|
Suppose it keeps Mondays interesting ! Let the arguments commence !!!
(Spoiler) No Scotty Parker is a fucking shocker.
The 2010s: West Ham’s team of the decade
In celebration of the sporting decade that is coming to a close, writers from The Athletic have been picking their teams of the 2010s — here, Roshane Thomas pick his West Ham United XI…
Goalkeeper: Lukasz Fabianski
You only have to look at West Ham’s recent blip in form to see how important Fabianski is to this team. The 34-year-old joined in 2018 from relegated Swansea City and won the Hammer of the Year award in his debut season, instantly becoming a fan favourite at the London Stadium. Fabianski was also an ever-present in his side’s Premier League campaign and produced the third-most saves by any goalkeeper in Europe’s top five leagues with 148 in total.
A belated Christmas present for many supporters will be Fabianski’s scheduled return to action in January. Prior to sustaining a thigh injury against Bournemouth in late September, he had kept clean sheets against Norwich City, Aston Villa and Manchester United in his six completed league games. West Ham haven’t managed a single clean sheet in their six top flight matches since that day.
The Poland international is the most reliable goalkeeper the club have had since Robert Green and will no doubt play a key role in their bid to climb away from trouble and back into the Europa League argument during the second half of the season.
Right-back: Joey O’Brien
I promise nothing is wrong with me and that my head is perfectly fine. I haven’t slumped into depression due to the club’s recent poor form. I am definitely thinking straight. Joey O’Brien? Yes, you have read that correctly. Joey O’Brien is in my West Ham team of the decade.
O’Brien was blighted by injuries during his five-year spell at the club but whenever he played, he was a solid and reliable member of the team. The fact he joined on trial in 2011 after leaving Bolton Wanderers and had to work and fight his way up to get a chance shows the type of character he was.
He played 32 league games as West Ham won promotion from the Championship, 33 during the 2012-13 season back in the Premier League, 17 in the following campaign and nine in 2014-15, before seven cup appearances in his final year with the club. He scored three league goals in that time. Pablo Zabaleta is still to break his duck for West Ham. I rest my case.
Centre-back: James Collins
This was tough on Issa Diop but it would have been wrong and disrespectful to leave a West Ham legend like Collins out of this team.
Diop is a great talent and is still only 22, so he has plenty of years left in his development. Maybe he can be in our West Ham team of the 2020s, but so far this season he hasn’t made the next step in his progression following on from his debut campaign in English football. That is the only thing I’m holding against him.
Collins, also known to all as “Ginge”, was a very good defender for the club during his two spells, 2005-09 and then 2012-18. In total, he made 188 league appearances for West Ham and scored six goals. The former Wales international still remains a fan favourite and such was his close bond with the club that he expressed his heartbreak on Instagram when he found out his contract was not going to be renewed at the end of the 2017-18 season.
Centre-back: Winston Reid
The second-longest serving player currently at the club behind captain Mark Noble, next summer will mark 10 years since Reid joined from Danish club Midtjylland. During his time, the 31-year-old has experienced relegation to the Championship in 2011, promotion back to the Premier League 12 months later and the emotion of scoring West Ham’s last-ever goal at Upton Park before quitting for the London Stadium. He’s served under six managers and had to endure a still-ongoing 19-month battle with a knee injury.
It has been a rollercoaster of a journey for the New Zealand international and as he edges closer to finally regaining full fitness, it will be interesting to see whether age has caught up with him or if he is still the same dependable defender we were accustomed to seeing prior to suffering that freak injury against Swansea in March 2018.
Left-back: Aaron Cresswell
Remember the good old days at the start of the decade when Herita Ilunga was West Ham’s first-choice left-back? When it became evident Ilunga wasn’t at the required level, George McCartney assumed the role and was a solid defender during two spells at the club. However, Cresswell is easily the best left-back to appear for West Ham over the past 10 years.
His debut season was arguably his finest to date as he won both the club’s players’ player of the year award and was named Hammer of the Year. Cresswell’s performances caught the attention of then-England manager Roy Hodgson, who gave the former Ipswich Town defender the first of his three caps so far in 2016.
Although West Ham fans would argue his form has regressed slightly over the past few seasons, he has recently been showing signs that the Cresswell of old could be making a return.
