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News: Respected football website delivers brutal verdict on West Ham

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Football 365 have just released an article that has torn the Hammers apart in a long piece that attempts to solve our problems.

The main body of the piece focuses on how bad we are at defending.

Now we all know this because we see the team week in week out, but the stats behind it are truly shocking.

In just two Premier League campaigns since 1997, we have conceded less than 50 goals – that is truly appalling, and what is even worse is that we are third in the all-time most goals conceded table.

The article also suggests that “The West Ham way” in 2019 is nonsense as all fans want to watch attractive football, but most would rather win games than concede lots of goals from trying to play in a certain way.

I have to say I would rather we win 1-0 most weeks than lose 3-2.

The most worrying thing about the whole article, though, is just how little money we spend on defensive players.

Last summer, we splashed out £71m on new signings, of which £68m was on attacking players, and most of that was on Sebastien Haller.

In fact, since 2016, only £57m of our £281m outlay on new signings has been on defensive players, and that includes defensive midfielders.

Issa Diop is nearly 40% of that total spend as well – so the board seems to be obsessed with buying attacking players who will score goals while ignoring the defence.

We all want goalscorers and players who can excite us, but the defence is truly a shambles at the moment.

Are you surprised by these shocking stats?

Yes

No

One of our right-backs is 34 and past his best, while we also have a centre-back who has been injured for two years, and we have a backup goalkeeper who has looked hapless.

The article is scathing of us, but the lack of defensive depth is indeed genuinely awful, and we will not progress as a club until it is sorted out.

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