Written by @benfleet_hammer

On the West Ham Way podcast last week, a question was posed which really got me thinking… ‘What if they’re just not good enough?’ The question left me wondering: are our players as good as we think they are? Are they individually capable of producing the performances we expect them to produce? Are there solid foundations for the high expectations we have?

For some of our newer players, our expectations are formed by the reputation they established at their old clubs. The likes of Zabaleta, Arnautovic, Hart and Hernandez were always likely to carry the pressure of high expectations because of their previous performances in the Premier League, for example. There are also some players who carry the same pressure because they are full internationals, turning out for their countries at the highest levels. These expectations, I can get on board with.

For the large majority of our current squad, however, our expectations were set by the final season at Upton Park. The likes of Noble, Cresswell, Kouyate, Reid and Antonio had an outstanding season – undoubtedly their best in a claret and blue shirt. It seems to me that most West Ham fans are certain that these players raised their level in that final season, whether due to the emotional, adrenaline-fuelled energy around our home games that season, the aggressive management of Slaven Bilic or the unquantifiable impact of superstar Dimitri Payet. I believe these players peaked. Noble and Kouyate were covering every inch of ground and getting through a high number of tackles while also playing precise passes in the right areas, Cresswell was putting in high-quality crosses game after game, Antonio was scoring goals and streaking past defenders for fun, Reid was seemingly always one step ahead of the other team. For one incredible season, these good players looked phenomenal. The 6 or 7 out of 10 performances became 8 or 9 out of 10 performances. They were producing sensational performances which we hadn’t seen before – and we haven’t really seen them since.

Aside from possibly Angelo Ogbonna, I would find it difficult to name a first-team player who has played consistently in both seasons and is performing better, or at the same level, in the 17/18 season. We haven’t seen performances like it from these players in one-off games, let alone in a run of games. Amid all the other issues at the club, the performances on the pitch by a number of players this season haven’t been where fans expect them to be. The question is, are our expectations unfair?

I believe that many fans are guilty of expecting too much from some players. We’ve seen the absolute maximum they can produce and now we expect to see it from them week in, week out. It’s not going to happen. The most obvious comparison to make here is Leicester’s title-winning side from the 15/16 season. Would it be realistic to expect the same performances from players like Wes Morgan, Danny Simpson, Danny Drinkwater and Marc Albrighton? Players who, like ours, had never produced anything like it in lengthy professional careers until that season? For those Leicester players, most pundits and fans are quite content to write it off as a ‘freak’ season, yet it seems that for our players it has been treated as an indication of their true level.

A number of our established first-team players have fallen short of the standards they set themselves. They played out of their skins for a season and set the bar incredibly high, but unwittingly they gave us a rod to beat them with. Expect the players to work hard and do what they have always done – e.g. Noble: keep the ball moving, cover ground, tackle hard and fair – but don’t expect them to reach their peak in every game or reproduce the extraordinary. I believe the players should aspire to reach that standard, and as fans we should hope that they do so too, but we’re setting ourselves up to be disappointed if we expect it.

COYI