Right midfield: Mark Noble
Walk into any pub in east London and most will tell you Noble should have at least received one England cap. In an interview with The Athletic recently, his former West Ham team-mate Stewart Downing admitted he is still dumbfounded at Noble’s lack of involvement with the national team.
Local lad Noble is currently the longest-serving player at the club, having made his senior debut in 2004 at the age of 17. Now 32, he remains at the heart and soul of the team. Without an injured Noble for the first two games of this season against Manchester City and Brighton, West Ham desperately lacked an on-field leader. When he returned against Watford, his calm presence helped secure their first league win of the season and sparked a five-match unbeaten run.
With his contract set to expire at the end of next season, perhaps we should all cherish Noble’s last few seasons in claret and blue.
Centre midfield: Declan Rice
Rice is the real deal. If you disagree, you need your eyes tested. The 20-year-old is one of the hottest young commodities in English football. If he is this good now after just 62 Premier League starts, it is frightening to imagine what he will be like in five to six years when he reaches his prime and has more experience under his belt.
The last good player West Ham had who operated in a similar role was Scott Parker. It was tough leaving the current Fulham manager out of this team but Rice has tremendous potential future value and when a club tries to prise him away, West Ham will be able to command a fee that may pay to have the running track around the London Stadium pitch removed once and for all.
The only way is up for Rice and West Ham fans can only hope he will be anchoring their midfield for many years to come.
Left midfield: Kevin Nolan
There is no way I was going to select my team of the decade and leave out Nolan. His chicken-dance goal celebration alone is enough to be included.
During West Ham’s season in the Championship, the Scouser stepped up big time with 12 goals from midfield. After they sealed promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking, he was their leading scorer with 10 top-flight goals. And guess what? At the end of the 2013-14 season, he topped the chart once more with seven goals. It was a great four-year spell at West Ham for Nolan and the current team could desperately do with someone offering his passion and goalscoring ability from midfield.
Nolan was a leader on the field and, in basketball terms, proved to be ‘clutch’ when it mattered most. Now… does anyone fancy doing the chicken dance?
Right wing: Michail Antonio
Another player who has had to work his way up the lower echelons of English football, Antonio has been a great signing since joining the club from Nottingham Forest in 2015 after previous spells at clubs including Cheltenham Town and Colchester United.
In that time, he has made 113 league appearances for the club with a goal return of 27. The team missed his pace on the flanks following a hamstring injury in August and he made a goalscoring return in the weekend’s loss to Tottenham, where his half-time introduction breathed life into a side that had been a distant second-best in the first 45 minutes.
The likes of Alessandro Diamanti, Carlton Cole, Felipe Anderson and Manuel Lanzini were also considered, but Antonio edges it on how consistent he has been for the club over the past four years.
Left wing: Dimitri Payet
“We’ve got Payet, Dimitri Payet! I just don’t think you understand. He’s Super Slav’s man, he’s better than Zidane. We’ve got Dimitri Payet!”
Anyone else miss singing that song? Yes, I know it was a bitter departure but, on his day, Payet was one of the best players in the whole Premier League, so it was very easy selecting the Frenchman in this team. Who knows how far he would have taken the club had he not decided to return to Marseille in 2017?
Payet was loved by West Ham fans and feared by supporters of every other club. It was during his time at the London Stadium that he became a regular for France having only made fleeting appearances for his country prior to his 2015 move to Upton Park. It was the sad the way things ended between Payet and the club and some supporters are still resentful over the way he behaved.
At least we will cherish the good times and a string of glorious goals. Au revoir, Payet.
Striker: Marko Arnautovic
Speaking of acrimonious departures, Arnautovic’s is definitely up there.
Seemingly in the form of his life with seven league goals in the first half of last season, the club rewarded him with a long-term contract in January — just a fortnight after the Austria international made it clear he wanted a money-spinning move to the Chinese Super League. He scored only twice over the rest of the season though, and then moved to China in the summer.
Arnautovic made a club-record move from Stoke City in July 2017 and was an important member of the team, thriving in a new role as a central attacker under then-manager David Moyes. In 59 league appearances, he scored 21 goals and finished both his West Ham seasons as their top scorer.
Special mention also goes to Diafra Sakho, who was a solid striker with 24 goals in 71 games (nearly half of them from the bench), and Andy Carroll, who unfortunately failed the fitness test for this team…
|
