Former England international Paul Ince has delivered a scathing assessment of West Ham’s terrible start to the new Premier League season.
The Hammers have tasted defeat in all four of their league games so far this campaign, including against newly promoted Wolves on Saturday. When asked what’s been good about the club so far this term by Chris Sutton, Ince’s answer was to the point, “Nothing”.
“Nothing, at this moment in time,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live. “I think they’re going to change, I think they’ve got too much. They’ve got to change.”
? @Chris_Sutton73 "What's good about West Ham this season?" ?
? @PaulInce – "Nothing" ? pic.twitter.com/EWXithI6hY
— BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) September 3, 2018
Sutton then proceeded to give his opinion on Manuel Pellegrini’s side: “I think the centre halves are the biggest issue, that they conceded the most amount of goals in the Premier League last season. They need to get that right.
“But the midfield is a really concerning area. West Ham have one way of playing and that isn’t going to change.”
OPINION
There’s certainly not been much to cheer about at the London Stadium so far this season, and that was compounded by Adama Traore’s late winner for Wolves at the weekend. Look, last season the Hammers sacrificed style to ensure that they stayed in the division under David Moyes. Now, they’ve completely reversed that decision by going with someone in Pellegrini who wants his team to play fancy football. However, the basics that they were doing so well under Moyes have seemingly been abandoned now the Chilean is in town. They were hard to beat under the former Everton and Manchester United boss, now their skin is easy to get under. It’s not been great for West Ham this year, it’s true. However, they have enough talent at the club to pull themselves out of their current hole. Pellegrini is a top class manager, and he’ll soon figure out the balance between style and substance. They’ll be fine this year.