the fan’s desires greatly up until now.
However, as life at Upton Park very rarely proves plain sailing for the Hammers even at the best of times – will Slaven Bilic continue his fine form for the club in their last ever season at the Boleyn Ground, or is the honey-moon period about to end rather abruptly for West Ham and their determined new manager?
Well, considering the fact that West Ham currently sit third in the league table with a total of 12 points taken from six games so far, the signs certainly look promising for the East-Enders at this stage in the proceedings.
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When Sam Allardyce left the club in rather unceremonious circumstances at the tail-end of last season, most of the nation’s media were acting as if the Hammers had just committed blasphemy in deciding to part ways with the former Bolton, Newcastle and Blackburn boss. ‘Be careful what you wish for…’ was the phrase most pundits, including a certain Mr. Richard Keys, seemed obsessively keen on sticking to – yet among the Upton Park faithful itself – Big Sam’s time had seemingly come to a deserving end.
Although Allardyce had somewhat performed what was asked of him by the club’s hierarchy throughout his spell in the Hammers’ dug-out, the now 60-year-old tactician simply became notorious for his shortcomings at West Ham more than anything else. A distinctly unentertaining approach to his match-day tactics, setting up for a point against almost every team in the league regardless of their level of threat in the final third, and a clear over-reliance on captain Kevin Nolan were just some of the major problems that Big Sam proved inept at dealing with during his time at the club.
So then, whilst he obviously has what it takes to keep his respective sides rooted firmly within the Premier League, Sam Allardyce ultimately couldn’t propel West Ham any further. Since Slaven Bilic has been in charge of the Hammers however, West Ham fans have certainly rediscovered what it means to be in sync with their manager on the touch-line. The well-known Croatian has already paid witness to hearing his name triumphantly sung around the stadium – an accolade Big Sam hardly achieved once during his four years at the club – yet it is only through merit that such a notion has been achieved.
Bilic has successfully signed the calibre of players West Ham fans want to see wearing the claret & blue on a week-in-week-out basis. The style of football being attempted at Upton Park nowadays is truly an honest improvement on the philosophy established under Big Sam – an unlike his predecessor in post-match interviews and the like – the new Hammers boss has boldly held his hands up personally when things have not gone well.
Although no manager has to carry out such an honest evaluation of themselves in front of the eagerly poised footballing community watching on, Slaven Bilic’s approach to dealing with frustrating losses has been rather refreshing among the Hammers fan-base. It acts a sign of integrity and determination that will likely see results improve even further throughout the rest of the 2015/16 campaign.
Whilst life for the newly installed coach hasn’t been entirely without fault for Bilic, seeing as the club gave up on their Europa League duties rather easily this summer and haven’t quite tied their home form down as of yet, the overall start to West Ham’s final ever campaign at the Boleyn Ground has still been a successful one.
In going to each of the Emirates, Anfield and the Etihad in his first three away fixtures in the Premier League and coming away with a maximum total of nine points, Slaven Bilic has proved he has something rather special to offer his new employers. The club therefore deserve great credit for taking a risk on their new manager, as well as doing so in the face of every major pundit who criticised them for their initial decision to part ways with Sam Allardyce.
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