Five things West Ham must do to turn the season around

A new era, they said. Champions League football, they said.

So it wasn’t going to happen overnight and, regardless of the woeful start to this season, this is certainly a new era at the club and there the future still could involve Champions League involvement.

But before we continue to dream big, we must go back to getting the basics right. Slaven Bilic has admitted he is to blame for some of the awful performances from his side this season but he has also shown signs of being able to turn it around.

We’ve had terrible luck with injuries ever since the players reported back from their summer break and we’ve had to get used to playing in a new home, not to mention while idiotic fans fight amongst themselves in the stands.

But all is not lost. We have two thirds of the season left to play, we’re still in the EFL Cup and we all know that we have the squad capable of dragging us up the league table.

Our next run of league fixtures make for devastating reading on paper, but every side we play in the run we beat last season. There’s no reason why we can’t do it again and it would by typical West Ham if we did.

Bilic and the club still has lots to get right before we can start smiling again, and here are five things to get them started…

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Keep these two fit

So Simone Zaza hasn’t been as bad as everyone would make out. He works hard for the team but is just lacking a goal.

Unfortunately for him, that means he hasn’t been delivering on the one thing he’s employed to do. This could be down to a number of factors – being isolated up top, adapting to a new country and a new style of play are just a few of them.

But he’s running out of time, we’re running out of time.

This is why keeping Diafra Sakho and Andy Carroll fit between now and the end of the season is vital. Both have proved over the last few years that they are devastating in front of goal when they’re on the pitch and they’re so important to the way Bilic likes to set his team up.

Sakho is back in full training now so we should expect to see him face Spurs next weekend. Hopefully his return might just be the spark we need up front.

Buy a right-back

For the biggest mistake we made in the summer was not signing a right-back.

While all the talk was about how the club wanted to spend big on a marquee striker, I was wondering why we weren’t looking to make similar moves for a marquee right-back.

Sam Byram has been average when called upon but he’s now sidelined through injury, while Alvarao Arbeloa just doesn’t have the legs anymore. Michail Antonio definitely isn’t a right-back, so we need to invest heavily in this area in January.

Carl Jenkinson should be top of that list of potential targets. He has played over 50 games for us at right back, he knows the club and he knows the players. He would slot in perfectly without needing any time to adapt.

Play the kids

I don’t mean in the same way Allardyce infamously did against Nottingham Forest, but more like giving the likes of Ashley Fletcher and Reece Oxford more playing time.

Both are seen to be the future of the club, so why isn’t Bilic putting his trust in them more often?

Rumour has it that had Fletcher not been on loan at Barnsley last season, he would’ve been the guy Louis van Gaal called upon instead of Marcus Rashford – that’s how good he’s supposed to be. So why not give him a run of games? His appearances so far have been encouraging and are worthy of more game time.

And Oxford should already be a first-team regular, in my opinion. He proved he can handle it last season when Bilic used him, so the natural progression this year is surely to play him more.

With a growing injury list in defence, there’s no reason why Bilic should not be looking at Oxford to do a job for him.

An injection of fresh, hungry youngsters might just be the boost we need out on the pitch and it would send out a warning to more senior players that their place is in the side is no longer guaranteed.

Fans must accept the stadium

We all desperately miss the Boleyn Ground – it was the greatest place on earth for all of us. But we have to move on, we have to accept that all it is is memories now.

Now we have a new home and it’s time we started creating memories there. Of course it doesn’t feel like home yet, we’ve only been there a few months, but we have to give it a chance.

But more importantly, we have to make a real effort to improve the atmosphere on match days, regardless of who the opposition is.That night against Chelsea (before Chelsea fans kicked-off) is exactly what it should be like every single game.

A bad, toxic atmosphere rubs off on the players, which then effects their performance on the pitch. Against Chelsea I truly believe the atmosphere played a huge role in the victory – it was the whole club coming together for one night.

Our first incredible memory at our new home.

Let’s forget all the rubbish we’ve experienced there to this point and start playing our part.

Back off Dimitri Payet

Payet has been criticised over the last few games but it’s fair to say he is being let down by his teammates somewhat.

Last season he was creating just as many chances but he had players in front of him who were happily putting them away. This year, despite creating more chances than anyone else in the Premier League, the other players are struggling to make use of them.

This reflects badly on Payet as his collection of assists and goals aren’t regularly being added to but, if you take a step back and look at it, he’s still the same ol’ incredible Dimi we all know and love.

So the fans need to lay off him and let him continue doing his stuff, because his game hasn’t changed at all.