After a rather awful 2019/20 season, very few fans rooted for West Ham to fight for a top-half finish at the beginning of the season 20/21 campaign. As it stands, The Hammers will be competing for European glory next season with Leicester after an illustrious season under David Moyes.
The media was quick to pick up the story when West Ham went on to announce Jesse Lingard as their winter loan signing after the attacking midfielder suffered from a quiet spell in Manchester United with not a single appearance besides his name. The English International didn't have to wait too long to prove his worth as his debut-double saw The Hammers cruise past Aston Villa in a 1-3 away victory.
Just one of the many breathtaking moments for the West Ham fans this season as they will see their side compete in the Europa League alongside Brendan Rodger's Leicester.
Leading the table with most goals scored from set pieces, the team has proven itself a huge threat in the air with a stunning 19.9 aerial duels won per game. A definite team achievement as the group gelled well throughout the season and bring on their best performance. A number of brilliant individual performances gave the side a huge boost in throwing them above Spurs and Arsenal in the table.
Back on 23rd December 2019 after taking control of the helm of the club once again on an 18-month contract after the previous coach, Manuel Pellegrini left the club in 17th position, fighting for survival in the Premier League. West Ham managed to avoid relegation that season by securing 16th position in the league, managing a total of 20 points out of 19 games under Moyes. It was clear that the team needed some serious rebuilding for the next season and the board was considerate enough to let Moyes have his preferred transfers.
West Ham went on to sign Tomas Soucek, Vladimir Coufal, and Craig Dawson that summer. Three crucial recruitments that will prove vital for the long season ahead. Moyes let Phillipe Anderson go on loan to the Portuguese side FC Porto after a disappointing campaign from the attacking midfielder.
Moyes's side started the season with two back-to-back losses but recovered quickly as they thrash Wolverhampton Wonderers 4-0 at home followed by an 0-3 away win against the flying Leicester. The most exciting match of the season would probably be the one against Spurs where they came back from the 3 goal setback to a 3-3 draw in the extra time after a worldie from Manuel Lanzini near the 90-minute mark.
It was getting clear that this new West Ham side is nothing like the previous one as the team brought up some brilliant individual
Tomas
Soucek will be one of the players that West Ham fans will want to keep in
their squad for many years to come after the box-to-box midfielder brought a
new life in the midfield of the Hammers. The midfielder proved that he is no
stranger to scoring goals as he managed to find the back of the net on 10 occasions
last season. Soucek was a constant aerial threat, averaging a 6.2 of aerial
duels won per game, the second-most in the league behind Cristian Benteke. He
averaged an impressive 2.1 tackles and 1.6 interceptions per game, winning the majority of the threats from opponent counter-attacks.
A concrete midfield partnership
between Soucek and Declan Rice was the driving engine of the West Ham side. The
duo was unbreakable at defense as well as creating a great link in the
midfield side by side.
West Ham fans just can’t have enough
of their gem, Declan Rice as the midfielder was yet again voted Hammer’s Player of
The Season by the fans. The defensive midfielder’s great positioning and
awareness out of possession and his great mastery in serving the ball to other
teammates make him a complete player, one that the fans would hate to lose to
any bigger club. Always on the front page of transfer rumors, the midfielder
exhibited yet again why he is the star of the show with an impressive average of
88% passing accuracy per game, making 1.8 average tackles and interceptions per
game in the league.
Vladimir Coufal proved to be another
great signing for West Ham. The right-back produced 7 assists as well as
averaging 1.3 key passes per match. His full-back partner Aaron Cresswell
pulled one ahead of him with 8 assists and 1.6 key passes. The left back's stunning transformation this season brought him into a new light in front of
the fans. The full-back duo churned out a total of 15 assists last season.
The Attacking Trio of West Ham will
perhaps be the focal point of discussion. The trio of Antonio, Jarrod Bowen, and
the later addition of Jesse Lingard produced fireworks every other match. An
accumulated 27 goals came from those three in front of goal, opening up
opposition defense and exploiting the space with the help of Antonio’s massive
physicality.
With almost every major signing of
the season coming up with good, consistent performance, fans would be
optimistic for the upcoming season and their chances in the Europa league. They
will want their new signing Benrahma to
step-up his game and improve upon his last season’s less than impressive
performance.
Overall a massively successful
season with great recruitment exhibited by David Moyes only on his second
season as West Ham boss. The ex-United manager has a lot of expectations to
fill next season and the media will be keeping a close eye on his next
recruitment for the season.
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