The 38: Blog Edition

So...... you might have noticed we're not playing PES (which means luckily I am keeping some form of football game dignity). You might also have noticed it is just I, the perennial Wooden Spoon of The 38, Jake here without my erstwhile partner in crime Jayson (AKA The Comeback Kid after our half season review). Alas Jayson has important actor stuff to do, but lucky for you lot I am A) not an actor and B) have no social life, so with out further ado here is The 38: Blog Edition!

Keep Calm And Carry On: West Ham United

If at the start of the season you had told me West Ham would sack Slaven Bilic with West Ham in the relegation zone, and then replace him with David Moyes who had got Sunderland relegated last season at the bottom of the table I would have thought that you were either A) insane or B) on a really weird football related trip. Well if you did say that the good new is you're neither of the above. to be fair when Moyes was announced as the new West Ham manager I believe myself and Jayson were a bit perplexed. In fact I think I vocalised how ludicrous it was if you were in a relegation battle to bring in a man who after two games with Sunderland declared that they were in a relegation battle. But Moyes said he had a point to prove as well as a reputation to rebuild.

It wasn't entirely a promising start with one point from the first four games of his tenure, scoring two and conceding nine. I think it's fair to say that most people were hardly surprised with this level of performance from a squad that looked like they didn't care, and a manager who most considered a laughing stock since his failed tenure as United manager. Looking at the two games following the loss to City, it was fair to say Hammers fans were bracing for a long, cold winter. However, after a win against Chelsea and a draw against Arsenal Moyes and West Ham are experiencing a renaissance of sorts with sixteen points out a possible twenty-seven and are currently undefeated in seven in all competitions. Marko Arnautovic is showing signs of the gifted player that we all knew was lurking in there. Adrian has been restored as keeper and the woeful Joe Hart dropped showing surprising balls from Mr Moyes, and they are on the rise, currently sitting eleventh in the table, only out of the top half on goal difference. Fair to say it's been a good turn around and a decent start to Moyes career recovery.

The Wooden Spoons: Watford

Oh mate. I mean don't let the table deceive you, this is not the flair filled impressive Watford of earlier in the season, quite the opposite of late actually. After a very strong start to the season, and being lavished with praise in our quarter season review, Watford seem to have been in a bit of a weird situation. On the face of it there are teams that are more deserving of the Wooden Spoon, especially based on recent form (Everton, Huddersfield, Southampton and Burnley all spring to mind) but the reality is Watford have only one win from the last eleven games. That's relegation form right there, and considering only four points separate 10th placed Watford and the drop zone it isn't necessarily unforeseeable that Watford could get dragged into the relegation dogfight.

The thing is Watford don't seem to have really been the same since Everton approached them about Marco Silva's managerial services. Silva's awkward handling of questions about his future with The Hornets, and reluctance to commit his long term future to the club must have made the chop happy Pozzo family uneasy. In fact it clearly  bugged the Watford board enough that they said the Everton approach was the "catalyst" for Silva's dismissal, and clearly had been something they had been contemplating for a while considering the swift appointment of Javi Gracia as his replacement. It's a tricky one. In reality it's Silva's first bad spell and he should have been given a chance to turn it around, on the other hand his head had clearly been turned by Everton, enough for him to allegedly promise certain players he planned to bring them with him to Everton, and the Watford board decided not to let him go. This could only have built on the tension of Nordin Amrabat being allowed to leave in August without any prior consultation with Silva. Now this in practice is just normal Watford transfer procedure with Director of Football Filippo Giraldi and the board calling the shots on comings and goings, however it raises the question as to how much influence Silva was under the impression he was going to be getting in regards to this aspect of the club. If you factor in the latter points then it makes Watford's decision making the decision understandable, if not a little farcical. But either way, unfortunately that's that for Marco Silva at Watford, but it will be intriguing to see how long he is out of job.

This has been The 38: Blog Edition. Let us know what you think in the comments below. Are Watford deserving Wooden Spoons? Do West Ham deserve to be our Keep Calm and Carry On? And what do you think of the blog format?

Thanks for giving this a read, I am sure normal service of Jayson beating me will be resumed shortly.

Jake