For over a year, we have been hearing about our sustainable “young and hungry” recruitment policy. The club have been buying young players who are cheap. If they flop, the club isn’t strapped. If they develop, they will either be part of a team that seeks to re-establish itself as a top half fixture, or will be sold for a handsome profit.
West Ham is a club of roughly similar means. Like Villa, they have a renowned academy. The way their first team has been assembled is a bit different. Sam Allardyce has acquired several English fallen stars: Joe Cole (who used to play for them as a youngster), Andy Carroll, and former Villan Stewart Downing.
As the saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat. Neither way is inherently the right or wrong way. West Ham don’t play the greatest football, but the results since their return to the Premier League have been superior to our own. Our manager hates talking about experience, but the case could be made that it has made a difference for the Hammers.
While West Ham have been above us for most of the past season, I still think our approach has more of a chance to bear fruit in the medium to long term. After yo-yoing up and down, West Ham may very well be content with the safety of experienced and well-paid players turning in a solid and unspectacular mid-table finish.
Last weeks game against Everton was a tough one to swallow. For 60 minutes the team was as solid as I can remember. About a minute before the first goal, I thought to myself that I had total confidence that we could handle whatever the Toffees could throw against us on the day. No need to rehash what happened next.
With Antonio Luna and Joe Bennett unavailable, I see no reason not to give Matthew Lowton another chance. We have missed his contributions in the attack, and I want to see Leandro Bacuna further up the pitch. For this week I wouldn’t mind seeing both of them at full back given the players available. Lowton has been poor when he has been out there, but I’m not sure why he has been buried like this.
With Gabriel Agbonlahor injured, and Andreas Weimann out of form I wouldn’t bet against a Christian Benteke/ Libor Kozak partnership. It would certainly be interesting to see.
To finish, if you follow me on Twitter, please forgive me as I may tweet more than a few pictures from the Red Sox victory parade during the match on Saturday.
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