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It’s that time of year isn’t it? When you should really want to be happy about things - not withstanding this hideous pandemic - and our football team gives us that escape.

This week the smile returned to our faces with the emphatic win at Watford to bring to an end to 2021, one of the best calendar years in our history, with manager David Moyes about to celebrate the second anniversary of his return to West Ham this week.




We were 17th when he returned, he’d been in situ for a couple of days and his first ‘return’ match was that 4-0 win over Bournemouth on 1 January 2020. We were in another fine mess then, and here we are fifth now. It's hard not to be impressed by that.

And Spurs haven’t even managed to squeeze in their open top bus ride to celebrate “climbing above Wes Ham in the Premier League.” Their request for a bank holiday was declined.

OK, games in hand will probably mean Spurs and Manchester United may soon rise above us in the table, but it must be so annoying for these entitled clubs to have us making a constant nuisance of ourselves.

But this is about us, coming out of a nasty little blip in form that, as usual, seemed to galvanise our flock into doubting the manager in the week that he was installed as the manager with the third highest wins record in the Premier League history, overtaking Harry Redknapp and now only headed by Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger. So that little campaign by the disbelievers went well then!

Sure we have had a few problems: too many critical injuries, a loss of form, blindingly obvious fatigue and more than a few Covid victims, Pablo Fornals was out with it at Watford just as Michail Antonio returned from his isolation period.

So you really do want to be happy and cheerful at this time of year, goodwill to all men and all that. Especially coming on the back of our first run of three successive defeats since June 2020; Arsenal, Spurs and Wolves doing the damage then.

But this time of year surely must be about looking for the good in all. We all have a love affair with our club, we desperately want them to win and do well. We want every player to be successful whether we think they are good, bad or indifferent.

When they lose, we all lose. When they bleed, we all bleed. Metaphorically. You kick every ball, feel the pain. It takes me days to get over a defeat, you keep watching the highlights looking for something positive to cling onto.

These days this squad wears the shirt with pride. Just look at Nikola Vlasic’s reaction to his first goal for the club, he’d wanted to do that celebration for weeks and the rest of the team knew it. When was the last time fans sung, "you’re not fit to wear the shirt"? Never in Moyes’ time.

First things first, then. I’ve been banging on about our 2021 record - even Amazon nicked the KUMB stats on Tuesday - which sees us winning 30 of 53 matches. You will struggle to find much better in our history (go on then, prove me wrong).

And Moyes’ latest record, the second coming if you like, is an impressive P93 W44 D18 L31. Considering the mess we were in when he returned when he struggled to achieve six wins in his opening 21 matches at the end of the 2019/20 season, the overall record until now is a lot better than it initially looks. As Matthew Upson said on Amazon Prime, “David Moyes has turned the club around".

But it’s the time of year for plaudits, not just for the manager. Let’s start with Vlasic. He’s found settling into the pace of the Premier League tough, but there’s no doubt there is skill and technical ability there, and he has diligently worked his way into the side.

And he has obviously impressed his team mates with professionalism. He scored his first goal for the club to make it 4-1 at Watford, and had clearly been practicing his crossed Hammers salute to the travelling support.

But seeing Lukasz Fabianski sprint the length of the pitch to add his congratulations summed up the team spirit that Moyes has installed in this squad.

This collectiveness is the key to everything else. We are not going to win every game, we were horrible against Southampton and Moyes called it rubbish and was fuming. Forty eight hours later we come up with a performance of running and passion like that at Vicarage Road.




No Declan Rice and with the continued absence of Aaron Cresswell, Angelo Ogbonna and Kurt Zouma, this could have been a hard task. Watford, though, are awful and we took full advantage.

Say what you like about Mark Noble, his legs are not what they were, but he was excellent in that holding role and his penalty means he has scored in every league season since 2006. He can still do that occasional cameo.

From front to back it was the sort of performance Moyes expects. Plaudits for Fabianski too. There have been murmurings that he should be replaced by Alphonse Areola.

The response from Fab to all that has been excellent. So much so that the French ‘keeper is considering his future; this was not the script we all expected. Two stunning late saves by Fabianski summed it all up. They’ll have to drag that shirt off his back.

Vladimir Coufal had lost his place to Ben Johnson, Craig Dawson wasn’t quite the player of last season. But they are warriors, they’ll give blood everywhere they go, they really are massive and not the best company in a dark alley.

I feel a bit sorry for Issa Diop. He’s the sort of player who needs a run of games to build confidence and he has lost his trusted partner in Ogbonna. Moyes will have to buy central defenders next month, you can’t go half-a-season and a European campaign with just two experienced defenders. Throwing kids like Jamal Baptiste and Ajbola Alese in at the deep end will only end in tears.

As for Tomas Soucek, the workhorse of our side, that goal was deserved and will do him the world of good. It was his first in six games and second in 18. I've never doubted him for a second.

Antonio and Manny Lanzini worked their socks off, with skill and tenacity, while Jarrod Bowen is just amazing. I heard him tagged the Herefordshire Messi last night; a bit much that, but hey ho, it’s Christmas.

He created two goals, won the penalty and tore the heart out of Watford. Unplayable. Of course all the Liverpool stuff surfaced again, but if anyone thinks that nonsensical £40m price tag is even half what he is worth now, forget it. He’ s going to be in the England squad soon and for the World Cup.

He’s always going to be a target in this form, we can’t stop that, but if Liverpool or anyone else wants him they can put their money where their mouth is. £100m starting bid?

And then we have the enigma that is Said Benrahma, the player who clearly loves his mum and divides opinion. Five goals now this season, two in his last two games as the criticism of his end product has grown.

Obviously I don’t know him but he seems a genuinely good lad, smiling, good interaction with the fans and desperately wants to do well. And he is doing the nasty stuff now. There was one moment at Watford when yet another of our final third set pieces broke down with the cavalry all over the place.

Benrahma raced back to the edge of his box to be our last man and win the ball. The penny may have dropped, we shouldn’t really be highlighting such things, they should be second nature, but even so I needed a second take on that one!

So here it is, my last offering of this year - and I can hear the collective sigh. It’s been an amazing 2021, 30 wins in 53 games, but the realist in me says it cannot last when we are facing the firepower of the high and mighty and their vast oil, Russian or American wealth.

I think we need four players in the window, none of this usual David Sullivan market trader stuff, Moyes will have his targets so he must be backed with hard cash. Bring on 2022 and thank you to my reader for sticking with me. Happy New Year, everyone.

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