West Ham United
So I decided to take charge of West Ham United, my team. Times have been tough lately and I thought id see how difficult they are to manage in this game. First season target is as followed:
Finish Mid table – Europa League. So anywhere from 7th - 11th Id be happy with. With the current squad, which I will post shortly, I feel that we could MAYBE push for Europa League, but that will be very difficult because I expect the likes of Everton, Liverpool, Arsenal maybe even Southampton to be competing as well. We have decent depth inthe squad but I feel we could improve both in the middle of the park and in defence. One thing I am particularly concerned about is we have an ageing squad, especially in defence.
I don't want to just buy players for the sake of it. I want to be smart and strengthen in positions I feel I need to. I will use the scouting system for this and if I feel that player would strengthen that position, I will sign him.
I am okay with the squad, however as I mentioned above, we do have an ageing squad which I need to address. Lanzini, in my personal opinion is the best player we have and its vital that we keep him. Mark Noble is of course Mr West Ham. His leadership and tutoring of younger players will be very important, as much as I feel centrally we need to improve, I don't want to get on the wrong side of the fans and sell Mark! Defence is our weakest position, I'm not too comfortable with the depth we have there and I want to make sure we are solid defensively (Hello Mr Allardyce).
I am very concerned with our injury list. Lanzini, Carroll, Kouyate and possibly Antonio could miss the start of the season. I want to have a good start and with these injuries it will be difficult. Carroll I'm okay with as we have other options up front, Kouyate I would have preferred to be fit but I can manage without him, Lanzini will be the biggest miss out of these so the sooner he is back, the better!
We have apretty decent budget, which has shocked me to be honest as I felt It would have been much lower. This budget is on the basis of securing a mid table finish, I didn't want to put any pressure on myself in my first season as I feel a top half finish would be achievable but difficult.
We have a friendly Away to Glentoran before flying over to China for about 10 days for 3 friendlies. This will give me a good opportunity to assess my squad. I plan on using a few youngsters during these friendlies. I'm really interested to see how Declan Rice fairs. This is a massive opportunity for him and I want him to grasp it with both hands as he could establish himself as a key player. As with the London Stadium, due to the Athletics taking part in the summer, our first 3 games of the League season are all Away from Home. We start by going to Old Trafford on the 13th August before heading to the south coast a week later to take on Southampton at St Mary's then heading up to Newcastle. We don't play our first Home game of the season until the 11th September when we take on newly promoted Huddersfield.
It's what we have to deal with due to the Athletics. Its not ideal but it can't be changed. Anyways, I'm ready to go, are you?