da esoccer bet： West Ham’s 2015/16 season was a confusing one. It went from cautious optimism to flirting with a top four finish and, ultimately, ended in a bizarre sense of disappointment at finishing sixth.
da roleta： Finishing sixth would have been a remarkable and somewhat unbelievable outcome had it been offered at the start of the season. Perhaps it’s an example of how expectations change throughout the course of a single campaign, however reasonable or otherwise.
Slaven Bilic’s side could see a similar pattern this year. Their squad is emphatically stronger than the 25-man roster they had 12 months ago, but they suffered defeat in the Europa League qualifying rounds in a hauntingly similar manner.
The additions of Jonathan Calleri, Simone Zaza, Andre Ayew, Sofiane Feghouli, Havard Nordtveit and Arthur Masuaku have bolstered the squad. Even with injuries to several regular starters, they have the depth to compete with the better sides in the Premier League now. An inevitable period of adapting to their new, clumsily-named stadium might see an indifferent patch of home form, but that should not be enough to lessen the ambitions of a club that is clearly looking to reach right for the pinnacle of the English game.
It is the difficult second album for Bilic. Can he replicate his near-Brit award-winning first season performance?
Teams will set up differently to face them now and, notably, the top sides in the league are stronger. The Irons’ great strength last year was an ability to pick up points regularly against the title contending sides, but they have already suffered defeat against both Manchester City and Chelsea this term.
The top four are stronger and better managed than last time around, and we will likely see bottom-half teams treat West Ham with significantly more respect. Gaps won’t be left between the lines, Dimitri Payet will be marked aggressively, opposing (particularly visiting) teams will treat them like a powerhouse.
What will suffice for West Ham this season? Top four? Top ten?
Probably somewhere in between.
Another finish in the top six would be a dream, but securing a spot as a regular top half Premier League finisher would be enough to prove that last season was no shock outcome. Shrewd summer additions, the stadium move and keeping hold of Payet have set the club up for a strong future.
The club is not looking for a Blackburn Rovers mid-1990s success story, as both David Sullivan and David Gold are evidently trying to take the club to the upper echelons of the game.
Karren Brady is taking a lead role in how the club develops and she certainly shares the ambition.
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