West Ham’s five biggest highlights of 2015

What a year it’s been.

It started poorly but has ended in superb fashion as we embark on arguably the most important year in the club’s history – 2016.

We’re just months away from entering a new era. We’ll say an emotional goodbye to the Boleyn Ground and begin life in the hugely impressive Olympic Stadium.

As things stand there are so many things to look forward to at the club, but here we take a look back at 2015 first.

So much has happened that’s it’s so difficult to remember it all, but we’ve managed to pluck out six of the best highlights of the calendar year for you to look back and smile on.

So sit back, crack open a beer and remember the good times of 2015…

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Gloves off Adrian

We never win penalty shoot outs. Ever.

So when Adrian stepped up and ended this one in such style, it’s little wonder the Boleyn Ground went absolutely crazy.

It may have only ben the third round, but it was the ‘gloves off’ style Adrian adopted when taking the winning penalty that had us all celebrating as if we’d won the FA Cup. Absolute scenes.

Skip to around the 13th minute of the above video to relive it.
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Slaven Bilic arrives…

While most people will say Sam Allardyce leaving the club was a highlight, we’d rather concentrate on Slaven Bilic.

Put simply, Bilic has been a breath of fresh air. He arrived in the summer and instantly impressed with the way he came across in the club’s initial interviews with him. He made us finally believe in the club’s ability to move forward and play good football on the pitch after four years of mind numbing play under Big Sam.

And so far he hasn’t disappointed. He hasn’t been perfect, but we’ve enjoyed such an impressive start to the season and it’s hard to not be excited for the future under the Croat.

If he can continue getting the players playing the way they are and bring in better players in the summer, I get the feeling we can achieve great things with him.
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These two…

So Dimitri Payet is the big star name and the one everyone loves most, but we mustn’t forget Lanzini’s impact since he arrived on loan in the summer.

Both players have been absolutely superb for us and we’ve missed them over the last six weeks. Lanzini proved that when he came on at half-time against Southampton on Monday and was arguably the best player on the pitch in the second-half.

Payet is expected back on Saturday against Liverpool, and it’s going to be brilliant to see both players in the starting XI together again.
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The win at Anfield…

We’ve had some brilliant away wins this season, but the one at Liverpool is the biggest one for me.

We hadn’t won there for over 50 years and everyone had written us off. Instead we go there and smash them 3-0, with Lanzini, Noble and Sakho scoring the goals.

It’s a win that pretty much proved to the rest of the Premier League that we were absolutely right to part ways with Allardyce and aim for better under an ambitious manager who likes to play good football.

For me, it was the win that laughed in the face of all those ‘be careful what you wish for’ comments aimed at us in the summer.
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The Chelsea win…

Everything from Chelsea’s meltdown at the end of the first-half to Carroll’s winner to the images of a glum looking Mourinho in the director’s box after the game, the entire 2-1 win over Chelsea was absolutely superb.

For me, Chelsea’s meltdown is my ultimate highlight of the season so far because it was absolutely hilarious to witness. If only Frank Lampard was on the pitch, as well!

Anyway, it was a historic home victory and the party in the Black Lion afterwards was a bloody good laugh.

Good times.
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