West Ham United, a season in review: January 2015

Throughout the football season, KUMB Editor Graeme Howlett pens a weekly column for Echo Newspapers.

Join us as we take a look back at the highs and lows of the 2014/15 season, with our eyes today rooted on January 2015. And it had all been going so well, too...


Column #18: 11 January 2015

On the face of it, a point at Swansea isn't a terrible result. However there were few West Ham fans returning from the Liberty Stadium on Saturday night not feeling slightly disappointed that the Hammers hadn't taken all three.

For the third game in succession, West Ham had taken the lead only to have to settle for a draw. Andy Carroll temporarily silenced his critics with a wonderful solo effort on the cusp of half time before Mark Noble's own goal, with just 16 minutes remaining, gave the Jacks a share of the spoils.

Having opened the scoring through Carroll, it was an all-too-familiar tale as the Irons sat back and invited pressure on. After conceding the (inevitable) equaliser, West Ham took the game to their hosts and were unlucky not to grab a late winner with one of several opportunities - but it was a case of too little, too late.

That's been the story for Big Sam's boys since the New Year; three games - West Brom, Everton and Swansea, three leads spurned and three draws. In some ways, it's reminiscent of last season's dark(er) days, when United's modus operandi - away from home, at least - was to grab a goal and then attempt to hang on for dear life.

Sometimes the policy works, often it doesn't, but either way supporters are generally left dissatisfied with the standard of fayre on offer - especially this season, given the strength of the current squad and lack of reason to play in such a cautious manner.

It's long been joked that West Ham are like Christmas tree decorations, as they come down after Christmas. Laughable or otherwise, the Hammers are yet to pick up a win in the five games since Yuletide and need a win soon, if for no other reason than to calm a few nerves.

That streak of winless games has resulted in West Ham dropping from third to seventh in the Premier League - and it doesn't get any easier. Following the visit of struggling Hull next weekend, Liverpool (a), Man Utd (h), Southampton (a), Tottenham (a), Chelsea (h) and Arsenal (a) provide six of the next seven opponents.

Before that of course, we have a transfer window to navigate; young centre half Doneil Henry has already arrived via Apollon Limassol for £1.5million, but further business duing January is likely to be limited due to the restrictions imposed by Financial Fair Play (FFP).


Column #19: 18 January 2015

There was no column #19 in anything but name, as I had a week off. So naturally, that's the weekend West Ham picked to secure a 3-0 win against Hull City.


Winning by three clear goals was too much for Big Sam to take


Column #20: 25 January 2015

"We're in the hat - and that's what matters", declared Sam Allardyce after his West Ham United side beat Bristol City 1-0 in their FA Cup tie at Ashton Gate on Sunday afternoon.

Taking into account FA Cup results elsewhere at the weekend, it's hard to be critical of Sam's succinct summary - even if the Hammers produced a largely insipid performance in scraping through against a team two divisions below them.

In a fourth round littered with shock results West Ham avoided the pitfalls suffered by the likes of Chelsea, Swansea, Manchester City and Tottenham - beaten 24 hours earlier by Bradford, Blackburn, Middlesbrough and Leicester respectively - to reach the last 16 for the first time since the 2010/11 season.

Of the teams above West Ham in the Premier League currently, only Manchester United and Arsenal remain in this year's FA Cup. It is therefore no surprise that Allardyce, who fielded arguably his strongest XI against Bristol The Robins, believes this is a competition he can win.

Oddly perhaps United's victory - secured through a late Diafra Sakho header - was the first FA Cup match Big Sam has won in regulation time since becoming West Ham's manager in 2011. Defeats against Sheffield Wednesday (2011), Man Utd (2012) and Nottingham Forest (2013) were followed by the dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Everton a fortnight ago.

For the first time since arriving at the Boleyn Ground, Allardyce and his squad have engineered a situation whereby West Ham's Premier League status is all but assured by mid-January. This has allowed the Hammers to take a real shot at Cup glory - rather than rest key players and risk repeating the embarrassing scenes witnessed at the City Ground a year ago.

So having started 2015 with a treble of draws, the Hammers have now won three on the spin. As a result, confidence in the camp is high ahead of next weekend's trip to Liverpool - where West Ham will once again attempt to break their Anfield hoodoo.

The Beatles were at number one in the music charts with 'She Loves You' when Ron Greenwood's side left Merseyside with 2-0 win in September 1963, courtesy of goals from home grown youngsters Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters. Since then a succession of West Ham teams have tried and failed (usually miserably) to emulate that success.

Could this finally be our year?

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