Unfortunately, I didn't get to visit the DW Stadium yesterday to see my beloved West Ham eventually lose 2-1 to Wigan. However, after reading an extensive amount of match reports and watching the highlights, it is clear to me where our problems lie.
Going forward, we have looked far better than I've ever seen us in the 9 years that I have followed the Hammers. This can almost certainly be brought down to fantastic signings in attack that Sam Allardyce has made in his year-and-a-bit at the club: Kevin Nolan, Matty Taylor, Matt Jarvis, Yossi Benayoun, Andy Carroll, Ricardo Vaz Te etc. To be in a position where we have scored more goals and have a better goal difference than teams like Liverpool, Newcastle, Stoke City and Aston Villa is an impressive start for any team that has just been promoted (much better than Southampton and Reading).
However, I do strongly believe that it is in our defence where we are slipping up.
Allarydce has the choice between three centre-backs: James Collins, Winston Reid and James Tomkins. He started off the season with the combination of Collins and Reid, which seemed to be a good choice. Last season, I was very doubtful about the quality of Reid, but he has definitely proved me wrong this season. He has started brilliantly, picking up a couple of man of the match's along the way and I think he's going to be a long term fixture at the club.
James Collins, on the other hand, has started poorly. Big expectations were heaped onto the shoulders of the 29-year-old with the quality that he's shown in the past. But, a costly error against Swansea to let them go 2-0 up and effectively put the game beyond doubt was to be the beginning of a roller-coaster of bad performances from the Welshman. A long ball from him that was deflected off the back of Mohammed Diame led to Sunderland's new signing Stephen Fletcher to open the scoring against us and cost us the win. Another mistake from him let Olivier Giroud equalise against us when we played Arsenal, meaning that we went into half-time on the back-foot (we eventually lost 3-1). If it hadn't been for a fantastic save from Jussi Jaaskelainen, we would have lost 1-0 to Norwich due to an error from Collins to let Simeon Jackson make a long range effort on target. Despite the fact that Collins is 6ft 4in tall, his presence clearly isn't being felt in the box, which is a worry that could cost us more points in the future.
Guy Demel's injury against Arsenal also hasn't helped after he made a very bright start to the year. Although he has been replaced at right-back by Tomkins, who is doing a very good job both in attack and in defence, it is clear that full-back isn't his natural position and that he'd be much happier at centre-back.
George McCartney also seems very promising, especially in attack where he is constantly lending a hand to Matty Taylor and Matt Jarvis on the left. However, it is still unclear whether he will have the pace to defend against some of the fastest wingers in the league, such as Aaron Lennon, Ramires and Nani.
Although Joey O'Brien is currently injured, he has looked very shaky in defence and I would be very unconfident to start him against the big teams like Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea. As he is at the moment, he would get torn apart by strikers like Robin Van Persie, Sergio Aguero and Fernando Torres.
This defensive issue really needs to be assessed by Allardyce, and with the only reserve defenders being the youngsters Jordan Spence and Daniel Potts, it needs addressed sooner rather than later, especially if a few more injuries occur.
If I was manager, my defence would consist of: Demel, Tomkins, Reid, McCartney.
We'll soon see what Big Sam chooses when we play Manchester City at home next week.
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